Rules by Cynthia Lord- Book Trailer

Comics Squad: Recess! | Book Trailer

Comics Squad Recess!

Holm, J. (2014). Comics squad: Recess! NY: Random House.

Ninja boys starting a new club, a dog out smarts a cat, the cafeteria lady fights the pizza monster, an outer space acorn with Martians come to visit, Baby Mouse on the quest for recess, vegetables freeze by breath mints, a boy finds love in 300 words, and an awesome game is made from rainy day. 

Rapunzel's Revenge Book Trailer (Shannon Hale's contest)

Rapunzel's Revenge

Hale, S. (2008). Rapunzel’s revenge. NY: Bloomsbury

A girl escapes her wicked kidnapper and fights her enemies with her sidekick Jack. She never compromises her values and with her locks she lassos her way through any obstacle that comes her way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTcDpJJX170

Lesson plans ideas look at this websites:
hhttp://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ilfonline.org/resource/resmgr/2010-11_yhba_resources/rapunzel.pdfhttp://chelseateaches.livejournal.com/2245.htmlttp://www.squeetus.com/stage/Rapunzel_TG.pdf

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies! Voices  by Laura From Amy Schlitz

Schlitz, L. A. (2007). Good masters, sweet ladies Boston, MA: Candlewick Press

The author gives a view of what life was like during the Middle Ages. Educational essays on medieval life, of falconry, Judaism, and the Crusades convey the life of humor, empathy, and drama in Medieval Village. Set in 1255 England, a collection of vignettes of humor and tragedy contains poems written from the point-of-view of various townspeople from aristocracy to servants. Each character speaks their view of their poverty, superstitions and prejudices and ambitions. In their adversity, the children are optimistic and cheerful. The characters tell of their interactions with each other. Pask, a runaway boy for example, from his severe master, a lord, if he is to stay surviving the cold winter by hiding in a dog kennel, is fed dog food by the dog owner’s daughter, in a year; he will be a free slave. The daughter loves her dogs but hates the fleas that are everywhere in her house.  In the book there are short essays about different facets of life in the village. For example it tells about how farm land was operated by the inhabitants. There's a map at the beginning of the book that illustrates the layout of the village. The village itself becomes real and we are transported back in time.

The Watsons go to Brimingham- 1963

 The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963

Curtis, C. P. (1995). The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963. NY: Delacorte

America was going through some changes of Civil Rights and Segregation. A family of five living in Michigan in the 1960’s where life challenges are living in a cold apartment and a son who is involved in gangs. The only solution to the problem it to leave him at his grandmother’s down in the south, but the parents have been assured by Grandma Sands that nothing is happening around where she lives. The Watsons seem unaware of the seriousness the South was enduring at this time. They were set that his oldest needed a change of venue and a strict person to bring him up and that was Grandma Sands. But much to their surprise they were heading straight to a place of conflict and turmoil.  The story is told by the middle child name Kenny who is oblivious to what is going on the world around him. The whole family is change when they come to Birmingham and experience a church bombing and their youngest becomes one of the victims.  

Knuffle Bunny

Daddy and baby boy's trip to the laundry turns out to be one of frustration and anger. A bunny gets thrown in the washing machine and communication is hard to understand. Father does not understand what baby is trying to say and runs home to his wife to see if she can brake the baby code. As soon as they get to the front door mommy knows what happen before any body says a word. Pictures are mixed with real life and drawings which makes this book an unusual one.

Timmy Failure Mistakes were made

Pastis, S. (2010). Timmy Failure Mistakes were Made. NY: Candlewick Press.

 A very visually funny story, Pastis depicts an unusual detective who never learns from his mistakes.  Tackling a no brainer detective job with a lazy polar bear side kick by the named Total, Timmy comes into redundancy scenarios. Timmy likes to spend his time solving crimes for the kids in his class. He will have you laughing and getting all the Timmy’s offbeat humor. He may not be very good but it’s something he wishes will one day make him rich. Not your typical hero Timmy he has a very interesting way at looking at things. Although he does not get school work nor can he keep his concentration on his assignment Timmy is determine to get his nemesis Corrina Corrina and keep his side kick out of the zoo. 

Rules

 Lord, C. (2008). Rules. NY: Scholastic

Rules is written in twelve years old girl perspective. Catherine has an autistic brother who gets into things so she creates rules to help him. She eventually creates rules for herself to fit in school and try to live an average teenage life. But with an autistic brother the obvious is hard to avoid.  She goes through a journey of being stern and impatient with her brother to tolerance and acceptance. Like most teenage girls, Catherine is anxious to fit in school and just be average but David's autism impends this, and so Catherine is force to choose between her brother and her friends. Catherine learns what is important in life and comes to accept her brother’s disability as well as her good friend Jason’s. 

Out of my mind

Draper, S. (2010). Out of my mind. NY: Atheneum

All thought some people assume Melody is mentally retarded; she is an eleven-year-old girl just like any other except that she is a bright child having to deal with cerebral palsy. The point of view of this novel is unique because it is in the voice of someone who cannot talk. Melody tells her story through thoughts in her head. Melody learns to converse through a computer that helps her team win a trip to Washington, D.C. for the national competition. Unsuccessfully Melody tries to warn her mother of her little sister heading straight to danger.  She gets hit by a car and Melody feels it was all her fault. As Melody attends regular school she comes to the understanding that not all people are perfect. Although the word disabled is rarely used Melody is normal girl living in a broken body. 

