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*Picture book, contemporary for preschool through first graders
*Scooter the dog as main character
*Rating: Kids will love Scooter in the Outside and see a bit of themselves in this dog without knowing it. That’s the best kind of picture book. Scooter is exploring his independence–something children are doing all the time with mixed results!

Short, short summary: Scooter the dog belongs to Lucy. He loves to go for walks, but they only go so far each time–to the corner. Scooter wants to go farther (Editor’s note: My 18-month-old daughter can really relate to this; we are constantly stopping her from doing all sorts of dangerous, independent things!), but Lucy won’t let him. One day, the front door is left open, and Scooter goes out and GOES AROUND THE CORNER! Then, he becomes a bit scared at what he encounters. Luckily, he also encounters Lucy, and she brings him home. It’s a rather sweet ending, especially for anyone who has a dog that is a member of the family.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Scooter in the Outside is definitely a fun read. Bowen has included some onomatopoeia: “Ba-Dump” is Scooter running up the stairs. “Thwappa” is wagging his tail, and so on. Plus the illustrations are lovely, and children will like to look at them and discuss what Lucy and Scooter are doing in each. I highly recommend reading this to a class or as a bedtime story.

2. Discuss with children how Scooter felt once he went to THE OTHER SIDE. Why did he feel that way? Why did Lucy put limits on him? See if they can make the connection between Lucy and Scooter and what you do for them either as their parent or teacher. Why is it important to have limits/boundaries?

3. The bond between a pet and his owner is something special. Children will want to share information about their pets after reading this book. Allow them to draw and write a sentence or two about something they love to do with their pets. If students do not have a pet, they can draw an activity they like to do with a friend OR you can visit a humane society OR have some guest dogs come into the classroom–then all children can draw about pets.

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*Picture book for preschooler through second graders (fantasy–talking animals
*Young jellyfish as main character
*Rating: Super cute illustrations make this sweet picture book appeal to kids. Even better, if your children/students love this book or sea creatures, Kristen and Kevin Collier have a website where you can meet each character closer and download FREE activity and coloring pictures with Joy and her friends. A DVD is coming soon, too, according to the website. Check it out here:

Short, short summary: Joy the Jellyfish is swimming around the Great Barrier Reef. All she wants is a friend. But since she is nearly invisible, the other creatures have a hard time seeing her. Joy doesn’t understand what she is doing wrong. She finally gets some advice from a little white whale–”You have to be a friend to make a friend.” Joy and Bella become friends, but they can’t live in the same place due to that darn water temperature. However, Bella gives Joy the confidence she needs to learn to make new friends! This is the perfect book for our little guys who are shy and want to make friends. It’s always easier to see these cute creatures struggle and overcome their fears than humans doing it.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. This is a great introduction to different sea creatures. You could even do a KWL chart with students before reading it about animals they know live in the sea, animals they wonder about, and then animals they learn about. You could also find real photos of these animals to compare to the illustrations.

2. What is a friend? How do you make friends? How does Joy finally make friends? These questions and more can be discussed after reading the book. However, you should realize EVERY child will want to share a story about their best friend. So, have plenty of time for this discussion!

3. This is also a great book to talk about problem and solution because it is very apparent what the problem in the story is: Joy wants a friend but doesn’t know how to make friends. Solution: she learns she has to step outside her comfort zone/shyness. There aren’t a lot of subplots or anything in the way of these important story elements.

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*Picture book, contemporary, preschool through second graders
*Young girl as main character
*Rating: This is a cute book for young children. It can help them learn about different veggies and about making friends. The illustrations are FANTASTIC!

Short, short summary:

Adelita is starting school and wants to make friends, but she’s worried and nervous as all children are when they start school. Her teacher begins class with a basket of vegetables. Each student takes one–some are familiar such as sweet potatoes and cucumbers. Others are less familiar such as calabacitas, cassavas, and malangas. Each child in the class chooses a vegetable out of the basket, and they talk to each other about them. Adelita finds a girl who also has a squash, and they eventually become friends. Then they talk to other children in the class about their vegetables, and everyone feels better in the end. This book is bilingual, as it has a full English and Spanish text (from Pinata Books).

