We Don't Eat Our Classmates

Title: We Don't Eat Our Classmates 
Author: Ryan T. Higgins 
Illustrator: Ryan T. Higgins 
Publisher: Disney Hyperion 
Publication Date: June 19th, 2018 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book
GoodReads Summary: It's the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can't wait to meet her classmates. But it's hard to make human friends when they're so darn delicious! That is, until Penelope gets a taste of her own medicine and finds she may not be at the top of the food chain after all. . . .
What I Think: When this book came out, Franki Sibberson asked me if I had read it because of our long discussions about I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. Well, I finally got to reading this and I loved it. You can imagine what might happen when a t-rex goes to school! 
     I absolutely loved how the theme of this book look at how we treat others and how we hope to be treated. It's such a hard concept for kids to grasp and I find myself as a mom going over this again and again with my kids. This book offers a fresh look at this ever important lesson. 
     As a mentor text, I spotted the illustrations and the attention Ryan paid to the characters and their facial expression. They stood out because the story centers on Penelope but the children at school convey their own emotions about how the story is unfolding mostly through the looks on their faces. When I read with my kids, we were cracking up at the faces they were making. Kindergartners spend a lot of time drawing as writing and this extends into first and second grade...but it doesn't have to stop there. Any writer can use drawings to help flesh out their writing. In fact, when a writer draws, they have to show the character and the scene and this helps as they develop what they might include in their written text. Taking time to talk to young writers about their drawings is important. Often they draw happy faces or sad faces but there are so many other emotions they could show in their drawings. Looking at We Don't Eat Our Classmates through the lens of a writer who draws gives writers an opportunity to think about how to show emotion in their drawings. This is also an opportunity to talk about visual literacy when you ask students to stop and notice and discuss what they notice in the illustrations.
     This book would also make a great study for writers of any age who incorporate drawings or illustrations into their writing. 
Snatch of Text: 
When she got home, her dad asked about her first day of school. 

"I didn't make any friends!" Penelope cried. "None of the children wanted to play with me!"

"Penelope Rex," her father asked , "did you eat your classmates?"

"Well...maybe sort of just a little bit."

Caring For Your Lion

Title: Caring For Your Lion
Author: Tammi Sauer 
Illustrator: Troy Cummings 
Publisher: Sterling Books 
Publication Date: May 2nd, 2017 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: What happens when you expect an itty-bitty kitty . . . but get a lion instead?
It’s kitten delivery day, but—SURPRISE. Congratulations on your new LION! We know you ordered a kitten, but we ran out of those. Fortunately, the big cat comes with instructions—like, try very hard NOT to look like a zebra. Or a gazelle. And give your lion PLENTY of space to play. But soon the feathers and fur start flying and everything’s in chaos. Is there any way a lion could actually be a child’s purr-fect pet?  
What I Think: In high school, I had to write put a twist on a How-To piece and I wrote all about how to get kicked out of a movie theater (I might have gone with a bunch of friends to see a movie and we may have been a bit loud...although we never got kicked out). Anyway, it was fun to come up with a way to spin a traditional How-To piece and add some voice and pizzazz to it. As I was reading Caring For Your Lion, I thought about that assignment because this book explains step by step directions for having a lion as a pet. As you can imagine, it's a lot of work! This book is super fun and a great example of a mentor text that might get some creative juices flowing!
     On another note, this is also a book that deserves a good close read. There are so many things to notice in the illustrations that students will be able to recognize how the text and illustrators work together and gather evidence of their inferences. Make sure to really look at the illustrations - and the undies! - to catch all the ways the illustrations support the text.  
Snatch of Text: 

"Step 3: Try very hard NOT to look like a zebra. Or a gazelle Or a bunny." 

Writing Prompt: Write your own twisty-turny How-To piece!

