Chapter Book #8 Write-Up

Author: Jackie Glassman

Title: Amazing Arctic Animals

Illustrator: Lisa Bonforte

Genre: Non-Fiction

Subgenre: Informational

Theme: Learning about the animals that live in the Arctic.

Primary/Secondary Characters: Terns, the Caribou, Whales, the Polar Bear, Seals, Foxes, Hares, the Muskox, the Walrus, the Snowy Owl and the Gyrfalcon

Award(s)/Publication Year: no awards presented/2002

Publishing Company: Scholastic

Brief Summary/Book Usage: Terns fly from Antarctic to the Arctic without stopping, that is over 12,000 miles! The spend the the dark months in the Arctic then fly back to Antarctic just as the sun is rising. They are around 1/2 ounce when born and about 2 pounds when fully grown. Caribou eat all the food available when they first arrive at the Tundra then they basically starve and their bodies live off the fat stored inside their bodies until it is time for them to return to Antarctic. At birth they are about 10-26 pound and fully grown they can be between 175-700 pounds. The Snowy Owl unlike many other animals lives in the Arctic year around, it feeds off of hares and lemmings when available. It has great eyesight during the 6 months of darkest it still sees unlike other animals in the Arctic. The owl's wing span can get between 20-27 inches wide. The Ptarmigan is a very interesting animal because depending on the time of year it changes colors; during the winter is it a pearly white, during the summer it turns a brown and yellow, both are used to help camouflage the animal from predators. These birds are very tiny they only get to a pound and half full grown. Whales here are referred to as the "sea canaries" because they love to sing while they hunt for food. When they are born they are at least 5 feet long and weigh between 90-130 pounds. The walrus uses their whiskers to feel for calms on the ocean floor, they usually eat around 6,000 calms a day! The male Walrus usually weighs around 4,000 pounds full grown. Seals can stay under water for an hour without even taking one breath, fat makes up most of a seals body weight and it also keeps them warm in the freezing water. Arctic hares have huge feet that they use as snowshoes it helps me hop across the ice without breaking and falling into the water. The name for a baby hare is leveret. The Arctic fox is so white that most animals do not realized the fox is around until its too late, the fox wraps itself into a ball to keep warm and steals most of its food from other animals such as the polar bear. Polar Bear surprisingly are born around a pound and half and about a foot tall, but when full grown they can kill a seal with one swat, they are extremely strong and are perhaps the strongest of the Arctic animals. How I would use this book in my classroom is during the Winter I could do a lesson on how animals survive or I could teach about the animals in certain kingdoms across the Earth. Either way this book contains many facts about Arctic animals, and it would be a great tool to get kids involved in learning.

Chapter Book #7 Write-Up

Author: Ginjer Clarke

Title: Gross Out!

Illustrator: Pete Mueller

Genre: Non-Fiction

Subgenre: Informational

Theme: Learning about strange and interesting animals.

Primary/Secondary Characters: Leeches, Sea Slugs, Red-Bellied Piranhas, Hagfish, Dung Beetles, Velvet Worms, Horned Lizards, Surinam Toads, Vampire Bats, Armadillos, and Fulmars

Award(s)/Publication Year: no awards presented/2002

Publishing Company: Scholastic

Brief Summary/Book Usage: Giant leeches can get up to 18 inches long; they are not deadly although they suck blood out of humans/animals for hours. Sea slugs can come in many different colors and one type even has its internal organs on the outside surface of its body, one organ is the guts or cerata. The cerata on the slug is shaped like a knife and can be used to sting predators. Piranhas can consume a meal is 30 seconds, and eat sometimes without even chewing the pieces. A hagfish is almost blind and eats mainly dead fish, when another animal comes near the hagfish oozes slime to alert them of danger. This slime consumes the fish killing it because it is unable to breathe. The velvet worm has liquid glue that comes out of its eyes to trap insects; it dries instantly and preserves a great meal for the worm. The horned lizard when attacked squirts blood out of its eyes, it does not hurt the lizard but it scares other animals away from it. When the surinam toad mates the male places the eggs in the female’s back and the eggs get buried underneath her skin, inside her back the eggs grow until the frogs are ready to hatch. When they hatch they actually break the skin on the mother's back with their feet to get out. The vampire bat as you can imagine only drinks blood, however it rarely bites humans, its animal blood by choice is a cow. To me the grossest of all these animals is the armadillo; it actually gets inside of dead animals and eats the insects and insides out of the animal. In chapter four I learned about gross birds, the one I found the most interesting was the fulmar. When the fulmar is attacked or feels threatened it pukes up yellow oil on the attacking animal. I would use this book in my classroom with a mature audience to appreciate the knowledge inside. I would use this book in a science lesson when learning about unique and interesting animals.

