Cloudette by Lichtenheld

Cloudette
by Tom Lichtenheld

What it's about in one sentence: 
Cloudette is a little cloud that wants to do big and important cloud things.

What I love:
There could not possibly be a cuter little cloud than Cloudette.  The illustrations are darling and the story sweet. Cloudette spends her days watching fireworks, and playing hide and seek with her friends before she gets blown very far from all she has known in a storm. Then she must make her way for herself and learn how to "let it pour."

My favorite part:
The clever wordplay (a squirrel who says "that's nutty" or  a bear who has "barely" gotten to know Cloudette), the vocabulary and the alliteration ("prodigious precipitation, pipsqueak!") make me love reading this one out loud again and again - and I have!

Other Connections:
Cloudette would be a fun connection for a kindergarten or first grade weather unit. See what connections can be made between Cloudette and real clouds, perhaps pairing it with something like Clouds by Marion Dane Bauer.

Cloudette is firmly placed in my top 10 list of picture books for 2011!


Cloudette Book Trailer:

It Gets Better -- Authors and Illustrators Unite

I love the personal and honest feel of the "It Gets Better" campaign.

Thank you to all the authors and illustrators who participated in this video!

The Princess and Her Panther by Orr

The Princess and Her Panther
by Wendy Orr
Illustrated by Lauren Stringer

What it's about in one sentence:
Two imaginative sisters try to be brave when they hear scary sounds while camping outside in their backyard, finally deciding "Enough is Enough!"


What I love:
I love the creative play of the two sisters, one dressed as a princess and the other as a cat. Right away a loaded down wagon turns into a camel caring their belongings, and the sandbox turns into a desert to cross. The illustrations capture the imaginative world of the sisters in a wonderfully fanciful way.

Once evening comes and it gets dark, the leaves overhead and nearby animals sound increasingly scarier to the two sisters.
"The Princess is brave, and the panther tried to be," but with more and more noises, "The Princess tried to be brave, and the panther tried to try."

 Eventually they both summon the courage to shout together, "Enough is enough!" scaring away all of the animals making frightening sounds.

My favorite part:
Stringer's illustrations are so absolutely luscious I want to dive in and swim around in them. The facial expressions on the sisters as they try to be brave perfectly reveal the changes in their emotions as the story develops.

Other Connections:
This book is a perfect read aloud for talking about realistic fiction.
The story of the sisters takes the reader on a fantastical journey with leaf-snakes and frog-monsters that is totally grounded in reality.

• Is it realistic for children to pretend when they play? Absolutely.
• Is it realistic for rustling leaves or hooting owls to make noises that might sound scary in the night? Yes. 

Excerpt from Princess and Her Panther read by author Wendy Orr:



I must also mention that Lauren Stringer along with being an amazing illustrator, is also a fabulous person and a fellow Minnesotan!
Find out more about her at her website: http://www.laurenstringer.com

Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj

"Read it again!" -my 5 year old every time we finished...

Cat Secrets
by Jef Czekaj






What it's About (in one sentence):
Cats have a book of secrets from which they read aloud when only cats are present, and you don't look like a cat.



What I love:
Kids will laugh. 
They will meow and stretch and interact with this book. 
And then they will want you to read it again.
 
The three cats in this book are about to start reading from the book of cat secrets when they see you, the reader. You don't look like a cat, but they give you the benefit of the doubt and decide to test your catworthiness through meowing, stretching, purring and napping.

The cat dialogue in this book is pure fun and begs for
voices and expression from the reader.


My Favorite Part:
The entire time the three cats are concerned about you and whether or not you really are a cat, a mouse in the background is doing everything it can think of to steal the book of cat secrets. 
I love this added story layer. Kids will love watching for what the mouse is doing next.
The cats are totally oblivious, and when the final test of napping comes around, the mouse finally gets it's paws on the book of Cat Secrets.

Other Connections:
This picture book is written entirely in dialogue bubbles. Cat Secrets is a good early example to use for explaining what order to read dialogue bubbles in a frame. Certain pages are not read strictly left to right - the reader must also be sure to start with the bubble closest to the top of the page - even if it not the farthest left.

Perfect Square by Michael Hall

Thank you to all those who participate in #bookaday on twitter. I am finding so many fabulous books based on your recommendations.

Including the subject of today's post...

Perfect Squareby Michael Hall

What It's About:
Perfect Square is a square (piece of paper) happy as is, who gets torn, cut, pinked, crumpled, but each time turns into something interesting and wonderful because of it.

