Optional Picture Books
Title: "Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from Africa" by Niki Daly
Publisher: Clarion Books, 2007
Reading Level: Could not find
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 29
Summary:
Salma lives with her grandmother in Africa. One day her grandma asked her to go to the market to pick up some things for her. As Salma was leaving, her grandmother reminded her not to talk to strangers. Salma went to the market and picked up a watermelon, a rooster, a pink drink, and candy-striped straws. Because it was so hot outside, Salma decided to take the short way back to grandma's house through the bad part of time. As she was walking she sang the song that her grandmother always sings to her. It goes:
Oh, Salma, Pretty Salma.
Come kiss Granny,
Your darling old Granny, who love you soooooo!
A dog heard her singing that song, so he knew what her name was and that she was headed to her Granny's house. He offered to first carry her large basket. Then he asked to help her cool off her feet by wearing her sandals. Eventually he was wearing her wrap, her necklace, and her head scarf. When Salma asked for her things back, the dog told her that he wouldn't give them back to her and told her that if she didn't run along he would bite her in two. Salma ran to get her grandfather who was telling stories dressed in an African spider costume. They devised a plan to dress up in his costumes and bang on their drums so loudly that it would scare the dog away from her grandmother. Meanwhile, the dog was at her grandmother's. Granny believed it was Salma because the dog was dressed in all of Salma's clothes. Her granny eventually realized that Salma was really dog when she asked her to sing their song, and all the dog could do was howl. She was so frightened that she jumped into the boiling cauldron. Salma and Grandfather arrived just in time to scare the dog away and save Granny. Now every time Salma goes to the market, she does not talk to strangers like she was asked.
Recommended Readers:
I think that this would be a good book for every reader. It appeals to both girls because the main character is a girl and boys because there is action, mischief, and suspense. I would recommend this book to all children because it gives them exposure to a different culture, but it does it in a fun way.
Possible Problems:
Like the original fairy tale, this story is a little bit scary. Even though Granny is saved in the end, it still might scare some readers. Also, it is a little bit unrealistic that Granny would be able to walk away from sitting in a cauldron of boiling water without so much as a blister.
Reaction:
I really think that this book is fun. I have heard many versions of this classic fairy tale but never from an African point of view. I learned a few things about the African culture by simply reading this cute book. The pictures are simplistic but give a good sense of life in Africa.
Title: "When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry" by Molly Bang
Publisher: Scholastic, 1992
Reading Level: 1.9
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 33
Summary:
When Sophie's mom insists that she share her gorilla toy with her sister, Sophie gets really, really angry. She kicks and screams, blows red steam, becomes a volcano ready to explode, and then Sophie runs. She runs and runs. Once she can run no more, she begins to cry. Sophie begins to look around and see the trees, ferns, and animals around her. As she begins to cool down, Sophie climbs a big tree. She looks around the world around her. She feels the breeze in her hair and watches the waves of the sea. Nature comforts her, and she feels ready to climb down the tree and go back home. Sophie is welcomed back home the minute she walks back inside. Her family is happy to see her, and everything is back to the way it used to be. Sophie used to be angry, but she isn't anymore.
Recommended Readers:
Because every child has felt angry or upset at one point or another, I would recommend this book for every young child. It teaches children that it is ok to feel angry or upset, but they need to find the appropriate way to express those feelings. It shows them that a great thing to do when we are upset is to take ourselves out of the situation.
Possible Problems:
I don't see any problems that would come from reading this book.
Reaction:
I have read many books about expressing our feelings appropriately, but I think that this is my favorite. It delivers the intended message, but it didn't come across as preachy or blatantly obvious to me. This book is the winner of the Caldecott Honor for illustration, and I would agree. The pictures help illustrate what a person is feeling inside when they get angry. On every page, Sophie has a faint outline of color around her. As her mood changes, the color of the outline changes. I find the illustrations fascinating.
Title: "One Monkey Too Many" by: Jackie French Koller, illustrated by: Lynn Munsinger
Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1999
Reading Level: 2.4
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 28
Summary:
This book shows a bunch of mischievous monkeys. In each case, the monkey are told how many monkeys an object is made for, and in each case, the monkeys try to fit one too many monkeys into the object. First, one monkey is told that a bike is perfect for just one monkey. When they add one too many, though, the two monkeys crash on the bike. Second, two monkey are told that a golf cart is perfect for two. When they add just one more, the cart crashes into the lake. Third, three monkeys are told that the canoe is perfect for three. As the monkeys like to do, they add one more monkey and crash down a waterfall. Fourth, the monkeys are told that the table at the restaurant will only fit four, but they fit five anyway. Food ends up flying, and it is a huge mess. Fifth, the bellhop tells the monkey that the hotel bed is perfect for five. When they add one too many monkeys in the bed, their tossing and turning ends up in a war. Finally, Jackie Koller, the author tells the monkeys that six is perfect for the book. When she is out for lunch, the monkeys add one more monkey, and one too many monkeys got into the book.
