Thanksgiving Time!

Thanksgiving Mice!

By Bethany Roberts

Illustrated by Doug Cushman

This is an adorable book that would be great to use with the younger kids. It help teach them about events of Thanksgiving, and do it in a fun way with mice as the characters.

The mice decide to put on a play for their friends about Thanksgiving. They make the costumes, the sets, and practice all their lines.They call in all their friends, and tell them to take a seat for their play. They show the Pilgrims coming from England on the Mayflower and landing on Plymouth Rock.They talk about the cold, harsh winter. In Act 2, they show them meeting "friendly folks" who give them corn to sow. Once they harvest the food, they feast and dance. At the end of the play, the mice take a bow and all their friends clap and cheer.

The use of repetition and rhyming in this book would also help the young kids learn how to read. The words used in this story are not too big making it and useful tool to teach the kids about Thanksgiving and how to read.

Magic, Magic, Magic!

Strega Nona's Magic Lessons

Story and Pictures by Tomie de Paola

I remember having this book read to me when I was in elementary school. I also used it for my second read aloud assignment, and the kids loved it. The book is about a young girl who doesn't want to be a baker's daughter anymore so she goes to Strega Nona to learn magic. Big Anthony wants to learn magic too, but Strega Nona doesn't let him learn. He tries to work for the baker, but that doesn't end up working out. He dresses up as Antonia and goes to Strega Nona to learn magic. Antonia doesn't do well learning the magic, but Bambolona, the little girl, picks it up really quick. Antonia is jealous and tries to learn magic over night. She messes up really bad, and has to reveal that it's really just Big Anthony. After he learns his lesson not to mess with magic anymore, he goes back to doing his chores. 

This book couldn't be tied in with any specific lesson plans, but it is a fun book that could be used for read aloud. The kids I read it to loved it, and the read aloud time was incentive for good behavior during the day. It would also be a good book to have on a shelf in a classroom. The pictures are interesting, and the kids would love flipping through the book during free time.

Book Blog

My Mommy

By Susan Paradis

This was a very interesting book, and took me by surprise when I read it. I just assumed it would be a cute little book about a mom and a little girl when I saw the cover. Although this book was a story about the daily activities the mother and daughter do together, there were some interesting pieces to it. On every page, there was a picture of a mother animal with her baby animal. One of the pictures shows the mom helping her daughter do her hair, while a mom monkey combs through her babies hair. There were some interesting choices in animals on some of the pages. There were kangaroos, monkeys, geese, giraffes, elephants, tigers, and wolves. I was not expecting the animals on each page, but it was a fun twist to a common story. 

This book is an extremely easy read and would most likely be boring for older kids. If this book is to be used in the classroom, kindergarten would be the oldest group you could use it with. It would probably be best with pre-k in my opinion. It is a great book to remind kids of all the great things their mothers do for them.