Tag Archive for literacy

The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas

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Written by Laura Murray
Illustrated by Mike Lowery

Good deeds and sweet treats for any neighbors you meet is the teacher’s plan. The gingerbread man, who is part of the class, sets out to do his own random deeds of kindness when the sudden snow storm sends the rest of the class back to school. The plot twist is fresh and unexpected. Characters are realistic and illustrations are detailed and entertaining.

Rhyming and rhythm, plus fun fonts and graphics will have grade two readers and grade one listeners wanting to start this new holiday book over and over again. Teachers, librarians and parents will enjoy this new holiday book capable of fulfilling literacy core curriculum standards while providing Gingerbread fun. Other books with the same main character are available: The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Firetruck, and The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School.

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  • Gingerbread ManTitle: The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas
  • Author: Laura Murray
  • Illustrator: Mike Lowery
  • Publisher: G.P.Putnam’s Sons, 2015
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Hardcover, 32 pages
  • ISBN: 978-0-399-16866-6
  • Genre: Picture Book
  • Grade level: 2
Posted in 2015, Holiday, Picture book tagged with ,

The Nonsense Show

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Written and Illustrated by Eric Carle

Surrealism or nonsense? A little bit of both can be found in this new book by Eric Carle. Most nursery rhymes contain such nonsense and are actually what make them fun.

The nonsense show brings to mind the reality shows of today that point out some of the silliness of our lives. Each page says or shows something impossible, ridiculous, laughable, and silly. A snake who lost his tail? A bird coming out of a banana peel? An upside down man eating cake?

Eric Carle once again uses his specially made paper and collage with painting illustrations. Grade one readers will be able to read most of the book on their own, just being challenged with the array of multi-syllabic words on the last double-paged spread. Teachers, librarians and parents will most likely read this book aloud at least at the beginning.

Core curriculum standards in literacy can be met in the teaching of picture clues, fiction versus nonfiction, rhyming words as well as other isolated skills.

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  • Nonsense ShowTitle: The Nonsense Show
  • Author/Illustrator: Eric Carle
  • Publisher: Philomel Books, 2015
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Hardcover, 40 pages
  • ISBN: 978-0-399-17687-6
  • Genre: picture book
  • Grade level: PreK to 2
Posted in 2015, Picture book tagged with ,

Otto the Owl Who Loved Poetry

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Written and illustrated by Vern Kousky

Children will love Otto’s great big eyes as he looks straight at them from his perch on the crescent moon. Otto doesn’t like to roost in trees or hunt at night like the other owls. So the others all make fun of him. He likes to read books, make friends and recite poetry.

When the other owls continue to tease him, Otto decides to run away. On his way, he sees the moon and makes up his own poem about the moon. What he doesn’t realize is that there were dozens of mice listening to him recite the poem. When he finished they all cried, “More, more!”

What Otto, and eventually the other owls, learn is that poetry is to be shared aloud with others to be best enjoyed.

First grade readers being introduced to poetry will enjoy hearing this read aloud and becoming able to read it themselves. The contrasting colors of art work make it a stunning book with font that is clear and easy to read.

This book can be used to meet the common core standards of literacy in the areas of poetry as well as discriminating between fact and fiction.

The fact that the owls pick on Otto for being different can open a discussion between parents, teachers or librarians and children about how we treat one another. It is also an interesting twist to realize that the part of Otto that is different, his love of poetry, becomes understandable to all the other owls by the end of the book.  It is a very good thing that Otto didn’t run away, but stayed long enough to share his poetry with the others.

This beautifully well done book is Vern Kousky’s first, but hopefully not his last.

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  • Otto the OwlTitle: Otto the Owl Who Loved Poetry
  • Author/Illustrator:  Vern Kousky
  • Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap, 2015
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Hardcover, 32 pages
  • ISBN:  978-0-399-16440-8
  • Genre: Poetry
  • Grade level: K to 3
  • Extras: The famous poem excerpts are included in the back of the book along with their citations.
Posted in 2015, Poetry tagged with , ,