Reluctant Readers - Home | Rod Library
Hello!
The Emergent Readers bibliography is an on-going list of books that are particularly useful for learning about and teaching early literacy. The bibliography is divided into three parts—Early Literacy Choices, Harder Books for Early Readers, and Reluctant Readers—and with over 200 books, and counting, this bib. doesn’t mess around. There are a lot of selections, and that’s great for browsing, but it’s an awful lot to sift through if you’re looking for something particular. In order to make this bib. a more accessible resource we’ve included a table of information under each entry that will hopefully make choosing the books you need a more straightforward process.
What You Need To Know About the Table
1. First thing’s first. This is what it looks like:
|Notable Category: | |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: | |
|Notable Strategies: | |
|Special Notes: |
2. As you can see, it’s divided into four sections. Once you see it in action, it will be pretty straightforward, but for the sake of clarity, here are the sections broken down:
Notable Category: This section will tell you the particular genre, format, and, in some
cases, subject that the book falls under.
Notable Concepts/Themes: This section will tell you various concepts, such as
rhyming and repetition, that are present in each book and may also list particular thematic
elements.
Notable Strategies: This section will tell you which of the eight reading strategies are
present and/or most active in the book.
*Not sure what the eight reading strategies are or feeling the need for a refresher?
Check out this handy Books and Reading Strategies site from the Iowa City
School District. It lays each strategy out in a simple, easy-to-access manner and
includes examples of books that fall under each strategy.
Special Notes: This section does a couple things. First, it tells you what to expect in
terms of sentence length, paragraph length, and complexity of vocabulary. Second, it
serves as a place where we can include some of our own observations about each book that we feel might be relevant or helpful.
3. One last thing. Some—not a lot but some—books have sections that are blank. It just means that nothing stuck out to us enough to apply a label. Maybe you’ll read it and point something out that we missed!
Finding What You Need
If you don’t know what you’re looking for and you have some time to browse, then the length of this bibliography is just right for you. You can browse forever. But if you’re looking for a book with particular elements, then this bibliography is probably going to seem overwhelming. That’s not what we want. The easiest way to find something specific is to think of the document as a really primitive database. Hit ctrl+F and type in one of the search terms, located below, into the search box that will appear either in the left hand side or in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Notable Category Search Terms
|Biography |Fantasy |History |Mystery |Poetry |
|Chapter book |Folk Lore |Metafiction |Nonfiction |Realism |
|Conceptual |Graphic novel |Multicultural |Novel in Verse |Science |
Notable Concept Search Terms
|Categories |Cumulative |If-Then Statements |Patterns |Sequencing |Language |
|Circular story |Dark-Light |Life cycles |Repetition |Shapes | |
|Colors |Days of the week |Numbers |Rhyming |Size | |
|Counting |Differences |Opposites |Same-Different |Sounds | |
Notable Theme Search Terms
|Adoption |Deafness |Friendship |Inventions |Paleontology |Sharing |
|Aviation |Death |Generations |Jealousy |Parents |Shyness |
|Bedtime |Divorce |Geology |Jobs |Perseverance |Society |
|Being yourself |Dreams |Giving |Judgments |Perspective |Sports |
|Biology |Emotions |Gratitude |Kindness |Pets |Traditions |
|Botany |Evolution |Growing up |Love |Politics |Trucks |
|Business |Family |Holidays |Manners |Pride |Vampires |
|Cleaning up |Food |Home |Memories |Problem solving |Women |
|Community |Forensics |Holocaust |Meteorology |Reading | |
|Coping |Forgiveness |Illness |Microbiology |Responsibility | |
|Dance |Freedom |Imagination |Nighttime |Seasons | |
Notable Strategy Search Terms
|Connections |Monitor/Clarifying |Questioning |Synthesizing |
|Inferring |Predicting |Summarizing |Visualizing |
Special Notes Search Terms
|Very easy vocabulary |Harder vocabulary |Fairly short sentences |Longer paragraphs |
|Easy vocabulary |Very short sentence |Longer sentences |Short chapters |
|Fairly easy vocabulary |Short sentences |Short paragraphs |Short lines |
Some Odds and Ends
Lexile Measure:
Lexile measures are included with the citations on this bib., however, there is not a lexile
measure available for every book. A lexile measure is a number that represents either a person’s reading aptitude or the relative difficulty of a publication. Have questions or would just like to learn a little more about them? Check out .
Tips for Finding Materials:
▪ Don’t forget nonfiction for older readers. It can be high interest and not “too young”.
▪ Biographies and picture book biographies (often written at 3rd/4th/5th grade levels) are another good choice for high interest and not “too young” for older readers.
▪ Check out the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database.
▪ Ask librarians (public, schools, UNI youth librarian) what is new and good to stay abreast of in terms of books and authors.
▪ Browse the children’s and teen’s sections of bookstores (Barnes & Noble, a local place, etc.) or department stores (Walmart, Target, etc.).
▪ Check the American Library Association’s website () for award winning lists (Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery, Geisel, Reluctant Readers List, Best Books, etc.)
Yolanda Hood, Ph.D.
Youth Collection
Rod Library
Emergent Readers Bibliography
Early Literacy Choices
The books in this section are primarily picture books with predictable or repetitive patterns, shorter sentences, and easier vocabulary.
Aliki. My Five Senses. NY: Crowell, 1989.
Presents the five senses and how we use them.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Baer, Gene. Thump, Thump, Rat-a-Tat-Tat. Illus. Lois Ehlert. N.Y.: HarperTrophy, 1989.
A marching band begins marching far away, and as it gets closer and closer so do all of the sounds it makes.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable |Visualizing - Predicting |
|Strategies: | |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Bright illustrations - Simple shapes |
Baker, Keith. Who is the Beast? San Diego: Harcourt, 1990.
A tiger points out all he has in common with the other jungle animals in order to prove
that he is no more a beast than they.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Barton, Byron. Machines at Work. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1987.
A group of construction workers use their many types of machines to begin constructing
a new building.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Summarizing – Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Bright illustrations – Simple shapes |
__________. My Car. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2001. (Lexile 0000)
Sam talks about how much he likes his car.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring - Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Bright illustrations – Simple shapes |
__________. The Three Bears. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1991. (Lexile 0470)
The classic tale of the three bears accompanied by Barton’s bright illustrations.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Bright, simple illustrations |
__________. The Wee Little Woman. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1995. (Lexile 1300)
A wee little woman milks her wee little cow to have some milk, and her wee cat decides she would like to have some, too.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Prediction |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Bright illustrations – Simple shapes |
Bell, Cece. Itty Bitty. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick, 2009.
Itty Bitty, a very tiny dog, finds a bone and decides to turn it into her house, but quickly realizes it is much too empty to feel like a home.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Size |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences - Easy vocabulary |
Berger, Samantha. Martha Doesn’t Say Sorry. Illus. Bruce Whatley. N.Y. Little,
Brown, 2009.
Martha learns the importance of apologizing.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Manners – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections - Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Blackwood, Freya. Ivy Loves to Give. N.Y.: Arthur A. Levine, 2010.
Ivy’s gifts are not always perfect, but they’re always thoughtful.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Family – Sharing – Giving |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting - Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Brown, Margaret Wise. Goodnight Moon. Illus. Clement Hurd. N.Y.: Clement Hurd.
