Ms. Griffin's Virtual Bookshelf

The Polar Bear (2016) by: Jenni Desmond The Polar Bear is a wonderful informational book about Polar Bears and their daily habits in the Arctic.  This book starts off different than most informational books.  It starts with a young girl being interested about polar bears.  The book follows the girl reading the book, while some of the pages are of the book she is reading.  This informational picture book tells the reader about everything from their hunting habits, to their sleeping habits.  The book relates aspects of polar bears to humans so that it is easier to understand for younger students.   This book is wonderful to have for an informational book about polar bears.  It does not read like a traditional informational book, but is more engaging and entertaining for younger readers.  This would be an excellent book for students that are doing a report about polar bears, or just want to learn more about them.  This would be a book ...

Lou Gehrig ~The Luckiest Man~ (1997) Written by: David A. Adler Illustrated by: Terry Widener Lou Gehrig was a truly inspiring man who never complained of the trials he was put through, but celebrated all good things life had given him.  Lou Gehrig was a first generation American, his parents were from Germany.  Lou was always told by his mother that she wanted him to become an engineer or an accountant.  His mother wanted the best for him.  throughout eight years of grade school, and 14 years of being a New York Yankee, Lou never missed a day.  He always showed up, regardless of feeling ill or hurt.  Lou Gehrig had a record of 2,130 consecutive games played while being a New York Yankee and because of this he was nicknamed the Iron Horse.  When asked about this, Lou states "That's the way I am".  As a Yankee Lou was selected as the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1927 and in 1936.  In May of 1939 Lou told Yankee manager Joe M...

Ethan's Story: My Life with Autism (2012) Written by: Ethan Rice Illustrated by: Crystal Smalls Ord Ethan's Story: My Life with Autism is a true story about a by named Ethan.  Ethan is a seven year old boy who was diagnosed with high-fuctioning autism when he was four years old.  Ethan wanted to tell his first grade class what it is liking having autism.  For this book his parents asked him questions and wrote them down for him so he could tell his class.  His answers are all in this book.  Ethan states that life is different for him because of his autism, but that does not mean he wants to be treated any differently than all the other students.   This story would be great to have in your classroom if someone had autism.  I do no think I would read it if it made a student with autism uncomfortable, or if their parents did not like it.  I think that even though it is informational about autism, that it is better to have at home rather tha...

Thunder Cake (1990) by: Patricia Polacco This picture book is about a little girl who lives with her grandmother making a Thunder Cake as the storm rolls in.  The narrator of the story talks about how she is scared of thunder.  She hides under her bed when she hears the first cracks of it.  this is until her grandmother comes and makes her get out from under the bed.  Her grandmother says that since there is a storm coming they need to make thunder cake.  The little girl had never heard of this before.  To make a thunder cake you need to time it just so that when it is done, the storm is just arriving where you are.  To make the thunder cake the little girl and her grandmother have to go out to the house to get the ingredients.  They have to get eggs, milk, flour, tomatoes, and strawberries from their farm and garden.  They gather the supplies, make the cake and get the table ready for their meal.  All the while, the storm is get...

The Name Jar (2003) by: Yangsook Choi This book is about a little girl from Korea coming to America and going to school.   The Name Jar  is a story about being confident in who you are and not changing yourself.  Unhie, the main character, is a little girl who has to leave her grandmother in Korea to go with her family to America.  Unhie gets made fun of about her name on the school bus.  Since this happens to Unhei, when she is introduced to her new class, she says that she does not have a name.  The other students in the class come up with names that they think she may like.  They put all these names, American sounding names, in a jar for Unhie to look through.  A little boy in her class hears her name outside of school at a Korean deli.  He thinks that it is beautiful and that it is the name she should go by.  He hides the jar so that she will have to choose her name.  This little boy, Joey, instills confidence in Unhie to b...

Amelia Bedeila (1992) by: Peggy Parish Pictures by: Fritz Sieben Amelia Bedelia is a housekeeper that works for the Rogers.  She takes care of their house, cleans, and bakes for them when they are not home.  In the beginning of the book Amelia gets a list of things to do from the Rogers.  She follows this list to the letter, she is vey literal about the directions.  For example, the list says change the towels in the green bathroom, Amelia does this by cutting them up a little bit.  Although Amelia thinks that this is odd, she follows the list anyways.  When the Rogers get home they are shocked to find their house is disarray.  Although they start off quite mad, they see that she meant no harm and laugh about it.  The Rogers decide to write their instructions more literally for the next time Amelia Bedelia comes to work.   Although this book is older, many young readers still enjoy hearing, and reading, about the antics of the liter...

