The Trap

This very moving story of life in the Alaskan wilderness alternates each chapter between the grandfather and the grandson and the very different struggles that each goes through during the four days that pass during the course of the story.

Albert Least-Weasel is an old, very stubborn man, he has lived his whole life in the cold Alaskan wilderness and insists on continuing to live his life on his own terms. He checks his own fur trapping line alone--even though most men his age had given that up long ago. He set out as usual to check his traps, but that day turned out to be anything but usual. He accidently caught himself in his own trap. The story weaves back and forth between Albert stuck out in the open in the freezing wilderness and his grandson Johnny back in the village. Albert's fight for survival is well-presented as is Johnny's plight caught between his worry about his grandfather and others feeling he should wait and his own commitments.

Nice segueway for 6 graders as they should have had US History covering Alaska and Canada as part of their 5th grade social studies. Great boy book as an upper grade next step from Paulsen's work.

An area of concern is the mention of the pervasive alcoholism of the tribal peoples while not glamorized, it is not ignored either.

Grades 6-12

I have a copy of my own if anyone needs to read it.

Bushnell's Submarine: The Best Kept Secret of the American Revolution

What a great way to link 5th grade history to today! The American Revolution is very much a part of the 5th Grade Social Studies curriculum. What a wonderful way to open that subject using this as a class read aloud. The book itself is made to look antique and worn and stained and with the subtitle "the best-kept secret of the American Revolution" it will attract an audience. Famous names of the times are found throughout the book along with drawings, diagrams, maps, documents and portraits. Unfortunately there are no source notes or a bibliography included--but I think it is interesting and brings to life the study of history. While I would have liked to see those notes--I am willing to overlook it if this book will make history come alive for our students.
In addition, there is enough intrigue and suspense to get mystery lovers and boys reading!
Inventors and inventions also tie in to reading centers for the 5th grade.

SLJ gives it a grades 5-9 reading level which is where I feel it belongs. Other reviews put it in the Grades 7-10 range.

M. Bonomo

Balls!

What book provides information on bingo balls, pangolins, ball pythons, soccer balls, footballs and tennis balls just to name a few? Balls!
It is a compendium of all things to do with balls! What a great find for a PE teacher!
This is a wonderful collection of facts and asides all about balls. There are photos, historical and modern, fun facts, cartoons, famous faces, records and much more. The book is divided into 11 sections including 8 sports and ball basics and more odd balls and finally a for further reading section. The information is presented in a quirky fun kid-friendly way so that it is not a dry collection of facts.

The reader can learn the history of each ball and how it is constructed and why it is made the way it is--for example a basketball has 31, 029 pebbles on its surface! there is something in here for everyone. It can be read from cover to cover or a reader can select their favorite sport.
Bowling, baseball, and billiard balls are conspicuously absent. his is explained briefly on p.69 where Rosen assures us that another volume is coming soon!

Grades 4-7
PE Teachers K-8

George Did It by Suzanne Jurmain

George Did It is a humorous look at our very down-to-earth first president. It is full of interesting historical facts and comical illustrations that will appeal to children. Not only did George not want the job of president, he had to borrow money from a neighbor to pay for the trip to New York for his inauguration because he couldn't afford the trip. All of the fancy parties for him just put him to sleep. And, even though he wanted to be home at Mount Vernon, when it came time to serve as president George did it.

The book is in the same style as George Washington's Teeth, Thank-you Sarah, the Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving and So You Want to be President. A bibliography of the sources for the facts contained in the book is provided. It had starred reviews in Booklist, Publisher's Weekly and SLJ and could be used in grades 2-5.

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

Littlest One is in training as a dream-giver, a delicate creature whose job it is to turn memories into dreams that give comfort and hope to humans. Thin Eldest is her teacher, doing his best to guide Littlest as she learns to use her considerable gift for bestowing dreams on the inhabitants of their assigned house--an abused 8 year old boy and his elderly foster mother. Comforting the angry boy is a task made urgent when a Sinisteeds begins to inflict nightmares on him. When the Sinisteeds gather to attack the child's sleep in a horde, Littlest must use her ingenuity to save him. Lowry skillfully weaves together all the strands of the story--the sweet, caring work of the dream-givers, the violent thoughts and words of the boy, the determination of his mother to make a home for him, the calm patience of the foster mother--into an allegorical story that can be enjoyed on more than one level.

The Runaway Dinner by Allan Ahlberg

All of Banjo Cannon's dinner runs away, not just the sausage named Melvin. There are the carrots named Caroline, Clara, Camilla and Christabel, and the peas, called Peter, Percival and Paul--but don't ask about the terrible fate that awaits some of them in the park. Although Saskia, the plate, finds she rather likes being used as a frisbee, there are casualties. Banjo and his parents race along in eventful pursuit of food, cutlery and dining room furniture, and the hilarious story and illustrations keep pace. Runaway Dinner is a cleverly-written picture book that manages to sound and feel like an improvised story. It is also a fantastically successful read-aloud for students from kindergarten through third grade.

The Homework Machine, by Dan Gutman

The book jacket shows a police file with photos of the four protagonists, a group of students who never would have chosen to be friends but who find themselves seated at the same table in Miss Rasmussen's fifth grade class. Readers are hooked from the beginning by the involvement of the police as the story unravels from interviews with the students, their parents, and teacher. One student, Brenton has found a way to harness the Internet to do his homework and soon all four gather daily at his house to use the homework machine despite their individual differences and the tensions among the four. Fun and fast to read, this one should hold lots of kid appeal.

