If you liked...you'll like

I just stopped by Barnes and Noble and added to my summer buys. Franki asked me to check out Sally and the Purple Socks and while I was there I found two more books I had to have. Here's are my 3 buys and why:

(new purchased titles on right and older titles I was reminded of on left)




If you liked Superhero ABC you'll like...Batman: The Story of the Dark Knight
(I know your probably thinking oh no...a book about a movie or a tv cartoon because I usually don't like flimsy paperbacks that retell movies with an abbreviated storyline but this book has many positives!) Ralph Cosentino like Bob Mcleod has created comic looking characters and text in a picture book format. Ralph uses fully colored two page spreads adding text boxes full of story and information about Batman. The books begins...WAYNE MANOR IS WHERE MOST PEOPLE THINK I LIVE BUT ONLY BATS KNOW MY TRUE HOME. The reader finds out more about the batcave, bat-signal, batmobile and Batman's mission. Batman's history is revealed in the following pages and readers will want to read on as the format is quite unique. Some text boxes are horizontally framed on a page and then vertically on other pages. The book ends with a full page and details about Batman's enemies: The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman and one I hadn't heard of...Two-Face. This book will appeal to the readers who love superheroes and I know we will be noticing pictures, organization and craft during writing workshop.


I you liked Who took the cookies from the cookie jar? your readers will love Who ate all the Cookie Dough?


Karen Beaumont has simplified this rhyme in picture book format. Karen is also the author of a favorite book of mine, I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! This makes me happy because I know my early readers will be able to come back to read this book again and again. The book starts EENY, MEENY, MINEY, MOE! WHO ATE ALL THE COOKIE DOUGH? I just love this and I know kids will remember it and practice reading it on their own. What a great read and practice for fluency! And, doesn't everyone love cookie dough? The Kanga looks around to see who might be eating all the cookie dough and spies lion, zebra, llama, cheetah, hippo, monkey. The books ends like this... Does anybody know? We know! We know! We know who! (See if you can guess it, too!) It was...Baby Kangaroo! This book will also fit perfectly into our word study time as we notice rhyme and the repetition of many high frequency words.

Sally and the Purple Socks will be a great read and think aloud for reading workshop. I have already read it to my own kids twice and they loved thinking ahead to what might be going to happen next. Readers will get to practice their picturing reading many parts of the story to think through what happens and make inferences. I love the story and it has a circular feel. I had trouble putting my finger on what other book was similar to it. I guess I could say New Socks by Bob Shea because both have similar topics but both books are told differently and organized differently. I asked my second grader if this reminded him of anything he had read and he said it reminded him of the seasons ( I think again because the story ends similarly to how it begins). I also loved the author's word choice which lends itself to noticing for primary writers. I picture conversations about how Lisze Bechtold uses words and phrases like...Sally danced in them. Sally napped in her warm purple blankets...she slept on her luxurious purple carpet. These examples will serve as a model for how authors think about their words or how authors revise to help their writing sound smooth and give the reader a clear picture of what they mean. This is just a good book! Maybe you can think of something it reminds you of???