"It Goes Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

This book is science fiction.  It is about a group of second graders in Mrs. Zookey's class named Patrick, Ben, Richard, Dawn Marie, and Linda.  Ben and Richard are good friends who think that Patrick is a troublemaker.  He leads them to believe that the bat they find in the grass is after them and will turn them into vampires.  Patrick causes more trouble when he breaks a pot holding Jack's Beanstalk with his squirt gun during Yummies and Yuckies.  Dawn Marie becomes Patrick's friend, though and they end up doing their Endangered Species project together about bats.  Dawn Marie has bats in her shed, which she shows to her friends.  Linda doesn't like bats. Patrick and Dawn Marie have brought a bat house that Dawn Marie's father helped them make that they plan on hanging in Dawn Marie's yard.  I would ask the students to act out one of the situations or conversations in the book with a few of their classmates.

Daniel Boone

This is a biography about Daniel Boone. I could have students make a time line based on the events in this book.  This book gives information about Boone's childhood and his adult life.  He was a hunter and explorer.  Some places he explored were Florida and  Kentucky.  The Shawnee were a group of Native Americans who were angry that settlers were moving into their territory.  At one point, the leader of the Shawnee adopted Daniel after he was kidnapped.  He escaped. though and reunited with his wife. He stayed in Missouri with his family until they died.  Informative sentences accompany pictures.
I would do a book pass activity with  the students using legends based on Daniel Boone.  I would have them fill out a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting literary characteristics of this book with the books used for the book pass.

"Marie Curie: A Brilliant Life"

This biography describes aspects of Marie Curie's personal life, like her family as well as her education, achievements and awards, and setbacks.  It provides photographs and talks about her discovery of radium.  Her and her husband Pierre, along with Henri Becquerel win the Nobel Prize for physics.  The cause of Pierre's death is explained and the unit of measurement for amounts of radiation is termed the curie."  Marie won a second Nobel Prize in chemistry.  She taught women how to use X-ray equipment during World War I.  I would have students talk about who they thought had the biggest impact on Marie's life.

"Cinderella"

This book is a graphic novel. The main character loses her mother and her father remarries. The two stepsisters which Ella inherits along with a new stepmother, are cruel and order her around. They call her Cinderella. The father goes to the city and before leaving, he asks what he should bring home for his daughters. The evil step sisters ask for dresses and jewels, but Ella asks for the first twig that knocks against her father's hat on the way home. She later plants the twig on her mother's grave and the tears she cries water it. The twin turns into a tree and many birds live in it. Ella wants to go to a ball held in the prince's honor and Ella is told by her stepmother that if she can pick all of the seeds out of the ashes, then she may go. The birds help her, but she still isn't allowed to go. Her godmother asks her to find a pumpkin and turns it into a carriage and turns mice into horses. She also gives her a beautiful dress and shoes. She gets to dance with the prince, but in a rush to leave at midnight, leaves her shoe behind. A few days later, the prince comes to Cinderella's home and tries the shoe on her. It fits and they get married, but the sisters do not come to the wedding. The doves punish them.

I would teach sequencing with this book and ask them to put the events in order.

"Penguins!"

A variety of facts are provided about penguins, such as the biggest kind and the smallest kind.  There are description of penguins and pictures of the different types.  A map is color-coded to show where different kinds of penguins live.  The author talks about penguins as they were millions of years ago.  She describes what they can do, what they eat, and how they form colonies.  She talks about courting among penguins and what happens before their young are born.  The author talks about the chicks once they are born and she explains why penguins are in danger.

I would have students do research on one of the kinds of penguins in the  book and find some information that they can share with the class.

"Day of the Dragon King"

Two children, named Jack and Annie travel in a magical tree house to ancient China in order to find a story.  They are given a research book, called The Time of the First Emperor. Once they get to China, they receive a ball of silk from a silk receiver and are asked by a cow herder to give a message to the silk weaver.  Jack and Annie must run from soldiers after Annie saves a bundle of bamboo strips from being burned with the rest of the books.  They get lost, but the ball of silk helps them find their way out of the hall.  They make it out of the city just in time before the wooden gates close.   I would do a read-aloud with this book and ask the characters what they predict.  I would also teach them about the time period and what an emperor's job is.

"To be a drum"

There are three characters in this book- Daddy Wes, Mat, and Martha.  Daddy Wes tells them a story of when people's hearts beat for the first time on the continent of Africa.  He explains how this was how the drum was born.  The tone of the story changes as Daddy Wes talks about slavery and how men took the drums away, as well as their own languages.  He explains how the people became drums and made their feet, mouths, speech, hands, courage, minds, communities, art, stories, history, and dreams drums.  He asks Martha and Wes to listen to the earth's heartbeat.  They both hear it.  I would do a read-aloud with this book and ask the students to predict what the story was about based on the cover.