THE SMARTEST GIANT IN TOWN by Julia Donaldson

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This book is written by Julia Donaldson and illustrations by Axel Scheffler. George was considered to be a very happy giant in town who enjoyed being the scruffiest giant in town. He was walking through town one day and saw a shop stocking giant -size clothing and decides he needed to change his image. George becomes a new man with his smart clothing. As the giant began to go home he came in contact with some animals who needed some help. He gives each one of the animals a piece of his clothing to help them out.



The illustrations in this book are full of descriptive words, a smart stripy tie. Also the use of rhyming is evident in the book followed by repetition.



I would ask my students the following questions:

1. Why do you think the giant wanted to change his image?

2. Which one of the animals in the story do you think needed the giant help the most? Why or why not?



Classroom activities:

1. Have the students to read the following verse and decide does it rhyme? Why or why not?

My tie is a scarf for a cold giraffe,

My shirt's on a boat as a sail for a goat,

My shoe is a house for a little white mouse,

One of my socks is a bed for a fox,

My belt helped a dog who was crossing a bog



2. Have the students to create an alternate ending to the story.



My personal thoughts on this story is that it will appeal to children of different ages . It teaches teaches children the meaning of sharing and helping out someone in need. The story make children think of others before they think of themselves.



Published in Great Britain 2002 by Macmillan Children Books

Text copyright 2002 by Julia Donaldson

Pictures copyright 2002 by Alex Scheffler

Man on the Moon

This book The Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram is a wonderful book to read. This is a straightforward book about a man's day at work on the moon, with an underlying humor to it. Bob is moon expert and knows for sure that there are no aliens on the moon at all. However, if you look closely when reading the book you can actually see the aliens. Bob travels to the moon on a daily basis and it only takes about 15 minutes for him to get there.




The illustrations are fantastic, beautiful affairs that gives loads of detail to look. The illustrations in the book keep you exploring for things to fins.




My personal opinions about this book is that is hilarious and entertaining. Young children with an imagination would love to read this book and find it quite entertaining.




I would ask my students the following questions.

1. If you had a chance to go to the moon, would you go and why?

2. Do you think that there are aliens on the moon? Why or why not?




Classroom activities:

1. Have the students take all the left over materials in the classroom to create a spaceship.

2. Since there are hidden aliens in the book, have the class to count out all the hidden aliens they find in the book.




Templar Publishing (1 Jan 2004) The Man on the Moon:

The Gruffalo's Child (by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler)

This book was written by Julia Donaldson and illustrations by Axel Scheffler Macmillan. This book is about a mouse who was traveling in the woods and was later threatened to be eaten by several animals such as; a fox, an owl and a snake. An intriguing mouse says that he is having lunch with a scary monster whose favorite food just happens to be the animal who wants to eat him.



The brightly colored and too silly to be really scary illustrations set the tone for this light hearted romp through multiple layers of comic irony. The illustrations really pop with the white pages and the bright colors on top of them.



My thoughts about this book is that it teaches you to never judge a book by its cover. This story is written in a rhyming fashion so children should love to read or listen to the book aloud. It is a very imaginative book which keeps you guessing on what is going to come next in the book.



Questions that i would ask my students would be?

1. Do you really think that the fox, owl and snake was going to eat the mouse? Why or Why not?

2. Do you think that the monster was really scary in the story? Why or Why not?



Classroom activities:

1. Have the students to create a scary monster using a brown paper bag.

2. Have the students create an alternate ending to the story.



Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Is it bedtime Wibbly Pig

This book written by Mick Inkpen Holder is a book about little pig and its his bedtime but he isn't quite ready for bed as of yet. He is finding every excuse not to go to bed, first he's in the tub, then he's brushing his, teeth, reading a book and so on.



The illustrations in this book are very simple wording which makes it easier for children to follow along with. This book offers very colored pictured on crisp white background which offers a pull out page for the children at the end of the book.