Love Is

Title: Love Is 
Author: Diane Adams  
Illustrator: Claire Keane 
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: January 24th, 2017 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Perfect for Valentine's Day—or any tender moment—this story of a girl and a duckling who share a touching year together will melt hearts old and young. In this tenderly funny book, girl and duckling grow in their understanding of what it is to care for each other, discovering that love is as much about letting go as it is about holding tight. Children and parents together will adore this fond exploration of growing up while learning about the joys of love offered and love returned. 
What I Think: I'm in love with Love Is! This is such a super sweet book. It's a book that captures the tender love between a child and her pet. This book is a perfect mentor text for looking at how words and illustrations work together.  But it's also a great mentor text for practicing visualizing and looking at how an author shows instead of tells. I love making the connection between reading and writing for students. When we write, we use good reading strategies like visualizing to help us understand what we are reading but at the same time, we can examine what craft moves the author made in order to help us visualize. Adding this level of thinking helps students more deeply understand how the act of writing impacts our readers. Even young writers can start to realize the author makes specific choices when he or she writes and this text is a great way to bring about this discussion.
     The specific snatch of text I chose would be one page I might even read before showing students. I would ask them to visualize and imagine and I might even think aloud my connection to the main character. As a mom, I remember having to wake up to feed my babies in the middle of the night and more recently, I had to wake up to feed our puppy in the middle of the night. The illustration captures the feeling perfectly so building up the suspense would get kids thinking and visualizing and then they could compare what they were thinking to what the illustrator drew.
Snatch of Text:  

"Love is noisy midnight feedings,

shoe box right beside the bed."

Writing Prompt: What impact do the illustrations have on the story? How do the illustrations and the text work together? Can you write about a time in your life when you loved something and had to let it go?

Mo Willems Kid Art Fun

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

*                  *                   *

This week I'm celebrating Mo Willems kid art fun!

*throws confetti*

 

We are Mo Willems fans! We own all the Knuffle Bunny books and many of the Elephant and Piggie books. We've had friends over to act out Elephant and Piggie's stories and we've made our own art using the style Mo Willems uses for his illustrations in Knuffle Bunny. 

This year for holiday gifts for teachers at schools, the kids created more Knuffle Bunny style art. In the thank you cards we got from the teachers, it sounds like the handmade art was a hit. Here's how we created our Mo Willems style art!

We found images of their schools online that we printed out in black and white. Then I cut little rectangles out of pieces of paper and asked the kids to draw their teachers. This was super important because I knew they needed to draw their teachers really small so they would fit on the pictures. I needed to also make sure they didn't draw stick figures because that would be really hard to cut out so I showed them this drawing from cartoonist Ivan Brunetti for the New Yorker. He's known for using simple shapes in his drawings. 

I showed the kids the circles for heads, the rectangles for bodies, arms, and legs, and the triangles for noses and they were off. We started by drawing the outline first in pencil, then we went over the lines with a black flair pen, and finally, they colored it all in with crayons. After they were done with their drawings, I carefully cut them out and we glued them into place on the black and white photo. Then we decided on shout outs for each teacher (or principal) and we decorated those too. The last step was to get them into the frames so they were ready to go. The kids had a lot of fun drawing their teachers. My oldest was really cute, he was trying out colors and deciding which one was a best match for skin tone and hair color. So fun. 

It's always hard to figure out gifts for teachers. I love giving gift cards for a restaurant so they can have a nice meal out on us. But I also love to give something kid-created that hopefully is a bit more meaningful. I'm pretty sure we'll be giving this type of gift every winter now! It was fun for the kids and for me and such a neat way to capture our appreciation for all the hard work the teachers do. I'm already brainstorming different backgrounds for next year...it would be fun to have a picture of their classroom and to put them standing there...lots of options!

In the end, it's about celebrating the teachers who put so much time, energy, and love into helping our kids learn and grow. I hope teachers everywhere feel appreciated. Thank you for all that you do!

Have you ever tried picture book-inspired art?

Or do you have favorite teacher gifts you've given or received?

I'd love to hear about it!

Max the Brave Review and Blog Tour

Title: Max the Brave 
Author: Ed Vere 
Illustrator: Ed Vere 
Publisher: Sourcebooks 
Publication Date: September 8th, 2015  
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Max is a fearless kitten. Max is a brave kitten. Max is a kitten who chases mice. There's only one problem-Max doesn't know what a mouse looks like! With a little bit of bad advice, Max finds himself facing a much bigger challenge. Maybe Max doesn't have to be Max the Brave all the time...

