Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo (Poems) by Linda Sue Park

A new twist for our poetry units. Sijo is a form of poetry from Korea; similar to haiku, it is dependant on a certain number of stressed syllables, and has an unexpected joke or twist at the end. (Maybe you guys knew about this form, but I'd never seen it)



These poems are neither monumental or side splittingly funny but this book and poetry style are charming. These little poems are playful and light and the illustrations are a little odd but are equally as spirited.



The author gives sufficient but not overwhelming background on the form and includes further reading and some tips on how to write your own.

A fun "something new" and I learned a new word in one of the poems: sesquipedalian - lots of syllables.

Little Red Riding Hood, by Jerry Pinkney

Failing her mother's admonition not to tarry, Little Red Riding Hood's encounter with a wolf is almost fatal for her and her grandmother. Only a passing woodcutter saves them. The classic tale is lushly illustrated with watercolors featuring woodland animals in a snowy forest. The illustrator's trademark use of red accents finds perfect application in the title outfit.

Jabberwocky; The Classic Poem from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, reimagined by Christopher Myers

Electric illustrations and font update the timeless nonsense poem with a contemporary, urban, basketball setting. In the author's note, the author and illustrator details his research into the poem providing an authoritative reason for the basketball setting. Apparently Carroll scribbled a note in the margins of his journal about "ollamalitzli" an ancient game of balls and hoops.

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale, retold by Carmen Agra Deedy

Carmen, a beautiful green cockroach is ready to "give her leg in marriage" and her Cuban grandmother gives her some good advice. She should spill coffee on the shoes of her suitor; his reaction will give her clues to what sort of husband he will be. The tactic reveals the true character of the rooster, the pig, and the hungry lizard who come to court her. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout and the author's storytelling style make the book a delightful choice for read aloud.

Grades 2-5

Way Down Deep, by Ruth White

In the Appalachian town of Way Down Deep, twelve-year old Ruby lives in a boarding house called The Roost with Miss Arbutus who took in the red-headed girl as a toddler when she appeared one day on the Courthouse steps. The small town is loaded with personality and personalities from a goat named Jethro to Mr. and Mrs. Doctor and Granny Butler who lives in a house Way Up That-a-Way. The mystery of Ruby's family and how she came to Way Down Deep begins to unravel when a family moves into town from Yonder Mountain. This is a warm-hearted, funny story about the mysteries of family with a bit of magical realism.

Grades 4-6

Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells

When the Civil War begins, India Moody is twelve. She and her family live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the war profoundly affects their lives. Her father goes off to serve in the Confederate Army, schools close, and local young men who have eagerly enlisted die in large numbers. India is tutored by a young man who has theories about disease,sanitation, and how to prevent needless deaths among soldiers.The details of medical history alone makes this a title with great appeal. The story is unusually frank about the horrors of warfare. Unlike many historical novels about this period, it does not focus primarily on slavery but rather on the pride and foolishness of the Southerners who champion the fight and on the cruelties that are committed during war. Despite all the grim details of bloated bodies, amputations, and death, there is a hopeful ending. Highly recommended for middle school.
Grades 5-8

Wired, by Anastasia Suen

Illus. by Paul Carrick

Three-dimensional illustrations accompany the story of how electricity flows from the power plant to homes through wires, step up and step down transformers through the service head and the meter box and into each house. This would be a great addition to the fourth grade electricity unit.

Grades 3-5

Fred Stays with Me!

This little girl's parents are evidently separated or divorced because sometimes she lives with her dad and sometimes she lives with her Mom. However, as she points out, her dog, Fred always lives with her. Through hilarious illustrations in soft brown hues we see that Fred often creates a disruption in the lives of her parents. However, happily, both Mom and Dad come around and each joins with their daughter to come up with a plan so that Fred can continue to stay with their little girl wherever she is living. This is a timely predicament that many children will relate to.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, by Laura Amy Schlitz

Illus. by Robert Byrd.

A variety of medieval young people from a lord's nephew to a falconer's son and a varlet's daughter speak in monologues (with two dialogues) about their work, roles, and lives in the village. Each has a distinctive voice, they sometimes reference each other, and all provide first-hand insight into life in the middle ages. This is a book distinguished by concept, text, and design. Many facts are provided in the margins and always anticipate the reader's curiosity along with a few longer explanatory passages.

Grades 4-8

Living Color, by Steve Jenkins

Color is an important adaptation of animals and bright colors often signal danger, or attractiveness to the opposite sex, or may offer camouflage in some environments. Red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, and pink each have one or two doublespreads featuring animals in these brilliant colors particularly striking here against the white pages with brief facts about the color's advantage to the animal. Postage stamp illustrations with facts about size, habitat and diet of each animal fill out the last several pages. Many of these animals are unfamiliar and while this is a fascinating book to browse, I wish the author would include an index. This may be one of the few sources of information about many of these animals in print collections.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara

Illus. by G. Brian Karas

When the class lines up by height, Charlie is always last. One day his teacher brings three pumpkins to class: big, medium, and small and students predict how many seeds will be in each. When the seeds are counted, the smallest pumpkin has the most and Charlie notes, "Small things can have a lot going on inside them." This book has a lot of mathematics going on; beyond predictions there is the problem of how to count a lot of seeds. The students agree to count by twos, fives, and tens. When Charlie groups the seeds from the smallest pumpkin by tens, he ends up with thirty five groups or 350.

