Good Book List to Build On(annotations on each book are listed below chart)Genre / TypeTitle, Author, and Illustrator (year published)(Characteristic of Difference if applicable)Who is it a good fit for?

1. Traditional Literature

Anansi Goes FishingEric A. KimmelJanet Stevens1992

*Cultural folk tale4th or 5th grade

2. Fantasy or Science FictionThe Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris LessmoreWilliam Joyce20123rd through 5th grade, works for younger as well

3. Realistic Fiction

Fire! Fuego! Brave BomberosSusan Middleton ElyaDan Santat2012

*Bilingual book with English and Spanish words, woman as prominent firefighter character2nd and 3rd grade

4. Historical Fiction

Dias Story Cloth: The Hmong Peoples Journey of FreedomDia ChaChue and Nhia Thao Cha1996

*Culturally diverse - Hmong culture, different type of art and illustrationsolder elementary: 4th or 5thELL too

5. Biography

Nelson MandelaKadir Nelson2013

*civil rights and equality, race, African culture/world knowledge4th and 5th grade

6. Social Studies

The Story of Ruby Bridges: Special Anniversary EditionRobert ColesGeorge Ford2010

*civil rights, race, class, small young girl story perspective, religion, education1st or 2nd grade

7. Science

Fernandos Gift / El Regalo de FernandoDouglas Keister2004

*Bilingual book, culture of family in Costa RicaPreschool or Pre-K, K-2,excellent for ELLs

8. Math

1-2-3 PeasKeith Baker2012Preschool/Pre-k and K-1

Important Note:*A minimum of four titles must represent three different characteristics of difference. (InTASC #2)*A minimum of four books must have a publication date after 2004.

1. Traditional Literature AnnotationAnansi Goes FishingRetold by Eric A. KimmelIllustrated by Janet Stevens1992Holiday HouseNew York29 pages Summary:Anansi the spider plans to trick Turtle into catching a fish for his dinner by asking Turtle to teach him how to catch one. Turtle ends up tricking Anansi by convincing him that he is too tired every time they work on catching one and Anansi ends up doing all of the work. Turtle ends up with a free meal and Anasi is very upset with Turtle for a long time. However it explains the origins of the spider web. Personal Response:When I was younger, I always loved Anansi the spider books. Always an intentional trickster but ending up getting tricked himself. I think I am still fond of them, which is partially influenced by my love of African culture now. Anansi stories are always those passed down and retold over and over again. With this book specifically I also drew connections to the classic Tortoise and the Hare story because the turtle ends up on top and out smarting the other main character in the book. Strengths/Weaknesses:W: The main weakness I picked out from this book was that how the spider learned to make their web isnt directly the main idea, it kind of feels like an afterthought at the end of the book and could be incorporated a little more.S: However, I do think the trickster being tricked is always a good storyline to reinforce the idea of karma (without actually teaching karma to the students). It is always good to show that if you intentionally try to trick or hurt people it may backfire or not go the way you expected. How this book might be used:I think this book would be a great sample/model/example for children to write their own version of a traditional text, for example why the zebra has stripes for the idea of how spider webs came into being. This could be very good in a story writing unit for 4th or 5th graders.

2. Fantasy AnnotationThe Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris LessmoreBy William Joyce2012Antheneum Books for Young ReadersFantasy50 pages Summary:Told by a narrator, this picture book is about a man who loved words, stories and books. This book is about him writing his own book about his own story. He writes every day but kind of loses his passion and everything scatters, even his words! He ends up in the building where all of the flying books nest and lives among the books. He reads them and cares for them and continues writing his own book until he gets old. Then the books take care of him until he finishes his books and decides it is time for him to leave. He leaves behind his story in a book for another reader to read.

Personal Response:This is probably one of my absolute favorite picture books. The different illustration techniques are pretty amazing. From the use of color (black and white versus colors) to how Morris jumps between pages and the beautiful art. I just love the idea of all of the books flying and coming together. It is certainly fantasy in that it is sort of a dream-like book, not realistic but captures that getting lost in a book feel, even though this one is a picture book.

