The Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault is a fairy tale about a princess who is cursed from her birth. She falls asleep for 100 years until a prince’s son comes to wake her up. This was a very good book and I loved the way it was written. The illustrations were great. Some of the illustrations were very detailed while others looked relatively simple. In addition, some of the pictures were in black and white and some were in color. This book was a great read. One of my favorite parts of the story is that it includes sheet music for songs that could be played during the book. I thought that was really neat. I’m not sure of the main message, but if I had to guess I would say the message is to accept life however it is because no matter what it will be okay. Overall, I liked this story.

Journey Home is the story of a Japanese-American family who was kicked out of the US during World War II. They then went to a concentration camp and were then moved back to Salt Lake City. Eventually, the family was allowed to go back to California, where they were originally from. Other residents of California work together to buy a grocery store and fix up a house for everyone to live in. This story is a great book about friendship, family, and forgiveness. I liked this book because I liked the plot of the story. I learned much about what families had to go through once they moved back to their homes. For example, people were still hostile towards the families and they even torched the store that the Japanese-Americans bought and owned. The main message of this book is forgiveness. This reoccurring theme comes up when the family must forgive people that have hurt them in the past. Overall, I enjoyed reading and learning from this book.

The Persian Cinderella is similar to the typical Disney Cinderella story. However, there are some differences in them. This story has a magic pari inside of a pot that grants the girl all her wishes. Settareh has two stepsisters who are rude to her and make fun of her. Before the holiday, the pari gave Settareh her wishes and granted her with new clothes and diamond anklets. The prince in this story found one of the anklets. The mother of the prince went out to find out whom they belonged to. Eventually she found Settareh and the stepsisters realized there was a pari in the jar. The stepsisters wished evil things upon the girl, but the prince saved her in the end. I liked how there were similar elements to the other Cinderella, but the author still made it different. For example, one of my favorite parts was the pari. I liked how the author made the godmother different in this story and it created a genie or a fairy that granted wishes. The main message was to be confident in yourself and not allow others to control your life. Settareh did not allow her sisters to control her and she bought whatever she wanted at the market. Overall, I enjoyed this story because it was a different version of Cinderella and the plot was very interesting.

A Good Night for Freedom is a good picture book. This book is about a young girl named Hallie who realizes her neighbors are hiding runaway slaves. The police come and are looking for them. Hallie is unsure of what she should do because she knows it is bad to hide them, but she also does not want them to get hurt or in trouble. In the end, Hallie does not tell the police about them because she connects to them and befriends them. The author used comparisons to explain certain things or the way people were feeling. For example, “like a cork in a rain barrel.” This might be difficult for some people to connect to if they are unsure of what a rain barrel is. The illustrations are also very informative. The pictures are dark and dreary during sad parts. They are made up of strange and dark colors. During Hallie’s bravery, the illustrations are vivid and brightly colored. This helps portray the positive parts of the story. The main message of this book is to stand up for what you believe in. I think this is an important message for readers. I enjoyed this story even if I thought some of the comparisons were slightly outdated or strange.

Stone Soup is a children’s book about sharing. Three monks travel to a village, but everyone in the village is on edge and hides in their houses. They are not welcoming at first. The monks decide to make stone soup. While they make the soup, people begin to venture out of their houses and help make contribute to the soup. I enjoyed this book because I thought it had a very important message. The message was sharing. It also shows the happiness that these people can have if they all work together and contribute to the community. I really liked the illustrations that were in this story. The illustrations were similar to water colors which I thought as a neat way to make the pictures. The pictures started out in bland colors and became more colorful as more people in the village helped out. I liked this book overall.

