The Book Sleuth

4th Grade

Caldecott Honor

Strega Nona means "Grandma witch" in Italian. In this story Strega Nona is known throughout her town for her potions and cures. She can cure almost everything but one secret she keeps is of her special spaghetti pot. Soon she has a boy named Big Anthony come work for her. He finds out the secret about the pot and the first chance he gets he uses to make spaghetti. The town is getting covered by spaghetti because Big Anthony cannot remember the spell to turn off the pot. This is a fun story to use in a small group lesson. It incorporates humor to teach students about responsibility and respecting the rules that are given. 

3rd Grade

This is a story of a town called Chewandswallow and in this town it rains food. The weather is anything but normal here and the citizens are fed from the sky three times a day. Everything is going well for the town until the portions of food get bigger and start coming faster. The residents of the town have to come up with a plan quickly in order to save the town. I would use this book when introducing a weather science unit. This would be an interesting way to look at weather and see how different types affect the environment. 

4th Grade

Newbery Honor

Mr. Popper loves the Antarctic and one day hopes to visit. One day an Antarctic explorer named Admiral Drake sends Mr. Popper a penguin. After a while he sends another penguin and before Mr. Popper knows what is happening he has several penguins living with him. He installs a big ice box for the penguins to live in and trains them to perform. This book could be used in a small group. It could also tie into a history lesson about Antarctica and where it is located. You could also talk about what kinds of animals live in the Antarctic. 

5th Grade

Ramona Quimby is a little girl that seems to always be getting into trouble. She loves drawing pictures with her dad and playing games with her best friend. She does not like playing with Willa Jean who is always getting on Ramona's nerves. This book would be good to read together as a class in a literature circle. 

4th Grade

Newbery Honor

Winn Dixie can be a very big handful. He was found inside a supermarket by a girl named Opal. Opal and her father the preacher just moved to Naomi, Florida. Opal has a hard time making friends in her new town but her new dog Winn Dixie soon helps her meet several interesting people in her town that share stories with her. This would be a great book to do in small groups for a book report or read together as a whole group in a literature circle. 

3rd Grade

Alexander T. Wolf is the main character in this story about the three little pigs. His side of the story states that he was just sick and accidentally sneezed the pigs' houses down. This would be a great text to do a compare and contrast with another Three Little Pigs story. 

3rd Grade

This story is similar to the Three Little Pigs but has a twist at the end and reverse characters. We are introduced to three little wolves that leave home and build their houses together instead of separately. We also meet a big bad pig that wants nothing more than to catch the three little wolves. I would use this story to compare and contrast with a classic version of the Three Little Pigs. 

1st Grade

This book is about cows that go on strike when the farmer isn't giving them what they want. I would use this in my classroom to help teach the parts of a letter and how to type a letter. It is an engaging book that helps students get interested in typing. 

1st Grade

Dick and Sally are lonely one rainy afternoon until the Cat in the Hat shows up with a big box of trouble. The Cat in the Hat ends up wrecking the house but all in good fun. This book would be great to use at the beginning of Read Across America week to help introduce Dr. Seuss week. This book is entertaining for students of all ages. 

2nd Grade

This story is about a student who is getting bullied at school. To fight back against the bully the student brings Bully Beans to school and passes them out to the other students. These special beans help the students conquer the school bully. I would use this book in my class if there was a bullying problem happening. I would also use this at the beginning of the year to talk about bullying and prevention. 

1st Grade

Harold leaves his bedroom one night to go on adventure. The only thing he takes with him is a purple crayon in which he uses to draw the world around him. This book would be good to help with students creativity. It allows students to wonder about what they would do if they had a purple crayon of their own to draw with. I would use this is a whole group to get students discussing what they would draw for their own adventure. A writing activity where they write about what they would use the crayon for could accompany this book. 

3rd Grade

Caldecott Honor

This is a story about a young orphan named Madeline who lives with 11 other girls in home led by Madame Clavel. Madeline often gets into trouble and is the littlest of the girls. One night Madame Clavel awakes in a panic because she feels something is not quite right. She runs to the girls bedroom to find Madeline is very sick. They find out Madeline has to have her appendix taken out. This book would be a good book to read as a whole group to help any students that may have a loved one in the hospital. It teaches them to be kind and to care for those who need us. 

2nd Grade

Chrysanthemum is a sweet book about a little mouse who loves her name until she starts school. The other students make fun of her because of how long her name is and because she is named after a flower. This would be a fantastic book to use in the classroom with younger students to teach them the importance of being aware of others feelings. It is so important that students are not picking on each other and name calling is the worst. This would also help those who have unique names feel more special because it is something they can relate to. 

4th Grade

Nick Allen is a fifth grader who has done some pretty amazing things in school. This year he decided to create a new word for pen, calling it a frindle. This new word spreads across his town and sets the media a blaze. I would use this book in my class to encourage students to invent new things and to be creative when using words. This book could be used to encourage students to use words that are not normally used in order to expand their vocabulary. An idea to implement this in the classroom would be to have students research a few words and see how many synonyms there are for that word. 

2nd Grade

Koala Lou is a koala that thinks her mother does not lover her anymore because she quit saying it once Koala Lou got siblings. She sets out to train for the Bush Olympics and is competing in the tree climbing race. She wants to win so her mother will be proud of her and tell her that she loves her. I would use this in my classroom to show students that even if people don't tell others they love them it doesn't mean they don't. It also helps students realize they do not have to do something special for their parents to be proud of them. 

3rd Grade

This book uses alliteration to tell a story about a slug. I would use this in my classroom to help students identify alliteration. This book is a great way to introduce alliteration in the classroom and helps students understand what it means for words to have the same sounds at the beginning.