This story is lots of fun. It would be a fun “read out loud” book with a group. The pictures are colorful and cute. The story has easy to read font in vocabulary young readers could read fairly easily. I enjoyed this story. The end is cute.
Author Archives: SSBRC Former Member
Oopsy,Teacher!
This would be a great book to read to a class of children. The final word of each thought is extra large print; making it easy for a group that was being read to to read and say together. The story is light and funny. The story makes the best of a bad situation. It’s a good lesson in not letting problems get you down but just getting up and doing your best.
I think the children would enjoy the rather slap-stick things that happen to the teacher in this story.
The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit
Brer Rabbit is a trickster that lives in the folktales told for hundreds of years and collected by Joel Chandler Harris in the 1880’s. This is a collection of seven tales and the language has been modernized from the original, but the humor remains. Kids will love hearing about the escapades of Brer Rabbit as he pulls his tricks on Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Turtle.
Speaking Dog: Understanding Why Your Hound Howls and Other Tips on Speaking Dog
This new series from Capstone is of high interest targeting struggling or reluctant readers. The vocabulary is controlled and the sentence structure is short and direct. All parts of a non-fiction book are included such as a table of contents, glossary and index. The photos do a good job of showing exactly what is referred to in the text. The quick guide to canine body language data table does a nice job of explaining what dogs are trying to say if they could speak. A book every school library should have to enable struggling students to experience success in reading non-fiction.
Monsters Don’t Cry!
Things happen that disappoint, make you sad, and even hurt, but it’ll get better, and crying won’t help. That’s the message here. But then sometimes you have to cry because nothing else will do. That’s okay, too.
The Pets You Get!
This is a cute little story with fun pictures. It deals with peoples differences and learning to appreciate each others and enjoy them. It is a quick easy read that young children would enjoy. The words are large easy to read font. The pictures are bright and colorful. It’s a fun addition to our library.
The Story Behind Maps
This reference on maps gives a brief history of mapmaking and famous mapmakers. It also provides information on types of maps, reading maps and on map projections. It ends a chapter titled, “The Future of Maps” that discusses satellites and sky surveys. There is a timeline, glossary, resources for more information at the end of the book in addition to the beautiful photographs and maps throughout the book. However, the book is aimed at a very young audience, and as a high school teacher, I do not know if it will find an audience in an elementary school.
The Ten Year Century
This book takes stock of the major events that occurred during the first decade of the twenty-first century: “breaking down the decade’s most significant events year by year, from the 2000 presidential election recount to the rise of globalization to the advent of Twitter…” From the dot.com bust, WMDs, the Surge, the Maverick to the Audacity of Hope, the major stories of the period are examined. The epilogue states that “…our constant flow of information from the media makes every crisis seem all the more dramatic.” One of our English teachers looked through this book and said that excerpts from it would be great to use for lessons in reading informational text. That in itself makes it a useful addition to the library.
Genetically Modified Foods
The world of genetically modified foods is discussed in this volume of the Nutrition and Health series. The author explains how GM crops were developed, how GM foods are made, and the advantages of and concerns about GM foods. The pages are visually appealing with color photos, fact inserts, and full page articles with related information. The book does a good job presenting both sides of the issue and provides a glossary, organizations to contact, and a list of references for more information. There is not enough information for upper level high school students doing research, but for younger students or those just looking for a place to start, it will suffice.
Bush v. Gore The Florida Recounts of the 2000 Presidential Election
This book takes what was an extremely volatile issue at the time, and what is likely to be seen by many students now as confusing, and leads the reader clearly through each of the chain of events that led to the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore. The explanations are clear. There are enough photos, inserts and quotations and excerpts from primary source documents to keep the material interesting. A timeline of events and rulings, a glossary, and additional resources are included.