Picture Book Soak
Pig the Pug
Author: Aaron Blabey
Illustrator: Aaron Blabey
Thoughts
Pig the Pug is a humorous book that teaches a valuable lesson about sharing. Not sharing his toys results in Pig having an unfortunate accident that results in a learning moment and adopting a more sharing attitude. This book could be a great K-2 read aloud. It would be a good discussion starter about the benefits of sharing and collaboration. The book itself is funny and memorable...Pig the Pug cannot fly when he falls off his toys he is hoarding (and out a window). There are a few tricky words, but it could also be a good read for a 2nd grade student to pull off the shelf to read, too. The pictures compliment the text to help students understand the context.
Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach
Author: Mélanie Watt
Illustrator: Mélanie Watt
Thoughts
Scaredy Squirrel creates “a beach” with items found at home to try to have a beach setting without all the aspects of the beach that they fear. A trip to the beach for a shell results in Scaredy learning that the beach actually is a fun place to be and the things that they feared may not actually be part of the experience.
This is a good read aloud for a K-2 class around summer or another warm vacation. The pages are engaging and many are more like an infographic than traditional text and illustrations on a page. It can be a great discussion starter for both beach lovers and those who have some fears (jelly fish, sharks, crowds, pirates...etc). It’s a good book about discovering that things that may seem scary may not be so bad once you try them, too. This also seems like a good book to include on a display around spring break or summer break for the in grades 2-5 to read on their own time. The page layout is engaging with all the connected illustrations.
I Want My Hat Back
Author: Jon Klassen
Thoughts
In this story, a bear is searching for his hat and asking other animals that he encounters if they have seen it. There is a funny aspect to the story, almost inside joke, because he does see his hat but when the rabbit says he does not have it, the bear moves on. The bear puts it together at the end and goes back to the rabbit for the hat.
There is some repetition in the language which may be helpful for some beginning readers to see the same words. The book is also largely told through dialogue. This feels like potentially a good book for a grade 1-2 student to read to themselves or aloud with the pictures and color-coded dialogue.
Jabari Jumps
Author: Gaia Cornwall
Illustrator: Gaia Cornwall
Thoughts
Jabari passed his swim test and wants to jump off the diving board. He feels ready but when he gets to the ladder and it’s time to climb up, he seems to have more fears than he realized. With his dad’s encouragement and a breathing technique, Jabari climbs up the ladder, jumps off the diving board, makes a big splash, and he is ready to jump off again....maybe even trying a backflip. This is a great read aloud for K-3 around the summer months when a lot of students are heading to the pool. Jabari gets a lot of support and good advice from his dad around approaching a situation that may seem scary and having the courage to try something new. This could also be a good discussion starter about overcoming fears. This would also be a good book for a display with a summer theme for the more advanced readers to choose to read on their own, too.
Dragons Love Tacos
Author: Adam Rubin
Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri
Thoughts
This is a humorous read that may make you hungry for a taco, too. This is more of a fun (and funny) read that something with a larger message or learning moment. The story is about how dragons love tacos, and it has a bit of a twist when jalapenos are accidentally included in their recipe and they notice the mistake too late to stop the dragons from breathing out fire, which burns down the house. It has a happy ending with the house being rebuilt and the dragons continuing to eat tacos.
This book is a fun story that grades K-3 may enjoy as a read aloud. I think many students will relate to enjoying tacos, find many moments in the story to be funny, and also feel like they can relate to the feeling of breathing fire when they eat something spicy.
Ada Twist, Scientist
Author: Andrea Beaty
Illustrator: David Roberts
Thoughts
This is a fun story about Ada that also has some important information about the foundations of science and the process of asking questions, testing a hypothesis, and sorting fact from fiction. In this story, Ada goes from not speaking to immediately having a lot of questions about the world. It introduces the scientific process in a very approachable way by showing and describing the process of observation, formulating questions, coming up with a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, and analyzing the results. It also encourages asking questions and wanting to learn about the why, what, how and when. It also shows Ada go a little overboard and need to understand when it is best to be a scientist.
This is a great read aloud for grades 1-3 to introduce the scientific process and even to pair with a science project. It rhymes and has a good flow to it. There are some difficult words in it and some concepts that could be new, which would make it better as a full class activity where there could be some discussion and elaboration, when needed.
The snowball fight
Author: Beth Ferry
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld
Thoughts
This story captures a snow day perfectly. It starts with a heated snowball fight between two friends and evolves into collaborative sledding, snow angels, and dreaming of hot cocoa.
This feels like a great choice for a winter read aloud for K-3. Maybe paired with an upcoming (or previous) snowstorm. There are some longer words (like alabaster), so it is best an adult or a pretty strong reader. It rhymes beautifully and the photos are fun, making this a great, short read with a K-3 class.
The big cheese
Author: Jory John
Illustrator: Pete Oswald
Thoughts
The Big Cheese is a gouda (haha) choice for grades 1-2 for a fun book with an important lesson about competition. The Big Cheese was the best at everything until Wedge came along and beat The Big Cheese at the annual Cheese-cathlon events. Although not winning was disappointing at first, the Big Cheese ultimately found it allowed for space to enjoy partipating and seemed to take some pressure off. The text in this book is funny, and the illustrations are colorful and helpful for understanding the text. This would be a great read aloud with fun, repeated pages about The Big Cheese and teaching how there is more to participating in competitive activities than just the outcome. It could pair well with competing in a PE class or other sport.
