Pearson School Atlas

Morrow, R. (2004). Pearson School Atlas. Toronto, Ont.: Pearson Education Canada.

 This is one of the few atlases in our library. Although it is dated, it does include Nunavut and still has many useful features. The graphics are colourful and include charts, graphs, photos, satellite photos, topographic maps and even road maps.  While this is a world atlas, there is a definite concentration on Canadian information making it useful for social studies curriculum. The variety of types of maps included also make it useful for teaching mapping and how to read various types of maps, graphs and diagrams.  Using it with the document camera would make a great group lesson. Information on geology, biomes, industry (including forestry) and some historical facts about the growth of Canada also have great curriculum connections. Some of the statistics are outdated, however, and a lesson in accessing current information on the web would be an appropriate compliment to this atlas.

Late Primary (with support), Intermediate, Teacher resource

Guyku

Raczka, B. (2010). Guyku: A year of haiku for boys. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. (illustrated by Peter Reynolds)

Divided into seasons, this short book of short poems about boys playing outdoors is a gem. Raczka's afterword notes that his inspiration was his own boyhood outdoors, and it shows.  The poems bring back memories of classic outdoor activities that every child can connect with - climbing trees, skipping stones, roasting marshmallows, splashing your sister....  He also notes that Haiku is the perfect 'boy poem' - it is about nature, "a place where guys love to be" and written in present tense, "guys are always interested in what is happening right now".  Peter Reynolds calls the book an important "invitation for boys to swim in the 'poem pond'".  Let's share the invitation!

Primary, Intermediate (as an invitation to poetry writing), Teacher resource

Each Kindness

Woodson, J. (2012). Each Kindness. New York: Nancy Paulsen Books.

This poignant and beautifully illustrated book tells the age old story of succombing to peer pressure and excluding someone who looks a little different.  When a new girl arrives at Chloe's school Chloe follows the unwritten rule to exclude her.  The whispering and name calling grow until the teacher tries teaching a lesson in kindness. Dropping a pebble in water, the teacher says "This is what kindness does, ...Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world."  Chloe decides too late to show some kindness - the new girl has moved again.  When I read this to the grade 3's you could have heard a pin drop.  They all wanted Chloe to get her chance back. We took time to talk about the ending they wished had happened. This book is a great conversation starter about bystanders, upstanders and chances for kindness.

Late Primary, Intermediate picture book, Teacher resource

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire!

Horvath, Polly. (2012). Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire! Groundwood Books, Toronto, Ont.

An absolute treat!  A fast paced mystery with human characters mixed up with talking rabbits, foxes and marmots (never trust a marmot), this clever story written in large, well spaced font interspersed with full page pen and ink illustrations appears at first glance to be an early chapter book. The wry humour and social and political commentary, however, will bring smiles to more sophisticated readers. Madeleine, who lives on Pender Island with her hippie parents, returns home from work one evening to discover her parents have been kidnapped - by foxes. The foxes need the help of her code breaking uncle and hope her parents will lead them to him. Madeleine's uncle falls into an sudden coma (a great way to get a rest, he says)  and she must enlist the help of Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, two talking rabbits who take her in and look after her.  Much high jinks ensues including an unpredictable marmot, some purple disco boots and a desperate last minute rescue. This book can be enjoyed on many levels. It would make a wonderful read-aloud for a mixed audience too.

Late Primary/Intermediate/Adults too :)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Kinney, J. (2009). Diary of a wimpy kid: dog days. Amulet Books, New York.

 The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are very popular in our library.  I skimmed the first one when it came out and was not impressed with the main character, Greg Heffley. I had thought the stories would be about a misunderstood, misfit kid readers could identify with.  I found a quite unlikeable, self-centered kid instead BUT.... the Wimpy Kid continued to be popular.  So last week I gave him another try. I still did not like Greg Heffly, but I could see his appeal. In fact, I am sure my own children could relate to some of Greg's disappointing summer experiences - like the surprise summer trip where his Mom packed healthy snacks (no pizza stop), the surprise was the 'Slip Slide Water Park' (definitely not cool for a middle school kid), once the family did get settled a thunder storm appeared and the park was closed due to lightening, they got caught in the traffic jam leaving the park, and his younger brother told those four year old jokes (the ones that don't make sense) all the way home. Between losing and regaining his best friend, starting a doomed summer business, surviving a summer crush and navigating the horrors of the men's change room, Greg is certainly someone a middle grade kid can relate to. Greg is still self-centered and thoughtless, but his misdeeds do have consequences. Perhaps Greg Heffley is just mischievous and irreverent enough to appeal while the consequences of his actions maintain some safe boundaries - a way to explore tempting thoughts we know are not really right, but might be fun at the time.  The black line, newspaper comic style illustrations add some details to the diary style narration and break up the text making it feel like an 'easy read'. I have to admit, I did crack a smile a few times....

Late Primary/Intermediate

Bink and Gollie

DiCamilllo, K. & McGhee, A. (2010). Bink and Gollie.

Bink and Gollie won the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award in 2011. This lovely picture book is divided into chapters and illustrated in a graphic novel style with full page, mostly black and white illustrations with the colourful Bink and Gollie really 'popping' and short captions or speech bubbles. The endearing, mismatched friends get up to all sorts of adventures from shopping trips to mountain climbing.  Gollie's intellect and imagination make a perfect foil for Bink's irrepressible fun-loving style. DiCamillo's understated humour coupled with McGhee's expressive illustrations bring the two lovable and engaging characters to life. Despite Bink and Gollie's differences, they discover that compromise, and pancakes, are the key to lasting friendship.