Biographies are important to read because they allow the reader to understand and learn about someone in history. This autobiography allows the reader to learn about the struggles that Jackie Robinson went through when trying to become a famous baseball player. I enjoyed this story because I did not know that much about Jackie Robinson. This book was very informative to me as a reader. I liked the detail that the author provided in this book. For example, he clearly describes the challenges that Jackie faced when he was playing in the major leagues. “…players used the spikes on their shoes to cut Jackie’s legs.” I think this clearly shows the reader the difficulties that Jackie faced as a ballplayer. The main message in this book is perseverance. This story shows the reader what can come when they stick with something they believe in and love. This book clearly describes the struggles and patience that Jackie Robinson experienced as the first African American baseball player to make it to the major leagues. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

The Giver is a very eye-opening book. It takes place in a so-called perfect world where the characters do not have to make decisions or anything. The characters do not have birthdays and are given a job to them. It is strange because it is very different from the world we are used to. For example, the characters in the book do not see color, which I thought, was rather strange. The characters do not have any memories, but one character is given the ability to receive these memories for information in future decisions. Overall, the writing was descriptive and detailed. However, I did not like the book because the ending was open to interpretation. Another reason I disliked this book was because this world seemed so imperfect and odd. It did not seem realistic at all and I did not enjoy it. The main message in this book is that we should be happy with what we have even if things are difficult sometimes. We should also be grateful for what we have because things could be worse. I think that is an important message because I often wish for better things or take what I have for granted. After reading this book, I have been more aware of what I have and how my life could be entirely different if I was a character in this book. In general, I thought this was an okay book.

Earth Day, Birthday! is an poetry book that is a story about Earth Day. The main characters in the book are animals and the monkey keeps saying it’s his birthday and the other animals tell him its not. Then, the book continues and the animals go through and do different things to help the Earth. Overall, I thought this was a really cute way to incorporate Earth day and recycling into a children’s picture book. The author used different messages in the pictures to encourage readers to recycle and do different things to help the Earth. For example, the animals are cleaning up bottles and trash and creating a compost bucket. The compost bucket had a sign on it that said compost helps the garden grow. This encourages the readers who see these signs to create their own compost buckets. I enjoyed this book and thought it was really cute. I think that the main message is to respect the Earth and all that it does for you. The book rhymed and each stanza rhymed but it was also a cute book for readers to learn about Earth Day.

Breaking Stalin’s Nose is a historical fiction book that goes through the life of a child who lives in Russia. This book captivates the reader’s attention with the words and the pictures on some pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I did not think I was going to. I was nervous I would not like this book because I do not like history. I fully thought this book would be like a history book but it was actually about a child’s life and not just facts. One thing I did not like about this book was that the pictures would cut in the middle of a sentence. For example, on page 67 “I’m riding atop a parade” and then there are 3 full pages of pictures before the sentence ends. I did not like this because it made it difficult for me to remember what the sentence said and look at the pictures. If I read the whole sentence and then I would forget to look back at the picture. I think the main idea of this book is to stand up for what you believe in and to never give up.

Good Rhymes, Good Times is a book full of poems about a variety of things. There are poems about a dog, cat, Valentine’s Day, bedtime, etc. I liked parts of this book, but I did not like the whole book. I felt as though some of the poems were left unfinished and there was another paragraph that needed to be added. For example, The Day After Christmas ends with trashcans wearing a bow of snow. When you read the whole poem, it feels like there should be another sentence of two to wrap up and close the poem altogether. One thing I liked was the name of the poems. Some of the names told you what the poem was about, and then never mentioned the title in the actual poem. For example, Overnight at the Vet’s is a poem about a girl who is missing her dog and wondering how he is doing. The author never tells the reader that the dog is at the vet, unless they read the title. At first, I thought the dog had passed away until I re-read the poem starting from the title. Only then did I realize how different it makes the poem. I thought this was a really neat way of making sure the reader reads the whole poem starting from the top. Overall, I thought this was an okay poetry book. It has some creative elements in the story and the illustrations. I think the main idea of this book is to inform the reader of what life is like in the city. These poems take place in the city and I think that is the main point of this story.

