Grumpy Gloria

Author: Anna Dewdney

Genre: Picture Book

     Grumpy Gloria is about a dog whose owner gets a new doll. Gloria thinks that she has been abandoned so she is grumpy. Her owners try and figure out what is wrong with her. They try and do various things like taking her on a jog and giving her a bath. They finally try and give Gloria a ride in the little boys bike. The boy goes too fast and crashes into the little girl pushing her baby in the carriage. Every body flies everywhere and Gloria lands in the carriage instead of the baby. Gloria is finally happy. The last picture was of the little girl, Gloria and the doll all hugging.

     This book was really cute. I think it would be perfect for a lesson on feelings. It is an emotion that people often confuse with being mad. I also think it is a good book for children who are getting a younger sister or brother. It shows that just because someone knew is coming in, doesn't mean you are going to be forgotten about. This book used a lot of onomatopoeias and rhyming words.

           "Squeaky? Squawky? Jumpy? Jabby?

Gloria was feeling crabby."

Also, they used various words for "grumpy" like "foul" and "crabby". This shows that there are other words with the same meaning. This book can be used in various ways in the classroom. I really enjoyed it!



George Washington's Breakfast

Title: George Washington's Breakfast

Author: Jean Fritz 

 llustrator: Paul Galdone

 Genre: Picture Book

This cute informative picture book is about a young boy who was named after our first president, George Washington. George know so much about the president he was named after and they have to many common interests. While eating breakfast, George realizes that he doesn't know what George ate for breakfast. He is now determined to know what he ate. He asks his parents, grandmother and his librarian for help. They search tons of books and encyclopedias but they cannot find out what exactly George Washington ate for breakfast. His parents discuss with him that it might be impossible and that he should think about giving up. George gets really mad because he is NOT a quitter. He storms up to the attic where he finds an extremely old book of random facts that belonged to his grandfather. In the book, he finds out what George Washington ate and his grandma makes it for him as she had promised.


This short picture book had more than just an inspiring plot line to never get up. It used great literary elements that clearly showed who the protagonist and antagonist were. It also described how to use a library for research in the book. This book had a cute plot line while also being informative.


And George Washington's breakfast of choice was...
Hoecakes!
                            

Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream

Title: Amanda Bean's Amazing Drean

Author: Cindy Neuschwander

Illustrator: Liza Woodruff

Genre: Picture Book

This week, I read Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream. This was a cute mathematical picture book about the benefits of multiplication. Amanda Bean absolutely loves to count. She counts everything all the time, no matter where she is. Amanda Bean goes to the library to check out some books. She sees all the books and decides to count them all. She counts all of them and then realizes that the library is closing. She starts to see that this counting habit is getting a little tedious. When she gets home, she goes to sleep. She dreams that there are many sheep. She wants to count them all. They are each on a bicycle and she wants to count the total number of wheels. Then each sheep gets five balls of yarn and she wants to count each one as well. She gets completely overwhelmed in her dream. She realizes she cannot count everything and the sheep in her dream suggest she use multiplication. They explain to her that it is just a faster way of counting. This book uses this extreme exaggeration of a dream to show Amanda how overwhelming counting can get and how nice multiplication is.

            As a future math teacher, I would definitely use this book to introduce multiplication. Often children are taught how to multiply and jump right in to memorizing multiplication tables. Rarely are children taught that multiplication is essentially a faster way to add. This adds a unique story to the concept. I really enjoyed this book and its amazing illustrations!

The School Story

Author: Andrew Clements

Genre: Fiction

Level: Upper Elementary

 

Review:

The School Story is an inspiring novel of two 12 year old girls who attempt to secretly get a book published. Natalie, a young girl, lives with her mom who is an editor at a publishing company. Natalie loves to write and when she asked her best friend Zoe to read her book, Zoe got the crazy idea to try and get the book published. They devised an elaborate plan to use a pen name for Natalie so her mom would not know who wrote the book and they make a fake agency company who Zoe is the owner of. This elaborate plan works out just as hoped with the novel ending at the book party where the real author is to be revealed. Natalie's mother is pleasantly surprised to find out the real author is her daughter.                                                                    

This book was a truly inspiring story for young children who think that certain things are impossible because they are young. I think the book was well written and not only had a pleasant story line but it also encompassed a few tough subjects like the death of Natalie's father. I would definitely use this book in a classroom. Andrew Clements continues to write inspiring chapter books for young children.