Bessie Smith and the Night Riders by Sue Stauffacher

Based on a real incident that happened near Concord, N.C., this story about Bessie Smith will fit well into the 8th grade social studies curriculum as a picture book for older readers. In 1927 Bessie Smith was touring the country by rail. She was performing in a tent outside of Concord when night riders from the Klan showed up and tried to scare her off. She "cussed" them and refused to leave, so they gave up and left her alone. The author embelishes the facts a bit, using a young girl who admires Bessie's singing as the main character and adding some dramatic fictional events around the edges of the true story. Bright, swirling, colorful illustrations will also attract readers.

Gone Wild : An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans

The best word to describe this book is elegant. The author/illustrator has created letters that incorporate some part of each endangered animal that he has chosen to highlight. The only colors employed are black, white, and red. Upper and lower case letters are shown in addition to the animal letter and an outline picture of the animal. A text box on each page gives the animal's class, habitat, range, threats, and degree of endangerment. In the back, there is additional interesting information for each animal. This treatment is spare but effective. The book can be used with children of many ages to teach about endangered animals. When I was at Mendenhall, we used to do a unit on alphabet books which culminated in the students' creating their own book around an assigned theme. There are many possibilites for curriculum connection here.

Mammoths on the Move, by Lisa Wheeler

Extinct for thousands of years, the woolly mammoths presented here in a rhyming text and superb oversized scratchboard and watercolor illustrations will re-ignite the imaginations of young listeners. The rhyming text is a unique way to present factual information and will lend itself well to read aloud and sharing with a group. The illustrations appropriately shaggy in texture and often capturing only part of the huge animal are what really work to bring the subject close up.

Grades 1-4

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom, by Tim Tingle

Bok Chitto was a river in Mississippi that served as a boundary between the Choctaw Indian people on one side and the plantations and slaves on the other side. If a slave made it across the river, the slave was free. In this story, Martha Tom a young Choctaw girl is lost on the plantation side when a young boy, named Little Mo (short for Moses) helps her to find the crossing home. Later when Little Mo's family is to be separated by the sale of his mother, he leads his family to freedom by crossing the river in plain sight of the guards and their dogs who are struck still by a seeming band of angels escorting the family to freedom. This story is haunting both in the illustrations and in the cultural customs particularly the songs of each.

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, by Russell Freedman

Freedman adds details and depth to the now familiar story of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. He offers the background needed to understand that hers was not the first refusal but part of a growing movement waiting for an appropriate test case. He then goes on to show how the incident catapaulted a young and gifted minister, Martin Luther King Jr. to leadership and how the perseverance and steady resolve of a city population willing to walk to work for a greater cause, to face arrest and violence if necessary, and to organize and support each other started a movement and brought about change. Freedman uses the voices of participants to bring the story to life.

Grades 4 and up

Houndsley and Catina and the birthday surprise, by James Howe

Houndsley the dog is sad because he doesn't know when his birthday is. When he tells his friend, Catina, the cat she also seems sad. Unbeknownst to the other, each friend plans a suprise birthday party for the other. Told in three short chapters, this book for new readers is a delightful story of friendship accompanied by expressive watercolor, pencil and collage illustrations. The text hits just the right emotional note.

Grades 1-3

Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, & Dr. Paula Kahumbu

The tsunami of 2004 left a young hippo stranded and motherless in the village of Malindi on the coast of Kenya. The people rallied to rescue the hippo who they named Owen and transported the young animal to Haller Park, an animal sanctuary near Mombasa. Placed in an enclosure with Mzee, a giant 130 year-old tortoise, Owen immediately took to the tortoise and soon the two were inseparable friends. The book realistically portrays the animal relationship without sentimentality yet still the reader is left with a sense of mystery of belonging and friendship.

All ages.

Once Around the Sun, by Bobbi Katz

Illus. by LeUyen Pham

Poems celebrate each month of the year with childlike observations and enjoyment. "January is/when your sled hurries/to the park after school/and flurries you/down/the/hill." Bright colorful illustrations feature a young African American boy at school and at play. This is a visual delight and the poems could carry a classroom through the year and offer models for similar poems.

Grades 1-4

Oh, Rats! The Story of Rats and People, by Albert Marrin

Illus. by D. B. Mordan.

Remembering an incident with a rat at age seven, the author offers a personal introduction to a fascinating exploration of the science and history of rats that revolves around their mostly irreputable relationship to humans along with their uses as a food source, detecting land mines and tuberculosis, and as lab rats for scientific research. Many fascinating facts are highlighted in sidebars and the black and white illustrations accented with red are just right.

Grades 4-7

Penny from Heaven, by Jennifer L. Holm

Eleven year old Penny lives with her mother and her maternal grandparents following the death of her father. She also spends a lot of time with her father's extended Italian family including several uncles who dote on her, a cousin Frankie who is always in trouble and a grandmother, Nonny who always dresses in black. It's the summer of 1953; polio keeps her from the swimming pool; her mother is dating the milkman; and the two families barely speak to each other. Filled with humor, drama and some suspense about her father and how he died, this is great storytelling with characters it's a pleasure to spend time with.