Waiting for Wings in an informational book that teaches the reader about butterflies and how they develop and grow from caterpillars into butterflies. This is a great book. I loved how the pages were half-pages and some were full pages. I thought that was really neat and it allowed the story to grow onto the end pages of the book. Ehlert has sentences flow onto multiple pages which I thought was neat. It allows the reader to think that more time has passed. I think it is a creative way to accomplish this. One thing I loved about this book was the illustrations. They were simple, but provided the reader with an accurate description of what Ehlert was saying. The illustrations are big and vibrant. They are simple and don’t add too much detail. The bright and vivid colors truly enhance the book and the words. At the end of the book, the author includes butterfly and flower identification pages, as well as a butterfly information page. These pages have pictures so that the reader can truly understand what the words are describing. The big idea or main message of this book is to inform the reader about how caterpillars turn into butterflies and then what those butterflies do during their time.

Patricia Polacco writes an autobiography of her life in the book, Firetalking. Polacco describes her life and traditions her family had when she was a young girl. She continues on to talk about her life now that she is a grown adult. Polacco describes how she writes and illustrates stories and what a normal day looks like in her life. This was a very interesting book. I did not know it was going to be an autobiography when I first read the title. I liked this book and truly enjoyed learning about her life. One thing I loved was the photographs that were included on each page. Some of the pictures are from her life when she was younger and some are pictures of her now. I thought that was interesting and definitely important to include. Another thing I liked was the way she talked about her friends and family. Polacco says that she incorporates her friends and family in her children’s books. She gave examples of who she included in which book. I thought that was a fun way to allow your audience to get to know you even better. I think it also makes the books better because there are real-life experiences in there that the reader can learn from. The big idea or message in this book was to teach the reader about her life and how far she has come.

Air, Water, and Weather is an informational text about science. The book is split into three sections. First is air. The book discusses what air is as well as different components of air such as pressure, expansion, hot air balloons, etc. It continues on to discuss water and weather and different properties of each. I thought this book was okay, but it was not too interesting. The facts were good and there were both illustrations and photographs. However, the book was not too entertaining. I think the best informational books are the ones that engage the reader and provide facts. This text seemed a little boring in my opinion. For example, the text is dry and provides the reader with definitions. It reminds me of a science textbook. Overall, I thought the book could have been better, but it was okay. It is very informative, but not interesting. I think the main idea of this book is to provide the reader with information about different properties of air, weather, and water.

Danitra Brown, Class Clown is a picture book full of poems. There is a new poem on each page that discusses the hardships Danitra’s friend is facing and how Danitra stays positive through the whole experience. For example, in one poem Class Clown, Danitra’s friend writes a note to her about a boy she likes. However, another kid intercepted the note and was going to read it aloud, but Danitra did a funny dance to distract the class so her friend could grab the note back. This shows the strength of the friendship between the two girls. Another example of Danitra remaining positive is in the poem, Homework. The author write, “Danitra says it’s too early to groan.” This shows that Danitra looks at the glass half full and always find a positive to any situation. Each line in the poem rhymes with the next line which makes this book an easy and fun read. It allows the reader to feel like they know Danitra and her friend. The illustrations in this book look as though they were painted on the book. They are vivid and have a great amount of detail to them. There is not too much detail that the reader is distracted by the illustrations, there is just enough to add to and enhance the words that the author so skillfully wrote. I loved this book because of the rhyming and the big idea. I think this is a great book and would definitely recommend it to anyone that wanted to read more poetry. I think the big idea in this book is to never give up and always look on the Brightside show more of things. The poems show that life can throw you curveballs sometimes, but you have to take them and spin it into a good thing. I think this is a very important message. show less