Chapter Book #6 Write-Up

Author: Ruth Sanderson

Title: Cinderella

Illustrator: Ruth Sanderson

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Fantasy

Theme: Treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Primary/Secondary Characters: Cinderella, the evil step-mother, the two step-sisters, and Prince Charming

Award(s)/Publication Year: no awards presented/2002

Publishing Company: Little Brown Book

Brief Summary/Book Usage: As a child Cinderella’s mother dies and it is shortly after that her father meets and marries her new step-mother. Cinderella not only has to learn how to deal with a new step-mother she also has to learn to deal with two evil step-sisters. As the years fly by Cinderella turns into the mother and daughters’ maid and slave. She is treated very poorly by the mother and is dressed in the ugliest, holey clothes the mother could find. She is constantly dirty from where she is forced to clean the house and she is not allowed out of the house unless she is told to do so by the step-mother. One day when attending the apple trees she meets a Prince of the kingdom she lives in, and she falls madly in love.  However, soon after meeting the prince she is called into the house to attend more chores. What we did not know is that the Prince was madly in love with her too, so he tells his father he wants to have a ball that everyone in the kingdom is invited to so he can once more see Cinderella. Invitations are sent out and everyone in the kingdom is invited to the upcoming ball, Cinderella is very excited and panics that she will not have anything to wear to such an event. Then she is informed by her sisters she will not borrow any of their dresses and as soon as the sisters find out that Cinderella still has her mother’s wedding dress and it is absolutely gorgeous they tell their mother. Their mother goes to Cinderella and tells her she will not attend the ball she will help her sisters get ready. This is what Cinderella is forced to do so the night of the ball she is in a terrible mood as she helps her sisters get ready for the night ahead. As her sisters get in the beautiful buggy awaiting them Cinderella begins to cry and magically as her tear drops hit the ground it makes beautiful things for her, the first tears makes a gorgeous dress, the second makes her a beautiful buggy, the third is beautiful glass slippers. Cinderella grabs her new processions and heads into the house, the other slaves inside help Cinderella by fixing her hair and applying make up and when she Is ready she is prettier then both her sisters put together and she is ready to leave. She jumps into the buggy and heads to the ball to find her Prince. When she arrives she finds the Prince and he is holding hands with another woman, in shock Cinderella decidesther dies and it is shortly after that her father meets and marries her new step-mother. Cinderella not only has to learn how to deal with a new step-mother she also has to learn to deal with two evil step-sisters. As the years fly by Cinderella turns into the mother and daughters’ maid and slave. She is treated very poorly by the mother and is dressed in the ugliest, holey clothes the mother could find. She is constantly dirty from where she is forced to clean the house and she is not allowed out of the house unless she is told to do so by the step-mother. One day when attending the apple trees she meets a Prince of the kingdom she lives in, and she falls madly in love.  However, soon after meeting the prince she is called into the house to attend more chores. What we did not know is that the Prince was madly in love with her too, so he tells his father he wants to have a ball that everyone in the kingdom is invited to so he can once more see Cinderella. Invitations are sent out and everyone in the kingdom is invited to the upcoming ball, Cinderella is very excited and panics that she will not have anything to wear to such an event. Then she is informed by her sisters she will not borrow any of their dresses and as soon as the sisters find out that Cinderella still has her mother’s wedding dress and it is absolutely gorgeous they tell their mother. Their mother goes to Cinderella and tells her she will not attend the ball she will help her sisters get ready. This is what Cinderella is forced to do so the night of the ball she is in a terrible mood as she helps her sisters get ready for the night ahead. As her sisters get in the beautiful buggy awaiting them Cinderella begins to cry and magically as her tear drops hit the ground it makes beautiful things for her, the first tears makes a gorgeous dress, the second makes her a beautiful buggy, the third is beautiful glass slippers. Cinderella grabs her new processions and heads into the house, the other slaves inside help Cinderella by fixing her hair and applying make up and when she Is ready she is prettier then both her sisters put together and she is ready to leave. She jumps into the buggy and heads to the ball to find her Prince. When she arrives she finds the Prince and he is holding hands with another woman, in shock Cinderella decides to leave and just as she goes he sees her and he takes off after her although he is too slow after fighting through the crowd. The only thing left of Cinderella is her glass slipper. The Prince takes the slipper and intends to find Cinderella the next morning. The next morning the Prince goes house by house to all the houses in the kingdom, at each house he asks the same question; to see all the women in the house feet. As he goes into Cinderella’s house she opens the door for him and he asks to see the women and their feet; the step-mother and sisters rush into the living room to try on this shoe however the shoe does not fit any of them, then the Prince asks Cinderella to try it on, although the mother is very against this, she does and the shoe goes right on. The Prince wraps his arms around Cinderella and later that day she is made his bride. Now with Cinderella being a Princess she tells her step-mother I will not punish you although you have punished me for years, I will simply forgive you because that is what a good person does. At the end of the story Cinderella and the Prince live happily ever after. I would use this book in my classroom to tell the children to treat others with respect and only treat them the way you would want to be treated. Life throws some curve balls at you and you never know who might have power someday so be nice to everyone.

