1. Book Title: The Girls Who Loved Wild Horses
Author: Paul Goble
Genre: Children's Literature - Award Winners - Social Studies Content/Fantasy
Awards: The Caldecott Medal, 1979 - An ALA Notable Children's Book - A NCSS/CBC Notable Children's Book in the Field of Social Studies - One of the Children's Books of the Year; Chosen by the Library of Congress
Book Review: This book is about a young, Native American girl who loves and cares for the horses near her home. One day a big storm comes and scares the horses away, taking with them the girl who was riding on their back. The girl and her horses where welcomed into a group of wild horses where they lived for a year before her people found her and brought her back home. However, she was not happy and her parents soon allowed her to rejoin the horses. Every year she would return home to visit and bring a colt as a gift. However, one day she did not return and it was believed that she had become one of the wild horses. This book allows a powerful glimpse into the "horse people's" culture and ends with two songs about Native American connection to horses. I love how this book can be used in numerous diverse lessons while introducing students to a minority they may not be familiar with in a fun way. Your animal lovers will definitely be interested in this book and learning more about Native American culture after hearing this story.
Lesson Ideas: This book is great because it can be used in many subject areas. You can have your students work together to create and decorate a tipi like the ones in the girls village (art). You could also use this book as an introduction to Native American culture (Social Studies). Finally, you could encourage your students to research wild horses in North America (Science).
http://www.liveoakmedia.com/assets/guides/23143.pdf
2. Book Title: Where The Wild Things Are
Author: Maurice Sendak
Genre: Children's Literature - Award Winners - Fantasy - Picture Books Before 1970
Awards: The Caldecott Metal, 1964
Book Review: This is a story about Max, a young boy sent to bed without dinner who uses his imagination to escape his room and explore the place where the wild things are. He soon becomes king of the wild things and goes on many crazy adventures before returning to his room where he finds his dinner waiting. This a fun book that encourages the use of imagination and is a personal, lifelong favorite. I love how this book shows students that they can use their imagination and have adventures no matter where they are. This will be a book your students remember for years to come.
Lesson Ideas: Because this book opens the imagination it can be an awesome source for an English lesson. Use the cover and title of the book as a writing prompt before reading the story. Students can create their own stories and see how they match up to the original later. They can also mix science and art by designing their own Wild Thing and creating a fact sheet about it's habitat. Overall, your students will have fun with any lesson using this book.
3. Book Title: The Rainbow Fish
Author: Marcus Pfister
Genre: Children's Literature - Award Winners - Fantasy
Awards: Abby Winner, 1995
Book Review: This book is about a fish with a lot of beautiful scales, but no friends. As the story progresses the fish learns the share his scales with other fish which makes him happy. As he becomes happy and less vain, more fish want to be his friend. This book demonstrates so many important lessons. In the beginning the fish has a lot of beautiful things but he is mean and vain so no one wants to be his friend. He learns that a happy heart is a thankful heart and that sharing is caring. When he starts to care less about his possessions he is able to open his heart to others.
Lesson Ideas: Since the rainbow fish experiences so many emotions during this story, this book would be great to have students discuss those emotions and why he may feel that way. They can even act those emotions out. This story is also great to use when teaching kids to share or about their differences.
https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/the-rainbow-fish/
Author Website: marcuspfister.ch
4. Book Title: The Lion and The Mouse
Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney
Genre: Children's Literature - Award Winners - Picture Book
Awards: The Caldecott Winner, 2010
Book Review: This book is about a lion and mouse who become unlikely friends. One day the lion is captured and the mouse saves the lion. This story is so unique because it has no words, just pictures. Despite this students will have a very clear understanding of every aspect of the story.
Lesson Ideas: Since this book has no words, have students create the story that goes along with the pictures. they can then present the story to the class and the class can vote on the best one (English).
Illustrator Website: jerrypinkneystudio.com
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