How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps

Week 4 Picture Book 3:
Genre: Science Fiction
How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers:
A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps
Written By: Mordecai Gerstein 
Published: 2013

Hands down the best book I read this week. Oh my goodness How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps is such a great little hidden gem that had me in stitches the entire time. The incredibly lengthy title pretty much sums up the plot, so I won't spend time attempting to explain the shenanigans that ensure. I usually do not like books about outer space, but this one really did it for me. Gerstein does an excellent job of blending together a child's perspective of outer space with the scientific view of it. The illustrations are crucial in not only telling the story, but also in teaching the reader about space in child friendly ways. 

The illustrations are clearly a child's perspective of what outer space would look like, but there are certain aspects that save it from being completely outlandish. When the child is still on Earth, the colors are very bright and vivid. When he ventures into space, Gerstein does an excellent job showing how vast it is by using black as the background color. The contrast is really powerful! 

The uses for this book are endless. It is a great book for students interested in outer space, but it could really be used for anybody. It could be used as a read aloud, but the illustrations are so powerful and detailed, that it would need to be read via document camera or with a class set of the books. It could be used to introduce a lesson on outer space obviously, but my first idea was that it could be used to inspire an engineering project. Four bright stars for this out of this world picture book!  

A Piece of Home

Week 4 Picture Book 2:
Genre: Realistic Fiction
A Piece of Home
Written By: Jeri Watts
Illustrated By: Hyewon Yum
Published: 2016

A Piece of Home is a very sweet story about family, acceptable, and coping with change. Hee Jun and his family live a life of honor and familiarity in Korea. One day, his father accepts a job in West Virginia teaching law at the state university so they have to relocate. Hee Jun, his little sister, and their grandmother have a hard transition because they cannot speak English, which makes school challenging. The little sister's teacher requested for the grandmother to assist in their classroom so the young girl would feel comfortable. During nap time, the teacher taught their grandmother English words. This made Hee Jun feel very lonely and lost. His teacher was making efforts to assist him, but he clearly felt alienated. Eventually he finds his way when a boy named Steve befriends him on the playground and helps him get acclimated. Steve's mother presents Hee Jun with a flower that he mentioned they grew in their home back in Korea. 

The illustrations in this book are very vibrant and childlike. Hee Jun is definitely a typical child narrator and has childish thoughts and desires. The illustrations really help bring that point home. A Piece of Home has a great message of acceptance and overcoming the difficulties that come with moving or other significant changes. 

This would be an excellent book to use if a class was getting a new student from anywhere, including a foreign country. It can open the floor to discussion of how a new student should be treated in order to help them transition into a new school and environment. While this may not be my favorite book, it is a great resource for teachers to keep in their classroom. I give A Piece of Home three stars. 

The Stranded Whale

Week 4 Picture Book 1:
Genre: Realistic Fiction
The Stranded Whale
Written By: Jane Yolen
Illustrated By: Melanie Cataldo
Published: 2015

This book was just plain sad. I honestly don't think I would ever use this because it is so blunt and so depressing. It follows a group of young children who are walking home from their various activities on the beach. Much to their dismay and confusion, they found a whale washed up on the sand. The whale was still alive, but very distressed. The children frantically attempted to hold the whale over until the coast guard could help by sticking their sweaters in the ocean and placing them on the whale's body. Unfortunately, the whale does not make it, and the children leave upset. 

The one aspect I enjoyed was the sizing scale of the drawings. It was very powerful seeing how small the children and the coast guard helpers were compared to the whale. There were dozens of people working and attempting to slide the whale back into the ocean, but it was too large for them to even budge. The color scheme is also quite dreary, which really helped set the tone for the book.

While I will not be using this book in my classroom, it could be a tool for talking with older students about life cycles of habitats. The book mentions a variety of different sea creatures, which could act as a transitional piece into discussion of a variety of life that exists underwater. I give this book 2.5 stars. 

                                                        

Rules

Week 4 Novel 1:
Rules
By: Cynthia Lord
Published: 2006

Just a bit of a disclaimer, I read this book when it was first released when I was in middle school. I decided to reread it because I did not remember it in that great of detail and I'm so happy I did. My one memory of Rules was that I did not really enjoy it. Rereading it ten years later, I understand why I did not enjoy it as an eleven-year-old. I did not possess the ability to sympathize with Catherine, the protagonist who is growing up with a younger brother with Autism. While I did not completely love this book the second time through, I have a deeper appreciation and understanding of it.

