The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy named Jonas.  Jonas is growing up in a society where there is no color or feelings.  It is a society where you do as your told and obey the rules or you will be released.  Each person is given  their assignment at age 12 which is what they will du for the rest of their lives.  A mate is chosen for them and two children a boy and a girl are chosen for them.  Jonas finds out at his assignment that he will be the Reciever of Memory.  Jonas is overwhelmed by the memories that he recieves.  The reciever of Memories has all the memories of the people the good and the bad.  The others in the society do not have feelings, see color or have memories.  One day the Reciever who is training Jonas allows him to see his father release a newborn twin baby boy right after it is born.  He then realizes that releasing means that the  his father kills the baby.  Jonas is distraught.  He then takes the baby that his family had been nurturing and runs away.  The book ends and Jonas and the baby are near death yet you do no know if they find the place they are looking for.

The book kept me interested and wanting to know what exactly was going to happen next.  I did not get what was meant by being released until Jonas watched his father.  The worst was that I want the book to have an ending, even though this ending should make me think about the different ways it could end.

Dear Juno by Soyung Pak is a story of a young Korean boy whose grandmother still lives in Korea.  His grandmother sends him letters, but he cannot read Korean.  His grandmother sends him a picture and a dried flower.  He knows she has a new cat from the picture and has a flower garden from the dried flower.  Juno sends his grandmother pictures that he draws.  From his pictures grandmother knows he wants her to visit.  She then sends him a small airplane letting him know she is coming to see him.
This would be a great book to show students that there is many ways to communicate with other people.

 

Frankie is a girl who blossoms into a real smart and imaginative lady in The disreputable History of Frakie Landau-Banks.  E. Lockhart writes a story about Frankie who goes from a girl that noticed to dating the most popular guy at the private boarding school that she attends.  Frankie wants to be more to Matthew than just a pretty girl on his arm.  Frankie finds out that Matthew is a member of the Bassett Hounds a secret all male society.    She then secretly infiltrates the Bassett Hounds and masterminds pranks all over the campus.  Frankie's charactar is a strong female who believes that she  is capable of anything.  There are a lot of interesting relationships in this book.  I am sure that Frankie even though a good role model is not always correct in how she treats everyone.  Still a good book for young girls to read.

Juana and Lucus by Juana Medina is a great read.  Juana is a girl form Bogota, Columbia and Lucus is her furry best friend.  Juana finds out that she will be learning English in school, and she is not very excited about it.  She struggles with English and really doesn't see the importance of lerning it.  Then she finds out that if she does well that she will get to go to Spaceland in the United States.  With the help of her family and Lucus she conquers Engish and does a great job while in the United States.  The book is sprinkled with Spanish words with are easy to figure out.  
Juana is a funny child and she reminds me some of Romona in Beezus and Ramona.  

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher is a interesting book.  TJ is multiracial boy who is being raised by adoptive parents.  He attends a mostly white school and has issues with the jocks at the school.  This book show how bullies can can affect students.  TJ starts a swimming team to help out one of his favorite teachers.  This book shows the struggle of TJ personally and and with the jocks as he stand for what he believes in.  It is a humorous book yet, it is about some serious issues.  This is definitely a book for older students I would say high school. I again, was not really prepared for the ending of this book.  
I was personally interested in this story because i have raised a son that we adopted.  My son is bi-racial and we were very lucky that he never encountered problems like TJ when he was growing up. 

The Fault in Our Stars was written by John Green.  The love story of two teenagers Hazel and Augustus.  It is not an ordinary love story but a story about love and cancer.  The two meet at a cancer support group meeting and become friends.  The book is about their journey as they fall in love and battle cancer.  Their emotions and the connections to their family as they come to terms together yet in different ways with their illness.  The book is tearfull yet amusing at the same time.  I liked reading their stories and felt connections to each person.  I just wish the book had ended differently.  

I have never rode in a city bus.  Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de le Pena takes you to that seat on the city bus.  From the bus driver to the blind man and his dog you see what CJ and his grandmother see.  As CJ and his grandmother journey from church to the soup kitchen you listen to  CJ question his grandmother and you love her answers.  This a a great book to use to show students that we all have something to offer those less fortunate.

