Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon Written by Patty Lovell and Illustrated by David Catrow

Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon

Written by Patty Lovell

Illustrated by David Catrow

Grades: Pre-K -3










Awards: 

• Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book (2002)

• Wyoming Buckaroo Nominee (2003-2004)

• Georgia Children's Book Award (2003.1|Picturebook, 2003-2003)

• AISLE Read-Aloud Books Too Good To Miss (2002.1|Primary, 2002)

• Florida Reading Association Children’s Book Award (2003.2|Honor, 2003)

• Utah Beehive Book Award (2003.4|Children's Picture, 2003)

• Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award (2004.2|Honor, 2003-2004)

• Utah Beehive Book Award Nominee (2003.4|Winner Children's Picture, 2003)

Molly Lou Melon is different. She stands out because she is short, has buck teeth and can't sing. She has huge insect-like eyes and a voice sounds like a boa constrictor is wrapped around her throat. Her grandma encourages her to take pride in her flaws. Everything is good for Molly Lou Melon until she moves to a new town away from her grandma and friends. She goes to a new school and a boy, Ronald Durkin begins to make fun of her. Ronald Durkin taunts Molly Lou Melon in the dull-witted but sharp-edged manner of career bullies, calling her "shrimpo" and "bucky-toothed beaver". He tries to make Molly Lou Melon look like a fool but, she manages to befriend the other children. Ronald Durkin ends up looking like a fool instead. In the end, she wins over Ronald Durkin and everything is okay. 

The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew Novels: Girl Detective Volume #1) Written by Sean Petrucha and Illustrated by: Sho Murase

The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew Graphic Novels: Girl Detective Volume #1)

Written by: Stefan Petrucha

Illustrated by: Sho Murase

Grades: 3 and up

Awards: CBC Graphic Novels for Young Readers

These Graphic Novels are based on the original Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene. Nancy, along with Bess, George, and other friends, are making a movie in the woods. When the girls leave for dinner, they are expecting the boys to come after cleaning up the film equipment. The boys never show. They go searching for the missing student filmmakers and discover the deadly secret behind the local urban legend known as "The Demon of River Heights." Nancy and her friends go on a quest to find them, and discover something even bigger going on in the old-abandoned mines. 

The Velveteen Rabbit Written by Margery Williams Bianco and Illustrated by Monique Felix

The Velveteen Rabbit

Written by Margery Williams Bianco

Illustrated by Monique Felix

Grades: Pre-k - 2nd
Awards:
Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1971)

A stuffed toy rabbit with real thread whiskers and pink satin ears,  comes to life. Given as a Christmas gift to a young boy, the Rabbit lives in the nursery with all of the other toys, waiting for the day when the Boy will choose him as a playmate. In time, the shy Rabbit befriends the tattered Skin Horse, the wisest resident of the nursery, who reveals the goal of all nursery toys: to be made "real" through the love of a human. "'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'" The boy does love the rabbit and he soon looses his nice plump stuffed body and his pink ears fade. Will the rabbit become real?

This is a wonderful story of love between a child and his toys. Every child feels their toys are real. This will let them continue to question that and understand how the animals feel as well. 

Where is Baby's Belly Button? Written and Illustrated by Karen Katz

Where is Baby's Belly Button?

Written and Illustrated by Karen Katz

Ages: 3mths-2yrs. 

Where is the Baby's Belly Button is a simple board book that teaches body parts to children. This peek-a-boo book with flaps is constructed of cardboard with heavy card stock for the flaps. The images are brightly colored and the text appears on the left side of the book. The writing consists of short, four or five word sentences, such as, "Where are baby's eyes?" The reader lifts the flap and it says, "Under the hat." The picture shows a baby hiding under a hat, and when the flap is lifted the baby's face is revealed. She is pointing to her eyes. My son received this book as a gift when he was a baby and he loved having it read to him. 

The Tale of Three Trees A Traditional Folktale retold by Angela Elwell Hunt and Illustrated by Tim Jonke

The Tale of Three Trees

A Traditional Folktale 

Retold by Angela Elwell Hunt

Illustrated by Tim Jonke

Grades: K-7

The Tale of Three Trees tells the Easter story from the viewpoint of 3 trees. It is an unusual point of view. The trees have big dreams for their life but, they think those dreams are ruined when they are chopped down. The carpenter does not make them into what they want to be, but in the end they did become what they wanted. It tells the significance of Christ’s life and his atoning sacrifice on the cross.

This book could only be used in a Christian Classroom. It is a Christ centered book that tells the story of Jesus from birth to resurrection. 

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Out of the Dust

Written by Karen Hesse

Grades: 3-7

Awards:

Newbery Medal (1998), Scott O'Dell Award (1998), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (1999)





Out of the Dust is told by it's main character Billy Jo. Billy Jo is a 14 year old girl growing up in Oklahoma during the dust bowl. Her father wanted a boy but, got her instead. That is why she has a boy name. Billy Jo also plays the piano very well. Her mom has become pregnant again after years of trying. The farm's wheat crop has not done well because of the dust. Her father places the bucket of kerosene by the stove which her mother mistakes for water. Trying to help her mother Billy Jo goes to throw the fiery bucket out the door and hits her mother. Billy Jo then burns hers hands trying to help put the fire out on her mother. Billy Jo's mother is severely burned and goes into labor. Her mother dies soon after having a baby boy. The baby dies not long after. Billy Jo's father goes into a deep depression. Billy Jo is also upset and blames herself. Her hands are ruined and she feels she will never play the piano again. Life for Billy Jo and her father gets harder as the gap between them grows. The dust just rises higher and blows harder. When they think the dust is going to stop a bigger storm comes. Billy Jo finally decides to leave and hops on a box car to go to California. Everyone is heading to California for a better life. In Arizona she meets a man who has left his family too. He makes Billy Jo realize how much she misses her father and how they should stay together because of the things they have been through. Billy Jo heads home. She and her father start to mend their relationship. Her father has even found a girlfriend. Life starts to get better. Billy Jo even starts to play the piano again.   

This book can be used to teach about perseverance during hard times. It can teach about the dust bowl and how hard it was for families. It can show how to much of a good thing can be bad sometimes. 

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Written by Patricia MacLachlan

Grades: 1-5

Awards:

• Newbery Medal (1986), 
• Scott O'Dell Award (1986), 
• Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee (1988), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (1987), 
• Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (1987)
• The Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature Honor (1986)

Sarah, Plain and Tall is about a Jacob Witting and his family who live on the Prairie. They need of a mother. Anna and Caleb want a new mother who can make their father sing again. He quit singing when their mother died after Caleb was born. Jacob tells them he has written to Sarah who is in need of a new home for her and her cat, Seal. She will come for one month to see if she fits in. When she arrives from Maine the children want her to stay and like it there. Caleb talks to her nonstop. She misses the sea a lot and does drawings of it but, is missing colors. Neighbors come by and Sarah meets Maggie who is a mail order bride from Tennessee. Maggie encourages Sarah to learn to drive the team of horses and gives her plants to start a garden. When Sarah learns to drive the wagon she decides to go into town. This worries everyone. They do not know if she will come back to the farm or go back east. She does come back to the farm. Sarah has the missing colors for the sea pictures. She also tells them she would miss them more than she misses the sea if she left. Jacob and Sarah do get married and they become a family. 

This can be used in the classroom to teach the students about life on the prairie. It can also be used to compare and contrast the difference between the east coast of the United States and the people living in the west.