Khristina's Book Blog

I read In The Deep Dark Deep by Ben Joel Price. I didn't find any major awards for his works, but he was asked to produce a birthday card for Queen Elizabeth which seems like a pretty big deal to me. The storyline of The Deep Dark Deep  is super cute, and it's even more fun because it rhymes. The story focuses on the adventure of Diver, Robot, and Monkey as they explore the deep dark ocean in their submarine. Except, they need to discover the mystery of the missing starfish who bring the light to the ocean floor. So, they follow a trail of green slime meeting tons of unique sea creatures along the way. In the end, after escaping an octopus attack, they find the starfish and make the plan to rescue them from the belly of an eel by making the eel burp. I thought this book was super precious, and I think kids would love it too. The illustrations in the book are phenomenal, and would be very intriguing to kids. I think the appropriate grade level for this book is pre-k to second gr...

I read Under The Sun And Over The Moon pictures by Ian Penney and verse by Kevin Crossley-Holland. This book won the British Design and Production Award for 1990. This book is a poetry counting book, and I didn't realize that until I started reading it. The focus of the book is 10 secret gardens, and collecting the amount of the certain thing(s) from each garden putting it/them in the magic bag. By the end of the book, you've counted to ten. Something I really enjoy about this book is that along with counting, it's also an "I-Spy" book by encouraging the reader to find what is described. The appropriate grade level for this book would be pre-k and kindergarten because this is the age they put a focus on counting, and rhyming is a bonus for that age group. Another thing I love about this book are some higher level vocabulary words used throughout the book which is great for younger readers to be exposed to these words. I would use this book in my classroom to mesh ...

I read the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, and even though this book didn't win any major awards that I could find, Shel Silverstein has won many other awards for his other works including a Grammy in 1970. The story of The Giving Tree  is about a little boy who who becomes best friends with a tree, and they spend all their time together. However, eventually, the little boy grows up, and needs money, a house, and then a boat, and the tree gives everything it can to the boy who is now all grown up. In the end, all that is left of the tree is the stump, but even then the tree is there for the boy, who is now an old man who all he needs now is to sit and rest. A very valuable lesson can be learned from this book, and that is that true happiness comes from giving. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be kindergarten to high school because of the important lesson that's imbedded in this simple story. I would definitely use this classroom because the less...

I read the book Life Doesn't Frighten Me the poem is by Maya Angelou and the paintings are by Jean-Michel Basquiat. There are no major award found for this work. This was a very interesting piece of children's poetry simply because the content along with the illustrations are very unique. The overall point of the book would be all the things in the world that might seems scary, especially to kids, but overcoming your fears by saying it doesn't frighten you at all. The book starts and ends with "Life doesn't frighten me at all." I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be 1st to 3rd grade. I think some of the content in the book might be a little much for some kindergarteners, but I think once they're in 1st grade they're more capable of separating real from fake. I think this is a great book for kids to see a different kind of art. I love how the biography of the illustrator is in the back of the book as well. Some kids would be fascin...

I read The Itsy Bitsy Spider illustrated by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley. This book didn't win any specific awards, but Ed Emberley has won the Caldecott award for another one of his works. This type of poem in classified into the more specific genre of poetry called nursery rhymes. This specific books has fantastic illustrations. The illustrations are created using the collage technique which really makes the spider come to life.  The story of the Itsy Bitsy Spider is pretty well-known and very simple. It starts with the spider climbing up the spout, but then it rains making the spider fall out of the spout. Lastly, the sun comes to the rescue to dry up all the rain which allows the spider to climb up the spout once again. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be pre-k to second grade. This book is especially important in pre-k and kindergarten because of the simple display of rhyming words. I would definitely use this story in my classroom because it's c...