Strengths / Weaknesses:S: Proves that you can get lost even in picture books! Encaptures the importance of books and leaving behind stories for others to read. This book is very imaginative and I dont think anyone could read it without smiling to himself or herself in some way. It has also been made into a silent animated short film that has won an academy award!W: It might be tricky to use this book at certain age levels. It is higher level that you would think it is if you just skimmed through and leaves you questioning, why did he return to his young self? If he is flying away is he dead? What happens to all the books and why do they fly? This is also why the book has such a good hook, it keeps you questioning. I think it would be best for older elementary.

How this book might be used:I think I would read this book to 3rd-5th graders. The older kids might find it silly since it is a young picture book, but I think they could still get a lot out of it. It might be good to read in the beginning of the year or before you do a writing piece about us. I think you could take the idea of needing to read lots of books in order to be a good writer yourself would be a great thing to work on from this book. It could also be a good way of teaching how we need to take care of the classroom set of books as well. You could use it to teach imagery/visualization or have them write a journal response after reading it by responding to a prompt.

3. Realistic Fiction AnnotationFire! Fuego! Brave BomberosWritten by Susan Middleton ElyaIllustrated by Dan Santat2012Scholastic IncNew York33 pages Summary:This is a story about the daily life of our brave bomberos (firefighters), encompassed in 33 pages of a picture book. It is written in two languages, intertwined together. The general sentence structure throughout the book is based in English with Spanish firefighting vocabulary words sprinkled in throughout. The brave bomberos think they have finished with the fire until they hear a surprising meow from the second story. Rapido! They must save the gatito! Personal Response:I came across this book at the book fair last spring and liked it instantly. We had just been talking about bilingual books in my ESL class that semester and although this isnt fully in English or in Spanish, I think both English and Spanish speakers could benefit from reading it. The text is arranged in a catchy rhyming structure that includes the Spanish words. Luckily, even if you arent a Spanish speaker, there is a glossary in the back to translate the words for you. The illustrations are very appealing and fun. The words are arranged nicely where the Spanish vocabulary words are in bold and the firefighters sometimes have a speech bubbles with large text, so that you know it is dialog and that it is probably supposed to be a loud and expressive statement. What I like most is that the one female firefighter depicted in the book, boldly volunteers to get the cat out of the house, and although they are all the heroes that day, she is the main one. She is depicted and represented well throughout the book. Strengths/WeaknessesS: Two languages are used which should appeal to a broader audience and it has a Spanish-English glossary for those who cannot figure out the Spanish words. I think it would be fun to try to teach some 3rd graders some Spanish words simply from reading this book to them. The rhyming pattern keeps you moving through the text and creates a sort of energy which makes the bomberos adventure exciting as you read along! The content of the story has accurate (realistic) information about firefighters, but stays fiction by being told more as a story and less as an informational text. The people illustrated in the book represent a diverse population including a variety of skin colors. It also defies the gendered stereotype that all firefighters are men.W: Reading this book would maybe be confusing for readers who dont have any Spanish speaking experience and might be hard for them to read if they dont have the pronunciation knowledge. This would mess with the rhyming pattern and the fluency might get lost. As a teacher I think you would definitely have to practice reading this one out loud because it is kind of hard to switch from pronouncing English words to Spanish words without previewing the text beforehand.

How this book might be used:I would want to read this book in a second or third grade classroom. I think it would be fine in fourth as well, but second and third graders would be a good audience because the storyline itself is kind of predictable but still has an exciting tone and good pictures to keep them engaged. With support from the teacher, they would probably be able to keep up with the Spanish vocabulary. I also know that second graders typically have a unit on communities and peoples roles within the community, so they talk about different jobs and what people choose to do as a career. A firefighter could be one of them so this would be a great text to compliment that unit. You could do word work activities with the firefighter/bomberos vocabulary or have them write a reflection piece on why firefighters are important in our communities.