N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1975.
A bunny says goodnight to all the nighttime noises and all the things its bedroom.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition – Nighttime – Bedtime |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Cadow, Kenneth. Alfie Runs Away. Illus. Lauren Castillo. N.Y.: Frances Foster Books, 2010.
(Lexile 0360)
Alfie decides to run away after his mother tells him he has grown out of his favorite red
shoes and can no longer wear them.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Growing up |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Carle, Eric. The Mixed-up Chameleon. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1984. (Lexile 0450)
A chameleon discovers a host of animals characteristics it wishes it had and discovers in
the end that it’s best just to be itself.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer paragraphs per page – Easy vocabulary |
__________. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. N.Y.: Philomel, 1987. N.Y.: Philomel, 1987.
(Lexile 0460)
A little caterpillar is born one morning with a big appetite and eats and eats until it’s time for him to make his cocoon and become a butterfly.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Days of the week – Counting – Life cycles |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Interactive illustration made with cut pages |
Castillo, Lauren. Melvin and the Boy. New York: Henry Holt, 2011. (Lexile 0550)
A boy chooses a turtle that he finds at a park to be his pet. But, ultimately, he realizes that the turtle is only happy in his former habitat.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Pets |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Inferring - Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Facts about turtles in the back |
Chodos-Irvine, Margaret. Best Best Friends. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006. (Lexile 0540)
Mary and Clare are best friends, but when Mary has her birthday Clare gets jealous of all
the special treatment Mary gets.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Friendship – Jealousy |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary –Bright illustrations |
Christelow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree. N.Y.: Clarion, 1991. (Lexile 0440)
Five little monkeys go on a picnic with their mom, but when she falls asleep they start
teasing Mr. Crocodile.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Prediction |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer sentences – Easy vocabulary – Based off of the popular rhyme/song but has a more light-hearted |
|ending |
Clayton, Dallas. An Awesome Book of Thanks! Las Vegas, NV: AmazonEncore, 2010.
A book about being grateful for everything, even the bad things that make us stronger.
|Notable Category: | |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Gratitude |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Synthesizing – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – Colorful, kooky-fun illustrations |
Clement, Nathan. Drive. Asheville, NC.: Front Street, 2008.
A dad rises early in the morning to begin his day as a truck driver.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Jobs |
|Notable Strategies: |Summarizing – Connections |
| | |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Dodd, Emma. I Don’t Want a Posh Dog. N.Y.: Little, Brown, 2009.
A little girl looks for the perfect dog for her.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Pets |
|Notable Strategies: |Connection |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. I Love Bugs. N.Y.: Holiday House, 2010.
All about how wonderful and interesting bugs are.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Ehlert, Lois. Lots of Spots. N.Y.: Beach Lane Books, 2010. (Lexile 0800)
All about how animals’ unique colors and patterns work in their environments.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Colors – Patterns |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Ho
Emberley, Ed. Klippity Klop. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.
When Prince Krispin goes adventuring he discovers one advantage of staying safe at
home.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Circular story |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Feldman, Eve. Billy & Milly Short & Silly. Illus. Tuesday Mourning. N.Y.: G.P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2009.
Billy and Milly’s adventures are told using minimal text, three or four rhyming
words per page, and easy-to-follow illustrations.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Very short sentences – Very easy vocabulary – Illustrations work with rhyming words to tell individual |
|stories |
Fitzpatrick, Marie-Louise. There. N.Y.: Roaring Brook Press, 2009.
A young girl asks questions about growing up as she walks over rolling hills, climbs up to the stars, and meets a dragon.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Growing up |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Inferring – Predicting – Connections –Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Told only in questions |
Florian, Douglas. At the Zoo. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1992.
All of the animals at the zoo and a little about what they do there.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Very short sentences |
Fox, Mem. Hello Baby! Illus. Steven Jenkins. N.Y.: Beach Lane Books, 2009.
A baby encounters many different animals in order to try and figure out what she/he is.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Categories –Differences |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences |
__________. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Illus. Helen Oxenbury. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2008.
Rhyming text explores the differences and basic commonalities among babies.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition – Same-Different |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
Gal, Susan. Night Lights. N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
While preparing for bedtime, a little girl and her dog note all the different kinds of lights that brighten up the night, from headlights to moonlight.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Light-Dark – Bedtime – Nighttime |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Very short sentences – Very easy vocabulary |
Gary, Meredith. Sometimes You Get What You Want. Illus. Lisa Brown. NY: Harper
Collins, 2008.
A brother and sister learn about boundaries.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Connections – Monitor/Clarify – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – A lot going on in the illustrations from which kids could draw inferences and conclusions|
Gay, Marie-Louise. When Stella Was Very, Very Small. Toronto: Berkeley, 2009. (Lexile 0720)
When Stella is little the world is a big, fantastic place, and when she gets bigger she gets
to make it a big, fantastic place for her little brother, too.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Perspective – Growing up – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Questioning –Monitor/Clarifying – Connections – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary – Illustrations play with perspective in an interesting |
|way, going from larger and up close when Stella is little to further away when she is older. |
George, Kristine O. Up! Illus. Hiroe Nakata. N.Y.: Clarion, 2005.
A little girl spends the day with her daddy reaching for the sky.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Graham, Bob. How To Heal a Broken Wing. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick, 2008.
Only little Will notices the pigeon with the broken wing and is caring enough to take it
home and heal the wing.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Kindness – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – Questioning – |
| |Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Very few sentences – Panel illustrations with lots of details that tell the story as |
|much, if not more, than the words do |
Grant, Judyann. Chicken Said, “Cluck!”. Illus. Sue Truesdell. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 2008. (Lexile 0070)
Earl and Pearl are glad to have Chicken around when their growing pumpkins are attacked by grasshoppers.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: | |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Gravett, Emily. Dogs. N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 2010.
A surprise narrator likes almost every kind of dog that exists.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Opposites – Pets |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Types of dogs listed on the endpaper |
__________Monkey and Me. N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 2009.
A little girl and her toy monkey go to see lots of animals.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Some rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
__________. The Odd Egg. N.Y. Simon & Schuster, 2009.
Duck sits on his egg and waits for it to hatch despite the doubts of the other fowls.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Differences – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences – Easy vocabulary – Cut page flaps build anticipation as each baby bird is born |
__________. Orange Pear Apple Bear. N.Y: Simon & Schuster Books for Young
Readers, 2007.
Explores concepts of color, shape, and food using five words.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual – Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming – Shapes – Color |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Monitor/Clarifying – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Very short sentences – Very easy vocabulary – Really clever way to discuss colors and shapes |
Griffiths, Andy. The Big Fat Cow that Goes Kapow. Illus. Terry Denton. N.Y.: Feiwel
and Friends, 2009. (Lexile 0380)
Ten easy to read stories about the most unusual situations.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
Hall, Michael. Perfect Square. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2011. (Lexile 0470)
A perfectly happy square realized that it can be happy in a variety of manifestations.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Shapes – Colors |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Connections – Inferring – Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – |
| |Questioning – Summarizing – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary – Simple, colorful, creative illustrations |
Hamilton, K.R. Red Truck. Illus. Valeria Petrone. N.Y.: Viking, 2008.
