Electronic Reading File by Christine Cormack

Electronic Reading File
By Christine Cormack

Caldecott Medal Winners

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Modern Fantasy	Where the Wild Things Are	Maurice Sendak	K-2	Students will draw pictures of their favorite monsters.	Max gets sent to his room without dinner and transforms it into a jungle. He meets all kinds of monsters and has lots of fun. He is back in time to have dinner waiting in his room.
	Traditional Fantasy	Always Room for One More	Sorche Nic Leondhas/ Nonny Hogrogian	K-2 3-4	Students will draw a picture of the house they want when they grow up.	Mr. MacLachlan, his wife, and their ten children always invite travelers to stay at their home. One day it is so full it falls down! Then they all work together to build an even bigger home.
	Modern Fantasy	Make Way for Ducklings	Robert McCloskey	2-4	Students will draw a picture of the pond and the ducklings.	Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are looking for the perfect spot to hatch their ducklings. They settle down in Boston, and travel through the city with the little ducklings to the perfect pond.
	Realistic Fiction	Owl Moon	Jane Yolen/ John	K-3	Students will draw a map of the forest in the story.	A father and son go owl watching one wintery night through the snowy forest.
	Informational	The Snowy Day	Ezra Jack Keats	PK-2	Students will create a snow land by drawing houses on a paper plate and gluing cotton balls or rice around for snow.	A story about a snow day and all the fun you can have in the snow. Don't put a snow ball in you pocket, because it will melt when you bring it inside.
	Modern Fantasy	The Little Island	Golden MacDonald/ Leonard Weisgard	PK-2	Students will use watercolors to pain a picture of the sea with the island in the middle.	A story about a little island and all of its surroundings and the beauty of the island and its wildlife. The story tells of all the animals that come to visit the island, including a kitten.
	Realistic Fiction	Drummer Hoff	adapted by Barbara Emberly/ Ed Emberly	K-2	Students will create a repeatitive story in small groups using a sentence from each student.	A rhyming, repeatitive tale about a cannon being fired and who it takes to fire it.
	Multicultural	Shadow	Translated by Marcia Brown	K-2	Take students outside and take turns tracing each others shadows with chalk.	A book describing the shadow and what it is and is not, where shadows go, and who has a shadow.
	Modern Fantasy	Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears	Verna Aardema/ Leo and Diane Dillon	PK-2	Students will play a game of telephone beginning with the teacher. Each student will tell the next what he heard and then write it down. At the end, see how much the story has changed.	A story beginning with a pesky mosquitoe telling a tale to the iguana, who got annoyed, who upset the snake, who scared the rabbit, and so on, until everyone is angry at the mosquitoe who still buzzes in people's ears.
	Modern Fantasy	Once a Mouse...	Marcia Brown	K-2	Students will make the mouse and tiger by gluing tissue paper and materials together onto construction paper.	A hermit saves a mouse and makes him his pet. He keeps on changing the mouse into larger animals to protect him from prey. Then the hermit turns him into a tiger and the mouse gets an ego, so the hermit turns him into a mouse again.

Newbery Award Winners

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Realistic Fiction	Bud, Not Buddy	Christopher Paul Curtis	3-4	Students will bring in an item of meaning to them, and as aclass they will create a suitcase of meaning.	Bud tells us the story of his life be describing memories, adventures, and a vivid imagination. He is in search of finding who he is after his mother dies.
	Historical Fiction	Sounder	William Armstrong/ James Barkley	3-4	Students will create sock puppets of Sounder and a racoon running up a tree.	An emotional tale of a young boy and his relationship with his pet and family. All the troubles they go through in life and how they deal with what life puts in their path are also a highlight.

ABC Book

ABC Book

Alphabet City

Stephen T. Johnson

K-2

Students will use objects around the room to create a letter from the alphabet.

A book with lictures of letters created with objects used or seen in everyday life.

Counting Book

Counting/ Modern Fantasy

Three Pandas Planting

Megan Halsey

K-2

Work with students to create a classroom counting book.

A fun countdown from 12 to 1 with different animals.

Predictable Books

Predictable/ Modern Fantasy

Goodnight Moon

Margaret Wise Brown/ Clement Hurd

K-2

Students will create a model of the moon using a balloon and paper mache.

A tale of all the wonders in a great green room and saying goodnight to everything.

Picture Books

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Picture/ Traditional Fantasy	The Night Before Christmas	Clement Clarke Moore/ John Steven Gurney	PK-2	Students will put on a concert for the teacher by singing "Jingle Bells" and ringing bells attached to string.	A beautifully illustrated tale of a home the night before Christmas. The father hears noise from the roof and finds Santa coming down the chimney.
	Picture/ Traditional Fantasy	The Twelve Days of Christmas	none	K-2	Students will create a wish box by covering a shoebox with wrapping paper and placing wishes for gifts they want to receive inside.	A picture book following along with the popular rhyme of all the presents someone received through the twelve days of Christmas.