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Re-enact the book. Bring in a basket of veggies–some well-known and some lesser known. Have each child choose one. Then do different activities. For example, have any student with a green vegetable stand by the door and a brown veggie by the window. Students could try to find out more about their veggie also–a mini research project.

2. Make a Vegetable A to Z book with students. In a shared writing activity, make a list from A to Z of different veggies. Each student gets at least one veggie to make a book page with. They can draw a picture, write a sentence, or even a fact like where they grow.

3. What makes a good friend? How do you make friends? Have you ever felt like Adelita when you started at a new place? You can ask students these questions and more with this book. It’s a great discussion starter.

(BONUS: There’s a recipe for vegetable soup at the back of the book you can make with children!)

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We are lucky this February and have an extra day in the month. It’s a leap year, and we’ve got Leap Day. I am a member of the St. Louis Zoo, and they sent the cutest postcard with frogs on it to tell everyone about the leap day activities online. I never thought about dedicating the day to frogs when I was teaching in the classroom, but it is so clever and makes perfect sense.

The St. Louis Zoo actually had to send out these cute postcards because they left Feb. 29 off the February calendar. They remembered it on the top of the March page, but not February. So, they sent a Feb. 29 sticker with the cute frog postcard. At the same time, the zoo said that all over the world, people are celebrating the Amphibian Ark, which is a consortium of zoos and aquariums worldwide joining together to fight the disappearing amphibian species. Currently on their home page,you can find out information about FrogWatch USA. On the postcard, they state they will have frog activities and puzzles starting on Leap Day. So be sure to share these FREE resources with your children or students.

My daughter has a super cute frog picture book, perfect for preschoolers to second graders. Your hand can become the frog in the book–so there’s a hand puppet with it. It’s called Wendy the Wide-Mouthed Frog by Sam Lloyd. It’s perfect to share with kids to teach about manners, being a good friend, having humility, and just plain having fun. There’s a lot going on in this book–perfect for a fun day like Leap Day.

Do you have a favorite frog book? Are you celebrating Leap Day?

And remember. . .it’s not easy being green.

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*Picture book preschool through second grade
*Three important pigs as main characters
*Rating: Hogg, Hogg, & Hog will be a hit with kids because it’s silly, and there are a lot of animal sounds. It will be a hit with adults because it’s clever with tons of little details to notice and point out in the illustrations.

Short, short summary:

Hogg, Hogg, & Hog have made it in the BIG APPLE! They are an important firm in the big business world. And why? Well, they made “The Oink” popular. Everyone is oinking thanks to those three. But as with any fad or trend, it quickly dies out. To stay on top, Hogg, Hogg, & Hog have to come up with something else. They think back to their roots on the farm and remember, “Baa! Quack! Ribbit!” So, guess what the next fad is? People just can’t get enough of those three big pigs. But soon, their old life sneaks up on them, and Sheep, Duck, and Frog come to get what is rightfully theirs. So, the hogs have to make a little change to their business plan, and soon they become. . .Hogg, Hogg, & Hog & Partners.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. I don’t want to reveal everything that happens at the end of the story–as the surprise will be ruined. But there’s a list of animals and sounds at the end. Children can look at this list and add to it with animals that are not already in the book or on the list. At first, try to keep the animals to ones they may find on a farm. Then if they want to get silly, let them! This is a PERFECT activity for a preschool classroom or a preschooler stuck at home on a rainy day.

2. Children might not get “the next big thing” or how things trend like adults will when reading this book. So talk to them about this. What is a “big thing” right now? What’s popular? How do people find out about the next big thing? You might have to help them get thinking about this in terms of toys. What is the toy that everyone wants? How did you find out about it? Then expand to other popular items.

