Ms. Griffin's Virtual Bookshelf

Digital Picture Book Sites BookFLIX BookFLIX is an easy to use site that allows teachers, parents and students to read books and watch videos that relate to the books.  This site requires a username and password, but it is simple enough to make.  Once you have a login, you are free to access the categories of book choices.  There are six categories under 'Get Smart!', and three categories under 'Fun to Know!'.  Under each category readers can choose from a selection of books appropriate for elementary age students.  This is a wonderful site for everyone to visit.  It allows students to learn about a topic from a video as well as read about it.  It is easy to use and a fun way to learn.   Speakaboos Speakaboos is a book site online that allows students to read an assortment of books at the elementary school level.  This site requires a username and password, but it is simple enough to make.  Once you have a login, you a...

Love That Dog by: Sharon Creech (2001) Jack was not a fan of writing before he finds his voice as a poet.  With the help of a teacher, a pencil, some yellow paper and a dog, he finds his voice as a poet.  His teacher used to give constant poetry assignments, and Jack hated doing them.  Jack would try his best to avoid doing the poetry assignments.  Then he discovers that the more he writes, the more he has to say.   The format of this book is written as a journal entry.  I think that it is special and uncommon for young readers to experience a book this way.  It is written in the perspective of a student, so students will be able to relate to it.  I think that it would be an excellent book to read with elementary students.  It is a great way to introduce poetry to reluctant readers and writers.  

Doodle Dandies: Poems That Take Shape by: J. Patrick Lewis images by: Lisa Desimini (1998) The poems in this book take the shape that the poem is talking about.  The poems are an assortment of different topics, they do not necessarily all connect to one another.  This book has many different poems, that are all different shapes.  Although the poems are different shapes, the poems are not difficult to read.  Some poems that take shape are hard to follow, but this book does it very well.   This book is good for students to read to introduce them to poems.  I think that this would be a good book to introduce to students through a read aloud.  I would read this book, only a few of the poems, then leave it in the classroom library for students to read.  I would love to have this book in my classroom library.  

Only A Star written by: Margery Facklam illustrated by: Nancy Carpenter (1996) This book details the decorations for the first day a baby was born in a manger on Christmas day.  The star is the only thing that shone in the night.  The star let the world know that something spectacular had happened.  The star made everything about the night sparkle a little brighter.  This is a short poem book that starts off with a question asking what made the first christmas night so special.  The answer is the star, the only star in the sky that night.  The star made everything feel special and sparkle.   This is a good book to read around the holidays.  There are no religious references, so it should not interfere with anything that parents might not want their children to hear.  I think this would be a good way to have poetry in the classroom, even low levels, around the holiday season.  It would be a great way to show students how words ca...

A Spectacular Selection of Sea Critters: Concrete Poems by: Betsy Franco illustrations by: Michael Wertz (2015) In this book you will encounter everything from dolphins to octopuses and sea turtles or sharks and squirrel fish.  This book of poems is about a wide range of spectacular sea critters.  Each page is a different sea critter.  The poems are shaped to look like the animals and objects they are talking about.  The book is informative about the different animals.  This book describes the animals and what the interact with in the sea.  Although this book has a lot of information and is fun to read, it is not very easy to read.  This book would not be easy for an elementary school student to read.  The way the words are formatted does not make it easy to follow.   I would like to have this book in my classroom, but I would not have it in lower level classrooms.  I would introduce this book before I would have it in the class...

Madam President by: Lane Smith (2008) This book is about a little girl that acts as though she is the president of the United States.  This little girl wants to do all the duties that a president has in her world.  She goes to press conferences, she attends meetings, and deals with emergencies.  This is a great book to teach young students basic concepts about the president.  The book talks about things that the president has to do on a daily basis.   I would love to use this book to introduce the judicial system in a lower level elementary classroom.  It is a simple way to describe the duties of the president, and the power that they have.  This book also has little pictures and references to past presidents.  It would be a good book to have as a starter for a social studies lesson.  

Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by: Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson (2007) Henry's Freedom Box is the true story of a young man that gets sold into slavery, loses everything he loves, and attempts to escape. The story starts off with Henry as a little boy and his family getting split apart.  His original master dies, and he gets separated from his family by being sold to a new master.  This master makes him work in a factory, and will beat him if he does not do his job well.  Henry grows older, falls in love and gets a family.  His wife belongs to a different man.  This man sells his wife and children and sends them off before he can say goodbye.  Henry is distraught, and wants to run away.  He does this with the help of a few friends, and ships himself to friends up north.   This is a wonderful true story of the underground railroad. This book would be wonderful to have in a classroom library.  I would...

Leaf Man by: Lois Ehlert (2005) This is a wonderful book about a leaf that is going on a journey.  The book uses the cardinal directions, and is an easy way for young students to learn the directions.  This book uses pictures of leafs blowing in the wind as the objects in the book.  This book is a very simple for students to follow, and they love the pictures of all the leafs.  Young students like how the book uses a leaf as a person, they like to personify objects in their writing.   I used this book to teach kindergarten about cardinal directions and the students loved it.  They liked the pictures and the concept of following a leaf as it blows in the wind.  

