My Dog Never Says Please

My Dog Never Says Please is written by Suzanne Williams and illustrated by Ted Arnold. Ginny Mae becomes frustrated by her mother's constant reminding of her to mind her manners. Ginny doesn't understand why she has to say please, chew with her mouth closed, clean her room, or wear shoes outside. I mean, why would she? The dog, Red, doesn't have to! One day Ginny was sick and tired of her mother's nagging. Out of anger, Ginny shouted at her parents saying they treated Red better than her and that she would rather be a dog. Her parents were confused but allowed her to be a dog. As a dog, Ginny was left to beg for scraps of food, slept in the doghouse, got some of Red's fleas, and was left in the rainstorm. Around dinner time as the rain began to come down, Ginny decided it was time to head in for supper.

I can relate to Ginny Mae in this story. There are times when we get caught up and frustrated with various events in life. There are certain things that make us tick because we find it bothersome or unfair. We wish we could just escape it all. At that point in time you would rather be a rabbit locked in a cage. I like the message in the story because it reminds us that life isn't as bad as we are making it out to be. This story shows that we don't have it as bad as it seems. We need to look at things from others' perspectives. These few frustrations are heavily outweighed in the end. As in Ginny's case, would you rather say please and have to wear shoes outside or have fleas and sleep outside? In the end, was it really worth all the fuss?

Sweet Tooth

I think we can all say we have had a sweet tooth or two in our day. Hmm... ice cream, chocolate bars, cake, shakes... YUM! Sweet Tooth written by Margie Palatini is about a little boy named Stewart who had on heck of a sweet tooth. This sweet tooth ranted and raved begging Stewart for goodies. This sweet tooth often made inappropriate interruptions getting Stewart into trouble. One day, Stewart decides to stand strong against his sweet tooth and only eat healthy food. The tooth would tease and beg, but Stewart never gave in. When the sweet tooth distracted Stewart during his baseball game and caused him to strike out, it was his last straw. That was it! Stewart went home, found a carrot, and took care of that molar! Now that rotten tooth was in the tooth fairy's hands...

I really enjoyed the illustrations in this books. They were comical and entertaining. I like how Jack Davis, the illustrator, depicted the tooth as an angry fella using human characteristics. The tooth has eyes, hands, a nose, mouth, etc.

My favorite part of this story is how the Palatini gave the tooth the sarcastic, witty voice. I like how everything the tooth said was in bold and easy to distinguish. Sweet Tooth is cleverly written, humorous, quick-witted, and most of all entertaining.

If You Were A Penguin

If You Were a Penguin is written by Wendell and Florence Minor. This is a short and interactive book that tells about what penguins can do. Kids learn by the end of the book that penguins do many things that they do!

I really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. The pictures do a great job of matching the text and telling the story. My favorite illustration is on pages 4 and 5. It is such a vibrant illustration that uses various shades of beautiful blues.

One of my favorite parts of this book are the penguin fun facts located at the very end of the book. These are facts that would keep children engaged and entertained while learning. I would definitely use these facts in a classroom because these are interesting facts that would excite kids to learn!

Silly Billy

Silly Billy is written by Anthony Browne. This story is about a little boy named Billy. Billy worried about EVERYTHING. Nothing his mom and dad would say could calm his fears. One night when Billy was sleeping over at his grandma's he couldn't sleep. He finally went and told his grandma he was too worried to sleep. His grandma told Billy it was okay, because when she was his age she worried too. Billy's grandma had just the thing to to rid Billy of his worries. She gave Billy worry dolls. If you put the dolls under your pillow, they will worry for you. The worry dolls worked for a couple days, but Billy began to worry about the worry dolls. He didn't think it was fair to give them all his worries. Billy made worry dolls for the worry dolls. From then on, Billy and all the dolls were able to sleep well.

I thought this was a cute story. I remember as a child my sister and I had worry dolls, but I never knew what they were until I read this story. This is an informative book that can be used to teach children about the custom of using worry dolls. This would be an good book to use if you were teaching a lesson on Guatemala. On the very last page of the book, I like there is a brief history and explanation of the custom. The last page discusses how the custom of worry or "trouble" dolls originated in Guatemala and how children in Guatemala to this day depend on their dolls to rid them of their worries while they sleep.

