Summary: Max and Maddy are sent a message from a ballon that sends them to a rick man named Harry. He asks them to save his balloons race from all of the sabotage that has been happening recently. They are great detectives and figure out that Professor Sardine is the bad guy.
Genre: Early Chapter Book
Review:
Very cute story showing that cheating is no way to win. It would be a great lesson to elementary aged children. Definitely appropriate for a 2nd grade chapter book although some of the language might be more appropriate for late 2nd grade reading. Interesting plot and some funny moments.

Summary: Bean and her sister Nancy don’t get along. Bean tries to play a trick on her sister and hides in a bush. Ivy thinks she’s a ghost because she couldn’t see her. Nancy doesn’t fall for Bean’s trick and pulls Bean out of the bush to get her in trouble Ivy shows Bean her room and they plan to cast a dancing spell on Nancy using worms. Ivy and Bean throw worms at Nancy who loses her balance in the muddy hole and starts to dance and the spell ends up working!
Genre: Easy reader
Review: A funny series for early novel readers. It is a lot like Junnie B. Jones. It is a story about true friendship and would be beneficial for students to develop and learn new vocabulary.

Summary: The meain character is Amelia Bedelia and she is a silly maid who takes everything literally. She is hired by Mrs. Rodgers to clean her home and prepare dinner while Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers are out. Amelia Bedelia performs every item on Mrs. Rodger's list exactly as it says-even going to extra to bake a Lemon Meringue pie. When the Rodger's return they find their house a mess, but some wonderful pie.
Genre: Beginning Reader
Review: This is a great story for children and was one of my favorites growing up. You don't feel so bad about yourself when you know know someone does it worse!

Summary: ! The poems are all about summer and playing outside. In addition every poem is different in style, content, and structure.
Genre: Poetry
Review: This was a great poetry book for young children. The poems are short and a lot were written in free form to help interest the reader. Every activity would be familiar to all children and the pictures added excitement to each poem.

Summary: This book cannot be summarized because there are so many poems. I thought I would share my favorite instead:
Invitation

If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!
Genre: poetry
Review: These poems fed the childhood of so many people!
They all teach such great concepts like sharing and being friendly. It would be good to read one everyday in the classroom and then ask the kids what it is saying.

Summary: It is this short poem about a crocodile who goes into the dentist and as the dentist is trying to clean his back teeth, he tries to eat him!
Genre: Poetry
Review: I thought was very cute and would be great to share in the classroom!

Summary: Elizabeth I of England was born into political turmoil; her father had annulled his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to marry her mother Anne Boleyn. Just a few years later, her mother was executed. Elizabeth maneuvered through four royal courts and eventually ascended the throne and became England’s most famous monarch. This book talks about the details of her life.
Genre: Information
Review: I liked that this book talked about her loneliness in life. This is something we aren't used to. I wish it had gone a little more in depth.

Summary: This is about Namibia in southwest Africa, the color pictures are mysterious and precise, and so are Brandenburg's words about the place and how he took the pictures. He tells the story behind the haunting cover photo of a horned oryx against the desert shadow: how he saw himself on a kind of "quest" for the "unicornlike" creature through a moonscape setting of shifting sand. He talks about the specifics of lighting: how the use of shadow helps express a mood of melancholy; how he waited for the exact moment to catch four ostriches glowing "in a sliver of light for a few moments at sunrise."
Genre: Information
Review: This book is very unique for an informational book and I liked that. The pictures were just absolutely stunning.

Summary: The Secret World of Walter Anderson is about an artist named Walter Anderson. Walter lived near the Mississippi Golf Coast. In order to escape reality Walter would travel on his boat to an island called Horn, which was approximately 12 miles away from shore. Horn is a completely empty island that Walter would paint on all alone. He would often spend many days on the island painting; he would sometimes even spend weeks on the island. Walter would paint nature and animals surrounding him on the island (he often used watercolors). Eventually Walter became friends with some of the animals on the island. He did not live extremely well when he stayed on the island, Walter would sleep under his boat and sometimes he was even forced to eat things that washed upon shore to survive. He did not really seem to care though; he really valued his secret world. Walter kept a lot of things secret including the artwork that he created on the island. At the end of the day Walter Anderson cared deeply for painting.
Genre: Informational
Review: I enjoyed this book because I did not know who this is. It was clear from the book that he loved painting and sketching nature. He seemed to be one with it and wanted all those who viewed his work to feel the same way. It is a great informational book.