When the school bus is stuck in the mud, only the red tow truck can save it.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Henkes, Kevin. Birds. Illus. Laura Dronzek. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2009. (Lexile 0410)
A little girl discusses the colors, shapes, sounds, and movements of the many different birds she sees through her window and is happy to discover that she has something in common with them.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual – Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Colors – Shapes – Size – If-Then Statements |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
__________. Kitten’s First Full Moon. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2004. (Lexile 0360)
Kitten believes that the full moon is a bowl of milk and adventures out to prove it.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Caldecott winner |
__________. My Garden. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2010. (Lexile 0670)
After a long day helping her mom in the garden, a young girl imagines a dream garden with jellybean bushes and chocolate rabbits that she can eat.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Imagination |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Visualizing – Monitor/Clarifying |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Hoberman, Mary Ann. You Read To Me, I’ll Read To You: Very Short Mother Goose Tales to Read Together. Illus. Michael Emberley. N.Y.: Little, Brown, 2005.
Written for out loud partner reading, this is a book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes with a twist.
|Notable Category: |Poetry |
|Notable Concept/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: | |
|Special Notes: |
|Short lines – Easy rhymes |
__________. You Read To Me, I’ll Read To You: Very Short Fairy Tales To Read
Together. Illus. Michael Emberly. N.Y.: Little, Brown, 2004.
Written for out loud partner reading, this is a book of classic fairy tales with a twist.
|Notable Category: |Poetry |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: | |
|Special Notes: |
|Short lines – Easy rhymes |
__________. You Read To Me, I’ll Read To You: Very Short Stories To Read Together.
Illus. Michael Emberly. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001.
Written for out loud partner reading, this is a book of short stories that end happily with
everyone reading together.
|Notable Category: |Poetry |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: | |
|Special Notes: |
|Short lines – Easy rhymes |
Hooks, Bell. Homemade Love. Illus. Shane Evans. N.Y.: Hyperion, 2002.
A little girl learns that the world is full of love and forgiveness even when bad things happen or things, like the dark, seem scary.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Family – Love – Forgiveness |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Very short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Isadora, Rachel. Happy Belly, Happy Smile. Boston, MA: Harcourt Children’s Books,
2009.
Louis visits his grandfather’s Chinese restaurant every Friday night.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural |
|Notable Concept/Themes: |Food – Generations – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inference – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Bright illustrations incorporating a number of mediums |
Jocelyn, Marthe. Same Same. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2009.
A book about how things can fit into more than one category.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Categories |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Bright, simple illustrations |
Jonas, Ann. Color Dance. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1989. (Lexile 0250)
Four children demonstrate through dance how primary colors blend to create other colors.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Color – Dance |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary –Illustrations make color combinations easy to understand |
_________. The Quilt. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1984.
A young girl falls asleep under a new quilt that provides memories and adventure.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Growing up – Memories – Bedtime – Dreams |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – Questioning – |
| |Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Kirk, Daniel. Honk Honk! Beep Beep! N.Y.: Disney/Hyperion, 2010.
A little boy’s bedroom toys wake up early and take a ride in a jeep to watch the sun rise on the mountaintop.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Monitor/Clarifying |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences |
Kraus, Robert. Whose Mouse Are You?. Illus. Jose Aruego. N.Y.: Macmillan, 1970.
A little mouse learns what he’s made of when he brings his family back together after
they are separated by terrible catastrophes.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Kulling, Monica. All Aboard: Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine. Illus. Bill Slavin.
Toronto, Ontario: Tundra Books, 2010. (Lexile 0460)
An easy-to-read biography about Elijah McCoy, the prolific inventor who patented the oil
cup that allowed trains to run faster and more efficiently.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Biography |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Inventions – Perseverance |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs per page |
Lin, Grace. Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same! N.Y.: Little, Brown, 2010. (Lexile 0390)
Everyone thinks twin sisters Ling and Ting are exactly alike, but Ling and Ting show that
they are each unique individuals.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Same-Different – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short chapters – Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Lobel, Anita. Hello Day! NY: Greenwillow Books, 2008.
Animals greet the day and an owl the night.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sounds |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Very easy vocabulary |
London, Jonathan. I’m a Truck Driver. Illus. David Parkins. N.Y.: Henry Holt, 2010.
All of the jobs different kinds of heavy machinery do.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Jobs |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Uses onomatopoeia |
Lopez, Susana. The Best Family in the World. Illus. Ulises Wensell. Tulsa, OK: Kane Miller,
2010.
Carlota finds out she has been adopted and imagines what her new perfect family will be
like.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Realism |
|Notable Concept/Themes: |Some Repetition – Family – Adoption |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing – |
| |Monitor/Clarifying |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs per page |
Lord, Cynthia. Hot Rod Hamster. Illus. Derek Anderson. N.Y.: Scholastic, 2010. (Lexile 0500)
A hamster with a need for speed goes to the junk yard to build his very own hot rod to
enter into the big race.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Lyon, George Ella. Trucks Roll. Illus. Craig Frazier. N.Y.: Atheneum, 2007.
In rhyme, highlights the many kinds of trucks and their purposes.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition – Trucks – Jobs |
|Notable Strategies: |Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
McCarty, Peter. Henry in Love. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 2010.
Henry the cat has an adorable school-boy crush on Chloe the bunny rabbit.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Love |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
McGhee, Alison and Peter Reynolds. Little Boy. NY: Atheneum Books for Young
Readers, 2008.
A father reflects on his son’s world and the things in it.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer sentences – Short lines per page – Fairly easy vocabulary – Meaningful for adults as well as |
|children |
McQuinn, Anna. Lola Loves Stories. Illus. Rosalind Beardshaw. Watertown, MA:
Charlesbridge, 2010. (Lexile 0580)
Lola’s daddy takes her to the library, where she reads all sorts of books that spur her
imagination.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some Repetition – Reading – Imagination |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Marsurel, Claire. No, No, Titus! Illus. Shari Halpern. N.Y.: North-South Books, 1997.
Titus, the new dog, doesn’t know his purpose on the farm, until a fox tries to get into the chicken coop one night.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs per page – Easy vocabulary |
Martin, Bill. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See? Illus. Eric Carle. N.Y.:
Holt, 1995. (Lexile 0440)
Children see a variety of animals, each one a different color, and a teacher looking at
Them.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming – Colors |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Written in question-answer/call-response |
__________ and Michael Sampson. Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up? Illus.
Laura J. Bryant. Tarryton, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, 2008.
Kitty Cat has a slow start in preparing for school.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Illus. Eric Carle. N.Y.:
Holt, 1991. (Lexile 0670)
Zoo animals from polar bear to walrus make their distinctive sounds for each other,
while children imitate the sounds for the zookeeper.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming – Sounds |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Written in question-answer/call-response |
Medearis, Angela S. Too Much Talk. Illus. Stefano Vitale. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick, 1995. (Lexile 0400)
When a yam and dog talk to a farmer, he runs away in fear, kick-starting a chain of events of people running from things that shouldn’t have a voice.
|Notable Category: |Folklore |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Cumulative – Sequencing |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Minor, Wendell. My Farm Friends. N.Y.: Putnam, 2011.
