Electronic Reading File by Kayla DeLaune

Electronic Reading File
By Kayla DeLaune

books

Caldecott Medal Winners

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Where the Wild Things Are	Maurice Sendak/ 1963	Modern Fantasy	K-2	Have students make thier own wild things by constructing hand puppets.	Max is sent to his room for being too wild. His room turns into a wild forest with many wild things.
Lon Po Po	Ed Young	Multicultural	K-4	Have students come up with an alternate ending to this story.	A Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood. A bad wolf comes to eat three sisters while thier mother is gone to visit their grandmother.
The Polar Express	Chris Van Allsburg	Modern Fantasy	Pre-S, K-2	Children could compose a poem or short story about the best christmas gift they've ever recieved.	A young boy jumps on a train to the North Pole and Santa gives him a special gift that he will always cherish.
Owl Moon	Jane Yolen/ John Schoenherr/ 1987	Realistic Fiction	K-2	Have students draw a picture of their favorite activity they take part in with a famly member, and tell the class why this is special to them.	A young child and her father go out into the woods late at night to go owling. The child learns the importance of spending time with her father.
The Little Island	Golden MacDonald/ Leonard Weisgard	Picture Book	Pre-S, K-2	Have each student pick thier favorite season, and then draw all of the animals and plants that go along with that season.	A tale about a little island and all of the changes it goes through as different seasons come and pass. As each season arrives, different plants and animals inhabit the island.
The Three Pigs	David Weisner/ 2002	Modern Fantasy	K-4	Students can be divided up into two large groups to participate in dancing in character. Let half of the students dance while the other half observes . Then, reverse the order.	A picture book that looks at the classic tale of the Three Little Pigs from the pigs' point of view. The pigs take control and change the story to benefit themselves instead of the wolf.
Arrow to the Sun	Gerald McDermott/ 1974	Picture Book	K-2	Have students pretend that they are the arrow that travels to the sun. Let the students draw pictures that show what they might see on their journey to and from the sun.	A Pueblo Indian tale about a boy that is created when the Lord of the Sun sends the spark of life down to the Earth. He is turned into an arrow to go meet his father.
Snowflake Bentley	Jaqueline Briggs Martin/ Mary Azarian/ 1998	Picture Book	K-4	Give students blue construction paper and white finger paint and let them make their own original snowflake.	The true story about Wilson Bentley who discovered how to photograph sowflakes. While photographing snowflakes, he discovered that there were no two snowflakes alike.
Tuesday	David Wiesner/ 1991	Picture Book	K-4	Have students perform a pantomime of flying frogs or any other animal.	A picture book that shows crazy things that happen on a Tuesday at different hours of the day. Frogs fly and pigs start to fly.
Jumanji	Chris Van Allsburg/ 1981	Picture Book/ Modern Fantasy	K-3	Let students make their own board game and write some rules for it.	Siblings discover a crazy board game that comes to life while their parents are out .

Newbery Award Winners

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Bridge to Terabithia	Katherine Patterson	Realistic Fiction	K-2	Have the students write a diamante poem describing their best friend. After writing the poem, allow them to draw a picture of thier best friend on the page.	A boy desires to be the fastest kid in the fifth grade, but when a new girl beats him, he has to learn to accept it. They become fast friends and build a secret place called Terabithia, together.
Call it Courage	Armstrong Sperry	Realistic Fiction	3-5	Let students write a descriptive paragraph about what it might be like to venture out alone in the ocean.	Mafatu almost drowned in the ocean when he was a small boy and years later, he has to face his fears and prove to everyone that he can overcome the obstacle of going back into the sea.

