Turtle Girl by Carole Crowe

This is a book about a little girl who has to deal with the death of her grandmother. The book begins with the girl and her grandmother helping defend the new nests made by sea turtles. Before the eggs hatch the grandmother dies and the little girl learns to face the idea of her grandmother's death by helping the baby turtles return to the ocean.
The best part about this book were the soft colored pencil illustrations. I found the story itself to be pretty cliché and cheesy. The author made up the story about the grandmother's death in order to add depth to the story line but because the book is so short and there is next to no character development the story feels hollow.

Crazy like a Fox by Loreen Leedy

This is a great book for teaching students about what a simile is. Every line in the story is a well-known simile and together they form a story line. I found this book very clever and funny, I did not realize how often we use similes and how funny a lot of them actually are.
The book opens with a definition of what a simile is and ends by suggesting that the reader try to create their own similes. This book could be used as part of a Language Arts lesson for teaching middle to upper elementary students about similes. It would be easy to follow this book with a short activity where students write their own similes and share them with the rest of the class.

Six Is So Much Less Than Seven by Ronald Himler

This is a short, simple story about an old man and his six cats. Each page contains a sentence telling what the old man and his cats do together each day and on the last page there is a picture of them visiting the grave of a recently deceased cat.
I would say the biggest merit of this book are the illustrations. They fill the pages and are made from colored pencil and watercolors. This book would probably interest kids who especially love cats or who have recently lost a pet.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

This book is probably the most famous of the seven in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. A new film version of the book had pretty good success at the box office in 2005. This is the first of the Chronicles of Narnia that I ever read and I think it is what got me interested in the series. This book tells the story of how Lucy and her siblings first discover the world of Narnia through a portal in their wardrobe. The children eventually help the Narnians end the 100 year winter, a curse put upon them by the White Witch of Narnia.
I think this is a good book for children to read because it has lots of lessons and values for children to learn, for example the conflict between Edmund and his siblings when he deserts them for the White Witch and how he eventually realizes his mistake and comes round.
My main complaint with the book is the overt Christian symbolism... like when Aslan is put to death by the White Witch and then comes back from the dead. Stuff like this kind of falls flat with me because I am not religious and think all the symbolism can be overdramatic and tiresome.

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

This is the final book in the Chronicles of Narnia children's series by C.S. Lewis. In this book an ape, Shift, tricks his donkey friend Puzzle into wearing a lions skin and pretending to be Narnia's God, Aslan. Eventually after much damage is done under Shift's orders (Shift designates himself as Aslan's mouthpiece) the real Aslan returns to Narnia, passes judgement on all the animals, and ends the world.

This is my favorite of the books because I think it is the most fast-paced and I like the dynamic between the characters Shift and Puzzle. I think seeing how Shift continuously tricks Puzzle throughout the story as well as the other animals will make children a little more critical of other's claims. Teaching children to think for themselves and not blindly follow others is one of the most important things a teacher can do for their students. I also like how the afterlife is described in the book and how Aslan judges the animals. The animals must look at Aslan one at a time and if they are guilty and know it they will be afraid... their own guilt condemns them.

So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

This is the true story of a little girl, her sister, mother, and brother and their escape from Korea back to Japan at the end of World War Two. This story is written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, who was the little girl whose eyes the story is told through. This story was very gripping, I finished it the day I started because I could not put it down. The horrors of war are told in a straightforward yet incredibly emotional way through the eyes of eleven year old Yoko. The strength of the three main characters: Yoko, her sister, and her mother as they travel towards freedom is inspiring and amazing. I would definitely have my class read this book if we were studying World War Two in order to give them an in-depth understanding of the War from a non-traditional perspective.

Glogster