Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Author/Illustrator: Caralyn and Mark Buehner
Genre: Traditional Literature
Awards: N/A
Grade level: PK-2

This book is the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The three bears go on a walk, and while they are gone Goldilocks intrudes into their house. Goldilocks tests all of the bears belongings, such as their porridge and seems to always like the little bear's the best. The bears come home to find Goldilocks in there home.

The illustrations for this classic tale are colorful and playful images. The illustrations are done solely by Mark Buehner. He really brings out the expressions of each character and gives them personality which brings more life to the story.

This book is a great read for children from preschool age to around second grade. This book can be used to introduce traditional literature, folktales, or fables. It would be fun to do an activity such as a drama presentation with this book.

Sarah, Plain and Tall / Patricia MacLachlan / Historical Fiction

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Author/Illustrator: Patricia MacLachlan
Genre: Historical Fiction, novel
Awards: Newbery Winner
Grade level: 3-5
Anna and Caleb are siblings who lost their mother the day after Caleb was born.They live with their father, on a prairie. They all miss the mother deeply, but become excited when they see an ad in the paper for a woman to marry their dad and become their mother, a woman named Sarah. They all write her letters, and she decides to come for a visit. They can tell she loves the sea in Maine where she is from, so they are not sure she will like the prairie. She comes and fits right in with the family. They all love her. Sarah misses the sea and her brother, but decides she would miss this family even more. She tells Jacob that she wants to marry him, become part of the family, and start a life together. 

The illustrations for this novel only include the cover. Inside the book is only text. The outside cover is a painting that depicts a simplistic olden life. The people appear to be from a different era. They are wearing early 1900s clothes and the house pictured seems to be from the same era.

This book is a great read for children in grades 3-5 because it shows family life in such a simplistic way. It shows a family's tough loss and their yearning for a mother and wife figure in their lives. This can be a hard topic for younger children.

When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry... / Molly Bang / Caldecott

When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry...

Author/Illustrator: Molly Bang
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: Caldecott Honor
Grade level: PK-1

Sophie's sister snatched a toy away from her. Sophie got really upset so she went outside to calm down. She climbed a tree and feels comfort from the world around her. She climbs down and decides to go to back home. Everyone is glad she's home, and Sophie does not feel angry anymore.

The illustrations in this Caldecott Honor book are colorful paintings that express feelings of action packed emotion. There are illustrations depicting Sophie smashing, roaring, and exploding with anger and later crying. As Sophie explores outside, the natural scenery around her grows and grows and she becomes more and more calm. The images of nature are very soothing.

This book is great to read to preschoolers through 1st grade because it has exciting images of emotion that they can relate to. The book expresses many feelings that they feel often and tend to not know how to handle. This book shows them through Sophie's experience that their family will always be there welcoming them home even after they get angry.

The Foot Book / Dr. Seuss / Modern Fantasy

The Foot Book

by Dr. Seuss

Genre: Modern Fantasy
Awards: N/A
Grade level: Pre-K - K

This book is for bright and early beginning readers. The rhyming words help readers get the sense of phonemes, which is the beginning of learning to read. It also demonstrates the concept of opposites throughout the book with illustrations of different types of feet. It also contains lots of repetition in order for even the newest reader to be able to read it using the imagery and rhyming and repetitive texts.

The illustrations in this book of poetry show readers depictions of opposites through different types of feet. The book contains Dr. Seuss's classic characters, which are iconic and loved by children.


This book is great to read to preschoolers through kindergarten since this is mostly when they are beginning to read and using pictures, rhyming, and repetitive texts to guide them. It is a fun and silly read that young readers would thoroughly enjoy while learning to become readers. 

101 Dalmatians / Dodie Smith / Modern Fantasy

101 Dalmatians

Based on the book by Dodie Smith
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Awards: N/A
Grade level: K-2

Pongo and Perdita are two dalmatians that discover they are going to have 15 puppies. Suddenly in came Cruella De Vil who wanted to buy all of the puppies. The owners, Roger and Anita, would not sale them to her. Cruella was very angry so she hired two men to steal the puppies. When Pongo and Perdita found their puppies were stolen, they decided to try a bark that would let their friends know they needed help. They message was passed from dog to dog until finally a couple of dogs found the pups, but not only the fifteen were stolen. There were ninety-nine dalmatian puppies. Cruella was planning on making fur coats out of them. Pongo and Perdita went to save all of the pups. The kidnappers tried to follow them, but the dogs got creative and covered themselves in soot so they would not look like dalmatians and finally made it home safe. Then there were 101 dalmatians. 

The illustrations in this modern fantasy are very well-known. 101 Dalmatians is a Disney classic and a cartoon favorite. The images are action packed in this suspenseful story. 

This book is great to read to kindergarten through second grade because it is such a well-known story. It's a classic, and a fan favorite of children this age. This book uses a variety of capturing vocabulary, quotations, and life situations that will advance the readers' skills. It contains thrilling action verbs and suspenseful text that will keep readers of this age on the edge of their seats. 

The Little Mermaid / Michael Teitelbaum / Traditional Literature

The Little Mermaid

Adapted by Michael Teitelbaum
Genre: Traditional Literature
Awards: N/A
Grade level: 1-3

Ariel is a mermaid princess whose father is Triton, king of the sea. Ariel loved the world outside of the sea, and always dreamed of being human. She fell in love with a human prince and made a deal with a witch to become a human. In the end, her father helps her get out of the witch's curse and she lives happily ever after with the prince. This work is originally written by Hans Christian Andersen.

