Blue

Blue is an incredible historical fiction novel about a thirteen year old girl, Ann Fay. Her father goes off to fight in World War II and leaves her his overalls—a symbol that she's stepped into the role of "man of the house." With the help of her family and neighbors, Ann Fay keeps up the garden and works hard to care for her family. When a polio outbreak hits the town and and her family is directly affected, Ann Fay has to find courage within herself to overcome the obstacles she faces. 

I chose to read this book for our "Choice Week" because I have always been interested in World War II. It has been a topic that I've always read about and I enjoy reading historical fiction novels about it. I always wondered what it felt like to live through that period of historical tragedy. Blue gave a very realistic perspective of this for me. I was in awe of Ann Fay's bravery, despite how many unfortunate things she had to deal with at such a young age. Her voice and her internal monologue was encouraging and refreshing, as she continuously chose to do what she knew would be difficult for her.

I think that Ann Fay serves as a model character for many children. She comes down with Polio herself and throughout the entirety of her stay at the hospital, encourages herself to get better and improve. She makes friends with a black girl at the hospital—something uncommon in the 1940s—and fights to spend time with her against the nurse's wishes. Ann Fay models resilience and determination that anyone would want to aspire to have. 

In terms of my future classroom, I think that this would be a great book for upper elementary students learning about World War II or segregation. Additionally, I could use this book to talk about diseases and health around the world.

Blue
By: Joyce Moyer Hostetter  

Published in 2010

Why Do Ice Cubes Float?

This book was a really great introductory book for students that may have a lot of questions about scientific concepts, students that are particularly interested in science, or students that may be searching for a topic to complete a project on. The book is a collection of a wide variety of scientific questions, ranging from "How can you get words into candy?" and "Why do some balloons float but others don't?" Each section of the book deals with a different topic and features four to five questions and short answers. 

In my opinion, this is a great "starter" book for students. Because it doesn't have a lot of content and jumps from subject to subject, it isn't necessarily a informational text that I would recommend to someone that needs something informational to read. Instead, I think that it is a great book for a "science sampling." Students can look through the book to get ideas for research or come up with question that they may want answered. They can't however, use this book for research as the answers are relatively short and are not extensive. 

I do see myself using this in my classroom, however. While it may not be an informational text that is full of information, there are many non-fiction text features that are incorporated throughout the book. I think that this is a simple enough text that would work really well for modeling if we are working on non-fiction writing and including text features to increase reader feasibility. 

Why Do Ice Cubes Float? 

By: Thomas Canavan 

Published in 2014 

Eat Your Science Homework

This fantastic non-fiction resource is such a fun way to integrate science and cooking! The book has recipes such as "Atomic Popcorn Balls" and "Sedimentary Pizza Lasagna" that model scientific concepts with a fun activity. Each recipe takes students through a science concept, including pertinent vocabulary. The concept is thoroughly introduced in kid-friendly language and equipment and ingredients are identified. Using the scientific method, children follow the instructions to create their own models of scientific concepts.

I have always been a fan of cooking, so I really enjoyed this book because of its clever structure and the way in which information was presented. Being able to learn about science while doing something that I found incredibly entertaining would be an ideal situation for me as a child! I think that this is a great book for any upper-elementary child, though, because of the variety it has and how engaging it is. Even if you don't conduct the experiments or follow through on the recipes, the book is still fun to read!

The informational text features included in this book are particularly helpful, as they provide the reader with a lot of information that would otherwise be difficult to point out. By bolding important vocabulary, including a glossary of those terms, and having several captions or informative boxes of information throughout the book made staying engaged throughout the entire book really easy.

This would be a great resource at home or at school, as many of the experiments included would be great modeling tools during an science lesson! As part of the author's series, there is another book named Eat Your Math Homework that I'd love to check out to see how they approach the subject of math differently.

Eat Your Science Homework
By: Ann McCallum
Illustrated by: Leeza Hernandez
Published in 2014

Buried Sunlight

The fourth book in the award-winning Sunlight Series, Buried Sunlight is a great upper-elementary book about fossil fuels and their influence on the Earth. In this book, the MIT professor Penny Chisholm creatively explains how coal, oil, and gas are essentially "buried sunlight."

Told from the perspective of the sun, this book really engages readers through its beautiful illustrations that make it very easy for students to understand. The vibrant pictures draw the reader in and double as informational text features, an essential component to informational texts. Included are diagrams with labels on them and timelines that give readers an idea of the amount of time that fossil fuels have been buried underground. Many important vocabulary words are also bolded and typed in all capital letters to draw focus to them.

An aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the fact that the author included interactive questions that prompted students to stop and think. The author particularly focused on how the earth will continue to change if we continue to engage in the activities that may be detrimental to the earth.

Not only is this a great informational text, but I really enjoyed this book for its incredible illustrations that really made me want to continue reading. I think that students would get a clear idea of fossil fuels and their influence, but the language is relatively advanced. Even adults would benefit from reading this!

Buried Sunlight
By: Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm
Published in 2014

Knuffle Bunny Too

In this book by prolific children's author Mo Willems, Trixie is in Kindergarten and can't wait to show off her beloved Knuffle Bunny at school. Her father takes her to school and all seems well, until Trixie realizes that Sonja has the same bunny as her! Banter back and forth causes their teacher, Ms. Greengrove, to take their bunnies away for the day. At the end of the day, Knuffle Bunny is returned and all is well, until she realizes that she has the wrong bunny! Sonja realizes this, too. In the middle of the night, dads come to the rescue by arranging an exchange of the bunnies. Once the bunnies are safely returned, the two realize that they have a lot more in common than they realized, and they become the best of friends!

A sequel to Knuffle Bunny, this book stayed true to Mo Willems' style. The characters were drawn with very rough, child-like hand, just like in his other books that are so popular. What interested me most about this book was the pictures. They were realistic images that had been overlaid with drawings of the characters. These realistic images were sometimes iconic, giving the reader a clue as to where the story was placed.

Regardless of location, however, this story is so realistic and feels as though it could have happened to anyone as a child. The item that the girls fought about can be broadened to other things beyond a stuffed bunny, but the story ultimately comes down to understanding kindness and finding connections with one another. This is always something that students can work on, so I think that this would be an extremely relevant book in my classroom!

Knuffle Bunny Too 
By: Mo Willems 
Published in 2007

Sunday Shopping

In Sunday Shopping, Sunday nights are reserved for Evie and Grandma and their shopping clothes. Snuggled in bed, Evie and Grandma sit together with a pocketbook, ready for a shopping spree! Flipping open the newspaper, the two use their imaginations to tour the neighborhood stores. With their pretend money in tote and scissors in hand, the pair "walks" through the stores and cutting out their purchases along the way. A story of grand imaginations, this book was definitely a memorable favorite!

I was in awe of the imagination that it took to illustrate this book. As the pair moved through the stores, the use of perspective really helps to immerse the reader in the story and tells exactly what is going on. Evie and Grandma's bodies are enlarged and they carry big scissors in their hands. I love how this story is a little bit playful in that what is actually being said in the book is not actually what is happening in the illustrations. We're fooled into thinking that they may actually be shopping with real money, however we recognize the irony when the illustrations are paired with the text.

Another thing I love about this book is the inclusion of a female figure in the army. Evie's mother is overseas, so she "purchase" flowers for her grandmother and places them on her night stand next to the picture of her deployed mother. A great testament to women and members of the armed forces, this book brings those realities into understandable, kid-friendly terms that help bridge a gap for difficult conversations.

Overall, I really loved this book! I think that it took a lot of imagination and it would be perfect to share with students who need some inspiration in their writing.

Sunday Shopping  
By: Sally Derby
Illustrated by: Shadra Strickland
Published in 2015

Blackout

This heartwarming story was really fun to read! Blackout is a clever book about a summer night when all the lights in a neighborhood go out. A young boy wants to play a board game with his family, but they are too busy with household chores and technology to pay attention. When the power shuts down, though, they discover a block party on the rooftops of neighboring buildings. Everyone is out in the streets having fun with one another! Soon, the power is restored and all is back to normal. Instead of returning to their devices, however, the boy shuts off the lights, turns on some candles, and the family plays a boardgame together like the power is still out.

I absolutely loved this book! I was really intrigued by the illustrations, as they reminded me a lot of a graphic novel. The realistic looking setting was brought to life with beautiful blues, greys, and blacks that gave unexpected depth to each illustration's frame. The flashes of color that were a result of a flashlight or candle were genius, drawing the reader in and focusing attention on what the setting might look like beyond the darkness. The author also used some unique illustrative techniques, isolating pictures and bringing characters out of the frames to draw interest and focus.

I think sweet message of disconnecting to form closer bonds with one another is a great thing to talk about with students! This is also a great read for parents as it gives some perspective about a child's desire to just hang out with family. I noticed that the family was a multicultural family, so I think that it is really important to feature books like these in a classroom, especially ones that have high levels of diversity. Having books that serve multiple purposes is an intelligent way to reach several students with just one book.

Blackout 
By: John Rocco 
Published in 2011