Literature Immersion Assignment 1- Picture Book Soak
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Transcript
Picture Book Soak
Pig the Pug
Author: Aaron Blabey
Illustrator: Aaron Blabey
Thoughts
Pig the Pug is a humorous book that teaches a valuable lesson about sharing. Not sharing his toys results in Pig having an unfortunate accident that results in a learning moment and adopting a more sharing attitude. This book could be a great K-2 read aloud. It would be a good discussion starter about the benefits of sharing and collaboration. The book itself is funny and memorable...Pig the Pug cannot fly when he falls off his toys he is hoarding (and out a window). There are a few tricky words, but it could also be a good read for a 2nd grade student to pull off the shelf to read, too. The pictures compliment the text to help students understand the context.
Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach
Author: Mélanie Watt
Illustrator: Mélanie Watt
Thoughts
Scaredy Squirrel creates “a beach” with items found at home to try to have a beach setting without all the aspects of the beach that they fear. A trip to the beach for a shell results in Scaredy learning that the beach actually is a fun place to be and the things that they feared may not actually be part of the experience. This is a good read aloud for a K-2 class around summer or another warm vacation. The pages are engaging and many are more like an infographic than traditional text and illustrations on a page. It can be a great discussion starter for both beach lovers and those who have some fears (jelly fish, sharks, crowds, pirates...etc). It’s a good book about discovering that things that may seem scary may not be so bad once you try them, too. This also seems like a good book to include on a display around spring break or summer break for the in grades 2-5 to read on their own time. The page layout is engaging with all the connected illustrations.
I Want My Hat Back
Author: Jon Klassen
Thoughts
In this story, a bear is searching for his hat and asking other animals that he encounters if they have seen it. There is a funny aspect to the story, almost inside joke, because he does see his hat but when the rabbit says he does not have it, the bear moves on. The bear puts it together at the end and goes back to the rabbit for the hat. There is some repetition in the language which may be helpful for some beginning readers to see the same words. The book is also largely told through dialogue. This feels like potentially a good book for a grade 1-2 student to read to themselves or aloud with the pictures and color-coded dialogue.
Jabari Jumps
Author: Gaia Cornwall
Illustrator: Gaia Cornwall
Thoughts
Jabari passed his swim test and wants to jump off the diving board. He feels ready but when he gets to the ladder and it’s time to climb up, he seems to have more fears than he realized. With his dad’s encouragement and a breathing technique, Jabari climbs up the ladder, jumps off the diving board, makes a big splash, and he is ready to jump off again....maybe even trying a backflip. This is a great read aloud for K-3 around the summer months when a lot of students are heading to the pool. Jabari gets a lot of support and good advice from his dad around approaching a situation that may seem scary and having the courage to try something new. This could also be a good discussion starter about overcoming fears. This would also be a good book for a display with a summer theme for the more advanced readers to choose to read on their own, too.
Dragons Love Tacos
Author: Adam Rubin
Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri
Thoughts
This is a humorous read that may make you hungry for a taco, too. This is more of a fun (and funny) read that something with a larger message or learning moment. The story is about how dragons love tacos, and it has a bit of a twist when jalapenos are accidentally included in their recipe and they notice the mistake too late to stop the dragons from breathing out fire, which burns down the house. It has a happy ending with the house being rebuilt and the dragons continuing to eat tacos. This book is a fun story that grades K-3 may enjoy as a read aloud. I think many students will relate to enjoying tacos, find many moments in the story to be funny, and also feel like they can relate to the feeling of breathing fire when they eat something spicy.
Ada Twist, Scientist
Author: Andrea Beaty
Illustrator: David Roberts
Thoughts
This is a fun story about Ada that also has some important information about the foundations of science and the process of asking questions, testing a hypothesis, and sorting fact from fiction. In this story, Ada goes from not speaking to immediately having a lot of questions about the world. It introduces the scientific process in a very approachable way by showing and describing the process of observation, formulating questions, coming up with a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, and analyzing the results. It also encourages asking questions and wanting to learn about the why, what, how and when. It also shows Ada go a little overboard and need to understand when it is best to be a scientist. This is a great read aloud for grades 1-3 to introduce the scientific process and even to pair with a science project. It rhymes and has a good flow to it. There are some difficult words in it and some concepts that could be new, which would make it better as a full class activity where there could be some discussion and elaboration, when needed.
The snowball fight
Author: Beth Ferry
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld
Thoughts
This story captures a snow day perfectly. It starts with a heated snowball fight between two friends and evolves into collaborative sledding, snow angels, and dreaming of hot cocoa. This feels like a great choice for a winter read aloud for K-3. Maybe paired with an upcoming (or previous) snowstorm. There are some longer words (like alabaster), so it is best an adult or a pretty strong reader. It rhymes beautifully and the photos are fun, making this a great, short read with a K-3 class.
The big cheese
Author: Jory John
Illustrator: Pete Oswald
Thoughts
The Big Cheese is a gouda (haha) choice for grades 1-2 for a fun book with an important lesson about competition. The Big Cheese was the best at everything until Wedge came along and beat The Big Cheese at the annual Cheese-cathlon events. Although not winning was disappointing at first, the Big Cheese ultimately found it allowed for space to enjoy partipating and seemed to take some pressure off. The text in this book is funny, and the illustrations are colorful and helpful for understanding the text. This would be a great read aloud with fun, repeated pages about The Big Cheese and teaching how there is more to participating in competitive activities than just the outcome. It could pair well with competing in a PE class or other sport.