10 Picture Books That Boys Can't Live Without

Thank Mandy and Cathy for creating this exciting blogging event: 10 for 10! Go here to read more about how their idea for sharing picture books began. I am excited to be a part of this and decided to share my favorite 10 picture books that boys seem to gravitate toward. So, here goes:

10 Picture Books That Boys Can't Live Without

1. First on the list is Superhero ABC by Bob McCleod. I think I buy a new copy of this each year because it is so loved by June that not even heavy packingtape can keep it together. Thepictures are fabulous

in this ABC text. In fact seeing the kids lovethis text motivated me to create a basket of superhero books ( BabyBrains and The adventures of Max and Pinky: Superheroes) that is loved by many of the boys inmy classroom.

2. Second on the list is Truckery Rhymes by Jon Scieszka. This book is filled with Nursery Rhymes with a truck twist. My son was just reciting his favorite from first grade in the car. The characters in the rhymes also are featured in other favorite truck books by Jon which include Smash!Crash! and Melvin Might.

3. I have had boys who love music and many who already were taking lessons with instruments like piano and even guitar. Punk Farm was a huge hit

for these boys. It features a rockin'rendition of Old McDonald Had A Farm and tells the story of some unsuspecting animals who form a band

and perform at night in the barn. You can listen to the song from the bo

ok here and read the next book in the series Punk Farm on Tour.

4. For the boys who are interested in playing sports, Sergio is often a character they relate to. Sergio is a penguin who likes many things but the three things he loves are soccer, fishies and water. In Sergio Makes a Splash,

he overcomes his fearof the water with the support of his classmates. In Sergio Savesthe Game, he learns how to be goalie and helps his team beat the Seagulls in the championship game.

5. Hi! Fly Guy

is a book that features a boy character named Buzz, his pet fly and their funny friendship. There are 9 Fly Guy books in the series so the adventures and reading never seem to end!

6. Can You make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas is priceless. It is interactive, humorous and completely entertaining. Boy or girl, this book rocks!

7. Not A Box by Antoinette Portis keeps the reader guessing and taps into those boys who love to imagine. The main

character, a rabbit, begins to play in a cardboard box and the reader (with a few picture clues) gets to guess what the rabbit is pretending to be(mountain, robot, rocket ship). Kids also love Not A Stick.

8. I can't not include Elephant and Piggy Books in this list of books that appeal to boys. Gerald and Piggy are funnyand keep readers feeling like they are playing as they read. The newest in the series is Can I play too? The next in the series is out in September and is called We Are in A Book!

9. Chester by Melanie Watt

Melanie Watt has influenced many of the boy readers and writers in my classroom. Her character, Chester has allowed them laugh, think and connect to the dueling between author and character. I have noticed many boys experiment with the idea of dueling in their own writing. There are two more in this series: Chester's Back and Chester's Masterpiece.

10. Non- fiction. I don't want to forget mention that boys love to read non-fiction but of

course different boys have different interests. I have noticed that many of the young boys I've taught often choose animal picture books with photographs and pictures that take up most of the room on a page with text that surrounds the picture in some way with captions, labels, comparisons, word bubbles, etc. Some non-fiction books that boys have loved in first and second grade are: Sharks and Other Dangers of the Deep, Life Size Zoo, My First Book of Ocean Life and Dinosaurs?!

Creak! Said the Bed by Phillis Root

Today my mom and I spent time in my classroom sorting through my classroom library baskets as she gathered some ideas for her own library (she works with K-3 students as a reading support teacher). We spent some time in the basket that I will be reading from often at the beginning of the year: Books with Repeating Words. Books like, Hello Day by Anita Lobel, Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting, Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox are a few titles that live in this basket. This summer I found I Can Help as well as Creak! Said the Bed that I will also read aloud again and again and add to this basket.

Creak! Said the Bed is the story of a family sleeping cozily through the night each in their own beds, until...Evie gets scared, Ivy gets cold, Mo says his room is spooky and Fred the dog comes runnning after the thunder begins. Each time one of the kids comes knocking, Poppa said, Snore, and Momma said, Sure! There's plenty of room for you in the bed." So Ivy plopped in. CREAK, said the bed. With all those kids in the bed, the creak turns into CRACK as Fred jumps into bed. Don't worry, they sleep right through it.

I loved the pictures in this story. It is fun to see how the illustrator finds a place for each new character that enters the bed...Evie is tucked under Poppa's head like a pillow, Ivy sleeps curled up in a ball on top of Momma's head, Mo flops over Poppa's head and Fred finds the only spot left at the end of the bed. I am also thinking kids will connect to times they have jumped into bed with their parent (s). I am anxious to see if this book is loved as much as some others in this basket. (I have to say seeing if kids choose this to read during books in the morning and workshop is half the fun of finding and reading a new book!)

