Lauren Child did an amazing job with I Am Too Absolutely Small For School. The story is another one of her Charlie and Lola books and this time Lola is dealing with having to go to school for the first time and she doesn't want too. She is perfectly fine with knowing how to count to ten and knowing somewhat how to read and write. She doesn't want to go to school because she has a friend Soren, who is invisible. Lola comes up with lots of excuses on why she doesn't need to go to school. Of course, Charlie convinces her that she needs to go and Lola does. I think everyone didn't want to go to school and some point in their lifetimes and Lola was just like us. I think this would show kids why they need to continue to go to school because it's always better than you think. This is one of my favorite Charlie and Lola books, mostly because of the illustrations. They were awesome in this book and the message of the book is great too. I would definitely have this in my classroom library.

I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed is about a young girl named Lola who never wants to go to bed because she's never tired. She would rather stay up late and play around. Her sibling Charlie is forced to try and put her to bed. Every step Charlie tries to take to put Lola to bed is followed by and excuse on why she can't. For example, if she drinks strawberry milk, her tiger friends need a glass too. She can't brush her teeth because a lion is using it. She can't take a bath because there is whales In the tub. The excuses just kept going and going and Charlie needed to fix them all. I thought this was a great and funny book because it's a very true statement with children not want to do something and having a million excuses why. Their excuses aren't that extravagant though. Lola was a funny character and I enjoyed the book and I'm sure a classroom of students would too. But, I don't see the personal lesson children can learn from it besides go to bed when you're told. The illustrations were done very well also.

Bubble Trouble is about a young girl who was blowing bubbles by her little brother and one accidently captured her brother and wafted him away. You would expect the baby to start crying in fear but he enjoyed being high up in the air inside the bubble. The little sister gets her moms attention and they try to save the baby. As they are running through the neighborhood, the baby in the bubble being chased by two screaming people captures the attention and they all help to try and save the baby. I like how the book has the community come together helping someone out in need. Sometimes you can't expect people to do that. The book was VERY tricky to read because it was filled with rhyming and it even had some tongue twisters for me. So reading it out loud to a class would be very hard but I could probably get a laugh out of my students. I think this could teach a class a lesson about helping others out in need. The illustrations are really good too.

Punt, Pass & Point is about a young girl named Amy who played on the football team for her school but was hurt in a game and now her parents will not let her play anyone because they fear for her safety. Amy becomes very upset, she feels she's not important anymore Her mom has a brilliant idea to force Amy to take ballet lessons. At first, Amy is mad and claims she hates it. But overtime Amy begins to fall in love with it and it turns out she's really good at it. She actually enjoys going to ballet shows and is excited about the upcoming auditions for a ballet show. I really liked this book because I could totally relate to Amy in some ways. I was the tomboy when I was younger who only wanted to play sports just like Amy. I never did ballet, dancing, or cheerleading because I thought you needed to be "girly." I like how Amy plays football because you would think this is only a BOY sport. So I like how this author, who is a young girl, had Amy playing football on a team full of boys. I think this book could teach some valuable lessons for young students. Amy didn't think she would like ballet but once she gave it a try, she loved it. That could teach students to always try something new because it cold be something you're good at and could love. The illustrations were also drawn very well. They are way better than what I could do. So that's very impressive. I really enjoyed this book a lot because that plot was really great and the illustrations were awesome.

Voice from Afar: Poems of Peace is a collection of poems that revolve around war, fighting, hope and peace. These poems are very touching and teaches readers reality about another part of our world. So poems may be too much for younger readers because of the content and illustrations of war and blood. But, sometimes it's necessary for students to learn this material. When learning about war, you could read this collection of poems and show a softer side to it. I would use this to read to my future students. Some of these poems actually make you feel thankful and make you tear up. The word choices were great and the author did well making me feel empathetic.The illustrations were done very well and are very beautiful. I

Serafina's Promise is about a young girl named Serafina who just wants to go to school and become a doctor with her best friend. She goes through trials in her lifetime living in poverty and her family needing her to work and help make money. She does whatever she can do get the approval of her parents to let her go to school and follow her dreams. At first they kept saying no because they need her to work, but she doesn't give up. Serafina goes through a lot of trials throughout the book but she overcomes everything. The book was really easy and simple, but the storyline had me wanting to keep reading. I think this would be a very good read for students because it sows that Serafina overcame a lot to follow her dreams and so could they. It doesn't matter what your home life is like, if you wanted to be a doctor then you can. If you want to be the President, then you can. Just don't give up. I don't know why the pages were written like that but it made it a very fast read for me. I really enjoyed this novel a lot and would read it again.