Simple, rhyming text describes the characteristics of different farm animals. Includes farm friends fun facts and books and websites for further reading.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary |
Monks, Lydia. The Cat Barked? N.Y.: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1998.
A cat thinks that it would be far better to be a dog, but will he be convinced otherwise?
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Pets |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Morrison, Toni and Slade Morrison. Peeny Butter Fudge. Illus. Joe Cepeda. N.Y.: Simon &
Schuster, 2009. (Lexile 0360)
A group of children get to spend a fun and exciting day with their grandmother and learn the secret family recipe for peeny butter fudge passed down through generations.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Traditions – Generations |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – Bright illustrations – Recipe for peeny butter fudge included |
Na, II Sung. The Thingamabob. N.Y.: Alfred Knopf, 2010.
An elephant finds an umbrella one day and wonder what it is and how he should use it.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Nakagawa, Chihiro. Who Made This Cake?. Illus. Junji Koyose. Asheville, N.C.: Front
Street, 2008.
Tiny people use construction trucks to make a cake for the birthday boy.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: | |
|Notable Strategies: |Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Nelson, Marilyn. Beautiful Ballerina. Illus. Susan Kuklin. N.Y.: Scholastic, 2009.
(Lexile 0760)
Photographs and a poem bring readers on center stage with the ballerinas from the Dance Theatre of Harlem
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Nonfiction – Poetry |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Dance – Pride – Freedom |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary |
Newbery, Linda. Posy. Illus. Catherine Rayner. N.Y.: Atheneum, 2009.
Rhyming text tells all about the kittenish ways of Posy the kitten.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Circular story |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
Niemann, Christoph. Subway. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2010. (Lexile 0510)
Two children ride all the different New York City subway lines with their father.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
|Notable Concepts: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Monitor/Clarify – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary |
Numberman, Neil. Do Not Build a Frankenstein! N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2009.
A boy warns his neighbors that trouble comes with building a monster, including having to move to a different town in hopes of escaping his creation.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Numeroff, Laura J. Would I Trade My Parents? Illus. James Bermardin. N.Y.: Abrams, 2009.
A little boy looks at how great all of his friends’ parents are only to decide that his are the greatest of all.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Parents – Family – Gratitude |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Synthesizing – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Easy Vocabulary |
Perry, John. The Book That Eats People. Illus. Mark Fearing. Berkeley: Tricycle Press, 2009.
Warning: This book eats people. It has eaten several people in the past, and it will likely eat again.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Metafiction |
|Notable Concept/Themes: | |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Portis, Antoinette. Kindergarten Diary. N.Y.: Harper, 2010.
Annalina keeps a journal of her kindergarten experiences, including all the worries and all the fun times.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Growing up |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Not a Box. N.Y.: Harper Collins, 2006.
Bunny uses his imagination to explore the different things that a box can be.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Imagination – Perspective |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
_____________. Not a Stick. N.Y.: Harper Collins, 2008.
Pig uses his imagination to make a stick more than a stick.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Imagination – Perspective |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Proimos, James. Swim! Swim! N.Y.: Scholastic Press, 2010. (Lexile 0180)
Lerch the fish would like a friend to keep him company, but no one in the fish tank will be friends with him—not the pebbles or the diving man figurine or even the bubbles. Lucky for Lerch there’s a helpful cat around.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Very easy vocabulary |
The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Sel. By Jack Prelutsky. Illus. Arnold Lobel. N.Y.: Random House, 1983.
Over 550 poems by authors from America and England, as well as some by anonymous authors.
|Notable Category: |Poetry |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: | |
|Special Notes: |
|Poems with simple rhyme schemes – Easy to use indexes |
Rayner, Catherine. Ernest The Moose Who Doesn’t Fit. N.Y.: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010.
Ernest is a moose too big to fit inside the pages of his own book. Good thing he has a small friend with big ideas.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Metafiction |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Size – Problem solving |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Ries, Lori. Aggie the Brave. Illus. Frank Dormer. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2010.
(Lexile 0230)
Ben tells Aggie to be brave when she has to go to the vet, but it turns out Ben is the one who must be brave when he has to leave Aggie there over night.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Pets |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Monitor/Clarify – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs – Short sentences – Short chapters – Fairly easy vocabulary |
__________. Good Dog, Aggie. Illus. Frank Dormer. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2009. (Lexile 0160)
Ben takes Aggie to obedience school, but when Aggie misbehaves Ben must train her all on his own.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Pets |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs – Short sentences – Short chapters – Easy vocabulary |
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Duck! Rabbit!. Illus. Tom Lichtenheld. San Francisco:
Chronicle, 2009.
Is it a duck or a rabbit?
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Perspective |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Questioning – Connections |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Little Hoot. Illus. Jen Corace. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2008.
Little Hoot wants to go to bed early, but his parents are determined that he will stay up late and play.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Bedtime |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Connections – Monitor/Clarify |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Little Oink. Illus. Jen Corace. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2009.
Little Oink, a neat little pig, wants to resist his parents orders to be messy.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Cleaning up |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Connections – Monitor/Clarify |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Little Pea. Illus. Jen Corace. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2005.
Little Pea hates the candy that he as to eat for dinner, but if he wants his favorite dessert, spinach, he’ll have to eat all of his candy.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Food |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Connections – Monitor/Clarify |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. The OK Book. Illus. Tom Lichenhelf. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 2007.
Uses fascinating wordplay as illustration: a young character enumerates all of the wonderful things that it is capable of doing, knowing that one day it will truly excel at something.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Inferring – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Rostoker-Gruber, Karen. Bandit. Illus. Vincent Nguyen. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, 2008.
Bandit the cat isn’t sure if his new house is really home.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Home |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary – Done in panel drawings, very reminiscent of comics – Bandit the |
|cat is a snarky observer |
Rylant, Cynthia. All in a Day. Illus. Nikki McClure. N.Y.: Abrams, 2009.
One day holds many opportunities.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Brownie and Pearl Step Out. Illus. Brian Biggs. N.Y.: Beach Lane Books, 2010. (Lexile 0140)
Brownie and her cat Pearl get invited to party, but Brownie feels a little shy.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Shyness |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Samuels, Barbara. The Trucker. N.Y.: Farrar, Straus Giroux, 2010.
Leo, a little boy who has always loved trucks, wants his mom to get him his very own fire truck, but she brings home a cat instead.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Pets – Trucks |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Inferring – Monitor/Clarifying |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Savadier, Elivia. Will Sheila Share? N.Y.: Roaring Brook Press, 2008.
Sometimes learning to share is not so easy and requires a little help from people who care.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sharing |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Scanlon, Elizabeth G. All the World! Illus. Marie Frazee. N.Y.: Beach Lane Books, 2009. (Lexile 0380)
Depicts the details of life for a small family and a small seaside town.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Poetry |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Community |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing – Visualizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short lines – Easy vocabulary |
Seeger, Laura V. First the Egg. New Milford, Conn.: Roaring Brook Press, 2007.