My personal opinion on this book is that it would make a wonderful bedtime story to read at bedtime. This book is good for children who find every excuse not to go to bed. It had very simple wording easy for young children to understand with no problem.



I would ask my students the following questions:

1. Are you just like the pig at bedtime making every excuse not to go to bed? Why or Why not?

2. What excuse do you make at bedtime when its time for bedtime? Does your excuse work?



Classroom activities:

1. Have the children to create their own bedtime story?

2. Have the students to bring in the items they use as an excuse for not going to bed.



Hodder Children's Books (June 1, 2011)

Reading "That's Not My Dinosaur"

This book written by Fiona Watt and illustrations by Rachel Wells. This is a book about different styles and types and textures of different dinosaurs. The children reading this book have to find which one is there dinosaur.



The illustrations in this book works wonderful for children with their sensory. It has fuzzy, bumpy, slippery, rough and soft dinosaurs for children to touch and feel in this book.



My personal opinion about this book is that I think it would work wonders for children who are still learning about sensory. This book would have been wonderful for the beginning stages of when my son was diagnosed with autism. With his autism he loves to touch and feel different things of different textures.



If I were working with children of 2-3 years I would ask my students the following questions;

1. Which dinosaur did you like touching the best? Fuzzy, bumpy, slippery, rough or the soft dinosaur?

2. Which dinosaur did you not like?



Classroom activities:

1. I would set up a sensory station in the classroom with many different materials. I would use covered boxes filled with the materials so they could not see what was inside. I would then ask each student to stick their hands inside and guess what type of material was inside.

2. I would have the children to go outside and find different materials of different textures.



First publishes in 2002, Usborne Publishing Ltd, Usborne House, 83-85 Saffron Hill, London, ECIN-8RT

Rumble in The Jungle Giles Andreae

This book was written by Giles Andreae and illustrations David Wojtowycz. Rumble in the Jungle, there's a whisper in the trees is about jungle animals and the more you read the more animals you encounter in the jungle. A chimpanzee, a lion and elephant and so on. With each animal there is a short poem of 4-5 lines describing the animals character.



The colorful illustrations, rhyme and rhythm used to create a wonderful engaging and funny story to read to children. The book flows very nicely from page to page focusing on each animal with each page having a large print of the animals name. There are lots of colorful illustrations all throughout the book which will surely capture a child's attention.










My personal thoughts about this book is that i absolutely love this book. The rhyming flows nicely from each page and as a result of all the different animal characteristics you find yourself getting into character and putting on silly voices to reflect the animal traits. This would be a wonderful book with the theme regarding wild animals. I would recommend this book for any teacher working on an animal theme.



I would ask my students the following questions:

1. If you could be any animal in the jungle what would it be and why?

2. Do you think that the animals in the jungle could all truly get along? Why or why not?



Classroom activities:

1. Have the children to recreate the story by putting on a play for their classmates.

2. There is a lot of rhyming in the story, have the children to pick out the rhyming in the story.



Published March 1st 2002 by Tiger Tales

The Pants Song

This book is written by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. This book is about many different kinds of pants that different people and animals wear . Pants is quite literally a book about pants. Pants is a celebration of pants of all shapes and sizes " pants to pick a daisy, pants for being lazy, pants on your head when you've gone crazy

This book consists of vibrant illustrations and short rhythmic phrases that describe the pants. The simple language and accompanying pictures make this book accessible to children of varying abilities.

My thoughts on this book is that it is pure fun silliness. If your child is in that toilet learning stage where they like to show everyone their underwear and are puzzled that others don't seem to share their glee. Children will love the bright colors and all of the rhyming text.The simple language and accompanying pictures make this book accessible to children of varying abilities.

I would ask my students the following questions:
1. How many of you learned to potty train using a song or a book?
2. Do you remember what it was about the song or book that helped you?

Classroom activites:
1. Have the children to bring in a pair of pants and decorate the pants to their liking to make them as wacky and tacky as possible.
2. Have the class to make up a class room song that will help those who haven't quite potty training under control yet.

