Electronic Reading File
By Brenda Cox

Caldecott Medal Winners

Picture  of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade  Level	Ideas for Classroom  Use	Brief  Description of the Book
	Modern Fantasy	So You Want To Be President	Judith St. George and David Small	4-6	Children pretend  to be  president  for a day. They are  given a scenerio and they choose what  to do. Then  they are  told what  really happened in that situation. http://www. pbs.org /democracy /kids/pres foraday/ index.h	A wonderful book that  tells many hilarious and interesting facts about each of the  first 42 presidents. Various examples of  little known mistakes and accomplish- ments make our past presidents seem more like "plain, ordinary folk".
	Realistic Fiction	The Snowy Day	Ezra Jack Keats	Pre-K-1st	Children can make  a Snowthing http://www. afro am.org/ children/fun /snowperson. html	Peter enjoys spending a day playing out in the  snow. He  tries to save a snowball that melts, but the next day he awakens to  the same snowy scene.
	Realistic Fiction	Owl Moon	Jane Yolen Illustrated by John Schoenherr	Pre-K-1st	Ask the children if they have something  special that only they do with an adult that  is special  to them. Let them draw a picture that shows what they are doing.	A young girl goes for a much anticipated late night walk through the woods in hopes of being able to "call up" an owl. An owl finally does appear, but more important  than the sighting is the anticipation and time  spent with her father.
	Fantasy	Kitten's First Full Moon	Kevin Henkes	2.3 AR Level	Children can sip a carton of  milk as I read the story to them.	Kitten catches a glimpse of her first full moon and thinks that it is a great big bowl full of milk. She tries everything she can to reach it.
	Realistic Fiction	Song and Dance Man	Karen Ackerman Illustrated by Stephen Gammell	3.8  AR level	In order to introduce children to various dance steps I would go to http:// www. poetry4 kids.com /fancy dancer. html that features a poem about  several different dances that Sesame Street's Elmo demon- strates. The children could try to do the dances nex	Three children  visit their grandfather who was once a song and dance man  on the vaudeville stage. He dazzles the children  with a show he performs just for them up in the attic.
	Fantasy	My Friend Rabbit	Eric Rohmann	K-3	Children would write a note to their best friend telling them how special they are to them.	No matter what Rabbit does, there is a calamity close at hand. His friend Mouse has a toy plane  and even though he knows how unlucky Rabbit is, he lets him play with it because he is such a good friend.
	Poetry Anthology	The Rooster Crows	Maud and Miska Petersham	K-3	I would teach  the children a rhyme, such as Yankee Doodle,  and we  would sing it  and add movements.	This book has lots of older rhymes, finger game rhymes. It also contains skipping and courting rhymes.
	Fantasy	The  Polar Express	Chris Van Allsburg	K-3	Ask each child to write down  the one special  thing they would  wish if given  the chance to  make a wish  that would  come true.	The Polar Express is a magical train that takes a young boy to the North Pole to see Santa. He is given the chance to ask for anything that he wants and he asks for one silver bell from Santa's sleigh. He looses it, but Santa returns it to him on  Christmas morning.

Newbery Award Winners

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade  Level	Ideas for Classroom  Use	Brief  Description of the  Book
	Realistic Fiction	Hope Was Here (Chapter Book)	Joan Bauer	5.1  AR Level	Ask the children  to write about  a time they  had been in  a situation that seemed hopeless,  but things actually worked out.	Hope is a 16 year-old  waitress who lives  with her Aunt Addie, who is a diner cook. They move to Wisconsin  to run a restaurant  for Mr. Stoop, who is  dying of leukemia.  Mr. Stoop runs for mayor and Addie  and Hope help  him with his campaign.
	Realistic Fiction	Missing May (Chapter Book)	Cynthia Rylant	5.3  AR Level	Write a short  entry in your  journal about someone who  meant a lot  to you and  they have  passed away. How did you feel?	Twelve year-old Summer  was adopted by her  Aunt May and Uncle Ob at the age of 6.  Aunt May was  the world to Summer, and she  dies suddenly. Ob and Summer  find a way  to grieve the  loss of May  and they show each other how much they still  need one other.
	Fantasy	The True Confessions  of Charlotte Doyle (Chapter Book)	Avi Wortis	5.3 AR Level	Tell the class: If you could  be the captain  of a ship, where would  you sail to,  and why?	Charlotte is a 13 year-old girl from a rather 'well-to-do" family in England. She  is the only  passenger on  a ship named  The Seahawk,and  she is sailing to  meet her family  in Rhode Island. The captain accuses  and convicts her  of murder, but  before he can do  anything to her  he falls overboard.  She reaches her  family but chooses  to return to the sea.
	Realistic Fiction	Out of the Dust (Chapter Book)	Karen Hesse	5.3 AR Level	I will furnish  the children  with  a homemade "diary". They must make  entries in it  for six weeks.	This book is told  in the form  of a diary of a 14 year-old girl  named Billie Jo.  It takes place  in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl.  Billie Jo's mother  dies after being  severely burned  and giving birth  to her baby  brother. Billie Jo  blamed herself and her father  for her mother's death, and she  is scared in more ways  than one.
	Realistic Fiction	Hatchet (Chapter Book)	Gary Paulsen	5.7 AR Level	Write a short  story about what you would have done if you had been Brian.	A 13 year-old boy  named Brian is flying in a small airplane to meet his father when the pilot has a massive heart attack and dies. Brian crash lands the plane in a lake and is able to survive for weeks because of the gift of a hatchet from his mother at the airport as he was leaving.

