There are many things about The Boy at the Back of the Class that make it a great reading choice for the younger middle grades–more 3rd & 4th grade specifically. Alexa is 9 3/4 years old. A new student named Ahmet appears one day at the formerly empty desk at the back of the classroom. Alexa’s … Continue reading
Starring: Action Clam Also Starring: Cow Your Host: Mr. McMonkey Before I start this review I need to acknowledge that I love Bob Shea’s work. I love his sense of humor–both in its cleverness and its broadness of scope. So I was prepared to love this book before I read it. I was not disappointed. … Continue reading
The WEIRD! series relates a common bullying situation from three different perspectives: WEIRD! is from the viewpoint of the bully’s target(Luisa); DARE! is from that of the bystander(Jayla); and TOUGH! is from the perspective of the bully, herself(Sam). The bully situation, itself, is absolutely believable. Sam continually calls Jayla names and puts down how she … Continue reading
Nikki Grimes has become one of my favorite authors over the last three years. I first discovered her work when the first book in her brilliant young Dyamonde Daniels series appeared as a Division I nominee for the Maud Hart Lovelace Award. The way she easily slips into the dialogue and behavior of her young … Continue reading
Half a Chance is told by Lucy, a tween-age girl who has just moved to a small town in New Hampshire. Having moved several times before, she is understandably worried about new and unfamiliar places and people–especially finding friends her own age. Lucy’s new home is situated on a lake and she almost immediately meets … Continue reading
My Best Friend Will is a terrific picture book describing the friendship between Jamie and Will. Jamie and Will are best friends. The key element to their friendship portrayed in the book is the fact that Will has autism. The book does a fantastic job of explaining autism in a way that is easily understandable to … Continue reading
Love this book! If you’ve read Arith-me-tickle this is the perfect next step by the same author. Delightful poems based on classic poetry which have wrapped themselves around math puzzles to be solved. (If you haven’t read Arith-me-tickle I highly recommend it!) The featured poets include Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Ogden Nash, Langston … Continue reading
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! won the Newberry Medal in 2008. I am embarrassed to say that it has been sitting on my shelf since I bought it in 2009. Ms. Schlitz has brought together a collection of monologues narrated by 22 separate characters from medieval times. They are wealthy, poor, tradespeople, servants and lords of the … Continue reading
Not A Stick is a little gem of a picture book. The entire book is about 75 words and illustrated primarily with line drawings. The story revolves around our (unnamed) main character who is a young pig. He is continually being questioned about the stick he is carrying: why is he carrying it, be careful … Continue reading
If you like Dynamath at school or have ever wanted to try it, then Arithmetickle is for you! It is a collection of poems that are both fun to read–and fun to solve because each poem is ALSO a clever math puzzle. First you must decipher the actual nature of the problem/puzzle. Second you must … Continue reading