At Christmastime is a beautiful and festive book of poems about Christmas. There are many short and simple poems in the book that all revolve around Christmas like Wreaths, Light String, Winter Dusk, Ornaments, Tinsel, Candy Cane, Santa Claus, etc, These are all things that get me excited for Christmas time. Everyone loves Christmas or they should at least and this is a great book to read during the season. These are all short and simple poems and many kids would enjoy reading them and they would understand them. The author did a great job describing in each poem. The illustrations are also done very well because they are very colorful and they fit to what the poem is talking about. This could be read to any grade in elementary school because I'm sure they all would love to read about Christmas. But, it might be a touchy subject book for kids who don't celebrate Christmas.

Should You Be a River is a beautiful poem about the love someone has for another and what lengths they would go for them. It describes what the author would do for the person he loves. "Should you be a gentle wave, I'll wait for you to lap my shores. Should you be a beach, I'll build a fire to keep you warm." These lines are so beautiful, they needed to be shared. The whole poem is beautiful, though. The illustrations are great, too. They are so colorful, they stand out a lot and even some pages has cut outs. I think this poem can be used for any grade when learning about poems. I think it may be a little harder to understand for the younger kids because they may be asking a lot of questions about what some things mean but it's not hard to explain to them. I really enjoyed this poem.

Twist: Yoga Poems by Janet Wong is a book of 16 poems showing and explaining some yoga poses. Each page is colorful and showing the poses the author is writing about. Some of the poems are so clever and funny. For example, the Down Dog poem is short and sweet but also made ma laugh. "Down is to dog as up is to bird. Dog starts each morning bow-wow-ing." I don't know why but it made ma laugh for a minute. I learned a lot from these poems because I didn't know a lot of these yoga poses myself so I'm sure this would be new to the kids. It actually interested me a lot because I've never actually done yoga. I think this could actually be a great activity to do in class. While learning about poems and reading this book, you could have the students even do some of these poses. These poems are simple too so it would be easy for them to understand.

Here's a Little Poem is a collection of poems about everyday things we do or about people we have in our lives. For example, My Puppy, Grandpa, Your Birthday Cake, Jam on Toast, Dressing Too Quickly, My Sister, etc. These poems are great for kids because it can be an experience they've had and can relate to the poem or even learn from them. These poems are super cute and the illustrations are even better. There's a lot of poems in this book, more than 60 to be exact, so I would use this in my future classroom while we're learning about poems and read just one a day. It's very simple and short poems so it would be great for younger children just beginning. I think the poems were very clever and the point of them was to be in the perspective of a toddler so I think they would enjoy these poems a lot.

Shape Me A Rhyme by Jane Yolen is very similar to her other book Count Me A Rhyme. It's a book of poems about shapes instead of numbers. It's 12 poems about shapes like circle, heart, star, oval, rectangle, square, etc. The author was very creative with the illustrations. For example, when the author was writing about the circle, she had the poem written inside it but also she had the sun on the other page. That shows readers what real life things we see everyday that is a circle. She does this with every other shape too. It's very neat to see what the author picked to say a heart looked like or a coil. Everything was set in nature so she had to think really hard about what could look like a triangle, what looks like a heart, etc. These illustrations are also photos taken out in nature.These poems are very simple and would be great for younger kids just beginning to learn poetry because they are not hard at all to understand but too simple for older kids.

Count Me A Rhyme is a counting book involving animals written in poem form. There is 11 poems from one to ten and then a poem about countless. Each poem is written about an animal or insect. The illustrations are pictures taken by someone so it's very neat to see these pictures of snails, geese, turtles, crabs, elk, etc. Each poem is also describing the animal it's about. For example, the seven turtles poem has a picture of exactly seven turtles and the poem describes how turtles are awfully slow it's like watching grass grow. That's so clever of the author. These poems are very simple and would be a great starter book for kindergarten, 1st or 2nd grade. I think younger kids would enjoy this a lot more because it has some funny lines in the poems and it's simple for them.

