Mo's Mustache

Title: Mo's Mustache
Author: Ben Clanton
Illustrations: Ben Clanton
Published: Clanton, B. (2013). Mo's mustache. Toronto: Tundra Books.
Themes: humour, clothing/dress, emotions, feelings, individuality

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Mo is the cutest little monster who just bought a brand new mustache. He loves his new mustache and wears it with pride. All of his friends think his new mustache is so trendy, however, the next day....they are all wearing their own mustache now. Why are they copying him? How will Mo ever stand out?

HUZZAH! This is such an adorable book about individuality. The illustrations are so whimsical and simple, while the writing is humorous and descriptive.

Classroom Ideas:
- This book would be a fantastic book to look at adjectives ("A big, black, beautiful mustache")
- This is a great book to teach individuality and teaching how everyone has their own personal styles.
- When I first read this book, it immediately made me think of another favourite of mine....Stephanie's Ponytail (Robert Munsch). See if your kids can make some text-to-text connections with these books.
- GREAT book to do a read aloud with younger students
- Talk about different perspectives with your students - you can look at Mo's perspective and that of his friends. Why does Mo think they are copying him?
- Have a conversation with your students: how do you feel when others copy you?


What would you do with Mo's Mustache in your classroom?

That Book Woman

Title: That Book Woman
Author: Heather Henson
Illustrations: David Small
Published: Henson, H. (2008). That book woman. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Themes: reading, books, librarian, inspiration

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Cal is not someone who enjoys reading, unlike his sister Lark. One day a book woman comes to their home and returns every few weeks to deliver books to his family. Cal can’t imagine who would want books. As time goes on Cal’s interest in this book woman heightens, and so does his interest in books.

This book is written in older English and from the point of view from someone who doesn't read/know how to read. As such, it may be a little harder for students to understand. However, I have found that if you guide them in "close reading" (such as using the handout below) it becomes easier for them to discover the main idea or lesson that the story presents.

This truly is a beautiful story of how reading can intrigue and transform a person. David Small creates some beautiful illustrations for this book and transports the reader into the Appalachian Mountains.

Classroom Ideas:
- Do a preliminary picture walk with your students before reading - they will help your students to understand the text.
 -This book talks about Pack Horse Librarians, in the spirit of this, you could have your students explore the history of librarians. There's a great wikispace site found here.
- The author uses a ton of figurative language - lots of similes and metaphors!!
- This story takes place during the Great Depression, have your students explore what it may have been like to live during this time.
- Reflection Question: the Pack Horse Librarians must have loved books a lot to travel in dangerous conditions to deliver books. Have students pick 1 or 2 of their favourite books (and why) and compile a list of your class’ recommended readings.
- Once students become more familiar with the story and storyline, this could be a great story for reader's theatre (it can be read like a dramatic monologue).

Ish

Title: Ish
Author: Peter H. Reynolds
Illustrations: Peter H. Reynolds
Published: Reynolds, P. (2004). Ish. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
Themes: art, artist, creative thinking, process, confidence

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Have you have the opportunity to read any of Peter Reynolds' book? Have you read The Dot. Wow. But that's a post for another day. Similarly to The Dot, Ish follows a young boy who just doesn't feel as though his drawings are "right". While his vase does not look exactly like a vase, it does look vase-ish. And his tree does not look exactly like a tree, it does look tree-ish.

I love this book because it is a little window into the idea that not everyone does things the exact same way.

Classroom Ideas:
- Have students write their own "ish" poems 
- Have students create their own "ish" drawings or watercolour paintings. This could also be a great lead in to looking at abstract art with your students.
- I think this could be a great book to have students do reader's theatre. It's short, it has different voices, and it has a powerful storyline. 
- PERFECT story to make some text-to-self connections (especially for younger students K-3). Have you ever felt that your art is just not "right"?
- Class Pledge - have your class promise that they will always do their "best job".



Can you think of any of 'ish' activities that students would love?

Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad

Title: Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad
Author: Henry Cole
Illustrations: Henry Cole
Published: Cole. H. (2012). Unspoken: A story from the underground railroad. New York: Scholastic Press.
Themes: wordless, courage, bravery, friendship, historical fiction, civil war, underground railroad, safe houses

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I am a historical fiction junkie. Mix that together with a wordless book and you've got me hooked! I cannot express enough how much I LOVE this book! Seriously, I don't know if I've ever seen a more breathtaking book in my life; Henry Cole has created a masterpiece. I'm actually a little sad that this book did not win the Caldecott Medal (although This is Not My Hat is pretty great as well).

