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.

Fantasy Text

Title: Sulwe


Author/Illustrator: Lupita Nyong’o/Vashti Harrison


Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers


Publication Date: 2019


ISBN: 978-1-5344-2536-1


     “Sulwe” is wonderful story about a young, darker skinned girl who feels as though she is not pretty because she looks different from everyone else. In the story, a shooting star takes her on an adventure to show her the story of night and day. No one appreciated night so she ran off, and then they realized how important night was and asked her to come back and they appreciated her for the rest of their lives. The moral of the story is what I believe makes this a wonderful book. The moral is that just because she looks different does not mean that she does not have light inside of her which makes her beautiful.

     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 that just because they look different, they are still beautiful on the inside and outside. 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 a important lesson.

Realistic Fiction Text

Title: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Author/Illustrator: Judith Viorst/Ray Cruz

Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks

Publication Date: 1972

ISBN: 0-689-71173-5

     This book is about a boy named Alexander who runs into all kind of problems thoughout the day. His day already starts out awful because he wakes up in the morning to find gum in his hair, and that is just the beginning of his awful day. I think this book is great because it is relatable. Although some of the things that happen to him may not happen to everyone, we can all relate to having a really terrible day but the next day will always be better.

     I would give this book a five out of five stars. It is very easy to read for children if they decide that they want to read the book on their own. It would also be a great book to read aloud to a classroom of students because a lot of very funny things happen to Alexander. This book is not only a great way to pique the interest of reading in young children, but it is also a great book for teachers to use for instructional use.

Beginning Reader

Title: Henry and Mudge: The First Book

Author/Illustrator: Cynthia Rylant/Sucie Stevenson

Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks

Publication Date: 1987

ISBN: 0-689-81005-9

     “Henry and Mudge: The First Book” introduces us to the beginning reader series about a young boy named Henry and his dog Mudge. It is about a boy who begs his parents for a dog because he wants someone to play with. Once they get together, they are inseparable and they go on many adventures together. This is a wonderful book because it teaches children that they can have a special bond with their pet, which teaches them about relationships in the future.

     I would give this book a four out of five. It is not the most interesting book. However, it can get many young readers interested in reading books and even books in a series because if they get attached to the two main characters they will want to see what they are going to do next and will keep reading the series. It is also a very cute story about a young boy and his dog, which can be very relatable to a lot of young readers because many young kids have pets that they love. This is a great book to have young readers read because the words are relatively easy to understand and it can get them hooked on reading in the future.

Picture Book 3

Title: Little Puppy Saves the Day

Author/Illustrator: Muriel Pepin, Adapted by Patricia Jensen/Marcelle Geneste

Publisher: Reader’s Digest Kids

Publication Date: 1992

ISBN: 0-89577-426-7

     This is a very cute book about a young puppy who is the newest member of the farm, and gets made fun of by the other animals because he is new and little. However, he decides to prove that he is a big dog by trying to step in and save the day when a young chick goes missing. This is a great story that teaches you to never judge a book by its cover, and to be understanding when people are thrown into a new environment.

     I would give this book five out of five stars. It is a great book for young kids to read because the illustrations are very detailed and the words in the book are not difficult to read. It would also hold the interest of young readers because a lot of children love dogs and it is a very cute story about a puppy. I think this would be a great story to use for instruction in the classroom because there are a few more words in this book than there are in other children’s books, so it will be useful to challenge readers a little more.

Picture Book 2

Title: If you Give a Dog a Donut

Author/Illustrator: Laura Numeroff/Felicia Bond

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Publication Date: 2011

ISBN: 978-0-06-026683-7

     “If you Give a Dog a Donut” is very all over the place because the main character is all over the place. When the dog is doing one activity, it reminds him of something else and he wants to do that instead. For instance, eating a donut makes him want apple juice which is already a very weird combination. Picking apples and throwing one makes him want to play baseball. However, the story does end up coming full circle in the end.

     I would give this book three out of five stars. The story is very scatterbrained which is similar to how a young child thinks, but I think this book would be a little confusing to follow along with even for them. However the book includes many detailed images that depict the dog doing very odd things, which will definitely capture the attention of young readers. The story also challenges a child’s imagination because it gives them many different and creative ideas for things that they could do in the future when they play, which can challenge them to think of even more fun things to do. There are very few words in this book, which makes it a very good choice for a new reader to read and learn new words.

Picture Book 1

Title: She’ll Be Coming UP the Mountain

Author/Illustrator: Kim Norman/Liza Woodruff

Publisher: Sterling Children’s Books

Publication Date: 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4549-1610-9

     “She’ll Be Coming UP the Mountain” is a book that puts a new spin on the rhyme we all grew up hearing as a child, “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain.” This version has updated the rhyme and turned it into a fun story that celebrates friendship. In the story, many woodland creatures are preparing a big celebration for their friend the polar bear who moved away because they have not seen her in forever and she is coming to visit. The polar bear brings them an unexpected surprise when she gets there at the end of the book, but you will have to read the story to find out.

   
     I give this book four out of five stars. The images in the book are detailed and would capture the interest of any reader. The rhyming of words throughout the book make the words easier to read and figure out for young children, since their endings are very similar. This story is a very useful tool to use when teaching young children to read because having many words that rhyme makes it easier to figure out the words with similar sounds on the page, however the book could start to get a little boring for children because there is nothing extremely interesting going on in the story.