Ella Enchanted by: Gail Carson Levine (1998) Ella Enchanted is a novel about a girl called Ella of Frell, and her struggle to break a curse placed on her at birth.  This novel is a Newberry Honor Book.  This novel was adapted into a movie in 2004.  The story follows a young girl and her live after her fairy godmother cursed her, her mother dies and she is left with her father and his new wife and step daughters.  Ella's curse is that she must be obedient, regardless of consequences.  Ella's stepsisters and stepmother make her life miserable by ordering her around, even though for the most part they are unaware of the curse.  Throughout the novel, Ella encounters the prince, Char, and eventually falls in love with him.  Ella, who had been searching for her fairy godmother to break the curse, finally finds her at the end of the novel, but is told that she needs to break it herself.  As Ella breaks the spell she and Char realize that they love ...

Little House in the Big Woods by: Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932) Illustrated by: Garth Williams Little House in the Big Woods is about a family from the 1930's and their lifestyle on the edge of the Big Woods.  The novel starts out describing the characters and what they do daily.  The author talks about events the family has, such as hunting in the woods, or Christmas.  The novel recounts Laura, Mary and their parents lives in the Big Woods over the course of the year.  The novel talks about going into the woods and hunting, spending time with their extended family or going into the town.  This novel accurately depicts what a family would be doing in their daily lives back in the 1930's. I am not a huge fan of this novel.  I think that it is interesting that it was written in 1932, but the language is very dated.  I think that it would be difficult for students to read because there are run-on sentences, and fragmented sentences.  The langu...

7 Sector 7 by: David Wiesner 7 Sector 7 is a wordless picture book about a little boy that goes on a class trip to the Empire State building in New York City.  There the little boy meets a cloud on the top of the building on a very cloudy day.  The cloud takes the boy back with him when the sky starts to clear up.  The boy meets all the clouds in a place called 7 Sector 7.  This is where people assign the cloud what type they are to be, and where they are to go.  The little boy has an imaginative mind and draws on the directions given to the clouds.  Although the clouds where supposed to be oval, the boy draws over this image with fish.  The clouds change their shape to resemble the fish in the little boys drawing.  The people in charge of the clouds were not happy with this and send the boy back to the Empire State building.  There the boys friend, the cloud that originally took him away, follows him away from the City back to school....

Only & Wormy Friends all Aflutter!  by: Andy Runton (2011) Owly & Wormy Friends all Aflutter!  is a wordless picture book.  This book follows the friendship of Owly and Wormy as they make friends with caterpillars.   Owly and Wormy plant flowers because they want to see butterflies.  When the butterflies do not come right away Owly and Wormy get sad.  Then they meet the caterpillars that were eating the leaves on the flowers.  Owly and Wormy then become friends with the caterpillars, the spend a lot of time together.  Soon the caterpillars have to leave, so they can turn into butterflies.  Owly and Wormy did not know that this is why they had to leave.  Owly and Wormy are sad that their friends left until they see them again as butterflies.  Then they are all happy to be together.   I think this book would be perfect for kindergarten and first grade.  The students can make their own story based off the pic...

The Land of Lines by: Victor Hussenot (2014) The Land of Lines is a wordless picture book.  This book shows the story of a young girl, drawn in red lines, and a young boy, drawn in blue lines.  The story takes them through meeting each other, becoming friends, and even starting to like each other romantically.  The whole book up to this point is drawn in red and blue lines.  Then there comes a monster, drawn in yellow.  The monster takes the girl when the boy is not looking.  The boy fights off the monster and reduces the little girl.  The boy and girl then see that the yellow monster was just a little boy pretending to be a monster.  The three of them become friends and travel though the book some more.  Then the whole page is drawn in yellow, it looks like where the yellow boy is from.  The yellow boy leaves and the other two go to a page drawn in all red.  This looks like the place where the red girl is from.  The blue ...

Molly Bannaky Written by: Alice McGill Pictures by: Chris K. Soentpiet Molly Bannaky is a book about a woman that was forced to leave her main country home for the new world.  She was a servant to a farmer in the new land for seven years.  After she was freed of her service she moved and started her own farm.  There she hired help, and treated him like a friend rather than a slave.  Molly and Bannaky grew to love each other and got married.  They have four children and taught them to read, write and farm.  This is a story about a woman coming to the new world and making a place for herself when she was all alone.   This picture book is a wonderful story about a woman coming to America and making a life for herself.  This book is a good way to teach students not only why some people moved to America, but what happened when they did.  It also touches upon slavery, and peoples rights to marry who they wished.  I would read this bo...