Eating Fractions is a very simple book that shows how fractions work with food. The author what it would be if you cut a banana in half, how you can cut a muffin into thirds, a pizza into fourths. It would be a great book to teach kids fractions in a math class. It's not a great book for the older kids who are learning fractions in a 4th or 5th grade class because it's too simple. But, I would use this book as an example and bring food into class and cut them in pieces to show fractions.

The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch is about a man whose mother was a black slave and his father was white overseer. The story starts off when John was a young boy. His father lacked the power to change the law. His family was supposed to be freed but his father died and now John had to grow up being a servant until after the Civil War. Now that he was a free man, he learned many new things and he became a great photographer, and he even began running the place by himself. Overtime, he became the Speaker of Mississippi House of Representatives. John Lynch became the first African American to be elected into the United States House of Representatives in 1872. This is a great book to show how much John Lynch overcame in his lifetime. Losing a father, being a servant, Lincoln being assassinated, etc. Also, this book would teach kids about slaves, Civil War and President Lincoln. This would be a great read for a social studies class and kids would learn a lot. The illustrations are great also. The show lots of emotion when the father dies, when they are freed and when Lincoln is assassinated. I really enjoyed this book.

We the People: The Story of Our Constitution explains how our constitution came about. It's a very long picture book, longer than I expected, but it needs these extra details because this book explains the process our founding fathers went through when creating our constitution. This book is nonfiction and it shows how difficult things were back then and how if our founding fathers never created this constitution, things could be completely different. I learned a lot from reading this book and this would be great for an older grade like 5th grade. I think this would be a difficult book for younger readers. I like how the bottom of each page has a historical quote from George Washington, James Madison, James Wilson, John Dickinson, George Manson, and Benjamin Rush. The illustrations were done very well and shows how the characters emotion. I really liked this book and I would definitely read this book in a social studies class when learning about our founding fathers and the constitution.

Welcome to the Sea of Sand explains what happens on a desert and what it is truly like in one. When people think of deserts, especially children, they think deserts are just brown sand and cactus. They don't understand that there's way more too it. There's animals, caves, fields of color, trees, birds, butterflies, coyotes, blue skies, flowers. There is so much more to a desert than sand. This book teaches kids about deserts and how beautiful they can be and what important factors go into a desert. I learned a lot from this book and so can children. I would use this book to teach in a science class when we are learning about deserts. This is an easy read for children to learn the basics of a desert. The illustrations are bright and colorful and show what certain animals live in a desert. This was a good book and can be very informative.

Island, A Story of the Galapagos is about how the Galapagos islands came about. It starts off 6 million years ago and it describes how they formed, how they became inhabited with so many animals, etc. It goes from 6 millions years ago, 5 million years ago, 3 million years ago, 1 million years ago. Each "chapter" it explains what has happened over that period of time, and it informs readers about evolution and how everything happens for an island to be formed. It's a very informative book and I think kids would love it but it may be a little hard for them to understand. I would use this book to teach a science class for older kids in maybe 4th and 5th grade. The illustrations do a great job showing how the islands were formed and how it became inhabited. The end of the book gives information about Charles Darwin and the Galapagos. In 1835, Darwin spent 5 weeks exploring the Galapagos, and he came up with the theory of evolution. The author explains that he created this book with the research that he found, but it's pretty accurate from what we know.

This book is about a young boy and his sister who only have one week left staying at their island home before summer ends. They decide to take an adventure because they don't want to waste a minute of their final days. They stay out all night painting things they see until the sun rises. They go through the forest and see many different animals and trees. While they are out there, they are taking pictures for a scrapbook. The book does a wonderful job describing what each animal is, what each tree is, what each fossil is, etc. It's a very informational book and teaches kids different things you'd see on an island and how many different kinds of animas, trees, and fossils there are. This would be a great book for a science class and the illustrations are great for them to look at and learn.