Explores which comes first among pairs.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual – Nonfiction |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Biology – Sequencing |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Shapes cut out of pages to help demonstrate concept |
__________. Lemons Are Not Red. Brookfield, Conn.: Roaring Brook Press, 2004.
Introducing colors by explaining what they are not.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Colors |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Visualizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Shapes cut out of pages to help demonstrate concept |
__________. One Boy. N.Y.: Roaring Brook Press, 2008.
A boy creates ten paintings and explores the relationship of words within words.
|Notable Category: | Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition – Numbers – Language |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Shapes cut out of pages to help demonstrate concept |
Smith, Lane. Grandpa Green. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2011. (Lexile 0360)
A child explores his grandfather’s life with the help of his grandfather’s topiaries. And, we find the by the end of the book that they are a necessary aid for his grandfather to remember as age is taking away from his memory.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Memories – Family – Generations – Traditions |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Monitor/Clarify – Questioning – Summarizing – |
| |Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary – Detailed, imaginative illustrations that provide a lot of |
|opportunities for asking questions |
Steggall, Susan. The Life of a Car. N.Y.: Holt, 2008.
Explores the day in the life of a car that is involved in an accident.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sequencing |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Stein, David E. Pouch!. N.Y.: Putnam, 2009.
A joey explores everything and everyone on the outside of his mom’s pouch.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Stoeke, Janet Morgan. Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs. N.Y.: Dutton, 2006.
Minerva Louise enlists the help of her chicken friends when she thinks that another chicken has left colorful eggs untended all over the farm.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Holidays |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Thomas, Jan. The Doghouse. Orlando: Harcourt, 2008.
Who will go in and get the ball when it accidently roles into the dog’s house?
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Rhyming Dust Bunnies. N.Y.: Beach Lane Books, 2009. (Lexile 0180)
As three dust bunnies, Ed, Ned, and Ted, are demonstrating how much they love to rhyme, a fourth, Bob, is trying to warn them of approaching danger.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Thomas, Patricia. Red Sled. Illus. Chris L. Demarest. Honesdale, PA.: Boyds Mills Press, 2008.
A dad and his son make an uneventful day magical when they go sledding.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Poetry |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Very short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Explains rhyming sequence used throughout the book at the very end|
Van Leeuwen, Jean. Chicken Soup. Illus. David Gavril. N.Y.: Abrams Books for
Young Readers, 2009.
When the chickens discover that Mrs. Farmer is making soup, they all run for their lives, but Mr. Farmer catches little chick who has a bad cold.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Viorst, Judith. Lulu and the Brontosaurus. Illus. Lane Smith. N.Y.: Atheneum, 2010.
(Lexile 0910)
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming – Manners |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Chapters – Fairly easy vocabulary – Author acknowledges self in the writing process – Three alternate|
|endings |
Weeks, Sarah. Woof: A Love Story. Illus. Holly Berry. N.Y.: Laura Geringer Books,
2009. (Lexile 0700)
Despite a language barrier, a dog and a cat fall in love with the help of a trombone.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Language |
| | |
|Notable Strategies: |Monitor/Clarify – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Short lines – Easy vocabulary |
Wheeler, Lisa. Ugly Pie. Illus. Heather Solomon. Boston: Harcourt, 2010. (Lexile 0670)
Bear has a craving for ugly pie, but he doesn’t have any at home.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – Worked into theatrical production – Has recipe for ugly pie in the back |
Williams, Sue. I Went Walking. Illus. Julie Vivas. San Diego: Harcourt, 1990. (Lexile 0000)
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Visualizing – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Written in question-answer/call-response |
Willems, Mo. Are You Ready to Play Outside? N.Y.: Hyperion, 2008. (Lexile 0140)
Piggie and Gerald learn that they can have fun together come rain or shine.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Cat the Cat Who Is That? N.Y.: Balzer & Bray, 2010. (Lexile 0020)
The very vibrant Cat the Cat meets a whole host of friends until she comes upon a
Creature unlike any she has ever seen before. What does she do?
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. City Dog, Country Frog. Illus. Jon Muth. N.Y.: Hyperion, 2010. (Lexile 0490)
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Death – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. I Love My New Toy! N.Y.: Hyperion, 2008.
Piggie gets a new toy only for Gerald to break it. How can Piggie ever forgive him?
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Forgiveness – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. I Will Surprise My Friend! N.Y.: Hyperion, 2008.
Gerald and Piggie decide it will be fun to surprise one another, but when they can’t find each other Gerald becomes worried about Piggie and Piggie becomes hungry for lunch.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion. N.Y.: Balzer & Bray, 2010.
(Lexile 0530)
On a trip to Holland to visit her Oma and Opa Trixie accidentally leaves Knuffle Bunny on an airplane and has to learn that she is big enough to get along without her favorite stuffed animal.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Growing up |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. My Friend is Sad. N.Y.: Hyperion, 2007.
Piggie tries to cheer Gerald up when she notices that he is sad.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. There Is a Bird on Your Head. N.Y.: Hyperion, 2007.
A bird couple lands on Gerald’s head and builds a nest. How will he get them to leave?
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Counting |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Today I Will Fly! N.Y.: Hyperion, 2007.
Piggie she decides she will fly even though Gerald tells her she can’t. Piggie finds out she can’t fly, but she can get pretty close with a little help.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. What’s Your Sound, Hound the Hound? N.Y.: Balzer & Bray, 2010.
Cat asks her animal friends what sound each of them makes, and every one of them
knows how to answer except for Bunny.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sounds |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Very easy vocabulary – Predictable pattern – One sentence per page |
Winter, Jeanette. Josefina. N.Y.: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1996.
Josephina grows up in a loving family of artists and, in turn, uses her talent to brighten the lives of her own family and neighbors with clay statues.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Counting – Traditions |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – Questioning – |
| |Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Short sentences – Some Spanish words are used and are translated into English |
Wolf, Sally. Truck Stuck. Illus. Andy Davies. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2008.
A truck gets stuck under a bridge and traffic is stopped.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Monitor/Clarifying – Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Very short sentences – Very easy vocabulary – Illustrations have a lot of detail and action that the text |
|does not dicuss |
Wood, Audrey. King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub. Illus. Don Wood. San Diego: Harcourt, 1985.
(Lexile 0310)
King Bidgood’s in the tub, and he won’t get out no matter what his knight, his queen, or his court says. Fortunately, a clever page boy has the answer.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Some rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Illustrations have a lot of details that can be used to make |
|predictions |
Woodson, Jacqueline. Pecan Pie Baby. Illus. Sophie Blackwall. N.Y.: Putnam, 2010.
(Lexile 0710)
Mama is going to have baby, and Gia isn’t ready to be a big sister or to have to share her life with Mama with another sibling. But at least all three of them have something in common. They all love pecan pie.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Family – Jealousy |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Harder vocabulary |
Yates, Louise. Dog Loves Books. N.Y.: Knopf, 2010. (Lexile 0450)
Dog loves books so much he decides to open his own bookstore and discovers how much he loves to share his books with others.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Reading – Imagination |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – 1-3 Sentences per page |
Yun, Hyewon. The Twins’ Blanket. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2011. (Lexile 0330)
Twin girls who have always shared everything experience their first time sleeping in their own beds with their own blankets.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Sharing – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Predicting – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Illustrations mirror one another |
Ziefert, Harriet. Crab Cab. Illus. Yukiko Kido. Maplewood, NJ: Blue Apple Books, 2009.
Humorous illustrations and die-cut pages introduce short vowel sounds, consonant blends, and word families.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Flip pages to create new words |
Harder Books for Early Readers
The books in this section are primarily picture books with longer sentences, short paragraphs, and more complex vocabulary.