No, David! by David Shannon was a very cute picture book. It reminded me of when I was little because all of the words were the mother yelling at David not to do certain things. I enjoyed this book because it allowed the reader to thoroughly connect the words to the pictures. The illustrations were vivid and bright, but not too detailed. It looked like a really good child drew them. I think they truly enhanced the words because David is a crazy, young boy and it looked like he himself drew the pictures. For example, on the page where it says, “Go to your room!” David is sulking with a mad face and is walking off into the distance. I liked how even though the sentences were short, there was still correct punctuation. I think that is a really important characteristic of children’s books. The more these children are familiar with punctuation the better their punctuation will be. If children are exposed at a young age they will become more familiar. I really liked this story because I think it is relatable for young children. They will be able to see themselves as David sometimes. I think older readers, grown-ups, will enjoy it as well because they can relate to both David when they were younger, and David’s mother. The main message or big idea of this story is to always listen to what your parents say, but if you have an accident they will still love you. I think the last page was important because it shows that there is a positive side to this whole day and that his show more mother does not hate him. Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought the imaginative features were incredible. show less

I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words by Michael Frith was a very cute book. I remember my dad reading it to me as a child and telling me he would teach our dog these words. I liked this story because it was a quick read, but also very entertaining. The sentences rhyme and they are descriptive. Throughout the book, the words that Frith is teaching the dog are highlighted in red. I think that is important because it tells the reader exactly what words they author is teaching the dog. I liked the idea of this story because dogs are actually smart enough to learn up to 100 words. I think it would have been a really neat idea to incorporate how you could teach a dog these words. The author says he will teach the dog silly words as well as normal words. I liked that because it made the book fun. For example, “And clean the zoo!” That’s silly because why would the dog need to know what clean the zoo means since dogs do not clean the zoo. The illustrations matched the words exactly and there seemed to be a picture for each phrase or word that the author was teaching the dog. I thought it was really interesting that the author included other people in the drawings, as the narrator was not drawn. The reader can see the narrator’s hands or feet, but can never see a face or whole body. That makes me wonder why you can see other people like the mayor or Mr. Smith. It was difficult to find an overall idea or message in this text, but I would probably say the idea is that you can show more actually teach your dog 100 words, but it might take sometime—definitely more than a day—to be able to teach your dog all the words. show less

El Gato Leo Comes to play! was an interesting book. I think the idea of incorporating both Spanish and English words into a children’s book is a great idea. However, I think the way this author accomplished it is a little strange. The story is about a cat named Leo who only speaks Spanish. The story has flaps with the Spanish word on top and the English word below it. I think that is a neat way to show the reader what each word means. One thing I did not like about this book was that it might be difficult for the reader to correctly pronounce the Spanish words. There is a pronunciation guide in the back, but for a new reader they might struggle since Spanish words follow different rules than English words do. For example, Leo says, “Vale” which means okay. The “v” in Spanish is pronounced like “b”. I think someone might have a difficult time understanding that. I took Spanish for 13 years, so I was able to determine how to say the phrases. A reader who is trying to learn Spanish might be able to remember how it is spelt and what it means, but they might not get the pronunciation correct which could inhibit their learning of Spanish words and phrases. One thing I do like is there is a game at the end of the book. One of the pages in the index gives directions for a fun game using some of the Spanish words that the reader would have learned from the story. I think this would help the reader become more familiar with these words since they would be using them show more and not only reading it one time. The illustrations are kind of strange. They remind me of a cartoon book pictures. I personally do not like them because the cat, Leo, is rather large and the mouse that is talking to him is very small. This makes sense because mice are small, but I found it strange that a cat and mouse were playing and talking together. I also noticed the colors were different. For axample, the cat and mouse were blue while the grass was yellow. The main idea of this story is to help readers become accustomed to another language as well as learn some Spanish words. It is important for people to realize there are more languages in the world than just English—some of those alphabetic and some not. I think this book would definitely help readers gain some knowledge about Spanish and some Spanish words. show less

A Kitten Is Born is an informative text that teaches the reader about kittens and how they are born. I liked this story because it gives definitions of words and explains sentences well. For example, the author listed reasons for knowing why Tabitha wanted another litter. “This is a sign that she is in heat and ready to mate with the father.” I think that is especially important in this case because it shows the reader that the family does not pick to make the cat have kittens. I think that is an extremely important thing for people to learn. During the birthing process, the words and pictures became a little graphic so I would advise against reading this with young children unless they are very interested and there may even been a better way to show this cycle without the photos. One thing I really enjoyed was the photograph. It looked like this happened to a real family and they took pictures throughout the entire process. I thought that was a really neat idea because it was not just drawn illustrations. Photographs truly give the reader a true and authentic image of what is happening. The main message or idea in this text was how kittens are born. It describes the process as well as gives facts about kittens after they are born. Overall, this was a very informative and good text.

