A COWGIRL AND HER HORSE, written and illustrated by Jean Ekman Adams, is a delightful picture book about a girl and her horse, their friendship and adventures. Young readers will have fun with this book while stretching their imaginations, especially if they like horses, dogs and outlandish, zany art. Taking care of a horse is… Read more »
June 2012
Graphic Novels for Confident Readers
GIANTS BEWARE! by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre (First Second, 2012) Tales of a baby-feet eating giant, chased back to the tallest mountain in the territory, have kept the local citizens of Mont Petit Pierre living in fear. But one young citizen, Claudette, is different. Fearless and determined, Claudette is the only one of the… Read more »
Graphic Novels for Emerging and Transitional Readers
BENJAMIN BEAR in Fuzzy Thinking by Philippe Coudray BENJAMIN BEAR in Fuzzy Thinking is a book that was a satisfying match for one particular boy in my classroom this year. His reading skills were strong. He was able to read grade level material, but he was hard to please. Nothing that I came up with… Read more »
The House on Dirty-Third Street
THE HOUSE ON DIRTY-THIRD STREET by Jo S. Kittinger, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez, Peachtree, March 2012 A run-down dirty old house is bad enough to have to claim as home. When moving in to dirt also means “moving away” from everything that has been home, it is hard for anyone not to feel discouraged, angry,… Read more »
FAQ: Why Read Wordless Books?
If we’re trying to help our kids learn to read, why read wordless picture books? Isn’t reading all about letters and words? Yes and no. Reading is: to inspect and apprehend the meaning of writing or other signs or characters. (Thanks, dictionary.com based on the Random House dictionary!) So, reading a book means gaining meaning… Read more »
Beyond Boundaries: Summer Reads
MALI UNDER THE NIGHT SKY, A LAO STORY OF HOME written and illustrated by Youme Landowne, is the true story of the Laotian-American artist, Malichansouk Kouanchao, who fled Laos with her family as civil war became the reality of bombs, soldiers, machine guns and grenades. The story is narrated by Mali as she describes her… Read more »
Graphic Novels Reach Beyond Borders
ZITA the SPACEGIRL by Ben Hatke is a First Second Book and what a book! Pure fun to read the zappy dialogues and to feast on the engaging graphic images. Zita is the kind of curious, courageous kid who sees an odd-looking “thing” and of course, picks it up. ZAAAP! Off she goes to another… Read more »