4. Historical Fiction AnnotationDias Story Cloth: The Hmong Peoples Journey of FreedomWritten by Dia ChaStitched by Chue and Nhia Thao Cha1996Published in cooperation with the Denver Museum of Natural HistoryLee & Low books Inc.New York17 pages (plus 4 information pages at back and a bibliography) Summary:This book is a story of the journey many Hmong Americans took to come to the United States. It is told through story cloth, which Hmong people see as a bridge between past and present. The story is about finding freedom and keeping their stories alive through the story cloths. Personal Response:This was one of the many books that Dr. Beisser sends around during her Social Studies class. When this one came around I held on to it and read it and asked Dr. Beisser if I could borrow it. It reminded me of the story cloth that hangs in my church back home, it was donated to our church and I always liked looking at it but never realized the story it depicts. Coming from St. Paul, MN I am familiar with Hmong culture and went through all of primary and secondary school with friends and peers who are Hmong and come from immigrant or refugee families. More recently, my brother has been dating a girl who is Hmong, her family made the trek to the US shortly after she was born (the 6th of 8 children). Her parents still speak minimal English and depend quite a bit on their children in this new world. As Yong has become part of our family I always wonder if my brother is integrating into theirs either way my family has had our eyes opened to the journey, life, and struggle that a Hmong family has gone through to be where they are now. Strengths/WeaknessesS: The visuals in this book are excellent! It is all-close up pictures from the story cloth and in the middle there is a full spread of the full story cloth. There is a line of stitching that goes up and down through each page to remind you that all of this is stitched together, part of a whole. The book does a good job of giving historical background as well as the authors story through out. The historical pieces provide good context for the story.W: I dont know if a student would be able to fully understand this story by picking it up off of a shelf. I believe they would need some background knowledge or would need to do some research to fully understand the content. I am sure there is a reason for putting the picture of the full cloth in the middle of the book, but it would maybe be nice to put it in the beginning, to see the full thing right away and then each page zoom in on each part of the story. How this book might be used:This book would have to be used with older elementary students, fifth grade for sure, possibly fourth. It would be a good addition to a unit on the Vietnam War or about different cultures or ethnicities, but would probably be a little to high for the younger grades just based on the topic of war and being pushed out of your homes, they might not understand. Students would need a lot of background and context. I am planning on keeping this story in mind if I end up teaching back in Saint Paul or Minneapolis, there is bound to be at least a few Hmong students in my classrooms and schools and as someone who didnt fully understand what Hmong was until high school and even college (when I realized no one knew what I was talking about when I was talking about my friend who was Hmong, or brothers girlfriend or the Hmong gangs in my high school), I think having a text like this would help me understand the journey and background on some of my peers. You would have to be sensitive to it though and not like blatantly point out students in class or anything like that, but I do think some students might get excited and they could bring in some of their familys own story cloths or have siblings or parents come in and tell some stories about their own family. But only if they wanted of course!I think it would be a good opportunity to make our own story cloths as well. Maybe have students break down their life into three sections and draw them and then stitch around that with fabric. OR make a classroom story cloth of the school year! Reading this book and talking about this topic would be a great way to bring in diversity of cultures and people and a way to integrate art.