D.W. the Picky Eater

D.W. the Picky Eater is written by Marc Brown. As Arthur and D.W. were helping Mother unpack groceries, D.W. complained about all the food saying she didn't like it even though she had never tried it before. D.W. wouldn't eat her food and made up excuses not to eat it. She wouldn't eat dinner at her friend Emily's because there was parsley on the spaghetti. When her family went out to dinner, D.W. made a scene and embarrassed her mom and dad throwing a tantrum about spinach being on her salad. D.W. was no longer allowed to go to dinner with her family; she would have to stay at home with a babysitter. When Arthur had an umbrella from a Chinese restaurant D.W. began to realize she was missing out. D.W. got to go out for dinner for Grandma Thoras birthday under one condition; she had to eat what was on the menu. D.W. ordered the Little Bo Peep Pot Pie. She tried the pot pie and really liked it. After she ate the pot pie, she told her mom she could eat it every night. D.W. asked the waiter how to make it, and D.W. could have died when he said you take pie pastry and fill it with lots and lots of spinach!

I think this book has a good theme that children can learn from. We have all made the mistake of judging something by its looks without giving it a try. This book teaches us to try new things and not to place judgement on something before giving it a chance, because you might be missing out on something truly enjoyable!

It's Not fair!

Have you ever heard the old saying, "Life's not fair!" Well, this is a book all about life not being fair. Why'd I get the smaller half? Why can't I have curly locks? Why don't you yell at her? Why does she get brand new shoes? IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!!

I thought this was a really cute book. I enjoyed the illustrations as they were necessary for understanding the story. For example, one page says "Why'd I get these funny feet? Why's she get the window seat? I always get the boring sheet. It's not fair." The illustration that matches this text is a picture of four babies in a nursery. One baby has funny looking feet; one is mad because he is stuck in the middle and wanted to be by the window; one has a plain white blanket while the other three have polka dotted sheets; and the other is perfectly happy! Without the illustration, I wouldn't have understood the setting, characters, or what they were referring to. Therefore, the illustrations are important for understanding the written text. My favorite part of the book is how it rhymes!

This book takes me back to my childhood and reminds me of my sister and I. "Why does she get to do that and I don't?" "Why can't I?" "Kristin got to..." "It's not fair!!!" I always hated that feeling when you knew something wasn't fair and you were the one disadvantaged. It is so frustrating!! After complaining and bickering, you always seem to get that same dreaded response, "Well, I am sorry Katie but life's not fair." AHHHH!! That response makes me cringe. It's like hearing nails on a chalkboard! I will let you in on a little secret. SHHH!! (I think parents have to use that line when they know they are being unfair and can't justify their reasoning. It drives me CRRAAAZZYYY!)

Mine

Mine is written and illustrated by Kevin Luthardt. This is a cleverly put together story about two brothers who receive one package in the mail from their grandmother. The package is labeled to Toby AND Marcus. The brothers, excited to open the package, imagine all the possibilities of what could possibly be in this big brown box. Could it be a football? Lollipop? Fire engine? Yo-yo? They open the package to see a toy dinosaur, but there is just one problem. There is only one dinosaur for two boys. So whose dinosaur is it? Toby and Marcus both think the dinosaur is just theirs. They argue pulling the dinosaur back and forth yelling, "Mine!" "Mine!" No MINE!" Yanking back and forth on the dinosaur, it rips. Their mother comes, takes the dinosaur, and sends the boys to their room for fighting. After their time out, their mother calls the boys down for lunch. The boys eat their lunch and finally agree that sharing the dinosaur is better than not having one at all.

I really enjoyed the book Mine. This book contains a total of four different words- mine, lunch, yours, and ours. Since the story only contains four words, the story is told through the illustrations. I think Luthardt did a great job of illustrating the story. I really like the characters' facial expressions as they alone told a lot of the story.

The first page of the book shows the mailman delivering the package to Marcus and Toby's house. The first time I read through the book I wondered who the package was from. I read the book again and realized that the story actually starts on the title page and the page before. I was so excited because I wouldn't have known to look at those pages before taking this course. The title page and the page before shows a picture of the boys' grandmother tying the package together getting it ready to be shipped to her grandsons. I told two of my friends to read the book. When they finished I asked them who the package was from and neither one knew. I think its interesting how we skip over these pages when in fact in some books a lot of the story can be told through the illustrations on these two pages!