Join this adventurous black cat as he very politely asks a variety of animals for help in finding a mouse. Young readers will delight in Max's mistakes, while adults will love the subtle, tongue-in-cheek humor of this new children's classic. 
About the Author/Illustrator: Ed Vere is an author, artist and illustrator with a long track record of success in the picture book category. Max the Brave was named one of The Sunday Times’s 100 Modern Children’s Classics. His book Bedtime for Monsters was shortlisted for the2011 Roald Dahl Funny Prize and Mr Big was chosen by Booktrust as the official Booktime book for 2009 (and was distributed to 750,000 British schoolchildren making it the largest single print run of a picture book). Vere was the World Book Day illustrator for 2009.
What I Think: I'm in love with Max! He's super adorable and so full of spunk that readers will fall in love with him whether they are cat lovers or not. When it comes to characterization, Max the Brave is an example of how it's possible to tell so much about a character in two sentences. Of course, the rest of the book elaborates and helps readers get a better sense of Max and who he is but it is possible to pack a lot of punch in only a couple of sentences.
     The illustrations are vibrant and simple but powerful as well. Reading Max the Brave offers an opportunity to talk to students about illustrations, how they support the text, and what choices or moves the artist might have made to impact the story.
     Readers will be rooting for Max, cracking up at his misunderstanding, worried about him and then cheering for him all over again as he goes along on his adventure. Reading Max the Brave is also a perfect opportunity to practice prediction as the story moves along. I read with Peanut and Little Bean and we had a blast trying to guess what was going to happen next. This will be a perfect read aloud for a super hero themed event...get our your super hero capes!

    Visit Sourcebooks' Max the Brave website where you can access an activity kit and the educator guide. And be sure to follow @ed_vere and @jabberwockykids on Twitter!

Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 5 

Read Alone: Grades Pre-K - 2 
Read With: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman, Pardon Me  by Daniel Miyares, Boris and the Snoozebox by Leigh Hodgkinson, Won Ton and Won Ton and Chopstick by Lee Wardlaw
Snatch of Text:  

"Max looks so sweet that sometimes

people dress him up with bows.

Max does not like being

dressed up with bows."

Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you were confused or misunderstood something and how it impacted you.
Topics Covered: Courage, Determination, Self-Awareness 

I *heart* It:

*Thanks to Sourcebooks for 

a copy of this title and the opportunity for a giveaway 

in exchange for an honest review!*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Wish You More

Title: I Wish You More 
Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal 
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld 
Publisher: Chronicle Books 
Publication Date: March 31st, 2015 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Some books are about a single wish. Some books are about three wishes. The infallible team of Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld have combined their extraordinary talents to create this exuberant book of endless good wishes. Wishes for curiosity and wonder, for friendship and strength, laughter and peace. Whether celebrating life's joyous milestones, sharing words of encouragement, or observing the wonder of everyday moments, this sweet and uplifting book is perfect for wishers of every age.  
What I Think: Every year, we give our kids a picture book on the first day of school. I've written about this little tradition over at Nerdy Book Club, here, and for a local blog called Little Lake County. It's one of my favorite traditions and so far my kids love it too. For 3rd grade, I was sure I was going to gift my kids Katherine Appplegate's The One and Only Ivan but it just so happens that Peanut and I read it before third grade, he wanted to buy his own copy at the Scholastic book fair and then we also went to Anderson's Bookshop to meet her in person. So instead we picked out I Wish You More to give him on his first day of third grade.
      This book is beautiful. It's so perfect to any child any time really. It reminded me of I Haiku You by Betsy Snyder because of how breezily the text moves us through the pages and how the illustrations to sweetly match the message.The repetition makes it predictable but how Amy Krouse Rosenthal finishes the sentences that make them stand out. She plays with words and seems to so easily bring childhood to life. I would definitely ask students to think about how the repetition works here but how the fact that she offers some unique ways to finish it makes it possible for the repetition to not get annoying. Students could try writing their own wishes that they might want to share with their parents or other loved ones. It would be neat to have them illustrate it and put it into a just-because card to give to a friend or family member. It's almost like a backwards wish on a birthday candle - instead of the birthday boy or girl wishing for him or herself, we can send our best wishes! This would also make for a great class anthology. I can just see all the wonderful illustrations!
     As a mentor text, I love this book might provide several jumping off points. Children could write about how these wishes might come true in real life or share their own stories for how they've experienced some of the wishes already in life. It's also a neat opportunity to talk about the math terms "more than" and "less than"!
Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 12 
Read Alone: Grades Pre-K - 12 
Read With: I Haiku You by Betsy Snyder, Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall, Here's a Little Poem by Jane Yolen, Only One You by Linda Kranz 
Snatch of Text:  

"I wish you more treasures than pockets."

Writing Prompts: Write about what you wish for someone important to you in your life. 
Topics Covered: Hopes, Dreams, Integration - Math

I *heart* It:

*Thanks to Chronicle Books for 

a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review!*

Ninja!