5. Biography AnnotationNelson MandelaBy Kadir Nelson2013HarperCollins PublishersBiography40 pages Summary:This book captures Nelson Mandelas vibrant life through wonderful prose and amazing illustrations. The readers follow Mandela from a boy wanting change his country of South Africa to a man fighting struggles for equality as the president of his country. Mandela goes through quite the journey on his lifelong goal to create and be apart of a more just world. Personal Response:I have always loved this book and I am glad I have found a spot for it in my annotation file. I became aware of this book shortly after returning from my January term class trip to Ghana last spring. It was right after Mandela had passed away and I was floored at my lack of knowledge in this clearly awe-inspiring human. This book was my first introduction to him, since then, I have recognized his quotes many places. Although I have never been to South Africa, I have been to Uganda and Ghana and there are many people in both of those places that have a lot of respect for Nelson Mandela. He did amazing things for all of Africa and fought hard. The people of the world should always be thankful to him. Strengths / Weaknesses:S: The biggest strength of this book is Kadir Nelsons amazing illustrations. Most readers are entranced by the cover, which is just a close up of Nelson Mandelas face. There is no text on the front cover, only Mandela, smiling and shining. Passersby want to know more about this smiling, glowing, man who faces them straight on with no text to hide behind. The prose and style Kadir Nelson chose is flawless, it isnt over the top descriptive or wordy, it is to the point and powerful. Even if a child couldnt read the words of the book, they could definitely take away something from the powerful images. This book also aligns with the Common Core Standards. The book has one the following awards (among others, I assume):The 2014 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor BookA New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2013W: Weaknesses are a hard thing to come up with in Kadir Nelsons books Mandela being sent to jail for standing up for what he believes in might be a hard concept for young children to understand although I think I should give them more credit. I think a person like Nelson Mandela would be great to learn about at a young age, although I wonder if they might understand it better as they grew up. Some of the African words might be hard to understand/translate? But I think it is a good thing that they are included! How this book might be used:I would use this book in a history lesson about civil rights activists or maybe a unit on powerful people who changed the world. The grade level on a couple of sites for this book lists it as preschool through fourth, which impresses me. I think the book would make the most impact with older students; they might still be interested after reading it and want to check out the other sources in the bibliography at the end of the book. I think I would ideally use this with second or third graders who are still into picture books but have an understanding for poetry and books written in prose. In a unit on civil rights activists or people who changed the world, I could take the students many places. A couple ideas might be to have them create writing piece about one thing they want to change in the world and steps THEY can take to start the change. I might also have them do a report on someone who changed the world. They would have to do research and report back to the class about that person. Mandela could be one of them.

Non-Fiction Annotations

6. Social Studies TextTitle: The Story of Ruby Bridges: Special Anniversary Edition

Author: Robert Coles Illustrator: George Ford

Publisher, Year Published and pagesScholastic Paperbacks, 2010, 32 pages

Summary:Set in 1960, this story is about a six-year-old girl in New Orleans who is the first African-American to attend an all white/whites-only school. She bravely walked into school each day, enduring crowds of angry protesters for months. White parents took their children out of the school and first grader Ruby sat alone in classrooms with the teachers. She prayed for the bad people despite the persecution she faced.

Common Core State StandardsLiteracy RI.K.3 -- With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. RI.1.3 -- Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

Social StudiesSS.K2.H.1 Understand people construct knowledge of the past from multiple and various types of sources. Understand past, present, and future time in relation to historical events. Understand that people in different times and places view the world differently.SS.K2.H.3 Understand culture and how cultural diffusion affects the development and maintenance of societies. Understand the different roles of majority and minority groups in society.SS.K2.H.4 Understand individuals and groups within a society may promote change or the status quo.

Age/ Grade Level I think that you could read this book at a preschool or kindergarten level, but I do not know if the students would be able to understand the concept of the civil rights movement or have the background knowledge for why it was happening and what else was going on. I would probably still read it to students those ages as a good story with an African American female as the main character and as a relatable setting (school), but I think it would be ideal for a first or second grader.

How It Would Be Used:I would read it to the children as part of a civil rights movement unit and discussion prompter or reflection piece. I think it would be perfect for first graders to put themselves in Rubys place. They are the same age as Ruby, which would help them be able to put themselves in her shoes and have a better understanding. Ideally, I would have my first of second graders respond in someway (writing, skit, poem, drawing) to the prompt: How would it feel if you were in Rubys place?

7. Science TextTitle: Fernandos Gift/ El Regalo de Fernando

Author and Illustrator: Douglas Keister (both author and photographer)

Publisher, Year Published and pagesSierra Club Books for Children, 2004, 32 pages

Summary:This story tells about a boy, Fernando, his family, and his friend. Carmina has a favorite tree in the rainforest that they like to play by/on, but one day they go to visit it and it is cut down. Fernando decides to surprise his friend with a new cristobal tree that they plant together. This first-person bilingual narrative story engages readers through language and colorful photographs of Fernandos home and community in Costa Rica. This story is centralized around friendship with cultural connections and a take away of needing to take care of our environment (even when others dont!).