The illustrations in this work of traditional literature are iconic. The little mermaid is one of the most famous cartoon characters of all time. The illustrations depict a beautiful and colorful life under the sea. 

This book is great to read to first grade through third grade because it is such a well-known story. It's a classic, and a fan favorite of children this age. This book uses a variety of capturing vocabulary, quotations, and life situations that will advance the readers' skills. This book is more appropriate for older ages since it is dealing with situations that are more relevant to this age group such as parent/child and male/female relationships.

A Trip to the City / Playmore Inc. Staff / Pop-Up

A Trip to the City

Author/Illustrator: Playmore Inc. Staff
Genre: Pop-up
Awards: N/A
Grade level: PK-K

A family of two children, a mom, a dad, a dog, and a cat all decide to take a day trip to the city. They visited a park, a museum, the tallest building in town, and a ball game. Then they traveled back home, but knew they would soon return. This was also a rhyming book as well as a pop-up.

The illustrations in this pop-up book were very exciting. The book appeared to be in 3-D because the closer things in the pictures seemed to be, the more it popped out at the reader. The illustrations of the characters were similar to that of cartoon dolls.

This book is great to read to preschoolers or kindergartners because it has exciting images that pop out at them. It uses rhyming words that will help students develop phonemic awareness. Rhyming also causes children to be able to predict the texts because they know that it should rhyme with the sentence before.

Leaf Trouble / Jonathan Emmett / Modern Fantasy

Leaf Trouble

Author/Illustrator: Jonathan Emmett
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Awards: N/A
Grade level: PK-1

Autumn was arriving, when a little squirrel named Pip noticed a change in his home, an old Oak tree. He was so surprised to see all of the leaves of the tree on the ground. He also found that the leaves had changed colors. He tries to get his sister, Blossom, to help him stop the leaves from falling and stick them back to the branches. Mom Squirrel came home to find her children trying to put the leaves back on the trees. She explained that the tree has to lose its leaves because it gets very tired from holding them all summer, but during the spring they come back.

The illustrations in this modern fantasy children's book are colorful drawings that create an autumn feel by using all warm colors. These colors can often be seen realistically in the fall season.

This book would be of great use in a classroom for Pre-K through 1st grade because at this age students are learning about seasons, leaves changing colors, and the loss and gain of leaves. This book explains the season of autumn along with the season of spring, when trees regain their leaves.

The Dot / Peter H. Reynolds / Realistic Fiction

The Dot

Author/Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: N/A
Grade level: PK-1

A little girl named Vashti is convinced that she cannot draw. Her art teacher encourages her to express herself any way she can. To prove she cannot draw, she presses a single dot onto the blank page. Then her teacher asks her to sign it. The next week, Vashti is utterly surprised to find her dot framed above the teacher's desk. This causes her to realize that she can make a better dot than that. She begins drawing beautiful, colorful dots and realizes that she is an artist. Later, she finds a boy who believes he cannot draw a straight line, which leads to a whole new journey.

The illustrations in this realistic fiction picturebook are simple, colorful watercolor paintings behind black single-lined, almost stick-figured people. This makes for fun pictures because it causes Vashti's artwork to really pop out.

This book would be of great use in a classroom for Pre-K through 1st grade because at this age students need to feel important and confident in their creativity. This is a story that students of this age can relate to because they label creativity by ability, and this book shows the opposite. It encourages students to think outside of the box and make their mark.

Peter's Chair / Ezra Jack Keats / Realistic Fiction

Peter's Chair


Author/illustrator: Ezra Jack Keats
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: N/A
Grade level: PK-1

A little boy gets a new baby sister. He notices that his parents are starting to refurnish all of his boy furniture into baby girl furniture by painting everything pink. He does not like this at all. He finally notices that they have not touched his old chair, so he decides to hide it. He tries to sit in his chair for the first time in a while and finds that he is too big for his little chair. Because of this, he decides it would be okay to give his chair to his baby sister and help his parents paint it pink.

The illustrations in this picturebook are very well done. They appear to resemble cartoons. Everything looks realistic and colorful.

This book would be of great use in a classroom for Pre-K through 1st grade because at this age students might be able to relate to Peter's story of getting a new baby in the house. This situation can be difficult for children of this age to cope with because they often feel like the new baby gains all of the attention. This books shows them that it's okay to grow up and not be the baby anymore.

In the Small, Small Pond/ Fleming, Denise/ Caldecott

In the Small, Small Pond


Author/illustrator: Denise Fleming
Genre: poetry
Awards: Caldecott Honor
Grade level: PK-1

A little boy goes to a small pond. He sees lots of pond creatures moving around in their environment. The book includes the noises and sounds the animals made as they were moving around. The texts rhyme to describe the animals movements in and around the pond as the season changes from spring to autumn. It shows what the animals do and where they go as the seasons change.

The illustrations in this picturebook are wonderful paintings with vivid images of animals in their environment. The illustrator did amazing work by capturing the animals in movement.

This book would be of great use in a classroom for Pre-K through 1st grade because at this age students need repetitive texts and rhyming words to help them read. They can also use the illustrations to help them with context clues on what the texts might be saying.