I Wish You More

Bibiliography: Rosenthal, A. K., & Lichtenheld, T. (2015). I wish you more. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Book Summary: This book is about a little boy that wishes well for others. He wishes things for people that would make them a better and happier person. Like sharing, aspire and inspire, learn how to get along with others, be positive, stop to admire life, protection, and abundance. This little boy wishes all these things for a loved one, as it should be.

Critical Analysis: I found this book quite inspiring. The fact that a little boy would wish these things at such a young age for a loved one is rare. For someone to wish all those blessing among someone is because they are blessed with pureness. Though the book is simple enough for children to read, they might need help depicting the phrases as they have double meaning. This book would be great  to break down as a whole group in order to understand what the author is trying to say.

What to do With an Idea

Bibliography: Yamada, K., & Besom, M. (2014). What do you do with an idea? Seattle, WA: Compendium.

Book Summary: One day, an idea showed itself to a boy. At first he ignored it, as it was something small and unknown. Once he thought about it more and more, his idea became bigger. At first he hid it from the others because he thought people would say it was a bad idea and they did. But he didn’t care. The more he thought about it, the more he loved it. Because of all the love and attention he was giving his idea, it became grand, and proved itself to be his best idea.

Critical Analysis: I was blown away by this book. This has got to be one of the best books I read. So many students are afraid to speak up because they are afraid of what others may think. This happens a lot around school; nobody wants to be seen as weird. I truly believe this book is appropriate for all grade levels, from early readers to high schoolers. Why not? It teaches students a great lesson,  “When you believe in yourself, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks! Be great! Be you!”

Our Great Big Backyard

Bibliography: Bush, L. W., Parisi, A., & Bush, J. (2016). Our great big backyard. HarperCollins.

Book Summary: The summer is coming and Jane has already made plans with her friends, plans that mainly consist of Wi-Fi, watching movies, social media entertainment, and playing video games. Jane become very upset at her parents when they inform her that they have decided to go on a road trip for the summer in order to enjoy the great outdoors. Jane is extremely upset and forcefully goes on the trip with her parents. At first, Jane does not seem to be interested in any of the scenery or family activities; she only wants to be on her tablet. As the days continue passing, little by little Jane begins to enjoy all of the special places her family visits. She even starts getting along with her little brother whom she usually finds annoying. Towards the end of the road trip, Jane completely forgets about Wi-Fi, phones, and tablets and enjoys her vacations to the fullest. When she gets home, she camps out with her friends in her own backyard to talk about all of the amazing places she visited and how much fun she had.

Critical Analysis: This story is amazing! I had never read a book that talked about Wi-Fi in a story. I enjoyed seeing how Jane slowly but surely started to put down her electronic devices and actually started having a good time with her family. I believe this book should be read to and by student of all ages. Now a days we are so caught up on social media and the internet that we forget to enjoy life. As a parent myself, I can relate to Jane’s parents and very much enjoyed how they encouraged their children to enjoy the great outdoors for a change.

The Wonderful Things You Will Be

Bibliography: Martin, E. W. (2015). The wonderful things you will be. New York: Random House.

Book Summary: This book consists of a parent who lovingly tells their child how important they are to them and how they know they will do wonderful things in life. They remind the child how brave they are, how loved they are, and that no matter what, they will always be great!

Critical Analysis: This book is similar to the story, “As Long as I’m Living, my Baby You Will Be” by: Rober Munsch. This book is something most parents would like to read to their children, it surely brought me to tears. It is inspiring and full of love. This book could be read by and read to children of all ages because, everyone should be reminded of how wonderful they are and the potential they have to be great and successful in life.

The Sheepover

Bibliography: Churchman, J., & Churchman, J. (2015). The sheepover. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Book summary: the animals on farmer John’s farm inform him that something is wrong. Sweat Pea the sheep was feeling sick and so Farmer John calls the vet to come look at her. The vet determines she is sick and that she needs rest and antibiotics to make her feel better. Sweat Pea is promised a sleepover with all of her farm friends as soon as she gets better. When she finally recovers, Sweet Pea has the night of her life with all of her friends from the farm.

Critical Analysis: This book is a great read! It encourages readers to always be there for the ones you love. What really blew me away were the illustrations. They were mixed with drawings and real life pictures of the same animals. That is something unique that is not always seen in books. Readers of all ages would enjoy this book!

