Khristina's Book Blog

      The two contemporary realistic fiction books that I read and love are Wonder by R.J. Palacio and Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones.      Those Shoes is about a boy named Jeremy who wants the newest pair of black high tops with two white stripes, but they're too expensive. Almost of all of Jermey's friends at school start getting these cool new shoes which just makes Jermey want some even more! Jermey and his grandma search three thrift stores on the hunt for these shoes, and they actually end up finding a pair! But... they're too small for Jeremy. Jeremy decides to buy them anyways and tries to squeeze his feet into them, but they just truly don't fit. He notices that his friend Antonio has shoes that have to be taped together just to work and... Antonio's feet look smaller than Jeremey's. In the end, even though Jeremy was sad he didn't have those shoes , he chose to give the pair he had to Antonio. This book shines a lig

  The two Folklore books that I chose to read were Cinderella and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The Cinderella book that I read was illustrated by Ed Bryan. I really love this version of Cinderella because it's the same beautiful story, but modernized a little more with Ed Bryan's Illustrations. For example, at the end when it says Cinderella and the Prince lived happily ever after the illustration is of them playing ping-pong in the palace. I just think kids would really enjoy these updated illustrations to go along with story they've heard time and time again. Cinderella falls under the type of Folklore known as Fairy Tales. The Three Billy Goats Gruff book that I read was a version retold and illustrated by Janet Stevens. The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a story that falls under the type of Folklore known as Folktales. I was familiar with the folktale of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, but it had been a while since I had read it. It was great to reread it. The illustration tha

  The books I chose for this blog are: The Bad Seed by Jory John and Pete Oswald The Good Egg by Jory John and Pete Oswald What do You do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom The Bad Seed  is a cute picture book about a seed who started out not so bad, but went through something hard that made him sad and hurt which made him become a bad  seed. In the end, the bad seed decides he doesn't want to be bad anymore. He's not perfect at it, but he's trying and other seeds notice. Such a cute book that a think a lot of kids can connect with. Kids go through hard things which can cause their behavior to change so much that they forget what it was like to be "good." This could encourage kids that they can be happy again if they just try just like the bad seed. This book is definitely a picture story book because the story is told using both the text and illustrations equally with each giving the story exactly what it needs to be told well. The Good Egg  is from th

  The award winning book I chose to read for blog post #3 is Los Gatos Black Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales. Los Gatos Black received the Pura Belpre Award for writing AND illustrations in 2008.  This is a book to read around halloween. I absolutely love the integration of some Spanish words. This makes it where I can still read it as a teacher, but I would be able to connect with my Spanish speaking students as they hear words in their own language. There is enough context in each sentence that it still allows students who only speak English to comprehend. However, this would be such a great opportunity to allow the Spanish speakers to be proud of their language which is so important to encourage as a teacher. I think kids would absolutely love this book because it does have the spooky halloween creatures which is always fun, but [ SPOILER ] at the end the thing that all the monsters are scared of is the kids who come to the door and say "Trick or Treat!"It ma

  Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems. I had seen this book multiple times and even thumbed through it a couple times, but never really took the time to intentionally look at the illustrations. I absolutely love how Mo Willems made his book come to life through the illustrations he created. Each background/setting of the story is a black and white or faded photograph. Then, the characters in the story are colorful drawings that stand out so well against the real life, photograph background. The way Mo Willems takes 2 dimensional photographs and draws his characters into the scenes is just phenomenal. It seems like such a simply thing, but to have a photograph of a sidewalk and make it where his characters are walking right along that sidewalk or with the picture of the old, rundown laudromat and how Trixie and her father are just drawn right into this picture is just amazing. The illustrations are just so creative and different from other styles of illustrations that are oft

  Books. To lose track of time from getting lost in the pages and becoming part of the story is just a feeling like no other. I absolutely loved reading in elementary school. I was a good reader and was grateful that reading clicked for me in early elementary. The school that I went to was all about the Accelerated Reader (AR) program, and my little, competitive self was all over earning those AR points. I remember there was a big chart posted in the hallway and every kid had a little bus with his or her name on it that would be moved up according to the amount of points he or she had, and I took pride having my bus in one of the top 2 spots. I read a variety of things and always looked forward to going to the school library to check out new books. Some of my favorites I remember reading in elementary school were the Junie B. Jones series, Magic Tree House, A to Z Mysteries, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I wouldn't describe myself as "the girl who was always reading" because