Here are my favorite books that I read during the first trimester. Click on the titles to read plot summaries. If you'd like to see all of my books, you can follow me on Goodreads.
Picture Books
You Are a Story by Bob RaczkaMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this, but may skip the "You are a miracle" page when reading aloud for Mock Caldecott, because I don't want 6-year-olds asking me about zygotes.
I Can Only Draw Worms by Will MabbittMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
LOVE. Cannot wait to read it to the kids. Just need to learn the word for "worm" in Spanish so I can use with my MLL K.
In the Night Garden by Carin BergerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Love the gentleness, love the color palette, love that Berger creates all the tiny details as collages. Have read to a couple of classes for Mock Caldecott so far, and they love looking for the cat.
Sun Flower Lion by Kevin HenkesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Will use if I am assigned PreK or ASD classes again next year.
The Artist by Ed VereMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm not sure why she HAD to go to the big city, but I love the message and the language, and I wish Vere were American so I could use it for Mock Caldecott. Will share with the art teacher.
Middle Grade Fiction
Leeva At Last by Sara PennypackerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Whoever wrote the jacket copy needs a better editor. Because I almost didn't even bother reading this one for Mock Newbery. But I figured "I can always just stop if I hate it." But then I did not! Because I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!
Definite Matilda vibes, which I did not mind one bit. SO MANY quotable lines. Leeva is a wonderful heroine. I teared up a few times. I hugged the book a few times. I am going to tell everyone I know that they should read this book.
Oh, and Matthew Cordell's illustrations were reminiscent of Quentin Blake's and worked so well. I don't know how to add images to Goodreads or else I would take some pictures and include them.
My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris HarrisMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
SO much better than so much other "children's poetry." Yes, there's a bunch of AABB and ABAB rhyming, but a lot of other poems that play with all kinds of formats and language.
I loved the footnotes in "I Love My Siblings So Much!"; "One Half a Poem" is pretty brilliant; I am the title character in "The Corrector"; the competing haiku and limerick are amazing; a middle name being "..." is sublimely absurd; "Parents are the Greatest!" is true; the poem about snakes made me LOL; the use of texts in "You Are Never All Alone" is very zeitgeist, leading into Jozy and Silas' simple yet effective collection of poems; I want to teach all of my students "The Perfectly Still"; "Song of the Mayfly" also made me LOL; the "Terrible Fables" were meta and hilarious; "Detritus" is brilliant.
And you know what, I just bumped my rating up to a 5 for the amazingly creative page number notations.
Well done, Chris Harris. Bravo.
Eb & Flow by Kelly J. BaptistMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was a bit confused at times flipping back and forth between narrators so frequently, but overall this was really good and showed that situations can escalate into violence because of accidents, misunderstandings, and lack of communication. For most of my students, this will be a window book, but for many, it will be a mirror.
Also, I loved the idea of having an online chat with a friend via a shared Google Doc. How have I never thought of that before?
And the mention of Newsela reminded me that writing articles for students at different levels to read would be a good future job when I am too decrepit to carry books and furniture around.
King of the Ice by Kelly Starling LyonsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I finished in 10 minutes! Which means my kids might actually make it to the end in less than two weeks. Realistic portrayal of 4th-grade thoughts and problems with a Black protagonist; I am adding the series to my wishlist. And adding an extra star for being illustrated but not a graphic novel.
Marya Khan and the Incredible Henna Party by Saadia FaruqiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Extra star for being SHORT and illustrated but not a graphic novel. As in, a FIC title my students might actually finish. Relatable story of a 3rd grader who makes questionable decisions and her supportive family. We need more books like this. Even if all the characters look the same in said illustrations.
Nonfiction
Butt or Face? by Kari LavelleMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I cannot wait to read this for Mock Sibert. Thanks to one of my 2022 Mock Sibert readalouds - Odd Bods by Julie Murphy - I recognized the red-lipped batfish face!
Tomfoolery!: Randolph Caldecott and the Rambunctious Coming-of-Age of Children's Books by Michelle MarkelMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
So well done. A complete biography that didn't leave me with questions, and illustrations that included Caldecott originals. I may add this to my curriculum to kick off Mock Caldecott every year.
Bears Are Best!: The scoop about how we sniff, sneak, snack, and snooze! by Joan HolubMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
There is a LOT of information in this book. I have my students practice taking notes when we read Mock Sibert titles. This one will need a very specific graphic organizer, or they'll end up writing down pages and pages! Or maybe I'll give different kids different graphic organizers, so they can just be looking / listening for certain facts. Hmm. Will definitely use, though.
The Whale Who Swam Through Time: A Two-Hundred-Year Journey in the Arctic by Alex BoersmaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not sure if we can consider it "straight" nonfiction, since none of us can interview a bowhead whale about her feelings, and the mention of the Arctic warming being any kind positive gave me pause. But overall, a good presentation of how humans have changed the environment and informative backmatter to extend learning.
YA Fiction
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManusMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This has been on my to-read shelf for a while, and now that I am at a middle school once a week, I can't help but notice that McManus' books are hugely popular. So I decided to move it to the top of my holds list.
It was good, although I figured out one of the twists fairly early on. And it made me so happy that social media didn't exist when I was in high school.