It's Not Fair! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

My oldest son read through It's Not Fair after I purchased it today. Afterwards, he opened to the page where a mother is frowning at her young son who broke a window during some pick up baseball in the backyard. The boy questions his mom (Why don't you yell at her?) as his sister hides behind her mother. My own son pointed out the picture said this is how I feel when I get in trouble all the time and my brothers don't. It is hard to be the oldest. And yes, he does get more than his fair share of talking to's and yelling at's. ( He also just happens to react instead of respond to them as any 11 year old is learning to do.) But his connection to this book made me very glad I was adding it to my classroom library.

This book is filled with rhyme, repetition and questions commonly posed to parents about issues that are often unfair. Like, Why'd I get the smaller half? Why'd he get the bigger laugh? Why does she get brand new shoes? Why does my team always have to lose? It's not fair! I like this book for a number of reasons. I love Amy Krouse Rosenthal (who also happens to be coming to our annual Dublin Literacy Conference...yeah!). She knows kids and how to inspire people. I also like that I can use this book for writing workshop as we study question -answer books and punctuation. It may also help kids think and write about about times when they have felt that life was unfair. It also fits into our classroom library in the book basket filled with texts that have repeating words. So, I know kids can go back to it during reading workshop after I have read it aloud.

Life is filled with unfair but our journey is to figure how to cope, accept and let go when that unfair feeling takes over. I'll end with questions from my own kids about unfair issues they have today.

Why do my brothers always get the computers?

Why can't I not get in trouble for what my brothers do?

Why can't I play two sports at a time?

Why doesn't anyone play what I want to play?

It's not fair!

Re-energized by the Book Whisperer

In my last post, I mentioned that I was reading The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. It is a book written by a fabulous 6^th grade teacher that loves reading and has figured out how to share and foster that love with her middle school students. I shied away from the book when it first was released last year because I am a primary teacher. I have to tell you after reading it in about 2 days that I regret not reading it sooner. Donalyn has reminded me about what matters most for students right before the start of the school year. Much of what I am taking away from the book are the messages she whispers in her writing. I loved the straight forward, authentic voice she has as a writer. She shares her journey as a reader and a teacher and the changes she has made to help her students catch the reading bug. As I read, I made connections to her thinking even as a teacher of our youngest readers. I couldn’t help but think about how her ideas can help anyone who teaches reading.

I had to start writing my thoughts about how her ideas influenced my learning and thinking. Here’s what I can’t stop thinking about…

Reading is a journey. Donalyn shares many moments in her life as a reader as well as a teacher. She encourages us to share our struggles and successes in our journey with our students.

LISTENING has to be the most used strategy she uses to connect with her students. She listens to their conversations, reads their thoughts about books and asks them questions about their life in order to help her choose books they will love. (She is limited to two hours a day with a class but I have all day to listen.) In fact she says… ”I will continue today, tomorrow and everyday after until I have made preview stacks or pulled select titles for all of my students.” Now that is listening!

Validation. She recognizes every student as a reader and sets expectations that all students can adopt attitudes and behaviors of readers.

She embraces the classroom not just with a reading corner but as an entire reading space where students are surrounded by books.

She lets her students just READ. In fact, I love when she says, “No matter how long students spend engaged in direct reading instruction, without time to apply what they learn in the context of real reading events, students will never build capacity as readers.”

She has let go of many controls she had over kids reading like assigning the whole class to read a novel. I think as primary teachers we can over-rely on controlled reading like when we rely just on leveled books for teaching kids to read. Sharing great picture books and helping kids see the supports of picture book texts like repeating words, rhyme and using pictures to enjoy reading naturally exposes kids to understanding real reading.

My last and favorite is that she has said goodbye to worksheets and comprehension fill-out forms, filling her old morning warm-up time with free, voluntary reading! Gotta love books in the morning!

Donalyn also blogs at the Book Whisperer and has challenged herself to read a book a day this summer.

Summer Solutions for helping a Hesitant Reader

One of my sons is what I am calling a hesitant reader of books. He likes to read just not long books. Reading is not his first choice when he has down time. He is intimidated by texts that require stamina. But...1. he enjoys pictures with text 2. loves non-fiction. and 3. he likes to read short pieces of text like poetry and articles. So, rather than fight him all summer about finishing books, I have given into finding reading that meets his needs. A few books and things have worked to just keep him into reading this summer:

You are Weird by Diane Swanson

This book was filled with lots of information about the body. Did you know that along with the chimpanzee, you have over 2 milion sweat glands spread over your body? You think your molars came in late, well an elephant gets his last molars at the age of 40. Each page contains information about a particular body part, a freaky fact and a story about part.

Thanks to my friend Karen for sharing this book with us.

Sports Illustrated for Kids

This magazine is something my middle son looks forward to reading because it is filled with what he loves...aticles about sports heros, current information about sports happenings (currently info about the NBA draft) and of course something to hang on the wall (each issue contains a pull out poster of a sport star).

Graphic Novels:

Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

My son understood the basics of this story of a young boy undergoing hardships of the d

ust bowl of 1947. After reading the back of the book and flipping through it, there seems to be so much to talk about in terms of theme. A great book for him to read again and again to talk about new ideas and learning he is thinking about.

