Literature Collection EDU 337

 

Example Formatting

Our classroom libraries are packed with some pretty incredible books but have we covered all the genres in children's literature. If I asked you how many genres there are in children's literature, could you name them. How would you like me to make it easier for you? There are (8) different genres in children's literature. I will describe each of them and give you some pretty amazing books to add to your classroom libraries. These will include picture books, chapter books, poetry and prose as well as some multicultural books. Basically, you want to have books that your children can relate to and that will allow them to kindle their love and passion for reading. 

I will also share some lesson extension (motivational activities) for each book along with open-ended questions to spark the reader's comprehension about the text. 

Non-Fiction - Informational books that explain, describe, or inform about a subject or concept using facts about the real world (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13). 

Title: Moonshot: The Flight of the Apollo 11

Author: Brian Floca

Illustrator: Brian Floca

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Title: Locomotive

Author: Brian Floca

Illustrator: Brian Floca

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

 

Folklore - Traditional stories, myths, legends, nursery rhymes, and songs from the past (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13).  (books for middle schoolers)

Title: The Girl who Drank the Moon

Author:

Illustrator:

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Title: Fry Bread 

Author: Kevin Noble Maillard

Illustrator: Juana Martinez-Neal

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Fantasy - Stories set in places that do not exist, about people and creatures that could not exist or events that could not happen (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13). 

Title: The Colour Monster

Author: Anna Llenas

Illustrator: Ann Llenas

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Title: Gustavo the Shy Ghost

Author: Flavia Z. Drago

Illustrator: Flavia Z. Drago

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Science Fiction - Based on extending physical laws and scientific principles to their logical outcomes, usually futuristic (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13). 

Title: Dragon Pearl

Author: Yoon Ha Lee

Cover Illustrator: ViVienne To

The Dragon Pearl has thirty-eight chapters. It is considered an American Science fiction Novel. Min is the main character of the story who just happens to be a teenage fox spirit. Min ends up running away from her home that is over crowded with family members. She leaves to solve the mystery of what happen to her older brother, Jun. Min ends up befriending a dragon and a goblin who were disguised as humans on the ship in which she was traveling on. She soon realizes that she is getting closer and closer to the Ghost Sector. In the end, she actually saves her planet. 

Open-ended Questions:

What happened to Jun?

Why s Min called a fox spirit?

What does the cover lead you to believe about the book?

How does Min save her planet?

Do you think the dragon and goblin are her true allies? 

Motivational Activities:

Create your own Science Fiction Novel

Create an alternate ending where Min does not save her planet. What happens now?

Contemporary Realistic Fiction - Stories could happen in the real world; characters seem real; contemporary setting (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13). 

Title: I Am Enough

Author: Grace Byers

Illustrator: Keturah A Bohbo

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Title: Outside In

Author: Deborah Underwood

Illustrator: Cindy Derby

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Historical Fiction - Stories reconstruct life in the past, using realistic actual or fictional characters, events, and historical setting (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13). 

Title: One Crazy Summer

Author: Rita Williams-Garcia

Illustrator: N/A

Open-ended Questions:

Motivational Activities:

Biography/Memoir - An account of a person's life, or part of a life history someone else or the person- or himself (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13). 

Title: I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark

Author: Debbie Levey

Illustrator: Elizabeth Baddeley

This amazing book about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the first picture book written about her life. In this story, you will learn that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent her whole life disagreeing. She has strongly disagreed with inequality, unfair treatment, and has stood up for people's right's everywhere. Ruth lost her mother around the time she was supposed to be graduation from high school. She eventually met her husband and had a baby. She went to college and struggled to find a job. She was finally hired by a judge and she work hard to work her way into a man's world. You can actually feel the story and understand why Ruth was so disagreeable. 

In this book, you will discover that the illustrator Elizabeth Baddeley created fantastic illustrations that allows the story to come to life. She drew the characters amongst words and in different settings such as a library to show how much Ruth loved to read. This type of illustration pulls the reader into each page. It is almost as if we are in the library with her. Illustrations have a way of setting the stage for the setting of the story or to convey a feeling or an emotion. 

Open-ended Questions

What were boys expected to do when they went out into the world?

What were girls expected to do when they went out into the world?

Where do you think Ruth's disagreeable attitude and belief system came from?

How many American presidents were mentioned in the story?

Motivational Activities

Write a journal entry about a time that you disagreed with something or someone. Describe how you handled the situation. What was the outcome?

Create a poster board that has a law that you would create to help everyone be treated as equals. Explain how you would rally people to back your law. 

Poetry and Verse - Condensed language, expression of imaginative thoughts and perceptions, often containing rhythm and other devices of sound, imagery, figurative language (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 13). 

Title: Love That Dog

Author: Sharon Creech 

Love that dog was originally published in 2001 by Sharon Creech. This free verse is written in the style of a diary from the perspective of a young boy who rejects the idea of writing poetry assignments for his teacher. He begins to write his poetic story as a way to explain why he does not want to write poetry. He explains how he doesn't understand the poetry that they read together in class. Defining poetry is perhaps the most difficult thing about poetry (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 350). He begins to write some interesting pieces in his poetry diary. They end up being placed on display for the whole class to see with one exception they are anonymous.  This book was listed on the New York Times Best Seller list. It contains multiple short chapters that shoes Jack's growth as a writer from short defiant sentences to well structured free verse. 

Open-ended Questions

Why do you think Jack's is refusing to write poetry for his teacher?

How could Jack's teacher help him through his frustration?

If Jack keeps writing, do you think he will become more confident in writing poetry?

Who writes poetry?

What was speeding down the road?

What sounded good in his ears?

Where is the blue car?

Motivational Activities: 

Poetic Devices Scavenger For this activity I have provided a link to the Scholastic website. Your students will become a poetry detective. I could just imagine the students being dressed up in Sherlock Homes costumes with magnifying glasses in hand. They will need to crack the code of poetry used to capture the readers attention. 

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sponsored-content/officedepotholidays/17-18/poetic-devices-scavenger-hunt/ 

Poetry activity: Reading poetry everyday can spark creativity in your students. In the style of the book, Love that Dog by Sharon Creech I would create Poem Diary's for all the students. They could decorate the covers in the Makerspace using creativity and self expression to make them their own. Then each day at the beginning of the day students would hear a poem using techniques such as alliteration, assonance, connotation, consonance, denotation, imagery, metaphor, meter, onomatopoeia, personification, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, simile, and symbol (Galda, Liang, & Cullinan, 2017 p. 357). 

References

Barnhill, K. (2019). The Girl Who Drank the Moon (Winner of the 2017 Newbery Medal) (Reprint ed.). Algonquin Young Readers.

Creech. (2021). Love That Dog (01) by Creech, Sharon [Paperback (2001)]. Harpers, Paperback(2001).

Drago, F. Z. (2020). Gustavo, the Shy Ghost (Illustrated ed.). Candlewick.

Floca, B. (2013). Locomotive (Caldecott Medal Book) (Illustrated ed.). Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books.

Floca, B. (2019). Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover)) (Expanded ed.). Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books.

Galda, L., Liang, L., & Cullinan, B. (2017) Literature and the Child, 9th edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-60239-2

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia(1989–01-01). (2021). Amistad.

Levy, D., & Baddeley, E. (2016). I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark (Illustrated ed.). Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Llenas, A. (2018). The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions (Illustrated ed.). Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Maillard, N. K., & Martinez-Neal, J. (2019). Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (Illustrated ed.). Roaring Brook Press.