Grades 4-6

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, by Anna Harwell Celenza

Illus. by JoAnn E. Kitchel

When George Gershwin read in the newspaper that he would be premiering a jazz concerto at an upcoming concert only weeks away his first reaction was to tell his friend that he couldn't write anything that quickly. But convinced otherwise, Gershwin struggled to write the concerto until during a train ride the construction of Rhapsody came to him as a celebration of klezmer, ragtime, the blues, and jazz. The amazing story of this American musical classic includes a CD of the concerto.

Grades 4 up.

The Man Who Named Clouds, by Julie Hannah and Joan Holub

As a boy, Luke Howard began keeping a weather journal. At the time, the 1700s very little was known about weather and how clouds formed. Fascinated by weather, Luke added paintings of the clouds to his weather records and soon developed a system for classifying and naming the types of clouds. His classification system was influenced by Linnaeus' scientific classification of plants and animals. A modern day student's weather journal including miscellaneous weather facts is interspersed throughout this interesting history of meterology and introduction to types of clouds. A good accompaniment to the fifth grade weather unit.

Grades 3-5

Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes

This selection of poetry by Langston Hughes has the added value of an introduction to the poet, notes for the poems, and collage and watercolor illustrations. An inviting introduction to the poet and companion to other books about him.

Grades 4 -8

Not a Box, by Antoinette Portis

As any young child knows, a box is not a box but a racecar, a mountain, or a robot. A simple, repetitive text is paired with simple line drawings of a rabbit pretending that a box is anything but a cardboard box. This book has a classic, timeless feel and the question and answer exchange between the rabbit and the narrator will engage young listeners. This might be a fun writing model for older primary students.

PreK - K

Black? White! Day? Night! : A Book of Opposites by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

This is an ingenious treatment of opposites for pre-K through maybe first grade. Using flaps with holes cut in them to demonstrate opposites, the author has created a clever and original book. A black bat turns out to be the smiling mouth of a white ghost when the flap is lifted.Narrow looks like a thin yellow line on orange until you lift the flap and see wide, which is a long swath of yellow. This is a book that has to be seen and experienced to be appreciated. The design will be a problem in a library where it will get a lot of circulation, but it deserves consideration as a best book anyway. The drawings are simple and the colors bright, just the right combination for young children.

Oink by Margie Palatini

Oink by Margie Palatin; illustrated by Henry Cole; Simon and Schuster
Thomas and Joseph are sloppy, lazy, dirty, and Happy pigs, but duck, hen and rabbit complain that the pigs are disgraceful, untidy, and lazy. Hen suggested they paint, but hen did most of the work. Rabbit wanted them to improve their diet, harvest and eat fresh vegetables, but rabbit had to do all the work. Duck told them they needed to dig a hole for a pond to bath in, but duck did most of the digging. The hens, rabbit, and duck worked all day, they were exhausted from the hard work, proud of their accomplishments, then realized the pigs were not so dumb after all! The watercolor, ink and pencil illustrations add to the humor of this book.

A Million Dots by Andrew Clements

Did you know it would take 11.5 days to count a million dots? Clements' book has a million dots and gives students a concept of just how many a million is. Each page marks numerical milestones on the way to a million. The 600th dot is circled indicating the number of times a mosquito's wings beats 600 per minute. The adult sperm whale weighs 87,600 pounds and there are 615,000 different words in the Oxford Dictionary are among the facts in the text. Don't go cross-eyed counting the dots!


Illustrated by Mike Reed

A Place Called Kindergarten

A Place Called Kindergarten by Jessica Harper; pictures by G. Brian Karas

Tommy comes to the barn early every morning to bring an apple for the horse, a biscuit for the sheep, corn for the hen and dandelions for the cow. Then one morning he doesn't come and animals are curious why. The dog comes by and says Tommy left on a yellow bus and has gone to someplace called kindergarten. The animals anxiously wait the rest of the day for Tommy to stop by. After school he returns to tell the animals what he learned in kindergarten: a is for apple, b is for biscuit...
A great introduction for kindergarten and a celebration for the start of school

Building with Dad, by Carol Nevius

Illus. by Bill Thomson.

A young boy joins his dad at a construction site. The book opens from top to bottom providing interesting use of perspective and a sense of being dwarfed by the large equipment. The construction site is for a new school and will offer extra interest at newly opened schools.

Grades K-2

Peggony-Po: A Whale of a Tale, by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Illus. by Brian Pinkney

Created from a piece of driftwood by a whaler named Galleon who has lost his leg to the whale, Cetus, and named for a sea shanty, Peggony-Po joins a whaling crew and sets off to avenge his Pa and capture the ferocious whale. This original story has all the exaggeration and adventure of a true tall tale and makes for a salty read-aloud.

Grades 2-5

What Do Wheels Do All Day, by April Jones Prince

Illus. by Giles Laroche

Wheels move us in many ways: skateboards, motorcycles, and ferris wheels. A simple text employs vivid verbs to introduce a variety of wheels shown in attractive paper collage illustrations. Useful for primary units on motion as well as language arts lessons about action words.

Grades K-2

The Last Dragon, by Silvana Di Mari

Yorsh is a young elf who encounters two humans whose differences lead to several humorous situations. Encountering an old prophecy that the last elf and last dragon will create a new beginning for a land engulfed in darkness, Yorsh journeys to find the dragon. His fate is also tied to the fate of a young orphan girl whose parentage the reader will predict. This was a very satisfying fantasy with humor, danger, and characters the reader quickly cares about.

Drita, My Homegirl, by Jenny Lombard

Drita, a refugee from Kosovo and Maxie, an African American girl in her New York City classroom are an unlikely pair. Drita barely speaks English and struggles to make friends at her new school while outgoing Maxie is in frequent trouble for clowning around in class. Their stories are told in alternating chapters as the two girls get to know each other and their families. This is an outstanding story about friendship and overcoming differences.