Multicultural

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade  Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Folktale	Abiyoyo	Pete Seeger Illustrated by Michael Hays	2.2 AR  Level	Draw a picture about your favorite part of the book	This story is a South African folktale that has been changed and added to with each passing generation. A little boy who played a fiddle and his father who made things disappear were banished to the edge of town until they were able to make the awful giant Abiyoyo disappear.
	Realistic Fiction	How my Parents Learned to Eat	Ina R. Freidman Illustrated by Allen Say	2.9 AR Level	Bring chopsticks for the children to try to eat their lunch with	A young girl tells how her parents met in Yokohoma, Japan. Her father is American and her mother Japanese. Both had to learn to eat food with the other's utensils.
	Folktale	Beardream	Will Hobbs Illustrated by Jill Kastner	3.6  AR  Level	Make a dream catcher	A young Ute Indian boy dreams that he journeys to the mountains to wake the Great Bear to signal the beginning of Spring. In the dream, Great Bear takes him to a secret place where he dances with bears and is told to return to his people and teach them the dance.
	Realistic Fiction	Freedom Summer	Deborah Wiles Illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue	3.2  AR Level	The children would pair up and research how things are different now from how they were before the passage of the Civil Rights Act.	This story tells of racial bias encountered by 2 boys. Joe is white and John Henry is black. They are best friends and want to swim in the town pool together after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, but the towns people fill the pool with tar.
	Fantasy	Chita's Christmas Tree	Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard Illustrated by Floyd Cooper	2.5  AR Level	Draw a picture of how your perfect Christmas tree would look.	This is a story of how a girl named Chita and her father take a buggy ride into the woods and find the perfect Christmas tree. Her father carves Chita's name into the tree and Santa brings that tree beautifully decorated on Christmas Eve.

Picture Books
that have won other awards

Picture of Book	Awards  Won	Title	Author and Illustrator	Age- Grade Level	Ideas  for Classroom  Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Parent's Choice Award and National Council of Teachers of English Award for Children	Flamboyan	Arnold Adoff Illustrator Karen Barbour	K-2	Write a short story about what you would do if you could fly. Where would you go?	Flamboyan was a girl born with hair the color of the flame red blossoms of the Flamboyan tree. Her most ardent wish was to be able to fly. A wish that eventually comes true.
	Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Excellence in Illustration	Willy's Pictures	Anthony Browne	3rd-5th Grade	I will pick out ten of the most famous paintings in the book and the children will have to match the title to the painting.	Willy is a monkey painter who takes very famous paintings and changes them to suit himself. All of his paintings are pictures of the original famous versions with descriptions and names of the painters.
	Coretta Scott King Award	Goin' Someplace Special	Patricia C. McKissack Illustrated by Jerry Pickney	4.3  AR Level	Each child will share the title of their favorite book from the library and briefly tell us what it is about.	A young girl named 'Tricia Ann shares her encounters with racial segregation. The book is set in the 1950's. She has one special place, the public library, where everyone is welcome.
	Coretta Scott King Award	Beautiful Blackbird	Ashley Bryan	3.7 AR  Level	I will have a picture of a bird for each child and they will color it their best. The class will vote on the picture they think is most beautiful.	This folklore of Africa says that long ago all the birds of Africa were bright and beautiful colors, but only one, the blackbird, had any black coloration. All the other birds thought that the color black was beautiful and convinced blackbird to paint some black areas on them.
	Benjamin Franklin Award and International Reading Association Award	Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy	Carl R. Sams II & Jean Stoick	2.9 AR Level	Students will be given different colors of construction paper, and they will design their own snowman. He can look any way they wish.	A beautiful book of snowy sceneries and beautiful animals as they come upon a snowman in the woods. Two small children built him and they replenish seeds and carrots on him when the animals eat up all the food.

