Book Reviews

Title: Little Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie

Author: Lisa Campbell Ernest

Year of Publication: 1995

ISBN #: 0-689-87831-1

Age Level: 5-8

Summary: This is a new version of Little Red Riding Hood. In this version the wolf shows up in a prairie and just wants muffins. He tries to find the Grandma before Little Red Riding Hood but the Grandma finds him first and then she does the famous spiel with the wolf but she answers the questions. Then the wolf, Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood eat muffins together and live happily ever after.

How to use it in the classroom: I would use Little Riding Hood to promote and raise awareness of  stranger danger and the problem of bullies

–ooo–

Title: Prince Cinders

Author: Babette Cole

Year of Publication: 1987

ISBN #: 0-698-11554-6  

Age Level: Read Aloud or 2nd grade

Summary: This book is a new take on Cinderella with the guy in Cinderella’s role. Prince Cinders wants to be like his manly, hairy, and cool brothers. Then his god-fairy comes and tries to turn Cinders into a hairy man but accidently turns him into a hairy monkey. Cinders does not know he is a monkey so he heads to the ball where his brothers are but he cannot get in because he is too big to fit in the door. Then he is outside and scares the princess but since it is midnight and turns back into himself and leaves his pants behind by accident. The princess believes that the man who left the pants saved her from the creature so she searches the kingdom for the man. All the man in the land try the pants on but they do not fit anyone not even Cinders brothers. Finally Cinders tries the pants on and they fit and him and the princess fall in love.

How to use it in the classroom: I would use Prince Cinders in the classroom to teach basic morals such as being nice, do on to others as you wish them to do to you. As well as things such as beauty is on the inside, be careful what you wish for and be yourself not anyone else.

–ooo–

Title: The Three Little Javelinas 

Author: Susan Lowell, illustrated by Jim Harris

 Year of Publication: 1992

 ISBN #: 0-87358-542-9

 Age Level: 3rd to 5th grade

 Summary: This book is exactly like the three little pigs except it interjects a few words that are from different languages and they use a little bit different materials to build the houses. Also there is two boy pigs and one girl pig which is different than the original three boy pigs.

 How to use it in the classroom: I would use The Three Little Javelinas to teach different cultures and languages.  

–ooo–

Title: The Sun Girl and The Moon Boy: A Korean Folk Tale

Author: Yang Sook Choi 

Year of Publication: 1997

 ISBN #: 0-679-88386-x

 Age Level: Read Aloud

 Summary: In this book the Mother goes to the store and on her way back meets a tiger. At first all the tiger wants is the corn cakes that the mother is bringing home for her kids. The tiger eats one after another till the are all gone but he is still hungry so he eat the mom. Then the tiger procceds to go to the house to try to eat the children. At first the children will not let the tiger in but then the tiger tricks them into letting him in the house. The children get away and run up a tree and the tiger chases them. All of the sudden magically a rope falls from the sky the children climb to the sky and when the tiger tries to do the same the rope snaps. The children meet their mother in the sky and the girl becomes the sun and the boy becomes the moon and their mother is the stars.

 How to use it in the classroom: I would use this book to teach the importance of not talking to strangers and also to teach other cultures around the world.

–ooo–

 Title: Iguana on Ice

 Author: Carol Puglian0-Martin, illustrated by Ellen Joy Sasbki

 Year of Publication: 2001

 ISBN #: 0-439-1632-6

 Age Level: Read Aloud

 Summary: In this book Iggy the Iguana lives on a hot island and desperately tries to get cool. Iggy dreams of ice skating and ice cream. One day Iggy gets a postcard from his cousin Izzy, who lives in a cool place. So Iggy goes to visit Izzy. Iggy gets to do all the things he has dreamed about.

 How to use it in the classroom: I would use this book to teach the letter I as well as climate or weather.

 –ooo–

Title: 26 Letters and 99 Cents

Author: Tana Hoban

Year of Publication: 1987

 ISBN #: 0-688-14389-x

 Age Level: Kindergarten and first grade

 Summary: This book goes through the numbers one through ninety nine with the visual representation in cents. Also it goes through the letters with the visual representation of the letter being a word that begins with the letter.

 How to use it in the classroom: I would use this book in my classroom to teach numbers, sounds, and counting money through visual ways.

–ooo– 

Title: If Not For the Cat

Author: Haiku by Jack Prelustsy; paintings by Ted Ranel

Year of Publication: 2004

 ISBN #: 0-439-79908-2

 Age Level: Read aloud to second grade

 Summary: This book goes through different animals and describes them in haiku poetry. In the poetry they do not say the animals name so you can have the children guess what animal it is.

 How to use it in the classroom: I would use this book in my classroom to teach about certain animals and obviously poetry more specifically haiku.

 –ooo–

Title: Kangaroo Kazoo

Author: Wendy Cheyette Lewison; illustrated by Rusty Fletcher

Year of Publication: 2001

ISBN #: 0-439-16534-2

Age Level: Read Aloud

Summary: This book goes through the places and colors that a kangaroo plays.

How to use it in the classroom: I would use this book to teach the letter K. Also it could be used to teach poetry and the colors.

–000– 

Title: The Red Book

Author: Barbara Lehman

Year of Publication: 2004

ISBN #: 0-439-80365-9

Age Level: Kindergarten

Summary: A young girl finds a red book. She sees a boy in this book and the boy sees her too! She ends up flying balloons to him so he can get off the island he is on but she ends up dropping the book. Another child picks the book up.  

How to use it in the classroom: I would use this book to teach children about other places in the United States and the World. I would use the book as an example that other children just like them are everywhere.

–000–

Title: The Three Little Dinosaurs

 Author: Jim Harris

Year of Publication: 1999

ISBN #: 1-56554-271-8

Age Level: 3^rd grade

Summary: This book is like the three little pigs but with dinosaurs. The first brother builds a house out of grass and the T-Rex blows it down. The second brother builds a house and does not wait for the material to dry so Rex blows it down too. The third brother worked hard and built a nice house. Rex smashes the house with a rock but then the brothers return and are much bigger now and they scare Rex.

How to use it in the classroom: I would use this book to start talking about dinosaurs and other creatures that came time periods before us.