The story starts off with two siblings who are excited for Halloween. They want to scare their grandpa, but unfortunately he does not scare easily. He recalls a terrible Halloween night and tells the children what happened after they plead for him to. The grandpa tells a story of when he went trick-or-treating and came to a scary house where there were scary things like spiders and giant pumpkins, floors covered in frogs, and even an animal that was made up of all bad things. It ends with the grandpa leaving the house through a purple striped door and when he entered the door he became very old and has been that old ever since. The children want to know what happened behind the door, but the grandfather refuses. Overall, I liked this story because I like the idea of the scary story. I have been told many scary stories in my life. I think the children in the book enjoyed it and I think readers that read this during Halloween will also enjoy it. The illustrations in the book were interesting because they all had the same border. It looked like a pencil drawn border around each picture. I thought that was a neat way to give the pictures a frame. It also reminded me of a comic book because each frame had a border and there were multiple frames per page. I didn’t like that the illustrations did not take up the whole page. I think it would have been scarier if the author made the pictures full page when the grandpa was inside the scary house. For example, when the pumpkin was show more trying to capture the grandpa, I think it would have been better to have the vines all over the page and trying to get him. Overall, I thought this was a good book, but would not recommend it to young children who are frightened easily. I think the overall message is to not go somewhere without your parents, especially on Halloween. I think this would be a good story to teach children that if you are a parent. The main idea could also be to not always believe the stories your grandparents tell you because some of them could be silly and made up from imagination. There are many ideas or messages one could take from this story, but those are the two that I thought were most present. show less

Fire Engines by Anne Rockwell is an informative children’s book. It informs the reader of what a fire truck looks like as well as what the components on a fire truck do. For example, “Pumper trucks have hoses and pumps. Water is pumped from a hydrant. Hoses spray the water on fires.” This clearly explains what the hose does and how it works. The illustrations are clearly connected to the text of the book. That is important so that the reader can associate the two together, especially if they cannot figure out a word. I thought the illustrations were really clever because the narrator and fire fighters are Dalmatians and those dogs are typically associated with fire engines. I think the overall message or main idea is just about fire trucks in general. It tells the different parts and what these fire engines do. Overall, I thought this was a good book and someone who loves fire engines would love this.

A Corner of the Universe was an interesting book. It was about a young girl, almost 12; who finds out she has an uncle she never knew about. Her uncle has a disability, but that does not matter to Hattie. This story tells about her adventures during the summer and then continues on to describe what happens when her uncle arrives. The story ends with a shocking and relatively abrupt ending. I liked the story as I thought it was interesting and I had never heard of a plot like this one. One thing I did not like was how long it took to get to the climax. The main part of the book was Hattie’s day-to-day life during the summer and where she lived. It took a while for the reader to learn about Adam and when he was in town. One thing I really did not like was all the I Love Lucy quotes. I am not a fan of that show, and Hattie’s uncle, Adam would constantly quote it. For example, “Fred it’s impossible to get seasick on a boat that is standing still tell that to my stomach.” These quotes confused me because if Adam did not use an unfamiliar name then I was not sure if it was a quote or something he was really saying. I think this book had a very important main idea. It was to accept and love everyone no matter what. You should always accept, appreciate, and love everyone. It is important to be as nice as possible to people because they might be fighting a battle that you know nothing about. It’s important to accept and love people for who they are. Overall, I thought show more this was a decent book. show less