Summary: he story begins with the death of a female monarch who has just lain over 400 eggs. It then continues through the development of the caterpillar within the egg and follows it throughout her life, her travels and adventures, and finally her death. This is a wonderfully complete and detailed story.
Genre: Informational Book
Review: What I liked most about this book was its colorful illustrations. It gave the story of the journey of the monarch butterfly. I enjoyed this book for the pictures but not for the word. Great book to teach children about the life of a butterfly.

Summary: This book tells about all of the challenges that came with being the first woman pilot. Because it is an information book, it just talks about her life and the mystery of her unknown location of death.
Genre: Information book.
Review: I loved this book. I already had known her story so I skimmed it throughly. It was fantastic in the essence of talking about her life. It shows children they can do anything no matter what the obstacles are.

Summary: There was once a king named Midas who did a good deed for a Satyr and was granted a wish by the God of wine, Dionysus. For his wish, Midas asked that whatever he touched would turn to gold. Although Dionysus tried to dissuade him, Midas insisted that the wish was an excellent one, and it was granted! Excitedly, Midas went about touching all sorts of things, turning them into gold. Soon Midas became hungry. He picked up a piece of food, but he couldn't eat it, for it had turned to gold in his hand! His daughter, seeing his dismay, comforts him, and, she too turned to gold. He went to the river and wept. The sand of that river turned as yellow as "fool's gold" for it is there, they say, that King Midas washed away the curse of the golden touch with his own tears.
Genre: Mythology
Review: This story is so fantastic. The pictures are very dark, but so appropriate and compliment the story so well.

Summary: Athena has just found out that she is the daughter of Zeus, King of the gods and Principal of Mount Olympus Academy which is why she never fit in down on Earth. But even gods and goddesses are not perfect and Athena will have to deal with the biggest bully of all time - Medusa. Luckily for her the goddess girls are on her side. Her knowledge shows us that she is the goddess of wisdom.
Genre: Modern Mythology
Review: I really didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. It's great in the sense that it makes Greek Mythology understandable to children, but it is almost too modern.

Summary: Originating from the pre-Christian culture of the Vikings, these myths involve constant squabbling among the Norse gods and goddesses and the frost-giants. Dwarves, dark elves and magical animals are in it, while plots feature clever disguises, spells and crafty ploys, many masterminded by this collection's liveliest character, the trickster, Loki.
Genre: Mythology/ Traditional Literature
Review: I love Mary Pope Osborne so I was excited to see that she writes mythology, and surprisingly well, too. I loved how vivid the characters were. They all play such big roles in the story and I loved reading it. I didn't read all fourteen, but I did read 5 of them. This is great to read to children as a creative writing lesson. They could write their own stories with creative and unique characters in it.

Summary: This is about a police officer who does speeches about safety at local elementary schools and everyone would just fall asleep. One day, while he is presenting, Gloria, the dog is doing tricks behind him and the crowd is laughing historically. It's a success. One day, when he finds out it is because of Gloria, he gets depressed and doesn't want to teach safety anymore. Then, he gets a letter from a girl named Claire and decides he will go back to doing it, but this time with Gloria!
Genre: Picture Book
Review: This book was recommended to me by my best friend and I loved it! The storyline was so easy to understand because a lot of people go through the same thing. It is a cute book to teach about safety and learning to laugh at yourself.

Summary: A young girl loves to hunt and is thrilled when her uncles ask her to go on their annual hunting trip with them. When she gets there, she finds out she is only the cook and is disappointed. While making dinner one evening she hears an old man yelling and finds the old man coiled up in the snake. The old man’s name is Thunder and thunder is what causes rain which is how the crops are fed every year. Realizing that her people need thunder, she kills the snake leaving Thunder grateful. He tells her hard times are coming, but if she follows his instructions, she can save her people.
Genre: Folk Tale/ Traditional Literature.
Review: I hadn’t read a whole lot of Native American folktales but now that I have, I learned that I love the fact that they have a deeper meaning to them. I liked the personification of thunder. This book would be fantastic to put into a lesson plan about Native Americans and their customs.