Multicultural

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Jamela's Dress	Niki Daly/ 1999	Realistc Fiction	K-2	Show the students the design of the fabric in the story and let them design and color their own fabric on a piece of paper.	Jamela thinks the new fabric for her mother's dress is so beautiful. She decides to wrap it around her and strut around the town. When the fabric is ruined, Jamela and her mother are very upset.
It Takes a Village	Jane Cowen-Fletcher/ 1994	Realistic Fiction	K-2	Children could use modeling clay to construct an item that they may find at a village market such as pottery, baskets, or dishes.	Yemi is left in charge of her little brother at the village market while thier mother is busy selling her mangoes.
The Village That Vanished	Ann Grifalconi/ Kadir Nelson/ 2002	Realistic Fiction	K-4	Have half of the students pretend to be a villager and the other half be interviewers for a local newspaper. Let the interviewers ask the villagers questions about what it was like to have to run from slavers and pack up and move to another village.	A village is in danger of a group of slavers coming to capture their people into a life of slavery. A woman in the tribe suggests making the village vanish and move to an uninhabited part of the area.
The Secret to Freedom	Marcia Vaughan/ Larry Johnson/ 2001	Realistic Fiction	3-5	Have the students design their own patch of a quilt and come up with a significant meaning for it.	A child is told by her Great-Aunt Lucy about the days when she and her brother Albert were sold into slavery. Albert introduces a system of patchwork quilts that have different meanings.
Working Cotton	Sherly Anne Williams/ Carole Byard/ 1992	Realistic Fiction/ Picture Book	K-3	Let the students discuss what they think it would be like to have lived in these times.	A young girl describes what it is like having to work the fields of cotton with her family. She wishes she were old enough to hold her own sack of cotton to contribute.

Predictable Book

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie	Laura Numeroff/ Felicia Bond	Picture Book	K-4	Have students break into small groups and allow them to pick their favorite part of the story. Instruct them to do a freeze frame of that part of the story while the rest of the class tries to guess what scene they are depicting.	A mouse is given a cookie by a little boy and then begins a chain of events of things he wants afterwards.

Modern Fantasy

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Bunny Day	Rick Walton/ Paige Miglio/ 2002	Modern Fantasy	K-3	Play the song "The Bunny Hop" and let students make up their own dance movements to go with the song. This could be done in the spring time around easter.	A day in the life of a bunny family and the things they do each hour of the day.
The Rainbow Fish	Marcus Pfister	Picture Book	K-3	Have student's choose one part of the story and change the text by using speech bubbles. Have them write what some of the characters might be thinking or feeling at any part of the story they choose.	Rainbow Fish doesn't want to share his scales because they are to beautiful. However, he learns that it is better to have friends and share, than to be alone.
IF You Give a Pig a Pancake	Laura Numeroff/ Felicia Bond/ 1998	Picture Book/ Modern Fantasy	Pre-S, K-2	Have a class discussion about what they think the pig is going to do next.	A pig is given a pancake and he starts a crazy chain of wanting one thing after another.
Angelina and the Butterfly	Adapted by Katharine Holabird/ Helen Craig/ 2002	Picture Book/ Modern Fantasy	Pre-S, K-2	Have students draw a picture of an animal they once found and kept. Have them also tell what the animal was named.	Angelina found a wounded pink butterfly and tried to keep it all to herself. She learns a valuable lesson in the end.
My Friend Rabbit	Eric Rohmann 2002	Picture Book/ Modern Fantasy	Pre-S, K-2	Let students write about how they think the rabbit and the mouse are going to get out of the tree this time.	A mischeivious rabbit decides to help his friend mouse get his plane down from a tree. Rabbit is known for getting into troublesome situations.

ABC Book

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom	Bill Martin Jr./ John Archambault/ Lois Elhert/ 1989	ABC Book	Pre-S, K	Students can be assigned one letter of the alphabet each. Have them write both the lower case and capital letter, and then color and cut them out. Make a class coconut tree and have the children place their letters in alphabetical order.	All of the lower case letters are racing to the top of the coconut tree. They all come crashing down and their parents, the capital letters, come to their rescue.

Counting Book

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab	April Pulley Sayre/ Jeff Sayre/ Randy Cecil/ 2003	Counting Book	Pre-S, K	Have students draw a picture of their favorite animal and write the number of how many feet that animal has.	This book counts to ten by showing how many feet certain animals have. A snail has one foot, a person has two feet, and a crab has ten feet.