3. Compare and contrast urban (city) life vs rural (farm) life. This is usually a social studies objective in third grade, so you could even use this book as a fun introduction to the unit in third grade. But with younger children, this is also a good activity. You could use a Venn diagram and do a shared writing activity. After you make the Venn diagram together, students can draw a picture comparing and contrasting rural and urban life.

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I am including a photo of Madagascar on my blog today because I want to tell you about the commitment I made at church today. I want to post about it on my blog 1. to hold me accountable and 2. to inspire anyone else to do the same. At church, a priest from the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging spoke about sponsoring children and elderly from around the world for $1.00 a day. He said that over 94 cents goes to the sponsored child, which is a great amount compared to the amounts that some charities take for administrative staff.

Anyway, we’ve all heard stories like this before or seen commercials on TV. Many times, we do nothing–I’ve never sponsored anyone before. So, what made me change my mind this time. My daughter? My yearning to do something for people since I read HALF THE SKY? I’m not sure. But I was sitting there thinking about how much money we spent on a birthday dinner the night before, and I felt ashamed. If I can spend that much on one dinner (for a good friend, so it’s not totally selfish, right?), then I can surely give $1.00 a day to change somebody’s life. If I can stop spending $2.50 on a coffee and $2.25 on ONE PIECE OF COFFEE CAKE three times a week, I have my $30 a month easily. If I can eat lunch at home once instead of eating out. .. you get the picture.

So, my family is sponsoring Razafimamonjy from Madagascar. She is 5-years-old. Her mother does other people’s laundry for money. Razafimamonjy has syphilis. The family’s rent is $3.00 a month. Their walls are made of clay; their roof is tin; their floor is cement. They have NO indoor plumbing and get water from an outdoor pump. They sleep on the ground and cook with charcoal. I could go on. I won’t.

I am going to keep you updated on how I do with my STOPPING the Starbucks/Panera Bread coffee habit and giving my money to Razafimamonjy. If you want to join me, go to this website: http://www.hopeforafamily.org. They are legit. And let me know. It would be a great service learning project or family project for Lent. We can support each other while we are supporting people less fortunate.

I promised a picture book post today too, but I’m already going on and on. So, here’s a brief one:

Henry in Love by Peter McCarty

Henry is a cat in love with a bunny named Chloe. However, they are in elementary school. Therefore, Henry does crazy stuff like a forward roll in front of Chloe. She then shows him up by doing a cartwheel. In a twist of fate, the teacher moves Chloe and Henry to sit by each other, in time for snack. Henry has been saving his favorite snack all day–a blueberry muffin. But you know young love. . .he gives it to Chloe. Cute book. I enjoyed it. One reviewer on Amazon said she thought the love message was too subtle for kids to get–I see her point, but it’s still a cute book.

We are all starting to think about love around February. A cute gift for your child would be a copy of Henry in Love and some blueberry muffins. A fun Valentine’s Day activity for home school and/or the classroom would be to share this book with young readers and then together bake some blueberry muffins. You could also write poems/nice letters on p

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*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*A creative cat as the main character
*Rating: Chester is such a great illustrator and author–who needs that Melanie Watt? If you haven’t read any of the Chester the cat series of books yet (with NO HELP FROM Melanie), then you must check one out. So cute and funny!

Short, short summary: Chester the cat has hidden his owner’s, author and illustrator Melanie Watt’s, supplies and has taken over the creation of the book with his red pen. Chester is trying to write a masterpiece. First he steals from Twas the Night Before Christmas, and then he goes through a series of exercises to break his writer’s block. Once he’s ready, he writes some stories about himself and mouse–always ending unhappily with something tragic happening to mouse! In the end, Melanie finds her art supplies in a terrible hiding spot. . .Kids and adults will get a kick out of this hysterical picture book.

So what do I do with this book?

1. This is such a cute book. I love how “Melanie Watt” leaves editorial notes to Chester on “yellow Post-it notes.” Children will LOVE this book, and they will love to leave their own notes to Chester. While reading it, let them have some stickee notes and they can jot a few things down to Chester about his illustrations, his stories, etc.