Catherine is an incredibly realistic protagonist. While her circumstances may have forced her to grow up and mature a bit more quickly than others, her thoughts and actions are very true to her age. She is grappling with the concept of equality throughout the book, and eventually learns the important lesson of the difference between fair and equal. Once she comes to this realization, she is able to effectively communicate with her parents about her feelings and needs.

While Rules is not my favorite book by any means, it is a great classroom tool. Not only does it delve into the concept of equality vs. fair, but it also preaches the importance of acceptance, sympathy, and understanding for those who may be a bit different from us. This book would make a great book club book because it would allow for more intimate conversations about the text amongst students. I give this book three stars. 

                                       

Raymie Nightingale

Week 3 Award Winning Novel:
Raymie Nightingale
By: Kate DiCamillo
Published: 2016
Award: National Book Award- 
Long List Nominee 2016

“I lay there and thought how life was like a Littmus Lozenge, how the sweet and the sad were all mixed up together and how hard it was to separate them out. It was confusing.”

-Because of Winn-Dixie

by: Kate DiCamillo

I have come to the conclusion that this book is just like a "Littmus Lozenge". It has the zing of root beer, sweetness of a strawberry, and just enough sorrow to make you think. This thing was, the writing was "swampy" just like sweet Louisiana Elefante's lungs, so you weren't always able to tell what you were feeling. Raymie Nightingale is unlike any book I have ever read. It tiptoes on the line between historical and realistic fiction and provides the reader with an incredible effervescent and aesthetic journey. 

Our main character Raymie Clarke is so painfully real. She is the victim of unfortunate familial circumstances and I really found myself aching for her. When her rag-tag group of friends comes together, stitches from laughter are inevitable. Louisiana Elefante and Beverly Tapinski almost stole the show. DiCamillo has created a whole slew of characters that are rich and memorable. The three girls kind of complete each other. This is a great message for any child, to show that everybody has something to bring to the table. The girls may be realistic, but their adventures are so outlandish that the reader cannot help but to be on the edge of their seat until the very last page. 

The writing of this novel is so thought provoking and emotion eliciting. I will openly admit I cried more than once while reading this. Not only tears of sadness as I sympathized with the girls, but also tears of happiness as they accomplished a large task or were rewarded for bravery and handwork.

This review was intentionally vague about the plot. I went into it pretty blind, and I wouldn't want to have experienced this book any other way. Kate DiCamillo has done it again. She has written an incredibly unique and bittersweet novel that will forever live in the hearts of anybody who has read it.  This group would be best used in a classroom book club, as it is very rich in meaning and students could spend countless hours pouring over the text and discussing every little detail. Five incredible well earned stars for the Three Rancheros and their countless attempts to "get the heck out of dodge".

The Only Child

Week 3 Wordless Picture Book 3:
The Only Child
By: Guojing
Published: 2015

This is a strange little book. It would bring about so many great discussions in the classroom. The author states in her note at the beginning that this book was inspired by the loneliness she experienced as a child due to the one child law in China. She was constantly left home alone while her parents worked, which left her nothing to do but sit alone and imagine. The illustrations are mesmerizing and the book reads a bit like a graphic novel. The scenes are so detailed and you can feel the emotions radiating off the page in each scene. The grayscale illustrations make for a melancholy, yet dreamy tone to the book, which is very accurate. 

This book would be an interesting one to use for an activity such as the one we completed in class with an illustration from A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkins. In order to get our thinking started about a certain topic, we looked at an illustration and talked about what we saw. The teacher would only provide neutral comments that stretched our thinking and encouraged us to explain why. This book really lends itself to an inferencing lesson. There is so much room for imagination, and this would make for a fun open ended lesson. It could also be used as an introduction about China's birth control policy and how it impacted the children and families.

While this book may not be at the top of my list, it is definitely one I will consider getting for my classroom library. I give The Only Child 3.5 whimsical stars.