Chapter Book #5 Write-Up

Author: Jennifer Dussing

Title: Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

Illustrator: Jennifer Dussing 

Genre: Non-Fiction

Subgenre: Informational

Theme: Learning about all the different types of bugs.

Primary/Secondary Characters: Beetles, Caterpillars, Dragonflies, Hornets, Kissing Bugs, Mosquitoes, Butterflies, Spiders, Stinkbugs, Thorn Bugs, and Wood Ants

Award(s)/Publication Year: no awards presented/1998

Publishing Company: DK Publishing Inc.

Brief Summary/Book Usage: This book contains a ton of information about bugs and insects. It talks about how their appearances help them survive and what makes them dangerous or acceptable in society. I would use this book in my classroom when discussing bugs and insects in a science lesson. Reading this book to the children would help them understand the different types of insects and their environments.

Picture Book #16 Write-Up

Author: Alan James Brown

Title: Love-A-Duck

Illustrator: Francesca Chessa

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Picture Book

Theme: The feeling of just wanting to be loved.

Primary/Secondary Characters: Love-A-Duck, Jane, John, the mother, and Buster

Award(s)/Publication Year: no awards presented/2010

Publishing Company: Holiday House

Brief Summary/Book Usage: This book starts out with Jane taking a bath with her favorite toy Love-A-Duck, when Jane gets done playing and is clean her mom helps her out of the tub and places Love-A-Duck on the windowsill so he can dry and get all the water out. Since Love-A-Duck is filled with water he falls over and out of the window and into Jane’s brother John’s baby carriage outside. Minutes later Jane, John, the mother, and Buster the dog come out and walk to the nearest park. When they get to the park Jane’s mother gets John out of the carriage and knocks Love-A-Duck on the ground, Buster then grabs him and takes off running around. When Buster sees a duck in the nearby pond he drops Love-A-Duck to bark, Love-A-Duck falls into the pond with the real ducks. One of the ducks notice him and they begin to throw mud on him and pick on Love-A-Duck. Then Jane’s mother yells to her it is time to leave, just as Love-A-Duck thinks he is going to be forgotten and left behind Buster comes and gets Love-A-Duck and carries him home. I would use this book in my classroom by telling my students that everyone has feelings and wants to fit in and be loved.

Picture Book #15 Write-Up

Author: Paulette Bogan

Title: Lulu-The Big Little Chick

Illustrator: Paulette Bogan

Genre: Folk Tale

Subgenre: Picture Book

Theme: You are never too old to need help in your life.

Primary/Secondary Characters: Lulu, Momma, Mrs. Pig, the sheep, the horse, the cow, and the crow

Award(s)/Publication Year: IRA Children’s Choice/2009

Publishing Company: Bloomsbury

Brief Summary/Book Usage: Lulu is a little chick tired of being treated like a baby, she decides that from now on she is going to go far away by herself and will make her own choices. As she walks she first comes upon the pigs who cover her in mud, because she was so small they never saw her, she continues walking next she comes upon the sheep, they almost squish her because she was so little. Lulu’s mother the whole time is within seeing distance of where Lulu is so she decides to continue on her journey, next she comes upon a horse who almost steps on her, then comes across a cow who almost ate her because she was in his grass. Then, Lulu is finally so far away she does not see anything or anyone she knows and she hears something scary she has never heard before, it is a crow and the crow gets closer and closer until Momma runs to Lulu’s protection and keeps her safe from the crow. When Lulu gets back home she tells her mother next time she goes anywhere she wants to always take her with her. I would use this book in my classroom by teaching the children that you are never too old to ask for help, and your family will always be there to help you along the way.