Summary: This book shows a part of the Beatles I didn’t know about before and that is their humor. The text contains mostly interviews of theirs where they answer questions about their talent with quirky humor. I mostly enjoyed learning about all of the shows and tours they had to do and how well they handled it.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I throughly enjoyed this book and the illustrations were perfect for the tone. I really think it was nice to learn that the Beatles were down-to-earth and humble about their talents in interviews. Children would find a lot of fun in reading this although I don’t know that they would understand the humor until they are a little bit older.

Summary: This book tells the story of a girl named Annabelle who lives in a small town with colors of only black soot and white snow. She has the opportunity to add some color to her world when she finds a box of what seems to be never-ending yarn. She knits sweaters for herself, her dog, her neighbor, her classmates, her teachers, her family, and all of the buildings in her town. The town is no warm and full of color. One day her yarn is stolen by an archduke. He is unsatisfied when he finds out the box is empty. The yarn found its way back to Annabelle and the story ends with her sitting under a knitted tree.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I had heard a lot of great things about this book before I read it. I loved the theme of loyalty between the yarn and its owner, Annabelle. It’s a great book to teach children about not taking things that aren’t theirs. All in all, I loved this book and would definitely recommend it.

Summary: Corduroy is locked in a department store at night and lives the dream of many. The shoppers have all gone home and it’s just him and all of the merchandise. During the day, he lost a button and so he goes to look for it. He ends up in the furniture section which to him, looks like a palace. The nightwatchman hears something when Corduroy thinks he found his button and finds him. He puts him back on the shelf where he came from. The next day, a little girl decides to buy him and she takes him home. he now has a home and a best friend.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: This book was another one of my favorites growing up. Corduroy is such an adventurous little bear and I always loved reading about his journeys. This is really great for children in the classroom when it is story time. I remember in my class, when we read this, Corduroy the bear actually came in and sat with us.

Summary: This book is especially interesting because it is told in first-person by Galileo himself. He is telling the story from prison because after he challenged the Catholic Church with his findings, he was imprisoned for quite awhile. The first page shows how universe used to be structurally thought of. Galileo explains his findings and how he challenged that structure. At the very end of the book, readers are told that he was finally pardoned in 1992 by the Catholic Church, which if you ask me, is a pardon that was long overdue.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I love the deep blues that fill the pages to represent the universe. The picture that particularly caught my eye was where Galileo was sitting alone with the light shining down on him. It really made me think about how difficult it must have been for him to be told he was wrong on something that is scientific. This is a great read because it can tell students the story of Galileo from Galileo himself.

Summary: This book is about an elephant who lives in the Palace stables of India. Because he is the King's favorite animal, they look after him greatly. He meets a dog who is quite poor and scruffy and the two become the best of friends. One day, the elephant's keeper sells the dog to a merchant for money. The elephant and the dog become separated. The elephant is really upset and he stops eating, playing and washing. The King then becomes concerned about the elephant and the elephant's keeper tells him that he sold his best friend and that is why he is upset. The King doesn't ant the elephant to be sad, so he makes sure to have the dog return. This is the story of friendship in the most unlikely of people or in this case, animals.
Genre: Traditional Literature
Review: I loved the story line of this book. The theme is about friendship and how it can happen with the most different of people. We should all be open to friendship in anyone. I think this is a great story for children in general because it can teach them lessons about how to be nice to each other.

Summary: This book is comprised of five tales from Chief Lelooska of the Northwest Coast Tribe he was in. He says that these were stories he would tell his people around a campfire as part of a old tradition. The one that I like d the most was about a raven with powers to heal. There was also and Owl that was a Witch and had the human-like powers. A lot of the animals told in the story are animals that these Native Americans cherish.
Genre: Mythology/ Traditional Literature
Review: I always enjoy myths about animals given supernatural powers, so I really enjoyed this book. I love how the Chief himself not only wrote, but also illustrated these myths. He is definitely a fantastic storyteller. This would be a great book to bring into the classroom when teaching students about Native Americans and their culture.

Summary: This book focuses on Babe Ruth before he was Babe Ruth. He used to be George Herman Ruth, a young trouble maker from Baltimore, Maryland. WHen he is only seven, his father sends him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys where he is forced to study hard and use his manners. It was sort of like a reform school for him. Every day, he had the opportunity to play baseball and discovered his love and passion for the sport. His brother watches him become an all star as a major league player. No matter how far Babe Ruth is from home and his family, he always keeps them close to his heart.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I enjoyed this book and the message it sent about the importance of family. It is important for people to realize that no person becomes who they are alone. There are many people and factors that contribute to them becoming who they are today. beautiful story with great illustrations.