Published July 7th 2005 by David Fickling Bookes

 

This book I will Never Not Eat a Tomato written and illustrated by Lauren Child. I will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato is about a young girl named Lola who is a very picky fussy eater. She says that carrots are for rabbits and peas are too small and too green. One day after Lola professes everything that she wont eat, she ends the list saying that "I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato". Lola's sister tries to trick her one day and say that the orange things on the table are not carrots but orange twiglets and the peas are green drops from Greenland.

The illustrations of this book includes real photographs of the foods (peas, carrots, fish sticks, etc.) which are incorporated into the fun cartoon illustrations. The illustrations are very busy, expressive and full of color and textures which compliment the text.

My thought about this story is that it surely catch the attention of very picky eaters and I'm sure they would be able to relate to Lola. This is a story that I think young children will enjoy being read aloud  and especially at dinner time. This book may also help your own picky eater to try a different food that they refuse to eat otherwise.

Questions I would ask my students:
1. What vegetable is your favorite? and Why?
2. What vegetable would you never ever eat? and Why?
3. Is there a way that your parents got you to eat something that you didn't like?

Classroom activities:
1. Think of a creative way to make yourself eat a vegetable that you hate to eat.
2.  Take turns reading the book aloud to the members of your class.

Candlewick; Reprint edition (September 15, 2003)

This book is written by Marty Crump and illustrations by Steve Jenkins and Edel Rodriguez. This book is about  Charles Darwin's frogs who lives in Chile. The frog has a very distinctive flap of skin on the end of its nose and is a species in which males help bring their offspring to maturity. The female frogs lay the eggs and the males swallow the tadpoles and they further develop in the vocal sac and are burped into existence.

The illustrations are a combination of drawings and photographs and compliments the narrative very nicely. The book combined illustrations of a traditional collage format and regular photographs.

My thoughts about the book was that it was a very interesting book which teaches children about the frog which Charles Darwin discovered. Although, I am terrified of frogs and found my skin crawling at times it was quite interesting. I think this book would be wonderful for children who are fascinated with nature or frogs. This book would be good for adolescents to read from grades 3-10.

Questions i would ask the class? 1. What is it about this story that you were intrigued about the most?  and Why? 2. Do you think that this type of frog actually exist? If not why?

Classroom activities:
1. Draw and describe your own unique frog and tell us what makes your frog so different.
2. The class will take a field trip in the woods and find as many different species of frogs and collect them and see what make them different from the frog in the story.

published April 1 2013 by Boyds Mills Press 

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This book was written by Julia Donaldson and illustrations by Alex Scheffler is a wonderful book for children. This book is about a small snail who had always envisioned to sail on the seas. Well one day the giant well came to a rock and invited the snail to ride with him and that was a dream come true for the snail. The well one day was swimming to close to the shore and got beached. It was now left up to the small snail to figure out a way to help his friend the whale.


The flat cartoonish multimedia illustrations sets a perfect tone for the text. The rollicking language and bright colored pictures make it a perfect book to read aloud to young students. The illustrations are wonderful with very vibrant colors and detailed pictures.


My personal thoughts about the book is that it tells a wonderful story which teaches young children that you are never to small in this big world to make a difference. This story shows a wonderful friendship between a snail and a whale one who is large and the other is so small. I also think that this book will appeal to the younger audience because it has a lot of rhyming within the story.


I would ask the class the following questions such as: 1. How would you end the story if you had to write it and why? 2. Would you change the characters in the book to something else ? and why or why not? 3. Is that the way you thought that the story would end?


Classroom activities:
1. I would have the class to recreate the scene where the whale was beached using a shoebox, sand, rocks, and a cardboard, glue, markers and construction paper. The rocks would be uses for the water.
2.There are a lot of rhyming words in this story. Can you find the rhyming words in the story? Can you find other words in the story that rhyme?
3. Write your own story about two different creatures who go on an adventure with one another.


Puffin, Reprint edition (2006) The Snail and the Whale