The Day the Crayons Quit

Bibliography: Daywalt, D., & Jeffers, O. (2015). The Day the Crayons Quit. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Book Summary: One day the crayons decided to quit on Duncan. They wrote letters explaining how unused, overused, and wrongly used they felt. They felt overworked and needed a break. All colors were frustrated. Beige explained how he usually gets misnamed, purple doesn’t like to color outside the lines, gray gets used too much, white feels sad because he is rarely used, and so on. After Duncan read all the letters from the crayons, he understood each color’s point of view and so he decides to create a picture using all colors in different perspectives so that his colors can feel happy again.

Critical Analysis: This book is great to help readers think outside the box, whether students read the book themselves or they are read to. It is suitable for many ages.  We usually have a certain mindset as to how things are supposed to be, yellow sun, pink flamingo, blue sky, etc. because that is the reality of things. This book encourages its readers to use their imaginations and stop and think about being bias.  For example, why should a boy’s shirt be blue? Why can’t it be purple? This book also helps readers appreciate things they have and learn to take care of them better.

 

How to Catch a Leprechaun

Bibliography: Wallace, A., & Elkerton, A. (2016). How to Catch a Leprechaun. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.

Book Summary: St. Patrick’s Day is here and it’s time for the leprechauns to play tricks on the kids. He laughs at all of the weak attempts children make to catch him on this special day. He evades all the kids and their master plans to catch him because he is too savvy to get caught. He knows all of the tricks in the book and therefore nobody is able to catch him.

Critical Analysis: I really enjoyed reading this book and so did the students who I read it to. The leprechaun was so mischievous, the students laughed hysterically at every flip of the page. The illustrations for this book are amazing to say the least! I really enjoy books that can also be read by non-readers. Though judging a book by its cover is something we always teach students not to do, early readers heavily rely on the illustrations to comprehend the plot summary to each story.

Pete the Cat’s Groovy Guide to Love

Bibiliography: Dean, K., & Dean, J. (2015). Pete the Cats groovy guide to love. HarperCollins.

Book Summary: In this book, Pete the Cat explains what “Love” is to him by saying quotes written by famous people. Some of those famous people include Lucille Ball, Pablo Picasso, John Lennon, Ghandi, Mother Teresa, and many more. He shows children to love their loved ones but overall, to love themselves. “Listen, be kind, and give love”, said Pete the Cat.

Critical Analysis: I am a huge fan of “Pete the Cat” hence, why I chose this book amongst the rest. To my surprise, this book was nothing like I expected it to be. That is not necessarily a bad thing but, I disliked the fact that most if not all of the book only had quotes. There was not plot summary, children usually look forward to a climax in the story because it builds their excitement towards finishing the book. Though the quotes included were beautifully said, full of wisdom, and truth, I also believe that the content might be a little difficult for early readers to fully comprehend.

 

 

HOW TO BABYSIT A GRANDPA

Bibliography: Reagan, J., & Wildish, L. (2012). How to Babysit a Grandpa. Random House Children's Books.

Book Summary: Usually grandparents babysit their grandchildren and not the other way around. But in this story, it’s the other way around. A young boy believes he is actually babysitting his grandfather as his parents go out for a while. When he babysits his grandpa, he takes him for a walk, they have lunch together, they play, they take a nap (well, grandpa does). Soon they realize that the boy’s parents will soon arrive and so they begin to clean up before they say goodbye to each other.

Critical Analysis: This story was the cutest story ever. I find it amusing that the young boy actually believed he was in charge of his grandfather and that it was his responsibility to watch him for the day. The boy’s innocence reminded me about how beautiful it was to be a child, everything was an adventure. I enjoyed the illustrations in the book because they were so detailed. Each page was full of detail so that even a child who has not started reading will depict the plot summary of this book. This title is also related to , “How to Babysit a Grandma” by: Jean Reagan.

Dragons Love Tacos

Bibliography: Rubin, A., & Salmieri, D. (2012). Dragons love tacos. Penguin Young Readers Group.

Book Summary:  This book explains to its readers how much dragons love tacos. They love big tacos, little tacos, tacos with veggies on them, and tacos parties. There’s only one thing they do not like on their tacos, salsa! It makes their ears smoke! As if dragons needed another reason to cause smoke. One day they were invited to a taco party and they accidentally ate salsa! Of course, the salsa was so hot that it because their ears to smoke and consequentially burn the house down. Everything turned out fine though, together all the dragons helped rebuild the house and all was good.

Critical Analysis: This book is a wonderful choice for children in elementary grade levels although as an adult I enjoyed as much as my students did. Most kids love mythical creatures and the thought of dragons eating Mexican food is quite humorous. I had never read a book similar to this one and it is one I would like to promote amongst other teachers as I believe their students would enjoy it very much.