Grades K-2

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, by Mo Willems

When Trixie starts school, she discovers that her beloved Knuffle Bunny is not so unique; in fact Sonja has one too. This encounter causes a disruption and both toys are taken by the teacher until the end of the day. Well sometime in the middle of the night (2:30 a.m.) Trixie discovers she has the wrong bunny and a phone call is followed by a bunny exchange. The juxtaposition of colorful cartoon illustrations against black and white photographs of a real school and real city offer a lively counterpoint of child's world to real world. The bunny exchange has the feel of a cold war spy exchange. Yet this is a very child-like story.

Vulture View, by April Pulley Sayre

Illus. by Steve Jenkins.

Turkey vultures soar high in the air, sniff and seek food in a simple text accompanied by striking cut paper illustrations. Two pages of notes follow about the vulture family including a list of turkey vulture festivals across the country. This is a very dignified treatment of these scavengers accessible to new readers but also an important source of information for curriculum up through fifth grade ecosystems.

Grades K-5

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (Illustrator)

Gratuity Tucci, better known as Tip, is given an assignment to write an essay about the true meaning of the Smekday, a holiday commemorating the day that aliens called the Boov took over the earth which is known as Smekland. The winning essay will be buried with the National Time Capsule. The story starts in June 2013, six months after the alien Boov arrived. These aliens have invaded the earth and sucked Tip's mom up into their spaceship. They have also decreed that all Americans must relocate to Florida to live on preserves. On second thought make that Arizona. The book basically covers Tips' refusal to move and her quest to rescue her mom. Along the way she meets J. Lo, a delightful renegade alien, who works with her to regain control of America. In the course of their adventures, the two also have to battle a second group of aliens, the Gorg.

The humorous text is a mixture of narrative, letters, and black and white illustrations by the author plus actual comic strips that move the story forward. It is a very light-hearted approach to science fiction and could even be used as a read aloud. It should be an easy sell to a middle school audience.

Grades 5-8

First the Egg, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

A very simple and repetitive text and clever die cut pages introduces the life cycle of an egg, tadpole, seed, and caterpillar as they change into a chicken, frog, flower, and butterfly respectively and then the text also morphs into a tale about the creative process "First the word.. then the story."

Grades PreK-1

Nic Bishop Spiders, by Nic Bishop

Oversized color photographs of spiders leap from the pages while the informative text is presented against electric colored pages that also demand attention. The photographs allow for close up details of spider fangs, eyes, and hairy bodies as well as hunting, web-building, and feeding practices placed next to the relevant text. A note provides further information about the process of taking the photographs and the relationship the author formed with many of his subjects.

Grades 2 - up

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

The author of this picture book for older children grew up during the 1950's, 60's and 70's in Prague, Czechoslovokia. Here he blends the history of that repressive time behind the Iron Curtain with autobiography. The illustrations are mainly in black and white with red accents, but Sis's representations of his own drawings and of all things Western appear in color. Three double page spreads are from his journals written during that time. He places emphasis on the importance of music to those living in the Soviet controlled countries. The book ends with the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. Young people may gain new insights into what it was like to live under a totalitarian dictatorship. Winner of the Seibert Award; also a Caldecott Honor Book.
Grades 4 and up

Henry's Freedom Box : A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

Illus. by Kadir Nelson.

This is a simple telling of the story of Henry "Box" Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom in a wooden box. Rich, colorful, cross-hatched paintings complement the text. Henry had ample reasons to want to escape slavery. The story follows him from childhood up to the point that he emerges from his box. Any study of American history or Black history could include this title. It will work as a read-aloud.
Grades 3 and up

Lawn boy, by Gary Paulsen

When the twelve-year old narrator of this book inherits an old riding lawn mower from his grandfather, he has no idea that his lawn mowing business will become a lesson in capitalism, profit and loss, labor, and investing. Although a short book, the economics and the dry humor of the author are best appreciated by older readers. The length and narrative will also work well as a class read-aloud during economics units.

Grades 5-7

Birmingham, 1963 by Carole Boston Weatherford

A free verse poem accompanied by black and white photographs tells the story of the racially motivated bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Four young girls were killed in the blast. While the narrator is fictional, the historical events of the day are accurately represented. The recounting of ordinary events that might have led up to the moment of the bombing gives the actual explosion a shocking immediacy. Particularly poignant are the individual tributes to each girl at the end of the book. This will be a powerful title to use during a study of the civil rights movement.
Grades 4-8