2. This book has a lot of reading lessons in it. For example, Melanie tells Chester he needs a setting. They both draw a jungle. She asks what type of story he plans to write, and he goes through several genres like humor, action, and romance. They talk about endings, problems, and characters. It is full of things writers need to think about and address when writing a story. You can start a discussion with your class on these topics, using Chester and his masterpiece as a starting point.

3. For fun, let children try to guess where Chester hid Melanie’s art supplies. See if anyone is correct by the end of the book!

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If you haven’t visited my picture book giveaway yet for Chickens on the GO!, please do so now. You don’t want to miss this SUPER CUTE picture book. Click here.

Now on to this FUNNY, FUNNY picture book that dog owners EVERYWHERE have to check out–this is another one of those picture books that are perfect for any age reader.

*Picture book, preschooler through third grader, fantasy–since the dogs and cats are writing letters
*Loveable dog and not-so-loveable cat as main characters
*Rating: If you love Dear Abby or any of the self-help talk shows, you will love Mr. Mutt. He solves all the dogs’ dilemmas. See if you recognize any of these going on in your home with your poor, mistreated dogs. . . (I love this book!)

Short, short summary:

Mr. Mutt accepts letters from all his dog fans, and they write him with the most common dog dilemmas of the day. For example, there’s “Famished in Florida” whose people have put him on a diet! He is so hungry his stomach is growling louder than he growls, and he also complains that the fat cat gets fancy food from a tiny can, while he gets tasteless gravel from a giant sack! Mr. Mutt sympathizes with Famished and explains to him where he can get some food–on the counter tops, the trash can, the baby’s high chair (MY DOG HAS LEARNED THAT FOR SURE!), and to top off the meal–a drink from the toilet. Then Mr. Mutt reminds Famished he is a top dog and that cats are spoiled rotten. Of course, Mr. Mutt has a cat to deal with himself, the Queen, and she writes her own opinions down. Help Me, Mr. Mutt continues in this fashion with dogs writing letters full of problems to Mr. Mutt, and he answers them back with the best dog advice, and The Queen cat also gives her two cents. It is so cute and funny, and I really think adults will get a huge kick out of it, too.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Kids will love writing a letter to Mr. Mutt–especially if Mr. Mutt can answer them back! They can either write as a dog OR write as a human with a pet question. Kids would enjoy getting a letter back from The Queen, too. One huge classroom letter would do.

2. The end of the book is told in mostly illustrations and “newspaper” clippings. The rest of the book is told in letter form with help from the illustrations. This is a form of organization, one of the 6 + 1 traits of writing. What do kids think about the organization? Can they tell the end of the story, even though it is not traditionally told with words? Also discuss with students how picture books have much of the story in illustrations, too, and how it is important to pay attention to both the words and pictures in a picture book. (Another part of the organization is there is an overall problem–the cat/dog dilemma, and then several little problems with the individual letters.)

3. If you have to teach parts of a letter or letter writing, what a great book to do it with. It’s much more fun to learn about letter writing from a humorous picture book like Help Me, Mr. Mutt than it is from a Language Arts textbook.

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I am thrilled to share with you two super cute picture books by a TexHEN named Aunt Judy, who writes and illustrates (SO CUTE!) Chickens on the GO! and Chickens in the Know!. Aunt Judy was generous enough to send me both of her picture books, which I am sure any young reader will LOVE, and so I am keeping one for my daughter and giving one away to a lucky reader! To win Chickens in the Know!, please leave a comment below. You can either say, PICK ME! or SOUNDS GREAT! or tell us your favorite professHEN, such as constructHEN workers or librariHENS. That’s what this book is all about–how the world is full of people who have different jobs, and we need EACH ONE to make the world go around.

