The Rainbow Fish

Title: The Rainbow Fish

Author: Marcus Peister

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: North-South Books, Inc.

Copyright Date: 1999

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: infants- 5 years

Summary: This is a cute story about a once rude, stuck up fish who had the most beautiful scales in the entire water. One day, a little blue fish asked him for a scale, and he angrily said no. After that, all the other fish (having heard what happened) refused to talk to him. He became miserable, and swam around, saddened that there was no one that would talk to him or admire his scales. So he went to go see the wise octopus. She/he told the rainbow fish that in order to be happy, he had to give away his silver shiny scales. He had a hard time overcoming that, but when the little blue fish returned and asked him again for a scale, Rainbow Fish hesitantly gave him one. The joyful look on that fish’s face filled Rainbow Fish with joy, and each time after that (when he had to give away a scale) he did it with joy and pleasure.

Reaction: I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was cleverly made, and I thought that the message of sharing was clear and appropriate. I think that the children who read this book would thoroughly enjoy the book, and if anything, it will make them interested in fish!

Recommendation: I’d recommend this to any child. I think all children should read this book.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I don’t have a single problem with this book. I thought it was well written and very nicely done. 

Katy and the Big Snow

Title: Katy and the Big Snow

Author: Virginia Lee Burton

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Copyright Date: 1976

Pages in Book: 40 pages

Reading Level: 3-6 years

Summary: This is a story about Katy the truck. She can do anything that she puts her mind too. Nothing can stop her. In the summer, she drives the bulldozer around and helps the city of Geoppolis with their streets. Then during the winter she plows the roads clear of snow. One winter, the snow kept coming and coming and before anyone knew it, there was snow way past second stories of people homes. So out went Katy, and she dug out a path for the Fire Department, Mail man, telephone company, water company, etc. She saved the entire city, and it wasn’t until they were all saved and dug out that she went home to rest.

Reaction: I thought it was a cute story, but probably not one that I would read. I originally read the book because the main character and I have the same name, but once I started reading it, I got bored rather easily.

Recommendation: I’d definitely recommend this book to younger children. I think if older kids wanted to read this, that would be fine, but they would get bored quickly.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t like how many pages it went on and on saying that Katy dug out. After about 3 pages, I think the children would have gotten the idea, but the author kept going and going. It was a rather repetitive book. 

In the Night Kitchen

Title: In the Night Kitchen

Author: Maurice Sendak

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date: 1996

Pages in Book: 40 pages

Reading Level: 3-6 years

Summary: There is a young boy named Mickey who wakes up one night to a noise from downstairs. All of the sudden, he is naked and shows up in the “night kitchen”. He falls into batter, and while he’s struggling to get out, there are three bakers that prepare the batter for cooking. He flies out of the milk bottle and helps the bakers finish making the cake. He hops back into the bottle and returns to his bed.

Reaction: I did not like this book one bit. I thought it was awful and I saw a lot of things that were as if they were connected to World War II time. The bakers looked like Hitler, and I didn’t like how he was put in the oven, naked. I thought this was an absolutely horrible book, and I wouldn’t ever read this again.

Recommendation: I wouldn’t recommend this book to a single child. Even reading it as an adult, I thought it was horrible, and there were too many connections between Hitler and the Nazi’s in this book.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I had a problem with this entire book. It was awful. 

Corduroy

Title: Corduroy

Author: Don Freeman

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Penguin Group

Copyright Date: 1976

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: infant- 5 years

Summary: This is a story about a little teddy bear, which is passed up in the department store because he is missing a button. He goes in search of the button, all over the store, searching high and low. He finally finds his button, and Lisa (the girl whose mother made her pass him up) returns to the store and buys him, sews on the button and he’s brand new and has a new home.

Reaction: I have always loved this book. I thought it was so cute, and I somehow managed to find something new out of the book each and every time. I love how over everything else, Corduroy was able to find himself a home and become happy with his new friend Lisa.

Recommendation: Of course! I’d recommend this book to each and every child. I think that it’s a necessary book for each family to have in their home! It’s got a sweet message, and one that makes anyone who reads it happy.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: Not a single problem. I think this is a classic, and honestly I couldn’t find a problem wrong with this book, even if I wanted to. 