Reading in the Car

I have asked the kids to grab a book as we run errands or travel across town to see family and friends. This quiet time is like a trap. They can't go anywhere and other than the radio (which I turn off), they don't have any distractions. The short car rides have been just enough for the short stamina he has and during the longer car rides out of state, I decided to read aloud every couple hours or so ( I know books on tape would be the best but I am not that organized and have been on a budget this summer).

Reading aloud to him:

I hadn't read the book Savvy yet and I was dying to, so everyone heard it this summer on our long car rides. It was perfect for practicing conversation and comprehension that I worry about with him. We are still making our way through the book and liking it!

Rereading

Choosing and finding books to read independently is tough for my son. So instead of pulling my hair out offering him tons of choices that I thought would work (while at the library) and having him shake his head no, I asked him to find books he loved to read during the school year. He picked out The Wonder Book and Rainbow Soup ( both poetry-riddle type fun reading). These kept him liking and feeling some independence with what he was reading when I asked him to read for 20 mins during the day.

We only have a few weeks of summer left but I feel like he has had some success with reading this summer. It hasn't been as painful for him in the past. I am off to finish The Book Whisperer to see if I can learn more tricks for hooking him ( but mostly kids in my own classroom) into loving to read.

Wrapped in Love by Jan Johnston

I read ( then purchased) the book, Wrapped in Love by Jan Johnson this summer as I was thinking about the work we do in the classroom with writing stories. (I also can't help but pick up stories about dogs as I know kids love them.) This book is about a pup named Snoozer and and the fears he has in the dark, dark, middle of the night. He hears many sounds like coyotes, owls and thunder. His parents come to calm him, hold him and remind him that he is wrapped in their love. By the end of the night, snoozer begins to soothe himself, more confident that everything is ok eventually falling asleep. As I read this book I began deciding why it might work in my mentor basket for story writing. Here is what I thinking :

1. The book is about feeling scared in the middle of the night and I think the idea for the book itself will help kids connect to a time they were scared.

2. It is narrative with repetitive language. The author uses the words: Late, late, late in the middle of the dark, dark night, Snoozer hears a sound. This language is repeated three times as Snoozer is scared by 3 unfamiliar noises. Being able to help kids notice this language might work to scaffold their stories about when they were scared of different things in the middle of the night.

3. I've noticed again and again that sometimes primary writers just jump into stories with out any kind of beginning. So, we spend time noticing ways authors begin stories. The beginning to this book is quite simple and effective for young writers: It is bedtime. Here, I can show kids how some beginnings tell about when the story is happening.

4. The illustrations a dark (we can talk about why) but simply drawn so kids could imitate them. After reading Katie Wood Ray's book, In Pictures and In Words ( A book about planning and studying illustrations with primary kids), I realized that there are a few pages where the illustrator shows two sides of physical space. One is the page where the owl noises are frightening Snoozer. There we see the outside of the window where the owl is who-o-ing and we see Snoozer snuggled in his Mother's arms inside of the house. So, I know this book will also help my students study illustrations.

5. This book is simple yet also contains layers that will scaffold stronger writers. I am thinking about the few lines of dialogue the mother and father dog have to explain what the noise is outside. The ending: Snoozer listens for awhile, then falls asleep. Shhhh... uses an ellipsis and we could talk about why she decided on it and what it means.

This book along with others like Every Friday, The Green Line and Supersister that live in our story writing basket will help kids find ways to tell stories about their lives.

Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker

I stopped by my mom's tonight and noticed she had purchased the newest in the primary graphic novel series: Benny and Penny. I was very excited to see the third in this series written by Geoffrey Hayes. Benny and Penny and the Big No- No ( the second in the series ) is reviewed here. The original Benny and Penny in Just Pretend is mentioned here in Mary Lee's post about graphic novels for our youngest readers.

In this third book, Benny and Penny are in the middle of searching for loot using their treasure map when their cousin Bo shows up. Both immediately hide as many toys as possible as they have him deemed as "toy breaker." In fact, they do everything possible to try not to include him in play and he does everything possible to ruin their pretend game. After breaking Penny's toy monkey, teasing and trying to jump into their hunt for treasure, Bo comes to realize on his own that Benny and Penny don't want him to play. He runs away getting stuck in the backyard fence where he needs help. Benny and Penny come to the rescue and Bo is thankful. The threesome end up resolving their frustrations (by using their words) and they all decide to just PLAY!

I love that the troubles Benny and Penny have are similar to what happens when kids play together outside in the backyard or in the basement. I also love that Geoffrey has a Benny and Penny Blog that you can visit and read and enjoy quick stories and illustrations of Benny and Penny weekly. Toon- books also has a Carton Maker where you can choose characters, props, text and backgrounds for creating a scene that includes your favorite toon characters. You can then email it or print it. Very fun for kids who love these characters. The new book and the site will keep the 7 year old busy tomorrow afternoon.