Little Mama Forgets

Title: Little Mama Forgets

Author: Robin Cruise

Illustrator: Stacey Dressen-McQueen

Genre: Fiction 

Little Mama Forgets is about a little girl named Lucy and her grandmother named Luciana Maria Isabela Galvez-Molinero  (little mama).  The two of them along with the other members in the family live in California but originated from Mexico.  Therefore, they remain true to their roots and continue to make their own tortillas and dance and sing in Spanish. That’s just a few of their traditions they still practice. Little mama is forgetful and Lucy helps her with her everyday happenings and events.  However, little mama can remember long term, it’s the short term she struggles with.  Lucy does her best to make sure her grandmother is safe by helping her on a daily basis. 

I would read this book to a fourth grade classroom.  The readers can learn responsibility as well as compassion by reading this book.  Lucy does a great job of not being burdened by the situation and embracing it, which says a lot about a persons character!

Pete the Cat, Play Ball

Title: Pete the Cat, Play Ball

Author/illustrator: James Dean

Genre: Nonfiction

This book is about a character named Pete the Cat who is plays for a baseball team named the Rocks. In the story, Pete the Cat is going to play a game against another team named the Rolls. Both teams arrive to the field and get warmed up to get ready for the game. When the game starts Pete the Cat team starts the game hitting first against the Rolls. The team is having success early in the game until Pete the Cat comes up to the plate. Pete the Cat wants to get a hit really bad, but ends up striking out in three pitches. He kept thinking to himself that he is not sad because he gave his best effort. When Pete the Cat and the Rocks go out to play defense the next inning Pete the Cat ends up dropping a fly ball that hits his glove. Pete the Cat wasn’t sad because he gave his best effort. The next batter comes up for the Rolls and hits another fly ball to Pete the Cat and he ends up catching the ball. Pete the Cat makes another mistake and over throws his teammate and the runner advanced. Pete the cat wasn’t sad because he gave his best effort. Pete the Cat and his team the Rocks end up winning the game against the Rolls six to three.

I would teach this book to a kindergarten class and it teaches the students to not always worry about the results when doing something just give your best effort and always have fun.

Islandborn

Title: Islandborn
Author: Juno’s Diaz
Illustrator: Leo Espinosa
Genre: Fiction
The Islandborn is about a school with students from “Faraway places,” In the book the little girl named Lola was described as being from “the island.” All the children in Mrs. Obi’s class knew exactly where they were from and what their country looked liked, except Lola. Lola left her country as a baby and did not remember anything about the island. Mrs. Obi asked the class to draw a picture of the country they were from and bring it in to class the following day, all of the students were ecstatic besides Lola, she was disappointed in herself for not being able to remember where she was from. Lola turned to her friends and family from the island and they were able to share stories and memories with Lola to help her recollect what the island was like. This got Lola’s mind racing with imagination and helped her create the most beautiful masterpiece of the island. Lola realized that although she could not remember the island, it is still apart of who she is and it is the place that connects her and her family and friends.

I would read this book to a third grade class; I think they would comprehend the emigration of the children in the classroom as well as building an imagination from memories. This book showed great examples of imagination, creativity and multicultural classrooms.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Title: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Author/Illustrator: Eric Carle
Genre: Non Fiction

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is about a tiny caterpillar that is very hungry and seems to eat everything in sight and nothing fulfills his hunger. As the story goes on and the caterpillar eats and eats and eats, he finally stops eating and goes up into a tree and time goes by and the now chubby caterpillar is breaking out of its cocoon and becoming a beautiful butterfly.

I would teach this to a first grade classroom. I would use this book as a science project and get a real caterpillar so they can see the process actually develop in real life! I think this would be a really fun project to do for a first grade classroom, or any elementary grade level at that.

The Secret Code

Title The Secret Code
Author: Dana Meachen Rau
Illustrator: Bari Weissman
Genre: Fiction


The Secret Code is about a boy who is blind, and explains to his friend how he uses braille to read. This is not only a great book to boost a special needs kids confidence, but it is also an entertaining book for the teacher to read. The book teaches kids without disabilities how to understand and respect the ones that do live with special needs. The Secret Code goes through the alphabet and shows what each letter looks like in braille. I think this would be a great book to read to a first grade class because it gives the children a different outlook for people who are blind. The blind boy expresses how he thinks it is cool that he can read in the dark. This shows kids that there is an upside to everything.

I would read this to a first grade classroom to teach them that there are all different types of learning and that it is okay to be different! Maybe a child who is deaf or blind could teach children without that disability to use sign language or read by using braille.

A Book of Seasons

Title: A Book of Seasons
Author: Alice and Martin Provensen
Genre: Informational Non-Fiction

A Book of Seasons is a book that explains all of the seasons consisting of Winter, Summer, Autumn and Fall. In the book during each season it explains what happens during the season, what the weather is like during each different season, and what happens during each season such as the leaves falling during fall, and the snow landing on the ground during the winter. Another example is during winter you can slide down the snow mountains!

This is a great informational book for early learners such as second grade. I would read this to a second grade class and reread it at the start of each upcoming season as the seasons change and at recess I would acknowledge the plants, trees, leaves, and weather in general as the year goes on, so the students could really get an understanding on what the difference in the seasons are.

Baseball Saved Us

Title: Baseball Saved Us
Author: Ken Mochizuki
Illustrator: Dom Lee
Genre: Historical Fiction

Baseball Saved Us is a book based in 1942 when the U.S. Army moved all Japanese people away from the west coast. It is about a young Japanese boy that goes to a camp and gets mistreated and picked last for everything because he is smaller and weaker, and in general just not a great baseball player. As the camp goes on he stays getting mistreated by the other players until the last game of the season, he gets the game winner hit. From that point on the boy is chosen and more accepted as a Japanese baseball player.

I would read this book to a second grade class to teach them not to judge. I would read this during the baseball little league season so the students can make a more clear relation with the book. For example, I think it is important for the kids to know that it is not nice to judge the striving athletes. Children need to understand that some are more gifted than others and it is important to treat everybody with the same respect.