Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach
A Cuban Folktale
By: Carmen Agra Deedy
Grades 3-5
FOLK LITERATURE (Folktale)

This is definitely one of my favorite books. I actually plan to purchase this book for my classroom library. The pictures are gorgeous. The pictures are practically 3-D. I feel that students at any age would enjoy this book just because of the pictures and the content. Also it is a folktale and genres of books are discussed in grades 3-5 and this is a book that could be included in the folktale genre. This book just brought me joy and I loved how she valued her family, especially her grandmother. This book was about a female beautiful cockroach who is at the age that she needs to find the one she is going to marry. She goes on the look by sitting on her balcony and the animals come and ask her hand in marriage. One thing of advice her grandmother gave was she needed to pour coffee on each animal that came to ask her hand in marriage to see how they would react. The animals that initially came acted in an angry way and it showed her that she didn't need to marry them and they were not the one for her. At the end she was frustrated but then met a small brown mouse and hesitantly went to pour the coffee on him and he got there first. She had met her match!! She asked him how he knew that is what she was doing and he said he had a Cuban grandmother too. They ended up being together. Again this was a wonderful book and makes me think of my great family at home and the great advice they give me each day because they know what is best for me just as her grandmother knew by pouring the coffee on everyone would show her who she wanted to be with or who she didn't want to be with according to their reaction.

The Watson's Go To Birmingham

The Watson's Go to Birmingham

By: Christopher Paul Curtis

Grade 5

HISTORICAL FICTION

NOVEL

This book is a wonderful book that they cover in the fifth grade. This book is about Kenny and his family who lived during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Kenny lives with his parents, older brother, and younger sister. At their home in their neighborhood they never really experienced negative results of being black in the 60s. Kenny's older brother had been getting into lots of trouble so that spawned the family into taking a trip to to Birmingham, Alabama to take Byron to live with his grandmother. When the the family went to Alabama they experienced a lot of racism that they were not use to! There were two major events in the story. The first major event was Kenny almost drowned and Byron had to save him. The other major event that occurred in the book was the bombing of the church. Joetta, Kenny's sister, went to church one day and Kenny heard that the church had been bombed. He thought that his sister was dead and had been killed in the bombing. It took some time for them to realize that she wasn't killed. Byron had to help console Kenny to make him realize it is okay. The family then heads back to Flint, Michigan along with Byron. Kenny is helped by Byron to realize the unfairness of the horrible tragedy of racism and the bombing! This book is incredible and very touching. I will have this in my classroom if I teach fifth grade in the future. I will go over the Civil Rights Movement with my students and what life was like living during this time. I think this is an incredible example of what life was like for the African Americans during the 60s in the south. It will truly represent to the students the horrible mistreatment and injustice that occurred.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid- The Last Straw

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

The Last Staw

By: Jeff Kinney

Grades 4-5

REALISTIC FICTION

GRAPHIC NOVEL

I loved this book and it is was very humorous. I am working in a fifth grade classroom this semester and they absolutely love the Wimpy Kid's series because they are so humorous and very cool because they are very different. They are graphic novels so it is written in comic book style. The are novels in cartoons. The character Greg, a middle schooler, in this novel starts out by complaining. He thinks that the New Year's resolutions that his family have put into place for self-improvement are disrupting his life. His daddy is not in a good mood because he is on a diet, his little brother is giving up his pacifier so he is in a bad mood, and his mom is wearing exercise clothes that embarrass him. Greg is pretty cocky and thinks he is one of the best people that he knows and really can't think of any way to improve himself. He has many issues with his older brother and father throughout the book. Some of the issues comes from him being interested in a girl named Holly Hills. He tries to join the boy scouts to make his father happy and tries to find ways to attract Holly. I really like in his journal where he talks about trying to pursue Holly at the skating rink and asking her to couple skate with him. Well the couple skate didn't turn out for him, she announced his name wrong, called him Fregley and then he knew that she wasn't worth his time. He was over girls. That was example of the humor. At the end Greg was done with school for the summer. His Dad finally had lightened up and told him they could rethink the military academy and he could just do push-ups and sit ups every once awhile and just do a summer conditioning program at Spag Union instead of fulltime. He was so surprised. He then went to his friend Rowley's house before his Dad could change his mind and then while he was with Rowley a cute girl named Trista came up and introduced herself to them. He invited her to the pool. He realized at the end things were actually going his way but still was cocky thinking he was the best person he knows. I think this is a great book but would be difficult to incorporate in the classroom. They could read this book for independent reading which is in the fifth grade objectives or even we could discuss the characteristics of what a graphic novel is and then we could have it in the classroom. Either way it is such a cute book and I love the set up of the book. I would love to have this series in my future classroom!!