Bridge to Terabithia

Paterson, K. (1972). Bridge to Terabithia. NY: Crown.

Two characters that have to face life as it come.  Bridge to Terabithia provides a sensitive subject of death. Jesse Oliver learns to cope with his friend's passing. Written in a third-person, Jesse has to mature through life’s ordeals. The author gives the characters a place of rest called Terabithia.  The children create an imaginary land in which their friendship grows despite society looks. Jesse’s life will forever change because a freak accident that kills Leslie shatters the peace of Terabithia. Jess the only male child in his family is very much aware of how his parents' treatment of him differs from his sisters. As the only boy, he is expected to do the hard work. In which he milks the cow and picks the beans. His older sisters, meanwhile, are permitted to mope, complaint, and get to do nothing in the house.

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Cleary, B. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. NY: Morrow

A child who has to deal with the ramifications of his parents' divorce, a move to a small house, loneliness, a father who broken so many promises, isolation from friends, a lunch bag thief, and the pressures of class. He tries to make sense of his situation which results in both maturity and contentment.  He reaches out to an author who helps him deal with life as a teenager from a broken family. There is some humor and the setting keeps changing from the second grade through fifth grades. First Leigh lives with his mother and father in a mobile home outside of Bakersfield, then a sixth grader struggling with a move to Pacific Grove on California's central coast where he comes head on with his parents' divorce. Lastly they move in a very small falling apart house next to a gas station which is furnished with items from a thrift store.

A crooked kind of perfect

 Urban, L. (2009). A crooked kind of perfect. NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Urban depicts a character of a ten-year-old Zoe Elias, a fifth grade girl who just wants to fit in with her group at school. She is a talented musician whose aspiration is to play the piano, which ends up winning a trophy in the Perform-O-Rama competition. She comes to find that her love to play the piano has a positive impact on her social life and parents. The setting took a role in the story, if it wasn't at her playing the piano at her living room, Zoe wouldn't have been able to have her piano lessons to play in the Perform-O-Rama. It is a feel-good message about how doing one's best and believing in oneself are what really matters in life. That even though you think you're not good enough to do what you would want, you should at least try.

Mercy goes for a ride

Mercy, Mercy, What a Pig. This is an adventurous pig that would like to take a ride in his owner pink car. A funny book of a pig name Mercy who every Saturday looks forward to taking a ride on the pink car until he finds an opportunity to cease the moment and jumps on the drivers seat while the owner was not paying attention. He takes them for a fast drive when the police tries to stop them for speeding sees that it really is the pig doing all the crazy driving.

When pigs fly

A determine cow who would show his father that he can do anything he puts his mind to. When he keeps asking his father for a bike the father repeatedly tells him "NO" but gives him a ray of hope by stating that he will get a bike when pigs fly. So Ralph the cow goes to all means to get that bike. Beautiful pictures and cleaver written this book is sure a page turner.

Owen

A mouse who is going to school for the first time has a hard time getting rid of his favorite thing in the world his blanket. But a intrusive neighbor comes to educate the young parents of how to help him get rid of the BLANKET, But every idea has resulted to a frustrated parents.  Any child can relate to Owen because they too have tried to let go a of something that brings them comfort and peace like a teddy bear, dinosaur. or a doll.

Don't let the Pigeon drive the bus!

An unusual book of a sneaky  Pigeon who of all things really wants to drive a bus. He begs and lies just to get on the bus. Every child will delight reading this book because they have too tried to get away doing something they should not do.

Click, Clack, Moo cows that type

Such a funny book that will have you smiling as you read. A delightful story of some farm animals who want to stay warm in the cool autumn nights. They find a old typewriter that changes their life for the better. They make their demands to Farmer Brown who thinks the entire thing is ridiculous but they go on strike to prove their point. But when the neutral duck see the results of typing a request  to Farmer Brown he wants a piece of the action too.

Kitten's first full moon

A book by Kevin Henkes about a hungry kitten out at night looking for his bowl of milk only to come across many things that to a hungry cat look like milk such as the moon, the pond, and some fire flies. Illustrated in black and white children can see where the kitten gets to see all the things that look like milk. It is great for sequence of events story.

make way for ducklings

A true story about a family of ducks in china. Two duck found made their home in a crowded city filled with buildings, cars, trains, and people in rush. So beautifully drawn in black and white pictures. They were not happy living in the city so the male went to look for a pond where the young can go and swim around a welcoming place. 

The man with the Violin

 What a wonderful book about the love of music. A colorful picture book is based on the true story of Joshua Bell, the renowned American violinist who famously took his instrument down into the Washington D.C. subway for a free concert. It is full of onomatopoeia of music, people talking, trains, and subway noise. A child who notice little things even in a rush walk with his mother. Children who love music will love this book. The illustrator did a marvelous job depicting the actions in the story lines.Adults will love this book because it is so well written and illustrated that it draws you in to every page. A good page turner.