This was a fast but very meaningful and engaging read. This book takes place in Louisiana in the 1940s. A young girl named Jolene had lost her father when she was younger and now lives with her mother and grandpa. Her and her mother are inseparable and are the best of friends, but Jolene is not happy with her mothers new boyfriend “Mister” also known as Leroy, who is coming into the picture. When Jolene is eventually left alone with Leroy while her mother and grandpa were away, they began becoming closer and Jolene actually grows to like Leroy. Eventually Jolene’s mom and Leroy get married and they live a happy life as a family. This beautiful story shows the power of change and acceptance.

In this book, we discover how many animals we share the world with and all of their differences as well as similarities. The illustrations in this book are so interesting and engaging, showing how various animals live in the same habitat but in different ways. Some live in water, some live on land, some fly, some crawl, some have feathers, some have scales, some live in nests, some live in houses. This book would be a great introduction to a science lesson about animals and their habitats as well as their features and necessities.

In this book, the author explains what life would be like if you were born as various animals. Some of the animals mentioned include whales, chicks, seahorses, bears, elephants and more. At the end, the author explains the birth of an actual human and uses similes such as "Wrinkled as a deer mouse" and "Free as a kitten" to show comparison in the birth of animals and humans. I think this is a great book to introduce children to animals and how their babies are born, as well as humans.

This story tells the life of an Oak tree. We see all of the animals who considered this tree "home" and had all of the necessary things that they needed, including food, shelter, shade, and protection. Throughout the story we watch the tree get used more and more until it is left with nothing, only a stump. The story explains the gift that trees bring to our world, and how the death of the tree was the beginning of another life. This is a great book to use in a science lesson to introduce trees, habitats, and/or food sources.

Unlike many Water Cycle explanations, The Snowflake tells a unique story of how water goes from earth, to a cloud and back again through following a single snowflake through the 12 months of the year. The book explains how water freezes, melts, evaporates, condenses and then freezes again. I really enjoy the way this story explains the water cycle because it is different and unexpected. This would be a great piece of literature to add into a science lesson about the water cycle.

This book explains what dust is and how it travels throughout the Earth. I love how the book states that old dust stays around, and the dust that made King Tut sneeze "might be on your floor." A very entertaining and fun book for children to read and learn from.

In this book we follow along a trip to 17 different places, all on the dame day in the month of March. We discover the different climates, seasons, weather, all throughout the world. All on the same day in March, everyone is doing different things in different places in different weather. I really enjoy this book and think it is a great introduction to weather patterns as well as geography.

In this simple counting book, the author gets children laughing and interested with the silly illustrations with animals to match each number from 1 to 10. Some examples are 7 singing sheep, 8 energetic eagle, 9 polite pigs, and 10 tigers in tutus. This is a fun book for children to learn numbers and one to one correspondence. This is definitely a book that teachers should have on their shelves for pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade.

In this book the author emphasizes the milestone number 100 and uses fun and appealing characters throughout the book to help children count such as bears, pigs, beetles, rabbits and birds. The book also allows children to search throughout the pictures in the book by asking a question, for example "Can you find the pig that loves carrots?" I really think this is a great book to have on the shelves for students in the classroom.

In this book, we follow along for the preparation of the "Blowout Bug Jamboree." To do so, they have to build a surprise and measure several bugs by using ants as a unit of measure. The reader follows along as they compare sizes and use mathematical language such as shortest and longest. The book shows the making of simple charts as well. They have to try to get all of it done in time for the Blowout Bug Jamboree! I think this is a great and fun book teaching basic and necessary mathematical concepts.

In this book, the author discusses the concept of time and gets children familiar with vocabulary terms used when discussing time such as seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennium. We follow along a 6 year old girls life who is about to turn 7 as she thinks about her life and the concept of time. This is a great book that should be incorporated into the introduction of concept of time.

This book exposes children to numbers and how large they can actually be. The author explains how relevant math is in our everyday lives and how we can see math happening all around us, always. All while incorporating science concepts as well, talking about planets, water, trees, stars, gravity, and more. I believe this is a great informational book that makes large numbers like 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (a hundred billion trillion) seem a little less intimidating. At the bottom of every page it has the large number in words so that children can practice saying the words.

This is a great book to keep in your classroom to help children with mathematical words and concepts. The author introduces children to words such as single, double, couples, dozen, even, and odd as well as prefixes such as uni-, bi-, and tri-. The book also includes guessing games where the book asks questions such as "Can you find the pair?" and "Which one is the unicycle?" while showing pictures.

What made Hana's Suitcase such a touching book for me was how personal and insightful it was. Karen Levine's use of juxtaposition throughout the book made it feel like a movie was playing in my head. It made me never want to put the book down. From being with Hana during the holocaust, to being in the present with teacher Fumiko who works hard at finding the answers to the mysteries of Hana's Suitcase, this is a raw and authentic way to get two stories told at once, and personally I believe it makes each of them more meaningful and touching. Magnifying Hana's story during the holocaust just makes the story that much more personal, it's almost as if we know Hana. My favorite quote from the book is "...in the end, one of Hana’s wishes had come true. Hana had become a teacher." From Hana's story being told she was able to teach the people of today what happened to a young girl during the holocaust. This is a book that every student should read. I believe this would be a great use of literature in a social studies/history lesson. The pictures throughout the book make it even more interesting for readers.