Abe Lincoln- The boy who loved books

Abe Lincoln: The boy who loved books

By Kay Winters

Grade 3

BIOGRAPHY

This was a great book to inform younger readers of the life of Abe Lincoln. It gave great details about his life but in a way that is enjoyable and engaging for the students. The book started where Abe was born in Kentucky in 1809 until he takes over as the 16Th president. On one page in the book I liked what it said and pretty much summed up Abe's life and what was represented throughout the book. "Abraham Lincoln- born in a log cabin, child of the frontier, head in a book- elected our sixteenth president. From the wilderness to the White House. He learned the power of words and used them well." Abraham came from basically nothing to being president of the United States. The book harps on the fact that Abe loved books and books are what changed his life and changed the world through him. This book would be fabulous to have the classroom. I feel that it has wonderful facts about the life of Abraham Lincoln and would be great to use to teach students about his life. I know that the book is attention-grabbing and would be easier for students to read than trying to read a text book. I know that as a teacher I would check the background on Abraham Lincoln to make sure the book is completely accurate but would totally use this over a textbook or possibly in conjunction with a text book. Also I feel this sends the message of the importance of reading to the students. I would point this out to them as their teacher. Reading changed his life and affected the world just as they could with simply reading and learning. Who knows they may be the next president??

Howie Helps Himself

Howie Helps Himself

By Joan Fassler

Grade 3

REALISTIC FICTION

This story is a very simple story but the application in the classroom could be huge. This story is about a little boy who is physically handicapped. He can't do a lot with his hands, legs, and can't really even hold himself up very well. He depends on his mother, grandmother, and other people a lot to provide his entertainment. The issue is he gets upset when they don't have the time to play with him. One thing that Howie wants more than anything is to be able to roll his wheelchair all by himself without the help of anyone! He practices and practices to gain strength in his arms and hands to be able to maneuver the wheelchair by himself. He does eventually gain the strength to wheel his wheelchair right up to his dad to pick him up. It was such an amazing and inspiring moment. I know one specific application in the classroom that I have done before is have the students pick a specific problem in the book and find a way to create something to fix the problem. Out of this book I chose the issue of Howie always needing his mom and grandmother to give the ball back to him while he is playing. I noticed that he got upset when they didn't have the time to play with him. I made up a lesson asking the students to find a way to solve this problem. I created a box with wheels that he can roll the ball in to and then pull it up and the ball roll back to him. This is great for students to be able to problem solve and use strategies for that. This all helps to create great group work also. It is taking this book to the next level. Also students can also be asked to make a text to self connection. They could possibly think about a time in their lives when there was something they couldn't do but with a lot of hard work and determination they were able to complete what they wanted to. They could do a write up on this and turn this in for a grade.

2050 Voyage of the Starseeker

2050 Voyage of the Starseeker
Book 2 Rescue in Space
By: Elaine Raphael
Grades 3-5

SCIENCE FICTION

This book was definitely not one of my favorite books because I am not really interested in Science Fiction but I know that I could have some future males in my classroom and this would be great book to be included in my library. This is actually a series. In this book young astronauts go on an adventure in space. In the book they are on their way to an asteroid. They actually encounter space miners there. The earth and their lives are in danger. They are trying to find a way to save the earth and themselves! I would incorporate this book in a science when we are studying asteroids. It is just another way to introduce the students to these concepts. I have seen teachers throughout being in the classroom always incorporate literature within their lessons because it grabs and engages their attention without being boring.

The Egyptian Cinderella

The Egyptian Cinderella

By Shirley Climo

Grade 3

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE

This book is an amazing book with great history behind the story. This is definitely not the classic Cinderella but a very different Cinderella that represents how in Egypt Cinderella would be portrayed. At the beginning of the story it gives the background of Rhodopis. She was taken from her home in Greece and sold as a slave into Egypt. She actually got very lucky because her master was actually very nice to her and gave her sweet gifts. She dealt with some issues though. The female servants who are higher than slaves were mean to to her and teased her about her blond hair, green eyes, and pale skin that burned in the sun. What was interesting is she made friends with the local animals and began dancing and singing with them after she completed her work for the day. She got lucky one night when her master happened to wake up and saw her dancing. After seeing this he decided to order her a pair of "dainty slippers" made specifically for Rhodopis. The servants got very jealous because they still had old crummy sandals to wear. To be spiteful the servants gave her more chores and told her they were going to visit the Pharaoh but she wasn't going to be able to go because she has too many chores to do. She continued her chores after they left and then the hippopotamus jumped into the river and got mud on her slippers. After she cleaned her shoes a falcon suddenly appeared to her and took one of her slippers. The falcon took the slipper and dropped it into Amasis' lap, the Pharaoh. He took this as a sign from the god Horus that the person who fit into the shoe would be his queen. The Pharaoh went out on his journey to find who fit into it. The servant girls tried to force their way into the shoe and failed and then he found Rhodopis and slipped the shoe on and it fit!!! He claimed that she was the most Egyptian of them all with her blond hair, green eyes, and pail skin. He knew this was the one he was supposed to be with. I loved this reading and would actually have the students do a little research on Egypt in the past and have the students locate some characteristics in the book that are characteristics of Egypt. I think this is great to help incorporate both history and reading together in one. I would also have the students compare and contrast them with other Cinderella stories.