Ahlberg, Allan. The Pencil. Illus. Bruce Ingman. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick, 2008.
(Lexile 0540)
A lonely pencil draws himself a host of company, but when he draws an over-excited
eraser, he must find a way to stop the eraser from rubbing out everything he has drawn.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Metafiction |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Problem solving |
|Notable Strategies: |Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs – Fairly easy vocabulary – More complex sentence structures |
__________. The Runaway Dinner. Illus. Bruce ingman. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick, 2006. (Lexile 0910)
Banjo always has a lovely sausage for his dinner, but one day Melvin—that’s the sausage, of course—jumps off the plate and starts running. Banjo then has to chase down his dinner and several other things that have escaped.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs – Fairly easy vocabulary – More complex sentence structures |
Bouchard, Herve. Harvey: How I Became Invisible. Trans. Helen Mixter. Toronto: Groundwood, 2010. (Lexile 730)
Harvey and his brother are on their way home after playing in the slushy streets of early spring when they discover that their father has died of a heart attack.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Graphic Novel |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Death – Coping – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – Synthesizing – |
| |Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer Sentences – Longer paragraphs – More difficult vocabulary |
Christelow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys Play Hide-and-Seek. N.Y.: Clarion, 2004. (Lexile
Five little monkeys play hide-and-seek with their babysitter while Mama is out for the evening.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car. N.Y.: Clarion, 2000. (Lexile 0140)
Five little monkeys try to help their Mama sell her old car and get themselves into some
trouble with the local crocodiles.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Longer paragraphs per page – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Five Little Monkeys With Nothing to Do. N.Y.: Clarion, 1986. (Lexile 0400)
Five little monkeys have to clean the house for a visit from their grandma, but when Mama sends them down to the swamp to pick berries, they come home quite filthy.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Cleaning up |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Longer paragraphs per page – Easy vocabulary |
Cordsen, Carol F. Market Day. Illus. Douglas B. Jones. N.Y.: Dutton, 2008. (Lexile 0140)
In a hurry to get to the farmer’s market, the Benson family forgets to feed their hungry cow.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Edwards, Pamela D. Jack and Jill’s Treehouse. Illus. Henry Cole. N.Y.: Katherine
Tegen, 2008.
A cumulative tale about Jack and Jill, two children who build a treehouse together.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sequencing |
|Notable Strategies: |Summarizing – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short paragraphs per page – Easy vocabulary |
Emberley, Barbara. Drummer Hoff. Illus. Ed Emberley. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1967.
A folk song where seven shoulders build a cannon and Drummer Hoff fires it.
|Notable Category: |Folk Lore |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming – Sequencing |
|Notable Strategies: |Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Harder vocabulary – Bright, intricate illustrations |
Flack, Marjorie. Ask Mr. Bear. N.Y.: Macmillan, 1958.
Danny wonders what he should get his mother for her birthday and decides to ask several animals for their help. When none of them can give him a good idea for a present, he decides Mr. Bear for suggestions.
|Notable Category: |Conceptual – Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sequencing – Cumulative |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Foley, Greg E. Don’t Worry Bear. N.Y.: Viking, 2008.
A caterpillar reassures a worried bear that they will see each other again when the caterpillar emerges from its cocoon.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Good Luck Bear. N.Y.: Viking, 2009.
Mouse tells bear that finding a four leaf clover will make him lucky, but finding one is a lot easier said than done.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Thank You Bear. N.Y.: Viking, 2007. (Lexile 0380)
Despite the criticism of others, a bear finds the perfect gift for his mouse friend.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short Sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Gag, Wanda. Millions of Cats. N.Y.: Coward-McCann, 1928. (Lexile 0730)
An old man goes to find a cat for his wife and stumbles upon a hillside full of them. He decides to bring all of them home only to discover that there is only one cat that is just right for him and his wife.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Rhyming |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – Longer sentences – Long paragraphs per page |
Henkes, Kevin. The Biggest Boy. Illus. Nancy Tafuri. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1995. (Lexile 0400)
Billy is a big boy who can put on his own shoes, help with the dishes, an even eat all by himself, but he dreams of someday becoming so big that he can wear his house and throw the sun in the air like a ball.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Size – Growing up |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Circle Dogs. Illus. Dan Yaccarino. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1998. (Lexile 0030)
|Notable Category: |Realism – Conceptual |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Shapes |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Visualizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
________. A Good Day. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2007.
A bird, a dog, a fox, and a squirrel overcome some minor obstacles so that their bad days
can end up good.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
__________. Jessica. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1989.
Ruthie Simms has an imaginary friend named Jessica, but when she goes to kindergarten
doesn’t know what to do with her.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
_________. Old Bear. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 2008.
Old Bear goes to sleep for the winter and has some wonderful dreams about being a cub again.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Dreams – Seasons |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Visualizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
__________. Sheila Rae, The Brave. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1987. (Lexile 0440)
Sheila Rae is one brave little mouse, but when she gets lost one day she discovers that
she’s not the only brave little mouse in the family.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Henny Penny. Retold & Illus. Paul Galdone. N.Y.: Seabury, 1968.
The classic tale of Henny Penny any the sky falling as told by Galdone.
|Notable Category: |Folk Lore |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sequencing – Cumulative |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Short paragraphs per page |
Hogrogian, Nonny. One Fine Day. N.Y.: Macmillan, 1971. (Lexile 1080)
When an old woman punishes a fox for drinking up her pail of milk by cutting off his tail,
the fox must go and find many things to trade for getting his tail back.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sequencing – Cumulative |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Short paragraphs per page |
Jenkins, Emily. The Little Bit Scary People. Illus. Alexandra Boiger. N.Y.: Hyperion,
2008.
Some people are a little bit strange or a little too loud, and just a little bit scary. But I bet, if you knew them, and knew their favorite things, you'd think that maybe, (probably) most people aren't so scary after all.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Judgments – Shyness |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Kellogg, Steven. Pinkerton, Behave! N.Y.: Dial, 1979. (Lexile 0270)
New puppy Pinkerton just can’t seem to figure out how to behave.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Monitor/Clarifying |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – A burglar is portrayed with a gun |
Khan, Rukhsana. Big Red Lollipop. Illus. Sophie Blackall. N.Y.: Viking, 2010. (Lexile 0410)
Having to take her younger sister along the first time she is invited to a birthday party spoils Rubina’s fun, and later when that sister is asked to a party and baby sister wants to come, Rubina must decide whether to help.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Circular story –Differences – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Inferring – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page |
Lobel, Arnold. A Treeful of Pigs. Illus. Anita Lobel. N.Y.: Greenwillow, 1979.
A farmer learns his lesson about being lazy when the pigs he and his wife bought disappear one day.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Responsibility |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing – Monitor/Clarifying |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page |
Neri, Greg. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty. Illus. Randy DuBurke. N.Y.: Lee & Low, 2010.
"A graphic novel based on the true story of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, an eleven-year old African American gang member from Chicago who shot a young girl and was then shot by his own gang members"--Provided by publisher
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Graphic novel |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Death – Society |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Outside narrative perspective frames story |
Rockwell, Anne. At the Supermarket. N.Y.: Henry Holt, 2010.
