Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jenkins, Steve. 2004. Actual Size. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0547512910

2. PLOT SUMMARY
This book is geared for grade 2 but will attract children of all ages. Many animals displayed in this book give the actual size with some facts, weight and length. Many children are not fortunate to see actual sizes of several of the animals displayed in this book in a zoo. Thanks to Jenkins he shows wonderful collage illustrations and children will compare themselves in size to the animals displayed. Jenkins displays a shark’s mouth over two pages with its serrated teeth. Many children will not understand what serrated means but when shown their comprehension will build. One interesting layout that Jenkins shows is when he compares two different animals in size and weight. A way to grab the attention of children is to show a fascinating animal visual on the front cover the book . Here the author grabs the readers attention by showing  a contrasting picture of two animals on the cover page. Some animals are small for the page depicting the size such as the pigmy shrew or the dwarf goby. The author goes to extremes in sizes to show a larger than life world, its beauty and an appreciation for all living things.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
When reading children’s nonfiction about animals I think about all the literary elements. This book speaks to children in the lower grades. Each page displays a life size of an animal described and at times part of the animal. Jenkins uses collage to bring out the extraordinary illustrations of each animal. Children will be absorbed in each page not only with the illustrated collages but also with the detailed information on each of the represented animals. Children at the lower grades cannot fully  picture the true size of certain animals but Jenkins illustrates many up to scale. Powerful vocabulary is important to children, here we see the word “serrated”. Just by reading that sharks have serrated teeth one does not need to explain what it means. Therefore giving children a sense of seeing the actual animal in real life. The fold out page of the crocodile and the frog give children a concrete picture of both. Graphics are very appealing to a child’s eye and will wow at each page. This non-fiction book is simple yet powerful to children of all ages.

4. AWARDS, HONORS
 
 Books of the Year Winner 2004 Ages 2 to 4 United States

 Editors' Choice Top of the List Winner 2004 Youth Nonfiction United States
 
 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children Honor Book 2005 United States

5. CONNECTIONS
*Children will write about which animal they liked best in the book and illustrate it.
*Visit the library and check out books of any animal they like and write an acrostic of the animal they chose and display products.

Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country) by Kathleen Krull

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krull, Kathleen, & Brewer, P. 2010. Illustrator: Stacy Innerst. Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN: 9780152066390.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
We always think of Abraham Lincoln as a serious president with serious issues at hand, but never as a president with a sense of humor. This complete biography shows Mr. Lincoln in a humorous light. Krull and Brewer make light of Lincoln’s life and shows how he overcame many obstacles in his life through humor. Lincoln lived in a bleak log cabin where his bed was made of corn husks and had a strict father. Because Lincoln could read and write his neighbors would hire him to write letters for them. Lincoln loved to read so much which is why his speeches were brilliant. He was a master of grammar. While in office people did not take him seriously because of his humor. The war had begun and Lincoln continued his humor. He said laughter kept him going through tough times. It is said that even in his last moments of life Lincoln was laughing. Lincoln is considered one the best presidents because he kept a nation from breaking apart.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In the last page of the book Krull has notes about her accuracy and its sources. She has a link to his famous serious words, www.lincolnbicentennial.gov/lincolns-life/words-and-speeches. “Lincoln tells a joke” is chronologically organized. Krull begins Lincolns life when he was just a little boy, he then joined the army for three months, attends school to become a lawyer, marries Mary Todd, becomes president and is assassinated.
Its design is very appealing to young readers. Illustrations show the funny side of Lincoln with his quotes in bigger text. Children need to see that quotes must be surrounded by quotation marks to stress dialogue. Illustrations are appropriate and complement the text.
Krulls style is all her own when on each page she begins the first few words of almost every page in big bold print words.This strategy helps to grab the reader in finishing the reading of each page. Again, her quotes are in cursive to give a sense of giving Lincoln a more personal approach. What I noticed is that Krull uses appropriate language for children to easily understand Lincoln’s personality traits.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
* Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, 2010
* School Library Journal Book Review Stars, 2010
* "Laughter is not only good medicine. It can also be a political tool, human motivator, and saving   grace, as the authors show in this upbeat overview of Lincoln’s life. Moving through the sixteenth president’s many challenges, from family deaths to lost elections to fighting slavery, the text emphasizes how Lincoln coped with a joke on his tongue and a smile on his lips."  Booklist (February 15, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 12))

5. CONNECTIONS
* Invite students to write their own jokes.
* Teach about quotations and students can write a dialogue within pairs of students.
* Create a compare and contrast with Lincoln and their(student) own life.

Every Day's a Dog's Day: A Year in Poems by Marilyn Singer

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Singer, Marilyn. Illus, by Miki Sakamoto. 2012. Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated  ISBN 978-0-8037-3715-0

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
 In these very humorous poems are four dogs: Fizz, Rosalie, Buddy and Barkley who experience times of the year from the their viewpoint.  Their experiences are different from humans. Spring is about being mischievous and not about flowers. It is written from rhymed couplets to haiku. These dogs see holidays different from humans. They don’t really understand some holidays but they seem to feel it. Fizz shares his experience during Fourth of July when he is not to bark. One particular comical poem takes place during Halloween when the dogs cannot tell the real cats from their costumes. Hilariously funny!