The Far Side of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11's Third Man written by: Alex Irine illustrated by: Ben Bishop (2017) The Far Side of the Moon  is about the third astronaut that was on the Apollo 11 trip to the moon.  This book is a graphic novel, with illustrations and word bubbles as the text.   The story is a biography of his life, done in a very interesting way, a graphic novel.  The book starts out by describing how Michael Collins got his position in the Apollo 11 mission.  It goes on to talk about everything he had to accomplish to be able to go on the mission, along with all the things that got in his way.  It soon gets to the trip that would take the three men to the moon.  Collins was the one astronaut on the mission that did not get to walk on the moon.  Instead, he had to do an orbit around the moon, all by himself.  The book ends by the team completing their mission and getting home safely.   I think this is a wonde...

The Giving Tree by: Shel Silverstein (1992) The Giving Tree is a classic that every student should have the opportunity to read.  This is a wonderful book about a little boy and a tree.  This little boy talks to the tree about everything in his life.  The tree is there for everything, the tree gives everything it can for this little boy.  When the little boy grows older he takes more and more from the tree over the years.  This tree is willing to give all it has to the little boy, and eventually is cut down for the boy's benefit.  In the end, the tree and the boy are together, old in age, but still best of friends in heart.   Every teacher should have this book in their classroom.  Teachers should either read this book to their students, or encourage all their students to eventually read it.  It teaches a wonderful lesson to give what you can, and be thankful for everything you receive.  This is a book that I will 100% have in ...

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by: Jon Scieszka (1996) This is a wonderful spin on a classic tale.   This book takes the point of view of the wolf in the original story of the three little pigs.  This story gives the point of view that the wolf is just trying to get a cup of sugar, and gets treated poorly because of his appearance.  It is told from his point of view, trying to point out that he is not a bad person and that the story that everyone knows is incorrect.  The wolf was trying to make a cake for his grandmother, but had a sneezing cold.  The cold is the reason he blows the house down, according to the wolf.   I would love to read the original book for my class, and then read this book.  It would be an excellent way to show different perspectives to students.  I would recommend this book to all teachers to at least have in their classroom libraries.  

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by: Judith Viorst Alexander is a little boy who starts his day off on the wrong side of the bed.  Everything for him seems to go wrong.  His morning is horrible, his day at school is terrible, and he just wants to escape from it.  His wish is to go to Australia to get away from all the bad things happening.  His friends and family do not think that his day is as bad as he thinks it is, this just makes Alexander's day worse.  By the end of the day Alexander realizes that his day is not as horrible as he thought it was.   This is a classic book.  I think that this book should be in all classrooms for students to have the opportunity to read.  Students can realize that they are not the only ones to have a bad day, that it happens to all of us.  I would have this book in my classroom library.  

Mary McLeod Bethune by: Eloise Greenfield (1994) Mary McLeod Bethune is a biography written by Eloise Greenfield.   This book was written by Ms. Greenfield, and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.   This is a true story of a black educator who loved to learn.   She saw a need, so she tried her hardest to find a solution.   This biography is about Mary McLeod Bethune from when she was a little girl to her as an old woman.   Mary was an exceptional woman and did everything she could to help people.   Ms. Greenfield writes this book so that it is easy for children to understand who she was.   Many people do not know the amazing work that Mary McLeod Bethune did in her life.  She should be taught in schools, and this is a simple to read biography that explains her life.  This would be a great book to have in classroom, anywhere from grade two and up.  As soon as  students can read fluently, they would be able to read this b...

Angels by: Eloise Greenfield (1998) Angels is a book of poems written by Eloise Greenfield.  The poems were inspired by the illustrations in the book done by Jan Spivey Gilchrist.  Jan drew these angels because they were so important to her as a child.  Ms. Greenfield wanted to show how important angels are to the world, and wrote these angles as little children watching over us.  The angels are there for us, watching over, taking care of everyone.  The poems are sincere, and truly show what Jan wanted them to represent.   This book is an excellent tool to teach students about poetry.  It might be hard to implement in the classroom because it does have religious undertones to the poems.  Although it does have this, it is a wonderful assortment of poems that should be showcased.  

The Great Migration: Journey to the North by: Eloise Greenfield (2011) This book of poems was written about the migration African American people went through in the 1920's to find work.  Many people from the southern states moved north to try and find work.  In the north, people were more likely to hire African American workers, rather than in the south.  Many people were being mistreated, or not given jobs, because of their race.  This book of poems is about the emotions and travels that these people had as they moved north.  It gives us an insight that we did not know we were missing.  The reader can understand what these people were thinking when they moved away from their families to find a better life.   This book is a perfect to read when either doing a unit on the 1920's and the effect it had on the African American population, or on poetry.  More people should know about Eloise Greenfield and her talent as a poet.  This book...

Seedfolk by: Paul Fleishman (1997) Seedfolk is a short novel that follows the development of a community garden.  The story starts on a little girl planting lima beans so prove to her father, who passed away before she was born, that she is his daughter.  This garden starts to grow as people around the plot start to notice life coming from something that used to be trash.  Soon enough the garden is cleared of all the trash that used to be there, and other people are starting to plot their own little gardens in the city of Cleveland.  The garden is filled with plants that people from all around are coming to be part of.  Soon the garden starts to look like the community itself.  The garden becomes a home and outlet for many of the farmer.  It is a place where they can communicate even when they do not speak the same language.    This is a wonderful book about a community that never contributed to anything together, comes together witho...