Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Simmons Professor's Independent Reader Author List

Amy Pattee's list of...

Recommended Authors of Children’s Books for Independent Reading

Avi
Bellairs, John
Blume, Judy
Cleary, Beverly (Ramona Quimby books)
Cooper, Susan
Estes, Eleanor
Fritz, Jean
Hamilton, Virginia
Hoff, Syd (easy reading books)
Howe, James (“Bunnicula” books)
Gantos, Jack (Joey Pigza and “Jack” books)
Jacques, Brian
Konigsburg, E.L.
L’Engle, Madeleine
Levine, Gail Carson
Lewis, C.S.
Lobel, Arnold (“Frog and Toad” books)
Look, Lenore (Alvin Ho and Ruby Lu books)
Lowry, Lois (“Anastasia” books and “The Giver” books)
Myers, Walter Dean
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds (“Shiloh” books and the Alice McKinley books)
Parish, Peggy (Amelia Bedelia books)
Patterson, Katherine
Paulsen, Gary (“Hatchet” books)
Peck, Richard
Perkins, Mitali
Pilkey, Dav (“Captain Underpants” books)
Pinkwater, Daniel
Raskin, Ellen
Sachar, Louis (“Wayside School” books and Holes)
Schusterman, Neal
Spinelli, Jerry
Taylor, Mildred D. (“Roll of Thunder” books)
Voigt, Cynthia (Dicey Tillerman books)
Warner, Gertrude Chandler (“Boxcar Children” books)
White, E.B.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls (“Little House” books)

Simmons Professor's Children's Picture Book List

This is a list that Amy Pattee, my Children's Literature professor at Simmons GSLIS put together. It isn't a "perfect" list, but it is a helpful point of reference.

Recommended Picture Book Reading

Bang, M. (1999). When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry. NY: Blue Sky Press.

Bemelmans, L. (1967). Madeline. NY: Viking Press.

Burton, V.L. (1939). Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Burton, V.L. (1942). The Little House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Brown, M.W. and Hurd, C. (1942). The Runaway Bunny. NY: Harper.

Brown, M.W. and Hurd, C. (1947). Good-Night Moon. NY: Harper and Brothers.

Brown, M.W. and Charlip, R. (1958). The Dead Bird. NY: W.R. Scott.

Browne, A. (1981). Hansel and Gretel. NY: Julia McRae Books.

Browne, A. (1998). Voices in the Park. NY: DK Publishing.

Clifton, L. and Grifalconi, A. (1983). Everett Anderson’s Goodbye. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Wilson.

Clifton, L. and Grifalconi, A. (1992). Everett Anderson’s Year. NY: Henry Holt.

Cooney, B. (1982). Miss Rumphius. NY: Viking Press.

Crews, D. (1992). Shortcut. NY: Greenwillow.

Crews, D. (1978). Freight Train. NY: Greenwillow.

Falconer, I. (2000). Olivia. NY: Atheneum.

Feelings, T. (1995). The Middle Passage. NY: Dial.

Gag, W. (1928). Millions of Cats. NY: Coward-McCann.

Gravett, E. (2006). Wolves. NY: Simon and Schuster.

Grimm, J. and Hyman, T.S. (1974). Snow White. Boston: Little Brown.

Henkes, K. (2004). Kitten’s First Full Moon. NY: Greenwillow.

Henkes, K. (2000). Wemberly Worried. NY: Greenwillow.

Hoban, L. and Hoban, R. (1964). Bread and Jam for Frances. NY: Scholastic.

Hutchins, P. (1968). Rosie’s Walk. NY: Macmillan.

Keats, E. J. (1962). The Snowy Day. NY: Viking Press.

Keats, E. J. (1969). Goggles. NY: Macmillan.

Macaulay, D. (1990). Black and White. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

McClosky, R. (1948). Blueberries for Sal. NY: Viking.

McCully, E. A. (1992). Mirette on the High Wire. NY: G.P. Putnum’s Sons.

Merriem, E. and Smith, L. (1987). Halloween A B C. NY: Macmillan.

Pinkney, A. D. and Pinkney, J. B. (1998). Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra. NY: Hyperion.

Raschka, C. (1998). Arlene Sardine. NY: Orchard Books.

Rathmann, P. (1995). Officer Buckle and Gloria. NY: Putnum.

Rey, H.A. (1941). Curious George. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Ringgold, F. (1991). Tar Beach. NY: Crown Publishers.

Ringgold, F. (1995). My Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. NY: Crown Publishers.

Say, A. (1993). Grandfather’s Journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Say, A. (2000). The Sign Painter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Sciezka, J. and Smith, L. (1992). The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. NY: Viking.

Sendak, M. (1963). Where the Wild Things Are. NY: Harper and Row.

Steptoe, J. (1969). Stevie. NY: Harper and Row.

Steptoe, J. (1987). Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. NY: Lothrup, Lee and Shepard.

Tabak, S. (1999). Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. NY: Viking.

Tan, S. (2007). The Arrival. NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.

Van Allsburg, C. (1984). The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Zion. G. and Graham, M.B. (1956). Harry the Dirty Dog. NY: Harper.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Books about the loss of a pet

This can be a tough topic for children, but here are a few books that could help start a discussion about how it feels to lose a pet... and how grateful we are that they were part of our life for a time.

Desser the best ever cat by Maggie Smith
The tenth good thing about barney by Judith Viorst

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Great Read-Aloud Books

Not all pictures books work well for a read-aloud in a group. These books have the golden trifecta of great pictures that can be enjoyed from a distance, great language that is rollicking and rolls right off the tongue and finally a great story that is full of fun and surprises.

All the books I've listed here have been fully tested and approved by audiences of attentive children (if the children aren't attentive the books don't make the list!).



K-2nd Grade
----------------

Lousy, Rotten Stinkin' Grapes by Margie Palatini
The Three Silly Billies

Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman
Pigs to the Rescue

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

The Runaway Dinner by Alan Ahlberg
The Pencil

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane Auch

Axle Annie by Robin Pulver
Axle Annie and the Speed Grump

Saturday, October 9, 2010

"Scared to try new things" books

Put together by MSLA members.

Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears Emily Gravett
Not Afraid of Dogs Susanna Pitzer
Pouch David Ezra Stein
Ruby the Copycat Peggy Ratham
Stephanie’s Ponytail Munsch
The Monster Who ate my Peas” Schnitzlein
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss
But Excuse Me That Is My Book Lauren Child
I am Too Absolutely Small for School Lauren Child
Never will I ever Eat a Tomato Lauren Child
The Yellow Leaf Carin Berger
This is more like “friends can help you try new things.”

Scaredy Squirrel series by Melanie Watt

Friday, September 24, 2010

September in the School Library

Books I've used these last few weeks include:

About Libraries
----------------
Library Lion
Library Lil
What Happened to Marion's Book
Our Librarian Won't Tell us anything
DW's Library Card
But Excuse Me That is My Book
The Librarian from the Black Lagoon


For picking out "Just Right Books"
-----------------------------------
Yummy, Yucky
The Princess and the Pizza

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Books for the Smartest Teens You Know

The Law of Dreams, by Peter Behrens
Gilgamesh, by Joan London
Rumors of Peace, by Ella Leffland

and the NPR story that made the list:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105396810