Teacher Appreciation Day By: Lynn Plourde

Everyone in Ms. Shepherd's class knew exactly how they would show her how great of a teacher is except, Maybella. She could not make up her mind. She decides to show her appreciation day in every she has thought of. This is a very funny book that reads quickly. The rhyming and flow keep the reader very interested. The author does a great job of keeping the reader guessing and curious. There are some far-fethed ideas in the book which work very well with the humor of the book. The illustrations of the book are also very good. There is a great amount of detail in the pictures which makes it easier for children to relate to. This a book that will be loved by students becuase of the catchy phrases, and also very appreciatied by teachers.

Crazy Hair Day By: Barney Saltzberg

Stanley is all ready for crazy hair day at his school, but there is one problem! Stanley does crazy hair day a day too early. Stanley wants to hide in the bathroom all day because he is embarrassed, but his friend convinces him otherwise. There are many themes in this book for students to learn about. The first theme i noticed was a theme of building character. This is a great book to help explain that it is important for students to be themselves. Another theme is dealing with disappointment. The author does a great job of showing the thoughts that Stanley has in his head when he realizes his mistake. The last theme that I noticed was the theme of good friends. The book explains very well what a good friends does when mistakes are made and what a good friend can do to make someone feel better when they are having a good day. A great book for students with a variety of themes that could be made into classroom activities.

The New Girl By: Jacqui Robbins

I thought this was a very next explaining the difficulty that a student goes to when they are the new kid. I feel like all of the events that take place in this book are very realistic to events that happen when a new student enters a new school. I liked how the author and the illustrator put a variety of races into the book. I really enjoyed how the first person to become friends with the new African American girl was a White girl. It would be a great book to add to a unit for multi-cultural education. I think this would be a great book for a teacher to read to students on the prior to receiving a new student in their classroom. The author added a twist into the book by attempting to explain that one reason nobody waneted to be friends with the new girl was because the only thing she wanted to talk about was her iguane. I think it be a little difficult for students to make the connection between the iguana and why the new girl was not liked, but overall a very good book for students to read or listen to.

Olivia Helps With Christmas by Ian Falconer

I had never read an Olivia book, but I had heard a lot about them so I wanted to read then. The main point behind this book explains all of the ways in which Olivia helps with Christmas. I was not ver impressed with the book. I had the expectation that I would want to read all of the Oliva books after reading this one, but I really do not have the desire to read anymore of them. I think if a teacher read this book to thier students it would be important to explain that not all children celebrate what is known as Christmas, some students may celebrate something similir, but it may called something else. One thing that I did like about this book is that it attempted to explain traditions. The auther did a good of explaining each step that Oliva family takes to make thier Christmas special to them. I aslo enjoyed that there were flip-out pages in this book. Children seem to enjoy books where there are neat things like that inside.

Amelia Bedilia Goes Camping By: Lynn Sweat

Once again Amelia Bedilia takes an adventure. She takes a camping trip that once again causes some confusion for Amelia. She does not know if she is going to like camping at first, but it turns otu she loves it. I have always loved Ameila Bedilia books. I like how that author comes up with phrases that Ameilia always seems to twist around. For example in the book, Amelia is told to go "pitch a tent," so what does Amelia do? She literllay pitches the tent. The humor of this book is great. I really like the illustrations of this book as well because they make it very easy for me to feel like I am in the book myself. I think that this would be a great book to read to students who are in second or third grade students. I think having the teacher read it out loud to the students would be good because there are many parts in the book where the teacher can add expression and make the book ver interesting.

Mick Harte Was Here By: Barbara Park

This childrens' novel is told from the voice of a young teenage girl. She tells that story of her brother's death one day after school while riding his bike without a helmet. I read this story when I was younger and loved it, so I wanted to read it again. I think the author does a very good job of keeping the book interesting. My first thought when I began to read the book was a thought of doubt. I had doubts about whether children between the ages of eight and twelve should really be reading books about death. I really liked how the author made all parts of the story very real. All of the events and issues that the family of the boy who had died went through were very realistic. The author did a very good of explaining all of the characters in a in which I could easily create my own mental image of them. I realized that this book does a very good job of explaining the grieving process for children. If there is a child that has lost a loved one this would be a very good book for them to read, so that they could see that their feelings are very normal. This book is also a good way to teach helmet safety to students that may be at the age where they think that are just too "cool" for helmets.