Recommended Readers:
This is definitely a book geared towards little children. It would be a good book for children who have mastered counting to ten and would like to see counting in a little different way.
Possible Problems:
The ending of the book might be a little bit confusing. The concept about a writer writing about writing might be a little too abstract for young readers.
Reaction:
I love stories about monkeys because their curiosity and mischievousness make for a comical read. I love the idea of the monkeys trying to push the limits just a little bit and seeing the results of that choice. The pictures are very fun and really capture the expressions of the monkeys as individuals.
Title: "The Princess and the Pizza" by Mary Jane and Herm Auch
Publisher: Holiday House, 2002
Reading Level: 3.8
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 31
Summary:
After her father gave up his throne to follow his dream of becoming a woodcarver, Princess Paulina was forced to live life as a commoner. She tried to do things like she used to in the castle, but it just didn't work in this new life. When news came that Queen Zelda was trying to find a bride for her son, Prince Drupert, Paulina saw it as her chance to get back to the life as of a princess. Paulina and twelve other princesses from around the land were put through a series of princess tests to prove to Queen Zelda who would be the best wife for her son. The first test was the pea under the mattress trick. "For Pete's Sake," said Paulina. She was surprised how simple this task would be. Simple or not, only Paulina and four other princesses made it, droopy-eyed and tired, to the next task. The second task was for the ladies to slip their feet into a glass slipper. "For Pete's sake," said Paulina. Hadn't they ever heard of sneakers? Silly as the test was, Paulina and two other princesses passed. One of the princesses had seven strange men follow her around all the time, and the other princess had an unusually long braid that tripped Paulina wherever they went. For the final task, the princesses had to take food from the table and prepare a delectable feast for Prince Drupert. Paulina was tripped by the long-haired princess, and by the time she got up, the only food left was some flour, yeast, water, three overripe tomatoes, and some stale cheese. Paulina did the best she could with her ingredients, but she thought her outcome hopeless. Her anxiety over the task increased as Zelda told her the losers of the competition would be beheaded. Paulina ended up presenting a flat dough concoction with tomato sauce and cheese and garlic on top. The prince loved it. When asked what she called the dish, Paulina said, "Oh for Pete's, uh…" So it became known as pizza. Queen Zelda offered her son to Paulina, but she refused because she didn't want Zelda as a mother-in-law. Paulina ended up opening her own pizza palace and was happy.
Recommended Readers:
This would be a good story for most children. It is a fun twist on common fairy tales.
Possible Problems:
I don't think that this story would have any real problems.
Reaction:
I loved the integration of so many fairy tales within this one story. It is clever and fun. It reminded me a little bit of the movie Shrek because it made fun of so many fairy tales. I also loved how the authors came up with the name for pizza in the end. I loved that the princess refused to marry the prince in the end because she decided that she wouldn't be happy with him.
Title: "MacMurtrey's Wall" by Marc Sutherland
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc,
Reading Level: Could not Find
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 26
Summary:
Long ago, there lived a giant of a man named MacMurtrey. He was the strongest, fastest, and tallest of them all, and he let everybody know that there were none as great as him. As strong and skillful as MacMurtrey was, though, he was still unhappy. He saw the birds and beasts upon the earth and saw that they were great. Because he wanted none greater than himself, he caught all of the animals and put them in cages. Then he saw how majestic the sea was and began building a wall to cage in the majesty of the sea. He thought that he would be happy as soon as he got the wall built. MacMurtrey worked and worked on the wall. He cut down so many trees and broke down so many of the mountains for his wall that the people of the land eventually decided they could not live there anymore. They boarded up all of their stuff and sailed away on the sea. MacMurtrey eventually finished making the wall, but a strong wind blew giant waves atop the wall. It didn't take long for the waves to beat the wall, and soon MacMurtrey's giant wall was smashed into pieces. Having used all of his strength to build the wall, all MacMurtrey could do was lay down in the snow and sleep. The wind also blew the people back to the land. They saw the giant of the man weak and asleep in the snow. They nursed him back to help. As soon as he was healthy again, they insisted that he help the people rebuild the land and help the people for the first time in his life. MacMurtrey helped the best that he could, and he realized that he was not the greatest of all. And that was ok with him because he was happy at last.