The Creative Curriculum Objects for Development and LearningObjective 25. Demonstrates knowledge of the characteristics of living things. (under Science and Technology heading)

Common Core State StandardsLitercy RI.1.6 -- Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. RI.1.7 -- Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.Science S.K2.LS.4 (kindergarten through second grade life science) Understand and apply knowledge of ways to help take care of the environment. -Chapter 12 of the Iowa Administrative Code states that science instruction shall include conservation of natural resources; and environmental awareness. -Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments. -Humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or detrimental to themselves or other organisms.

Age/ Grade Level:With themes like family, friendship, kindness and emotions, and the environment (taking care of trees, issues with cutting down the rainforest, etc), this is a very versatile book and would be a good read for students anywhere from preschool to second grade.How It Would Be Used:Preschool/Pre-K: Focus on emotional knowledge (How did Fernando and Carmina feel when their tree was cut down? How did Carmina feel when Fernando gave her the gift? social science knowledge?); introducing the issue of us depleting/destroying the environment (discuss and write down students answers to prompts such as: who cares about trees? what we like about trees or trees are important because, go on nature walk and look at trees/collect leaves to display in classroom, draw pictures of trees focusing on the parts all trees have (leaves, branches, trunk, roots)) ; connect story to potential unit on different families by looking at what Fernandos parents do in their community

Kindergarten/First/Second:Could do all of the things under preschool/pre-k category with a lot more emphasis on the environment and how we need to take care of it.-have discussions about what we could do as a class to improve our environment -go on nature walk, have them take observation notes, and draw a reflection -pick up litter as you go and emphasize proper disposal of trash connect to importance of why we recycle -plant a tree together and care for it -make a PSA about how to take care of the environment and show it to principal/other teachers/ another class

* This book would be an excellent read for ELLs. If they are Spanish speakers they could work to read it in both languages and/or share with a friend how to read the Spanish. If they dont speak Spanish, can still get a lot out of it by comparing cultures and settings. *

8. Math TextTitle: 1-2-3 Peas

Author and Illustrator: Keith Baker

Publisher, Year Published and pagesLittle Simon, Simon and Schuster Childrens Publishing Division, 2012, 40 pages

Summary:This book allows young children to work on their counting skills in a fun and colorful way with some vegetables they might be more encouraged to like and eat after becoming familiar with this book! Uses rhymes and repetitions to engage younger children. May become familiar with verbs as they explore what the peas do in numbers (searching/look, fishing/hook, boating/rowing, planting/grow, painting/brush, traveling/rush, jumping/splash, etc.)

The Creative Curriculum Objects for Development and LearningObjective 20. Uses number concepts and operations: a. Counts c. Connects numerals and their quantities (under Mathematics heading)

Common Core State StandardsLiteracy RI.K.1 -- With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. RI.1.7 -- Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

Math K.CC.A.1 -- Count to 100 by ones and by tens. K.CC.A.3 -- Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 020 (with 0 representing a count of no objects). 1.NBT.C.5 -- Given a twodigit number, mentally find 10 more or 10 less than the number, without having to count; explain the reasoning used.

Age/ Grade Level:This book counts from one to twenty and then by tens up to one hundred after that. Because of this, I think this book would be perfect for kindergarteners or first graders where counting to 100 is a skill they are acquiring or have mastered. I think there could be appeal for preschool/pre-k despite the counting by 10s probably going over their heads.How It Would Be Used:Preschool/Pre-K: trace the numbers with fingers or in the air (my Headstart practicum students work on this often)Kindergarten: count the peas on each page could be scaffolded to small group or individual work of having manipulatives (green beads as peas) in front of children as they read and have them show you how many peas are on each page (count on page, have them pull out the right amount of beans, then have them count the beads; support from teacher is a great way of differentiation). The focus of this would be to work on the concept of actually being able to count objects instead of just reciting one, two, three, fourFirst Grade: Students use base ten blocks/single units and show how many peas there are throughout the reading. Concept of amount of peas transferred to representation by base ten blocks and skill/knowledge of counting by tens. (based on standards this might actually be pretty low for where first graders are supposed to be).

*all of these ways to use the book could be scaffolded up or down/differentiated based on the ability of the student(s) and amount of support given by teacher