101 Freaky Animals By Melvin and Gilda Berger

          This book would also be good to use as an addendum to a science lesson or in a science center. I think it appropriate for students K-4th grade, although it would definitely need to be a read aloud in kindergarten and first grade because it does have some difficult words.
          There are several reasons that I liked this book: the cover alone makes you want to pick it up and read it, there are fantastic picture of unusual and odd animals and it goes in alphabetical order, and the blurbs are numbered! Very interdisciplinary!The first animal is #1: "Aardvarks have paws like shovels." Each animal has one sentence like that one, a paragraph describing it in more detail and a close up picture. #2 "Angler fish light up."There is also a picture of a fish with very sharp looking teeth. The whole book is like this up to animal #100: "Viper fish have teeth like needles." I have never heard of a viper fish, but here is the description: The viper fish has looks that can kill. It's bottom teeth are so long that they stick out of it's mouth. When a viper fish spots its prey, it heads towards it at top speed with it's mouth wide open. Slam! IT smashes into it's prey.......This paragraph might not be the best for the kindergartners.
          Other weird animals would include, dugongs, babirusas, capybaras, gulper eels, leafy sea dragons, stonefish, and tuataras. If you are curious as to what these animals are, you will need to read the book! The pictures are great and the book itself is very informative. I actually learned a lot. This book would also be good to help students chose a research project etc.

Amazing Snakes! By Sarah L. Thompson

Amazing Snakes! is a shorter book that is put out by the Wildlife Conservation Society, and is considered to be "An I Can Read Book." This book is appropriate for first and second graders and would be useful as an addendum to a science lesson or in a science center. I have read this book to my son a hundred times but he still loves it because it has great pictures of all types of snakes and most of them look very scary. Vocabulary words such as "constrictors" and "venom" are broken down and defined for the children, and most of the pictures are close ups. This book discusses the rattle snake, boa, python, garden snakes etc. Pictures of snakes skins and eggs are incorporated and the author also discusses how a snake swallows it prey whole. I like this book because the story is long enough but not too long, it defines the harder words, and it goes into detail, but not too much detail. Readers will also understand more about snakes bodies, tongues, fangs and where snakes can hide when waiting for their prey. So if you are looking for a basic book with lots of detail about snakes, this is a good one. Other "An I Can Read Books" include: Amazing Tigers, Amazing Whales, Amazing Gorillas, and Amazing Sharks. One other important note is that it can only be ordered through Scholastic.

The Secret World of Walter Anderson by: Hester Bass

             This book won the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and after reading it, I can understand why. I didn't know anything about Walter Anderson, who died from a mysterious illness in 1965, but he was certainly an interesting person.Walter Anderson always wanted to be an artist from the time he was a young child, and he was gifted at drawing and painting. He loved nature and he especially loved to paint nature, so he would often row to a remote island, called Horn Island, off the coast of Mississippi. Here he would stay for a week or two just living with nature and the animals, eating what he had brought with him or what washed up on shore. Humans had lived on the island at one point, but now it was just animals. Walter didn't even bring a tent, he just slept on his boat. He liked to climb trees and wade out in the water or explore the island to paint the nature he loved so much. Walter thought living among the nature on Horn Island was paradise, and he even painted animals after they had died because he felt they were magnificent even in death.
          Walter had one private room at his house that no one was allowed in, not even his wife or children, because this was HIS ROOM. No one knew what was in it or what he did in there, but after he died, his wife did unlock it out of curiosity. No one could believe what was in there. Walter had spent all of his time painting images from the Horn Island nature and animals! He used water colors, and the central figure on the ceiling was a large zennia flower. Walter Anderson is best known for his water color paintings depicting nature scenes from Horn Island, but he also used charcoal, and scultped using ceramics.The book has a few examples of his paintings etc. and one of them uses oil and tempura on stucco. There is also a picture of the actual room from his house that he painted and it is titled, Little Room, 1951-1953, oil on wood.
          E. B. Lewis is the illustrator for this book, and his illustrations really help the reader to grasp what life was like on Horn Island. I am glad I found this book. I do plan on reading it to my third graders, but I think it could be read to kindergartners too. Everyone should read this book at some point and time.

