Dragons in a Bag (Zetta Elliot)

 

This is a 2021 Global Read Aloud pick. I'm hoping that this year I can actually connect with another class as we use it for a read aloud. It's a great story! One thing that concerns me is that they only read a couple chapters a week. I'm not sure we can drag it out that long! I'd definitely be interested in reading the next books in the series.

There are lots of topics that could be discussed in this story: diversity, forgiveness, racism, segregation, forgiveness,  etc.  

In time we could use this as a "book club" book paired with Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher.

Read aloud to my class in October/November2021. It is way better as a read aloud! Then again, most books are.

Notice and Note Signposts

Words of the Wiser

• p. 116 Trub to Jax re: segregation
• p. 128...if you believe

Memory Moment

Contrasts and Contradictions

• p. 8 beer
• p. 10 box with no addresses
• p. 48 Ambrose invisible? 

Again and Again

Ah ha moments

Tough Qs

Goodreads says:

The dragon's out of the bag in this diverse, young urban fantasy from an award-winning author!

When Jaxon is sent to spend the day with a mean old lady his mother calls Ma, he finds out she's not his grandmother--but she is a witch! She needs his help delivering baby dragons to a magical world where they'll be safe. There are two rules when it comes to the dragons: don't let them out of the bag, and don't feed them anything sweet. Before he knows it, Jax and his friends Vikram and Kavita have broken both rules! Will Jax get the baby dragons delivered safe and sound? Or will they be lost in Brooklyn forever?

Punished! (David Lubar)

This book took me about 25 minutes to read. It would be a great book for middle elementary kids who aren't super strong readers yet. The puns are entertaining. It teaches some great parts of language that would make for a great classroom discussion. It would be fun to build a wall full of puns,  oxymorons, anagrams and palindromes. We have talked about using this book for our Battle of the Books. Perhaps there could be an additional contest where teams could earn points by taking on the challenge that Logan finds himself absorbed in. I think this would also make a great read aloud. 

October 2021: Read aloud to my class. Sometimes it was hard for them to get the puns and plays on language because they couldn't see the words. Would be good as a novel study with everyone having a book. We enjoyed it, nonetheless.

Goodreads summary: 

Logan and his friend Benedict run into the wrong guy at the library--literally. When Logan slams into the reference guy in the basement and gives him a little lip, Logan gets punished, really and truly punished. He has three days to complete three tasks before Professor Wordsworth will lift the magical punishment that keeps getting Logan in even more trouble.

Bink and Gollie (Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee)

Kate DiCamillo never disappoints! This will be a great book to add to my list of books to introduce my students to for our friendship unit. 

Bink and Gollie are friends. They are clever. They use great vocabulary. 

I don't always list illustrators in my blog posts, but the illustrations are so integral to the story, and so simply amazing and hilarious, Alison McGhee must be mentioned! The illustrations are hilarious and add perfectly to the laughter of the book. 

These two remind me very much of my own children. They're differently sizes (and ages?) but still have plenty of reckless fun together roller skating. Gollie, like me with my daughter, tries to tolerate Bink's love for the outrageous (it's socks in this book). They get into crazy messes which are creatively resolved. Yup. Sounds a lot like my house!

             “I have brought you half of my pancakes," said Gollie.

              "And I have removed one of my outrageous socks," said Bink. "It's a compromise bonanza!” 

Love love love this book! It is an easy read and also one I would enjoy reading to kids again and again.

Hey! Wake Up! (Sandra Boynton)

My four year old niece read this book to me tonight. Well, she didn't exactly read it. She totally has it memorized. It was so cute! I love Sandra Boynton! She is brilliant.

There Is A Bird On Your Head! (By Mo Willems)

Cute book! It is an easy reader for young children, but could also be used in elementary classrooms to talk about communication. It has been awarded the Theodore Seuss Geisel award.

Elephant senses he has a bird on his head and Piggie confirms it is true. Elephant clearly isn't happy about this, but never actually asks the bird (and others that come along) to get off until the end. In the end he simply asks them to go and the little birds say, "No problem" and they find a new place to rest...on Piggie's head!

The summary at Good Reads says:

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.
Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In There Is a Bird On My Head , Gerald discovers that there is something worse than a bird on your head--two birds on your head Can Piggie help her best friend?

 
Mo Willems has a whole series of Elephant and Piggie books. One of my favorite things I read about him is that he worked for Sesame Street from 1993 to 2002, but he has done a lot more than that!