                                 

Daisy Gets Lost

Week 3 Wordless Picture Book 2:
Daisy Gets Lost
By: Chris Raschka
Published: 2013

Daisy Gets Lost is a very cute book that is definitely well loved by a young audience. The illustrations are very simple and whimsical. Just as many dogs are, the scenes are very chaotic and exciting! The colors are very bold and loud, which makes the book a bit overwhelming. However, there is a great use of color symbolism throughout. As the story progresses into the conflict, the colors get more muddled and overwhelming, showing that both Daisy and her owner are very scared that they will not ever reunite! When they eventually find each other, there are lots of happy yellows and clearer lines.

Honestly, I was not a huge fan of this one. This book is definitely meant for younger audiences, which I do not intend on teaching. If I do end up in that realm, this will be a great book to have on hand. It can be used to teach students the important life skill of what to do when they get lost. They can use their problem solving skills to discuss what Daisy should do in order to reunite with her owner. This book is also one of many, so Daisy has the potential to become a well loved character amongst the students. She could also be brought in to make a lesson more fun and exciting

While it was cute, it did not necessarily live up to my expectations. Daisy Gets Lost will probably not be found in my classroom library, but it is an excellent book to have on hand in case I ever need to work with younger children. I give this book 2.5 stars.

                                                       

Flashlight

Week 3 Wordless Picture Book 1:
Flashlight
By: Lizi Boyd
Published: 2014

This book is a unique experience. The illustrations are very simple and a majority of the pages are black with white outlines, however, by using a flashlight beam on each page, certain details are brought out in vivid color. This book also features a lot of "demand" from the character. The child is often looking straight at the reader from the page as it to say "look at what I have found!" Cut outs on the pages allow for certain details to be carried over onto the following page, which makes for an interesting visual experience. 

I have little to no experience with wordless books, so this was a bit odd at first. Previously, I had thought that only young children who cannot read should use them. However, this book has a certain level of maturity and depth to it that lends itself to many great lessons. This book could be used for a lesson on habitats, as many different habitats are shown during the child's walk through the woods. Flashlight could also be used to sharpen observation skills while looking at the pictures to help add to the story. 

This book definitely will have a place in my classroom library. The illustrations are very interesting and students will spend countless hours pouring over the pages, taking in every last detail. I give this book three stars.

Blue

Week 2 Nonfiction Novel:
Blue
Written By: Joyce Moyer Hostetter
Published: 2010

Historical Fiction is not typically a genre I spend a lot of time reading. I typically find historical fiction novels a bit slow and difficult to get lost in. This novel is the exception. Blue grips you right from the start and you find yourself rooting for Ann Fay as she takes on the role as "Man of The House" when her father goes off to fight in World War II. She really embodies the concept of rubbing some dirt in your wounds and getting your hands dirty. Ann Fay throws herself into keeping the family farm afloat and spends all of her free time working in the fields and trying to recruit her siblings to assist her. When a Polio epidemic hits her home of Hickory, North Carolina, everybody is left distraught and families are left broken. Ann Fay rises to the occasion and despite her own obstacles, tries to keep her family in tact and fight for her new found beliefs from a friendship that developed during a time of great hardship.

Wow, this little book packs a punch. There are so many important underlying themes and concepts that are just longing to be directed and discussed. Blue is a great series for anybody, but especially for students who love historical fiction. Ann Fay is an excellent literary role model to have as she is the epitome of perseverance. 

I would love to use this as a read aloud book, as the dialect used greatly lends itself towards that use. It would be a great tie in for studying World War II, plants, and epidemics. I hope to read the other book in the series, Comfort, at some point this semester. I give this book 4 stars.

Mercedes and The Chocolate Pilot

Week 2 Historical Fiction Bonus Book:
Mercedes and The Chocolate Pilot
Written By: Margot Theis Raven
Illustrated by: Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen
Published: 2002

Everybody on the entire planet should read this book and I have felt this way since I first read it 13 years ago. As a kid you could not get me to touch anything that could have possibly happened in real life. Well, unless it was a Bluebonnet Book. Each year, I was bound and determined to read every single one of the books on the list before anybody else in the school. At the age of 8, I really did not care for picture books. I thought they were beneath me and my "superior reading ability" as I used to say. That was, until this book stopped me dead in my tracks. I was cranking through the picture books on the 2002-2003 Bluebonnet book list in the school library one day while my mom was in a PTA meeting. I was determined to finish all of them that day and Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot was the last one in my stack. As cheesy as this sounds, it was pretty much love at first sight. Mrs. Cole the librarian called me over to help her re-shelf the returned books and I walked over to her wide-eyed with the bright blue book clutched tightly to my chest. She put the brakes on the rolling book cart and held her hand out for the book as she dropped back into her rolling computer chair to check it out for me. That was the only time that book left my hot little hands until I was forced to turn it in two weeks later so somebody else could check it out. 

