Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business

Author: Barbara Park

Illustrator: Denise Brunkus

Title: Junie B Jones and a Little Monkey Business

Genre: Children's chapter book

Sub genre: Realistic Fiction

Theme: Family

Primary and secondary characters: Junie B. Jones, Ollie Jones

Date: 1993

Award:

Publisher Company: Random House

Brief summary on how to use for students:  This book can be used in the classroom to learn about familes and new siblings. This book is funny and good for students to read and can have a good time reading the book.

Summary: Juni B. Jones in a kindergartener realizes that her new baby brother is the center of attention. She is in kindergarten and her two best friends really want to see him. Maybe she can bring him to school on pet day?

Hoot

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Illustrator:

Title: Hoot

Genre: Children's chapter book

Sub genre: Children's chapter book

Theme: Conservation and bullying

Primary and secondary characters: Roy, Beatrice, Mullet Fingers

Date: 2002

Award: Newbery Award

Publisher Company: Knopf

Brief summary on how to use for students:  This book can be used in the classroom to learn about bullying and how it is not acceptable. Students are also able to learn about wildlife and conservation. Can have students read independently in class and have discussions on the issues of bullying.

Summary: This story takes place in Coconut Cove, Florida. Roy has two friends that want to stop the construction of a pancake house. Where the pancake house is being built is where burrowing owls live and made homes. This book also goes through conservation and shows how bullying takes place.

A Cool Moonlight

Author: Angela Johnson

Illustrator:

Title: A Cool Moonlight

Genre: family life

Sub genre: fiction

Theme: Skin disease, sisters

Primary and secondary characters: Lila, Elizabeth and Alyssa

Date: 2003

Award:

Publisher Company: Dial Books

Brief summary on how to use for students:  This book can be used in the classroom to show how people can be different but you can still get along. Everyone has feelings and nobody should be shunned for having something that cannot be helped. Can have students read independently in class.

Summary: Lila is an eight year old who suffers from a rare sun allergy xeroderma pigmentosum. Sunlight burns her skin and can even cause her to go blind, so Lila lives in darkened rooms and is involved in many nighttime adventures. She sleeps during the day and attends school in her own dim kitchen. She waits each evening for sunset and darkness, when she can go outside to play and explore her neighborhood. Even at night, she must slather herself with sunscreen, wear sunglasses and cover up. On lonely nights she is visited by her two imaginary friends who dance and tell her wonderful stories. She has a plan to be able to touch the sun by her ninth birthday. But in the end she realizes that it is okay to be the way she is.

Children of the Great Depression

Author: Russell Freedman

Illustrator: Photos taken by different photographers

Title: Children of the Great Depression

Genre: non fiction

Sub genre: bibliography

Theme: Great Depression

Primary and secondary characters: children of the Great Depression

Date: 2005

Award: Orbis Pictus Winner

Publisher Company: Clarion Books

Brief summary on how to use for students:  This book is an informational book used for children to learn about the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Teachers can use this in a social studies or history lesson.

Summary: This book shows a look at what children lived like during the Great Depression. The pictures and words show you their lives which were rough. The book also shows the hardships they struggled with during the time of despair and poverty that struck America.

The Thief Lord

Author: Cornelia Funke

Illustrator: Christian Burmingham

Title: The Thief Lord

Genre: fantasy

Sub genre: adventure

Theme: adventurous

Primary and secondary characters: Prosper and Bo, Scipio

Date: 2002

Award: Mildred L. Batchelder Award

Publisher Company: The Chicken House/ Scholastic Publishing

Brief summary on how to use for students:  This book is filled with mystery and adventure that any child can enjoy. Students can read this book independently in class or as a class.

Summary: Prosper and Bo are brothers who run away to Venice, Italy. While in Italy they meet orphans that live in a movie theater that take them in. Scipio calls himself the Thief Lord and steals money from the poor and sell them to a shopkeeper. After worrying, Prosper and Bo’s aunt and uncle figure out where they are and hire a detective to go after them. The story is mainly about the adventures between the detective and the secret Scipio.

Spiders

Author: Nic Bishop

Illustrator: Bishop’s photography

Title: Spiders

Genre: non fiction

Sub genre: children’s non fiction

Theme: animals/nature

Primary and secondary characters: spiders

Date: 2008

Award: Robert Sibert Winner

Publisher Company: Scholastic Inc.

Brief summary on how to use for students:  This book can be used for students who want to learn about spiders. There are interesting facts and information on spiders. This book is great for the classroom learning the difference between spiders and insects as well.

Summary: This book is a collection of spiders and is very informational. Students can learn many facts such as spiders have hair and they also have two different spin web spinners. In the book you also learn about the webs they spin and the food they eat.