What I Love: 
 I love happy accidents. So often students are focused on making things look "right" or perfect and get frustrated when they "ruin" something. Sometimes it's the unexpected turns that make all the difference. Each day Perfect Square is somehow made "unperfect" - and each day it creatively turns itself into something new and different. On the day the the Square gets crumpled and ripped, it turns itself into a mountain..

My Favorite Part:
On the last day, nothing happens to square. It waits and waits. So instead of waiting any longer for something else to change it, it changes itself.

Other Connections:
This book made me think of the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Martin and Carle. I see many connections with artistic style and pattern to the story. My kindergartners study Eric Carle during the year. It will be fun to see what they think.

Other fabulous titles to read along with Perfect Square: 
Beautiful Oops by Barney Salzberg
Ish by Peter H. Reynolds 

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach
Retold by Carmen Agra Deedy
Illustrated by Michael Austin

What it's about: 
Martina's grandmother gives her some strange advice to help her decide if a suitor would be the right choice as a husband: spill coffee on his shoes.

What I love:
Martina is a beautiful cockroach, and has many suitors asking, "Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha, beautiful muchacha, won't you be my wife?" There is Don Gallo - the rooster, Don Cerdo - the pig, and Don Lagarto - the lizard. Following her grandmother's advice she spills coffee on their shoes and each in turn reveals his true intentions, including the lizard's intention to eat her!

This story has great repetition and rhythm allowing students to predict and help tell the story along with you. It also has wonderful wordplay: the rooster is too cocky, the pig is too boorish, and the lizard to cold-blooded.

I love the surprise at the end when Martina (against her wishes) is ready to spill coffee on Perez the mouse, but he beats her to it, spills some on her and reveals that he too has a Cuban grandmother.

My favorite part:
My favorite part is when Martina asks about Perez, "where has he been?" and her grandmother replies, "Right here all along."
Students love to look back and see that Perez is hidden in illustrations throughout the story right under Martina's nose.

Other connections:
When introducing the Pura Belpre Award, I like to share Belpre's version of Perez and Martina (a little tragic, yes). Deedy's retelling makes a great comparison along with being a Belpre Award honor book as well.

The Wordless Books of Barbara Lehman

What they are about:
Red Book- A girl finds a magic book that lets her see a boy on a far-away island; the boy on the island has a magic book that lets him see her.

Museum Trip- On a school field trip to an art museum, a boy finds a secret room where he sucessfully completes a series of magical mazes.

Rainstorm- A lonely boy living in a mansion, finds a secret passage to a nearby island where he makes friends and can escape his very formal life for an afternoon.

Trainstop- On a train ride with her parents, the adults fall asleep and a young girl is the only one to experience a magical trainstop.

The Secret Box- Long ago a young boy hid a secret box, many years later three kids find the box and the clues inside that lead them to a special place.




What I love:
All of the magic and secrets I desperately wanted to believe could really happen when I was a kid come alive in each of Barbara Lehman's stories.
I will never forget the feeling of absolute awe I felt when, after dutifully ordering the Caldecott award winner and honor books back in 2005, I opened the very unassuming Red Book for the first time. That spring I shared The Red Book with every class Kindergarten through 6th grade, and all were captivated by the innocent, intricate, magical, entirely wordless story.


You may be thinking, "wordless books for read-alouds?", and my response is an emphatic YES! Wordless books are an opportunity for the students to help tell the story by reading the pictures.

 I love to talk about using "picture clues". Picture clues can help you figure out what is happening or predict what is coming next in a story. Reading the pictures can be as important as reading words. I "read aloud" Leman's books by constantly questioning, "What's happening now?", "How do you know?", "What clues from the picture make you think that?".

In the past I shared many wordless books with larger groups having only the book and continuously moving around so all students can see. Now I usually project the pages on a screen as we read.


My Favorite Part:
I love how each book ends with an opening to more story that can continue on in your own imagination. In the Red Book a new child finds the magic book the girl has dropped. In the Museum Trip, as the students are leaving readers can see that the docent has a medal exactly like the young boy. In Trainstop there are more trees around the city presumably given as gifts to other kids. The endings make for great discussions.

However,  I think my absolute favorite part is from The Red Book, when we as readers can tell the girl is arriving by balloon to the boy's island, but he has not seen her yet. We get to figure out the surprise, and then experience his joy at seeing her arrive on the next page.