Savvy by Ingrid Law

          I have never been a big fan of fantasy except for Stephen King books.........but never the less I read this book to the end because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. This Newberry Honor Book is full of surprises.The Beaumont family consisting of mom, dad and five children is special because when they turn thirteen, they get their "savvy." A "savvy" is a special power: one child can produce high winds and cause a lot of damage like a hurricane, another can cause all sorts of electrical problems and the main character, Mississippi (Mibs) Beaumont can hear what someone is thinking through any ink they have on their body (like a tatoo, even a temporary one).
          Mibs grandad used to be able to move mountains when he was younger, and her grandmother could reach out and grab a song or t.v interview out of the air and "can" it in a mason jar so that she could crack the lid and listen anytime she wanted to. Mib's mothers' savvy was being "perfect." Anything she went to do was perfect which wasn't always so great either. But Mib's poppa was the only one who was "normal" and didn't have a savvy. The Beaumont family lives in the middle of Kansas and Nebraska, and their poppa is involved in a terrible car accident and is taken to Salina, Kansas.The majority of this story takes place over the course of two days, with Mibs and her family trying to get to Salina because Poppa isn't waking up and Mibs thinks that her new savvy can help to wake him.
          Mibs and her family and friends get into all sorts of trouble trying to get to Poppa and help him wake up. Finally they make it there but no one is sure Poppa is going to make it. Finally Mibs remembers that Poppa has a faded tattoo and she tries to make him hear her through this, and she can hear him faintly too. Finally he does wake up, but he is never the same again.........he has his good days and his bad. One day, Mibs mother writes a recipe on the back of her hand and Mibs finds out that her mother is going to have another baby. So the books ends on a high note. This is an interesting idea and does keep the readers attention; it is full of underlying, hidden meaning and would be more appropriate for at least fourth grade and up. I loved some of the ideas the author came up with like canning your favorite music so that you could listen to it at another time, but I do think a savvy could be a curse too. I am not sure that I would want to hear other people's thoughts all day just because they had ink on them somewhere. There are no pictures in this book and it is long, but it is a fast read. You can visit the author at: http://www.ingridlaw.com/.

The Watsons Go To Birmingham---1963 By: Christopher Paul Curtis

         This story is about an African American family living in Flint, Michigan in 1963. This Newberry Honor, and Coretta Scott King Award winner, is filled with funny stories about the Watson family, but it ends on a more serious note. Byron is the older brother who acts like he doesn't care about anything and is always getting into trouble for lighting things on fire, skipping school and putting stuff in his hair that requires his head to be shaved! Kenny is the middle child and is always trying to be good, and always wondering why Byron does the things that he does. Joey is the younger sister and the drama queen.
         They call themselves the "Weirdo Watsons" and there is a lot of talk about papa and his "brown bomber" that he loves to drive and will not get rid of. Mama is from Birmingham, Alabama and misses it a lot. She hates the Michigan weather and often reverts back to her southern drawl by saying things like "hea uh" for "here," which the children think is hilarious. Finally, momma and poppa decide that Byron needs to get away from his friends in Flint, so they decide to take a family trip to Birmingham to visit momma's family. The intent is to leave Byron there for the summer, but after a few days of visiting, a tragedy occurs. One Sunday morning, Joey decided to go to the local Baptist church with her friend, and while she was there, it was bombed and four young girls were killed. At first the reader is unsure whether Joey is one of these girls, and Kenny is convinced she is, but later you find that she had decided to come back to grandma's house early. The next day, the Watsons decide to go back to Michigan, but Kenny suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome and takes to hiding, sleeping and eating behind the coach. At first no one knows where he is until Byron figures it out. Although Byron usually acts like he doesn't care about anything or anyone, he does stay with Kenny all day, everyday until he finally convinces Kenny to come out. Finally Kenny is able to release his emotions and the story ends more positively.
          I do appreciate the author taking the time to write an epilogue going into more detail about the struggle for basic human rights and the civil rights movement, during this time period. He elaborates on actions taken, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and others who contributed to the movement, as well as those that died. This book has so much hidden, underlying meaning and it is a page turner. It is very easy to relate to the trials and tribulations the Watsons go through as a family. I really enjoyed this book.