The book I am keeping, but one you can purchase from Aunt Judy is Chickens on the GO! It is the perfect classroom book for young children and the perfect home school book for your young readers. The premise is that the world is made up of people who are different nationalities such as: JapHENese, BritHENS, AfricHENS, and AmericHENS. (SO CUTE–I’m telling you!) Aunt Judy tells readers something about the people/culture in each country she covers–in a catchy rhyme. She makes the point that everyone is different, but that’s okay! (Perfect in this world of bullying–the old-fashioned and cyber way) The repeating phrase in the book is: “It doesn’t matter where we’re from. We’re all chickens–let’s have fun!”

You can use Chickens on the GO! to discuss with young children how differences make us unique and special and even how where we are from affects our lives, but that’s what also makes us special. You can do geography lessons with this book–showing students where each HEN comes from as well as have children do more research on each HEN’s culture. The possibilities with this book are endless. Aunt Judy has several resources on her website, too at http://www.chickensonthego.com/Lesson%20Plans.htm. Don’t miss the lesson plans and puzzles she has created.

If you are interested in finding out more and purchasing this book, Chickens on the GO!, or its companion about careers, Chickens in the Know!, please see Aunt Judy’s website at: http://www.chickensonthego.com/books.htm
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Don’t forget, you can win a copy. On the back of the book, it says these books are for ages 1 to 99–no kidding! So, let me know your favorite professHEN or just say PICK ME! Contest ends on Sunday night, December 11 at 8:00 pm CST. Winner must have a U.S. or Canada mailing address.

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Before I talk about the new TRILINGUAL picture book, My Sister is My Best Friend by Nicole Weaver (Guardian Angel Publishing), I would like to announce the winner of Melissa Goodwin’s book, The Christmas Village. The winner is Beth F.! Thank you, Beth, for your comment, and happy holidays to everyone who left a comment and shared a tradition.

Now on to. . .My Sister is My Best Friend:

*Picture book, contemporary fiction for preschool through 1st graders
*Two twin girls as main characters
*Rating: A sweet book, especially for anyone (young or old!) with sisters. Plus, children can start to learn some Spanish and French while reading the book. It celebrates FAMILY!

Short, short summary:

Nicole Weaver’s book begins with these lines: “I am lucky my sister is my best friend. We do everything together.” And then the Spanish and French are listed neatly underneath the English AND accompanied by super-cute illustrations by Clara Batton Smith. The book goes on (it’s more like a concept book about family/sisters than a story with a problem/solution) to tell the interesting things the sisters like to do together such as playing with their dog, riding the see-saw at the park, and chasing butterflies. Again, each page contains a cute illustration and the text in English, French, and Spanish. A great book for a classroom or for a home library!

So, what do I do with this book?

1. There’s an automatic lesson built into this book, which is always great for any parent, teacher, or librarian. Children can see how English translates into French and Spanish. They can try to pick out the important words like sister and friend. If you know someone who can speak Spanish/French, invite them in to read the book with a proper accent!

2. Your students/child can make a similar book about their sister, brother, mom, dad, cousin, and so on. For example, one child could create: My Mother is My Best Friend; another could write My Cousin is My Best Friend. After children write a few pages (or just illustrate if they are preschoolers), they can share their pages/books with classmates.

3. Nicole Weaver has included some wonderful details and word choice in her picture book. For example, take this page (in English): “Sometimes just for fun, we shriek and run as fast as we can …pretending to be orangutans.” The six plus one traits of writing, Word Choice, celebrates words such as “shriek” or the choice of pretending to be orangutans, instead of just monkeys. Both of these words present clear images in the readers’ mind. What other examples of good word choice can readers find in the book?

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*Picture book, preschool through 2nd grade
* A silly goose as the main character
*Rating: Silly Tilly is my kind of picture book. It is filled with all sorts of fun and rhymes and vibrant illustrations.