Recommended Readers:
This would be a great book to read to an entire class because it shows that each person may have different abilities, but each person's skills are important to make a community work properly.
Possible Problems:
This tall tale gives life to pretty much all of the characters including the sea and the sun. Because all of the characters are "alive", they all have eyes. Some of the pictures with all of the sets of eyes may be confusing for the students because it gets difficult to tell what object is what.
Reaction:
I thought that this book was really cute. The message that it is more important to be with friends than it is to be the best is a great message for all. I think that, even though they may be confusing to some, the illustrations in this book are beautiful. Each character and object is very defined and has so much detail.
Title: "Substitute Teacher Plans" by Doug Johnson, illustrated by: Tammy Smith
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, 2002
Reading Level: 3.0
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 31
Summary:
Mrs. Huff's classroom of students are out of control. She decides that she can't take it anymore, so she plans a vacation day for herself. At home that night, she made two lists. One list had a schedule of things for the substitute teacher to do with her students, and the other paper was a list of all of the fun things she was going to do on her day off. She accidentally got the lists mixed up and placed her to-do list on her desk for the substitute teacher and kept the classroom agenda for herself. Mrs. Martin, the substitute teacher, thought the agenda was a little unusual, but she followed it to a tee. The class went to an amusement park and rode the roller coaster, went sky diving, and scuba diving, had lunch on top of the ski mountain and then skied down, built a gigantic sand castle, and then went to the circus. In the mean time, Mrs. Huff read a book from 9:15-10:30, wrote letters from 10:30-11:00, played Scrabble for spelling time from 1:00-11:30, had lunch and recess from 11:30-12:30, read a book aloud from 12:30-1:30, and then balanced her check book from 1:00-2:00. When she got back to class after her vacation, the principal asked her to explain what happened her in class the day before. Miss Huff wanted to take another vacation day, but her students decided that they missed her too much when she was gone. She along with her students and the principal made plans to go to acrobatic flight training the next day.
Recommended Readers:
This would be a good book to read, again, to a whole class of students. It is funny, and a whole class would be able to relate to the characters in the book.
Possible Problems:
I think the biggest problem with this book would be that students would like it so much they would want their own teacher to take a vacation, so they could go to amusement parks and to the zoo.
Reaction:
This is a very silly book. I chose it initially because the pictures are very intriguing. I can't tell if they are made out of clay or if they were done on the computer. Either way, though, they are really fun. I liked the idea of the lists being mixed up and seeing the adventures that both the teacher and the class got to go on because of the mix up.
Title: "Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens" by: Cindy Neuschwander, illustrated by: Wayne Geehan
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing, 2009
Reading Level: 4.2
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 32
Summary:
King Arthur's birthday is fast approaching, and Lady Di of Amater and her husband, Sir Cumference, decide to throw him a surprise party because he seems gloomy about his upcoming birthday. They plan a feast for all of the king's friends who they invited. The guest begin to arrive and pandemonium breaks out. There are so many people that Lady Di and Sir Cumference can't get a count for how many meals they will need to prepare for all of the guests. Sir Kell comes up with an idea that they could have all of the guests get into circles and count themselves then they could add up the number of all of the circles. They try that way, but it does not work because the numbers are too great to add. Sir Lionel Segment suggests that all of the guests line up and then they count them one at a time, but that takes too long. Sir Cumference combines the ideas and has the guests line up in lines of ten. Those lines of ten combine with nine other lines until there are one hundred people. Grouping the guests that way, the party planners discover that there are 987 people to feed for lunch. Right before lunch, though, a group of people from Lower Numberton show up. They are grouped the same way, which brings the grand total for the people eating lunch to be 1,012 guests.
More and more people keep arriving for the party, so the Lady Di keeps counting them in the same way. In order to keep the guests cool until the king arrives, they set up tents to hold the guests. One tent can hold 9 or fewer people. One can hold 90 or fewer people. One can hold 900 or fewer people, and the last one can hold 9000 or fewer people. By the time the king arrives, there are 9,999 guest awaiting him in the tents. They all came out from behind their tents and give him a birthday welcome. He is very pleased. They all eat dinner together and celebrate his birthday.
Recommended Readers:
This is a great book for children who are learning to add large numbers. It teaches not only great tips for grouping and rearranging numbers, but it shows children not to be afraid of big numbers.
Possible Problems:
The only problem that I can think of that would arise from this book is that it might end up confusing children more about numbers because the numbers that are being grouped are so large.
Reaction:
I think that this book is really fun. I love all of the play on words that are found within this book like Lady Di of Amater, Sir Kell, and the city of Addingmore. It seems to me that it would make math come alive for children.
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