You’re on Your Way, Teddy Roosevelt

Written by Judith St. George

Illustrated by Matt Faulkner

Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004

Historical Fiction

48 pages

You’re on Your Way, Teddy Roosevelt is a wonderful book about the life of one of our presidents, Teddy Roosevelt. The starts when he was just a small boy. The story goes along with Teddy as he grows and matures as a young man. However, how does Teddy overcome his struggles? How did he grow up? Read this book to answer these questions.

The illustrator, Matt Faulkner, really helps to tell the story with his artwork. The illustrations really help to express the emotions of the characters. The artwork is spread across two pages to help express the life of Teddy Roosevelt. Matt Faulkner renders is art in gouache on Arches 140/lb. Then the art was cold pressed on watercolor paper. Nevertheless, illustrations are really detailed and support the story being told.

This book can be integrated into a classroom in three different ways. First, this book would be a great way to introduce timelines. This book is in a timely order. Secondly, this book is a great way to introduce one of our presidents from the past. Then lastly, the book is full of some unfamiliar words that can be used as vocabulary words. Nevertheless, this book is very informational.

 

The Story of Pocahontas

The Story of Pocahontas

Written by Caryn Jenner

Illustrated by Lynn Bresler

Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2000

Multicultural

Culture: North American Indian

32 pages

Pocahontas was a great Indian woman who only wanted peace between the English people and her own. However, her people are very hesitant about the strange Englishmen. Not one other Indian wanted anything to do with the new strangers. They all wanted them gone and off of their land. Can Pocahontas keep the peace? Will the settlers stay or go? Read The Story of Pocahontas to find out.

The illustrations were created with watercolor and pen ink. I believe that the illustrator, Lynn Bresler, did and amazing job putting events down on paper. The illustrations really help support the story of Pocahontas. I believe that the illustrator put some hard thought into her artwork. All in all, the pictures are very vivid and detailed.

This book can be integrated into the classroom in three different ways. First, this book is a great way to introduce history and how the Indians felt in when the settlers came over from England. Secondly, this book has several informational boxes full of extra facts that the students can find and investigate on. Then lastly, this book is a great way to incorporate an increase in vocabulary use.

 

Sweet Music in Harlem

Sweet Music in Harlem

Written by Debbie A. Taylor

Illustrated by Frank Morrison

Lee and Low Books Inc., 2004

Multicultural

Culture: African American

32 pages

          This story is about a young boy named C.J. His Uncle Click is an amazing and well known jazz musician. His Uncle Click even has a few photographers coming to take pictures of him way down in Harlem. However, his signature hat is missing in action! So C.J. goes out in search of his uncle’s hat. Will C.J. find his uncle’s hat? Will his uncle be able to play in front of the photographers? Read this book to find out!

          The illustrated did a wonderful job putting emotion into his artwork. Frank Morrison really captures the emotions in the characters. Facial expressions are very important in illustrations. On the other hand, Frank Morrison does this very well. The artwork was also done in acrylic paint. Altogether, the pictures help support the story being told.

          This book can be integrated into the classroom in three ways. First off, this book can be read in the classroom whenever music is being taught or mentioned to help boost a child’s artistic curiosity. Secondly, this book has several new words that can be introduced as vocabulary words in a classroom. Then lastly, this book would be a great way to introduce dialect in writing or reading. All in all, this book is very entertaining.

 

 

 

 

Where are you going? To See My Friend.

Where Are You Going? To See My Friend!

Written by Eric Carle and Kazuo Iwamura

Illustrated by

Orchard Books, 2001

Multicultural

Culture: Japanese

36 pages

Come with the animals on a fun adventure! The animals are heading to see their friend. You see, the animals love to sing and dance. Saying this, the animals meet new friends along the way. Everyone wants to join in and follow the other animals to go meet their friend. Who all will they meet along the way? Who is their friend? Will they ever make it to their friend?

The illustrations in this book are very simple and straight to point. The illustrations are here and there on the page. The illustrations for the English version of this book appear to be done on a computer. However, the Japanese version’s illustrations were created in colored pencils. Altogether, the illustrations are very creative.

