Annotated Bibliography

This Next New Year
By Janet Wong

This is a great book for a little bit older children to be introduced to the fact that American traditions are not the only one's celebrated in our country. I also like how it compares the Lunar New Year, with the American New Year's, so that kids know the difference between the two. I also liked the fact that many different ethnicities celebrate the new years in the book. This shows kids that anybody who wants to could celebrate a chinese new year! I also loved the idea of cleaning to "move these mountains of bad luck off the floor" and scrubbing the house "rough and raw" to bring in good luck. The little boy also washes his hair to soak up good luck. I also like at the end of the story, that the little boy talks about how he is ready to make his dreams come true. This is very similar to the American New Year's because traditionally Americans make up New Year's Resolutions. I think that the main idea of New Years, whether it is Chinese or American, is that you are getting a fresh new start.



Twist
By Janet Wong

Janet Wong has a great way with words, and I loved reading these poems because of their simplicity, but also because the poems were true for each movement. She also had reasons behind each movement, such as in the poem "Cat/Cow", where the pose starts out as a cat, but the cat wants to turn into cow so that she can make her own milk. I think that the poems in this book are wonderful. However, I might not use it in a classroom because the poems seem a little bit older/you might need some background knowledge in Yoga, but if I had a student who really liked Janet Wong I could introduce this book to them.



I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today
By Dr. Seuss

Who can't relate to this book? Everyone has a day (or maybe it's EVERY day!) when they just don't want to get out of bed! This book goes through a whole series of events that could happen, even the police showing up at the house, and the character still will not get out of bed. This is another book that I've read to Terra and I think that she really likes the classic Dr. Seuss rhyming scheme as well. I think that this would be a cute and fun book to share with your class. You could maybe even use the title as a writing prompt, and have kids write their own versions of I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!



Shadow Play
Paul Fleischman

This book is actually full of illustrations by Eric Beddows. It tells the story of Beauty and the Beast, and how what we see on the outside does not always represent what is in the inside. I thought that this book had a good message, and that the illustrations were very clever, however just like in Sidewalk Circus, when I showed these books to the three-year-old that I babysit, she thought that the pictures looked scary, and I had to agree with her. Most of the illustrations are of shadows, which look dark and scary. I know that the shadows are part of the message of the book, however I'm not sure that this would be a good book to use as a teaching tool.



Clementine
by Sara Pennypacker

This is one of the cutest books I have ever read! Clementine has so much energy and all of her ideas really make perfect sense, even if they don't always work out the way she plans. This is really a coming-of-age story for the little ones, and I think it would be appropriate for about 2nd grade to 4th grade. One of my favorite parts about this book was when Clementine kept pointing out that she was really the only one paying attention when her parents or teachers told her to "Pay attention!" I think that a lot of young readers would be able to relate to Clementine, especially since she is always misunderstood.



Babymouse: Queen of the World!
By Holm & Holm

I really enjoyed the Babymouse series, and I really think its cool that you can buy her T-shirts on this website that I found: BABYMOUSE T-SHIRTS HERE!!! (I'm thinking about buying one...) Just like in Babymouse:Our Hero, Babymouse is stuck in yet another dilemma! Babymouse really wants to go to the most-popular-girl's slumber party, but the only problem is: Babymouse isn't invited!!!! So Babymouse resorts to doing this girls homework just to go, and ends up ditching one of her good friends to go to this (really lame) party. Fortunately for Babymouse, she quickly figures out who her real friends are, and who she would rather be spending her Friday evening with. I think a lot of kids today find themselves in the situation where they want to hang out with the "cool kids", however we all have to find out own niche. I think that its important for kids to learn that your real friends are the ones you can be comfortable around, even if they (and you) are big dorks. I also happen to be a big dork, and I am really excited to get my hands on a copy of Babymouse: Rockstar!