ABC/ Counting/ Concept Books

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade Level	Ideas  For Classroom	Brief  Description of the Book
	ABC	The ABC Bunny	Wanda Ga'g	Pre-Kand K	Sing the alphabet song	A cute rabbit scampers around and comes in contact with new and different things. Every other page introduces the next successive letter of the alphabet as rabbit goes about his journey.
	ABC	Circus Clown ABC	Denise M. Jordan	Pre-K and K	I will have pictures of  things related to the circus (clowns, animals, food,etc.) and the children will pick a picture and tell me the name of the picture and also its beginning letter and sound.	All the letters of the alphabet are used in words that describe how clowns look, their clothes, make-up, cars, and wigs.
NO       Picture      Available	Counting	Circus 1 2 3	Denise     M. Kordan	Pre-K and K	I will have a math sheet where the children will count the objects and circle the correct number.	On each page, a different number of pictures of  circus objects appear. The child is asked to count the objects. Interesting facts are told about each picture.

Predictable Books

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade level	Ideas  for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Predictable	Napping House	Audrey Wood Illustrated by Don Wood	2.8  AR  Level	I would have the children draw a picture in their journal of all eight of the nappers that they were able to remember...in the correct order.	This is a cute book that takes place in a quiet house where people and animals end up in a nice cozy bed napping...one on top of the other! Everyone's nap is disturbed by a flea who bites a mouse on the top of the pile and each successive person is "rudely awakened" by the one on top of them.
	Predictable	The Cow Buzzed	Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha/ Illustrated by Paul Meisel	2.7 AR Level	A wonderful book to incorporate when talking about germs and illnesses and keeping your coughs and sneezes to yourself.	This is a precious little book about how farm animals catch a cold from other animals and cough and sneeze and end up with the "voice" of the animal that gave them the cold. It moves from animal to animal and you can see the developing pattern after just two of the eight animals get sick.

Realistic Fiction

Picture of the Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade  Level	Ideas for Classroom  Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Realistic Fiction	The Pain and the Great One	Judy Blume Illustrated by Irene Trivas	3.1  AR Level	Students will write a passage in their journals about their siblings. Those that have none can make up how they think they would treat their siblings if they had any.	A boy, age 6, is given the name the "Pain" by his sister, who is eight. He calls her the "Great One". The girl thinks that her parents love her brother more, and the boy thinks that the parents love his sister more.
	Realistic Fiction	Bridge to Terabithia (Chapter Book)	Katherine Paterson	4.6 AR Level	Kids will write a journal entry about how they felt when someone they knew and loved died.	Jess, a ten year-old boy meets a new girl, Leslie, who moves in down the road from his house. Leslie is very different from any girl Jess has ever known, and they become fast friends.One day while swinging across a ditch full of runing water, Leslie falls, hits her head, and dies.
	Realistic Fiction	How To Be Cool in the Third Grade (Chapter Book)	Betsy Duffy Illustrated by  Janet Wilson	3.5 AR Level	Students will write a descriptive paragraph about what it means to be cool. ( How do you look, act, ...etc)	Robbie wants to be cool on his first day of third grade, but instead, everything goes wrong. He gets paired-up as a book buddy with the biggest, meanest kid in the class, but things work out well for Robbie in the end.
	Realistic Fiction	The Summer of Riley (Chapter Book)	Eve Bunting	3.8 AR Level	Students will write a brief story about their favorite pet. Those who never owned a pet will write about the pet they would liked to have had.	William's grandfather dies and he is very sad and lonely so his mother lets him get a dog at the pound that ends up scaring and chasing a neighbors prize horse. The dog, Riley, is picked up by animal control to be euthanized. William comes up with a unique way to keep Riley alive.