Traditional Fantasy

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Cinderella	Marcia Brown/ 1954	Traditional Fantasy	K-4	Play classical music and let students pretend that they are at the prince's ball. Tell them to make up their own movements to the music.	Cinderella is a beautiful girl who is used as a servant by her cruel stepmother and two stepsisters. She attends a ball and leaves behind her glass slipper.
The Snowchild	Freya Littledale/ Barbara Lavallee/ 1978	Traditional Fantasy	K-2	Have children think of a different way to end this story. Maybe the snowhcild could stay forever, or maybe the old couple could make a boy snowchild to give her a brother.	A russian folk tale about an old couple who dreams of having a child of their own. They build a snowchild in their garden one winter and she comes to life. The couple spends a wonderful winter with her, but sadly, she has to leave them as soon as spring approaches.
Johnny Appleseed	Steven Kellogg/ 1988	Traditioanl Fantasy	K-4	Have children perform a tableau depicting one of the amazing adventures of Johhny Appleseed. This could be done in groups of three to four students.	The tall tale about Johnny Appleseed, who traveled the western forests planting apple trees so the settlers would have fruit for eating. Johnny Appleseed loved telling his stories of adventure to many children and loved helping those in need.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears	Jim Aylesworth/ Barbara McClintock/ 2003	Traditional Fantasy	K-2	Have the students write a short story about what the bears were doing while Goldilocks was in their house. Have them do this in pairs or in small groups and retell their version to the class.	Goldilocks wanders off into the woods and discovers the empty home of a bear family. She decides to go in and test the bear's beds, porridge, and chairs.
The Shoemaker and the Christmas Elves	Jim Lawrence/ Tim Hildebrandt/ 1993	Traditional Fantasy	K-4	Have the students pretend to be either the shoemaker or his wife and write a thank you letter to the Christmas elves for their help.	A shoemaker and his wife wonder how they will have enough material to make more shoes. A group of Christmas elves work all night to make a spectacular pair of shoes for the shoemaker to sell.

Biographies

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Lou Gehrig, The Luckiest Man	David A. Adler/ Terry Widener/ 1997	Biography	3-5	Students can think of thier favorite athlete and perform still poses to try and get the class to guess the right athlete.	A biography of Lou Gehrig and his life playing major leauge baseball. Lou enjoys great success in baseball, but unfortunately is diagnosed with a terminal disease. Lou doesn't feel sorry for himself; he considers himself to be the luckiest man in the world.
Eleanor	Barbara Cooney/ 1996	Biography	3rd-5th	Assign groups of students to research a former First Lady of the United States. Instruct them to write a poem or a short story about some accomplishments of their chosen First Lady.	A biography of Eleanor Roosevelt that describes her tough, lonely childhood and how she grew up to be an advocate for human rights. After becoming First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt made multiple contributions and served as the American delegate to the United Naitons.

Informational

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf	Lois Elhert/ 1991	Informational Book/ Picture Book	K-2	Let students paint a picture of a giant leaf. The leaf could be the color of their choice. When the students are done, have them cut their leaf out and place it on a bulletin board that looks like a tree. This could be done around the Fall when the leaves are very colorful.	An informational book about the life cycle of a Sugar Maple tree. This book is very descriptive and labels all of its pictures so that students are aware of what they are.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle/ 1969	Informational Book/ Picture Book	Pre-S; K-2	Let students come up with other foods that the caterpilar could eat and draw pictures of them. Also, have them write about what they think the butterfly will eat.	A book that shows the life cycle of a butterfly. It starts with a very hungry caterpillar that eats a lot of food and becomes a huge caterpillar. It ends with a beautiful butterfly hatching from a cocoon.
The Planets in our Solar System	Franklyn M. Branley/ Kevin O'Malley/ 1981	Informational Book/ Picture Book	K-3	Give students all of the materials necessary to construct their own planet mobile. Show students pictures of each of the planets and allow them to decorate each planet how ever they want to.	A great book that tells all about the solar system. This book lists intersting facts such as which planets are the hottest, coldest, and where each of the planets are located. It also tells about the size of each planet and how moon ties into our solar system.

Realistic Fiction

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Skinnybones	Barbara Park/ 1982	Realistic Fiction	3-5	Have kids get in a circle and let each one use creative movement to show some techniques of their favorite activities.	Alex Frankovitch has a big mouth that cannot be controlled. He gets himself into a sticky situation when he brags about being the best pitcher in the league and challenges T.J. Stoner to a pitching contest.
Almost Starring Skinnybones	Barbara Park/ 1988	Realistic Fiction	3-5	Tell students that their assignment is to draw their own advertisement of the Kitty Fritter cat food to be placed in a magazine.	A follow-up to Barbara Park's first book about Alex Franovitch, Skinnybones. In this book, Alex, a.k.a. Skinnybones, has the chance to star in a nationwide commercial advertising cat food. Unfortunately, Alex does not become the celebrity he hoped to be and gets laughed at by most of his classmates.
Operation: Dump the Chump	Barbara Park/ 1982	Realistic Fiction	3-5	Have students act out parts of the story when Robert plays a trick on Oscar in groups. While one group is acting out one prank, have the rest of the class try to guess what prank is being played.	Oscar Winkle has been tormented by his younger brother Robert for seven-and-a-half years. Robert has played numerous tricks on Oscar and is constantly annoying him. Oscar finally comes up with a plan to dump his brother for an entire summer.
Mick Harte Was Here	Barbara Park/	Realistic Fiction	5-6	Have older students try to write a journal entry about bicycle safety and why they think it is important to always wear helmets. Have a class discussion about this issue.	Phoebe Harte's world is turned upside down when her brother Mick is killed in a bike accident. See how Phoebe learns to cpoe with the death of her brother and how she uses humor to try to ease her pain.
Junie B., First Grader: Toothless Wonder	Barbara Park/ Denise Brunkus/ 2002	Realistic Fiction	3-4	Read this book during a unit on dental helath. Have students draw a picture of proper health routines to take care of teeth properly.	Junie B. Jones is so excited to be the first perosn in her class to lose a tooth. She then realizes that she has many questions and concerns about this whole process.

