Pinkalicious: Tickled Pink

Pinkalicious: Tickled Pink

Author/Illustrator: Victoria Kann
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: None
Grades: 2-4

A girl named Pinkalicious was at the library one day and found a joke book. She found many funny jokes and read them out loud to her friends to make them crack up. A classmate named Tiffany challenged her to tell her own funny joke since reading them off the book did not mean she was personally funny. Pinkalicious thought about a joke all day and night long and was worried she was not going to make her friends laugh. The next day when she told her joke, she tickled everyone causing them to laugh. She felt a lot better about herself, but still decided to stick with her joke book.

I would not use this book in my classroom to read aloud, but this might be a fun book to have in my classroom for students to read. The personalities of the characters are for an older crowd that would understand the humor of them. This particular book has is apart of a collection so I could also use this to motivate students to read more of the same collection if they like this book. 

It's Great to Work Together

It's Great to Work Together

Author/Illustrator: Jordan Collings
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: None
Grades: PK-1

Mrs. Clayton had announced to her class that they were going to have a treasure hunt day where they had to look for specific items as a team and write the location of the item on the back of their card. One of the classmates, Tia, had a brother who had done the hunt last year and won so she decided to look for items where they were placed last year just like her brother had said. While she looked, her teammates had found some of the items on the cards, but Tia did not listen to them. Since she did not work as team, her group lost the race. She learned that it was important to work as a team and apologized to her teammates.

I would use this book in my classroom to teach the importance of teamwork. This book gives the rsult of not working together which will teach my students how important it is to work with each other. The appropriate grade level for this is PK or Kinder to teach them as early as possible the meaning of teamwork. It can be used in first grade as well to reinforce or to reteach students the consequences of not working together. I would use this in any unit where y students have to work as a group. 

Love you Forever

Love you Forever

Author: Robert Munsch
Illustrator: Sheila McGraw
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: None
Grade: PK and Kindergarten

This sad book is about a mother who would sing to her boy as he grew up. No matter how old he got, she would hold him in her arms and would sing and rock him while he slept. When the mother got old, the son did the same to his mother until she passed away. At the end of the book, it shows he son holding his new daughter as she slept, singing her the same song.

I would recommend parents to read this book to their children but would not use it in my classroom because it is a sad book. The appropriate grade level for this book is Kindergarten so that students understand the feelings behind the story, but can be used for students younger. If I needed to use this book for a unit I would use it to show repetition. 

The Night before Preschool

The Night before Preschool


Author: Natasha Wing
Illustrator: Amy Wummer
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: None
Grade: PK 

It was the night before preschool and every child was getting ready for bed and falling fast asleep. All but one little boy named Billy. The next day at preschool, Billy was really shy and did not play with the rest of the children. During nap time, he started to cry because he had forgotten  his bear at home. A girl offered her bunny and Billy fell fast asleep. Once he woke up, he was not so shy anymore and played with the rest of his classmates. At the end, he enjoyed preschool. 

I would not use this in my classroom, but would instead suggest parents to read this book with their child. The appropriate grade level for this book is PK because the characters are going through the same thing as them. If I were to use this in a unit, I would use it to evaluate the differences in Billy's feelings. 

Hannah Sparkles: A Friend through Rain or Shine

Hannah Sparkles: A Friend though Rain or Shine




Author: Robin Mellom
Illustrator: Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: None
Grade: PK-2

This book is about a little girl named Hannah who was out going and friendly. She was always happy and always had a smile on her face. One day she found out she had a new neighbor, Sunny Everbright, and went over to introduce herself. She showed her everything she liked but noticed her new neighbor was not into glitter and rainbows like herself. She started to get upset until one day it started to rain and noticed Sunny loved it and had a smile on her face. She realized her new friend may not like the same things she does but still enjoys different things that make her happy. 

I would use this book in the classroom to show students how being different from one another is not always bad. An appropriate grade level for this book is Kindergarten where they are just starting to get to know other classmates their age. A good unit to use this for can be for a social studies lesson where they learn about social relationships. I can also plainly read this book during a read aloud as a small lesson about how to get along with each other.