"Hakuna Matata" courtesy of the Disney Midi Page The Children's Literature Nook Presents The Top 100 Children's Books: Language Arts What follows is an annotated bibliography suggesting some of the best books to use within your language arts instruction. I have read all of the books listed so they do come highly recommended by me. If you know of a great book not included on this page-just e-mail me with your suggestion. The Best Alphabet Books Grammar/Parts of Speech Bender, Robert. The A to Z Beastly Jamboree. Lodestar, 1996. An alphabet book with cut-paper collages depicting the mishaps that befall the word "it". Bossom, Naomi. A Scale Full of Fish and Other Turnabouts Concepts: Word Turnabouts: words that can be nouns and verbs. Paired statements on facing pages play at word "turnabouts"; ie "ring in a box"; "box in a ring". Heller, Ruth. A Cache of Jewels. Grosset & Dunlap, 1989. A book on collective nouns. Heller, Ruth. Behind the Mask: A Book About Prepositions. Grosset & Dunlap, 1995. "Of prepostions have no fear. In phrases only they appear." Heller regales us with a wide-ranging descriptive poem, accompanied by colorful paintings explaining the ins and outs of prepositions. Heller, Ruth. Kites Sail High. Grosset & Dunlap, 1988. A book on adjectives Heller, Ruth. Many Luscious Lollipops. Grosset & Dunlap, 1989. A book on adjectives. Heller, Ruth. Merry-Go_Round. Grosset & Dunlap, 1989. A book on nouns. Heller, Ruth. Up, Up and Away: A Book About Adverbs Schneider, R.M. Add It, Dip It, Fix It: A Book of Verbs Houghton Mifflin, 1995. A book on action verbs. Books On the Wonder and Importance of Reading Bunting, Eve. The Wednesday Surprise. Cleary, Beverly. Emily's Runaway Imagination. Audience: Grades 4-6 Set in the early years of this century, this is the story of an adventurous young girl who decides her hometown needs a library-and she is the one to make it happen! Dahl, Roald. Matilda. Audience: Grades 4-6 Meet Matilda, book lover and child genius. When she decides to match wits with school headmistress Miss Trunchbull get ready for lots of laughs! Gilliland, Judith Heide and Heide, Florence Parry. The Day of Ahmed's Secret A young boy in Cairo learns to write his own name and asks readers to explain why reading makes a difference in their lives. The Beauty of Language and Imagination Juster, Norton. The Phantom Tollbooth. Audience: Intermediate The story of a bored little boy who becomes adventurous when he drives his toy car through a magic tollbooth to a cartoon wonderland beyond his imagination. The fantasy follows Milo and his dog, Tock, as they encounter letters and numbers at war, defeat demons from the "Mountains of Ignorance", and attempt to restore "Rhyme and Reason" to the land. Saint Exupery, Antoine de. The Little Prince. Audience: Grades 4-8 A mystic fantasy. Writing Myers, Walter Dean. Darnell Rock Reporting. Audience: Grades4-6 A funny and uplifting story of an African-American troublemaker who discovers the power of words when he joins the school newspaper staff. Turkle, Brinton. Do Not Open. Miss Moody loved to find wonderful surprises on the beach. She and her cat were not prepared to find the purple bottle and its monstrous contents. Creative Writing:Have students write a description of what they believe is in the bottle. Stop at the point in the book before the contents are revealed. After completing the book, students should illustrate their descriptions. Zhitkov, Boris. How I Hunted the Little People. This story has an unconventional ending! Creative Writing: Have students write an ending to the story. Journal Writing Blos, Joan W. A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal. Audience: Grades 5-6 The charming diary of a 13-year-old girl's coming of age in 1830's New Hampshire; an authentic and captivating look at the hardships and the joys of pioneer life. Blos, Joan W. Brooklyn Doesn't Rhyme. Audience: Grades 4-6 Award-winning author, Blos, paints a heartwarming picture of Jewish life in turn-of-the-century New York in thsi funnt, touching story of an 11-year-old girl who keeps a journal of the daily events in her boisterous Brooklyn neighborhood. Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw. Leigh writes to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw. He also keeps a journal. Through his writing, Leigh finds his own place in the world. Cushman, Karen. Catherine, Called Birdy. Audience: Grades6-8 Winner of the Newbery Honor Award In 1290, 14-year-old Catherine begins a diary that quickly fills with the irrepressible joys and frustrations of her life. Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy. Harriet, who dreams of becoming a writer, writes everything in her notebook-even mean things about her classmates! Poor Harriet-her friends get a hold of her notebook. Frank, Anne. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Spelling/Word Study Hanson, Joan. Sound Words: Jingle, Buzz, Sizzle, Concepts: onomatopoeia, rhythm, musical rouns Parish, Peggy. Come Back, Amelia Bedelia. Concepts: homonyms; idioms; literal word-meanings A lovable, literal-minded maid does exactly what she's told, taking her directions literally. Gwynne, Fred. Chocolate Moose for Dinner Concepts: Figures of speech. Gwynne, Fred. The King Who Rained. concepts: literal word meanings Schwartz, Alvin. The Cat's Elbow and Other Secret Languages. Please email Jeanne at: abc123@powernet.net for any ideas, suggestions, or questions. Return to the Children's Literature Home Page Join my Four Seasons Reading Club! Credits: Thanks to KC at Enchanted Forest Graphics for designing the book club award! Icons Courtesy of:The Graphic Station Body Background courtesy of: This page hosted by
"Hakuna Matata" courtesy of the Disney Midi Page
What follows is an annotated bibliography suggesting some of the best books to use within your language arts instruction. I have read all of the books listed so they do come highly recommended by me. If you know of a great book not included on this page-just e-mail me with your suggestion.