Poetry

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
A was Once an Apple Pie	Edward Lear/ Julie Lacome/ 1992	Poetry	K-2	Have students choose a letter of the alphabet and write a short poem about something that starts with that letter. This poem could use free verse or use rhyming words.	A poetry book that has a poem for each letter of the alphabet. This poetry also uses a lot of rhyming words.
The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury	Jack Prelutsky/ Meilo So/ 1999	Poetry	K-3	Have students choose their favorite food or animal and write a short, descriptive free verse poem about it.	A general collection of descriptive poetry about many subjects.

Poetry Anthology

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Where the Sidewalk Ends	Shel Siverstein/ 1974	Poetry	K-5	Let each student think of something that they think is funny. Allow them to write a silly poem and draw a silly picture to go along with it.	A giant collection of poetry that gives humorous insight to a wide range of topics. Each poem has a corresponding picture that is also entertaining. Children will love these poems because they appeal to both boys and girls.

Historical Fiction

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Dandelions	Eve Bunting/ Greg Shed/ 1995	Historical Fiction	K-3	Let students dress in old clothing that might look like clothes worn in the story. Have them divided into groups according to different scenes of the story.	Zoe and her family have to move to the vast plains of Nebraska Territory and they experience many hard times along the way. They have a difficult time gettign settled, but when Zoe goes into town with her father one day, she discovers a patch of Dandelions to bring back to her mother.
Jacob Have I Loved	Katherine Paterson	Historical Fiction/ Realistic Fiction	5-6	Have the class discuss each of the characters qualities that may relate to other characters in books they may have read before.	Louise is left alone because of her younger twin sister who gets all the attention. She has to find out who she is and what she wants to make of her life.
Sounder	William H. Armstrong/ 1969	Historical Fiction	5-6	Let children pretend to be characters in the story in this book. Have them pair up and interview each other on what it might be like to live during this time period as a minority.	A young boy and his coon dog Sounder go out night after night in order to bring in food for the family, but he never seems to have any luck. His father is suddenly arrested for being accused of stealing a ham for their family to eat.
Crispin: The Cross of Lead	Avi/ 2002	Historical Fiction/ Realistic Fiction	4-5	Have students read this story in literature circles and then use literature response logs to discuss them.	Crispin's mother dies and leaves him an orphaned peasant boy. He is falsely accused of murder and theft, so he flees his village.
Sarah, Plain and Tall	Patricia MacLachlan	Historical Fiction/ Realistic Fiction	K-4	Have students pretend to be a charater in the story and write a letter to another character in the story. Students may choose to not sign the letter and have other students guess which character they are by reading the letter.	Sarah comes to live with a family away from her home at the sea. She misses her home, but she also grows to love the family and decides to stay with them.

Picture Books

Picture of Book	Author/ Illustrator/ Copyright	Genre	Recommended Age/Grade Level	Ideas for Classroom Use	Brief Description of the Book
Paul Revere's Ride	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow/ Monica Vachula/ 1860	Poetry	5-6	Have children choose a historical event that they want to learn more about. Instead of writing an essay, let them write a poem about the event and read it to the class.	A poem about the ride of Paul Revere when he warned many towns that the British were coming. This book is filled with wonderful illustrations.
Thank You Mr. Falker	Patricia Polacco	Picture Book, Realistic Fiction	K-3	Allow students to discuss why they think Mr. Falker was so important to Trish and what they believe the characteristics of a good teacher are.	Trish has a learning disorder, but instead of getting help, she gets picked on by other students. She is then put in Mr. Falker's class and he helps her learn how to read and boost her self-esteem.