Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story (Lisa Wheeler)

This seemed like a great one for Valentine's Day! He sings a song again and again about his search for a wife.

I liked that the purcupine set a great example of kind words (okay, pretty nice words...he tried) with everyone he met.

My students were captivated by this story and had a good laugh.

Goodreads says:
What could be more poignant than a porcupine pining for a companion? With pun-filled prose and pleasing pictures, this passionate tale of love and friendship between two prickly creatures in a petting zoo makes a perfect read aloud (and a sublime Valentine).

Charlie and Mouse (Laurel Snyder)

One of my students bought this for our class at our recent book fair. The illustrations in it are cute and easy to relate to.

We love books written about real kids! This book is about Laurel Snyder's own children. My students wondered if one's name really was Mouse.

Goodreads says:
Charlie and Mouse, two young brothers, enjoy a day out together, attending an imaginary party and collecting rocks.

Rosie Revere, Engineer (Andrea Beaty)

This story from a series. We read Iggy Peck and my students loved that he showed up in this book. Rosie's style and smarts were great. It was nice that something that she thought was a mistake turned into a great learning experience. Great character lesson on perseverance.

Goodreads says:

Rosie may seem quiet during the day, but at night she's a brilliant inventor of gizmos and gadgets who dreams of becoming a great engineer. When her great-great-aunt Rose (Rosie the Riveter) comes for a visit and mentions her one unfinished goal--to fly--Rosie sets to work building a contraption to make her aunt's dream come true. But when her contraption doesn't fl y but rather hovers for a moment and then crashes, Rosie deems the invention a failure. On the contrary, Aunt Rose inisists that Rosie's contraption was a raging success. You can only truly fail, she explains, if you quit.

Iggy Peck Architect (Andrea Beaty)

I didn't get to read this with my class because I was away at a workshop. I love workshops, but I hate missing our book-a-days!




Goodreads says:
Meet Iggy Peck—creative, independent, and not afraid to express himself! In the spirit of David Shannon’s No, David and Rosemary Wells’s Noisy Nora, Iggy Peck will delight readers looking for irreverent, inspired fun.

Iggy has one passion: building. His parents are proud of his fabulous creations, though they’re sometimes surprised by his materials—who could forget the tower he built of dirty diapers? When his second-grade teacher declares her dislike of architecture, Iggy faces a challenge. He loves building too much to give it up! With Andrea Beaty’s irresistible rhyming text and David Roberts’s puckish illustrations, this book will charm creative kids everywhere, and amuse their sometimes bewildered parents.

 Also from the powerhouse author-illustrator team of Iggy Peck, Architect, is Rosie Revere, Engineer, a charming, witty picture book about believing in yourself and pursuing your passion. Ada Twist, Scientist, the companion picture book featuring the next kid from Iggy Peck's class, is available in September 2016.

Just One Goal (Robert Munsch)

Today we celebrated an un-birthday in my classroom so the birthday girl, who is a great hockey player, brought the book for story. I hadn't read this one before. We really loved it! We especially loved that this was written about a real girl.

Goodreads says:

At last — Canada's favourite storyteller takes on Canada's most beloved pastime!

Ciara is tired of hauling her hockey gear across town to play on the rink. It makes no sense—there is a perfectly good frozen river in her own backyard! But her dad says it's too jagged, and her mom says it's too bumpy, and her older sisters don't see why she can't keep going all the way across town, just like they did. But Ciara won't let anybody stop her. And with a little help from the neighbourhood, she knows that her team, the River Rink Rats, will finally win a game on their own brand new rink.

In classic Robert Munsch style, this warm fun story of community and hockey takes a hilarious turn. With the excitement and pace of a real hockey match, the River Rink Rats play their final game on their new rink. The pressure is on; the crowd is watching; Ciara has the puck; the crowd keeps watching; the ice starts to...CRACK!; Ciara keeps playing; the ice starts to drift; the crowd starts running; Ciara shoots to SCORE and—

You can be sure that no matter how the game ends, there will be hot chocolate!

Kate and Pippin

This kind of story always captures our hearts. We read this one because we are reading Bridge to Terabithia and Jess and Leslie are an unlikely friendship. I brought a bunch of Unlikely Friendships books to the classroom and after we read this story, they were snapped up!

Goodreads says:

When Pippin, a fawn abandoned by her mother, cries out for help, she is found by author Isobel Springett. After carrying the tiny fawn back to her home, Isobel places Pippin next to Kate, a Great Dane who has never had puppies of her own.

What follows is a remarkable and unlikely friendship. Kate successfully raises Pippin to be an independent deer, and Pippin always returns from the forest to visit her best friend.

With simple text and stunning photographs, Kate and Pippin, and their one-of-a-kind friendship, come to life in an irresistible way!

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild (Peter Brown)

Some of my students are reading Wild Robot and so they recognized Peter Brown's name right away. I think he's brilliant!

I introduced this book by telling them it has a "play on words". We talked about what it means to go wild and the commonly understood definition is that it is someone acting crazy. As we read the book, the ah ha moments happened right away for students. Mr. Tiger actually decides he's tired of being prim and proper and starts to walk on all fours. Then he goes off into the wilderness (eeek!).

We also noticed that all the animals that were acting prim and proper were in dull colors of grey and brown. As the animals noticed Mr. Tiger being "wild" they started to follow suit and they started being more colorful. The color comes into his life when he actually starts doing what he was meant to do.

A great picture book example of contrasts and contradictions. We do not expect this from a tiger!

Goodreads says:

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?
There is a time and place for everything...even going wild.