This book can be integrated into the classroom in three different ways. First, this book is a great way to include a child from Japan into my classroom. This is because the second story of the book is written in Japanese. Secondly, this book can also help a teacher introduce onomatopoeias. Then thirdly, this book would be great to do a class skit with for a lesson on fluency. Altogether, this book is a great resource.

Wind Flyers

Wind Flyers

Written by Angela Johnson

Illustrated by Loren Long

Simon and Schuster Book for Young Readers, 2007

Historical Fiction

32 pages

Wind Flyers is told by a young man who had an uncle that loved flying. His uncle grew up loving the sky and wishing he could someday fly high. The young man’s uncle grew up before he knew it. However, he was finally able to fly like he had always dreamed. You see, his uncle joined the Tuskegee Airmen with the 332^nd. Then war broke out and his uncle flew to protect his country along with several other African American pilots. Will his uncle be able to survive the war? Will he ever be able to fly again? Read this eventful book to find out!

The illustrations created for this story by Loren Long are very detailed and vivid. The illustrated laid her artwork over two pages for most of her illustrations. However, a few of her illustrations are only place on one page. Loren Long used acrylic paint to create her artwork for this story. All in all, the illustrations help support the story being told within the book.

I would recommend using this book in a fourth or fifth grade class. There are a few different ways that this book can be used inside of a classroom setting. First, this book is a great way to introduce the Tuskegee Airmen in a history lesson. This book can also be read during African American History month. Then lastly, this book can be used when introducing new ways to incorporate how to write what a person says in a story. This will be done by using quotation marks and so on. Altogether, this book is a great story and can be used in a classroom environment in several different ways.

Tiger Can’t Sleep

Tiger Can’t Sleep

Written by S.J. Fore

Illustrated by R.W. Alley

Scholastic Inc., 2006

Fantasy

32 pages

In this story, a little boy tries his very best to fall asleep. However, the tiger in his closet will not stop making all kinds of noise. Every time the boy starts to fall asleep, the tiger decides to do something active. This frustrates the boy and keeps him from being able to fall asleep. Will the tiger ever go to sleep? Will the boy be able to go to sleep too? Find out by reading Tiger Can’t Sleep!

The illustrations in this book are very artistic. A viewer can tell that the illustrator, R. W. Alley, put a lot of work into the art created.  The illustrator seems to use pen and watercolors to portray the right illusion for the book. The illustrator also used horizontal and vertical lines to help the reader flow through each page. Nevertheless, Alley’s pictures go hand in hand with the text in the story.

I would recommend using this book in a first or second grade classroom. This book can be integrated into a classroom in three different ways. First, this book has plenty of onomatopoeias to introduce to a classroom full of students.  Secondly, this book can help with fluency work for students. Lastly, this book would be great for introducing vowel diphthongs to a struggling student.

Skippyjon Jones, Class Action

Skippyjon Jones, Class Action

Written by Judy Schachner

Illustrated by Heather Wood

Scholastic Inc., 2011

Fantasy

32 pages

This adventurous book is about a little kitten who wants nothing more but to go to school. However, school is for dogs! His mother tried to explain this concept to him. Somehow Skippyjon Jones makes his way to school one day. How with those drool filled dogs react to Skippyjon? Will he be able to successfully learn at school or will he have trouble with it? Read this book to answer all your questions!

The illustrations in this book are very detailed and vivid. The pictures help tell the story within this book by Judy Schachner. Heather Wood, the illustrator uses combinations of several different things to help create her illustrations in this book. She uses Aquarelle Arches watercolor paper, ink, pen, and acrylic. The pictures are spread across two pages throughout the book. All in all, the illustrations express a sense of emotion throughout the entire book.

I would recommend using this book in a second or third grade classroom environment. This book can also be integrated into a classroom three different ways. First, this book can show examples of several different poems. This book has a few different poems that are cute and simple enough to help introduce poems. Secondly, this book has several words that could be introduced. Each of these words could be farther investigated as vocabulary words as well. Lastly, this book is great for practicing rhyming words within a classroom.