Childrens Literature Bibliography

Alexander, M. (1971). Nobody asked me if I wanted a baby sister. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. In this book, a young boy named Oliver is jealous of his new baby sister, Bonnie. Everyone says how cute she is as Oliver sits and plays with his toys. Oliver puts Bonnie in a wagon and offers her to all kinds of people. No one is willing to take the baby until Toby the paper boy says his mom loves babies. Tobys mom is happy to take Bonnie, but Bonnie cries and squirms when Tobys mom and sister try to hold her. They realize that Oliver is the one Bonnie wants. Oliver puts Bonnie back in the wagon and says You know, Bonnie, youre a lot smarter than I thought. Lets go tell Mom. When you get big enough, maybe we could play horse and wagon. Then the book ends with Oliver wheeling Bonnie back, imagining her wheeling him when she has gotten a little older. Although I believe this book would be better suited for a parent to read to a child at home, it could still be used to read to young children at school. This is a cute story that teaches that an older sibling does not need to be jealous of a younger sibling. The teacher could ask Why did Oliver put his baby sister in the wagon? and Why is he trying to give her away? In a preschool a teacher could read this story if he/she knew there were similar problems in a students home. The illustrations in this book are great because without reading the words a child could easily follow along. Olivers unhappiness over his baby sister is evident by the way he looks at her. Then, at the end of the story, he smiles as he imagines her wheeling him around. Arnold, T. (2009). I spy fly guy! New York, NY: Scholastic. This book is about a fly named Fly Guy who is the pet fly of a boy named Buzz. Fly guy could say the boys name and they liked to play hide and seek together. Fly Guy would always hide in the garbage can which got him into trouble one day when the garbage man took him to the dump. Buzz looked for him everywhere, but only found other flies. Eventually, he realized he could say I give up and Fly Guy came out of hiding. He was back! This is a good book for read alouds to children around the age of kindergarten. They would be really interested in this story. They would find the subtle jokes in the story very funny. It would also be useful to read because of the rhyme of the title, and throughout in the name Fly Guy. There are several sequels to this book that the students could read themselves or the teacher could read to the class. This could make for a really good writing activity where the students wrote different Fly Guy adventures. The pictures are very cartoony which children would like.

Balan, B. (2005). Cows going past. New York, NY: Penguin Group. In this book, a young child and his family go on a car trip. He watches everything go past in his window, especially cows. He sees all kinds of cows. The most fun part about the book is how the illustrations wittily correspond to the text. For example two pages say: A black cow in a green field. A white cow in a brown field. A red cow under a green tree staring at a dog. Bow-wow, cow! In the

illustrations there is a black cow mowing green grass with a lawn mower. There is a white cow playing baseball in a brown baseball field. The red cow has glasses and is sitting under the green tree, taking a break from reading his book to look at the dog. These images are much more fun for children. Later in the book, it gets dark and the boy cannot see the cows anymore (although the cows are seen catching lightning bugs). The journey ends and as the boy goes to sleep he says goodbye to everything he saw, concluding with All the cows that went past. Good-bye, cows. Good-bye as the cows waved goodbye. This would be a good book to read-aloud to a pre-school or kindergarten class. The children would enjoy this book because of how entertaining the illustrations are. Also, this might inspire a child to pay more attention to the natural world, and/or more closely examine his or her surroundings. A field trip to a farm could be planned (although the students might be a little disappointed that cows do not do all of those things). Bang, M. (1999). When Sophie gets angryreally, really angry. New York, NY: The Blue Sky Press. This book is about a girl named Sophie and what she does when she gets angry. One day, Sophie got really angry while playing with her sister. She kicked and yelled and wanted to break things. When she was about to explode she ran out the door and into the woods. She ran, cried, looked at the beauty of the woods, climbed her favorite tree, and watched the waves of the ocean from atop the tree. She felt better so she climbed down and went home. When she got there, everyone was happy she was back and things went back to normal. At the very end of the book on the copyright page it says When Sophie gets angry she runs out and climbs her favorite tree. Different people handle anger in different ways. What do you do when you get angry? This would be a really good book to read to early and middle elementary school aged students. It teaches that it is okay to get angry and be upset, but it is not okay to break things. Instead, each person needs to find their own thing that makes them feel better. The illustrations are great because they really reflect how Sophie is feeling. At the beginning of the story, her outline is yellow-orange. When she is at the peak of her anger, she has a bold red outline of her body. As she calms down, this color slowly turns back into orange. Also, the background changes from all red when she is very angry, to beautiful natural colors and then a bright and colorful home when she gets back. Brett, J. (1985). Annie and the wild animals. New York, NY: The Trumpet Club. This story is about a girl named Annie and her experiences with animals during the winter. Annie has a cat named Taffy, but she has not wanted to play recently, and instead sleeps and curls up in strange places. Then, one day Taffy was gone and Annie felt very alone. Annie decided that she would find a new animal friend out by the woods. She took a corn cake and placed it by the woods to bring her a new, small, fuzzy pet. Instead a moose showed up. She left two corn cakes, and the next day, the moose and a bear showed up. Annie kept up the pattern until there were all kinds of wild animals, hungry for a meal standing by the woods. Annie went back home, and that night spring came. The next day, Taffy came home and brought with her three kittens. Annie was no longer lonely. I think this is a really sweet book about animals and friendship. It also implies how new life arises in the spring. The greatest part about this book is the illustrations. First of all, the artwork is simple but also pretty realistic. It is colorful, but also very calming as opposed to bright, in-your-face colors. On each pair of