This story was about a girl having a bad day because things kept going wrong. She lost her homework and her glasses broke. Her grandmother helped to remind her that sometimes our problems are a lot smaller and easier to fix then we think they are. That is a very important thing to remember. Her grandmother sang Marta Enos a healing song which helped Marta understand that there are many ways to handle a problem, but crying is not a very good one. I thought this was a good story. I liked the healing song that told a story. I thought that was a neat aspect of the story.
One thing that I thought was interesting was the author’s use of similes. For example, when talking about how Marta Enos’ homework flew away the author states, “the homework papers, which slipped and slid like kites without string.” That allows the reader to have a picture of what it may have looked like in their brain. As a visual learner, I loved the descriptive words and phrases that allowed me as a reader to see what was happening in the story. One thing I thought was different was how the author referred to Marta Enos. A few times the author says something along the lines of, “The legs of Marta Enos would not wait another minute” I have never heard of someone’s legs be referred to this way. It was a neat way to show that there are different styles of writing. It continued on to refer to the legs as the subject of a few sentences. I thought this was different because this was the first time show more I read something like that. The main message in this story is when you have a problem, think about how you want to handle this issue and if it is necessary to become upset about or if it is a small problem that can be fixed. This is an important idea because many people become worked up over a small issue and have a difficult time seeing the big picture of the problem. show less

The Seaons of Arnold’s Apple tree is an informative story about the different seasons and what happens to a tree during each season. It describes how leaves grow and apples grow and then how you can pick the apples to eat them and the leaves fall during winter. This is a good book for children learning about different seasons. It is a fun story that keeps the reader’s interest while also appealing to many different interests. One thing I thought was neat was the little information boxes in the pictures. For example, there is a box containing a recipe to make an apple pie. In the story, Arnold makes an apple pie with his family. The box shows the recipe and would allow the reader to make an apple pie as well. There is also another box about how to make an apple cider press. I thought both of these ideas were interesting because both projects would appeal to different readers. There may be a reader who loves to cook. That reader may want to make the apple pie like Arnold. However, there may be another reader who enjoys building and wants to become an engineer. They may want to do a project where they make a cider press. I thought that was a good idea that the author incorporated different boxes.
The illustrations in this story were great. I liked how I could watch Arnold grow. The illustrator/author drew Arnold bigger and bigger as he went through the different seasons. I thought that was important to show because children continuously grow and seeing that happen in a show more picture book would be a good experience for the children to know it is normal. The big idea in this book is not as clear, but I think the main idea is that there are different seasons and there are different things that occur in each season. It is important to know what will happen during the seasons and that there are different seasons. I think this is a good book that could be used for a multitude of things. show less

This biography was very interesting. It first captured the reader’s interest by asking questions. Then, it proceeded to inform the reader about how Ellen Ochoa became an astronaut. She was the first Hispanic woman to go into space. This book was very interesting. It did not have too many words per page, which kept it interesting. I learned from this book and I’m sure many other readers will as well. I liked this book because of the examples it gave to support the statements the author made. For example, the author was discussing how everything in the space shuttle floated around—even Ellen Ochoa. Following that, a sentence read, “She strapped herself down to exercise, eat, and play her flute.” I think this helps the reader connect to what they are reading. Every reader can relate to one of those activities, which allows them to see how strange is must be to strap yourself down to do that. I also liked how the picture right next to that page had Ellen Ochoa strapped down to the ground and playing her flute. I thought that was an important picture to have. It allows the reader to have a visual of what the author means when she says, “strapped down.”
Another thing I enjoyed was the beginning of the book. I was not looking forward to reading a biography, but this caught my attention. It began by asking the reader a series of questions. For example, “Where would you like to go in space?” I thought this was a neat way of beginning the book instead of beginning show more with facts about Ellen Ochoa’s life. Overall, I think the main message was to persevere and never give up on your dreams. Ellen Ochoa may have been denied at first, but kept trying and did not give up. She was able to live her dream and go into space three times! I think this is important lesson for everyone to learn. People give up on their dreams very easily if the journey is too difficult. I think we need to learn from this book and keep pushing through even when we want to quit. Overall, I thought this was a good and informative book about Ellen Ochoa’s life. I think it important for people to study other people’s lives. I would recommend this book to someone who was thinking about becoming an astronaut, loved space, or anyone who was interested. show less