This book focuses on a young girl at the time of the civil war. One day when she goes to collect eggs from the barn, she gets a lingering suspicion that she's not in there alone. This book focuses around the pivotal question "what would you do if you had the chance to help a person find freedom?" 

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Classroom Ideas:
- Inference/prediction, have students talk about what they think is happening in the pictures. Have students make predictions about what they think will be on the next page? What will happen to the characters next? What clues are in the picture that tell us what is happening in the story?
- Have students pick one page in the book and write a descriptive paragraph explaining what is happening in the illustration.
- Have students create a character web on the main character - what does the author reveal to us about the young girl through the pictures?
- Looking at the pictures, can you figure out what the mood of the story is?
- Read the Author's Note presented on the back page. Discuss the courage and bravery of both of the young characters in the book.
- Have students reflect on the question "what would you do if you had the chance to help a person find freedom?" 
- Have students create a visual journal (half pictures, half words) about what they think will happen after the last page of the book. What will happen to the two characters? 

  
I just want to leave you with a section from the Author's Note:

"I wanted to make this a wordless book. The two main characters in the story are both brave, have a strong bond, and communicate with great depth. Yet, both are silent. They speak without words. Because I made only the pictures, I'm hoping that you will write the words and make this story your own - filling in all the has been unspoken." (Henry Cole) 

Pick up a wordless book today!

The Day the Crayons Quit

Title: The Day the Crayons Quit
Author: Drew Daywalt
Illustrations: Oliver Jeffers
Published: Daywalt, D. (2013). The day the crayons quit. New York: Philomel Books.
Themes: use of colour, letters

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Our story opens when Duncan goes to take out his crayons, but instead he finds some letters. His crayons have run away because they feel mistreated by Duncan. Find out how Duncan gets his crayons to come back!

Can I just start by saying how amazing Jeffers is at these illustrations! They are truly incredible; children will love reading through the pages. Each page is crafted a letter written from the crayon to Duncan -- each letter reveals something about each crayon's unique personality.

Classroom Ideas:
- What a fun introduction this book would be for letter writing! 
- Each letter has strong opinions, why not use this book as an introduction to opinion writing
- Point of view study
- Have students craft a letter from Duncan's point of view? If he going to write a letter to get his crayons back, what would he say?
- Make some text-to-text connections with the books: Harold's Purple Crayon (Johnson), My Crayons Talk (Hubbard) or The Crayon Box that Talked (Derolf)



Have you read this zany book? What would you do with it in your classroom?

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

Title: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Illustrations: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Van Allsburg, C. (1984). The mysteries of Harris Burdick. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Themes: mystery, adventure, imagination

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Can we just agree right now that Chris Van Allsburg is a genius? 

Okay, now that we've got that settled, let's dive in to this amazing book. This book has been around for quite some time, but I just don't think that it's gotten the respect that it deserves.

In case you haven't been privileged enough to know this book or the story behind it, I'll give you a little sneak peek into the introduction that Van Allsburg has written:

"Thirty years ago a man called at Peter Wender's office, introducing himself as Harris Burdick. Mr. Burdick explained that he had written fourteen stories and had drawn many pictures for each one. He'd brought with him just one drawing from each story, to see if Wenders liked his work.

Peter Wenders was fascinated by the drawings. He told Burdick he would like to read the stories that went with them as soon as possible. The artist agreed to bring the stories the next morning. He left the fourteen drawings with Wenders. But he did not return the next day. Or the day after that. Harris Burrdick was never heard from again....To this day Harris Burdick remains a complete mystery."

That is just two paragraphs from the introduction, the whole thing can be read here (and I STRONGLY suggest that you check it out; it's fascinating).

Can't you just see your students wanting to know what happened to Harris Burdick? The intriduction in itself leads to an amazing writing opportunity.

But that's why Chris Van Allsburg is a genius; he doesn't stop there. He includes the fourteen pictures and their captions in the book.

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Now tell me your students would not enjoy coming up with a story to explain these fascinating pictures?


Teachers: this link has some fantastic ideas for using this book in your classroom.



Enjoy the mysteries of Harris Burdick!

The Spelling Bee Before Recess

Title: The Spelling Bee Before Recess
Author: Deborah Lee Rose
Illustrations: Carey F. Armstrong-Ellis
Published: Rose, D. L. (2013). The spelling bee before recess. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Themes: spelling, rhyming, making mistakes, reading

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I just love how this books opens:

'Twas right before recess

(about 10:23).

