Electronic Reading File by Carolyn Jenkins

Electronic Reading File
By Carolyn M Jenkins

Caldecott Medal Winners

Picture of Book	Genre	Title	Author/ Illustrator	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
	1964 Caldecott Medal Winner/Modern Fantasy	Where the Wild Things Are	Maurice Sendak	K-2/Ages 4 - 8	This book would be a great literary component for children to talk about a certain dream and they could draw a picture of their own make believe wild animal.	A bad little boy , sent to bed without supper sails to the land of the wild things where he becomes king!
	Caldecott/Realistic Fiction	Owl Moon	John Schuenherr	K-2/Ages 4 - 8	Great literary component to teach about the importance of family. Have children tell or draw about what special things they do with their father.	This story is about a young girl who goes out looking for owls with her father.
	Caldecott/Traditional Literature	Once A Mouse...	Marcia Brown	K - 2/ Ages 4 - 8	This book could be used to tell children about different cultures and to not take things for granted. The children could make a list of things that they are thankful for in their life.	A hermit crab rescues a mouse and changes him into a cat, dog, and finally a tiger. The new tiger becomes arrogant and the crab changes him back into a mouse.
	Caldecott/Modern Fantasy	The Polar Express	Chris Van Allsburg	K - 4/ Ages 4 - 10	This book could be used during Winter and the holiday season. Have children make up their Christmas Lists or talk about a favorite holiday memory.	A magical train ride takes a little boy to the North Pole on Christmas Eve to get a present from Santa.
	Caldecott/Realistic Fiction	Joseph Had A Little Overcoat	Simms/ Taback	Pre K-2/Ages 3 - 6	Plan an art activity where they can make a collage out of special fabrics of old shirts or clothes.	Joseph has an overcoat. The coat gets old and so he makes a jacket out of it. He keeps on until it is so small he loses it. It teaches us how you can make something out of nothing!
	Caldecott/Traditional Literature	The Three Pigs	David Weiser	K - 5/ Ages 4 - 11	Read different versions of this story and then have the children point out the differences in the story. Have children make up their own dramatic plays of Three Pigs.	A different version of the original three pigs. The pigs in this tale incorporate other storybooks and their characters.
	Caldecott/Realistic Fiction	Song and Dance Man	Karen Ackerman/ Stephen Gammel	K- 4/ Ages 5 -10	Have children tell, show, draw their story from their past. Have children talk about their grandparents past.	Grandpa shows his grandchildren through his actions his past. He lets him know that you are only as old as you feel!
	Caldecott/Multicultural	The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses	Paul Goble	Grades 1 - 2/Ages 6 - 8	Great literary component to discuss Indians and their cultures. Have children dress up as plain indians and make costumes out of grocery bags with paint.	This book is about a girl who lived with wild horses and the love she has for them.
	Caldecott/Modern Fantasy	Sylvester and the Magic Pebble	William Steig	K - 2/ Ages 4-8	This is a excellent book to introduce the fact that every one is different and that we should be happy with who we are as an individual. Have children tell/draw what they like best about themselves	A donkey finds a magic pebble and turns himself into a rock by mistake. He is changed back with the help of his parents.
	Caldecott/Traditional Literature	Fables	Arnold Lobel	K- 3/ Ages 5-9	This is a fantastic resource to introduce teaching about fables and the different characters in a folk tale. Have children make up their own fable!	A collection of interesting and funny fables. Some are about crocodiles in the bedroom, the ducks and the fox, and a bad kangaroo. Everyone will enjoy this book!

Newberry Award Winners

	Newberry/Realistic Fiction	Walk Two Moons	Sharon Creech	Ages 8-12/ Grades 3-6	This book is a great literary component for discussing indian cultures. The children can draw their own unique indian name and symbol for their name.	This book is about a girl named Sal that lost her mother and went on a roadtrip with her grandparents to find her mother.
	Newberry/ Modern Fantasy	A Wrinkle in Time	Madeliene L' Engle	Ages 9-12/ Grades 3-6	The children could conduct a writing exercise allowing children to describe what "it" could be.	An awkward self-consious girl, Meg, travels through time with her brother and a new friend to search for her father. With the help of their new magic friends, they battle "it" to save Meg's father. This is a wonderful book.