pages, there are two main pictures, but there is also a border around these pictures. This border includes additional scenes of what is going on at that point in the story. However, the best part is that many of these additional scenes show characters from the next page. For this reason, a reader can subtly know what is going to happen next. On the page before the moose shows up, there is a moose in the border. This would be a great book to do as a read aloud because of this. The teacher could ask the children what they think is going to happen and somehow incorporate these pictures based on the age of the students. Brown, L. (2006). How to be. New York, NY: HarperCollins. This book tells how to be a bear, monkey, turtle, snake, spider, dog, and person. Throughout this book, there is a boy and a girl who act out each way to be each animal. To be a bear, you should Catch fish with your hands. Hibernate. Growl. Be brave. The girl catches a small fish with her hands, sleeps, growls, and jumps off a fishing dock with a float. The boy shows how to be a monkey by swinging from a tree, eating with his toes, copying the girl, and being curious of what the girl is doing. The girl is a turtle by basking in the sun, hiding, moving very slowly, and being patient. The boy is a snake when he sheds his skin (takes off his clothes, which you see from behind), slithers, dances in a basket, and acts charming. The girl is a spider by creeping along walls, waiting for a meal, making a web, and being creative. The boy is a dog by fetching, begging the girl for food, licking the girl, and being friendly. The children are people by being brave, curious, patient, charming, creative, and friendly and by being themselves. This is a cute story that teaches about animals while also teaching children that they should be themselves. Just like animals, people are special individuals who should be who they are. This would be a good story for young elementary school students. Students could hear this story as a read aloud, then write a sentence, or even just a few words, about what makes them who they are. This would be a really good activity to teach that everyone is different and that it is good to be different. Burns, M. (1997). Spaghetti and Meatballs for All!: A Mathematical Story. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. This book is all about an older couple, Mr. and Mrs. Comfort, who decided to invite their entire family to dinner and serve spaghetti and meatballs. All together the guest count included 32 people. Mrs. Comfort rented eight tables so four people could sit at each. As more and more family members showed up for dinner, they pushed more and more tables together. Mrs. Comfort kept trying to explain that there would not be enough room when everyone arrived but no one would listen. Eventually all the tables were pushed together and there was not nearly enough room. The tables were separated slowly to make more room until all eight tables were spaced out again. This story is all about math in that by pushing the tables together, the family was reducing the perimeter and therefore the about of room to sit at the table. The area was remaining the same so the family members, except Mrs. Comfort, thought there would be enough room. This story would be very helpful to read to my math students when we were learning about perimeter and area. The mathematical story is very subtle but there is also a very clear description of the math in the back of the book. The tables are drawn out in several scenarios to make it very easy to understand.

