John Henry by Ezra Jack Keats

Author: Ezra Jack Keats

Illustrator: Ezra Jack Keats

Genre: Historical Fiction

Awards: None

Grade(s): 1st-4th

Summary: This story is set during the times of when the railroads were being built. This is the story of John Henry who was a man who worked very hard and proved his strength and hard work when he was tested against a machine. Machines were becoming something that people feared because they feared it would replace their jobs. However, John Henry proved that he could beat any machine because he had the power of himself and his strength. John Henry proved this when the machine had ended up dying, but he powered on and made it through the tunnel. When other people saw this, they were happy that the power of man had still won. When John Henry had made it through the tunnel, that was his last step. He had died with the hammer in his hand and the proof that any man was better than a machine. 

My Thoughts: I could see myself using this in my classroom during a lesson of the times of the railroad building and the coming up of machines. I would have my students compare and share their opinions on which type of work is better and why, manpower or machine. Although this wasn't one of my favorite stories, I still think it shares a good lesson and it will be something I can use in my future library.

Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell

Author: Margaree King Mitchell

Illustrator: James Ransome

Genre: Historical Fiction

Awards: Reading Rainbow Program Selection (1996), A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (1994), Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee (1995), Coretta Scott King Honor (Illustrator, 1994), Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee (1996), Shalom Readers Club Book List (Grade 3-5), CCBC Choices (1993), Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (1996), ALA Notable Children's Book (1994), NCTE Kaleidoscope: A Multicultural Booklist for Grades K-8 (1997), NCTE Adventuring with Books: A Booklist  for Pre-K--Grade 6 (1997)

Grade(s): 1st-5th

Summary: This book is set in the south in the 1920's during the time of segregation. Sarah's uncle, Jed, would go around the county to cut people's hair. He had always dreamed of having his own barbershop one day and he was saving up for it. However, Sarah had gotten really sick and when her parents took her to the hospital, the doctors wouldn't give Sarah the operation that she needed until her parents gave them $300. When Uncle Jed had heard about this, he offered his savings so that Sarah could get her operation. Then he began to save again. No one believed that he would ever get enough money to open his own barbershop. When Uncle Jed had over $3,000 in the bank, his friend had come to give him the bad news that the banks had failed and that he had lost everything. Despite not having anything, he still went and cut peoples' hair even though they couldn't always pay him since there was now a depression. They paid him in other ways with food and crops until they could begin to pay him again. Finally, Uncle Jed saved up enough money and was able to open his barbershop on his seventy-ninth birthday. He had everything he had ever dreamed about and everyone had come to celebrate with him. Uncle Jed had died shortly after that, but he had died a happy man.

My Thoughts: This is another book that I will definitely love to add to my classroom library. I feel that it not only shows the struggles of African Americans during the times of segregation, but it also shows the struggles of all during the time of the depression. This will be a great book to use to teach my students that their dreams and aspirations are important and that just because others don't think you can do it, doesn't mean that you shouldn't try. I can see me using this book in many different ways from teaching a lesson of the times of segregation, to teaching a lesson over the depression, to teaching my students to set goals and always strive to reach them. This book will really be a wonderful addition to my classroom.

John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith

Author: Lane Smith

Illustrator: Lane Smith

Genre: Historical Fiction

Awards: New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book (2006), A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (2006), BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (2006), School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2006), Great Lakes Great Books Award (2009), Connecticut Book Award (Children's Author, 2007), AISLE Read-Aloud Books Took Good To Miss (2006), Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children and Teens (2007), CCBC Choices (2007), Virginia Readers' Choice Award (2008), California Young Reader Medal (2011), Utah Beehive Book Award Nominee (2008)

Grade(s): 1st-4th

Summary: This book is a hilarious tale of the young lives of 5 very important historical figures, John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. This book goes through each character and plays on what each person is best known for. It starts off talking about how John Hancock would always write his name so large on the chalkboard that his teacher would say, "we don't need to read it from space!" Then it talks about how Paul Revere would play the bells and practice for hours in the belfry tower. He played so much that all he could hear were "bings" and "bongs" and he couldn't even hear himself talk, so he yelled everything. Thats why he became the person who yelled, "THE REDCOATS ARE COMING!" George was named honest and ended up cutting down his father's cherry tree... and his apple orchard, barn, and carriage. Ben was listed as clever and would tell all kinds of people his opinion, even if it wasn't very nice. Tom was the independent man who eventually wrote the Declaration of Independence. At the end of the book, the author uses these hilarious tales to share how and why these people are historically famous. To make this book even more fun, the author added a page of true or false statements and their explanations of statements that are often told throughout history. For example, "George had wooden teeth." (This is false by the way!)

My Thoughts: I absolutely love this book!! It kept me laughing and made learning about these historical figures fun!! I will definitely be using this book in my classroom when doing a lesson over the Declaration of Independence and other related topics. I enjoyed the humor of this book, but I also appreciated it's witty and hilarious spin-off of commonly told tales. I also loved that this book included real facts at the end as well as a true or false section. I feel like this would be a fun book to read with my students, especially having them participate in the true or false section!! 

