KNUFFLE BUNNY TOO, A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY by Mo Willams

KNUFFLE BUNNY TOO
by Mo Willems
AR: Yes

In this adorable sequel to KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY TALE, Trixie takes her most prized possession and best friend, Knuffle Bunny, to school. To her horror, Sonja, one of her classmates, has the exact same bunny. They fly into a jealous fight—until their teacher takes both bunnies away from them. They get them back at the end of the day, but in the middle of the night, Trixie realizes that the bunny she’s been given is not hers. Chaos ensues as both dads try to get the right bunny in the right child’s hands before a total melt-down occurs.

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, By Brian Selznick Posted by Mrs. Schauer

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET
by Brian Selznick
AR: Yes
Vocabulary Quz Available

Twelve year old Hugo is an orphan who lives with his uncle in a Paris train station where they maintain all the clocks. When his uncle dies, Hugo is left alone to maintain the clocks by himself—but he’s also working secretly on an automaton that his late father thought contained a secret message. Hugo befriends Isabelle, the daughter of a grumpy old toyshop owner in the train station. Together, they try to figure out the mystery of the automaton.

FIRST THE EGG, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger Posted by Mrs. Schauer

FIRST THE EGG, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

What a fantastic book! It is a book at transformations—from egg to chicken, caterpillar to butterfly, or paint to a picture and words to a story, the unique way the pictures are laid out is fascinating. Each picture on one page contains a cut out, using the colors in the pictures on the next page. Kindergarteners and First graders will love this one!

The Toughest Cowboy...

THE TOUGHEST COWBOY, OR HOW THE WILD WEST WAS TAMED
AR Book Level: 4.6
Points: .5
Interest Level: Lower Grades

This is the tale of Grizz Brickbottom, toughest cowboy ever to drive a herd of cattle across the open range. He and his friends--Chuck Wagon, Lariat, and Bald Mountain--are happy living a rough and rugged life on the range, until one night, Grizz feels like something's missing in his life--something soft, with silky hair, that has a lovely smell and will give him lots of sweet kisses. Wow, you'll never believe what finally tames those wild cowboys! By the end of the book, they've changed so much, their almost unrecognizable! Anyone who loves cowboys, horses, and the open range will enjoy this book.

A Very Special Chair

A CHAIR FOR MY MOTHER, by Vera B. Williams
AR Level: 3.4 Points: .5
Vocabulary Quiz Available

The young girl who narrates this story told in first person is helping her mama and grandma save up money for a chair. All of their furniture and other things were burned in a fire, and her mama wants a big comfortable chair more than anything. She is a waitress and works hard on her feet all day and is very tired when she gets home at night. Every night she puts her tips in the jar, and the little girl also puts half of all her money in it. When the jar is full, they go to the store and buy a huge, comfortable chair. This is a wonderful story about family, love, and sacrifice.

Can YOU hear the ringing of the Christmas bell?

THE POLAR EXPRESS, by Chris Van Allsburg
AR Level: 3.8 Points: .5
Vocabulary Quiz Available

Told in first person, this is the account of a young boy’s trip to the North Pole, on the magical "Polar Express" which picks him up outside his house on Christmas Eve. Upon arriving at the North Pole, the boy sees a huge city filled with factories for making toys. Everyone is moving to the center of the city where Santa gives the first gift of Christmas to a lucky child. The boy is chosen out of the assembled crowd, and Santa gives him a silver bell from his sleigh. When he gets back on the Polar Express, he realizes he’s lost the bell through a hole in his robe. The train delivers him home and on Christmas morning when he opens his gifts, he finds the silver bell along with a note from Santa telling him to fix the hole in his pocket. When he rang it, it made the sweetest sound—but his parents could not hear it because they didn’t believe in Santa. The artwork in this book is amazing—what a great Christmas story!

Too Depressing for Me...

THE BAD BEGINNING, by Lemony Snicket
AR Leve: 6.4 Points: 4
Vocabulary Quiz Available

This, the first installment in thirteen books, is truly what the title claims—a series of unfortunate events. It centers around the Baudelaire children. First there’s Violet, who loves to invent things, and is right handed. Next is Klaus—he loves to read. Finally there’s Sunny, who is an infant that has four sharp teeth and chews on everything. The Baudelaire children, orphaned after their parents and all their belongings are burned in a fire; spend their life trying to escape the evil Count Olaf, who claims to be their uncle and wants to get his hands on their fortune. He plots to marry Violet—but Violet signs the marriage certificate with her left hand, thus making the document invalid. They escape Olaf—but only for a short time, until their unfortunate adventures continue. I wonder what makes these books so wildly popular with kids. Maybe it’s because the children in the book have lives that are far worse than anything they would have to endure and it makes them feel better. I do think the vocabulary usage is amazing—but these books are just too depressing for me.

COWGIRL KATE AND COCOA: Partners , by Erica Silverman
AR Level: 2.3 Points: .5
Voice Quiz Available

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa are the stars of this chapter book about a girl and her best friend—who happens to be a horse. There are four chapters in this picture book, and each chapter tells a different story. Whether Kate is tricking Cocoa into getting shoed, the two of them are rounding up cows, Cocoa is pretending to BE a cow so Kate can practice her roping, or they’re working together in order to round up and errant calf, this book is a tale of friendship—one of the best kinds of friendship—that between a girl and her horse. This would be a fantastic book to use with kids who are reading independently. Even though it’s a picture book, the fact that there are actual chapters, will make a young reader feel very grown up.

"Kissin Kate Barlow..."

HOLES, by Lous Sachar
AR Level: 4.6 Points: 7
AR Quiz Available
Literacy Skills Quiz Available

Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile camp, for a crime he didn’t commit. The boys there are forced to dig holes all day long in the hot desert sun. They figure out that they are digging because the warden is looking for something. There are three stories weaved into the book—one about a gypsy, one about a tragic kiss between a white teacher and an African American onion seller, and another about "Kissin Kate Barlow," who the white teacher becomes after her black onion seller is killed. She robs and kills men, leaving a lipstick mark on their dead faces as her trademark. She buries all of the money from her crime spree, then dies. Stanley ends up digging up the treasure, which is what the warden has been looking for the entire time. The warden tries to take it from him, but his lawyer shows up to say he’s been found innocent of the crime that put him there—and he gets to keep it and return home. This book had me rooting for all of the boys that were being mistreated at Camp Green Lake.

Frankenstein makes a WHAT?

FRANKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH, by Adam Rex
AR Level: 4.0 Points: .5
Vocabulary Quiz Available

This collection of poems sheds a whole new light and different spin on a collection of well known monsters. First, Frankenstein makes a sandwich out of all the rotten food the townspeople throw at him. There is a letter to Wolfman from his dog asking him to please not scratch on the front door or howl because the neighbors are starting to complain. The reader gets to witness the invisible man getting a haircut, see Count Dracula with spinach in his teeth, and learn about a young King Tut throwing a fit because he doesn’t want to go to his eternal rest without getting some milk and cookies. There’s Bigfoot being mistaken for a Yeti, a poem about the Hunchback of Notre Dame probably eating his lunch the same as everyone else, and a hilarious tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Henderson—who has everyone running away from him because he’s so dreadfully boring. There are dancing zombies, and Dracula’s tale of going to the dentist to get a filling in one of his fangs.