Ramona Quimbly, Age 8

Title: Ramona Quimbly, Age 8

Author: Beverly Cleary

Genre: Novel

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date: 1992

Pages in Book: 208 pages

Reading Level: 9-11 years

Summary: Ramona Quimbly is a little eight year old who has everything wrong happen to her. She finally is old enough to ride the bus all by herself. She gets into her third grade classroom, and instantly connects with her teacher Mrs. Whaley. One day, she brings what she thinks is a hard-boiled egg to class and decides to crack the shell on her forehead. Unfortunately for her, the egg isn’t hard-boiled and the yolk runs all over her. She over hears her teacher saying some not nice things about her, and she’s crushed. Later on, she and her sister are forced to make dinner together, and since some of the ingredients are out, they substitute. This proves to not go quite as well as they planned, as soon as Ramona throws up in front of everyone, something that she thinks is the most embarrassing thing alive. The family has a lot of problems, and at the end of the story, Ramona’s dad takes them all out to dinner. They find out that a nice man has paid for their meals, after he asks Ramona if she’s been nice to her mom.

Reaction: I thought this book was rather cute! Wanting to be a school teacher, I liked how the teacher and Ramona had a connection. I also liked how even though several bad things happened to her, she was always the bigger person. She had so many adventures as a little girl and it made me a little envious of her. I also liked how at the end of the book, the author showed that the family was all fighting, and having trouble, but in the end, it all worked out. I made the connection that every family has problems and no matter what, at the end of the day, your family is always there for you and you can always depend on them.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this to any child. I think I would even recommend this to children younger than the recommended years, because it’s a book that the children’s parents can read to them as well.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t have any big problems with this story, but I did have a little problem with the fact that Ramona thought her teacher was talking bad about her, behind her back. Teachers, I don’t feel, should be talking down upon their students, and if they decide to…I feel that they should do that away from the school area. 

Ella Enchanted

Title: Ella Enchanted

Author: Gail Carson Levine

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: HarperTrophy

Copyright Date: 1997

Pages in Book: 240 pages

Reading Level: 8-12 years

Summary: When Ella of Frell was born, a fairy named Lucinda gave her the gift of obedience. Every order that Ella was given had to be obeyed. Ella’s mother dies, and at her funeral she meets Prince Charmont. Her father sends her off to school; Mandy (her godmother) gives Ella her mother’s necklace and a magic book. At school, Hattie learns of Ella’s problem and begins taking advantage of the fact that she can never say no. Ella tries to fight every order that Hattie gives her, and after finding out that there is a wedding that her father is attending (where the fairies are also attending) and she heads towards the land where they will all be. On her way to the wedding, she is captured by ogres and Prince Char soon saves her. Ella finds Lucinda, but she refuses to retract her “curse”. Ella later meets up with Prince Char again at the wedding, and they go off and dance together. He leaves for a year, but Ella and Prince Char write each other, and quickly fall in love with each other.  Sadly, Ella’s father goes out of the country and her stepmother makes Ella a slave in her own home. While a slave, Prince Char declares his love for her, but for his own protection, Ella pretends that she’s run off with another man. He’s heartbroken, but upon his return to Kyrria, Ella disguises herself so that she can go to the three day ball and see him. Mandy and Lucinda help her, and after reforming, Ella goes to the ball as Lela. On the last night of the ball, Hattie snatches the mask off Ella, forcing her to run away. Char realizes who she is and demands that she marry him. She refuses, and by doing so, she breaks the curse. She then accepts his hand in marriage and they live happily ever after.

Reaction: I thought this book was very cute! I was surprised to see how different it was from the movie! I thought that the movie would’ve at least followed some of it! But no! I loved how Ella and Char fell in  love over letters, and that he still loved her after she wrote him off. It was such a cute book, and I couldn’t help but think of how happy she winded up being, even after all the problems and trials that she had in her life.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this to any child. Preferably girls, but I don’t doubt that some boys would love this one too. I think there is a great message that is portrayed here, and one that I didn’t have any problems with. I thought it was a cute book.  

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t have any problems with this book. It’s a lot like Cinderella, and if the children like that book, they are guaranteed to like this one as well. 

The Hundred Dresses

Title: The Hundred Dresses

Author: Eleanor Estes

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Copyright Date: 2004

Pages in Book: 96 pages

Reading Level: 6-10 years

Summary: This book is about a young girl named Wanda Petronski, who is teased and picked on in school. Her fellow schoolmates make fun of her for her last name and her faded dresses. One day, Wanda claims that she owns one hundred dresses at her home, and every day, they corner her and have her describe all of her different dresses. Wanda leaves the school, and it isn’t until after she leaves that a drawing contest proves that she was telling the truth about it all.

Reaction: I thought that this story was very cute, and one that I would read again. It made me realize what children really can be like, and I thought that the author did an excellent job. It captured my attention the entire time, and I literally wanted to see what the dresses all looked like. To have that kind of an imagination is amazing!

Recommendation: I’d read this to any girl reader. Obviously no boy would want to read a story about girls and dresses, but I think that it’s one that the littler girls would thoroughly enjoy and want to read.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t see any problems with this book. I didn’t like the fact that the girls would make fun of Wanda, but it made the story that much more interesting at the end of the book when the girls were proven wrong.