Poetry Anthologies

Picture of the  Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade Level	Ideas  for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the  Book
	Poetry Anthology	My Dog Ate The Homework	Bruce Lansky/ Stephen Carpenter	3rd-5th Grade	Write a very short poem of your own... about any subject that you wish.	This book contains eighty funny and very short poems all about subject matters that are very relevant to elementary school aged children. It touches on subjects such as t.v., burping, how children prolong the process of going to bed, and countless other subjects.
	Poetry Anthology	Where the Sidewalk Ends	Shel Silverstein	Grades K-3	I would read some of these poems when the students are learning about rhyming words.	A book of very silly poems, such as Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too. Most are nonsensical but very cute.

Historical Fiction

Picture of the Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade Level	Ideas  for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Historical Fiction	Pink and Say	Patricia Polacco	3.8 AR Level	The class will be divided into four groups. Each group will be responsible for giving an oral report on the Civil War.	This is a story about two very young soldiers who meet on the battlefield during the Civil War. One is white, wounded, and a deserter, and the other is black and lost from his outfit.Even though it endangers himself and his mother, the black boy takes the white boy to his home so his mother can take care of him.
	Historical Fiction	Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers	Burke Davis Illustrated by Douglas Gorsline	2nd-4th Grade	Each student will use the Internet and present to the class one interesting fact about Abraham Lincoln	A young girl writes a letter to Mr. Lincoln and tells him that she thinks he will look better and get more votes if he grows whiskers. He responds to her letter and grows a beard.
	Historical Fiction	The Story of Ruby Bridges	Robert Coles	5.8 AR Level	Students will write a paragraph describing how they think Ruby Bridges felt as she was escorted into school with people outside yelling and screaming awful things as she passed by.	This books gives us insights into racial unrest and segregation . It involves one of the very first black children that was made to attend a white school. Ruby was a first grader who had to be escorted back and forth to the first grade by Federal Marshalls to protect her during this shameful period of history.

Fantasy/ Science Fiction

Picture of the Book	Genre	Title of the Book	Author/ Illustrator	Age-  Grade     Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Fantasy/ Science Fiction	The Giver (Chapter Book)	Lois Lowry	5.7 AR Level	Students will write an entry in their journal about their idea of what a perfect world would be like.	Jonas lives in a neighborhood where everything seems perfect...but in fact, everything is controlled by a committee of Elders. Jonas is chosen to be the Reciever of Memory and he receives all the emotions and memories of the people in the community. He runs away with a two-year old in order to save the baby's life, and in doing so, the memories of all the people in his community are restored.
	Fantasy/ Science Fiction	Among the Hidden (Chapter Book)	Margaret Peterson Haddix	4.8 AR Level	Students will write a paragraph about their favorite part of the story.	The setting is somewhere in the future and the population laws prohibit families from having more than two children. Luke is the third child of his parents so he must stay hidden or be killed. (chapter book)
	Fantasy/ Science Fiction	A Wrinkle In Time (Chapter Book)	Madeline L'Engle	4.7 AR Level	Students will write a short story about where they would go and what they would do if they could travel through time.	Meg, her younger brother Charles, and her friend Calvin must rescue her father who is being held prisoner on another planet by the Dark Thing. They travel through space and time via a tesseract, a sort of wrinkle in time. All this they do with the help of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which.
No Picture Available	Fantasy/ Science Fiction	Edmund and the White Witch	C.S. Lewis/ Deborah Maze	1st-4th Grade	If you were the one stepping through the wardrobe, what world would you want to step into? Write a short story.	Two children step into a wardrobe and find themselves in the World of Narnia. The boy encounters the White Witch who tries to trick him into bringing all of his brothers and sisters to her.

