Barbara BrennerBesprekingen

Independent Reading Level: Grades 2-4
Awards: ALA Notable Book for Children mention and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Before the famous American Revolution, the United States only existed as thirteen colonies. They were all in the Eastern part of the country and all of them were still ruled by England. The colony of Williamsburg, Virginia became one of the most prosperous of these thirteen colonies due to it's mild southern weather and rich soil.

This book depicts a slice of life during the early 1770's. With a simple question and answer format, readers can peer into this busy colony outpost and see what kind of people lived there, what they did for a living, and what their customs were.

very good - Katrina

A delightful story! This is a great nature study read aloud, or wonderful picture book that also shares a few Japanese words, with a provided pronunciation guide. The book is divided into two chapters as well for young readers.

Sweet rhymes, vibrant colors, pretty cut out illustrations

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One night, a boy couldn’t sleep. The stars were bright. The moon was a gold balloon. And Moon Boy, traveling on a moonbeam, came to play.

But the boy didn’t want to let Moon Boy leave. So he captured him and put him in the toy box. What will happen? Will Moon Boy get home again?

This Level 2 Bank Street Ready-to-Read book is perfect for young children just beginning to read by themselves, but still need a little support. Colorful illustrations accompany this fantasy story that's perfect for young children. With its gentle lesson about doing what is right, it’s an ideal book for young readers.

Recommended.

975.5

595.7

As far as science picture books go, I thought this one was one of the better ones. It does a great job of explaining how useful a hole in a tree can be to all kinds of animals in an ecosystem and how important dead or dying trees are. I thought the illustrations could have been better, maybe more engaging or realistic. But despite this, great book on a very particular topic. Good book to use as a hook for a lesson or to introduce a wider topic.

This story is quite cute and endearing. It is a true story so a class project might be to look up articles about this for older students. I think what makes this a great story is the way that the people of Tokyo reacted to the ducks. Not only the fact that their presence became a news-worthy phenomenon but the seemingly instinctual way in which the people felt a need to protect the ducks and even mourn for one of the ducks. Incorporates Japanese vocabulary with a glossary, so could be great for unit on Japan. Might also be a good book for a lesson on altruism. That being said, I didn't find that the author helped me connect with the ducks or care about their outcome in a personal way. I felt I was merely observing, thus the two-star rating.

This book covers the topic of ants and their role. It is a picture book in which the actions of the ants are depicted in each illustration. It has the reader get in the mindset of an ant; it tells them to think about being an ant using the description of what an ant looks like; small, big eyes. This book would be fit for a child in third grade or younger. Almost every child has come into contact with ants so the topic is relevant to children too young to even be in school. While reading through the picture book there are not many words that would be unfamiliar to children. This allows the book to reach many audiences. I enjoyed this book. It allows children to relate to ants using statements such as, "Think about living in dark places. But imagine lots of company - sisters, brothers, a family." The sentence structure is also kept fairly simplistic. It allows the facts to be shared and children to grasp what is being said but it could've been done in a more stylistic approach. I really enjoyed the last page of the book. This takes it to another level for comprehension. Every ant shown was depicting an ant you would see in real life. There is a list provided with the types of ants shown and activities they may be seen doing. Overall this was a great, informative book which allows many age groups to get different concepts out of the story.

I just read it because I was bored took me about twenty minutes to read...It says its based off a true story. It was a cute little story that's about the survival of a black family right after the Homestead act.

Informational text all about ants.
1 books

The main idea or message of this book is to inform the audience about what it would be like to be an ant. The book is very informative about the whole life of an ant. It goes over many different characteristics of an ant, anything from what they eat to how they work as a team to help the queen survive and produce another queen so the species can move forward.