Multicultural Books

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Multicultural	Knots on a Counting Rope	Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault/ Ted Rand	3-4	Students will use twigs, leaves, flowers, grass, and rocks to glue onto a piece of paper creating their own Indian.	A grandfather tells a young boy how he came to be through an old Indian tale.
	Multicultural	The Indian in the Cupboard	Lynn R. Banks/ Brock Cole	3-5	Students will create a small cupboard out of popsickle sticks to place a figure of the Indian inside of.	Omri gets something unexpected and unwanted for his birthday, an Indian figure. Soon the figure and Omri became close friends as he came to life and embarked on many adventures together.
	Multicultural	Twenty-Five Dragons	Eleanor Coerr/ Joann Daley	3-4	Bring in Oragami paper and help students to construct paper dragons.	A young boy is following in the traditions of his family by creating clay flowers. One day he decides he should make what he wants and creates a dragon. Along the way he tries to work hard in order to buy a bike and reach his goal of selling his dragons.
	Multicultural	Dogsong	Gary Paulsen	4-5	Students will create their own song about themselves and who they want to be. This song can be in the form of a poem if they prefer.	Russell embarks on an adventure to escape the modern village he came from and find his own song. He and his dog team cross many obstacles along the way while Russell's story passes from a past life to the present. He even uses knowledge from his past self to save himself and a pregnant girl from a polar bear.
	Multicultural	Dara's Cambodian New Year	Sothea Chiemruom/ Dam Nang Pin	K-3	Students will create a picture of their home by sketching with pencil first and then painting it with watercolor.	Dara and his family are getting ready for the new year. His grandparents are sad to be celebrating it away from their home, Cambodia. Dara decides to make everyone happy by painting pictures of their home in Cambodia with the help of his grandfather.

Traditional Fantasy Books

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Traditional	Saint George and the Dragon	Retold by Margaret Hodges/ Trina Schart Hyman	2-4	Students will Think about how the knight did not defeat the dragon until the third battle. On a piece of paper, students will order the pictures 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. They will draw the battles in that succession.	This tale, which takes place in England, is surrounded around the noble Red Cross Knight who embarks on a journey, sent be the fairy queen, to kill a dragon that was terring up Princess Una's land. He finds out his name is Saint George and in the end defeats the dragon after three battles and marries the princess.
	Traditional	Thumbelina	retold by Rebecca Bondor/ Lydia Halverson	K-3	Students will create a small bed using leaves, grass or anything else from the outdoors.	A story of a tiny girl and her adventure. she begins with an old lady, is kidnapped by a toad, and goes through much more before ending up with fairies.
	Traditional	My Very First Beauty and the Beast Storybook	retold by Rochelle Larkin/ Yvette Banek	K-2	Using tissue paper, glue, straws, and paper, students will create their ideal rose from the Beast's rose garden.	A story about a girl named Beauty and how she must stay with the Beast because of her father. She comes to like him, and finds out he is really a prince.
	Traditional	Henny-Penny	retold by Jane Watenberg	K-3	Students will come up with another friend for Henny-Penny to tell the sky is falling to. They will create a fun rhyming name and draw a picture of Henny-Penny and her new friend.	Henny-Penny gets hit on the head with an acorn and believes the sky is falling, so she must go tell the king. Along the way, she runs into some of her friends and they come along as well. They run into a sly fox and get tricked in the end.
	Traditional	Red Riding Hood	Retold by James Marshall	K-2	Students will create puppets of the Granny, Red Riding Hood, the Wolf, and the Hunter out of paper bags. They will put on a play telling about why you shouldn't talk to strangers.	Red Riding Hood has to take some custard to her granny, who doesn't feel well. Her mother told her not to talk to any strangers along the way. She ran into the wolf, who decided to escort her to eat both Red Riding Hood and the Granny. The wolf ate them up, and a hunter had to rescue them. Red Riding Hood never talked to strangers again!
	Traditional	The Bears on Hemlock Mountain	Alice Dalgliesh/ Helen Sewell	K-2	Students will discuss what they would have done if there were bears on the mountain. Then they will cut out pieces of paper and glue them to construction paper creating the bears and the iron pot that Jonathan hid under.	Jonathan sets out to Hemlock Mountain thinking there are no bears there since this is what the grown-ups have told him. He must get the iron pot his aunt has for his mother. Soon he finds out that there are bears, and while he was walking home with the pot, he had to hide under it from the bears.
	Traditional	Sukey and the Mermaid	Robert D. San Souci/ Brian Pinkney	3-4	Students will use watercolors to paint a sea and then glue materials down that are beautiful and shiny to create the beautiful mermaid.	Sukey lived with her mom and step-father in a cabin. She farmed hard everyday. One day she ran to the beach instead and sang a song to Mama Jo and a mermaid appeared. The mermaid gave her a coin to give to her parents everyday, as long as she did not say anything about the mermaid. Her mother found out and tried to catch her with the father. Sukey went to live with the mermaid and then back home. In the end she gets married to a hard working fisherman.

