Here's a cutie of a book: The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. The crayons are tired and upset and just can't take it anymore.... so they each pen a letter to their owner to explain their point of view. Creative, funny, a fabulous example of writing with "voice", this book will tickle your funny bone and motivate you to consider what your belongings would say to you....
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These Antoinette Portis are a cute read and have inspired many a teacher to incorporate literature, art, drama, and even music within their children's programs. These books ask the reader to imagine how a simple object (such as a cardboard box or a twig) can be transformed through their imagination.
For example.. a stick is transformed into a fishing pole!
Or.. the weights to be lifted in the competition for a gold medal! After reading the book, children can then try their own hand at 'transforming' the simple to the sublime. Here's a few examples of taking these story one step further...
Working with young writers, I often hear myself encouraging students to break free from perfection. After all, the books on the shelves look so perfect--The spelling is correct; The pictures wonderfully drawn; The details and word choice so carefully polished. It's easy to imagine these books were written by an authors without struggles, without errors, without angst. In this recent find, Helen Lester tells her story of the road to author-hood: It was bumpy - it was long- it was frustrating - and it certainly wasn't easy. 
So, be sure to tell your young writers: If your paper is sometimes messy and often you aren't sure just what to say.. you are doing it right. Keep writing. You are doing it right!
I love to read. It’s an action that informs, entertains, inspires, and connects. I’m happy to report that my oldest son shares this love as well. 
During the heat, he and I could happily pass every hour of the day in the cool of our basement moving only from chapter to chapter. My youngest son, however, requires actual physical movement (which brings us all upstairs and into the backyard), but he too is disappointed if we start the week with an empty book bag. We don’t buy the books we read (as that bill would quickly outpace our grocery bill), so it’s off to the public library each and every week. Sometimes these visits are leisurely and include browsing the shelves, long conversations with our favorite librarians, and 30 minutes of game time on the children’s computer stations. Other times, our visit is a mad dash in and out (with the driver behind the wheel parked at the closest curb). Our best bet for getting the books we want (when we want them) is the online library catalog. Easy and free to use, we can use this search engine to find books any day, at any time, from the comfort of our own home. Here are links to two brief videos that will show you how to make this free, online, library service work for you: Click HERE for a full-screen version of this video.
I’ve blogged about the talented Klise sisters and their fabulous chapter books in the past. In this post, I’d like to draw attention to their picture books with Little Rabbit. 
I recently read these books with my seven year old and wish I had found them earlier. Little Rabbit finds himself in a variety of situations that seem remarkably well suited for “read-aloud and conversations” with four and five year-old children.  "Why Do You Cry?” explores why we cry and if those falling tears really make you a “baby.”
“Imagine Harry” introduces imaginary friends, the first day of school, and making new friends. “Little Rabbit and the Night Mare” delves into fears (both in the day and during the night). “Little Rabbit and the Meanest Mother on Earth” shows that running away from home to join the circus may not be such a grand plan after all. 
Again offering a comforting cadence of rhythm and rhyme, Bunny School features lyrical prose and charming illustrations. It’s a great read for children looking ahead to the start of the school year. Preschool and kinder students will enjoy this book as a read aloud. 1st and 2nd graders can read it independently. 3rd and above could use the book as a mentor text for writing rhyming-poems of their very own.
Mo Willems does it again with this cute book: 
I'm not sure why it's funny to have the characters in a book REALIZE they are in a book -- but it is. My youngest son and I used to read Elephant and Piggie books together - but now he breezes through them alone. This one reminds me of one of my favorite books as a child. It's a character-trapped-in-the-book classic! 
Here’s another series of books for readers practicing their craft.  Appropriate for 1st and 2nd graders, James Marshall’s Fox character has countless adventures. Truth be told: I wasn't a fan of Fox after reading the first book. Fox can have a bit of an attitude; He’s not always nice to his younger sibling; He sometimes back-talks his mom. However, in the end (after reading several in the series), I came to understand that the situations in which Fox finds himself are comical; his sister is a bit sly herself; and Mom’s directions are always followed.  Each book of the series usually contains 3 chapters. The chapters can be read separately or together as a set (which subtly weave together a larger story). For instructional purposes, these books are also a great way to draw attention to contractions and quotations marks. My youngest son and I took turns using voices to read the words said by each character. Here’s a listen:
Q: What do you get when you mix art and history? A: Another great book of portraits by Hanoch Piven! After falling in love with Portrait Poems this past summer, I checked out other books by the same author and found this beauty:  The book includes facts, quotes, and humorous stories about our nation's past executive leaders while also displaying pictures constructed from related objects. (I.e. Ronald Reagan's mouth is made from Jelly beans!) Interesting anytime of the year -- but perhaps especially so for President's Day: February 20th!
The comic books of my childhood... 
are far different from the comic books of today! The 'comics' have given way to 'graphic novels' which include not only the old time classics, but also history reference books, popular fiction, and condensed chapter books. This ever-expanding genre of books provide a great way to ease older struggling-readers into the joy of reading. The content is age appropriate, but the number of words is decreased and picture-clues help with every single line! It's a recipe for success and an effective stepping stone to the expanded book titles that await them.
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