This book follows the travels of a family of black pioneers. The Muskie family travels from Kansas to Kentucky to have free land. On their journey to Kentucky the mother of the family passed away. It is just the father and his three sons. They travel to Nicodemus Kentucky and build a dugout in the ground to live in. Winter comes around and it is a brutal winter, the family can't leave there dugout to go fish or hunt. They begin to run out of food to eat, untill one day a group of Indians come by and leave the town food. Shortly after winter is over the father leaves his three sons in hopes of finding better land for them to build a house on. The boys wait in Nicodemus for a letter from their father to let them know when he has found land. As the boys are waiting one day there is a prairie fire and they must run into the river to escape the flames. A few months later the boys receive a letter with a map to the land that their father has found. The next day they say their goodbyes and set out on the journey to reunite with their father. After 22 days of travel the boys make it to their father, where he has built a home and has a garden. This book has a central message of persevering through hard times.

Three Little Pigs

Summary:
When the mother pig suggested the little pigs should move out, the pigs packed and left the house.Each pig built a house, one of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks. The wolf came to each house, he could blow down the first two houses easily. When the wolf came to the house of brick the wolf was unable to blow the house down. The wolf tried to climb into the chimney but the pigs were able to get rid of him with hot water.

Reaction:
I really enjoyed the story of the Three Little Pigs. I remember the story from when my mother read it to me when I was a child, it was my favorite. The characters of the little pigs are self-reliant, because, they wanted to move out, and be independent. The character of the wolf is a character that is only concerned about himself. I think it teaches that if you work hard, your hard work will pay off.

Extension Ideas:
1. A teacher can use the story to teach the value of working hard.
2. The story can be used to introduce young kids to traditional
literature.
3. The story can teach how to be self-reliant, but not afraid to ask for
help.

Cute, elementary school level book in which a young girl, much to her surprise, uses an old quilt to fly as her brother tries to rescue her.

This book is the story of an African American family as they travel West to claim land. It is based on a true story from 1878 when the Homestead Act promised anyone willing to settle in the West, free land. Ed Muldie set out with his family to claim land. This book tells of the hardships of the early West: death, family separation and prairie fires. It is written for younger readers with a short historical note at the back of the book.

Summary: The book is about a girl walking through her garden and saying good morning to all of the flowers, plants and animals.

Critique of Genre: Realistic Fiction because the animals and plants did not talk back

Age: Primary

Media: Graphic, paper

I really liked this book that described the life of an ant for young readers. The language was clear but descriptive and the illustrations really helped visualize the author’s text. This informational text about ants outlined the most important things in an ants life and their perspective of the world from the ground up. The book goes into detail about what the ants eat, where they live and how they work together to survive. I love how easy it is to read and the little amounts of text on each page really draw your attention to the illustrations. The images are very detailed and realistic showing all parts of the surrounding ant environment. This allows students to get a closer look at something they normally don’t pay attention to on a day to day basis. Overall the big idea is that, children most likely don’t know too much about ants, however this book will help them visualize and further understand the life of an ant.

Genre: Science,informational
Media: paint, color pencils
Critique: This book teaches children about a tree that has a hole dug out in the middle and the many adventures the animals and insects who face this hole. A concept that could be taught from this story is sharing as well as learning about the types of wildlife who live outdoors and in trees. I would read this story to kindergarten level and first graders.

In my opinion, this is a great book. I liked this book because it was very engaging. Throughout the story, the author directly spoke to the reader, telling him/her to imagine instances that they would face if they were ants. The author asked questions like, "if you were an ant, what would you be afraid of?" I also liked that the illustrations represented what the author was writing about. It could be challenging to picture how ants eat, and where they live without a visual, so I think this was a critical part of the book. The big idea of this story was to explain a multitude of facts about ants to the readers.

I found this story to be really fascinating. I liked this story because it made the readers imagine about what the ants looked like or what the ants were doing by saying “think about…” The illustrations went along great with the text. The pictures showed the readers what the author was talking about. For instance, when the author talked about the ants being different colors the author included pictures of ants that were different colors. The language the author used was very descriptive. The author described where the animals live, what they eat, and how they are born. For instance, the author said, “Some eat meant. A snack of dead bug. A hunk of work. A bite of lizard” (12). The author used multiple different descriptive words that helped to enhance the readers imagination. The big picture of this story is to tell readers about the lives of ants. This relates back to the title “Thinking About Ants” because when you think about ants you already know facts about them or are learning the facts.