Modern Fantasy Books

Modern	The Relatives Came	Cynthia Rylant/ Stephen Gammell	K-2 3-4	Students will create a picture of all of the relatives that they can think of that they have. Then, they will frame the picture by gluing beads around the edge.	A sweet story about a family from Virginia leaving green grapes at home while visiting other family members. By the time they return home they have wonderful purple grapes!
Modern	I Wish I was Sick, Too!	Franz Brandenberg/ Aliki	K-2	Students will create a cup of medicine using a paper cup and drawing pictures of what makes them feel better on the outside of the cup with crayons or markers	This book tells about Elizabeth being jealous of all the attention her younger brother gets when he is sick. She doesn't want to do all of her chores and tasks. Then she gets sick too and wishes she could be well again.
Modern	Danny and the Dinosaur	Syd Hoff	K-2	Students will construct a dinosaur using clay, or using newspaper and paper mache.	Danny goes to the museum and sees all sorts of stuff. His favorite is the dinosaur. He gets to go for a ride on him and they even play hide and seek while traveling all through town.
Modern	Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel	Virginia Lee Burton	K-2 3-4	Students will create Mary Anne as a group using a big box and cardboard. They will decorate will crayons or markers, tape, and glue.	Mike and his steam shovel, Mary Anne, dig everything together. When gas shovels take their place they get sad and go to Popperville and dig there instead. They are happy and get to become a janator and a furnace in the end.
Modern	Old Blue Buggy	Fran Swift/ Carol Thompson	K-2 3-4	Bring in a buggy and then let students create various items that they would like to fill the buggy with using drawings, cutting out figures, making statues, and anything they might like in the classroom such as a favorite book.	A story about Henry and his blue buggy. He loved it so much as a baby and then he got too big for it. His mother and he were sad because they knew they had to get rid of it. But then it made them happy to see someone else using it.
Modern	Lucy Steps Through the Wardrobe	C. S. Lewis	K-2 3-4	Students will create their own door into Narnia by using popsickle sticks, fabric, paper, glue, and markers.	Lucy and her three siblings go to live with Professor Kirke during WWII. Lucy finds another world through the wardrobe. The world is called Narnia, and this is where her adventure begins.

Realistic Fiction Books

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Realistic	Night in the Country	Cynthia Rylant/ Mary Szilagyi	PK-2	Students will create a song using the different night time sounds from the book.	While sleeping in the country, you hear all the night time sounds or the animals and what they are doing. As morning comes the sounds vanish.
	Realistic	The Old Woman Who Named Things	Cynthia Rylant/ Kathryn Brown	K-2 3-4	Students will walk around the room and announce names they have chosen for the different furniture pieces or items in the classroom.	A Cute story about an old lady who has outlived all of her friends. She begins to name her belongings that will certainly outlive her!
	Realistic	Ramona Quimby, Age 8	Beverly Cleary	3-4	Students will think of a moment in their school career that they can remember vividly. Students will then write a short story about the time, and what makes it memorable. They will read it aloud to the class.	Ramona goes to a new school and creatively tells us the tales of her adventures, embarrassments, and accomplishments along the way.
	Realistic	The Family Under the Bridge	Natalie S. Carlson/ Garth Williams	3-4	If you were one of the children, what would you want to do with the gypsies? Students will imagine they are in the story and act out their favorite part with the gypsies.	Armand was an old grumpy man who lived under a bridge in Paris. He pushed all his belonging around in a buggy. He did not like children, but grew to love the ones under the bridge. He soon decided to find a better home for his new family.
	Realistic	The Famous Five Go Off to Camp	Enid Blyton/ Betty Maxey	5	Students will create a train track with tunnels and hidden ways using a show box and cardboard and other materials.	Trains in the middle of the night seem to vanish into thin air. The Famous Five discovery an unusual underground tunnel system, and a train-service that has them confused. in order to solve the mystery they must follow the track.