Traditional Literature

Picture of the Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Fables	Fables	Arnold Lobel	1st-3rd Grade	Using The Ostritch In Love,  on page twenty-one, which is concerned with what a boy ostrich does each day of the week after he falls in love with a girl ostrich. I could read this to my pre-k or K class as a reinforcement for learning the days of the week.	There are twenty different fables in this book. Each one has an animal of some sort as its main subject.
	Legend	The Legend of the Christmas Tree	Rick Osbourne/ Bikk Dodge	Ages 4-8	I could share this book with my class at Christmas time as we learn how different people around the world celebrate Christmas.	The Christmas tree tradition was begun by a monk named Boniface as a way of telling people about God. Later, Martin Luther used evergreen trees and put candles on them to share the story of Jesus, the Light of the World. People later began celebrating by decorating their own personal trees.
	Folklore	Where the Buffaloes Began	Olaf Baker/ Stephen Gammell	3rd-5th Grade	Students will use the Internet to research various Indian tribes that I will assign and  their customs.	This book is based on Indian folklore that tells of buffaloes rising up from a sacred lake each spring. A young brave named Little Wolf sneaks away from camp to see this happen. He yells at the buffalo and they run back with him towards his camp just in time to save his people from an attack by another tribe.
	Legend	Savitri A Tale of Ancient India	Aaron Shepard/ Vera Rosenberry	2nd-4th Grade	Describe a time when you outwitted or tricked someone and got something that you wanted.	Savitri was a very beautiful daughter that her father had prayed about for a long time. She chose her husband and when Death came for him, she outwitted Death and regained her husband's life.
	Folklore	Only One Cowry	Retold by Phyllis Gershater/ David Seman	3rd-5th Grade	Write a paragraph describing what your dowry would consist of if you were marrying. (Boys and girls)	This is a tale based on African folklore about a king who loved his possessions so much, he didn't want to give any of them up as a dowry for a future wife.  A young man named Yo made trade after trade from the single cowry (shell) the king had given him. He found the king a wife, but she outsmarted Yo and the king and got huge amounts of food, wine, and jewelry as her "dowry".

Informational Books/
Biographies/Autobiographies

Picture of the Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Age- Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Informational	What are Levers?	Helen Frost	1.6 AR Level	Children will draw a picture of a lever from the book.	This book defines and shows picture examples of levers that we encounter in our everyday life. Even the youngest child should be able to understand a lever and how it works after reading or having been read this short book.
No Picture Available`	Informational	What are Caves?	Mari C. Schuh	1.9 AR Level	Students will draw the inside of a cave with the various formations labeled	This book has exquisite pictures of Mammoth Caves and beautiful stalactite and stalagmite formations. It defines all of the major terms associated with caves and also has diagrams of the different zones in a cave.
	Biography	Harriett Tubman	Margo Mcloone	3.2 AR Level	Students will research the Underground Railroad and the life of slaves on the Internet	This book highlights the life of Harriett Tubman, a black slave, who escaped to freedom in the North. She risked her own life and returned many times to the south to help other slaves escape.
	Biography	Henry Ford	Lola M. Schaefer	2.0 AR Level	Children will view a web site I have chosen about Henry Ford	As a young boy on the farm, Henry loved to take machinery apart. He later built better gasoline engines and made the worlds first car, the Quadricycle.

Author Study:
Jan Brett Books

Picture of the Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustra	Age- Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Fantasy	The Gingerbread Baby	Jan Brett	3.5 AR Level	I will read this book at Christmas time, and we will measure and mix a batter for gingerbread cookies. The lunchroom will bake them and each child will get to decorate one.	A young boy helps his mother bake a gingerbread man but opens the oven before it is done. Instead of a gingerbread man, they have a gingerbread baby, who runs away creating one disturbance after another. The boy bakes a gingerbread house and he happily goes inside and lives there.
	Fantasy	The Hat	Jan Brett	2.6 Ar Level	I will have cardboard patterns of socks that the children can trace and decorate.	Hedgie is a hedgehog who finds a sock that has fallen off the clothes line and gets it stuck on the prickles on his head. As he meets all the other animals he tells them that he has a new hat. They all laugh at him, but end up with socks on their heads too.
	Fantasy	The Wild Christmas Reindeer	Jan Brett	4.1 AR Level	I will read this at Christmas time. The students will write a short story about how they would take good care of a reindeer.	A young girl named Teeka has been chosen by Santa to get all of his reindeer ready to fly by Christmas Eve. Teeka is very harsh and bossy and the reindeer don't respond well to her. She finds she needs to let the reindeer show her what they need to do and all goes well.
	Fantasy	On Noah's Ark	Jan Brett	1.8 AR Level	I could use this book when we are learning the concept of big and little by comparing the sizes of the animals that went on board the ark.	This is Jan Bretts version of the Bible story about Noah's Ark. This is a very good book of animal pictures.
	Fantasy	Hedgie's Surprise	Jan Brett	3.5 AR Level	Write a short story and begin it: On that very day the egg hatched, and you will never believe what I saw...	A little boy takes Hen's egg every morning and his mother cooks it for him to eat. Hen wants to have baby chicks but is never left any eggs to sit on. Hedgie finds out about Hen's problem and helps her trick the boy.