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.

Move! by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

Each doublespread in this book features an action word, presented in a large font along with one or two animals created with collages of cut and torn paper and a sentence with the animal and the action word. The page turns are action packed themselves. For example an armadillo swims and then quickly leaps on the next page to avoid a crocodile. I plan to use this for a lesson on action words in the context of a first grade unit on motion. Notes about the animals and how they move follow the body of the text.

Grades 1-4