This was one of the strangest stories I have ever read. I absolutely did not like this book. The big idea or main message was a good one in my eyes, but I think this story had a weird way of accomplishing that goal. This story was about a doughnut that was purchased from a shop, thinking he would have the time of his life with his new owner. When the donut, Arnie, realized he was going to be eaten, he became very upset and yelled at the owner. The two of them tried to come up with how Arnie could help Mr. Bing because he would no longer be eaten. Arnie became Mr. Bing’s doughnut-dog. The main message of this book was about friendship and how it can occur between the most unlikely people. The book shows this by saying, “Arnie was the best pet Mr. Bing could have ever hoped for—and Mr. Bing was Arnie’s best friend.”
One of the things I disliked about this book was the illustrations and words on the pages. There was too much going on per page. I was not sure what I should read first and if everything on every page was important to the story. It was very confusing and distracting. In addition to that, the text on each page was distracting. There were many different fonts, sizes, and colors. For example, the word “angry” was written in all caps, in a larger size font, and in red. It helped emphasize how Arnie was feeling, but it distracted from what the reader was reading earlier. I feel as though this was more of a cartoon book because of some of the animations. show more Overall, I completely disliked the book. I was distracted and overwhelmed. Maybe it would be good for someone who does not know how to read and only looks at pictures. But, it would be way too much for a beginning reader.   show less

This was an interesting story. It is a great story to use when discussing how to share and things that are the same. Ling and Ting share everything. The author uses the word share instead of have many instances in the story. For example, one of the girls says, “We will share the birthday shoes!” These girls take pride in sharing the same things and looking similar. They share something every page of the story from birthday cakes to birthday presents. I think that is an important message to share to the readers. It shows them that sharing is a natural thing and that these girls truly enjoy when both of them are happy and not just one of them. One device the author uses in this book is repetition. A common phrase that is repeated is, “They share the same…” This helps readers know what is coming next. After a few pages, the reader will understand what the author is saying and will know when they see those words strung together they know what to say. When I picked this story, I did not expect to be reading about sharing. I thought it would be a fun book about a birthday party. One thing I enjoyed about this book was that it was a beginning chapter book. It still had pictures and words, but it had 6 different stories, or chapters. I thought this would be fun for readers who want to move on to a chapter book, but are still not ready.
Although I thought this story was a little strange, I thought the main message of sharing was extremely important. I think that show more nowadays, the idea of sharing has been skewed and isn't as present as it should be. While I did not love this book as a reader, I think it would be good for some readers to read. show less

Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep is a picture book about different animals that hibernate throughout the winter. At first glance, one might think it is only a story about black bears, but it continues on discussing animals such as bats, frogs, and gophers. I learned a good amount of information from this book. I was unaware of just how many hibernate throughout the winter. I thought only bears hibernated. This story provides the reader with information about hibernation in a fun and engaging way.
This story uses poetry to engage the reader. It uses a rhyming technique to keep the reader interested in what he or she is learning about. I thought the authors did a good job rhyming different words together. I did not like the amount of repetition used in the story. I began to feel bored while reading it. Every page would start and end the same way. For example, “doze, beaver, doze” is how a page regarding a beaver would begin and finish. This is good for young and struggling readers to feel confident, but can also become too much. One think I did like about this book was it taught readers about hibernation. On one page it says, “you hibernate through winter’s snow; your heart beats steady, strong, and slow. You wait till spring to rise and go.” While I thought it is important for the reader to understand what hibernation is, I also think it would be good for the reader to know why. I think that would help the reader connect to the text more. The main idea behind the text show more was hibernation. The story taught the reader which animals hibernate and what hibernation is. At the end, it connects the story to the reader. It compares what animals are doing to them going to sleep at night. In general, the book was decent. I am not sure how highly I would recommend this book to others, but overall it was okay. show less