Short, short summary:

Silly Tilly is a very silly goose. For example, she takes a bath in apple juice. She took a nap in scarecrow’s pants and packed Piglet off to France. And the other barnyard animals are just plain tired of her silliness. She stops her antics, and then Hetta Hen realizes she hasn’t laughed since Silly Tilly did something silly. So, the animals apologize, and we get to see our lovable goose right back at her silliness.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. You cannot ignore the rhyme in Silly Tilly. Before reading, ask students to raise their hands if they hear any rhyming words. Ask them to remember at least a pair and tell it to you to write on chart paper when the story is over. Students/children can brainstorm more words that rhyme with the ones in the book. For an “advanced” discussion, what is Eileen Spinelli’s rhyme scheme?

2. When Silly Tilly changes whom she is for her friends, everyone suffers. No one is happy. This is a pretty deep concept for kids to understand, but oh so important. Use the characters in this silly book to get kids to see how important it is for each of them to 1. be themselves and embrace their uniqueness and 2. not expect other people, especially their friends, to change to please them.

3. Kids will have SO MUCH FUN making up their own silly things that Silly Tilly can do on the farm. You can either help them with the rhyming words or just do it with creativity–not worrying about the rhyme. Students can write down one of the silly things and illustrate it. Put these together in a class book–a Silly Tilly sequel.

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*Picture book for preschoolers through first graders
*Baby wombat as the main character
*Rating: Another cute book by Jackie French, who wrote, Diary of a Wombat too.

Short, short summary:

When baby wombat is finally finished sleeping, he goes out to play. He finds a friend–a baby human. Soon mother decides they need a bigger hole, and baby tries to problem solve. Eventually their little friend finds that bigger hole. Told in a cute style, such as: Later morning: Ate. Afternoon: Slept.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. If your students/children don’t know what a wombat is, then talk about this and also read them DIARY OF A WOMBAT. You can do a K-W-L chart before reading this book–what do you know about wombats? What do you wonder about them? And then when you are finished reading, what did you learn about wombats?

2. Let students keep a diary of their week. What I like about this book is it makes it look so easy to keep a diary/journal. You don’t have to have large, flowing paragraphs. You can just write: Morning: got on bus, talked to best friend. Got to school, turned in homework, picked as line leader. etc. Students can even include illustrations as part of the journal.

3. Students/children can work on their prediction skills with this book. You can do a day-by-day prediction, such as: “What do you think the wombat will be doing tomorrow morning?” You can also do a prediction when they are digging the big hole. Where are the wombats going to end up at the end of the book? Students should use the illustrations as a guide to help them figure out where the wombats are going to end up.

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*Picture book, fantasy (talking animals), for preschoolers through second graders
*Young shark as main character
*Rating: Gilbert the Hero teaches kids a lesson in a subtle way and in the spirit of Finding Nemo. Shark lovers will REALLY enjoy this book!

Short, short summary:

Gilbert the shark must take care of his younger brother, Finn, one day when he and his friend, Rita Remora, are going out to play. The problem is all the games Gilbert and Rita usually play are too scary for Finn. They finally find something he likes and something they like, too. Then a Killer Whale has to ruin all the fun! Will Gilbert be able to save the day (and his little brother, too)? This is truly a deep-sea adventure!

So, what do I do with this book?

1. This is the perfect book to use with children who have younger siblings and are always complaining about them–tagging along or getting into their stuff. That’s how Gilbert and his friend feel, but when push comes to shove, Gilbert really does love his brother and wants to protect him. You can use Gilbert the Hero at home or school to start a discussion about siblings. Children may relate to either Gilbert or Finn, depending on their situation.

2. Let children discuss if they have ever felt the way Finn did while doing some of the activities with Gilbert. He was scared and he didn’t like it! What did the children do? Did they cry? Did they ask to stop? (If they are having trouble thinking of something, ask if any of them have ever been to an amusement park. Did they ride a ride they didn’t like?) Talk to students about what it’s like to be scared and how to speak up when they don’t feel comfortable. Let them write or draw about the discussion when it’s over.