November is Picture Book Month! I'm rocking out a Bookaday celebration of picture books!

Today I'm sharing ideas for using Ninja! by Arree Chung as a mentor text.

GoodReads Summary:

A ninja must be strong, courageous, and silent! He creeps through the house on a secret mission. There may be obstacles! But have no fear—a true ninja can overcome all challenges.

We really took our time looking at the pictures in this book! There were many pages with multiple panels and sometimes we even found ourselves going back forth between pages to make sure we knew what was happening. I've got some adventurous little dudes in my house so we know all about ninja-type moves around the house!

Here are some literacy ideas to go along with Ninja! by Arree Chung!

1. Since we spent a lot of time on the pictures in this book, I think it makes a great mentor text for close reading with young students. Close reading doesn't have to just be passages of text, it's totally cool to close read illustrations in a book. Illustrations in picture books are an integral part of telling the story so it's important to know that the illustrations and the text should work together. I might stop and ask students to describe what they see in the different panels. This could be a shared group activity or each student could write an idea on a sticky note and put it into the book.

(Side note - I will never ever forget taking Peanut to a story time where a teenager read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss to the kids. She skipped all the pages at the beginning when Sam is going by with his sign and just started where the words start! I was shocked but it was a good reminder to me that we have to model and show students how important it is to read more than only the words.)

2. There are a few places especially where a lot of action is happening and it might be a great opportunity to think about some super descriptive verbs - verbs that pack punch! I love talking about how we can put words on a continuum. You can take the word jump and brainstorm synonyms and then put them on a continuum, stacking the words so that the less intense words are at the bottom and then the words increase up to the top. So for jump, you might have hop at the very bottom and then a whole range of synonyms for jump all the way up to bound.

3. When you read Ninja!, you'll find that there is another character other than our little super-sneaky friend. She's a bit of a surprise and there is a little suspense until we know if she'll be an ally to our young warrior or not...and it would be a great exercise in point or view or perspective for students to try and tell her her side of the story. Oh! There is one more minor character...can you find her? And what might her side of the story be?

Read With: 

Dog in Charge by Dan Santat

Comics Squad: Recess! edited by Jennifer and Matthew Holm and Jarrett Krosoczka

I would so recommend reading Dog in Charge by Dan Santat in conjunction with Ninja! because of the similar style of story-telling. Dan Santat also uses panels and gives students an opportunity to read the pictures. 

As soon as we opened up the front cover of Ninja! and read about how a ninja must be super sneaky, it reminded me of "The Super Secret Ninja Club" by Gene Yang in Comics Squad: Recess! I've read that story and over and over and over and I love the connection between the two in terms of thinking about what a ninja has to be skilled at. This might lead to some research and reading of informational text to learn more about being a ninja.

Carnivores

Title: Carnivores 
Author: Aaron Reynolds  
Illustrator: Dan Santat 
Publisher: Chronicle Books 
Publication Date: August 2013 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: The lion is king of the jungle!
The great white shark is sovereign of the seas!
The timber wolf is emperor of the forests!