Primary, Late Primary, (Intermediate students enjoy the illustration style and Gollie's dry humour too)

Visit Bink and Gollie's Website at http://www.binkandgollie.com/

Searchasaurus

Searchasaurus Retrieved from

http://web.ebscohost.com/sas/search?sid=3eb20f9b-384d-4621-959e-f89feb5c8525%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=104

Seachasaurus is an online database linked to our school district electronic resources and created for elementary students. You need a username and password to use this database at home - ask Kathy. As with all online databases, although the linked articles are checked by Searchasaurus staff, parents should supervise their children's online research - links can lead to different pages and different articles are appropriate for different ages.  You can use the dinosaur icons to search general topics or type your specific topic into the "Find" box. One great thing about this site is that you can choose a reading level (called the lexile) appropriate for you. Lexile levels do not match grade levels so you might have to experiment to find the lexile level best for you. Make sure you choose the lexile BEFORE you type in your topic.  It does not work if you do it out of order. Searchasaurus also has a visual search feature which shows you all the articles organized by relevance (how close they are to your original topic) and by date (so you can get recent information).  The visual search option does not seem to work with the lexile choice, though, so you will need to look for your own reading level or get an adult to help you. Once you find an article you are interested in, you can choose to look at it as text only (loads faster on your computer) or as a PDF (shows you the original article with pictures, different fonts etc.).  Remember to use the "citation" button to get a reference for what you read.

Late Primary and Intermediate

Kenny and the Dragon

DiTerlizzi, Tony. (2008). Kenny and the dragon. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Kenny and the Dragon is another novel by Tony DiTerlizzi, one of the team that brought us the Spiderwick Chronicles.  Inspired by Kenneth Grahame's "The Reluctant Dragon" (which we also have in the library), Kenny and the Dragon is illustrated with beautifully detailed pen and ink drawings reminsicent of  The Wind in the Willows (also by Kenneth Grahame - hmmmm).  While the accents and vernacular of the 'country hick' father and the 'court noble' friend are sometimes strained, the characters are likeable and the reader is drawn into the action as Kenny struggles to find a way to save his new friend, Grahame (another tip of the hat to Kenneth Grahame) from the frightened villagers determined to exterminate the dragon. Even without knowing about the famous inspirations for this story, readers ready to graduate from early chapter books will find this adventure accessible and endearing. Kenny, who is not popular at school, finds a kindred spirit in Grahame the dragon and his intelligence and ingenuity save the day in the end.

Late Primary/ Intermediate

A Weird Case of Super-Goo

Oppel, Kenneth. (2010).  A weird case of super-goo. Toronto, Ont.: Harper Trophy Canada.

From Kenneth Oppel, author of some fabulous books for intermediate readers, comes the Barnes and the Brains series for younger readers. With cartoon-style black and white full page illustrations and accessible text divided into short chapters, this is a great chapter book to hook early readers on a new series. Giles, Kevin and Tina are the "brains" of their school who have created a 'genius business' to help other people with their problems.  Giles decides to quit the 'Genius business' after a failed experiment turns his hair red, but he needs to enlist the help of his old friends when his high maintenance aunt arrives and creates a youth potion which makes her a little too youthful - even for Giles.  The clever portrayal of adults who just don't 'get-it' and the recognition that childhood is not all its cracked up to be will appeal to young readers as will the fact that it is the kids who solve the problem in the end. A Weird Case of Super-Goo is a funny, fast-paced book about friendship, co-operation and responsibility that is not at all 'preachy'. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Check out the Barnes and the Brains website, too.

Late Primary

Mo Willems Biography

Llanas, S. (2012). Mo Willems. Minneapolis, Minn.: ABDO Publishing Co.

I couldn't resist the chance to purchase this biography of one of my favourite children's authors and illustrators. When I introduced it to each class (from grade 1 to 4) they were thrilled to see the little girl Knuffle Bunny's Trixie is based on and the pidgeon mascot outside a bookstore. This bearutifully laid out book with large colour photos and short, information packed chapters follows Mo from childhood doodles to a love of cartooning (he wrote Charles Schulz to ask "Can I have your job when you're dead?"), a career in stand-up comedy, an Emmy Award winning writing gig with Seasame Street and becoming a multiple award winning author.  The book ends saying that Willems hopes children will be inspired to "draw the characters, write new scenes and act out skits".  As each page turned I grew more and more impressed with this clever, funny artist. 

Check out Mo Willems blog at http://mowillemsdoodles.blogspot.ca/  - especially the 'dinner doodles'.

Late primary, Intermediate, Teacher resource

Cardboard

TenNapel, Doug. (2012). Cardboard. Scholastic Inc., New York.

 This graphic novel has all the elements of a good adventure story: likable hero, despicable villain, romantic interest, a bit of unexplained magic, a true friendship, an exciting climax and a nice, neatly tied up finish -very satisfying. Having purchased a lot of graphic novels for the collection lately, but only read a few of them cover to cover, I was not sure what to expect from this one.  Its shadowy, angular illustrations vary from full page spreads to multi- frame pages with story advancing details and lots of dialog. Cam's out of work father buys Cam a cardboard box for his birthday from a strange road-side vendor who warns him to return every scrap that he doesn't use. The two stay up late into the night working together cutting, gluing and painting to create a life-size boxer. When the boxer comes to life in the middle of the night, Cam's adventures begin.  A jealous neighbourhood bully steals some of the cardboard and begins creating creatures of his own who soon turn on their evil master. Cam's honesty and kindness shine through throughout the story helping to bring the adventure to its proper conclusion (after many close calls).

Late Primary/Intermediate