Anne Frank

Author: Josephine Poole
Illustrator: Angela Barrett
Comments:
The Diary of Anne Frank was one of my favorite books as a girl. This picturebook puts Anne's diary in context, and would be a good read aloud for even a middle school classroom preparing to read her diary. This book can help readers understand some of the causes of WWII and series of actions that lead to the holocaust. Ultimately, it makes historical events accessible to children because the book is based on Anne's perspectice.

Copyright: Red Fox, 2007
Format: Picture Book
Age Level: 10 and up
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
Multicultural/International: Jewish
Awards: Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2005
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * * *

The Story Goes On

Author: Aileen Fisher
Illustrator: Mique Moriuchi

Comments:
Cyclical like First the Egg, this book begins with a seed and follow the food chain until it returns to the ground where the seed once grew. This book is good for predicting and can also be incorporated into science lessons. Moriuchi's illustrations, created with paint and newpaper through collage techniques, are bright and fanciful.

Copyright: Roaring Brook Press (April 13, 2005)
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry and Verse
Multicultural/International: No
Location: Peabody Library
Rating: * * * *

The City ABC Book

Author: Zoran Milich
Illustrator: Zoran Milich

Comments:
Like Seeger's The Hidden Alphabet, readers can search common city images to find letters. This can help reinforce print awareness in emerging readers. Students can then become illustrators by taking pictures of the letters around them.

Copyright: Kids Can Press Ltd., 2001
Age level: All
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Non-fiction
Multicultural/International: No
Awards: 2002 Independent Book Publishers Award, shortlist; 2002 Alcuin Society Book Design Award, First Place

Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * * *

City Signs

Author: Zoran Millich
Illustrator: Zoran Millich


Comments:
City Signs serves as a bridge between environmental text and print awareness for emerging readers. Millich's photographs capture words that surround children in cities from road signs, buidlings, clothes, and vehicles. Other Books by Zoran Milich include City 123 and City Colors.

Copyright: Kids Can Press Ltd., 2002
Age level: 2-5
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Nonfiction
Multicultural/International: No
Awards: Zoran Milich is an award-winning photojournalist.
Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * *

First the Egg

Author: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Illustrator: Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Comments:

First the Egg utilizes a cyclical form like The Story Goes On by Aileen Fisher. Prominent in the text is the "First, then" grammatical form. This would be a good book to use to reinforce prediction. The concise text makes the book especially accessible to beginning readers.

Copyright: Roaring Brook Press, 2007
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Nonfiction
Multicultural/International: No
Awards: ALSC Notable Children's Book, Caldecott Honor Book, New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Books of the Year, Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List, Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens, Michigan Great Lakes Great Books Award Master List

Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * *

Sometimes You Get What You Want

Author: Meredith Gary
Illustrator: Lisa Brown

Comments:

Here is another good book for setting expectations at the beginning of the school year. The theme, "a time for everything," comes through the different situations that Lisa Brown illustrates. Discussions can center around questions like, "Tell me about a time you could be a noisy as you wanted. Tell me about a time that you need to be quiet. How do you act/feel at these times?"

Copyright: Harper Collins, 2008
Age level: 9-12
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Nonfiction
Multicultural/International: No
Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * *

How to Be

Author: Lisa Brown
Illustrator: Lisa BrownComments:
This is first children's book of Lisa Brown, wife to Lemony Snicket. This book would be a blast to act out in a read aloud. Brown also shows that the character traits attributed to animals can be embodied in people. This book could be used in an elementary classroom at the beginning of the year to set behavior expectations.

Copyright: HarperCollins, 2006
Age level: Baby-Preschool
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Nonfiction
Multicultural/International: No
Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * * *

Lemons Are Not Red

Author: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Illustrator: Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Comments:
In this book, Seeger upsets and reestablishes expectations about the color of things, which is especially appealing to very young readers. The die cut pages give that illusion that lemons really are red. The reader can then anticipate what color is coming next and what kinds of things would take on that color.

Copyright: Roaring Brook Press, 2004
Age level: Baby-Preschool
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Nonfiction
Multicultural/International: No
Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * *

Good Morning China

Author: Hu Yong Yi
Illustrator: Hu Yong Yi

Comments:
In addition to spurring a conversation on diverse morning procedures, Good Morning China also gives of glimpse of Chinese culture: lotus ponds, badminton, tai chi, sword dancing, shuttlecock, and fan dancing. In this book, the day begins in the park with leisure activities and exercise. This can be compared and contrasted to the readers' habits. The form of this book can also serve as a template for created a class story about what happens at the beginning of the school day.

Copyright: Roaring Brook Press, 2007
Age level: 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Nonfiction
Multicultural/International: Chinese
Location: Lookybook
Rating: * * *

Goodbye Geese

Author: Nancy White Carlstrom
Illustrator: Ed Young


Comments:

Extraordinary use of figurative language. The brilliant illustrations bring the metaphors to life and excite the imagination.

Goodbye Geese could be read aloud in a call-response fashion. The class could read the child's questions, and the reader could dramatize the father's response as well as winter's actions.

Copyright: 1991
Age/grade level: Ages 4-8
Format: Picture Book
Genre: Poetry and Verse
Multicultural/International: Chinese Illustrator
Awards: Ed Young is an award-winning illustrators, but this book is not one of them.
Location: Personal Library
Rating: * * * *