A mother and child fill a cart at the supermarket with everything from grapes to paper towels, finishing off with some very special items.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. It’s Not Fair. Illus. Tom Lichtenheld. N.Y.: HarperCollins, 2008.
(Lexile 0160)
A rhyming tale about all of the times in life when things just don’t seem to be very fair.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Russell, Natalie. Moon Rabbit. N.Y.: Viking, 2009.
Little Rabbit loves her life in the city, but when she gets lonely for company she finds a
friend in the moonlit park.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Sakai, Komako. The Snow Day. N.Y.: Arthur A. Levine, 2009. (Lexile 0370)
A little rabbit enjoys having a day off from kindergarten and spending time with his mother during a snowstorm, but his father’s flight home is cancelled until the snow stops falling.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Family – Seasons |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories. New Milford, Conn.:
Roaring Brook Press, 2007. (Lexile 0320)
In these three easy-reader stories about friendship, Bear jumps off a high chair with Dog’s help, Dog tries to get Bear to play while Bear is reading, and Dog decides to get a new name.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
__________. Dog and Bear: Two’s Company. N.Y.: Roaring Brook Press, 2008. (Lexile 0210)
In these three easy-reader stories about friendship Bear keeps Dog from leaving angrily by inviting Dog for ice cream, Dog bakes Bear a birthday cake, and Bear takes care of Dog while Dog is sick.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Predicting |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences |
Siminovich, Lorena. Alex and Lulu: Two of a Kind. Somervill, Mass: Templar Books,
2009.
Alex and Lulu are the best of friends but Alex fears for their friendship when he
Realizes how very different they really are.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Differences – Opposites |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – East vocabulary |
Stoeke, Janet M. Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs. N.Y.: Dutton Children’s Books, 2006.
Minerva Louise enlists the help of her chicken friends when she thinks that another chicken has left colorful eggs untended all over the farm.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Holidays |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Swanson, Susan M. The House in the Night. Illus. Beth Krommes. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 2008. (Lexile 0060)
Illustrations and easy-to-read text explore the light that makes a house in the night a home filled with light.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
|Notable Concepts: |Repetition – Cumulative pattern – Nighttime – Bedtime |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Visualizing – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Illustrations play with dark and light and perspective – Caldecott |
|winner |
Vail, Rachel. Sometimes I’m Bombaloo. Illus. Yumi Heo. N.Y.: Scholastic, 2002.
(Lexile 0450)
When Katie feels angry and out of control, her mother helps her to feel herself again.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some repetition – Emotions |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Watt, Melanie. Chester’s Masterpiece. Toronto: Kids Can Pr., 2010.
Chester is back and has written his own book.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Metafiction |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Some Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Monitor/Clarifying – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary – Longer sentences – A lot of action happening within the illustrations |
Weeks, Sarah. Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash. Illus. Nadine B. Westcott.
N.Y.: Laura Geringer, 1998. (Lexile 0540)
Every Monday Mrs. McNosh does the laundry and gets a little carried away hanging things up to dry.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
|Notable Concepts: |Rhyming – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short lines – Very easy vocabulary – Short paragraphs per page |
Wilems, Mo. Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. N.Y.: Hyperion, 2009. (Lexile 0470)
Every naked mole rat knows that they don’t wear clothes. Every naked mole rat, that is, except for Wilbur, who loves wearing clothes.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Differences – Traditions – Being yourself |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly short sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary |
Williams, Linda. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. Illus. Megan Lloyd.
N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1986.
A brave little old lady goes for a walk and runs into a ghostly set of clothing, but she’s not afraid of anything, so what’s a ghostly set of clothing to do? Fortunately, the little old lady has a solution.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
|Notable Concepts: |Repetition – Cumulative – Holidays |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary |
Winthrop, Elizabeth. Squashed in the Middle. Illus. Pat Cummings. N.Y.: Henry Holt, 2005.
Daisy, the middle child, feels she is never heard, until the night of her first sleepover.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer paragraphs per page – Fairly short sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary |
Wood, Audrey. The Napping House. Illus. Don Wood. San Diego: Harcourt, 1984.
(Lexile NP)
Everyone is asleep in the house, but it only takes the bite of one wakeful flea to wake the whole household up.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Cumulative |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Illustrations provide hints at what will happen next in the story |
Young, Ed. Seven Blind Mice. N.Y.: Philomel, 1992. (Lexile 0350)
Seven blind mice each try to figure out what the strange Something is by the pond. Each mouse comes up with something different until, finally, the seventh mouse combines all of their perceptions to come up with what the Something really is.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Based on the fable |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Repetition – Sequencing – Colors – Days of the week |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning – Summarizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Short sentences – Easy vocabulary – Caldecott Honor |
Reluctant Readers
The books in this section are books on high interest subjects written at lower reading levels.
Albee, Sarah. Poop Happened: A History of the World From the Bottom Up. Illus.
Robert Leighton. N.Y.: Walker, 2010.
"Throughout the ages, the most successful civilizations were the ones who realized that
everyone poops and they'd better figure out how to get rid of it! From the very first
flushing toilet (invented way earlier than you would think) to the efficient Roman
aqueducts (possibly inspired by the goddess of sewers!) to castles in the Middle Ages
whose moats used more than just water to repel enemies, Poop happened! traces human
civilization through this revolting yet fascinating theme."--Book jacket
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – History – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: | |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Engaging voice keeps text interesting |
Beccia, Carlyn. I Feel Better With A Frog in My Throat: History’s Strangest Cures. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2010. (Lexile 1110)
A history of the strangest cures for coughs, colds, stomach aches, and much more.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – History |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Illness |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Explanations or pronunciation for some of the harder words – Longer paragraphs per|
|page |
Barrett, Tracy. The 100-Year-Old Secret. N.Y.: Henry Holt, 2008. (Lexile 650)
Xena and Xander find themselves involved in an unsolved mystery after they discover
that their ancestor is the great detective Sherlock Holmes.
|Notable Category: |Realism –Mystery – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Family |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary |
Bishop, Nic. Frogs. N.Y.: Scholastic, 2009. (Lexile 890)
A book all about frogs and the environments they live in, supplemented by beautiful
photographs.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Science |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Biology |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer paragraphs per page – Harder vocabulary – Glossary of terms in back of book as well as index and |
|biographical information about author/biologist |
Bragg, Georgia. How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous. Illus. Kevin O’Malley. N.Y.: Walker & Co., 2011. (Lexile 0950)
Provides the gory details of how famous people have met their ends.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – History |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Death |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary – Longer paragraphs – Conversational voice keeps information interesting – Suggestions |
|for resources for doing further research provided |
Bruel, Nick. Bad Kitty Gets a Bath. N.Y.: Roaring Brook Pr., 2008. (Lexile 0650)
Kitty gets so dirty that cleaning herself her own way, the cat way, just won’t cut it. Time
to give kitty a bath in soap and water, but how do you give a bath to Kitty when she hates
them so much?
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Pets – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page – Interspersed with cat facts about habit and behavior |
|– Glossary available to explain more difficult words |
__________. Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty. N.Y.: Roaring Brook Pr., 2008. (Lexile 0610)
It’s Bad Kitty’s birthday. Will she get the present she wants?
