kiddieliter

The creator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar gives readers a warm, intimate glimpse of his real-life universe of animals, insects, and family.  The events in these short stories take place from his earliest childhood to the present. All of the stories are true; but they are set down, not in the order in which they happened, but as they occurred to the author. They come from various places and times of his life and have three things in common: animals or insects, friends or relatives, and Eric Carle.

This book is appropriate for most students.  It tells the facts of Anne’s story without sharing the details that are published in her diary.  I would use this book in a fourth or fifth grade classroom.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and seeing each vivid, factual picture.

Kathleen Krull’s A Woman for President, The Story of Victoria Woodhull is about the first woman to run for President of the United States.  The book begings with Victoria as a child up until after the presidential election.  This is a great book to relate to the current election going on for the new President of the United States.  Many activities can accompany this book to help students understand what it is to give a speech and go through an elecition.

The story about the first years of Duke Ellingtons life. How he fell in love with the piano and went on to become one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century.

My Brother Martin is a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. written by his sister Christine King Farris. It is about Martin as a child and how he became so involved in the civil rights movement. It tells of all the things he did to fight for equality for ever man and woman.

This is an incredible and moving book.  It is Patricia Poacco’s autobiography.  She discusses her childhood battle with dyslexia, and her new found love of reading.  With the encouragement and help of a supportive teacher she gains faith in herself and becomes a wonderful author.

“Ella Fitzgerald” is an interesting children’s book that tells the life of Ella Fitzgerald in a style she loved, scat. Each part of the story is a different track and it is very intriquing to try to tell her story as she would love to tell it.

     Sadako was only two-years-old when the atom bomb was dropped near her home in Hiroshima, Japan. In the book, now at age ten she is sticken with the dreaded “bomb disease.” But, in her last days, Sadako is comforted by the simple gift of a paper crane. A true story, about a little girl who became a national hero for countless Japanese children, and shows us all the strength and courage of the young.

This is a beautifully illustrated book about Rosa Parks.  It doesn’t detail her life from birth to her death, but it begins on the day she refused to give up her seat, when she was at work.  It ends at the end of the bus boycott, but has a lot of different civil rights struggles detailed in the book.

Tiger Woods: A Biography for Kids  gives a unique look into the lives offamed golpher, Tiger Woods.  Children who follow golf or professional sports recognize the phenomenon that is Tiger Woods, and they will excitedly peruse the pages of this short book to learn more about this sports hero.