B.J. Smith Elementary Library Wiki

Teacher Suggestions for Books to Buy for Library

Page history last edited by rprice@... 3 wks ago

Title	Author	Subject
Ruby's Wish	Shirin Yim	First-time kids' book author Shirin Yim Bridges uses a tender family story to travel back to turn-of-the-century China and teach a proto-feminist lesson about perseverance and self-belief.
Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China	Deborah Noyes	A young Chinese princess is sent from her father’s kingdom to marry the king of a far-off land. She must leave behind her home of splendors: sour plums and pink peach petals and — most precious and secret of all — the small silkworm. She begs her father to let her stay, but he insists that she go and fulfill her destiny as the queen of Khotan. Beautifully told and arrestingly illustrated, here is a coming-of-age tale of a brave young princess whose clever plan will go on to live in legend — and will ensure that her cherished home is with her always.
Meggie Moon	Elizabeth Baguley	The junkyard is Digger and Tiger's special place. When Meggie Moon, a girl, comes to visit they aren't sure what to think. The boys quickly discover that Meggie Moon is full of brilliant ideas from building a racing car to a pirate ship. When she leaves, they construct a rocket ship that will take them to find Meggie Moon. With imaginative illustrations, Meggie Moon will delight boys and girls alike.
How Prudence Proove It Proved the Truth about Fairy Tales	Coleen Murtagh Paratore	Prudence is the home-schooled child of two professors. She and her parents make a straw-man dichotomy between science and fairy tales, and then the book goes about demolishing same. When Prudence gets invited to school, she is horrified to see that Miss Bliss tells fairy tales all the time. Then Prudence starts getting postcards full of punnery: "It helps to let down your hair. R." or "Why so grumpy? Are you sleepy? S.W and the D's." And Miss Bliss says all you have to do is believe. A costume ball at school culminates in the revelation that Miss Bliss is a fairy godmother and in Prudence' conversion to the fairy side of the force and the idea that believing makes it so.
The Seven Silly Eaters	Mary Ann Hoberman	In this highly comic rhyming romp that surprisingly (and nicely) twists into a birthday story, Hoberman and Frazee tweak fussy eaters with style and panache. The author's lighthearted touch takes readers swiftly through the arrival of the Peters's seven children?each with a distinct bias for the food that he or she will or will not eat.
A Taste of Colored Water	Matt Faulkner	Like Evelyn Coleman’s middle-grade novel Freedom Train, this picture book, set in the early 1960s, tells the segregation story from the viewpoint of a naive white kid, Lulu, who loses her innocence when she confronts the racism and cruelty toward blacks. Lulu and her cousin Jelly grab the chance to make their first trip to the big city because they want to taste the “colored water” people have there. Lulu certainly don’t understand the scary street demonstrations they see—until they use a drinking fountain and are driven off by a yelling policeman and his vicious dog. Watercolors decorated with ink crosshatching ably contrast the sweet pastoral fun the children experience with their sudden, terrifying wake up. Faulkner’s personal note about his growing up in the north, where segregation was not official but prejudice was always there, will spark discussion.
Don't Eat the Bluebonnets	Ellen Leventhal, Ellen Rothberg	Sue Ellen, a sassy cow, loves to smell, lick and eat the bluebonnets although everyone warns her not to. "The bluebonnets will not come back next year if you eat them," Max the Longhorn tells her. When she can no longer stand the temptation of the tasty bluebonnets-having a mind of her own-she eats them all. The next spring the bluebonnets don't come back. Now Sue Ellen must solve the problem of getting the bluebonnets back in her favorite pasture.
An Egg is Quiet	Dianna Hutts Aston	This beautifully illustrated introduction to eggs resembles pages drawn from a naturalist's diary. The text, scrolled out in elegant brown ink, works on two levels. Larger print makes simple observations that, read together, sound almost like poetry: "An egg is quiet. . . . An egg is colorful. An egg is shapely." On each spread, words in smaller print match up with illustrations to offer more facts about bird and fish eggs across the animal spectrum. The illustrations are too detailed for read-alouds, but there's a great deal here to engage children up close. The succinct text will draw young fact hounds.
When Ruby Tried to Grow Candy	Valorie Fisher	Ruby Louise Hawthorne can’t believe her eyes. Right there, in Miss Wysterious’s garden, teacups are growing on trees, shoes are sprouting like weeds, and eggbeaters are jangling from branches. So maybe Ruby should listen when Miss Wysterious tells her all the important rules of gardening–like watering and weeding and labeling what you plant. That way, when Ruby plants her jellybeans, they really just might grow. . . . Anyone with even the slightest sweet tooth is sure to rejoice along with Ruby when her candy finally sprouts! And it’s all depicted in Fisher’s mixedmedia illustrations that include real candy!
Fanny	Holly Hobbie	When Fanny’s two friends bring their glamorous, sophisticated-looking Connie dolls over to play, she shows them her homemade doll, Annabelle. The girls’ polite silence leads Fanny to look at Annabelle critically and stow her away in a drawer—at least until her friends go home. Then she listens to her heart. The next time the three girls play dolls together, Annabelle takes a prominent, competent role in the girls’ make-believe: she plays the vet, assisted by two willowy nurses. The understated story is nicely nuanced, making its points quietly and leaving children to draw whatever conclusions they will. The beautifully painted scenes that take place in Fanny’s room at night are wonderfully evocative, while some of the illustrations of the characters are more exaggerated and less effective. Still, many children will empathize with Fanny’s strong emotions and appreciate her creative knack for bringing about her own happy ending.
Fanny & Annabelle	Hollie Hobbie	In the second Fannyadventure,Fanny writes her first picture book. Since Annabelle, her doll, was Fanny's first creation, it's fitting she should star in the story. Annabelle's adventure ends up mirroring Fanny's own life as they both manage to give the perfect birthday gift to a loved one. With Hobbie's heartwarming art mixed with Fanny's own delightfully naïve drawings, this sweet talewill inspire fans and new readers alike to get creative.
Carmine: A Little More Red	Melissa Sweet	Carmine is a painter, always in search of just the right color (especially anything in the red family) to add to her paintings. So when she and her dog Rufus set off on their bike to Granny’s, she is too easily lured by a lovely meadow full of poppies. And, as she begins painting, she is too oblivious to danger lurking along the path.