Love That Dog

Love That Dog
Written by: Sharon Creech

WOW!  What a fun and fast read.  Holy toledo.  I have never read a book quite like this before, and I absolutely loved it.  I enjoyed reading it for a variety of reasons... for starters:  Although this may sound silly coming from a senior in college, I felt like I accomplished something really big in a short amount of time. I can see students feeling the same way!  I'm not sure how common it is for a student to finish a novel in a day or even finish a novel at all, in general.  This in itself may be a huge accomplishment for many children, and in turn may motivate them to pick up another novel and give it a shot.

The poetry format was another reason I enjoy reading this book.  The words were written on the page in a way that looked like poetry, however, I didn't read it as poetry.  I feel like kids may get caught up in defining poetry by it's appearance.  This book does an excellent job in breaking the norm of poems 'looking and sounding' like stereotypical poetry (a new 'sound' is applied to this story).

In conclusion, I also enjoyed the plot of the story.  Each page is filled with diary-like entires.  However, the audience is only allowed to read the entries written by the writer.  There is a second party involved in the story that is responding to the writer's entries and in turn the writer is responding.  Due to this I felt as though I was sort of a detective trying to figure out what the writer is responding to.  This made the book unique to me.  I would highly recommend this book as a read aloud to younger grades, an individual or group read in the middle grades, and as an individual read in j.h./high school/ and beyond.  I enjoyed reading this book as a college student and I believe others will enjoy it as well.

Honey, I Love

Honey, I Love
Written by: Eloise Greenfield
Illustrated by: Jan Spivey Gilchist

Honey, I Love is thee only poetry book I checked out from the curriculum lab that had a continuous flow from one page to the next.  It literally was a story book as well as a poetry book.  One unique trait that author Greenfield incorporated into this book is his lack of ending punctuation marks.  The only ending punctuation mark that appears throughout the entire book is at the very end, on the last page, after the very last word.  Perhaps this why the book reads so smoothly from page to page.

The book has its recommended audience being children between the ages of 2 and 5.  I agree with this age range due to the book's simple language and plot.  I believe that this story could be utilized as a read out loud in a Kindergarten (and perhaps, first grade) classroom.  However, I feel as though it would be more appropriate for a parent to read this book to their child at a younger age.

Brothers & Sisters: Family Poems

Brothers & Sisters: Family Poems
Written by: Eloise Greenfield
Illustrated by: Jan Spivey Gilchrist

This poetry book would be a wonderful addition to a family and/or friendship unit.  The poems touch upon moments that occur between two sisters, two brothers, and between one brother and one sister.  Some of these include: Wrestling, New Sibling, Twin, Mad at Dad, Teen Brother, etc.  I assume that most of these topics could relate to my future students in some way or another.  By allowing students to experience connections with books, they are practicing and experiencing a reading strategy!      

In addition, diversity in gender, age, and ethnicity are shown throughout the pages of the book.  This gives students the opportunity to see a variety of family structures and dynamics, which may or may not be similar to their own.  I would recommend this book to students between the ages of 5 and 9, and I would also recommend this book to teachers and parents of younger students.  

Toad by the Road

Toad by the Road
Written by: Joanne Ryder
Illustrated by: Maggie Kneen

Toad by the Road discusses a year in the life of a toad.  An aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the fact that the table of contents was split into 4 seasons.  One would normally think: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  However, Ryder breaks the life of a toad into four seasons known as 1) Spring-Summer, 2) Summer, 3) Late Summer-Fall, and 4) Winter-Spring.  As you can see, the life of a toad is different that ours by just looking at how their year is broken up.  One can also notice that Summer seems to be a popular and perhaps busy month for a toad.

The author does a nice job of incorporating all types of poetry styles into her book.  Rhyming, repetition, alliteration, patterns, etc. are all displayed throughout the pages.  I would recommend this book of poetry to students in 2nd grade or younger.  This could easily be used in a science class as a supplement to a amphibian unit.

Rain Romp

Rain Romp
Written by: Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by: Dyanna Wolcott

Rain Romp is a colorful book of poems for children 3 years of age and older.  One of my favorite characteristics of this book was it's unique way of writing poetry on a page.  Some of the poems within the story are written in a way that is typical of poetry.  Others are written diagonally, curvy, or in different fonts scattered amongst the pages.  Another aspect I enjoyed was the author's way of making the poetry have a rhythm without using rhymes.  I was able to read the entire book in a smooth steady pattern without getting caught up with rhyming words.

In addition the illustrator, Wolcott, does a nice job of aiding the written text with her illustrations.  The illustrations are page filling and extremely colorful.  The colors are somewhat pastel in appearance and this gives the book a pleasant, soft feeling.  I would recommend this book to students to read in their individual reading time as well as group-reading (perhaps in a literature group).  This book is aimed toward younger students, however, I feel as though students in middle elementary could definitely benefit from it by studying the unique way poetry is written throughout this book.

I Can Draw a Weeposaur and Other Dinosaurs

I Can Draw a Weeposaur and Other Dinosaurs
Written by: Eloise Greenfield
Illustrated by: Jan Spivey Gilchrist

This book is recommended for children ages 4+.  I would cap the '+' on the age of 7.  The reason for this is because I read this book to my second grade buddy and she struggled to keep her interest in this story.  I Can Draw a Weeposaur and Other Dinosaurs is a poem book that lists short poems (4-5 sentences in length) about different make-believe dinosaurs... such as: shoppersaurus, trickosaurus, and smellasaurus.  I appreciated the creativeness the author and illustrator used throughout making this book.

I believe this book would be a good way to start a poetry unit with in a younger elementary grade because the poems are simple yet creative.  However, I do have one caution: all the poetry presented in this book rhyme.  I believe that it is almost 'stereotypical' for one to think that a poem has to rhyme.  If I do decide to use this book in the future I will want to make sure that I make a point to the class that poetry doesn't have to rhyme.  In order to help prove this, I would read un-rhyming poetry to the class perhaps from another book.

'A' Was Once an Apple Pie

A Was Once an Apple Pie

Written by: Edward Lear

Illustrated by: Suse MacDonald

Brief Summary: AWas Once an Apple Pie creatively uses all twenty-six letters of the alphabet to create a book of non-sense rhymes in poetry form.

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This book displayed creative, simple, page-filling illustrations on every page. Each letter of the alphabet was represented along with a unique rhyme. For example, the letter 'A':

'A' was once an apple pie,

pidy, widy, tidy, pidy,

nice insidy, apple pie!

The book suggests that its audience be in preschool, kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade. This young elementary-aged group would definitely find this book to be beneficial while learning the alphabet as well as when learning rhyming words. A child who is already familiar with the alphabet letters may find this book to be a tad boring (I myself struggled to get through the entire book.) The story is written in poetry form and it may prove to be a good example for students to look at who struggle with writing poetry of their own. Furthermore, I feel this book is more of a learning tool rather than an actual story. I could see myself reading this book to my one year old nephew in order to introduce to him the letters of the alphabet. I think the overall purpose of the book is simply that: an introduction to the alphabet; each letter is largely placed upon each page aided by a page-filling illustration of an object beginning with that letter. Students who are visual learners may especially find this book appealing. I would definitely recommend reading this book to students who are learning or struggling to learn the alphabet.