This book tells the story of a young African American girl named Sarah Roberts in 1847 who attended The Otis School in Boston. When she was told she couldn't come back to school because she was African American, her family insisted on fighting for change. Roberts v. City of Boston was the first case to challenge our legal system to outlaw segregated schools. I like how this book addresses the story 100 years before the Brown v. Board of Education, showing us that these problems were here for many years. This would be a great book to show the history of segregation and it gives the students something to relate and reflect on.

Lillian is a 100 year old African American woman who fought for the right to vote. Throughout the book, it discusses the history of voting and how only men were allowed to vote and it explains the troubles women had gone through trying to vote. I would use this book to lead discussion on the history of voting with my students. This book is filled with history and enlightens students on the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Based in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African American children wanted to march for their civil rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther Kings speech. They wanted to have white and black people living in harmony. In this book, children use their voices to change the world. This is a great book looking back in time when things were different, and I love how it incorporates children taking a stand for what they believe in. It shows that no matter what age you are, you have a right to stand up for what you believe in.

This book incorporates numbers and America's system of government in a great way. The book has a cute story for younger children to follow along with which makes this book fun for them to read. This would be a great book to base a lesson off of to introduce children to our government system.

In this book we follow a young boy as he travels around the globe while visiting friends in 13 different countries. With each friend, he introduces the reader to their environment and customs, as well as interesting facts about their country's language, food, culture, wildlife, landmarks and more. This will be a great book to incorporate into my classroom as well as social studies lesson plans in order to introduce students to different cultures.

America is a melting pot full of many different cultures and people. In this book, Betsy explains the story of immigration from Native Americans to Pilgrims and Ellis Island to refugees. She does so in a way that is not confusing or overwhelming to children, which is important. I believe this would be a great book to use to enhance a social studies lesson on immigration and the history of America.

Caitlin, a young girl with Asperger's struggles emotionally with the death of her older brother Devan in a school shooting. Her world is very black and white/good or bad, and now she needs help trying to overcome her grief of her brother. When she comes across the word "closure" and the meaning of it, she knows it is exactly what her and her father need after her brothers death.
The author does a great job of portraying Caitlin's Aspergers. Caitlin is a great student that is fascinated with the dictionary and has amazing writing skills, as many females with Aspergers often are. I appreciate how the author portrays Caitlin's meltdowns, as they are not over exaggerated and over done in hopes of trying to portray Asperger's tendencies. I personally believe Caitlin was portrayed realistically.
I really enjoyed this book, and the message it gave.

Moses and his classmates are deaf, but they enjoy many activities that other children do as well. Their teacher arranges them to attend a concert, and proves that deaf children can still enjoy the same things that other children can. I love how the book brings to light that deaf children can also appreciate music as well as even learn how to play music. I also enjoy how the book incorporates ASL and gives the reader insight to their lives.

This young boy born with one hand wonders why he is different and at first struggles through his differences. Throughout the book he learns to accept and understand his differences and grows to love them. I think this book shows a positive light on differences and how great it is to be unique. This will be a great book to put on the shelves for children to read, as it can help other children understand others differences, or even comfort those struggling with their differences.

All alone and losing her sight, a woman finds herself navigating through a subway station. This book shows her trying to find her way through the world through her imagination. She sets out to explore the world with her walking stick to help guide her. She is courageous, brave, and eager to explore the world around her regardless of her disability. I love the presentation of perseverance, even through this difficult time for her. This is a book that every child and adult should read, and the illustrations and visuals are absolutely fascinating.

This book pulls at the heart strings. Jessica loses her leg and has to continue her life relearning how to do everything that used to come so effortlessly. She needed help, and little did she know that all she needed was a black lab named Rescue. Rescue was originally supposed to be a seeing eye dog, but he wasn't fit for the job so he was trained to become a service dog and helps Jessica in her every day life. Their friendship grows and deepens as they learn to help each other. I love how the story shows how even though things may not work out as planned to one individual, there may be a greater meaning to everything.

This book tells the story of a young girl who is wheelchair bound that is looking down from her balcony at people passing by her, wishing that they would stop to look up and acknowledge her. After many people walk past, a boy finally notices her and stops to look up. He lays down so that she can see him better, and soon enough 9 people and a dog are laying down looking up at her. This book offers a unique aerial view perspective and has amazing illustrations. Definitely a book that I will put on my shelf as a teacher.

A young boy named Tim moves to a new city and finds out that his next door neighbor is a girl who is deaf. At first he is mean to her and doesn't understand her differences, but after becoming partners in a school project his view changes. They become friends and he learns how to communicate with her in through methods involved in the deaf culture. I love how the story introduces some sign language, as well as the technology that is used by deaf people. Although I do not like how Tim was mean to the girl in the story, often times it is realistic that kids sometimes have a hard time understanding differences in others if they are not familiar with them. I love the presentation of his change of heart and believe it is a good book to learn from.

This is a novel in verse that tells the story of a boy named Carlos during the Guatemalan Civil War in 1981. The story is told from Carlos point of view during this time, and explains the experiences and feelings that he felt during this time. Poetic devices such as arrangement, rhythm, and repetition make this a pleasing and engaging read. This book in verse does a great job at proving that so much can be said with very few words. Although the story doesn't give you a detailed explanation of Guatemala, I think the beauty of this book is the freedom of thought. I really enjoyed this read and adore poetry/verse books.

I love the illustrations provided in this book because it really helps tell the story. The book discusses the qualities of winter and how it is everywhere, and then gets smaller and smaller until it is eventually spring. I love how the cover pages change from winter to spring as well.

This cute book tells the story of different nicknack animals sitting on the window sill, all waiting for something different. Until one day, a cat comes along waiting for something as well. Eventually she has kittens, now there are 10 of them and they wait for the things that make them happy.