Zita The Space Girl

By Ben Hatke

Zita is walking home from school with a friend of her's when they come across a crater they have never seen before. In it is a small remote with a big red button in the middle. Zita taunts her friend and pushes the button. Immediately he is sucked into a vortex, and Zita is left alone. She knows she needs to go after him and nervously pushes the button again and jumps through the portal. She is transported to another planet with robots and creatures she has never seen before. She quickly realizes she is not in any place familiar and needs to save her friend from the robots that kidnapped him.

Zita The Space Girl is a graphic novel. It is very vivid and colorful which adds to the engagement of the students! At times I found it hard to follow, but overall it was a quick book to read with an interesting story line. Graphic novels are becoming very popular with elementary children. I would really like to have these in my classroom. They introduce new and different text features such as text boxes, dialogue bubbles, thought bubbles, and sounds. I think this would be fun to have in the classroom.

The Rooster Who Went to His Uncle's Wedding

By Alma Flor Ada

This story tells of a Rooster who wakes up early to go to his uncle's wedding. He shines his beak and heads out on his way. But he forgot to eat breakfast and begins to get very hungry. He sees a kernel of corn sitting in a puddle of mud. He debates weather or not to eat it, but his hunger wins out. He eats the kernel and gets his beak all muddy. He looks around for someone to help him. He continually asks everyone around him to help, and they refuse, until one friend is nice enough to help him.

This is another paperback plus book that contains other resources at the end of the story. It has a guide to different kinds of roosters, a song in English and in Spanish called Oh, The colors (De Colores), and the poem, Chanticleer by John Farrar. These are great little resources to use in the classroom. Not only for reading but to help teach features of informational texts. There is a table of contents and titles and subtitles throughout the book.

In the Cow's Backyard

By Alma Flor Ada

This is a short story of animal friends gathering in the Cow's backyard. As each new friend joins, the hammock grows more crowded. Eventually there is no more room, but the Ant tells the elephant as he has told everyone before, "Come join us! There's always room for one more friend. Please don't say you can't!" Mother elephant picks up the hammock and puts it on her back and carries around her friends. It's a cute little story about friendship!

The book as a whole is a paperback plus book. After the story In The Cow's Backyard, there is a poem called So Many Kinds of Animals by Mary Ann Hoberman, and a quiz on animals and what they do when it's hot outside. There is also a cute game for kids that relates to the story at the end of the book. This is a great little text that would be great to use in a lower level classroom!

Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride

By Pam Muñoz Ryan

This is a story of two great friends, Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. The story tells of one night when Amelia and her husband were invited to the White House for the night before Amelia was scheduled to talk to the Daughters of the American Revolution. During dinner Amelia was asked about flying and what the it looked like at night. Amelia told about it and then made a last minute decision to take her best friend on a flight. Before dessert, the two were boarding a plane. Amelia flew them to Baltimore and back to DC. They admired the lights from above and realized just how beautiful it was. When they returned to the White House, the two jumped into Eleanor's new car and sped down the road. 

The two friends obviously loved adventure. Ryan mentioned in her author's note that she briefly read about the night they went flying together. She researched it and learned that Amelia briefly flew the plane, but it was mostly flown by two of Eastern Air Transport's pilots, due to regulations. Eleanor got her student pilot license with Amelia's encouragement. She never learned to fly, but Amelia offered to teach her before she went missing. I thought this is a great story for historical fiction. I would love to use this in my classroom to spark my students' interest in historical fiction and in Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. They were two very strong women of history and I would love my students to learn more about them. 

Grandfather's Journey

By Allen Say

Grandfather's Journey follows a young man, his daughter, and her son in their journeys between Japan and California. The narrator is the grandson of the man we are first introduced to. His grandfather grew up in Japan and longed to see the world. When he grew older, he traveled by boat to the new world. He explored and explored the land, and came to California where he liked it the most. He returned to Japan, married a girl from his village and brought her and their daughter to California where his daughter grew up. But he became homesick and moved the family back to Japan. His daughter moved to the city and married and had a young boy who grew up to stories of his grandfather's travels. As he grew older, he traveled as well and felt he got to know his grandfather much better through his travels that his grandfather had once taken. My favorite line in the story was, "The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other." I thought this was a wise statement from a man who has grown up in Japan and moved to America. He sees and loves the values that both countries have.

