Any Questions? (Mary Louise Gay)

We read this book as part of the International Reading Association's read aloud day. They get everyone to read the same book the same day and then calculate how many kids read the book. It's fun. We got everyone in our school to read it.

This book is kind of like having an author visit. Marie-Louise Gay speaks about how she writes, what it's like to be a writer, etc., and takes us through the writing process. It was a long story to read, but my class enjoyed it.

Goodreads summary:

Many children want to know where stories come from and how a book is made. Marie-Louise Gay’s new picture book provides them with some delightfully inspiring answers through a fictional encounter between an author and some very curious children — together they collaborate on writing and illustrating a story. Marie-Louise Gay has scribbled, sketched, scrawled, doodled, penciled, collaged, and painted the words and pictures of a story-within-a-story that show how brilliant ideas creep up on you when you least expect it and how words sometimes float out of nowhere, asking to be written. Any Questions? presents a world inhabited by lost polar bears, soaring pterodactyls, talking trees, and spotted snails, with cameo appearances by some of the author's favorite characters — a world where kids become part of the story and let their imaginations run wild, becoming inspired to create tales of their own. At the end of the book, she provides answers to many of the questions children have asked her over the years, such as "Are you Stella?," "How did you learn to draw?," "Can your cat fly?," and "How many books do you make in one day?"

Best Friend Trouble

We listened to this book on Tumble Books. It fits in nicely with our friendship unit. The kids mentioned that the narrator doesn't do a great job of using expression (kids can be so funny about that!) .

Good story about solving problems and recognizing that even good friends have times where they need to work things out.

Goodreads summary:

Hanna is fed up with her best friend, Lizzy, who is always trying to be better than her. When Lizzy tells Hanna she can throw her ball farther and succeeds, it's the last straw. Hanna is tired of feeling second best, but what she doesn't realize is that sometimes she makes Lizzy feel that way too. Maybe there's a way they can still be best friends after all.
A funny and relatable story about best friends, competition and learning to see things from another's point of view.

How To Read a Story (Kate Messner)

There is no better book to read the first day you start Reading Buddies!! My class loved the step by step instructions and totally agreed with many of the points along the way: reading outside is wonderful, snuggle up together, read with great expression, say "the end" when you're finished, and if it's really good, start all over again!

Loved it!

Kate Messner totally gets kids and books.

Goodreads summary:

Step One: Find a story. (A good one.)
Step Two: Find a reading buddy. (Someone nice.)
Step Three: Find a reading spot. (Couches are cozy.)
Now: Begin.
Accomplished storytellers Kate Messner and Mark Siegel chronicle the process of becoming a reader: from pulling a book off the shelf and finding someone with whom to share a story, to reading aloud, predicting what will happen, and—finally—coming to The End. This picture book playfully and movingly illustrates the idea that the reader who discovers the love of reading finds, at the end, the beginning. 

The Matchbox Diary (Paul Fleischman)

Beautiful story! We used this as an introduction to an All About Me project where students are given a paper bag and asked to bring five items. The five items are something will give us information about that person. The students were totally taken by the beautiful pictures, the stories of life long ago, and the unique things that the Grandpa put in the match boxes.

Bagram Ibatoulline also illustrated The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. He does some wonderful work!

Goodreads Summary:

"Pick whatever you like most. Then I’ll tell you its story." 
When a little girl visits her great-grandfather at his curio-filled home, she chooses an unusual object to learn about: an old cigar box. What she finds inside surprises her: a collection of matchboxes making up her great-grandfather’s diary, harboring objects she can hold in her hand, each one evoking a memory. Together they tell of his journey from Italy to a new country, before he could read and write — the olive pit his mother gave him to suck on when there wasn’t enough food; a bottle cap he saw on his way to the boat; a ticket still retaining the thrill of his first baseball game. With a narrative entirely in dialogue, Paul Fleischman makes immediate the two characters’ foray into the past. With warmth and an uncanny eye for detail, Bagram Ibatoulline gives expressive life to their journey through time — and toward each other.

My Teacher is a Monster (Peter Brown)

This is a great book to start off our friendship unit. It reminds students that once you get to know someone they're not quite so scary. Depicting the teacher as a monster makes them laugh. I'm amazed at how every time I read this book to a group of kids they notice as soon as the teacher starts losing her monster-ish green hue.

Good picture book example of Notice and Note Signposts of contrasts and contradictions. We do not expect this teacher to be friendly!

Goodreads summary:

Bobby has a problem.

You see, his teacher is a monster.

But when Bobby runs into his teacher outside of school, he learns there is more to her than meets the eye.

Noni Is Nervous (Heather Hartt-Sussman/Genevieve Cote)

We started Reading Buddies today. The grade three children were VERY excited, but the grade one children were VERY nervous. Noni is nervous was a good way to start talking about how really, we don't need to feel nervous, we just need to get to know each other better because there are friendships just waiting to be found in our school (and Noni's too).

Goodreads Summary:

A unique hardcover picture book for two to five year olds, this is the story of a lovely little girl who is nervous about many things. Noni finds a way to control her nerves and work through her anxiety, making life much more bearable for everyone!

Noni is nervous about playdates, and global warming, and most of all, about the first day of school. Her parents are worried too, and even her brother is a little wary. But Noni finds a friend, someone a little more outgoing than herself, and discovers that through friendship, she can belong and succeed in a world that once filled her with dread. The story is a universal one about the power of friendship and belonging, delightfully illlustrated by award-winning illustrator Genevieve Cote. 

You're Finally Here (Melanie Watt)

Great book to start the year off with! I'm so excited my class is finally here.  It is the first book in our Book A Day Challenge. 

They thought the story was hilarious. Some asked, "Who is he talking to?"

At the end, I told them how happy I was that they're finally here. I'm thrilled to spend this year with them.

Goodreads summary:

Hooray! You're finally here! But where were you? A bunny bounces through a range of emotions in this funny picture book about how difficult it is to wait. At first he's ecstatic that you, the reader, has arrived. But then he can't help letting you know that waiting for you took too long, was way too boring, and even became insulting. The bunny is ready to forgive everything if you will promise to stay. But hold on--he has to take a phone call. Wait! Come back !Where are you going? Underneath this book's silly, in-your-face humor are feelings true to every child who has had to wait for someone's attention.