I honestly cannot tell you what caused me to love this book so deeply. I have been pondering it for years and cannot seem to put my finger on it. This book tells the story of a young girl named Mercedes who is living in West Berlin during the humanitarian rescue mission referred to as The Berlin Airlift. Times were hard for Germany in 1947. All of the railroads, roads, and canal routes had been blockaded, leaving the citizens of West Berlin trapped with minimal resources. This particular book focuses on one American pilot, Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen, who was better known as The Chocolate Pilot. In order to bring joy to the children of West Berlin, he would drop little white parachutes from his airplane stocked with candy and sweets. Little Mercedes and her mother were struggling to make ends meet because Father had not returned from fighting in the war and their chickens were too afraid of the airplanes to lay eggs to be sold. So naturally, Mercedes's mother was quite upset and nervous about their well being. 

Sweet Mercedes just knew that if she could get her hands on one of the candy bars that The Chocolate Pilot dropped from the sky, it would help her mother feel better. So she begged endlessly for her mother to bring her to the airfield where the candy drops happened. Unfortunately, little Mercedes had happiness ripped from her grasp by a boy much larger than she was. That did not stop her. She took it upon herself to write to Lt. Halvorsen and ask for him to drop some candy at their house (the bombed out one on the corner with the white chickens). 

The end of this book is so special and sweet, that it needs to be experience rather than explained. This book will be used in my classroom no matter what. Just like Finding Winnie, this is one of those books that you create a lesson around. I give Mercedes and The Chocolate Pilot all of the stars in the galaxy, and then some. 

Clara: The (Mostly) True Story of the Rhinoceros Who Dazzled Kings, Inspired Artists, and Won the Hearts of Everyone... While She Ate Her Way Up and Down a Continent

Week 2 Historical Fiction Picture Book 4:
Clara: The (Mostly) True Story of the Rhinoceros Who Dazzled Kings, Inspired Artists, and Won the Hearts of Everyone... While She Ate Her Way Up and Down a Continent
Written and Illustrated By: Emily Arnold McCully
Published: 2016

I really did try with this book. I wanted to enjoy it so badly because the idea seemed so cute. It just didn't quite do it for me though after all of the incredible historical fiction books I have read this week. The idea is cute and the illustrations are great, but the writing fell a bit short for me. Yes, this is a historical fiction book, but the author took things a bit too far and it got to the point where it was like she had lived inside of Clara's head for six weeks and knew exactly what she was thinking and how she thought it. If it is supposed to be a historical fiction book, it should probably be written in a more realistic sense and last time I checked, scientists still have not figured out a way to read the minds of animals.

With that minor rant off my chest, let me move along to a brief overview of the story. A Dutch sea captain named Captain Van der Meer purchased an orphaned baby rhinoceros named Clara from his Indian friend. He decided to take a voyage around Europe and Asia to show Clara and make some money. Most of the story was spent discussing the different ways they needed to care for the rhino. Her skin dried out so they covered her with fish oil. She was too scared to climb onto the ship herself, so they had to create a lift system to hoist her on board. Most frequently, Clara just kept getting hungrier and hungrier, so they spent a lot of the story trying to figure out what to feed her. Together Van der Meer and Clara traveled all over the continent, stopping for artists to paint her, poets to write about her, and kings and queens to stare into her eyes with awe. For seventeen years, they traveled together, until Clara grew old and passed away. 

I will not be using this book in my classroom unless I am doing a lesson on Rhinoceroses. I would, however, recommend it to any student who shows an interest in ship life, sea travel, and obviously, rhinos. I am still so upset that this book did not live up to my expectations because I'm such a sucker for animal stories. If it were about twenty pages shorter, I think it would have been a bit more bearable. Grudgingly, I give this book 2.5 stars.