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Pets – Repetition |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – Short chapters – Longer paragraphs per page – Interspersed with cat facts about habits |
|and breeds |
Corey, Shana. Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman,
Who Swam Her Way to Fame, Fortune & Swimsuit History. Illus. Edwin
Fotheringham. N.Y.: Scholastic, 2009. (Lexile 650)
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Biography |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Perseverance – Women – Sports |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page |
Donovan, Sandra. Lance Armstrong. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2005. (Lexile 740)
A biography about Lance Armstrong’s bicycling career and his battle with cancer.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Biography |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Sports – Perseverance |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page – Glossary of terms available |
Dussling, Jennifer. Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!. N.Y.: DK Pub., 1998. (Lexile 620)
A book all about bugs and how they live and survive.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Science |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Biology |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Short paragraphs per page |
Elliott, Zetta. Bird. Illus. Shadra Strickland. N.Y.: Lee & Low, 2008. (Lexile 720)
A young African American boy nicknamed Bird uses art and close connections with a
family friend to learn how to cope with losing his grandfather and his older brother.
|Notable Category: |Multicultural – Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Death – Family – Coping |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page – Winner of Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent |
|Author Award |
Fradin, Judith Bloom. Earthquakes: Witness to Disaster. Washington, D.C.:
National Geographic, 2008. (Lexile 1050)
A discussion about the science of earthquakes combined with eyewitness accounts and
pictures of earthquakes and the damages they cause.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Science |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Geology |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page – Index and glossary available |
Gifford, Peggy E. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little. N.Y.: Schwartz &
Wade, 2007. (Lexile 890)
Summer is almost over and Moxy Maxwell still hadn’t finished her summer reading
assignment. When her mom tells her there will be consequences if she does not finish her
assignment Moxy decides to buckle down and read but things keep getting in the way of her finishing.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Chapter Book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Responsibility |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page |
__________. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank You Notes. N.Y.:
Schwartz & Wade, 2008. (Lexile 870)
Moxy must write twelve thank-you letters so that she and her brother can visit their father
in Hollywood, but her brilliant plans to make the letter writing more efficient keep going
awry.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Chapter books |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Divorce – Family – Responsibility |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page |
Hale, Shannon. Rapunzel’s Revenge. Illus. Nathan Hale. N.Y.: Bloomsburg, 2008.
(Lexile 500)
When Rapunzel discovers Mother Gothel, the woman who has been raising her,
is actually evil and responsible for stealing her from her real mother at
birth, she vows revenge and is locked in a tower to keep her from making good on the promise. Four years later Rapunzel escapes and teams up with a wise-cracking thief to defeat Mother Gothel and free her true mother from captivity.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Graphic novel |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Perseverance |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing – |
| |Monitor/Clarifying |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Easy-to-understand illustration panels |
Jackson, Donna. Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature’s Mysteries from Perilous Places.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. (Lexile 1130)
From hurricanes and deep caves to giant redwoods, these scientists explore the perilous
environments in order to study the diverse ways our planet supports life.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Science |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Meteorology – Microbiology – Botany |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page – Pictures supplement text well |
Jeffrey, Gary. Autopsies: Pathologists at Work. Illus. Terry Riley. N.Y.:
Rosen, 2008.
This books explains how forensic pathologists conduct their work and includes three real
life cases where forensic science solved grisly murders.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Science |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Forensics |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary – Stories of true crimes shown through panel illustrations as in a graphic novel |
LeZotte, Ann Clare. T4: A Novel in Verse. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. (Lexile NP)
In 1939 Paula Becker is 13 and deaf in Nazi Germany and must go into hiding in order to
avoid Action T4, a program meant to eliminate people with disabilities.
|Notable Category: |Novel in Verse – Poetry – Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Holocaust –Deafness – Perseverance |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Free verse poetry |
McDonald, Megan. Judy Moody Goes to College. Illus. Peter H. Reynolds.
Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick, 2008. (Lexile 400-500)
When Judy has trouble in math her parents get a cool college-age tutor, and Judy decides
college life is for her.
|Notable Category: |Realism |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Growing up |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary |
Mass, Wendy. 11 Birthdays. N.Y.: Scholastic, 2009. (Lexile 650)
After a fight, Amanda and Leo, who were born on the same day and celebrate every
birthday together, decide to have separate 11th birthday parties. But things get a little
strange when they find that the day of their birthday is repeating itself over and over
again.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy – Chapter book |
|Notable Concepts: |Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Questioning – Predicting – Inferring |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer sentences – Fairly easy vocabulary |
Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. N.Y.: Little, Brown,2005. (Lexile 690)
Seventeen-year-old Bella moves to a rainy little town called Forks in
Washington, where she encounters Edward, a member of the ridiculously attractive and very mysterious Cullen family, who she discovers is not wholly human.
|Notable Category: |Fantasy |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Vampires – Family – Love |
|Notable Strategies: |Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary |
Naylor, Phyllis R. Cricket Man. N.Y.: Atheneum, 2008. (Lexile 760)
Thirteen-year-old Kenny gains a measure of confidence from saving the crickets that
nearly drown in his pool each morning and begins calling himself "Cricket Man". This confidence helps him to have the courage to be there for his neighbor, Jodie, who is sixteen and dealing with depression.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Growing up – Family – Friendship |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Conversational and witty narrative tone |
Paulsen, Gary. Lawn Boy. N.Y.: Wendy Lamb Books, 2007. (Lexile 0780)
Things get out of hand for a twelve-year-old boy when a neighbor convinces him
to expand his summer lawn mowing business.
|Notable Category: |Realism – Chapter book |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Business – Jobs |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Predicting – Questioning |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Concepts behind chapter titles explained via events in the story itself |
Rappaport, Doreen. Eleanor, Quiet No More: The Life of Eleanor Roosevelt. Illus.
Gary Kelley. N.Y.: Disney/Hyperion, 2009. (Lexile 670)
A biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, the first First Lady to have a really active role in
American politics and social issues, making her also one of the more controversial figures
of the era.
|Notable Category: |Biography |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Politics – Women |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Fairly easy vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page – Supplemented by quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt and her|
|writings |
Tanaka, Shelley. Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator. Illus. David Craig.
N.Y.: Abrams, 2009. (Lexile 1000)
A biography of Amelia Earhart, covering her humble beginnings as an adventurous
young girl to her final flight around the world from which she never returned.
|Notable Category: |Biography |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Aviation – Perseverance – Women |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Harder vocabulary – Longer paragraphs per page |
Thimmesh, Catherine. Lucy Long Ago: Uncovering the Mystery of Where We Came
From. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. (Lexile 1130)
The story of the discovery of the fossilized skeleton of Lucy, a newly unearthed hominid
species later called Australopithecus afarensis. As the most complete hominid skeleton
ever found and also as a brand new hominid species, Lucy was, debatably, one of the most important fossil discoveries of the century.
|Notable Category: |Nonfiction – Science |
| | |
|Notable Concepts/Themes: |Paleontology – Evolution |
|Notable Strategies: |Connections – Inferring – Predicting – Questioning – Synthesizing |
|Special Notes: |
|Longer sentences – Longer paragraphs per page – Harder vocabulary – Helpful illustrations – Glossary |
|included for more difficult words |
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