Khristina's Book Blog

I read Anansi The Spider by Gerald McDermott. This book is a Caldecott Honor book. My favorite part about this book is the illustrations. I love the different shapes and colors that are used to bring this story to life. This book is about a spider named Anansi who has six sons. Anansi gets into some trouble, but all six of his sons come to his rescue. Anansi wants to reward his six sons with this bright, white ball of light he found, but he can't decide who to give it to. He gives the reward to the god of all things while he makes his decision. In the end, Anansi never chose which son to receive the reward, so the god of all things put the reward in the sky for all to see. The reward becomes the moon. I liked this book. I think the appropriate grade level would be kindergarten to sixth grade. I would read this book in my classroom. I think it would be so fun for students to create their own version of how different things came to be like stars, the sun, grass, trees, etc. Just to g...

I read The Snowy Day  by Ezra Jack Keats. This book received the Caldecott Medal in 1963. This book is a cute book. It's about a little boy named Peter and his day of adventures in the snow, and he has a dream that the sun melted all the snow away. However, in the end, the next day has just as much snow and more. My favorite part about this book is with the tracks in the snow and how they're connected directly to the text. The text says "like this" and "like that", and it's making the reader look at the illustrations. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be pre-k to third grade. I would definitely read this book in my classroom. I think this would be a great book for ELs to hear when going over the seasons, and specifically winter because it paints a great picture with words and illustrations of what winter looks and feels like.

I read  The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat. This book received the Caldecott Medal in 2015. This is a super cute book that takes a new twist on the idea of imaginary friends. The story is about an imaginary friend that is so excited for a child to imagine him, but he waits and waits and no one ever does. So, he decided to go on a grand journey to go find his friend in the real world. But, this place isn't as bright as he thought it would be and he still can't find his friend, so he gives up. However, a young girl named Alice finds him, names him Beekle, they become friends, and do the unimaginable. I absolutely loved this book. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be pre-k to fourth grade. I would use this book in my classroom because it's about imaginary friends which is not something that is talked about often, but kids still have imaginary friends. The way I would use this book in my classroom is to have each child create th...