But . . . it's lonely at the top of the food chain. It's difficult to fit in when plant eaters can be so cruel—just because you ate a relative of theirs that one time! What's a carnivore to do? Aaron Reynolds's roaringly funny text is perfectly paired with Dan Santat's mouthwatering illustrations, creating a toothsome book that's sure to stand out from the herd.
What I Think: I've been trying to write this review foreeeeeeeeeever! Every time I try to write it, I end up rereading the book and thinking about it all over again. I want to say that I found this book just as funny as everyone else seems to have, but I can't say that's the case. There's something about it that's amusing but I've yet to find myself roaring with laughter as I read this book. I feel awful that there has been so much anticipation about this review and I'm not sure what to even write!
     I guess I'll start by talking about what I think is the main take away from Carnivores. The way I see it, these guys, the lion, the shark and the wolf, all feel pressure from the other creatures - mainly the ones they keep eating - to not be carnivorous. Giving into the pressure from these other animals to change their ways, the lion, the shark, and the wolf try to give up eating meat. It doesn't work for them though, as hard as they try, it's just not within their nature. I can see how these animals model how doing something for the wrong reasons doesn't make it right. Likewise, doing something that isn't true to your heart - or in this case your stomach - isn't a wise choice either. I can see how the message in Carnivores and in Peter Brown's Mr. Tiger Goes Wild might compliment each other in this way. But when I think about these two books, Mr. Tiger is completely endearing and a character I truly want to root and roar for but the sentiment isn't the same when it comes to the lion, the shark and the wolf.
     This leads me to think about the nature of the characters in Carnivores. Am I really supposed to like them? Am I really supposed to cheer for them when they stay true to their meat-eating ways? Or am I supposed to be happy and think, "Good riddance," by the time I get to the end of the book? Part of me thinks it's the latter. Just as the carnivores could care less about munching up their prey, I shouldn't care a bit when they meet their fate at the end.
     While I didn't LOL while reading this book, I can completely appreciate what the author and illustrator have done here. It's infused with elements that made me smile as I read but mostly in acknowledgement of how Aaron played with words and how Dan's illustrations give the reader so much to infer along the way and not necessarily about what happens to the characters in the end.
     My biggest take away from reading this book is how books tell us stories but tell us a lot about ourselves as readers at the same time. Aaron Reynolds and Dan Santat do a great job of bringing these characters to life. They throw in all sorts of things to infer and witty humor along the way. For some people - or many people, as it seems - it's hysterical. For me, I'm a reader who desperately wants to connect with the characters but it was hard for me to do that with these characters. In the end, I just didn't find their stories to be funny. Believe me, I know this says a lot about me. Maybe I take things to seriously!
     Ultimately, Aaron and Dan made me think though! They really made me think about this book and my reaction to it. I wouldn't have spent so much time digesting it all (ha!) and rereading and trying to see what other people see if it didn't make me think. Isn't that an awesome win for a book? It made me think. Bravo, Aaron and Dan.
Read Together: Grades 3 - 12 
Read Alone: Grades 3 - 12 
Read With: I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown 
Snatch of Text: 

"The lion is known throughout the animal kingdom as the 'King of Beasts.'

The Great White Shark is the most feared predator in the oceans. 

And the Timber Wolf's howl strikes terror into the hearts of fuzzy woodland creatures everywhere.

But even SAVAGE CARNIVORES get their feelings hurt."  

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Expository, Persuasive, Personification, Characterization 
Writing Prompts: Research one of the animals from the book and their eating habits - how they hunt food, what food they eat, where they find their food, etc. Write an expository piece to share what you learn about that animal. Research different kinds of diet lifestyles and compare and contrast two that you learn about.  
Topics Covered: Determination, Willpower, Conscience, Friends, Nature, Integration - Science

I *heart* It:

    And now, I would love to hear what you think! Please, respond in the comments and answer these three questions! One reader will be chosen randomly to receive a copy of Carnivores and a $5 gift card to Jamba Juice - where everything is vegetarian. Woo hoo! I'll pick a winner Sunday afternoon and announce the winner here in my It's Monday! What Are You Reading? post so be sure to check back. 

Teachers, feel free to ask your students to respond and share their comments for them anonymously or with a code name. What a great opportunity to practice some argumentative writing!

1. Did you find Carnivores to be funny and why? 

(Yes or no, either way, please share!)

2. What is your favorite part of Carnivores?

(The characters, the illustrations...)

3. What did you take away from reading Carnivores?

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild - Must Read Mentor Text

Each week Stacia and Amanda at Collaboration Cuties host a Must-Read Mentor Texts link-up. There is a different theme focus every week throughout the month and blogs can link up on Sundays. I'll be rotating through reviews of different mentor texts for language arts, math, science, and social studies. You can check out their blog for previous link-ups to connect with other mentor texts they have shared and other bloggers have reviewed, too. This week, we're talking mentor texts for social studies!

