Newbery Medal-When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me

by: Rebecca Stead

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead was a fascinating story! I couldn't stop reading it until I finished the book. This story was about a young girl growing up in New York. She lived in a small, lower class, apartment with her mom. The story took place in the late 1970's. What I liked most about this book was the comments that kept me wanting to read on and find out what it the world the author was talking about. What I mean by this is, every once in a while she would throw in something that wouldn't make sense with what I had read so far and the main character would say that she didn't know that yet. The details of the relationships and feelings the main character was having was amazing. I felt like I could almost feel what she was when she was talking about losing her best friend, making new friends, realizing how she was treating others and how to be a better person. One thing I feel that almost all students can relate to is the feeling of not being good enough. In the story Miranda, the main character, had made friends with a girl whose family had more money than her own. She described how she felt when her friend and her father came to her house for the first time. The main idea of the story was something I didn't realize was happening until almost the end; time travel. I am not usually interested in books or movies about time travel, but this one changed my opinion of these types of books. I would definitely recommend my highest fifth grade readers read this book. (In fact, I already have recommended it!) Because of some of the complex ideas of time travel, it may be difficult for some students to follow. I think that stronger fifth and sixth grade readers and seventh graders would greatly enjoy this book. I know I did!

Caldecott Award and Newbery Award

The Difference Between Caldecott and Newbery Awards



Both the Caldecott and the Newbery awards are awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association.

The Caldecott Medal is awarded "to the artist of most distinguished American picture book for children published in English in the US the preceding year". This award was named after English illustrator, Randolph Caldecott.

The Newbery Award is given "to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in English in the US the preceding year. This award was named after English bookseller, John Newbery.

The Lion and the Mouse

The Lion and the Mouse

by: Jerry Pinkney

"The Lion and the Mouse" by Jerry Pinkney is a picture book that tells the classic story of how a tiny mouse helps a lion using beautiful pictures. The first thing that caught my eye about this book was the large lion on the front cover. The detail in the cartoon lion was great. I could see by looking at the eyes that there was something off the page that the lion was focusing on, this had my interest from the beginning. Though I had not seen this book before, I have read a few versions of the story about the lion and the mouse. I instantly thought about this story and the lessons we had on it in our reading series from when I taught first grade. This book would be a great extension from those lessons. I always like to show my students different versions of stories and how people think differently. The pictures throughout the book were all as beautiful and as detailed as the cover. Though there were no words, the story was easily understood. I would definitely recommend this book to any child, parent or teacher. 

Kitten's First Full Moon

Kitten's First Full Moon

by: Kevin Henkes



"Kitten's First Full Moon" is a story about how a kitten compares the moon to a large bowl of milk. The story was written by Kevin Henkes. All the illustrations in the book were black and white and seemed to me to be drawing, probably created with pencil sketch. The pictures were simple, but helped tell the story of the kitten and the obstacles it faced when trying to reach the "large bowl of milk". I could easily look at the pictures and tell by the face the kitten was wearing how he felt about not being able to reach the moon. I feel that kids would really enjoy this story because it is a fun, short, easy read and has pictures that are entertaining. I would use this book in the classroom as a read aloud in a younger classroom. It would also be a good book for students who haven't been reading long.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

By Mordicai Gerstein

The book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein is a story about Philippe Petit and his walk between the World Trade Center towers before they were completely finished in 1974. The book told how he asked for permission but couldn't get it. It went on to tell how he worked out a plan to do it anyway and how his friends helped him carry out his plan. The pictures in this story really helped make the story. If just picturing Philippe walking across the towers isn't enough to take your breath away, the pictures will. I love how the book had two fold out pages that extended the scene. The pictures really helped take your breath away and visualize what was going on in the book. This would be a great book to read to any Elementary class when talking about the World Trade Center.

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed

By Margaret  Chodos-Irvine

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine is a story about a little girl that wants to wear un-matching clothes. Her mom, dad and sister try to talk her out of it by picking out other clothes and asking her if she wants to wear them. Each time Ella Sarah gets more upset and says "NO!". At the end of the story she wears the un-matching clothes she wants. Her friends come over to play and they are all dressed in clothes they picked out that do not match either. I think this story would be a fun read aloud to K-1 because a lot of those kids can relate to this story. Many students in K-1 want to pick out their own clothes and their parents want them to wear something different. I really liked how the pictures in this story emphasized Ella Sarah, the main character. Though the other characters were in the book, they were drawn large so that their heads didn't fit on the page. The only face you saw was Ella Sarah's. This would be a great book to use to introduce main characters since she is so easily identified.  

First the Egg

First the Egg

By Laura Vaccaro Seeger

This book would be a great book to use as a read aloud in a primary classroom when starting a unit on cycles. Each page starts with a picture of something small (like a tadpole) with a cutout in the page, then the next page uses the same color from the the first to make something bigger (like a frog). I really loved how colorful the pages were. The pictures were very inviting to children and would easily catch the attention of young readers.

Hello! My name is Tabitha Lindsey. I am currently working on a Master's Degree in Elementary Education. I have created this blog as an assignment for one of my classes at WKU. Throughout the semester, I will be reading different children's books and letting you know what I think about each book and maybe give some ideas of how some of them can be used in the classroom. I taught first grade for three years and am currently teaching fifth. Having the experience of working with these different ages I hope to provide information and opinions that will be useful for more than one grade level!