Penny returns

PENNY AND HER MARBE by Kevin Henkes. Greenwillow, 2013.

Penny is back. In her latest story, Penny finds a marble on Mrs. Goodwin's front lawn. She takes it, but is riddled with guilt worrying about whether or not the marble might belong to Mrs. Goodwill herself. Is Mrs. Goodwill missing her marble? How can Penny return it? Always at the heart of the books in this series is the child's heart and mind. Perhaps that is why kids love Penny so much and are eager for her next adventure.

Black and Blue

IKE'S INCREDIBLE INK by Brianne Farley. Candlewick Press, 2013.

Ike needs just the right ink. How can he possibly gather the ingredients he needs? As the inside picture belwo indicates, Ike is dedicated to finding just the perfect formula.





MY BLUE IS HAPPY by Jessica Young with illustrations by Catia Chen. Candlewick Press, 2013.

Blue does ot always mean sad. Sometimes grey is comforting. And all the other colors can have lots of meaning as our young protagonist discovers in this book that explores how we decide which colors relate to which feelings, events, etc. in our lives.

Red Hat

RED HAT by Lita Judge. Atheneum, 2013.

hat happens when a defenseless red knit hat is left drying on a clothesline? It goes on an adventure, of course, aided and assisted along the way by various animals. Tie this one to Jan Brett's THE MITTEN.

What we have here is a failure to communicate

PIRATES VS. COWBOYS by Aaron Reynolds with illustrations by David Barneda. Knopf, 2013.

When pirates hit land searching for a place to bury some excess treasure, they encounter some problems. It seems they have ended up in a cowboy town and since the two groups speak such different languages communication is garbled. Thankfully, there is a solution on the horizon in the form of one Pegleg Highnoon. Soon Black Bob McKraw and Burnt Beard are no longer at odds with one another.

exploring culture in picture books

NINO WRESTLES THE WORLD by Yuyi Morales. Roaring Brook Press, 2013.

Nino battles all sorts of monsters from La Llorona to Los Hermanitas in this wonderful flight of fancy. Donning a Lucha Libre type mask provides Nino with the powers he needs to defeat monsters and even baby sisters.




TAKE ME OUT TO THE YAKYU by Aaron Meshon. Atheneum, 2013.

A young boy loves baseball no matter if it is the baseball of his American or Japanese family. Terrific way to have kids examine the things that we celebrate no matter where.

Getting to know you

Picture book biographies of two individuals demonstrate concretely how words and illustrations differ from topic to topic. Examine the differences between the biography of Albert Einstein and Tito Puente. Even before sharing them aloud, readers should be able to make some comments about the lives of the two individuals whose stories are being told here.




ON A BEAM OF LIGHT: A STORY OF ALBERT EINSTEIN by Jennifer Berne with illustrations by Vladimir Radunsky. Chronicle Books, 2013.

This book is not just about Einstein, it is about how ideas came to him (on a beam of light once actually). As the double page spread demonstrates, Einstein is portrayed as a real person and not as some scientist with whom kids could never identify.







TITO PUENTE: MAMBO KING (REY DEL MAMBO) by Monica Brown with illustrations by Rafael Lopez. Rayo/HarperCollins, 2013.

Meet young Tito, a boy destined to become Mambo King. This bilingual picture book, complete with the onomatopoeic sounds of rhythm instruments is bold and colorful (see the double page spread from this book below and compare it to the DPS from the Einstein picture book).

Treasury of ideas

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY: POEMS FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR WITH CONNECTIONS TO TEKS (Middle School Edition) by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Pomelo Books, 2013.

Poetry is often the most overlooked of the literature studied in school. Vardell and Wong can remedy that for middle school teachers (and there is already a companion anthology for elementary grades) with this anthology. They provide a poem a week for each of the weeks of the school year (for grades 6, 7, and 8) along with ideas for sharing the poems with the kids and activities which could be used to enrich the listening experience. Poems are by names which will be familiar to many, contemporary poets: Salinger, Holbrook, Wong, Yolen, Fraco, Bruchac, and many more. A foreword makes some broad suggestions for sharing [poetry (why and how and when) and an appendix provides even more resources. Any teacher looking for ways to incorporate poetry into their classroom need look no further.