Title: Mr. Tiger Goes wild 
Author: Peter Brown 
Illustrator: Peter Brown 
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: September 3, 2013  
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Are you bored with being so proper?
Do you want to have more fun?
Mr. Tiger knows exactly how you feel. So he decides to go wild.
But does he go too far? From Caldecott Honor artist Peter Brown comes a story that shows there's a time and place for everything...even going wild. 
What I Think: Today, I picked a maybe untraditional picture book for a social studies mentor text but I love this book so much and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how it does really talk about people and society and culture and to me, that's social studies.
     First of all, this book is great to read with students to talk about being yourself and following your own dreams. One of the classes I took this summer focused on young adolescent development. We looked closely at Erik Erickson's theory of psychosocial development. The identity versus role confusion stage is so critical and it's important that we help students navigate this stage. I love that Mr. Tiger recognize how he might like to change things up and then he follows his dreams. Reading Mr. Tiger Goes Wild with this lens would be great for students of any age.
     It's also a book that I think relates to trying something new or different. Earlier this year a friend told me about the diffusion of innovations which is a theory that attempts to look at how, why and at what rate new ideas and technologies spread through cultures. It's a neat little graph that shows different people: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards. Everett Rogers wrote a whole book on this theory in the 60's entitled Diffusion of Innovation. I had never heard of the diffusion of innovations but it fascinates me. My department last year focused on supporting adult learners and encouraging adult learners to adopt the growth mindset. This helped me see how not everyone is going to jump on board with a new idea, but I believe that if you get a few people going and modeling something new or different and talking about it (especially why and why it's worthy of trying) than others will hopefully follow along. Sometimes being that innovator or an early adopter isn't always easy  so I loved reading this book and seeing that even though it wasn't easy for Mr. Tiger to make the decision to go wild, he believed in himself and trusted his instincts and went for it. How many times in life to we try something new? Hopefully, a lot of times! Stretching ourselves is how we grow and as lifelong learners, we should be pushing ourselves to grow. Mr. Tiger could be the growth mindset mascot! Just keep him in mind when you try something new...and share his story with students and talk to them about trying something new. It can be scary but it can also be invigorating. In the end, Mr. Tiger is a leader. I love it!
     Besides the themes in this book, I love it as a mentor text to talk about dialogue. We get to hear about Mr. Tiger from the narrator but to show what the other characters in the book think about Mr. Tiger, Peter uses the other characters' thought or talking bubbles to show us what they think of Mr. Tiger. Dialogue is super powerful in writing because it lets readers into the heads of other characters. While readers may have a limited point-of-view or even a broad point-of-view, hearing what a character says lets readers see how others perceive the main character(s). In this case it's completely brilliant because we easily connect with Mr. Tiger but it's imperative to his story that we are reminded how his friends and others see him. Through their eyes, we realize how wild Mr. Tiger truly goes.
     I have two more things to point out before my final thought about Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. One is that the artwork is awesome. It's just awesome. I've enjoyed Peter Brown's style in his other books, but the colors and the shapes in this book are great. He uses color and shapes/lines to really show the different between Mr. Tiger's proper life and his wild life. It's fantastic. And, related to the artwork, this book has movement. There are a few moments when my kids and I just looked at the pictures and laughed and roared. When I think about the funny parts, it's because something funny is happening on the pages but each of those moments seem to come to life in my head because the illustrations are full of inferences that come to life as you read. I'm not sure how to articulate this well, but when you read it, I think you'll see how it just seems like Mr. Tiger is running all around through the book. Again, it's simply awesome.
     Here's my final thought: Mr. Tiger Goes Wild is Caldecott worthy. I said it, and you heard it here! I'm not usually one to get caught up in the awards or in anticipating what books will win awards but I honestly believe Mr. Tiger Goes Wild deserves it this year. Bravo, Mr. Brown!
Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 12 
Read Alone: Grades Pre-K - 12  
Read With: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf  Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell, It's a Book by Lane Smith   
Snatch of Text: 

"He wanted to loosen up.

He wanted to have fun.

He wanted to be...wild." 

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Making Inferences, Visualizing 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, Anaphora, Dialogue, Personification
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you did something different from everyone else, be sure to include how you felt and how you dealt with that feeling. Choose something you feel strongly about - whether it's a feeling or a belief or a thing people should do or try - and explain why you support it. Take that a step further and create a persuasive artifact that encourages others to try something new - make sure to include evidence of why they should try this.
Topics Covered: Instincts, Trust, Belief, Adversity, Leadership, Culture, Integration - Social Studies  

I *heart* It:

Dare to Dream...Change the World

Title: Dare to Dream...Change the World

Editor: Jill Corcoran

Poets: Jill Corcoran, J. Patrick Lewis, Alice Schertle, David L. Harrison, Jane Yolen, Joan Bransfield Graham, Ellen Hopkins, Georgia Heard, Hope Anita Smith, Elaine Magliaro, Curtis L. Crisler, Janet S. Wong, Denise Lewis Patrick, Joyce Lee Wong, Jacqui Robbins, Julia Durango, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Lisa Wheeler, Hope Vestergaard, Carol M. Tanzman, Stephanie Hemphill, Alan Katz, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Marilyn Singer, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Joyce Sidman, Rose Horowitz, Bruce Coville, Kelly Ramsdell Fineman, Laura Purdie Salas

