A Kiss Goodbye

A Kiss Goodbye

Written by: Audrey Penn

Illustrated by: Barbara L. Gibson

Scholastic Inc., 2007

30 pages

 

 

        Audrey Penn brings Chester, the little raccoon from The Kissing Hand, back again! He's a lover of adventure and enjoys hanging out with his friends, just like so many of us. But one day thick red lines appear on his home tree and suddenly he's being faced with his biggest adventure of all. He, his mom, and his little brother are forced to move to a new part of the woods, leaving behind his home and all of his friends. Will he like his new home? Will he make new friends? Find out how the little raccoon deals with this really big goodbye.

       Barbara L. Gibson uses bold acrylic's to put Penn's words into action. Every page is filled with elaborately painted scenes. Gibson's images grasp the craziness of the animal's move and Chester's sadness with dark, deep colors. When Chester arrives at his new home, the colors brighten up with his new found mood. This rich pictures are sure to catch your eye and make this sweet story even sweeter.

       Audrey Penn wrote this book specifically for children who are transitioning into a new situation. I would read this story to my students at the end of the year before they leave to move up to a new grade to help ease any fears. After I completed the story, I would let the children write about something they are afraid of about the transition. This story could also be used in a Social Studies lesson because the animals are having to move because their home tree's are being cut down. This would be a good time to discuss why tree must be cut down and what they are used for. I would also use this book during a science lesson when learning about the forest, because it will be an easy way to make the children aware of what type of animals live in the forest and there different places they find shelter at!

This book is apart of Audrey Penn's The Kissing Hand Collection, a NY Times bestseller.

    

Silly Tilly

Silly Tilly

Written by: Eileen Spinelli

Illustrated by: David Slomin

Scholastic Inc., 2009

29 pages

 

       Have you ever had that friend that was just a little over the top when it came to being silly? If so, then you can relate to the barnyard animals in this book. Tilly is goose with a very silly attitude. A day doesn't go by that Tilly isn't getting into something and her barnyard friends have had enough! But what will happen when silly becomes serious? Will the barnyard be any fun anymore?

 

      David Slonim capture's all of Tilly's crazy shenanigans perfectly. He uses pencil and pen to sketch out the illustrations. Using bright and fun colors, Slonim uses acrylic paint to fill in the drawings to create the images for Silly Tilly. Each page follow's the words of Spinelli with funny pictures that are sure to make you and any child laugh!

 

     I would use this book for a character building lesson. A lot of children are put down for being different, but without some of our differences, that world would certainly be a boring place. This book is a perfect example of how boring life could be without all of our funny friends. I would also use this book in a small group math counting lesson with Kindergarten or 1st grade.  There are so many barnyard friends on each page that can be counted and documented. This book would also be a great book to use for a language or reading lesson about rhyming words. While reading, have the children write down the rhyming words they hear throughout the story.

Just One More Swim

Just One More Swim

Written and illustrated by: Caroline Pitcher and Jenny Jones

Parragon Books Ltd, 2008 

24 Pages

 

        Trying something new can be incredibly daunting. Whether it be trying a new food, going to a new place, or like the young cubs in this story, taking that leap of faith and diving straight into the water. The mother of these two cubs is an excellent swimmer and they watch her gracefully make her way around the ocean with ease. But when the mother bear asks her cubs to join, neither of them want to budge. With a little encouragement from some other friendly artic animals and some motherly love, will the cubs finally take their first swim?

 

      Jones uses calm strokes for this book that make Pitcher's words float delicately off the page. I love that the paint used overlaps each other with dots and swirls instead of straight flat lines. The cool colors capture the artic chills perfectly. Every animal in the story is unique, even the polar bears have their own personalities. These illustrations are exactly what I would imagine if I heard the story out loud.

  

      I would use this story to encourage students of any age to try new things.  I would have them write about something daring they would like to try and what it would take to achieve this adventure. This would be an excellent book to use when teaching a science lesson about the polar bears.  This book illustrates some different behaviors of the bears and shows some foods the bears like to eat, like blueberries! This book would also be a good book to use when teaching a geography lesson about the arctic. Not only does this book tell of the polar bears lives, but it also shows several other types of animals that can be found in and around the icy arctic. Several of the words in this book are not words that children would typically use or even hear, such as thrashed and aquamarine. This would be a good opportunity for a language lesson. Using dictionaries, the students could figure out the meanings of the words they haven't heard before.

 

Llama llama misses mama

Llama Llama Misses Mama

Written and illustrated by: Anna Dewdney

Published by Penguin Group, 2009

31 pages

 

        Who has a tough time adjusting to a new situation? Perhaps you remember your very first day of school when you thought your mom or dad had abandoned you in such an unfamiliar place. Anna Dewdney writes about just that in her story, Llama Llama Misses Mama. The story follows a young llama experiencing school for the very first time and certainly does not like it one bit. But will he figure out that it could actually be fun, or will he choose to spend his first day alone and afraid? Find out if this little llama can make it through his very first day of school!

 

       Dewdney uses bright, kid-friendly colors to illustrate her story. Each page is filled with so many things to look at, plenty to hold a young child's attention and to spark the imagination of someone older. Every picture covered the entire page with the text wrapping around and through the images. Each painting is detailed with fun lines and shapes to capture of the fun of the llama's first day.

 

     I would use this book mainly to encourage any lower elementary school aged child on their first day of school. A lot of students, especially in Kindergarten, haven't ever spent a lot of time away from their parents and this book demonstrates that fear of the unknown, as well as a positive outcome for the students to look forward to. This book could also be used for a fun math activity. Little Llama has a ton of new friends to count, (twelve that I counted myself)! By documenting the numbers on paper or the board, the students can go through the page and count llama's friends one by one, leaving out the friends they've already counted once before. This will also help develop skills for recognizing or memorizing. Last but not least, I would use this book for a language activity to compare and contrast the ways the llama in the story is like a person, and why he is different We would do this by making predictions before the story and then after the story.

Hello Ocean

 

Hello Ocean

Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan

Illustrator: Mark Astrella

Scholastic Inc., 2001

32 pages

 

 

          I chose this book because the beach is one of my favorite places to visit. I mean, who really doesn't love a nice, relaxing beach day? Sadly, a lot of children, especially the ones closer inland, have never seen the ocean, felt the nice warm sand between their toes, or heard the seagulls cry. In Hello Ocean, Pam Muñoz Ryan uses all five senses and a few rhymes to give us the ultimate beach experience. The story follows a little girl around that calls the beach her "best friend", with her, you too can relive your favorite beach memories. So grab some sunblock and a beach ball, it's time for a perfect day in the sun!

         

        Mark Astrella uses bold, warm colors that dare sure to catch your eye. The paintings are done in such a realistic day, you feel as if you can feel the warmth of the sun coming from each of the pages. Astrella really captures everyone of Ryan's words in such a beautiful and inviting way. You are sure to feel like you just got home from a long day at the beach as soon as the last page is turn.

 

       This book would be appropriate to use in a Science lesson to teach Kindergartener's or 1st grader's their five senses. Hello Ocean demonstrates each sense in a fun, unique way. It would bring in a few items to go along with the lesson and story, such as salt water, sand, and maybe find the sound of the ocean online for the students to listen to. This book would also be a great book for a language lesson when teaching about rhyming poems at any age. It demonstrates a lot of different ways to arrange sentences to rhyme, as well as show words that have similar sounds, but look completely different. For example, 'squeal' and 'feel'. Lastly, I would use this book in a writing exercise and have the students write about their favorite beach memory, or if they've never been, have them write about something they would like to experience after reading this story.