Fleming, D. (2006). The cow who clucked. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. In this book, a cow woke up to find that she lost her moo and instead clucks. Throughout the book, Cow visits other animals on the farm, listening to the sound each makes. Every time she is disappointed when she does not hear her moo saying It is not you who has my moo. Finally, Cow makes her way back to the barn, disappointed. On her way, Cow runs into Hen who says Moo, moo. The story ends with Cow saying It is YOU who has my MOO! and both animals getting back their original sounds. This book would be good to read to younger children in preschool to kindergarten. As they heard the story, children would learn the sounds that farm animals make. They would also be able to use problem solving to figure out which farm animal has Cows moo. The teacher could ask the students what they think about the title before beginning to read the book. Then the teacher could say throughout the book I wonder who has Cows moo. Even if the students were not able to figure this out during the story, many would realize afterwards the connection between a cow that clucks and a hen that moos. This book also has great artwork. The author, Denise Fleming, is also the Illustrator, and a note inside the book cover says that the illustrations are created by pulp painting, a papermaking technique. The art is very colorful and intriguing and helps to convey the storyline. Fox, M. (1989). Shoes from Grandpa. New York, NY: The Trumpet Club In this story, a girl named Jessie has grown too much for her clothes, so her grandpa decided to buy her some shoes. Then, her dad decided to buy her some socks to go with the shoes. Her mom buys her a skirt that wont show the dirt and her sister got her a sweater [for] when the weather gets wetter. Many other family members, including cousins, aunts, grandparents, and siblings buy Jessie other pieces of clothing. By the end of the book, Jessie is barely able to move because of all the clothes she is wearing. Finally, she says she does not want to upset anyone, but asks if someone could get her a pair of jeans. The last image in the book is of her riding away on a skateboard while wearing a pair of jeans. This book would work well as a read aloud because of the occasional rhyme and the rhythm of the lines. It follows after the nursery rhyme The House that Jack Built. This book would be good to use to talk about giving presents or about families. It could also be used as an example to help children write poetry. The students could write their own versions of the story. Fox, M. (2010). Lets count goats! New York, NY: Beach Lane Books. This book is all about counting goats. Throughout the book, different numbers of goats do different things. The text rhymes and often asks the listeners to count the number of goats on that page. For example: Here we seen an airport goat looking for her cases. But can we count the PILOT goats with goggles on their faces? Then, the book ends with: Here we see the story goats and all their shining eyes. Now can you count their pricked-up ears? You can? Im not surprised! This book can very easily be used to help young children practice counting through a read-aloud. As the reader goes through the book, he or she can prompt the students to count the goats or any other part of the story they see fit. I used this book for my read-aloud lesson and did this with my practicum kindergarten class. Although the students seemed to love it, this may have been a little too easy for them because very few

of the children had any trouble counting the goats. If they did, this was solved by coming up front and pointing to each goat. This book through a read-aloud might be better for a pre-school class. The illustrations in this book are cute and interesting. The goats have very expressive faces and do very crazy things like jumping off a jungle gym and driving upside down. For these reasons, they were very entertaining for the students. They also use very bold colors which add to the enthusiastic feel of the book. Frame, A. F. (2003). Yesterday I had the blues. Berkley, California: Tricycle Press. This book is all about how different colors can represent emotions. The main character is a boy who had the blues yesterday. He explains he had the deep down in my shoes blues, the go away, Mr. Sun, quit smilin at me blues. The next day he had the greens, The runnin my hand along the hedges greens The kind of greens make you want to be Somebody. His father has the grays, a girl has the ballet afterschool pinks, another woman has the hair hangin loose, write a poem that doesnt rhyme indigos, his Gram has the yellows, and his mama has the reds. On the last page, he explains that even though he had the blues yesterday, has the greens today, and could have the silvers tomorrow, it does not matter what color they feel because they got a familythe kid of family makes you feel like its all golden. I really, really enjoyed this book. The first time I read it, before I knew it I had read it two more times. When I started writing this paragraph the same thing happened. Something about the way it flows together, and the way it is worded makes me want to keep reading it. I think it is that every time I read it I get another understanding from the color, or understand it more deeply. I think this would be a great book to read or have in a classroom library for many reasons. First, I believe students would want to read it over and over again just like I do. Second, the use of colors in the story and the illustrations is just fantastic. Third, this story is about an African American boy and his family. So many childrens books (All books really) are about white families. This would be such a good book to have as a part of a library so all students would have access to books about different types of people and different types of families. Frasier, D. (2006). A birthday cake is no ordinary cake. Orlando, FL: Harcourt. In this story, a birthday cake is symbolic of a year, a year between birthdays. The whole book is a recipe for a birthday cake. Different parts of the year are mixed together to make one birthday cake. The first ingredient is 365 sunrises, and the chef begins making the cake the day after their birthday. Other ingredients include spring flowers, at least twelve full moons (falling start provide an extra sparkle), a wave hitting the sandy shore, the shade from two trees on the longest day of the year, two red leaves waved over the bowl, the sound of snowflakes falling, the shortest day you can find, and then all the dry and liquid ingredients. While baking, the chef must sing and stir. The cake is finished and you eat it! Then, you begin making a new birthday cake the next day. At the end of the book, The Spinning World Birthday Cake recipe is compiled, with additional icing recipes. There is information about the earths motion and the amount of/ type of days in a year (shortest, longest, leap year etc.). This would be a good book to use when discussing what makes up a year. I think it makes a lot of sense to describe a year based on the things we actually experience. We do not feel the earth spinning around, but we do experience moons, flowers, and the shade of a tree. Students could do an activity where they came up