ABC/Counting/Concept

	ABC picture book/ Caldecott Honor	Alphabet City	Stephen Johnson	Grades Pre K- 1/ Ages 3-7	Great literary component to teaching the alphabet. Have children call out the letters in the book. The children can make a letter using different objects in the classroom.	This ABC picture book shows different things in the city that resembles the letters of the alphabet.
	Traditional Literature/ Caldecott Honor	Seven Blind Mice	Ed Young	PreK- 1/ Ages 3-7	Great literary component in teaching numbers and colors. Have children color a certain number red, blue, etc. The children could mix colors to make secondary colors using cottonballs as the mice.	Each blind mouse visits the elephant and declares that he has colored a pillar, a snake, a fan, or a rope. But the 7th mouse knows that is really an elephant.

Predictable Books

	Modern Fantasy/Predictable Caldecott Honor	Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type	Doreen Cronin/Betsy Lewin	PreK-1/Ages 3-7	This book is a terrific way to introduce and teach about farm animals. Also, you can discuss the different roles that each animal plays on the farm.	Farmer Brown's animals go on strike after the farmer refuses to give them what they want.
	Realistic Fiction/Predictable	David Gets in Trouble	David Shannon	Ages 3-7/ Grades PreK-1	This book is a wonderful way for children to guess what David is going to do next. The children could draw a picture of David doing something good instead of getting into trouble.	This book is about a little boy named David who keeps getting into trouble with his mother and his teacher.

Traditional Literature

Traditional Literature/ Caldecott Honor	Rumpelstiltskin	Paul O. Zelinksky/ Jacob W. Grimm	Grades 3-5/ Ages 8-11	This book is a way to introduce fairy tales and what makes a good fairy tale. Have children talk and draw about their favority fairy tale character.	A princess must guess an elf's unusual name in order to keep her baby.
Traditional Literature	The Little Match Girl	Hans Christian Anderson/ Jerry Pinkney	K-3/ Ages 4-9	This book teaches children about poor people and the early 1900's. Also a great way to teach about other cultures. The children can cook food and do taste testing on foods of the world.	A sad story about a young girl who freezes to dealth while trying to sell matches.
Traditional Literature	Yeh-Shen	Ai Ling/ Ed Young	Grades 1- 5/ Ages 5-12	This is a wonderful way to teach about Chinese customs and culture. Have children do a chinese activity such as oragami.	A Chinese version of Cinderella.
Traditional Literature/Caldecott	Rapunzel	Paul O. Zelinksky	K-3/ Ages 4-9	Literary component to teach children about love. Have children write a letter to their parents telling them how much they love them.	A young woman is held prisoner in a tower and is rescued by her one and only true love.
Traditional Literature/ Caldecott Honor	Goldilocks and The Three Bears	Retold and illustrated by James Marshall	PreK- 2/Ages 4-8	Have children make predictions of what will happen next in the story. Have children make puppets of the three bears or present a small play about the book.	I love James Marshall's illustrations. A new version of the old story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Fantasy/Science Fiction

Modern Fantasy	If You Give a Mouse a Cookie	Laura Joffe Numeroff/Felicia Bond	Grades K-2/ Ages 4-8	This book can be used to read about imagination, fun, creativity, and frienship. The students can even make chocolate chip cookies in the classroom.	The story of an energetic little mouse and a boy and what happens when you give a mouse a cookie. The mouse keeps asking for other things!
Modern Fantasy	Tough Cookie	David Wisniewski	Grade K-3/ Ages 5-10	A literary component that deals with food. The children can make construction paper collages to demonstrate the illustrator's illustrations.	This book is literally about a "tough chocolate chip cookie". The cookie can handle anything in the cookie jar with his friends until "Fingers" drops in. With the help of his cookie friends he tries to save the cookie jar from Fingers. This is a cute story.
Modern Fantasy/ Fiction/ Christopher Medal Award	The Rainbow Fish	Marcus Pfister	Grade K-3/Ages 5-10	This book can be used to show children the importance of sharing with others. The children can make a rainbow fish using tissue paper and foil.	The Rainbow Fish learns the meaning of sharing and it makes him feel happy.
Modern Fantasy	Matilda	Roald Dahl	Grades 2-5/ Ages 8-11	Teaches children about how some children are gifted. Have the children illustrate a favorite part of the book. The children could even conduct their own literature circles about the book.	I loved this book. This book is about a young girl named Matilda. She is extremely talented and smart. Unfortunately her parents think she is nothing. Matilda goes through many different scenarios where she uses her magical powers to outsmart those who are mean to her.

