One Smart Cookie

One Smart Cookie is written and illustrated by John Nez. It is about a girl who doesn't like to read, but her dog can read. She takes him to school and everyone thinks he is amazing. He saves the day because he shows the girl that there is a fire in the school and the girl has to read the emergency directions to save everyone. She finally learns how important reading is and begins to read more often. While I was reading this book I thought it might be a good book to read to a young reader who doesn't seem to like reading. It may motivate them to become a better reader. However one time in the book the kids at school don't believe the dog can read and they call the dog and the girl dumb. I didn't really think this was necessary to add this into the story, it may give kids the wrong idea that if they don't read a lot or if they are not a very good reader that they are dumb. I wouldn't want to give kids the wrong idea. I did think the book was cute and think the aspect of a dog being able to read to show how important reading is would be fun for kids.

Ugly Fish

This book was written by Kara LaReau and illustrated by Scott Magoon. The book is about Ugly Fish who lives in the tank and whenever a new nice fish comes in he eats them. Then he gets lonely because he has no friends so when the last fish comes in he is bigger than Ugly Fish so he eats him. This was a really wierd book to me. It is wierd a childrens book would have fish eating eachother for no reason. I think the lesson in the book is to treat others how you want to be treated, but I wasn't quite sure. The only way I felt I connected with the book was that it reminded me of all the goldfish we got when I was younger and for some reason they would all die within a few weeks and we were never sure why!?!

The Class Artist

The Class ARtist was written and illistrated by G. Brian Karas. It is about a young boy who doesn't think that he is a very good drawer. A girl in his class makes fun of his drawing and he has no confidence. In the end he draws a beautiful mural and this begins his journey as the class artist. The book teaches lessons of how you shouldn't make fun of people and how you should always believe in yourself. You can do anything you set your mind to. The story also includes the days of the week which is a good thing to incorporate for kids. The story actually reminds me of myself. I am in an arts methods course and we had to draw a portriat of someone. I didn't think I could do it because I don't have a lot of confidence in my drawing. My roomates made fun of my attempts at drawing stick figures. In the end, my portriat turned out to be the best drawing I have ever done and my roomates were all impressed. It was a really good feeling.

My Mother's Secret Life

My Mother's Secret Life was written and illustrated by Rebecca Emberley. I picked the book off of the shelf because I thought it had an interesting title. I however, did not really like the book. I was really confused if the girl in the book was dreaming she was at the circus or if she pretended because at the end she woke up and it said her mother's breath smelled a little like popcorn. I was just really confused during the book it seemed like it kind of skipped around I wasn't sure about different things that were going on in the story. I did think the pictures were interesting. They reminded me of the I Spy books and I felt like the pictures wre almost popping out at me.

My Apron

I chose My Apron because it was written and illustrated by one of my favorite authors Eric Carle. I absolutely love the illustrations in his stories. They are somewhat child like and the look like fingerpaint and it just reminds me of being a kid and fingerpainting with my mom. The illustrations make me feel like a kid again, so young, fun, and innocent. The story is about a young man who wants to be a plasterer like his uncle so his aunt makes him an apron with a pocket in the from and he helps his uncle do his job. It was very interesting to me because my parents are redoing their house and my uncle just did the plastering for them. It reminded me of my uncle and how he loves the job he does. The book made me think about all the things I wanted to be when I was growing up like a teacher, doctor, and professional basketball player. It is fun to think about all of the dreams children have when they are younger.

Madeline's Rescue

Madeline's Rescue was written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans. I actually really did not like this book. I thought it was really hard to follow and I didn't always know what was going on. It did rhyme which I usually like, but some of they rhymes didn't quite sound right and it was just hard for me to understand what was going on all of the time. The pictures were kind of interesting and they look like they are painted in a really interesting way. I just really couldn't connect with this book because it was really hard to follow.

I Heard Said the Bird

I Heard Said the Bird is written by Polly Berrien Berends and illustrated by Brad Sheed. It is about a whole bunch of barnyard animals hear from the bird that there is going to be a "new one" and they are trying to figure out which animal is going to be having the new baby. At the end it is a new born baby that the little boy in the house shows all of the animals. The book is fun because it says a rhyming part over and over and kids would be able to remember what it says. It says I heard said the bird, how siad the cow, when said the hen, where said the mare, in the house said the mouse. The book builds up excitement and you can wait to see who it is at the end. The pictures of the animals are close up. My grandparents live on a farm and it really reminded me of when I was younger and got to go play with and feed all of the animals there.