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Singer writes this book in rhymed couplets to haiku. She uses short lines to create a rhythm in her poems. She seems to create this intentionally for smooth rhythm.
Her poems rhyme in a comical way. She also creates imagery in which she states,
 “Though you’re fast, you’ll come in last,
     ’cause that cat will set the pace.
  Still, you’ve won because the fun
     is not the finish–IT’S THE CHASE!”
I can’t help but think about a dog running fast, but not as fast as a cat! What a powerful mental image for children. I imagine the the dog running after the cat but he won’t catch it because the cat is too fast. There is a plethora of imagery in this book of poems. Children need to create images in their minds to build understanding and this is a great book to read to them. Her balance of poems are well organized throughout the book. It’s a great way to see the world through the eyes of a dog.
This book of poems is geared for children 3-6 but will entertain any dog lover. Illustrations are appealing to the audience. The dogs always look like they are having mischievious fun with their owners. The thirty poems created by Singer are creative and hilarious to read. Great for a classroom collection. A must read book for all dog lovers.


4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
* Parents' Choice seal; Dog Writers Ass'n. of America award for Best Children's Book, 2012
* Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2012 February #4 - Sakamoto creates blissful scenes of cartoon dogs engaged in familiar behaviors like digging, snoozing, and relating to the kids that love them.
* Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2012 April #1-The playful rhymes are very simple and filled with physical action, and the rhythm in the words will have young preschoolers joining in ("I must dig a hole / to look for a mole / to bury a bone / to be all alone").

5. CONNECTIONS
*http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-269.html#.UdOKIlOg6sI
   “My Dog likes to Disco”
*http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-269.html#.UdOKIlOg6sI
    My Dog does my homework
*http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-492.html#.UdOK9lOg6sI
    My Dog plays invisible frisbee

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Frost, Helen. Crossing Stones. New York: Frances Foster Books, 2009. 
ISBN 9780374316532

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Frost creates this beautiful free verse novel to entertain the young reader. It is about two Michigan families who live across each other in Crabapple Creek. Setting takes place during WWI.  Both families suffer many struggles that show the events of history. Such as, WWI, influenza outbreak of 1918 and Women’s suffrage. The main character is Muriel Jorgensen. She is outspoken and fights for social justice through her opinions which create conflict against the norm. Muriel becomes friends with Frank Norman who is part of the family that lives across the creek. Because it is during a time when women did not have the same rights as men Muriel finds herself in trouble for speaking her mind. She becomes upset and questions why “boys” are being sent to fight the war. Muriel becomes upset when Ollie ( Muriel’s sibling) enlists after lying about his age. The story ends when Ollie comes home traumatized  and loses an arm. Unfortunately, Frank never comes home and Muriel is heartbroken.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Frost created a unique poetic structure in this free verse in using a “stepping from one stone to the next."  She uses the middle rhyme of one sonnet  as the outside of the next. The 7th and 8th lines of  Emma’s poems rhyme with the first and last lines of Ollie’s poems. The 7th and 8th lines of Ollie’s poems rhyme with the first and last line of Emma’s poem. Helen Frost brilliantly creates Muriel’s free style verse like a creek running over stones. Ollie and Emma are like the stones. From the use of the vivid images one tends to feel the pain these characters are experiencing.  Students from middle and high school can relate to this coming-of-age historical fiction.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
*Kirkus Reviews "The Best Young Adult Books of 2009"
*Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices 2010
*Booklist Editors Choice
*Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth
*Lee Bennett Hopkins Award, Honor Book
*YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2010
*2010 Amelia Bloomer List (Recommended Feminist Literature for Birth - 18)
*Book Links Lasting Connections

5. CONNECTIONS
*Use as a read aloud and discuss rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration.
* Discuss the feelings of the characters.
* Social studies unit highlighting women’s suffrage.

THE LLAMA WHO HAD NO PAJAMA by Mary Ann Hoberman

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hoberman, Mary Ann. 1998. THE LLAMA WHO HAD NO PAJAMA. Ill. by Betty Fraser. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 0152001115

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Mary Ann Hoberman has compiled many of her poems in, “The Llama who had no pajama”... The poems range from brothers to snow to eating yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread and many insects as well as animals.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Mary Ann Hoberman creates poems that are simple and yet upbeat. Hoberman creates an anthology of 100 poems that range from short two line poems to two page poems. This is a wonderful resource for teachers. It almost makes you want to sing them out loud. Some can possibly be considered tongue twisters. Children will love being silly with them! They are fun to read fast. What a great beginner book. The repetition within some of the poems are done beautifully. A good way to teach phonics is in the poem “Rabbit” here Hoberman repeats “bit”(CVC) in rabbit. The subjects in her book are ones that children can relate to. What a great way to instill the love of reading and teach phonics at the same time. The illustrator Betty Fraser created simple illustrations in watercolor.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Horn Book - "This collection of some forty years of Hoberman verse is a charmer. The poems - peppy verses immediately identifiable as Hoberman's by their use of alliteration and repeated words and lines - seem to cover every subject under the sun; all are dependably child-centered."
Gold Award Winner - 1998 National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA)
Best Books of the Year - Child Magazine

5. CONNECTIONS
* Other books by Mary Ann Hoberman:
 
    A HOUSE IS A HOUSE FOR ME ISBN 0142407739
 
    THE SEVEN SILLY EATERS ISBN 0152000968

    THE COZY BOOK ISBN 0152019561

* Students can create their own poems and/or compile their favorite Mary Ann Hoberman poems.