Realistic Fiction

Realistic Fiction/ Caldecott	The Relatives Came	Cynthia Rylant	K-2/ Ages 4-8	This book could be used to teach children about family. Have children draw a picture of their famly.	This book describes what it is like when relatives from Virginia come to visit.
Realistic Fiction	Miss Nelson is Missing	Harry Allard/ James Marshall	PreK-3/ Ages 4-9	Teaches children about character and how to be respectful to a substitute teacher and their teacher. This book could be used when a teacher is going to have a substitute.	The students in Room 207 take advantage of their teacher until they receive a substitute.
Realistic Fiction/ Caldecott Honor	The Stray Dog	Marc Simont	PreK-3/ Ages 4-9	The children could tell or draw about a dog or animal they have. The class could plan a trip to the Human Society or have someone from the Humane Society come speak to the children.	When a little dog appears at a family picnic, the girl and boy play with him all afternoon. At day's end they say goodbye. The family returns to the picnic grounds to look for him but the dog catcher is looking for him too!
Realistic Fiction	Love You Forever	Robert N. Munsch/ Shelia McGraw	PreK-6/This book is wonderful for all ages	Teaches children about how much they are loved by their mother! Have children do a special art activity for their mother.	Story about the love a mother feels for her child. Different stages of the child's life are developed throughout the book.
Realistic Fiction	Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day	Judith Viorst/ Ray Cruz	Ages 8-10/ Grades 2-3/ This book is great for all ages.	The teacher can read this book when she believes that the children are having a bad day. The teacher can say that things are not always as bad as they seem. The children can discuss what is making their day bad.	This book is about a boy named Alexander who keeps having a bad day or he seems to be having a bad day. Alexander is just not getting his way and he believes that he is having a bad day because of it.

Historical Fiction

	Historical Fiction	Where The Red Fern Grows	Wilson Rawls	Ages 9-12/ Grades 3-7	This book is a good book to read when discussing the Great Depression in a social studies class. The children could bring in grandparents to talk about the Great Depression.	The story takes place during the Depression and transports the reader to the Ozarks for this tale of courage, loss, and love. This is a real tear jerker!
	Historical Fiction/ Newberry	Sarah, Plain and Tall	Patricia MacLachlan	Ages 8-11/ Grades 3-7	The students can read this book when discussing about life on a farm. The class could take a field trip to a local farm or dairy farm to see how things have changed.	The father of Caleb and Anna writes off for a wife. Sarah comes from the sea and misses it terribly. Caleb and Anna really like her and want her to stay.

Poetry Anthologies

Poetry	Where the Sidewalk Ends	Shel Silverstein	Ages 8-12/ Grades 2-6	The students could memorize a short poem from this book and act it out in class at the end of the week.	This is a wonderful poetry book. The drawings throughout the book are great also. The poems are short and funny.
Poetry	A Light in the Attic	Shel Silverstein	Ages 8-12/ Grades 2-6	The students could memorize a short poem from this book and recite it in class on poetry day. The students could even use props or costumes to make the poem more dramatic.	This is another wonderful poetry book by Shel Silverstein. This book contains different funny poems and drawings and is very entertaining to young students.
Poetry	Dinosaur Dinner( With a Slice of Alligator Pie)	Jack Prelutsky/ Debbie Tilley	Ages 3-8/ Grades PreK-2	The students can do a exercise on rhyming. The teacher will give each student a different word and explain to them that you can rhyme with just about any word. This is a great creative writing activity.	A collection of 41 poems. The poems will amuse children of all ages, especially young ones. The poems are about food, kids, and school fun.