Illustrator: J. Beth Jepson

Publisher: Kane Miller

Publication Date: 2012

Genre/Format: Biography/Illustrated Poetry Anthology

Goodreads Summary: From Jonas Salk to Steven Spielberg, the subjects of these biographical-inspired poems invented something, said something, stood for something, did something, changed something. They dared to dream. 
     Thirty of our nation's most prestigious poets focus their creative vision on people who not only changed their own lives, but the lives of people all over the world. 
What Jen Thinks: We have so much to learn from the people who have come before us and made a difference in the world. This book collects so many biographical poems about many people throughout history who dared to dream and were able to make a difference. I especially enjoyed the pages that held a poem and a brief paragraph about the person who the poem was about. This type of combination of poems and prose reminds me of some of Steve Jenkins' books. What a great resource to discuss biographies. Using this text and other formats of biographies would help students recognize how one topic can be represented in different formats. It would also be interesting to look at how two different poets wrote poems about one person. Where do their ideas overlap, how are they similar, how are they different?

What Kellee Thinks: Jill Cochran’s introductory poem starts this book off perfectly: with using a butterfly leaving its cocoon to symbolize daring to dream. Within the anthology, I learned about historical figures who did amazing things such as Sylvia Mendez who helped desegregate Mexican students in California to Jonas Salk who discovered the Polio vaccine, modern day heroes such as Nicholas Cobb who as a child started a nonprofit organization to Chad Hurley, Steven Chen, and Jawed Karim who are the co-founders of You Tube, as well as artists who fought to stand out like Michelle Kwan, Steven Spielberg, Georgia O’Keefe, Martha Graham, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. All corners of heroes are represented. What I loved about who was chosen to be in this book is that although they are all extraordinary people, all of what they did is within the reach of anyone reading. It definitely pushes the readers’ mind when thinking about what is possible.  In Dare to Dream, you not only learn about these people through the poetry, but Jill Cochran also included biographical text boxes for each dreamer to share what they did to change the world.

     Many different kinds of poetry are also part of the anthology. Most are narrative, telling us the story of the life of inspirational person, while others are lyric or acrostic. Some rhymed while others didn't. One included quotes and another was written completely inspired by a quote. Not two poems are alike.

     Another beautiful aspect to this book are the illustrations by J. Beth Jepsen. It is amazing how she was able to change her style based on the poem/person. Anne Frank’s pages are filled with a depression while Father Gregory Boyle’s pages are filled with hope. Each page represents the dreamer in such a beautiful way. Would be a wonderful book to do a visual analysis on. 

Read Together: Grades K and up

Read Alone: Grades 3 and up

Read With: Tito Puente, Mambo King and Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People by Monica Brown, The Boy on Fairfield Street, Jim Henson: The Guy Who Played with Puppets and others by Kathlee Krull, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein, Biographies of any of the subjects

Snatch of Text: 

Ripples

By Bruce Coville

No one acts in isolation

And no act leaves the world the same.

Words and gestures ripple outward,

What shores they reach we cannot name.

All our lives end in a riddle - 

A mystery without an answer,

For even gone we ripple on,

Like a dance without the dancer.

Did you extend a friendly hand?

Did you lift a battered spirit?

The one you helped helped someone else

Ah! Now we're getting near it.

That second someone dropped despair

Did not give in, instead revived

To teach, to love, to fight, to dare,

And what you've done lived on, survived.

On and out the circle widens,

Past all hope of comprehending.

The slightest touch can change the world

Healing, helping, lifting, mending.

Actions last for generations

Our fathers' mothers mold our hearts.

We in turn shape all that follows; 

Each time we act, a ripple starts.

Mentor Text for: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences, Descriptive, Expository, Compare and Contrast, Illustration, Poetic Elements

Writing Prompts: What do you notice about how the poets' styles? Are they similar, different? How does each poet capture the tone or mood of each person he or she writes about?; What did you notice about the subtle changes in the artists' style from page to page? How did the style reflect the person who was being written about?  

Topics Covered: Courage, Adversity, Determination, Belief, Motivation

Jen *hearts* It:

Kellee *hearts* It:

and

**Thank you to Lynn Kelley at Kane Miller EDC Publishing for providing a copy for review**