Zero by Kathryn Otoshi

Otoshi, Kathryn. Zero. Novato: Ko Kids Books, 2010. 32p.

This fun, playful book is about the number zero. He has a big hole right in the center of him! He is sad, and he feels left out because he thinks he has no value. He tries twisting and turning into other numbers, but it does not work. He has to watch the numbers count every day and it makes him feel even more depressed. Will he find his own value, or will he stay the same?!

This book would be good for kindergarten through first grade. It teaches kids math and place value in a fun way! It also teaches kids character education and shows that everybody matters, even if you feel you are different. The creative rhyming in this book will teach kids how to write poetry. 

                                                   

By guest bloggers Olivia and Katrina, 4 Chaddock

Frog on a Log? by Kes Gray

Gray, Kes. Frog on a Log? New York: Scholastic Press, 2014. 32p.

In this humorous rhyming book, a frog does not want to sit on a log. A cat disagrees with him. The frog learns what each animal sits on, but he is most surprised to find out where the dog sits!

This book would help kids learn how to rhyme in a fun way. It would also help them learn that it is always okay to be curious about other things!

 

By guest bloggers Riyyan and Cooper

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014. 320 p.

This 2015 Newbery Honor Book is moving, inspirational and essential for writing workshop in grades 4 and up! Through free verse poems, acclaimed author Jacqueline Woodson shares her childhood with readers, giving us glimpses of the moments that shaped her development as a writer. While highlighting memories of life in Ohio, South Carolina and Brooklyn during the 1960s and 1970s, she expresses the frustrations and triumphs of desegregation, the joys of time spent with family and friends, the pain of losing loved ones, the excitement she feels when she begins emulating famous authors, and her gradual realization that, "Words are my brilliance."

This is a book that you and your students will revisit often! It's a beautiful read and a powerful mentor text.

Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole by Irene Latham

Latham, Irene. Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2014. 34 p.

Animal lovers will adore these beautifully written and illustrated poems about the animals of the African grasslands! Fact boxes accompanying each poem provide additional information on the animals and their environments.

My Blue is Happy by Jessica Young

Young, Jessica. My Blue is Happy. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2013. 32p.

A young narrator shares her family members' thoughts about various colors and contrasts them with her own. While her sister's blue is "sad like a lonely song," the narrator's blue is "happy, like favorite jeans and a splash in the pool on a hot day." This is a wonderful book for inspiring creative, descriptive writing or for exploring colors and their effects in art classes.  

Picture Yourself Writing Poetry: Using Photos to Inspire Writing by Laura Salas

Salas, Laura Purdie. Picture Yourself Writing Poetry: Using Photos to Inspire Writing. North Mankato: Capstone Press, 2012. 32p.

This writing guide, filled with tips, examples and prompts, will help students develop as poets. They will learn how to include sensory details, write metaphors, choose "emotional nouns" and "moody verbs," develop voice and character within their poems, experiment with different styles of poetry and much more. 

Use portions of this book in your mini-lessons, or share it with individual students for inspiration!  

BookSpeak!: Poems About Books by Laura Salas

Salas, Laura. BookSpeak!: Poems About Books. New York: Clarion, 2011. 32p.  

These poems beg to be read aloud and express the pure joy of reading! Written from unique perspectives that reveal the true feelings of a conflict, a cliffhanger, a front cover, an index, and many more book/ story elements, the poems are also perfect mentor texts for writing creatively from another object's or person's point of view.   

Picture a Tree by Barbara Reid

Reid, Barbara. Picture a Tree. Chicago: Albert Whitman & Company, 2013. 32p.

This bright, brief and poignant picture book is an outstanding mentor text for lessons on metaphors and descriptive language. Inside, readers discover that there are many ways to picture a tree. We see that a tree can be "a drawing on the sky... a game of dress-up...a wild good-bye party...a sun umbrella on the hot walk home..." and so much more!   

I've Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky

Prelutsky, Jack. I've Lost My Hippopotamus. New York: HarperCollins, 2012. 144p.  

Looking to infuse laughter into your curriculum? Read a new set of creative poems by Jack Prelutsky! Featuring more than one hundred poems, this book is sure to delight students and stretch their imaginations while inspiring them to write humorous poems of their own.

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis

Lewis, J. Patrick, ed. National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs that Squeak, Soar, and Roar! Washington: National Geographic Society, 2012. 185p.  