Bender, Robert. The A to Z Beastly Jamboree. Lodestar, 1996. An alphabet book with cut-paper collages depicting the mishaps that befall the word "it".
Bossom, Naomi. A Scale Full of Fish and Other Turnabouts Concepts: Word Turnabouts: words that can be nouns and verbs. Paired statements on facing pages play at word "turnabouts"; ie "ring in a box"; "box in a ring".
Heller, Ruth. A Cache of Jewels. Grosset & Dunlap, 1989. A book on collective nouns.
Heller, Ruth. Behind the Mask: A Book About Prepositions. Grosset & Dunlap, 1995. "Of prepostions have no fear. In phrases only they appear." Heller regales us with a wide-ranging descriptive poem, accompanied by colorful paintings explaining the ins and outs of prepositions.
Heller, Ruth. Kites Sail High. Grosset & Dunlap, 1988. A book on adjectives
Heller, Ruth. Many Luscious Lollipops. Grosset & Dunlap, 1989. A book on adjectives.
Heller, Ruth. Merry-Go_Round. Grosset & Dunlap, 1989. A book on nouns.
Heller, Ruth. Up, Up and Away: A Book About Adverbs
Schneider, R.M. Add It, Dip It, Fix It: A Book of Verbs Houghton Mifflin, 1995. A book on action verbs.
Bunting, Eve. The Wednesday Surprise.
Cleary, Beverly. Emily's Runaway Imagination. Audience: Grades 4-6 Set in the early years of this century, this is the story of an adventurous young girl who decides her hometown needs a library-and she is the one to make it happen!
Dahl, Roald. Matilda. Audience: Grades 4-6 Meet Matilda, book lover and child genius. When she decides to match wits with school headmistress Miss Trunchbull get ready for lots of laughs!
Gilliland, Judith Heide and Heide, Florence Parry. The Day of Ahmed's Secret A young boy in Cairo learns to write his own name and asks readers to explain why reading makes a difference in their lives.
Juster, Norton. The Phantom Tollbooth. Audience: Intermediate
The story of a bored little boy who becomes adventurous when he drives his toy car through a magic tollbooth to a cartoon wonderland beyond his imagination. The fantasy follows Milo and his dog, Tock, as they encounter letters and numbers at war, defeat demons from the "Mountains of Ignorance", and attempt to restore "Rhyme and Reason" to the land.
Saint Exupery, Antoine de. The Little Prince. Audience: Grades 4-8
A mystic fantasy.
Myers, Walter Dean. Darnell Rock Reporting. Audience: Grades4-6 A funny and uplifting story of an African-American troublemaker who discovers the power of words when he joins the school newspaper staff.
Turkle, Brinton. Do Not Open. Miss Moody loved to find wonderful surprises on the beach. She and her cat were not prepared to find the purple bottle and its monstrous contents. Creative Writing:Have students write a description of what they believe is in the bottle. Stop at the point in the book before the contents are revealed. After completing the book, students should illustrate their descriptions.
Zhitkov, Boris. How I Hunted the Little People. This story has an unconventional ending! Creative Writing: Have students write an ending to the story.
Blos, Joan W. A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal. Audience: Grades 5-6 The charming diary of a 13-year-old girl's coming of age in 1830's New Hampshire; an authentic and captivating look at the hardships and the joys of pioneer life.
Blos, Joan W. Brooklyn Doesn't Rhyme. Audience: Grades 4-6 Award-winning author, Blos, paints a heartwarming picture of Jewish life in turn-of-the-century New York in thsi funnt, touching story of an 11-year-old girl who keeps a journal of the daily events in her boisterous Brooklyn neighborhood.
Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw. Leigh writes to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw. He also keeps a journal. Through his writing, Leigh finds his own place in the world.
Cushman, Karen. Catherine, Called Birdy. Audience: Grades6-8 Winner of the Newbery Honor Award In 1290, 14-year-old Catherine begins a diary that quickly fills with the irrepressible joys and frustrations of her life. Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy. Harriet, who dreams of becoming a writer, writes everything in her notebook-even mean things about her classmates! Poor Harriet-her friends get a hold of her notebook.
Frank, Anne. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.
Hanson, Joan. Sound Words: Jingle, Buzz, Sizzle, Concepts: onomatopoeia, rhythm, musical rouns
Parish, Peggy. Come Back, Amelia Bedelia. Concepts: homonyms; idioms; literal word-meanings A lovable, literal-minded maid does exactly what she's told, taking her directions literally.
Gwynne, Fred. Chocolate Moose for Dinner Concepts: Figures of speech.
Gwynne, Fred. The King Who Rained. concepts: literal word meanings
Schwartz, Alvin. The Cat's Elbow and Other Secret Languages.
Please email Jeanne at: abc123@powernet.net for any ideas, suggestions, or questions.
Return to the Children's Literature Home Page
Join my Four Seasons Reading Club!
Credits:
Thanks to KC at Enchanted Forest Graphics for designing the book club award!
Icons Courtesy of:The Graphic Station
Body Background courtesy of:
This page hosted by