My Dad, John McCain is told in the perspective of John McCain's daughter. She is retelling her dad's life from the day he was born until his latest run for President. She tells how her dad grew up moving for naval base to naval base and how he played football and wrestling in school. She also says her dad grew much interest in the military and he knew he wanted to fly planes. She tells of his time fighting in the Vietnam war and how he broke his bones and became a prisoner for over 5 years. When he was set free, he was honored with many awards, got married, and had children. John McCain left the navy and entered his way into politics. He got into the House of Representatives and knew one day he wanted to run for President. John McCain's daughter tells how her dad would be a great President of the United States because he's the right person for the job and he will work really hard. She says her dad will never give up, just like he did when her was a prisoner. I liked reading the love she has for her dad. It's crazy to see everything he went through. This would've been a great book to read to children during the elections he ran for to have children have a better understanding of who is running for president. Now, I would just read it to show how strong John McCain was and how he never gave up. It's a great life lesson. The illustrations were done very well also.

Our Enduring Spirit: President Barack Obama's First Words to America is about Barack Obama's brilliant first speech to America as the 44th President of the United States. Obama became the President on January 20, 2009 and gave his first speech. What's so great about the book is the illustrations. They are so beautifully done and take my breath away. Also, on each page pf Obama's speech, the have certain words in script and in a different color. These words are significant to the author for some reason. Words like: peace, prosperity, hope, unity of purpose, etc. These are all great words for the nation to hear. This would be a great book for children to learn about past presidents, or if they are just learning about Barack Obama. Children will learn how important Inauguration day is for the Presidents and how they need to give a hopeful speech to America the day they take office. Obama did this beautifully. I really liked this book.

Kid Blink is about a young boy who was a newsboy and went on strike all over a penny. The reason a penny was such a big deal is because they were making a living for their families and he didn't want the owners to take that away from them so they decided to fight. The whole book shows the "newsies" fight and the measures they took to not have people buy from The World or The Journal. At the end of the book, the newsies won their fight. This is a great book because it shows how one boy stood up for what he believed in and got what he wanted. The lesson is, if you want something, go out and fight for it. One person can make a difference. Kid Blink made a huge dent in The World and The Journal and won the fight all because he believed in something. This would be a great book for young children to learn. The illustration were also done very well and it was very enjoyable.

The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial is a fascinating story about a girl named Sarah Roberts, who is four years old, getting kicked out of her school because she is black. This is occurring in 1847. The school was perfect for her. It was not far from her home, had lots of books, learned lots of knowledge, and even has recess. Her parents were very angry and they decided to fight it in court. Even though they lost the case, everything changed. It brought people together and they rallied together and fought for a schools to be segregated. In 1855, Boston made history by being the first major city to integrate schools. But it took over 100 years for Brown vs. Board of Education to challenge the Supreme Court and declare all schools to integrate. "Separate schools can never be equal" declared the judge. That is such a huge part of history and kids need to learn this and what a great way to learn it by reading this book. This is such a heavy topic in history and the author did such a great job for children to understand by reading this book. The illustrations are done well and makes it seem like old times. I think this would be a great book to read in a social studies class.

Gunner, Football Hero is a great book for young boys or girls who love sports. Gunner is a young boy who loves football, but doesn't look like the average football player. He's short and round and of course, he wants to be quarterback, which is usually a tall and skinny person. He is very determined, he gets to practice early, last one to leave, watches football all weekend, studies the playbook over and over but never gets his chance to touch the field until the championship game when the 1st and 2nd string quarterbacks get hurt. Gunner plays awesome but when the game was on the line, and all his team needed to do was score on this final drive, Gunner throws an interception. Even though his team lost, they were so proud of Gunner and he got a rookie of the year trophy. This is a great book for young kids to show them if you set your mind to it, it will happen. Just keep working hard and your dreams will come true. Gunner probably thought he would never play in a game, but he made sure he was prepared if he did. That's a great lesson for young students. The illustrations were great also and I really enjoyed this book.