3. This is a fun book to do during an ocean unit in the classroom. What do students know about Great White Sharks or Killer Whales? Did the author use any of these characteristics in the story? Ask students to find out one more fact–in a book or on the Internet–about one of these animals that they didn’t know before and share it with the class.

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*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*An un-scareable bear as the main character
*Rating: Scare a Bear is a very cute and fun picture book with wonderful and bright illustrations young children will just eat up!

Short, short summary:

Scare a Bear opens with the question: “Do you know how to scare a bear?” This leads the reader (and the kids in the book) on an adventure first trying to figure out how to scare a bear. The text asks: “Would you bang pots and pans? Would you rattle some cans? Would you shout? Would you yell? Would you ring a loud bell?” From here, several more BIG questions are asked and these include, “What if the bear isn’t easy to scare? What if that bear wants to go for a swim? What if that bear wants to fish from your boat? What if that bear wants to beg for some dinner?” and more. After each BIG question is posed, three more questions are posed as solutions to the first BIG question. Then the BIG question is repeated. At the end of the story, the children figure out how to scare the poor bear (who seems to just want some companionship!). This book reminds me of the circular structure and silliness of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Do a shared writing (or individual for older students) activity where students try to answer the question: “How do you scare a bear?” The repeated sentence beginning would be: I scare a bear by ________________________. Once you have written everyone’s responses, they copy down their sentence on to a piece of paper and illustrate it. You can put these together to create a class book or a nice classroom display.

2. Most of the sentences in here are questions. Students are just starting to write questions and remembering that these must end with a question mark, so drawing attention to this in literature with few words, such as Scare a Bear is helpful for students. As a fun activity, work on changing some of the questions to statements or exclamations and putting the proper punctuation at the end. For example, the question: Do you know how to scare a bear? at the beginning of the story could be changed to: I know how to scare a bear! (and you can discuss whether or not you should put a period or exclamation point and how either would actually work.)

3. Rhyming words are a must with this book! They are everywhere, and these words help beginning readers learn to decode. Make a list of rhyming words on chart paper for them to use in their writing. At home, you can make a notebook of rhyming words!

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First I would like to announce my winner of the Mari L. McCarthy’s e-book on journaling. It is KATE! From Kate’s comment, I can tell she is a journaler (is that a word?), and so I am very happy she won the book! Good luck to both Kate and Mari.

Second, my little one has her first cold. UGH! I realize this is no big deal, but I am a worry-wart parent; and I just feel sorry for the little thing trying to breathe through her nose and then through her mouth. I know how crappy I feel when I have a cold, and so I can only imagine poor Katie. But anyway, my post is short and sweet because I have been up with her tonight. Then our kitchen sink is leaking, from underneath!!!!!, and so I was trying to help my husband with that. All of these excuses. . . Anywho on to the book. . .

I chose to write about The Fathers are Coming Home to keep with my father theme from last week and Bob Shea’s Oh, Daddy!. Katie received this Margaret Wise Brown book as a gift, and she loves it. It is so simple (maybe too simple for some, but that’s why younger children may love it) with wonderful illustrations by Stephen Savage. It celebrates a father’s love–a human father, a bunny father, a fish father, and so on.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. If you are in a classroom, a book like this can be difficult for some students if they live with their mothers only or if their fathers are deceased. I like how Brown brings in the animal fathers, too; and so if you have students like this, you can focus more on the animals when you discuss the book than on the human father in the book. If you don’t have anyone in your class who might be upset with this book, you can always do a shared writing activity, such as: With my dad, I like to _______________________________.

2. What other animal fathers do children know about? Could they write a page or two (as a class) adding some more animal fathers to the book? Study the pages about animals, and how Margaret Wise Brown included them in the story. Then, write a page or two about a new animal.

3. I saw one mom on Amazon.com talk about how her child likes to count the kids in each illustration as all the fathers have different amounts of children. So, you can do a math type activity here, too. Once you count the children, you can ask questions: “Who has the most?” “HOw many more does _____ have than _____?” and so on.

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