Beautiful poems about many different animals are compiled in this inspirational anthology. The poems are presented with breathtaking color photographs of the animals they honor. A section at the end of the book entitled "Writing Poems about Animals" will help students (and adult readers!) begin to write descriptive poems of their own.

Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems by Jack Prelutsky

Prelutsky, Jack. Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2012. 32p.  

Poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrator Carin Berger present sixteen new species, each of which is a creative spin on an animal or object with which we are familiar. Species such as "Stardines" (nocturnal fish of the sky) and "Slobsters" (crude, messy lobsters) will make kids laugh out loud while stretching their imaginations.

Challenge students to create their own species through poems- New creatures like Teagers (tigers who guzzle tea) and Liarons (lions who can't tell the truth) are waiting to be discovered!

Pizza, Pigs and Poetry: How to Write a Poem by Jack Preultsky

Prelutsky, Jack. Pizza, Pigs and Poetry: How to Write a Poem. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008. 192p.  

Are you hoping to inspire students (or yourself) to write creative poems? If so, this is the book for you! Famous poet Jack Prelutsky divulges his writing secrets, sharing the inspirations for many of his hilarious poems.

This is an excellent book for helping kids recognize the humor and poetry in their everyday lives. The final chapter includes ten "poemstarts" to get everyone (yes, even your most reluctant poets!) writing right away.    

Dog-Gone School by Amy Schmidt

Schmidt, Amy. Dog-Gone School. New York: Random House, 2013. 32p.  

This fun book of poetry features dogs as students and includes many poetic forms- acrostic, cinquain, climbing rhyme, couplet, doggerel, free verse, haiku, math poem, monorhyme, onomatopoeia and quatrain. Irresistibly adorable photographs and a "Class Superlatives" section at the end add to its appeal as an attention-grabbing mentor text that will elicit many smiles.

This Plus That: Life's Little Equations by Amy Rosenthal

Rosenthal, Amy. This Plus That: Life's Little Equations. New York: HarperCollins, 2011. 32p.  

In this book, Amy Rosenthal portrays seasons, feelings, locations, character traits and much more through illustrated equations using various operations. When combined with Mathematickles by Betsy Franco, this is a creative resource for poetry units. Pages of the book (like equations for "sincere apology" and "polite") can also be used as models for students as they create their own character education equations showing people how to treat one another. Additionally, this book can be used in math classes to help students understand the meanings of signs and operations.

We Go Together!: A Curious Selection of Affectionate Verse by Calef Brown

Brown, Calef. We Go Together!: A Curious Selection of Affectionate Verse. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 32p.  

This small book of verse describes relationships between pairs of people. Poems such as "Thank You," "Taking Note," "Backup" and "Because of You" would serve as excellent mentor texts for students as they write their own poems of friendship or in celebration of Mother's Day, Father's Day, and other occasions.  

Look! Another Book! by Bob Staake

Staake, Bob. Look! Another Book! New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. 48p.  

This fun book, excellent for independent reading, is filled with rhymes and many objects to find! Use it as a reward for completing outstanding work or at a rhyming station, where students could write and illustrate rhyming word duos and trios contained within the book.

The Green Mother Goose by Jan Peck and David Davis

Peck, Jan and David Davis. The Green Mother Goose: Saving the World One Rhyme at a Time. New York: Sterling Children’s Books, 2011. 32p.

Read these nursery rhymes with environmental twists while discussing ways in which we can all be responsible for caring for the earth.

Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw

Wardlaw, Lee. Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku. New York: Henry Holt, 2011. 32p.

Entertain students while teaching them Haiku format! This endearing story, told solely in Haiku verse, introduces a cat who is adopted from a shelter and shares humorous commentary while beginning to adjust to his new home.

 

Lemonade: And Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word by Bob Raczka

Raczka, Bob. Lemonade: And Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word. New York: Roaring Brook, 2011. 44p.

For a fun poetry extension activity, strengthen students' logic skills by challenging them to design their own anagram poems after reading the examples in this book.

Hornbooks and Inkwells by Verla Kay

Kay, Verla. Hornbooks and Inkwells. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011. 32p.

 

Rhyming verses describe two brothers’ experiences in a one-room schoolhouse over the course of a year. This book would make a fun, playful introduction to a one-room schoolhouse unit, as it will spark students’ curiosities while giving them a preview of the differences between one-room schoolhouses and today’s modern schools. The book is also a great model of teaching content through poetry. Using this poem as a model, students could write their own (shorter) poems about topics they have learned in various subject areas.