with other parts of the year that they believe are important, or they could come up with a recipe for something else. Maybe this could be a recipe for a friend, a family, or a school. This book is also fun to read because the phrases are simple but funny and witty as well. Gag, W. (1928). Millions of cats. New York, NY: Penguin Group. In this book, a lonely elderly couple decides they want a cat. The old man left to find a cat. He walked a very long way until he came to a hill that was covered in cats. He chooses one cat, then another, then another, until he has chosen every one of Cats here, cats there, Cats and kittens everywhere, Hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats, Millions and billions and trillions of cats. On the way back, each cat took sip of water out of a pond and the pond was gone. Then, Each cat ate a mouthful of grass and not a blade was left! When they got back to the elderly couples house, the wife said that they could never feed trillions of cats. They decided to let the cats decide which one they would keep. They asked the cats which of them was the prettiest, but that caused the cats to fight, and the couple had to take refuge in their house. When they came out, all the cats were gone except one because they had eaten each other. This kitten was tiny and weak, and did not get eaten because it did not say it was the prettiest. They took care of this kitten until it was big healthy and the old man said this kitten was prettier than all of the other cats he had seen. This is a great book to read to children or for children to read to themselves. This story could be used to teach about modesty, how fighting is bad, and about how what is in the inside matters more than the outside. Although all those cats were very pretty, they were mean and only cared about themselves. The scrawny kitten was modest and was the prettiest kitten inside and out. Although the illustrations in this book are only black and white, they are fantastic. Each image connects to the story and enhances it.

Lindenbaum, P. (2006). When Owens mom breathed fire. Sweeden: Rabn & Sjgren Bokfrlag. In this book, a boy named Owen who almost always wears a dragon head wakes up to find his mom has turned into a dragon. She is usually really crazy in the morning about getting everything done and not getting to work late but she does not care about any of that anymore. She does not care about her job, or what they eat, or making children cry. She even tries to eat a dog, and then she settles for breathing fire at it. No one seems upset by the fact that she is a dragon. When they go to the zoo, she gets in free because she is an animal, but then they almost keep her. When they go to Grandmas house, she says that it will probably go away in a couple days. Owen and his mom go home and go to bed. The next morning, Owen wakes up and his mom is sitting in the kitchen. She calls off work for the day, does not act crazy/stressed, and says she wants to spend time with him. This book would be more appropriate for a read-aloud for older children, around second or third grade. There is a lot of dry humor and deeper understandings that older children would pick up on more. Also, for kindergarteners or first graders it is a little complex. This would also be a good book for third to fifth graders to read themselves. It uses much too difficult of words for younger children. A teacher could ask the students what they think will happen in the story to help them think. With older students, it would also be a good book to

use to introduce creative writing. The story sounds as though it was written by a child and could serve as inspiration for other creative stories. Lloyd, S. (2006). Mr. Pusskins: A love story. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. This story is about a girl named Emily and her cat Mr. Pusskins. Emily loved Mr. Pusskins but he thought she was boring and he always looked angry. One day he ran off and joined a pesky cat gang. He did all kinds of fun, bad things. Then, Mr. Pusskins got lonely and when he saw a lost cat flyer with his name on it he wished he was home and felt very sorry for the way he had always treated Emily. He found a phone and called her. He was afraid she would not love him anymore, but she came and found him. They both realized how lucky they were and Mr. Pusskins realized he loved Emily. This is a really cute story to do for a read aloud. I believe that this story, along with the illustrations, would keep childrens interest very well. The illustrations tell the story very clearly as well, so after a read-aloud, a child could read this book himself and would be able to keep on track with the story. This would be a good book to read to a class when there were a few extra minutes between activities. This story also has a good lesson to it. It teaches to be thankful for what you have and that what you have is better than you think.