Ruth and the Green Book by: Calvin Alexander Ramsey with Gwen Strauss Illustrations by: Floyd Cooper Ruth and the Green Book is a book about a young girl named Ruth who is traveling from Chicago to Alabama in the early 1950s.  The story fallows Ruth and her parents as the drive through the country down south.  They are meet by unwelcoming people who would not serve them.  Ruth finds a man at a gas station that tells her about a book that shows all the places in the United States that would be happy to serve her and her family.  Ruth reads this book through her journey.  This book helps them get safely to Alabama.   I think that this book is wonderful to show students who do not fully understand how judgmental people were 60 years ago.  It is a good way to show how everyone should be treated equally.  I would love to read this book to any level of elementary students.  I think that most grades would benefit from hearing this book rea...

Tricking the Tallyman by: Jacqueline Davies Illustrated by: S. D. Schindler Tricking the Tallyman is a book about the great census shenanigans that happened in 1790.  A women and her children hear news that the Tallyman is counting for their state to pay taxes to the government, so they try and trick the Tallyman into thinking there are very few people in their town.  Then the young boy finds out that they are counting to send men to the government to represent them.  This causes them to recount, resulting in a large number.  Finally, after the young boy finds out that the tallying is for both taxes and representation in the government, the Tallyman counts again and finds a fair and truthful number.   I think this book is wonderful to teach young students about the process the government had to go through to count all the people in the United States in 1790.  The book has historical points that many students would not know before.  There is a...

Amelia and Eleanor go for a ride by: Pam Munoz Ryan Pictures by: Brian Selznick Amelia and Eleanor go for a ride is a book about Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt enjoying an evening together.  They are together to enjoy a meal at the white house when someone mentions how much they both enjoy being independent and free.  Amelia takes Eleanor on an airplane ride.  After the ride Eleanor takes Amelia on a drive around the Capitol.  These two women show the reader that they like to be independent and enjoy having the wind in their hair.   This book is wonderful to read to students because it teaches them that women can be independent, even such a long time ago.  This picture book shows two women, of great importance, that just like to have fun.  I would love to read this in a first grade classroom while talking about one, or both, of these women during social studies.  I would highly recommend this book to other teachers.  

Rubia and the Three Osos by: Susan Middleton Elya (2010) Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet Rubia and the Three Osos is a wonderful book, partly in Spanish, of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  A few select words throughout the book are in Spanish, making this book different than the original version.  It follows the same story of a little girl eating the bear's food, breaking one of the bear's chairs, and sleeping in one of the bear's beds.   This book is wonderful for ESL students.  For students who's first language is Spanish, this book will seem familiar and comforting to them.  This would also be beneficial for students who have never heard the language before.  This book would be great for lower elementary.  I would recommend this book for kindergarten and first grade.  One of the best things about this book is that in the back there is a glossary of all the Spanish words translated to Eng...

Summer Jackson Grown Up by: Teresa E. Harris (2011) Illustrated by AG Ford Summer Jackson Grown Up is about a little girl that wants to be a grown up because she is sick of being treated like a child.  Summer talks about how she is going to change to be a grown up.  All the things she talks about are things that she has seen other grown ups doing.  Summer learns that it is not always fun being a grown up and decides that she wants to be a kid in the end.   I think that this book was a great way to show students that it is okay to be a kid, and that they should enjoy it while they can.  This book shows an African- American girl, which is not common to find in children literature, going after a passion, and discovering what she wants to do.  I think that this book would be great to read in lower elementary school classrooms.  I think it is a great way to show diversity as well as a student their age having fun being a kid.  I would hig...

The Lorax by: Dr. Seuss (1971) The Lorax is a wonderful book that talks about the affects of people destroying the environment for their own benefit.  This book is a kid-friendly way to teach students to respect the environment that they live in.  Dr. Seuss depicts the story in a fun and colorful way to engage the reader.  The book is written in rhythms, so it is easy to follow.    I found The Lorax to be a great book to teach a lesson about the environment.  I think that I would use this book to teach this, although it is not obvious that this is a point that Dr. Seuss was trying to make.  I think that it will make students think about the story, rather than just reading the words on the page.  I would use this book with third or fourth grade students.  At this age they would be able to read they book on their own, and we would be able to have a discussion about it after.  Although I believe this book makes a good lesson, it w...