I loved this story. I think it would be wonderful to read to children who are learning about immigration. This is a fantastic true story of Allen Say's grandfather and his understanding of the two cultures he has experienced in his life. It would be very informative to young readers as well as enjoyable to read!

Too Many Tamales

By Gary Soto
Illustrated by Ed Martinez

Too Many Tamales is a story of a young girl named Maria. On Christmas Eve, Maria and her mother are kneading the dough to make tamales for the entire family. While Maria's mother answers the phone, Maria tries on her mother's ring which she had left on the counter. Before she realizes it, the ring is gone. Maria thinks it could be in one of the tamales they made, and recruits her cousins to help her eat them all in order to look for the ring.

This story is very endearing because of how much Maria loves her mother's ring. She and her cousins eat and eat and eat to find it! I really enjoyed seeing Christmas Eve from another point of view! The tamales sound delicious and I would love to have one. I think this would be a great story to teach about different traditions and heritages and how they celebrate holidays. I would love to use this story.

I Don't Want To Talk About It

By Jeanie Franz Ransom
Illustrated by Kathryn Kunz Finney

This story deals with a parents' divorce from the point of view of a young child. On every page, her parents try and talk to her, and tell her that whatever she is feeling, is okay. On every page, she wishes she was a different animal that would take her away from the situation. Such as an aligator that could eat up her parents and their bad news, or a fish whose tears can't be seen in the water. In the end, she begins to realize that her parents love her, and even though they'll be apart, she'll still see them, and do all the things she normally does.

I like this book because it addressed a topic that many kids struggle with. This would be helpful to have in the classroom as a resource or even to be used when talking about life changes. I don't think I would use it in my classroom as a whole class lesson without a topic in mind.

Esperanza Rising

By Pam Muños Ryan

Esperanza Rising is the story of a young girl forced to abandon her home in Mexico and immigrate to the United States. At the age of thirteen, Esperanza looses her father, her home and view on the world in just a few short days and is made to leave everything she has ever known behind her for the safety of her family. Esperanza arrives in California and is shocked at the conditions she will be living and working in. Having never lifted a finger, and had all the space in the world, she is shocked to see her living conditions and the work she will be expected to do. It is a hard adjustment to say the least. Esperanza goes through quite a transition in the year that we are privy to her life, and it is clear that she learns to put others before herself and the value of hard work. 

I thought this story is a great one to use in the classroom. It's not at a difficult level and would bring a lot of interesting discussion into the classroom. Not only could you talk about the immigration, but there is also a variety of other topics such as segregation, labor unions, and literary aspects such as internal struggles of a main character. I would love to use this in maybe a book club format to see what kinds of discussions my students would come up with!

At Daddy's on Saturdays

By Linda Walvoord Girard
Illustrated by Judith Friedman

At Daddy's on Saturdays is a story about a child whose parents get divorced. Katie is very upset when her father moves out. He explains to her that he has to leave because he and her mommy can't get along. He tells her that he'll be able to talk to her on the phone, and she can visit him. For the entire first week after her father left, Katie goes through different stages of grief. She constantly feels as though her daddy has gotten a divorce from her as well as from her mother. It is very hard for her to deal with. On Saturday, she visits her daddy at his apartment and spends a lot of time with him. She begins to feel better about the divorce, knowing that she wasn't going to loose her daddy.

This book is something I think I would keep for children who are going through a parents' divorce, but wouldn't share with the class. It would definitely be helpful for students who are struggling, but of course would be controversial to share with the entire class.

And Tango Makes Three

By Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Illustrated by Henry Cole

This is a story of two penguins, Roy and Silo. Roy and Silo were two boy penguins that paired up during mating time. They did everything the other couples did, but one day noticed they couldn't have a baby penguin. They even tried hatching a rock by taking turns keeping it warm. The caretaker at the central park zoo decided to give them an egg of their own. Roy and Silo know exactly what to do and begin caring for it right away. Eventually the egg hatches and Tango is born. Tango is the first penguin to have two daddies in the central park zoo. The entire story is true. Roy and Silo became a couple and 1998 and had Tango in 2000.

This story is controversial because it has to do with families with gay parents. This is a difficult topic to broach in schools. However, it is a necessary one when talking about families. Families are made up of many different types of people. It is imperative that this is discussed, especially if children in the class come from families with gay parents. It's a great book, and is very well written. I personally loved the story and the personification of the penguins in the story.