Christopher Curtis is the author of Bud, Not Buddy which also takes place in Flint, Michigan in 1936

SHILOH By:Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

We are all familiar with SHILOH, but I wanted to read it again because it is one of my daughter's favorite books. This Newberry Medal winner is the first in a trilogy of Shiloh books written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. This story is based on a real dog, that the author met while visiting relatives in Shiloh, West Virginia. Phyllis Naylor thought the little dog may have been abused and started writing with her as the basis for this book. The dog still lives in Shiloh and although she is a lot older, she is doing great! This story has a lot of deeper issues going on than just an abused dog. It is about family values, alcoholism, abusing animals, life in rural West Virginia, fighting for what you want, and working hard for what you want. Marty, the main character, knows that Shiloh is being abused by his mean neighbor, Judd Travers, who drinks too much and shoots animals whenever he wants to. Marty is determined to rescue Shiloh from Judd, even if means blackmailing him and then having to work off his debt to him. Marty and Shiloh are both scared of Judd, who is so rotten that he names his dogs cuss words or how much he paid for them like "35"or "40," and shoots deers out of season just to do it. Marty comes from a loving and supportive family, with parents that would go to any lengths to protect their children and who genuinely care about what is happening in their children's lives. The other peculiar thing about Judd Travers is that he wants his hunting dogs to be the best and his pick-up truck to always look perfect, probably to hide what is not so perfect about him.
          I have read this book out loud to my daughter and it is difficult as a read aloud. The author likes to use relaxed English, so there is a lot of "ain'ts" and "don'ts" etc. I almost didn't want to read these words to her, especially because the grammar is so bad, but I realized that you do to need to read it just like it is to make it more authentic and real. Marty is lucky in that he knows he can talk to his parents about anything, and at eleven years old, he has a lot of perseverance. I am almost envious of the life the author describes for this family in this rural town. The children are always outside playing on the swing, running in the field or the woods, and playing in the stream. Marty and his friend play "spy" too. Marty wants Shiloh to be his dog, and Judd makes him work off his debt, although Marty is always fearful that Judd will try to keep Shiloh anyway. In the end, Marty does work off his debt to Judd and he tries very hard to be his friend.......so now I need to read Shiloh Season to see what happens next.
           Phyllis Naylor has written over 100 books including the Shiloh trilogy and she lives in Bethesda, MD. Shiloh is now available on DVD.

Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

         Shel Silverstein is one of my favorite writers and I knew I would choose one of his poetry books for this particular blog. In addition to Falling Up, Silverstein has written other books of poetry such as: The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic. Shel Silversteins' poetry is for children of all ages, but it does have a lot of hidden underlying meaning. Some of his poems are short and some are long. All are illustrated by him and are black and white drawings which are rudimentary; however, they can make you laugh and usually give you a good visual for the poem itself. One of his poems in Falling Up is very short: Stupid Pencil Maker:  Some dummy built this pencil wrong--The eraser's down here where the point belongs. And the point's at the top--so it's no good to me. Its amazing how stupid some people can be.  Can't you see a second or third grader thinking this about a pencil? Notice how it rhymes too.

      Some of his poems are a page or two long and deal with subjects like  "garbage," "diving boards," and "spoiled brats." Young children and adults can all relate to a poem written by Shel Silverstein. One entitled "The Nap Taker" is two pages long and rhymes all the way through......"I did not take that nap." I cried. "I give my solemn vow, And if I took it by mistake I do not have it now." This poem is a play on words about someone "taking a nap." Most of Silverstein's poems are written like this and are really written to connect with children and what they may be thinking about something, but might be too shy to say out loud. The front cover of all his books depicts what the artwork will look like through out the books. Falling Up and all of his other books can be used as a book to read to the class for fun or for a unit on poetry, how to write and illustrate poetry, and to learn more vocabulary words through a rhyming pattern. Shel Silverstein passed away in 1999 but is still remembered today as one of the great children's authors.

I still read his poetry for enjoyment for myself and for my own children. All teachers should have a Shel Silverstein book of poems!!!!