Khristina's Book Blog

I read Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts. This book hasn't received any major awards. This is one of my favorite books that I've found to do my blogs on. This book is about a boy name Jeremy who really wants a specific pair of black and white shoes, but his family can't afford them. Jeremy finds a pair of those shoes in the thrift shop, but they're too small for his feet. Jeremy doesn't care, and crams his feet inside those shoes and buys them. However, they're way too small and hurt too much to wear all day at school, so he wears the pair the guidance counselor gave him even though almost all the other kids make fun of him for them. There's a boy named Antonio whose shoes have to be taped up to keep them together. Jeremy notices that Antonio's feet are smaller than his, so he knows what he has to do. He gives his pair of black and white shoes to Antonio, and they become friends. This book is super sweet, and demonstrates what it really means to be humble. ...

I read This Is the Way We Go to School by Edith Baer. This book hasn't received any major awards, but is a great book to show diversity. This book is about children all over the world, and the different ways they get to school. I love that at the end it gives a list of where each of the children are from. I love the overall book, but it makes it even better because it rhymes. I think the appropriate grade level would be kindergarten to fourth grade. I would read this book in my future classroom. The way I would incorporate this book in the classroom would be to open up a graphing activity to see the different ways students in our class get to school. I would want to focus on diversity, and that there are differences even in the same classroom and celebrate it.

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 Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith. This book received the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1993 and the Texas Bluebonnet Award in 1995. This book is absolutely hilarious, and I've never read any book like it! My favorite part of this book is how a character, Jack, is a narrator and he's affected by the story, pages, and even the words. It's honestly hard to give a summary of this book, but pretty much it's a group of fairytales that have had major changes to their storylines and it's super funny! In The Princess and the Frog, the frog tricks the princess to just get a free kiss. In Little Red Riding Hood (Running Shorts), Jack, the narrator ruins the story, so they leave their story refusing to tell it. Then instead of the gingerbread man, it's the Stinky Cheese Man who no one will chase no matter how fast he runs because he stinks so bad. I absolutely loved this book and the humor that's throughout it. I th...

I read Pilot & Huxley: The First Adventure  by Dan McGuiness. This book hasn't received any major awards. I had never read a graphic novel before, but this one was interesting to say the least. This book is about two boys, Pilot and Huxley, who have a game that is a week overdue from the rental place called awesome video. There are undercover aliens that run awesome video, and their code for their weapon to destroy earth got downloaded on Pilot and Huxley's game that is overdue. So, the aliens send grim reaper to get the game, but he send Pilot and Huxley to another dimension. There goal is to try to get back to Earth, and they find someone who can help them, but right before they're about to go back to Earth the aliens come to attack them. Pilot, Huxley, and the friends they've made work together to defeat the aliens. In the end, Pilot and Huxley get zapped back into the wrong dimension. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be sixth grade to twel...

I read Because of Winn Dixie  by Kate DiCamillo. This book received the Newbery Medal in 2001 and the Texas Bluebonnet Award in 2002. I think I might have read this book when I was younger, but I couldn't remember all the details. This is a super sweet book, and for me it had a lot of similarities to Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. A big part of this is because they're both about a dog, but there are even similarities in the language of the book. Both books include a southern twang when the characters speak. Because of Winn Dixie is about a girl named Opal who has recently moved to a new town, but soon after moving she takes in a stray dog that she names Winn Dixie. Winn Dixie changes Opal's whole world, and Opal starts making all sorts of friends because of this amazing dog. Another big part of the story is Opal discovering things about her mom that she never knew. Opal's mom left when Opal was only three. The book overall follows Opal and Winn Dixie along in their ...