Grades 5-8

I Lost My Tooth in Africa, by Penda Diakite

Based on a true family story. When Amina visits her family in Mali, she loses her tooth, places it under a calabash and receives, in accordance with Mali custom, a chicken and a rooster. The child's excitement and anticipation are very real and the vivid ceramic tile illustration give a feeling and visual picture of Mali.


illustrated by Baba Wague Diakite

K-2

The Little Red Hen, by Jerry Pinkney

A new twist on an old tale. Pinkney uses graphite, ink and watercolor in this visual feast; he uses color words in the text to match the color of the animals. Great for pre-ks and kinders to learn color and color words in this wonderful update.



ALA Notable
SLJ Best Books

Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur!: A Palestinian Folktale by Margaret Read MacDonald

A lively folktale from the middle east introduces us to a woman who longs for a child and prays to Allah "even if it's just a cooking pot" which is what she gets. The mischiveous little pot runs ("Tun-jur! Tun-jur!" is the roll-y noise she makes) off with things that do not belong to her. She learns her lesson when someone fills her up with goat muck- instead of the reward she was expecting.

A lesson of learning right from wrong is shared with strong arabic- styled illustrations.

Author's notes are included.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves: Why Commas Really do Make a Difference by Lynn Truss

Here's a fun children's version of the adult best seller! This one is considerably pared down to include just the need for correct commas. After offering a little story to explain the title, several humorous examples of misplaced commas are offered on double page spreads. Both pages list an identically worded sentence, only the comma location is changed.
ie: Eat here, and get gas. vs. Eat here and get gas.
Sorry - I had to go there!

Its a little uneven but certainly a strong example of some of the writing conventions we try so hard to hammer home.

Fun to pair with Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Pulver.

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel, by Siena Cherson Siegel

With artwork by Mark Siegel.

In the form of a graphic novel, a ballerina offers her memoir."Big open spaces always made me dance," is the opening line for the memoir that begins when a doctor tells her at age six that she has flat feet and her mother decides that dance classes might help. Thus begins a fascination and passion for dance fueled with lessons and visits to ballet performances. When she was eleven, she auditioned for the School of American Ballet and her family moved to New York City following her acceptance. The graphic novel formats allows the artist, her husband to use various numbers and sizes of panels to zoom in on a ballerina's hands, or to capture movement and emotion through a quick series.

Grades 4-8.

5,000 Miles to Freedom : Ellen and William Craft's Flight from Slavery by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin

The remarkable story of William and Ellen Craft's daring escape from slavery comes alive in this exciting account of their lives and adventures. Ellen Craft's father was her white master and she could "pass" for white. She dressed as a Southern gentleman while her husband William posed as her slave. Together they made their perilous way to the North and then to England, returning to the United States only after the Civil War was over. The Fradins succeed in conveying the fear the Crafts felt and the danger they were in during the journey north. The book also gives a good description of their lives once they lived on free soil. Always in danger of being captured by slave hunters who were sanctioned by the Fugitive Slave Acts, these brave souls traveled and lectured extensively about slavery and its evils. There is dialogue in the book which is taken directly from their own book about their escape. Also included are period photographs, drawings and engravings, and actual newspaper accounts about the Crafts. Well-researched and well written, this book belongs in every middle school collection. It correlates well with the 8th grade social studies curriculum and is perfect for Black history studies. An ALA Notable Book.

I Love Our Earth, by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson

Photos by Dan Lipow.

This is a beautiful tribute to the beauty and bounty of our planet. While the text honors the landscapes and flora of earth, the brilliant color photographs include faces of diverse people from around the planet. This would be a lovely introduction to primary units on landforms or climate but would also be an apt choice for Earth Day.

Grades PreK-2

Dick Whittington and His Cat, retold by Margaret Hodges

Illus. by Melisande Potter.

Here's the classic tale of the young man who went to London to find his fortune and finds a cat whose rat-catching skills lead to riches. This engaging retelling and illustrations are followed by notes about the factual origin of the story and of the chapbook that preserved it. The real Dick Whittington was Lord Mayor of London and left his fortune to help the poor people in that city. This is a great story with an interesting history related to book publishing as well.

Grades 2-5

If You Were An Adjective, by Michael Dahl

Illus. by Sara Gray.

Adjectives tell us how things look, sound, feel or behave. Sometimes they are proper and sometimes they are comparative. The bright, textured acrylic illustrations are perfect for sharing and invite the reader to think of more describing words.

Grades 1-3

An Egg is Quiet, by Dianna Alston

Illus. by Sylvia Long

Eggs are quiet, until they hatch. But they also have other characteristics: size, colors, shape, design and textures which are depicted in the very dainty watercolor illustrations. The cursive font matches the delicate illustrations but will provide difficulty for young readers. The labeled illustrations particularly on the opening pages (of eggs) and the closing pages (birds and other egg-layers)are a particular strength and attraction of the book. This would be a great match for second grade animal life-cycles.

Grades 2-4