 Alphabet Adventure By Audrey Wood, Illustrated by Bruce Wood Scholastic Inc, 2001
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Summary: This is a story about Charley’s alphabet getting ready for their first day at school. However, on the way to school, little i trips and falls in the river. The other letters save little i, but in the process her dot has gone missing. The alphabet, with help from the teacher, Capital T, try to find little i’s dot. The alphabet looks all over, and tries with help from the Capital letters to find the dot. When they are about to lose hope and face the realization they will never be able to go to school, Capital I steps in with a plan. Little i is supposed to try to find a replacement for her dot and just when she finds one, the dot comes out of hiding, explaining that she just wanted to play hide and seek. The lowercase alphabet makes it just in time to help Charley learn his alphabet. Recommendation for Parents: This is a great book for children. It is not a book for children beginning to learn their abc’s because it is not the traditional version of a is for apple, b is for ball, etc. However, for kindergarten and first graders, it is a perfect way to have children think of the alphabet in a new way. Also, the children will love looking for little i’s dot in each of the pages. This is a great adventure book that uses imagination. Recommendation for Teachers: This book is great for identifying letters. It highlights the letters in the names of the letters with a bolded red font. It is also a different way to introduce the alphabet to your students. This book would be great to start out with and then discuss how we use letters to make words and how there are both capital and lowercase letters. Also, it shows how letters can come alive, not just in the literal sense of the book where they are talking, but also in our writing. Personal Note: This is one of my favorite alphabet books because it is unlike the traditional ways of alphabet books. Also, my students loved the book and were waiting to see what would happen to little i and her dot. This author also has other alphabet adventure books. In another book, little x goes missing and the story is about why little x ran away and how much we use each letter in the alphabet. Alphabet Adventure is a great book to entertain and educate students! |
 My Very Own Room/ Mi Propio Cuartito By Amada Irma Perez, Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez Children's Book Press, 2000 |
Summary: This story is about a girl’s struggle to find her own space. She lives with her five brothers and parents in a two bedroom house and she is tired of having to share space with her brothers. She searches for her own space and finds it, but it is the storage area. She convinces her parents to let her have the area and move the storage area somewhere else. She makes the space her own, complete with a bed, fresh paint, and a brand new lamp. Recommendation for Parents: This is a great book. It is especially good for students who are learning Spanish and the parents are English speakers. It is nice because the parents can still ask comprehension questions while their children are practicing their Spanish. This book also shows family support and working together to complete a project. Recommendation for Teachers: This is a good book that teaches cultural diversity. Not only is the story in both Spanish and English, it also shows the diversity in the ways people live. Having the story in both Spanish and English, the students who are bilingual can read in either language and it can help their literacy in both languages. This is a very cute book. While I am not bilingual, I liked how the book is written in both Spanish and English. This can help with understanding what is being written. Even for those who are not fluent in another language, they can appreciate the other language and how it is written. I also feel it gives the book some authenticity because the story is an autobiography and Spanish is the author’s native language. |