Casen Sharp

Reading Aloud: Catrow, David. We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. Dial, 2002. Teaching a lesson on the government or Constitution in the near future? Then this book is a MUST to read aloud with your students. The Constitution can be confusing to adults, let alone young children. David Catrow does a marvelous job simplifying the Preamble into something young kids can understand.

Ehrlich, Fred. Lunch Boxes, illustrated by Martha Gradisher. Puffin Books, 1991. Lunch Boxes is a great read aloud early in the school year to help remind your students how they need to act in the lunchroom. The antics the kids pull in this book during lunchtime are hilarious but they soon learn that being disrespectful at lunch is not worth the consequences.

Hills, Tad. How Rocket Learned to Read. Schwartz & Wade, 2010. “With a story that makes reading fun—and will even help listeners learn to read—this book is ideal for kindergarten classrooms and story hour or as a gift for that beginning reader” (Good Reads). Everybody learns to read differently and this book is a great one to help children know that if they work hard at it they can become readers and not only learn to read, but also learn to love to read.

Joyce, William. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, illustrated by Joe Bluhm. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011. This book is also an Oscar winning short film. It would be an excellent choice for read aloud and discussion with the short animated film to follow. William Joyce did a wonderful job adapting his short film into printed form creating a book with all sorts of wild and wacky turn of events sure to keep the listeners deeply engaged.

Martin Jr., Bill. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Illustrated by Eric Carle. Board Book, 1967. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Is a timeless classic. It keeps the reader on his/her toes and you never know what is going to come next. This book also offers plenty of opportunities to pause and as the children questions like “what has been seen so far?” and “what do you think we will see next?” You could hide the pictures from the students until the next thing is revealed in the words so as not to spoil the story for the children.

Meyer, Gina and Mercer. Little Critter: A Very Special Critter. Golden Book, 1992. Gina and Mercer Meyer do a magnificent job writing a beast tale that is not only a fun read, but also teaches many valuable lessons on being different and being the new kid. Any book in the Little Critter series would be a good selection for your classroom library. Piper, Watty. The Little Engine that Could, illustrated by Doris and George Hauman. Grosset & Dunlap, 1978. The Little Engine that Could is one of the best stories about overcoming tough obstacles. This book can help teach children that through hard work and believing in themselves they can achieve their goals.

White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web, illustrated by Garth Williams and Rosemary Wells. Harper Collins Publishers, 1952. If you think your students can handle being read a chapter book over a series of days and will be able to follow the story from one day to the next, then I strongly suggest Charlotte’s Web. E.B. White’s writing is smooth and easy to follow, and in Charlotte’s Web he tells such a wonderful story about “Some Pig” and his friends in the barn.

Independent: Gramling, Gary. Sports Illustrated Kids 1st and 10: Top 10 Lists of Everything in Football. Sports Illustrated, 2011. This fact based book about football is a great read for any football or sports fan in your classroom. The facts are so interesting and can lead to the child discussing with friends/family/teammates what he or she learned about football through reading this book, and any book that can lead to discussion, without discussion being forced, is always a great book to have.

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Harry N. Abrams, 2007. Unbelievably funny. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an awesome chapter book to get children interested in reading longer, sometimes scary, chapter books. With its unique style of writing it also shows kids that not all chapter books are just filled with words from top to bottom.

Lies, Brian. Bats at the Ballgame. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. This beast tale puts together a story about bats playing baseball. The pictures are incredible and Brian Lies tells a wonderfully creative story. Any baseball fan would love this book, and would enjoy the creative way Brian Lies connects the lifestyle of bats to one of Americas greatest pastimes. So come on, grab a mothdog and some Cricket Jacks and enjoy a great read.

Manning, Peyton, Eli and Archie. Family Huddle, illustrated by Jim Madsen. Scholastic Press, 2009. Do you have any football fans in your classroom? If so, what better book to have on your shelves than one written by the greatest quarterbacking family on the planet?!?! The story about the Mannings trip to their grandparents house will any football fan of any age interested in picking up this book to read on their own.

Marzollo, Jean. I Spy: A Book of Picture Riddles. Cartwheel, 1992. An I spy book is always a fun time! It is also great for a reluctant reader because they have to read the pages to enjoy the search. It offers near endless hours of searching and reading with its rhymes and riddles on every page.

Pilkey, Dav. Captain Underpants. Scholastic Children’s Books, 1997. If you didn’t read any books in the Captain Underpants series as a child I am sorry to say it, but I think you missed out on something great. George and Harold are always getting into wild antics and need Captain Underpants’ help to defeat the wild villains Dav Pilkey somehow thinks up.

Shaskan, Trisha Speed. Seriously, Cinderella Is SO Annoying!; The Story of Cinderella as Told by the Wicked Stepmother (The Other Side of the Story). Picture Window Books, 2011. Nearly every child has heard the story of Cinderella by the time they start school. What most every child has not heard is the incredibly funny story from the side of the Stepmother. Trisha Speed Shaskan does a wonderful job putting a spin on a classic fairytale by portraying the Stepmother’s side in hilarious ways.

Weinberg, Jennifer Liberts and Elisa Marrucchi. Happy Birthday, Princess! RH/Disney, 2012. This book is so cute. A great read for the birthday girl in your class. Though it is geared toward females, and that is why I put it on the independent list, it is a fun book for both boys and girls to enjoy.