Mr.K'sBlog

 Because of Winn Dixie: Candace Lehman vs. Those shoes: Meribeth Boelts and Noah Jones.  This exercise was interesting as I had read winn dixie as a younger man, and have only read those shoes fairly recently. Winn Dixie as a chapter book gets a much longer time to tell its story than those shoes, yet both stories have themes of friendship, otherness and loneliness. The covers of each book may feature a dog and a pair of shoes respectively, but the role of these subjects is our main characters journeys away from loneliness. 

 Tall tale:  The Tale of Paul Bunyan  Lori Houran (author) Luke Flowers (Illustrator) Cryptozoology: Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures that May or mAy Not Exist.  Kelly Halls (Author) Rick C. Spears (Author, Illustrator) Roxyanne Young (Author)  While Paul Bunyan is a book that sets out to entertain with a whimsical tale of folklore, Cryptids makes an earnest attempt to educate its reader about the various far fetched animals in its pages.  While both books are based on Folklore, each book takes itself very differently. Paul Bunyans book seeks to entertain with the adventures of the literally larger than life main character. while Cryptids focuses on the more believable side of folklore. While cryptids are perhaps more legitimate a field of study to some, the creatures of its pages are indeed sometimes as far fetched as Paul Bunyan himself.  The Illustrations are an interesting contrast, Bunyans are very much typical children's affair, but Cr...

      The book from my early childhood that has stuck with me the most is The Giving Tree. As an adult the books meaning has changed greatly, but as a child it was an early emotional experience that i've come to relish in my literature. As a teacher, I'll always have this book available, even if my chosen age arrange of students might be thought of as too old for it. As I've discovered, this book only improves with age, and will be a great quick read for my students that ask for something that'll make them think, and feel. 

 This is not my hat is a lovely whimsical story about a missing hat. Having read I want my Hat back before I was greatly amused by the continuation of Klassens hat based comedy. This book is a great choice for a library that will be frequented by small children, and newer readers. Klassens simple and lovely illustrations add a sense of comfort to the story that is simply sublime. A worthy winner of the caldecott for sure. It lives up to the awards insistence at its value as american children's literature. 

 We Don’t Eat Our Classmates. Ryan T Higgens New York Times Best Seller This story scratched a very old bit of nostalgia for me, and reminded me of the picture books I had as a Child.  Where The Sidewalk Ends  Shel Silverstein I believe This qualifies, tho shels style is a bit more minimalist that I expected Giraffes Can’t Dance Giles Andreae Guy Parker Rees Giraffes can’t dance absolutely qualifies as a picture storybook

 For my award winning book, I chose The Giver. The Giver is a Newberry award winner I saw many times on shelves as a Child, yet never actually read. Now having read the book, its interesting just how well it would have fit in among the other Books I read at the time. Given that I’ve always been a Dystopian fiction fan, its interesting to see a few Tropes that have permeated the genre work so well with the Givers Target audience. While it has no Harrison Ford with an origami unicorn, it does have an excellently crafted Sled ride to enjoy.