Recommended Read-Aloud Booklist for October Compiled by Karen Rose Richter Literacy Programs Screen Actors Guild Foundation

Back on August 16th when the LA BookPALS came together for the annual Fall Kickoff (which I thought was the best one yet, by the way), Natalie Rogers discussed “12 Reading Strategies” using wordless picture books to great effect in the classroom. Natalie put together a great list of wordless books, and if I may, I'd like to add two of my favorites to the mix for this month, and while we're at it, I'm including a study of two wonderful authors who, in addition to writing delightful stories, are also exceptionally talented illustrators. Come to think of it, both Molly Bang and Alexandra Day are also equally talented in that area. Enjoy!

Bang, Molly – The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher. (Grades K-3) A wordless picture book. The Grey Lady buys a basket of luscious strawberries, and on the way home to her family, she does all she can to evade the Strawberry Snatcher and to keep him from getting to her precious strawberries.

Day, Alexandra – Good Dog, Carl. (Grades K-3) A wordless picture book. Carl the gentle, loving and dutiful Rottweiler is in charge of babysitting “his charge” while Mother is out and provides the infant girl with a bit of adventurous fun in the meantime.

Van Allsburg, Chris – The Sweetest Fig. (Grades 3-5) Van Allsburg's illustrations are simply stunning. In this modern fairy tale, a rather mean Parisian dentist, Monsieur Bibot, is given two magic figs by an old woman who tells him, “They can make your dreams come true.” Though Bibot scoffs at this, the first fig proves to do exactly that. Accordingly, he makes plans to use the second fig to become the richest man on earth and to get rid of Marcel, his long-suffering terrier, for some Great Danes. Poetic justice is served when Marcel gets to the second magic fig before Bibot and the master-slave relationship is reversed.

Van Allsburg, Chris – Two Bad Ants. (Grades 1-5) Two greedy ants stay behind in a sugar bowl, eating their fill and then falling asleep. When morning comes they are stirred into a cup of coffee, almost swallowed, toasted with an English muffin, whirled through a garbage disposal, and zapped in an electrical outlet. When “the troops” return, the two bad ants gladly rejoin their friends and head for the safety of home. Lesson learned.

Van Allsburg, Chris – The Widow's Broom. (Grades 2-5) The story begins when the lonely widow Minna Shaw finds a wounded witch who fell out of the sky when her broom lost its power without warning. By morning, the witch recovers and disappears, leaving behind her old broom. To Minna's delight, the old broom still has a few surprising talents to share, much to the consternation of her neighbors, who deem it a wicked thing and demand that the broom be burned.

Van Allsburg, Chris – The Stranger. (Grades 2-5) When Farmer Bailey accidentally hits a stranger with his truck, he takes the man home to help him recuperate from his injuries, allowing him to stay on for as long as needed. A series of coincidences causes the Farmer and his family to wonder if this stranger has a mysterious relationship to the weather, and if then, just who might this stranger be?

Van Allsburg, Chris – The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. (Grades 2-5 ) A Caldecott Honor Book, this story is about a dog named Fritz who runs away from the boy who is watching over him, and enters the garden of a retired magician who hates dogs. In his efforts to get his neighbor's dog back, the boy, Alan, is shocked to discover that the dog may have been turned into a duck.

Van Allsburg, Chris – The Wretched Stone. (Grades 2-5) Written in the form of a ship's log; brief entries by Captain Randall Ethan Hope, the story outlines the unusual events that take place aboard the good ship Rita Anne after the discovery of a glowing stone on a mysterious, deserted island.

Van Allsburg, Chris – Queen of the Falls. (Grades 3-5) A true story about a retired 62-year-old charm school teacher named Annie Edson Taylor, who, at the turn of the century, seeks fame and fortune by deciding to do something no one in the world had ever done before: She would go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel.

*Van Allsburg is also known for Jumanji, an extraordinary and exciting story involving a forbidden board game!

Weisner, David – Tuesday Morning. (Grades K-4) David Weisner received a Caldecott Medal in 1991 for this mostly wordless and whimsical account of a Tuesday night when a large bullfrog suddenly wakes up to discover that he and his lily pad are floating in the air. Soon the sky is filled with flying frogs having a grand old time until dawn, when they all come crashing down to return to their now boring lives at the pond. What will happen next? On a personal note, my own students adored the assorted noises I made to accompany the illustrations.

Weisner, David – June 29, 1999. (Grades 1-5) Takes up where Tuesday Morning leaves off, this time with a science experiment launched by one Holly Evans on May 11, 1999, when she sends flats of vegetable seedlings up into the ionosphere via weather balloons to study “the effects of extra-terrestrial conditions on vegetable growth and development.” With clever word-play and alliteration, your students “will enjoy lingering over each outrageously detailed and humorous picture...There's even an inventive twist at the end to bring the whole story to its logical, though fantastic, conclusion.”

Weisner, David – Mr. Wuffles. (Grades K-5) Mr. Wuffles doesn't care about toy mice or toy goldfish. He's more interested in playing with a little spaceship full of actual aliens—but the ship wasn't designed for this kind of rough treatment. Between motion sickness and damaged equipment, the aliens are in deep trouble. When these space visitors take shelter behind the radiator to repair their ship, they make friends with some insects and the result is a comical exploration of cooperation between aliens and insects and the universal nature of communicating through symbols, “cave” paintings, and gestures of friendship. A Caldecott Honor book.

Weisner, David – Flotsam. (Grades K-5) This one was on Natalie Rogers's aforementioned list of wordless books and deserves to be mentioned here because of its stunning and “meticulously painted watercolors” and the book's “mind-bending conclusion.” A bright, science-minded young boy combs the New Jersey shoreline for anything of interest that has washed up onto the beach for further investigation, when he discovers a barnacle- encrusted underwater camera. Curious, he quickly takes the film to a one-hour photo store to get developed. The pictures he gets back are beyond his expectations.

Weisner, David – The Three Pigs. (Grades K-5) In this retelling of the old nursery favorite, Weisner's illustrations take the familiar story and turn it on its proverbial head, resulting in a Caldecott Gold Medal.

Weisner, David – Art & Max. (Grades K-5) As the story opens, we meet Art, a collared lizard, who is studiously working on a formal portrait of a stately reptile, and Max, who is clearly an excited beginner in the world of art, and who runs onto the scene ready to learn, although he lacks ideas on how to start. Art offers to teach Max what he knows with unexpected results. “Weisner's inventive story will generate conversations about media, style, and the age-old question, “What is Art?” and “will resonate with children” who live in a world in which actions are deemed either marvels or mistakes, depending on who's doing the judging.

Happy Reading !