I truly enjoyed Rumble in the Jungle. This story is about all different animals that live in the jungle. It includes typical animals one would think of, as well as unique animals, like gazelles. Every other line in this story rhyme, which I thought was neat. I do not normally like poetry, but I thought that this was cute. I think that poetry truly added to the book. I think this book could definitely be helpful for anyone learning about animals that live in the jungle.
One thing I really enjoy about this book are the illustrations. They are very kid friendly and big. There is not too much detail that the illustration is overwhelming. There is just enough detail to give the reader a picture of what is really going on, or what the animal looks like. I also enjoyed the size of each illustration. They were rather large, which I thought was convenient. In many instances, the stanza written about each animal is written on the animal’s body. I thought that was neat to see. In addition, the illustrations were accurate pictures of the words that were written. For example, “The gorilla is big, black, and hairy.” This sentence was alongside a picture of a large black gorilla. I think it is important that the illustrations match the words exactly, especially for someone who may just be looking at the pictures. This is especially important for readers who are using pictures to determine an unfamiliar word.
This book is not only interesting, but it is informative. It teaches show more the reader something, while still holding the reader’s interest. For example, “…who squashes then swallows his prey.” The author was talking about a snake here and that sentence informs the reader of how a snake would eat its food. I think it is important to make learning fun for readers. The main message in this book is that there are all different animals in the world and it is important to learn a little something about them. Overall, I loved this book. I would read it again, and recommend it to anyone curious about jungle animals. show less

This was a great book filled with a lot of imagery. I saw the movie and was thinking the book would be similar. It was relatively different from the movie, but both were great. I loved the imaginative plot of the story. One of my favorite things about this story were the illustrations. In the beginning, the photos were in black and white. It had an incredible amount of detail and as a reader you could feel that you were really there. When the grandfather began a bedtime story about a town called Chew and Swallow, the pictures turned into color with still the same amount of detail. I really enjoyed this because I think it gives the reader an even better picture when trying to imagine this food falling from the sky.
Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the imaginative words and thoughts. I never would have thought of food falling from the sky. This book used many creative elements that made one feel as if they were actually at this town. I thought it is a silly book that makes reading fun for kids. Some of the author’s creative ideas were a peanut butter sandwich for a boat, pea soup fog, and spaghetti falling from the sky and tangling up the town. This shows children that they can express their ideas no matter how silly they are. It also allows children to know that using your imagination is a good thing and to really think outside the box. I think that is an important message. In general, this was a really good book and would be a lot of fun to read. I wish this show more book had included more about the main message and what the author really wanted readers to achieve from this book. show less

This story was about a family that makes tamales every year around Christmas. It is a tradition for them and it informs the reader of how to make them. There is a bit of repetition in this book, which just adds to the story and makes it more fun. It also allows the reader to predict what is going to happen on the next page. An example of the repetition is when the author says, “I wish I was ___(fill in age here), so ___(fill in task here). She is jealous of her older sister who can do more cooking of the tamales then she can. As she continues to say how old she wishes to be, her sister gains in age too and can complete a new task as well. Throughout the story, the girl, Ana wants more responsibility when cooking tamales. I liked the repetition aspect of this story. It made it fun and exciting to predict the next part of the story. I think it would be good for younger kids who are learning to predict and using repetition to learn to read.
Another thing I liked about this book was the Spanish translations. Like many other multicultural books, this book included the passages in Spanish as well. I thought this was interesting because it helps readers learn there are many different languages out there. I also enjoyed the Spanish translations because I took Spanish in elementary, middle, and high school. I could understand some words but being able to read them and also have them in English helped me a lot. The big idea or message in this book is that one shouldn’t pass show more life by. Ana is wishing to be older and older without appreciating all that she gets to do at her current age of 6. It is important to live in the moment and appreciate what you have and what you are able to do because you may not be able to do it later in life. I think this is a very important message that all individuals should know, accept, and promote.
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