Money Madness is an awesome book to teach students about the value of money. This book discusses how important money is to us because we need it to buy things that we need. If we didn't have money and were hungry, we would have to hunt for food. If we needed new clothes, we would have to knit our own. The book teaches students what different currencies there are and who uses what. For example, United States uses dollars, Mexico uses pesos, Israel uses shekels, and China uses yuan. This book teaches us how money works and what it is used for in society. It shows how important money is and how grateful we should be it was created. We can now buy everything we want or need. I would use this book when I'm teaching a math lesson about money. The illustrations are great and very colorful.

Numbers At Play is a great counting book for children who are learning to count. The book counts from 1 to 10 and it has two pages designated with each number. For example, number 4 has children playing on the shore and we need to count them. The next page it says to find the number four between the window and the door. It makes it fun for readers to count and also look for the number hidden somewhere. The book is also great because it has a lot of rhyming and I love books with rhyming. Also, the illustrations are very artistic and creative. This is a great read aloud book for a young class and having them count the items on each page and also searching as a class for the numbers would be fun. This is a great easy book.

How Much Is a Million is a very creative book that shows examples of how big a million really is. Stacking a million kids on top of each other would be taller than the tallest buildings, higher than mountains and higher than airplanes. It would also take about 23 days to count to a million. The book than does the same examples to show you how big a billion and trillion is. It would take about 95 years to count to a billion and about 200,000 years to count to a trillion. The book helps the readers visualize how big a million, billion or trillion really is. The author puts information at the back of the book to show where he got his resources so readers know his information is credible. This book would be great to present during a math lesson when learning about big numbers like this. Also this book would be a great example to teach kids about estimating. The illustrations are great and really showed how tall the kids are when they are stacked on one another. I really enjoyed this book.

I really enjoyed The Big Buck Adventure a lot. This book is about a young girl who got a raise in her allowance and has a dollar to spend on whatever she wants at the store. She thinks it's going to be easy but, it turns out to be a disaster. She had so many different options to choose from and it stressed her out. She could've gotten 100 tongue twisters, or 10 gummy bears, 2o pickles, etc. There was so many options, she decided to keep her dollar and save it. The book was very creative and I liked how it rhymed the entire book. For me, it made it fun to read because I like books that rhyme. The illustrations were very colorful and it was very entertaining. This is a great book for kids who are old enough to understand money or for kids who are learning. This book is very realistic because everyday we use our math skills to figure out how much we could buy with the money we have.

Animal Antics is an adorable and easy book for young kids to enjoy and learn to count. Each page has different animals doing fun things tangoing, feasting and singing. The creative thing about this book is the illustrations. It's bright, crazy, colorful and always a perfect fit for the number the page is representing. For example, 5 feasting foxes. The page has 5 foxes, 5 candles, 5 burgers, 5 cupcakes, 5 cups, 5 oranges. It's great for kids to count all the pictures. It makes the book way more entertaining for the readers. This is a great book for kids who are just beginning to count and even read.

Hana's Suitcase is about a young girl named Hana, and her family, who were victims of the Holocaust during WWII. The story goes from past to present when a lady named Fumiko, from Japan, discovers Hana's suitcase and is determined to discover her story. I like how the book will discuss what Fumiko is learning about Hana in one chapter and then discuss what Hana was going through in that moment in the next chapter. It keeps you reading because we want to know what happens. For me, I really enjoyed this book because I'm so interested in WWII, especially because of the Holocaust. I had the honor of visiting the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C, and that grew my interest even more. I never heard of Hana Brady before this, so this was a lot of new information I learned. I really enjoyed learning that Hana's brother, George, did survive and is a big part of Hana's Suitcase. This is a great book, very informative, and the pictures from the past of Hana and George and present pictures of George are very touching.

Hot Day is about two best friends experiencing a hot day. One of the best friends eats the last blue pop and the other friend gets mad. They stay separated all day until they hear their neighbors outside playing jump rope. They go outside and play with them and they forget all about being mad at each other. The ice cream man shows up again and Kishi gets the last blue pop again, but this time she shares with Renee. The illustrations in the book are very unique. The characters have extra big lips and lots of the characters hair looks like dreads. Also, this is a great example of how kids get in fights over little things and how important it is to make up. I really enjoyed this book and how different it is.