Steamboat School

Week 2 Historical Fiction Picture Book 3:
Steamboat School
Written By: Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrated by: Ron Husband
Published: 2016

Beautiful. Everything about this book is just absolutely beautiful. It is brand spanking new, and I am very hopeful that it will receive countless awards and earn the place of honor on many people's bookshelves in their classroom libraries. This book is set in St. Louis, Missouri in 1847. It tells the story of a boy named James who is about to start school for the first time. Here's the twist, in 1847, a new law was passed that stated "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows: No person shall keep any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes, reading or writing, in this state. He and his sister Tassie had to make their way to the church basement each day to their windowless classroom. Where, according to their Reverend teacher, the knowledge they're gaining is the only light they need. 

Now I'm sure you're thinking... Hang on a second, where does the steamboat come into play? Well, unfortunately, their school gets shut down after a while and they are forced to disperse. Their clever teacher decided that to get around the no school for colored people law, he and his students would work together to refurbish and set up a school on an old steamboat ship. 

This book focuses a lot on the idea of being brave and what it means to be brave and what a brave act may look like. Steamboat School really challenged my perception of the word brave as well as how valuable the ability to read and write is. Back then people risked their lives in order to learn these skills and today a lot of people take them for granted.

I cannot wait to use this book in my classroom. It would be an excellent book to open up the year with so I can discuss with the students the importance of being brave with their learning each an every day and valuing all of the information and skills we learn because there may be people out there who are dying to learn what they are. I give this book a well deserved 5 stars.

Abe Lincoln Crosses A Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale

Week 2 Historical Fiction Picture Book 2:
Abe Lincoln Crosses A Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale
Written By: Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrated by: John Hendrix
Published: 2008

This fun little find had me in stitches the entire way through. It tells the tale of Abe Lincoln's adventures on the frontier with his childhood friend Austin Gollaher. The only way to describe the writing in this book is incredibly conversational. Hopkins has written it as if she was sitting with the reader around a crackling campfire and telling it to them by memory, as all of the best legends and tall tales were. Readers will giggle and gasp as Abe and Austin get into a bit of trouble attempting to cross the rushing Knob Creek in nothing but their undershirts.

This book is a solid example of the fine line between nonfiction and historical fiction. It can be used to teach students that just because a book is set in the past and uses familiar historical figures, does not necessarily mean that it's true. This story is a tall (thin) tale, and the author makes sure to mention towards the end "that's the thing about history-- if you weren't there, you can't know for sure". Obviously, Abe Lincoln did not write this book, nor did he tell the wonderful Deborah Hopkins this story himself. There is historical proof that Benjamin Austin Gollaher existed and was good pals with our 16th president when he was a boy, however, there is no proof of this particular even actually happening. 

I will definitely be using this book in my classroom. It is an excellent way to introduce Abe Lincoln and teach the concept of onomatopoeia, as well as being a great example of a tall tale and a quality piece of historical fiction. I give this book 3.5 stars.

Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust

Week 2 Historical Fiction Picture Book 1:
Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust
Written By: Loïc Dauvillier
Illustrated by: Marc Lizano and Greg Salsedo (Ink)
Published: 2014

Alright, you caught me. This book is not actually a picture book, but a graphic novel. However, due to its brevity, I decided that it could count as a picture book as well. Hidden gives kids what they want in a historical fiction book. A story about what the kids were doing while their parents were off fighting in the war or wasting away in a concentration camp. The Holocaust is such an intimidating and heavy topic, especially when introducing it to children for the first time. This book is an excellent way to ease into it. 

Hidden tells the story of a French woman named Dounia who was a little girl during the Holocaust. She is explaining to her granddaughter her experiences during this heinous time in history. The reader's heart breaks along with Dounia's when she is kicked out of school, ignored by her friends, and forced to wear a "sheriff's badge" all because she is Jewish. One night the Nazis come for her parents and they hide her inside of the hollow bottom of a wardrobe. For the rest of the book, Dounia recounts her time being bounced from safe house to safe house while on the run from the Nazi's, until she is eventually has somewhat of a happy ending.

This fabulous little book really does pack a punch with its 80 pages. It does a fabulous job covering the basic ideas of the Holocaust without harping on the gruesome details that should be learned later on down the road. If I teach a grade where the Holocaust is part of the curriculum, I will hands down use this as a required reading novel. It is such a hidden gem and I will be recommending it to anybody who enjoys history, graphic novels, or meaningful stories in general. I give this book 4 stars.