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest

Author: Amy Hest

Illustrator: P. J. Lynch

Genre: Historical Fiction

Awards: Kate Greenaway Medal (1997), Sydney Taylor Book Award (1997), Christopher Award (Books for Young People, 1998), Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee (1999-2000), VDL Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Nominee, Sequoyah Book Award Nominee (2000), Utah Beehive Book Award Nominee (2000)

Grade(s): 1st-2nd

Summary: This book is about an orphaned 13-year-old girl named Jessie who lived with her grandmother. Her grandmother sewed lace while Jessie learned to read and write. They both taught each other their skills in case they needed them in the future. When the town's rabbi learns that his brother had passed away, he had a ticket to America that he couldn't use because he couldn't stand to leave his town and people. Therefore, the rabbi decided that he was going to choose someone to go to America in his place to help his widowed sister-in-law, Kay, in her dress shop in New York City. The rabbi ended up choosing Jessie to go. Jessie reluctantly left her grandmother and headed for America. On the ship, Jessie met a boy named Lou. However, when she arrived Kay met her and began to show her around the city and she had never gotten the chance to say goodbye to her friend Lou. Jessie continued to work for Kay in her dress shop where she sewed lace and eventually started sewing wedding dresses that became very popular. Meanwhile, Jessie ended up running into Lou in a park and the two of them fell in love. Lou asked Jessie to marry him, but she said, "soon." When Jessie saved up enough money from the dress shop, she went and bought her grandmother a ticket to America. When her grandmother arrived, she had given Jessie her mother's wedding band, which she was keeping safe. When Jessie received her mother's wedding band, she knew there was going to get married... to Lou.

My Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book!! Not only was the story amazing, but the illustrations were outstanding!! I will definitely be able to use this book to teach my students about immigration and Ellis Island, which is where Jessie's ship docked in America. I think this will be an excellent addition to my library. It is a lovely story of the realities of immigration and the way it was back then for people to come to America, the "promised land." It also shows the value of hard work and having to work to make your way in life, which I feel is a lesson that is becoming less and less taught these days. I can't wait to add this story to my library!!

Vera Runs Away by Vera Rosenberry

Author: Vera Rosenberry

Illustrator: Vera Rosenberry

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Awards: None

Grade(s): Pre-K - 1st

Summary: Vera had gotten her report card and realized that it was all A's. Her friend, Norman, told Vera that if he had gotten a report card that good, his mother would make him a special dinner and take him to the circus. This made Vera excited to show her own parents. However, when she got home, her parents were very busy with a big mess that Vera's sister had made and they had no time to look at Vera's report card. Vera's older siblings also acted like it was no big deal that she had gotten all A's in first grade. This made Vera sad and angry and she decided to run away to find a new family who would appreciate her and her all A's report card. However, when she was all alone in the forest, she got very hungry and decided to go back home. Then she realized that everyone had been looking for her and that they had missed her. Her parents apologized to Vera for not looking at her report card, but reminded her that she is working to get good marks for herself, not for anyone else. Since it was so late, the family decided to eat at a pizza restaurant for dinner and Vera got her special dinner after all. 

My Thoughts: I think this book is a great book to add to my collection. It teaches a couple of valuable lessons to not only children, but adults too. I would use this book in my classroom to teach my students that working on doing well in life is for yourself and that they shouldn't rely on the reaction and praise from others to do well. However, I do think this book teaches adults to be sure to encourage children to do well and not to just push their achievements aside. I think this book would make a great read for an interactive read-aloud in my classroom because there are many things to think about with this book and many opportunities for students to share their input. Definitely going into my classroom library.

The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric

Author: Katie Couric 

Illustrator: Marjorie Priceman

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Awards: None

Grade(s): 1st-3rd 

Summary: The Brand New Kid is a wonderful book about the struggles a child faces when moving schools. It is set in Brookhaven School and is centered around a little boy named Lazlo. The book starts off with a pair of best friends, Ellie and Carrie, who are hoping to get the same teacher. When they do, the story shifts over to Miss Kincaid's classroom where she begins to call out roll. She then announces the new kid in the school, Lazlo, to the rest of her class. Because Lazlo seems different from the other students at the school, he gets picked on and tormented. When Ellie noticed Lazlo's mother was upset because of the troubles her son was having at his new school, she knew just what to do. She befriended Lazlo, which helped other students to accept Lazlo into their school. At the end of the book, everyone wanted to be friends with Lazlo.

My Thoughts: I really loved this book because I feel like it teaches an important lesson. A lesson of acceptance. It's scary to be a new kid in a new place and many students don't realize the impact they have on others. I would definitely use this book to teach this valuable lesson to my students. This would also be an excellent book to read if I do acquire a new student. I will absolutely be adding this book to my classroom library.

The Flower by John Light

Author: John Light

Illustrator: Lisa Evans

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Awards: None

Grade(s): Pre-K - 1st

Summary: This book is about a man named Brigg who lived in a tiny room in a big city. He worked in a library that housed books that were not supposed to be read. One day, Brigg was looking through the books that were off limits and came across a book with a flower on the cover. He snuck it out of the library and took it home to read. He realized that it was not supposed to be read because it described all different kinds of flowers, something unknown to the city he lived in. Brigg went on a search to try to find a flower in the city. He came across a junk shop that had a picture of a flower in the window. After he bought it and took it home, he saw that there was a small packet of seeds on the back of the picture. When he followed the directions, he was able to grow a beautiful plant that finally flowered. Then one day, the city's room cleaning system sucked the flower away while Brigg was at work. He was so upset, but became determined to find another flower picture containing a packet of seeds. On his search, he came to the edge of the city where the dust piles were. On top of one of the dust piles, he saw his flowering plant. When he thought it was dead, he noticed it had grown more. He sat and wondered how many flowers it would take to fill up the city. The book ends with Brigg sitting in his window with several flowering plants in flower pots lining his windowsill. 

My Thoughts: This was one of my lesser favorite books and I don't really see myself using it in my classroom. I wouldn't mind having it in my classroom library for my students to read, but I don't really see any use for it in any type of lesson. I had thought of the possibility of using it to create a writing prompt for older students to think of something that we may take for granted and write about how and why they think we take it for granted. However, the vocabulary and writing style of this book is for younger children, so I am not sure how I would incorporate it into any other lesson.