Summary: Sylvester is a donkey who collects pebbles. One day, he finds this red colored pebble and picks it up to add to his collection. He later finds out that it has magical powers and goes home to show it to his parents. On the way home, he encounters a hungry lion and out of panic, he wishes he was a rock. He turns into a rock and cannot wish himself back into a human. His parents one day have a picnic on the rock and wish their son was there. This makes him come back to life and they realize that family is what is most important in life.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I thought this book had a very cute storyline and think it would be great to share with a kindergarden class. It would be good to read it to them and then ask them what they would do if they had a magic pebble. What would be a wish that they would make? Why would they make that wish? This is a great story about the importance of family and cherishing those that really love you.

Summary: This book is for very young readers. It is about a rabbit that is saying goodnight to everything he sees. It is quite magical and makes you sleepy just reading it.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I remember reading this book when I was very little. My mom used to tuck me in and read it to me and it put me to sleep right away. Even reading it again now, I almost fell asleep. It is cute and enchanting. I highly suggest looking up the read-along on YouTube. The narration is beautiful along with the charming music in the background.

Summary: This introduction to a musical icon begins with young, Bob Zimmerman, growing up in a mining town in Minnesota. He always loved music and poetry and cherished their relationship together. He renamed himself after his favorite poet, Dylan Thomas. With this name change to Bob Dylan, he persues his dreams of becoming a musician in New York City. There he meets his mentor, Woody Guthrie, who changes his life and has faith in him. "Hey Woody, I wrote you a song... When he finished, Woody's face lit up like the sun".
Genre: Picture Book
Review: This book was so great and had to have been one of my favorites this term. I loved how beautiful the illustrations were and how the underlying message was to follow your dreams and have faith in yourself.

Summary: This book is about the extra chores that go along with giving a mouse a cookie. If you give a mouse a cookie, it then asks for milk, a straw, a broom, and endless other things. After all of the demands are completed, the night is sealed with one last cookie.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I loved this book and just thought the idea was so cute. I remember reading this book in the second grade in order to learn about "circular writing" which is simply writing in a circle. The book starts with the mouse wanting a cookie and ends with it too. I would use it the same way in my classroom.

Summary: This is a classic story about a zookeeper whose job is to make sure all of the animals are secure and in their cages for the night. He tells one gorilla goodnight, but the gorilla is not tired, so he follows the zookeeper around letting all of the animals out of their cages. What's humorous about it is that the zookeeper doesn't notice until his wife sees them all when he gets into bed. She returns most of them to their cages with a few still lurking around the city.
Genre: ABC/ Wordless
Review: This was one of my favorite books that my mom read to me growing up. It is so funny to younger children when all of the animals follow the zookeeper out of their cages. This is a great book to read before bed. In the classroom, this book could be used to teach children about different types of animals.

Summary: This book is about a group of frogs that have an adventure during the night while everybody is sleeping. They float on their lily pads through the sky and look at the world while it is sleeping. The next morning, the frogs return to their pond and the police try to figure out what happened seeing as there are lily pads everywhere.
Genre: ABC/ Wordless
Review: I found out about this book form my Grandmother who read it to the younger children at the school she works at. I thought the story line was great and extremely unique in that it was one that I hadn't heard yet. I liked that it was wordless because the pictures were so beautiful and good at telling the story. This is a great book for showing children that you don't need words to tell a story.

Summary: Jerry and Joe, the creators of Superman, were living in the depression era as teenagers. They dreamed up this character that they really wished they could be and with Jerry's vivid writing and Joe's amazing detail in his drawings, they made Superman. One day, they convinced someone to publish is and then sold the rights for only $130 which was a huge mistake. This book tells the story of two men with a vision of hope in an era of Depression.
Genre: Picture Book
Review: I didn't realize that this book was so long because it was so interesting. I didn't know about anything involving the creation of Superman, so I enjoyed reading about these men and their journey. I liked how the author mentioned the era they wrote about it in and how because they were in the Depression, they wanted to dream up somebody who spoke against that. It would be a great project for children to read this and then create their own superhero.