Love That Dog

By: Sharon Creech
Ages: 8-12 (Any age will love this book)

How do you start writing a poem? How do you share it with everyone? What if no one likes what you have composed? We all face these questions and Love That Dog looks at all of these questions by following a student's personal journal throughout the year in school. There are many stigmas that follow writing - it has to be long, it has to have a certain type of content, and even it has to be "good." How do we get past these false ideas? Sharon Creech uses the journal of one student to explain the struggle that many students have when writing poetry. If you think that you hate poetry, I can guarantee you that Creech's amazing novel will change your mind about what defines writing in the first place. The author drops hints in the book, like talking about how great the writing the student does would look if it were on yellow paper and in blue writing - the cover of the book is yellow and the title is in blue. The book itself is a novel - but what is a novel? How many paragraphs or what kind of structure should a novel have? Creech forces us to look at the way that we construct writing and how we define writing. What is really awesome about Love That Dog is that the author included all of the poems in the back of the book that are mentioned throughout the text. This book would be AMAZING for a classroom read aloud or for an introduction into a poetry unit. I fell in love with Love That Dog and I cannot look at poetry in any other way than individual. Read this book if you read anything at all the rest of your life, it will truly change your mind about everything you ever thought writing was.

Once I ate a Pie

by: Patricia MacLachlin and Emily MacLachlin Charest
Ages: 5-8

It's truly a dog's life through fabulous portraits of many different breeds and amazing poems that tell the stories that all dogs seem to want so badly to share. From Gus, Abby and Mr. Beefy (who once ate pie), the book takes the stories of dogs and expresses them through creative word play in poems. Each page shows an adorable illustration of a different dog along with a poem that describes what they have to share with the world. The words are big, small, colorful and are structured in a way that changes how the reader might "read them" aloud. It is a GREAT choice for a read aloud to kids and could be used by taking turns seeing how each person might read each page differently. I would highly recommend this book to beginning poetry writers because it makes poems more understandable and accessible to kids. Poetry does not have to rhyme (truly an epiphany that I had as a child) and it can be as creative as you (the writer) decide.

Purplicious!

by: Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann
Ages: 5-8

Deciding who you are? Afraid that others don't like who you are? Pinkilicious feels this way when all of her friends make fun of her for liking pink - although she feels sad about how her friends are treaing her, she finds an outlet through poetry. She writes in free verse and decides that she will take her own path regardless of what anyone thinks. She finds that someone much like her, "Purplicious" loves the color purple and decides that being yourself is the most important thing, even if others cannot accept who you are. A really cute story with vibrant pictures that emphasize how amazing an outlet like art and poetry can be for children. Definitely a good pick for girls who might feel left out or for girls who may be participating in excluding others.

Dogku

by: Andrew Clements
Illustrated by: Tim Bowers
Ages: 4-8

Introducing the idea of "poems" to kids can be overwhelming at times. Especially specific types of poems that are structured a certian way and are read a specific way. Dogku is an adorable take on Haiku poems and does a great job of taking a poem structure and making it accessible to children when Haikus in general can be overwhelming. Looking at poems in a less traditional way make them easier to teach and break down for students. The story follows an adorable puppy who needs a home, thoughout the story (in great Haiku form!) the family he stays with decides to keep him. Hopefully after reading this, students will try out Haiku poems in their own way - much like Clements did with "Dogku."

The Misfits

By: James Howe

I can rembember my middle school experience, and it seems to be full of many memories that I would rather forget. It is such a precious age when you begin to decide who you are and at the same time, you are acutely aware of how others see you. You pick friend, pick sides and are likely to be picked on. The Misfits submerges readers in the reality of middle school and how cruel kids can really be. I felt that Middle School could have been possibly the worst experience of my life. Besides the fact that I was overweight, I jumped groups of friends, begging for anyone to sit with me at lunch. It still amazes me that I have friends to this day because every day in middle school, I was sure that I would turn out to be the friend that noone wanted to have. The Misfits spoke to me - I was Addie - outspoken, always looking for everyone to recognize me for something that I did right, wanting so badly to not be alienated. This book is what every middle schooler, regardeless of the social group they hang out in, needs to read. I can't imagaine that middle school has somehow become any better than when I was there. It seems to have become worse with texting, blogging and technology in general. Bullying is so hurtful at that tender age, when you are so unsure of who you are and so afraid that anyone might call attention to you. Any person can find themself inside of one of Howe's characters - Skeezie the outcast, Joe - who is very sure he is gay, and Bobby who is slighly overweight. The way that they pull together to be who they are and stand up to those who make fun of them reminds me of the courage I wish I had in middle school. It is a must read for all middle schoolers, to know that they are not alone and that labels are only labels and are far from defining any person.

Race you to Bed

By: Bob Shea

Reading a bedtime story tends to result in the phrase, "just one more book!" - sound familiar? "Race you to Bed" could possibly the best way to bribe your child to bed, the last sentence reads, "Race you to Sleep!" The adorable fluffy bunny (which seems to be a blog theme of mine) races all over creation to his own bed for a good night sleep. The illustrations are not anything exciting to talk about, but the text is in rhyme with a slight reminiscence of Dr. Seuss. I would recommend this book for little readers who might have a hard time getting to bed. I could see this book quickly becoming a favorite "last book" read of the night.

Ages: 3-5

The Three Little Tamales

By: Erick A. Kimmel
Illustrated by: Valeria Decampo

By the looks of the cover, you probably would not guess that "The Three Little Tamales" was a fractured fairytale. Based on "The Three Little Twigs," with a Texan twist and a Spanish flare, this book tells the survival of three very hot tamales. With many Spanish words throughout the book that help to support the ambiance of the story, "The Three Tamales" ends well as all fairytales do with the tamales surviving because of the strong and prickly cactus they have for a house. The way this book is influenced by Spanish culture allows for students to use the language as a way to support the text and the region of the United States that the book describes. A definite read for a unit on Fractured Fairytales and a great way to explore Spanish with a class.
Ages:K- Grade 3