Multicultural Books

Multicultural/ Caldecott Medal Winner	Grandfather's Journey	Allen Say	K-5/Ages 4-12	This book shows the difference between two cultures. This book is also helpful when talking about different generations of family. Have children tell about their specific travels they have made.	A man traveled from Japan to US and finally settles down to raise his family. Each time he moves from one country to another , he becomes homesick for the country he left behind.
Multicultural/Caldecott	Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears	Verna Aardema/ Leo Dillion	K-3/ Ages 4-9	Teaching children about the different beliefs and rituals other cultures have. Have children make a food dish from another culture.	A mosquito tells a story that causes a jungle to go crazy. The sun does not come up at all because the mosquitoe said something that caused a jungle disaster.
Multicultural	Amazing Grace	Mary Hoffman/ Caroline Birch	K-3/ Ages 4-8	This book can teach children to believe in themselves and that they can do anything they want to be, ask children to write/draw what they want to be.	This book is about a little girl named Grace. Grace loved to play make believe. She wants to be Peter Pan in the school play, but she was told she could not by her friends because she was black.
Multicultural	Fiesta!	Ginger Foglesong Guy/ Renee King Moreno	PreK-2/ Ages 3-8	This book would be a great literary component about teaching students the basics of the Spanish Language. Create song for children to learn the numbers 1-10 easily in Spanish.	This book is a bilingual text that describes a child's party and provides practice counting in both English and Spanish.
Multicultural/ Caldecott	Lon Po Po	Ed Young	K-2/Ages 6-8	This book can be used to show children the commonalities of different cultures and how some stories stay the same. Have children talk about any differences between the American version vs. the Chinese Version of Little Red Riding Hood.	This book is the Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood.

Informational/Biography

Informational	Shh! We're Writing the Constitution	Jean Fritz/Tomie DePaola	Grades 3-6/Ages 8-12	This book can be used in a U.S. History Class about the Constitution. The students could write a constitution for their classroom rules.	This book describes how the Constitution came to be written and put into use. This is also a great book to use in a social studies class room.
Informational	P is for Peach!	Carol Crane/ Mark Braught	Grades K-2/Ages 4-8	This is a great book to use if the class is learning about "p" and also Georgia. The children could eat peaches and make peach cobbler in class. The children could also make peach collages out of peeled peach skin.	As children learn about the alphabet, they can learn the important facts about Georgia.
Informational	The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle	K-2/Ages 4-7	This book is a great literary component when discussing how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. The students could make a caterpillar out of paper plates and draw food on each paper plate.	Presents the days of the week and the life cycle of a caterpillar. The caterpillar eats his way through the pages.
Informational/Caldecott	So, You Want to Be President?	Judith St. George/David Small	Ages 6-9/K-6	This book can be used for teaching about the qualifications and characteristics of U.S. Presidents, from Washington to Clinton. The children can do a speech on a famous president.	A colorful book with cartoon like heads on each president. The book talks about the hobbies, sports, and the good and bad about being president.
Informational	If You Grew Up With George Washington	Micheal Dooling/James Cross Giblin	Ages 6-9/K-2.	This book can be used on George Washington's birthday. The students can do a small book report on George Washington using this book as a reference. The children can make George Washington wigs using cottonaballs and paper.	This is a young children's book that tells about out first president.

Same Author Books/ Beverly Clearly

Realistic Fiction/Newberry	Dear Mr. Henshaw	Beverly Cleary/Paul O. Zelinsky	Grades 3-6/Ages 8-13	This is a great literary component to introduce proper letter writing and pen pals. The students could write a letter to their favorite author and the teacher could mail it to them.	A lonely boy writes to Mr. Henshaw, who is his favorite author. The author answers and encourages the boy throughout life's struggles. The book is made up on mostly letter that the boy writes to Mr. Henshaw.
Realistic Fiction	Muggie Maggie	Beverly Cleary/Kay Life	Grades 3-5/Ages 9-10	This book could be used to introduce the benefits of cursive writing. The students could practice cursive writing throughout the time that they read the book.	A third grader decides that she does not want to learn cursive writing. Maggie does not know the benefits of cursive writing. She eventually loves to write in cursive!
Realistic Fiction/Newberry Honor	Ramona and Her Father	Beverly Cleary	Ages 9-up/Grades 3-7	This book is a excellent literary component in teaching children about the struggles of every family. The students can write a love letter to their father.	Ramona and her father have funny experiences and a loving relationship in this wonderful chapter book.
Realistic Fiction	Ramona the Pest	Beverly Cleary	Ages 8-up/Grades 3-up	The students can write or tell about sisters, brothers, or experiences with school. The students can write about favorite school memories.The teachers can allow the students to bring a sister or brother to class and have them help with a art activity.	This book is about the adventures of Ramona and her first year of school.
Modern Fantasy	The Mouse and the Motorcycle	Beverly Cleary	Ages 9-up/Grades 3-6	Students could write/tell/or do a short play on their favorite part of the story. The students can use props, and other believeable elements.	The adventures of a mouse who rides on a motorcycle.