Historical Fiction Text

Title: Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad


Author/Illustrator: Ellen Levine/ Kadir Nelson


Publisher: New York Scholastic Press


Publication Date: 2007


     This story reveals the truth behind slavery to young children. It tells the story of Henry, a young boy who is living in slavery. It tells how his family is torn apart and he is forced to work in a factory. However one day he decides to try and mail himself to freedom in a box. If you want to know how the story ends, you will have to read the book to find out. This story is a great read because it tell of a horrible time that we should all remember, so that history does not repeat itself.


     I would give this book five out of five stars. It has a very important lesson for young kids to learn because they should know what horrible things took place in the United States many years ago, so that we can prevent anything like that happening again in the future. The text is also very easy to read because there are not a lot of words on each page, and the illustrations are so interesting and detailed that they will easily keep the interest of young readers. I would recommend this book for any young reader to read, or as a read aloud book in a classroom because it teaches such an important lesson.

Traditional Tale

Title: Little Red Riding Hood

Author/Ilustrator: Trina Schart Hyman

Publisher: Holiday House

Publication Date: 1983

ISBN: 9780823406531

     This book tells the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” that we all know and love. The Wolf breaks into the cottage and tricks her Grandmother while Little Red is away. When Little Red returns she finds that her Grandmother is looking and acting much different than she was before she left, but you will have to read the story to find out what truly happens. This is a great story because it is a tale that everyone knows, which has been passed down from generation to generation and everyone knows and loves.
     I give this book five out of five stars. It is not only a story filled with suspense, but it is filled with a lot of events that young children will find humorful too. The book is also very easy to read because the words are very simple and there are not a lot of words on each page. The illustrations are also very detailed and colorful, so they will easily keep the attention of young readers. This book would be great for young children to read because it is very simple to understand, and it is a story that has stood the tests of time because it is so enjoyable.

Graphic Novel

Title: Dog Man


Author/Illustrator: Dav Pilkey


Publisher: Graphix


Publication Date: 2016


ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8


     “Dog Man” is a fictional book about a dog man that fights crime and is constantly saving the city. He is typically protecting the city from Petey the evil cat and his schemes. There are many different crazy things going on in each chapter that he has to protect the city from in order to keep the reader guessing. It even tries to acknowledge how important reading is. I think this book has important lessons included in it like how important it is to read and how important it is to be a good person. However, I myself did not enjoy the book because it was childish.


     I would give this book a three out of five stars. This would be a good book for young children because it will hold their interest and it will capture their interest in reading. It is a good book for new readers that are starting off because the vocabulary is not very advanced. There are also a lot of pictures to keep their attention because it is a graphic novel, and the humor that is used is the kind that young children find amusing. However I would not use this book for the purpose of classroom instruction because there are a lot of grammatical errors and a lot of misspelling of words.

Poem 2

Title: The Wizard

Author/Illustrator: Jack Prelutsky/Brandon Dorman

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Date: 2010 (E-pub)

ISBN: 978-0-06-206700-5

     The last book that I read was “The Wizard” by Jack Prelutsky. This book only consists of one poem that tells one story. The book is about an evil wizard who lives in a tower and uses his magical powers to transform one object into another. He also lives in a suburban neighborhood with lots of children, which is not typically a place where you would find an evil wizard. This book is a great book to read because it is a very funny book, and it secretly teaches the lesson that young kids should not trust strangers.

     I give this book five out of five stars. “The Wizard” would not only be a great book to read aloud to children, but it would also be a great book for them to use when they are learning how to read. The images in the book are very detailed, and can allow young readers, who are just starting out, to figure out what is taking place in the story by just looking at the images. There are also very few words for them to read on each page, so they can easily read through the book and feel like they accomplished something. The rhyming nature of the words also make it easier for children to decipher how different words sound and what they are supposed to mean. This book would be a great book for children who are just starting to learn how to read because it is not very difficult and the content is not hard to understand.

Poem 1

Title: What a Day it was at School!

Author/Illustrator: Jack Prelutsky/Doug Cushman

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Date: 2010 (E-pub)

ISBN: 978-0-06-206678-7

     “What a Day it was at School!” is a compilation of multiple poems that are about school. The main character of this book was a young cat, who had decided to tell his mom about his school experiences. The book contains multiple poems about different things that he had to do for school or things that happened while he was in school. The book is a great book because it is enjoyable to read and it shows that even though school is a lot of work, it can still be fun too.

     I would give this book four out of five stars. I believe that it is a great book for young children to read. It is an especially good book for children who are just learning how to read, who still do not have the biggest vocabulary. If they are unsure about what is going on, they can get a better idea by looking at the illustrations because they are very good at depicting what the poems are describing. This makes it easier to predict what the words in the poem mean. It also includes a lot of funny things that the cat does, which will grab the attention of the children and keep them interested in the book. However, there may be a few too many words on each page for young children to be able to read it because it may be too difficult for them, or they may get bored of reading the book after a while. Overall, it is a great way for kids to work on their reading.

Informational Text 2

Title: Dogs

Author: Elsa Posell

Publisher: Regensteiner Publishing Enterprises

Publication Date: 1981

ISBN: 0-516-01614-8

     This book is a great informational book about dogs for young children. It not only teaches them about the different types of dogs that there are, it also teaches them about how they should take care of their dog. This book is a good book because it teaches kids how they can properly take care of their pets.
     I would give this book four out of five stars. It teaches children important lessons about how to take care of their pets. It is also very easy to read because the words are not difficult to understand. However the pictures are actual images of real life dogs, so they are not as interesting as pictures that you normally find in children's books. I would recommend this book for young readers if they are trying to increase their reading skills, however it may not hold their interest as much so it would be best to have children that love dogs read this book.

Informational Text 1

Title: Explore and Learn: People in Place and Time


Author/Illustrator: No Specific Author or Illustrator


Publisher: The Southwestern Company


Publication Date: 2000


ISBN: 0-87197-482-7


     This book teaches you all kinds of different informational facts. It tells you about different places around the world like the Seven Wonders of the World and it also tells you about different historical periods like the ancient times in Greece. It also includes a lot of pictures to keep the reader’s interest while reading all of these facts. I think this is a good book because it is still very interesting because the pictures are very colorful.


     I would give this book four out of five stars. It may not include information that children want to read because it is not a fun story. However it does not go into excruciating detail about the different topics and there are many pictures included in the book to keep the readers interest. I think this book is a great resource for teaching young children about informational texts, and it is very easy for young readers to read and understand because there isn’t an overabundance of words.