Historical Fiction Books

Historical Fiction	When I was Young in the Mountains	Cynthia Rylant/ Diane Goode	K-2 3-4	Students will use material from outside to create a mountain by gluing the items to paper.	A story set back in time. This is a tale of how a girl remembers growing up in the mountains and how much fun she had. She remembers why she never wanted to leave.
Historical Fiction	Sir Francis Drake: His Daring Deeds	Roy Gerrard	1-3	Students will look at the different illustrations of places Sir Francis went to. They will pick their favorite and create a picture of it using pencils and markers.	Francis Drake went to sea as a young boy and learned fast. He was made captain of the ship on his twenty-seventh trip. He explored Mexico. He sank many Spanish ships and took their gold. Then off to South America. Back home in England when they returned, they were met by the Queen and sailed again.
Historical Fiction	The Railway Children	E. Nesbit	5	Students will create a railway train with little pieces of wood and buttons and paint (provided by the teacher.)	Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis are sent to live in a small house when their father is called away. Life soon becomes very difficult. They soon make friends at the railway line but are still wondering where their father has gone to. In the end their daddy comes home, innocent of the accusations against him.
Historical Fiction	I Like Dinosaurs	Ryerson Johnson/ Blanche Sherwood	K-2	Students will invent their own dinosaur and draw a picture of it and name it as well. They will get up in front of the class and tell them why they made it and what they named it.	A young boy tells of his love of dinosaurs and discusses the different kinds and what they look like, and what he would do with them if they were alive today. There are very nice illustrations of each dinosaur discussed.
Historical Fiction	Titus in Trouble	James Reeves/ Edward Ardizzone	2-4	Students will write down jobs that they could do for money. Then, they will draw a picture of each job.	Titus dreamed of sailing the seas, but broke two vases in Mr. Busby's shop. He was told to come back with ten pounds. So Titus got a job at a warehouse, then a pickle factory, then the printer's, a suit store, until he finally found something that rewarded him with fifteen pounds! So he had enough to pay back Mr. Busby.

Poetry Books

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	Poetry	Bless Us All (A Children's Yearbook of Blessings)	Cynthia Rylant	K-2 3-4	Help students create a poem about their favorite day of the week.	A collection of blessings/poems for each month. Also includes some beautiful illustrations.
	Poetry	The Owl and the Pussy Cat	Edward Lear/ Jan Brett	K-2	Students will create new characters to meet along the way. Instead of the piggy and the turkey, who else could they meet? Students will create the characters on construction paper.	The Owl and Pussy Cat decide to go to sea with supplies. The Owl sang a love song to the Cat under the stars. They wanted to get married and searched for a year and a day for a ring. They found one, and were married and danced the night away.
	Poetry Anthology	Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-Me Book of Poems	Selected by X. J. Kennedy and Dorothy Kennedy/ Jane Dyer	K-2 3-4	Students will discuss their favorite poem and create another version of it for the class to share.	A collections of poetry about playing, families, fun, birds,bugs, beasts, rhymes, songs, magic, wonder, wind, weather, calendars, clocks, day and night. Each poem has beautiful illustrations to accompany it.

Biographies

	Biography	George Washington's Breakfast	Jean Fritz/ Paul Galdone	3-4	Students will create their perfect breakfast by drawing the food they would want on a paper plate with crayons.	George Allen tells all he knows about George Washington in a bibliographical tale. Then he searches for the answer to the question of what George Washington ate for breakfast.
	Biography	Andrew Young: Freedom Fighter	Naurice Roberts	5	Students will imagine that they are freedom fighters in the 1960-1970s. They will write a newspaper article discussing the benefits of equality and the reasons why equality should be accepted.	A biographical account of Andrew Young's life, accompishments, and aspirations. It largely focusses on his fight for equality.

Informational Books

Informational	Snow Time	Miriam Schlein/ Joe Lasker	PK-2	Students will create a snow man using styrofoam balls, pens, buttons, glue, and markers.	This story talks about what you can do with snow. It also tells how snow is different in cities than it is in the country.
Informational	Dolphins for Kids	Patricia Corrigan/ Flip Nicklin	K-2 3-4	Students will draw pictures of their favorite dolphins and hang each from a hanger with string to decorate the classroom with.	Katie, age 10, tells all she knows about the different kinds of dolphins, where they live, and what they eat, and so much more.
Informational	Safety: Poison	ill: Sue Wilkinson	PK-2 3-4	Students will create "danger" signs with paper, popsickle sticks, and markers alerting fellow students about poisons.	This story tells why you shouldn't get into adult stuff. Poisons can be very dangerous.
Informational	Sir Cumference and the First Round Table	Cindy Neuschwander/ Wayne Geenan	3-4	Students will use a compass to create different sizes of round tables. they will observe that there is one thing in common with every singe table.	This story is about Camelot and the first round table. It uses mathematical terms to help the audience discover how the table came about.

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cmcormac@valdosta.edu