Not a teacher was teaching

(not even PE).

The Students were squirming,

but none made a sound,

as the spelling bee entered

its championship round.

The story centres around one of the three children (known as "The Slugger") that are in the championship round. I don't want to give anything away....but the tiebreaking word is to die for....sesquipedalian. What a delectable word! I can just see the kids in your classroom wanting to know the meaning of that word!

This story is charming and hilarious and the illustrations are so interactive and interesting. This is sure to be a hit with your class! What I love most about this book is the very end. I won't tell you who wins, but I do want to share this little line with you:

"So in spelling (and life),

if you want to succeed,

the best thing of all you can do

is to READ."

How many kids would want to go read so they could become better spellers?! I just love it.

Classroom Ideas:

- Why not introduce this book and then have your very own spelling bee? The book has a list of words used in their spelling bee, but you could also include words that you are learning in your class.
- This book could be used in your poetry unit. The stanzas vary from ABAB to ABCB.
- Reflection Question: would you consider yourself to be a sesquipedalian? How would you become one? 



Have you read this book? I would love to hear your input.

Journey

Title: Journey
Author: Aaron Becker
Illustrations: Aaron Becker
Published: Becker, A. (2013). Journey. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.
Themes: adventure, imagination, self-determination, unexpected friendship

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A lonely little girl enters into a new and exciting world with her red crayon, a marker that can help her create anything she wants. She journeys along until she comes across an unexpected friendship. 

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a good wordless book. There are just endless possibilities for classroom use and can easily be used for all students in your classroom.

Classroom Ideas:
- Wordless books are great for working on inference and prediction skills (something our students are in desperate need of ).
- Have students create one last picture for the book. What would the next page look like? What would the two friends be doing next?
- Have students choose one picture in the book and write a descriptive paragraph about what is happening on the page.
- Have students create a concept map on journeys

Discussion Questions:
- What would you do with a magical crayon?
- Why do you think the girl is lonely at the beginning of the book?


How do you feel about wordless books?

Exclamation Mark

Title: Exclamation Mark
Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld
Illustrations: Tom Lichtenheld
Published: Rosenthal, A.K. & Lichtenheld, T. (2013). Exclamation mark. New York: Scholastic Press.
Themes: punctuation, purpose, individuality, finding your way, self-esteem, pride

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This book is my newest purchase and it's seriously great! Not only is it a terrific book about punctuation, but it's also a great story about not fitting in and striving to find your purpose in life!

Exclamation mark is tired of standing out! He's so unlike the other punctuation marks that he feels like he doesn't fit in anywhere. One day he meets Question Mark....that's when everything changes!

(I'm using a lot of exclamation marks just to show you how much I enjoy this book!)

The pictures in this book are o' so adorable, seriously!

Classroom Ideas:

- Like I said, I think this would be an awesome introduction to punctuation and the type of sentence that they follow

- I can just see using this book to reinforce punctuation. Students can each recieve (or make their own) pictures of a period, exclamation mark and a question mark. When the teacher reads a sentence from the book, the student can finish the sentence by selecting what punctuation mark they think is most appropriate.

- Get students to ask out some sentences. How would you act if your sentence ended in a period? How would you act if your sentence ended in a question mark? How would you end if your sentence ended in an exclamation mark?

Can you think of any more fun punctuation-related activities?

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

It would be a crime if my first review wasn't of the book that inspired the name of this blog.

Title: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Author: William Joyce
Illustrations: William Joyce & Joe Bluhm
Published: Joyce, W. (2012). The fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Themes: love, reading, loss, transformation, adventure

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This book was released after the short film of the same title won the Academy Award for Best Short Film. I'm seriously obsessed with this book right now. 

To say the least, it's beautiful. The pictures are breathtaking, the storyline is very "wizard of oz"-like (which I love!) and the character development is exquisite.

Classroom Ideas:
- Prediction / inference
- Similarities between the book and the film. The film is about 14 minutes and can be easily found on youtube. Prepare yourself.....have some kleenex on hand when you watch it; I bawled like a baby at the end. PS, it's a silent film (which makes it even better)!

- Have students write down any questions that they have on post-it notes when you watch the film or read the book
- This is a story that lends itself nicely to retelling (especially for older students)
- Create a character web for Morris Lessmore 
- There are some TERRFIC discussion questions found at this blog



Have you read the book? What other great ideas do you have for using this book in your classroom? I would LOVE to hear them!