The Drum Dream Girl Is the true story of a young Cuban girl who wanted to play the drums.  Boys were the only ones allowed to play the drums.  Millo did not let this stop her in this book written by Margarita Engle.  The illustrations by Rafael Lopez were bright and vibrant.  Her father helps her in the end of the book and she gets to play in a cafe.  This multicultural book would be a great lesson about never giving up on your dream no matter who you are or where you come from.  This book would also allow for discussion about the Cuban culture.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a interesting book with a powerful message.  Teenagers need to hear Melinda's story, how one bad decision on one night can change your whole world. Hear her challenges in high school and how cruel people can be.  Melinda doesn't feel as if she has support of anyone she has no friends left.  This book takes you on Melinda's emotional journey where she is at rock bottom where she does not have the power in herself to speak.  It then takes you through her healing process.  It is then that she finally speaks.
Anderson wrote a great book that takes you to the place where Melinda is at.  You feel Melinda's pain and her depression.  It draws you in and I just wanted to keep reading.

This Moose belongs to Me By Oliver Jeffers is  a fun book about a young boy Wilfred who finds a moose.  Wilfred names the mouse Marcel and gives him the rules for being a good pet.  One day when in the woods Wilfred discovers that another lady thinks that she owns the moose and she call him Rodrigo.  Very upset Wilfred runs into the woods and becomes tangled in his string.  As it gets dark Wilfred is getting very nervous being in the woods alone.  Then suddenly Marcel finds him in the woods and rescues him.  It is then that Wilfred decides he really didn't own the moose anyway.
This would be a great book to read to younger children and discuss just because you find something that doesn't mean it belongs to you.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in one of my favorite books.  The character that intrigued me the most is Katniss Everdeen.  She is a girl growing up in poorest districts of Panem.  When her sister Prim is selected as tribute in the 74th annual hunger games Katniss volunteers to take her place.  Katniss does not see herself as a hero, she is protecting her younger sister.  This is the beginning of her rise in popularity in her district.
The other time in the book that Katniss shows heroism is when another tribute Rue dies.  She shows her respect for Rue by decorating her body with flowers then giving a salute to district 11.  This is a very emotional point in the book.
The other tribute from district 12 is Peeta.  When Peeta is injured Katniss cares form him.  When taking care of Peeta her rough and tough personality begins to crumble as she shows to have feeling for him.
At the end of the book her and Peeta have finished the games and only one could win and she attempts suicide with Peeta.  It is then that they are both saved.
Katniss character is a strong and heroic girl on fire.  She is the heroine who doesn't see herself as a hero.  She puts her family and those who she loves before herself and is willing to fight any fight even to death to save them.

Extra Yarn is a book about a girl who finds a box of colorful Yarn.  She then starts knitting sweaters for everyone but she never runs out of yarn in her box.  She continues to knit colorful sweaters for everyone she knows when an archduke tried to buy her box of yarn from her but she would not sell it.  He then steals the box from her.  When the archduke opens the box it is empty.  He then throws the box away and it finds its way back to the little girl.  The illustrations by Jon Klassen started out black and white but as the girl knitted more sweaters the book became more colorful.

I would use this book to talk to students about being kind and giving to others.  I could then use the archduke as an example of how people who are unkind and are mean to others really don't win.

When You Reach Me is a book set in the 1970's about a young girl, Miranda and her mom.  They live in neighborhood in New York along with several friends and a crazy guy on the corner.  Throughout the book Miranda and Richard, her moms boyfriend, are continually helping her mom practice for an apperance on the game show The $20,000 Pyramid.  The other thing that happens throughout the book is she get notes and has no idea who they are from.  These notes have information that not just anyone would know.
Miranda is a girl going through her life like any other 12 year old girl.  She is trying to make friends, discover boys, go to school and read her favorite book about time travel.
As I read the book I was never really for sure what was going happen next. As Miranda navigated her daily life with the notes and and those around her I was entertained and wanting to find out what would happen next.  It wan't unitl the last pages when Miranda finally figures out who the notes were from that I knew how it would end.
I enjoyed reading When You Reach Me.  It was such a realistic story yet that edge of Fantasy that made me to want to keep turning the pages.  I am not going to tell about the ending so that others will get the same surprise that I did. 

The Whisper is a beautifully illustrated book about a little girl who loves to read.  Her teacher gives her a book to read but when she opens it the words are gone.  A whisper encourages her to create words she cannot see.  She then creates stories like The magical cloak using her imagination.  In each picture there are a fox and a rabbit that are hidden that children would like to look for.
This storybook would be a great way to encourage children to use their imaginations.  They could add to the stories she has started and even make up their own.  With younger children it could be done as a group activity with each child adding to the story.  They could even draw their own pictures of how the story continues or of their own story.  The Whisper is a wonderful book that encourages children to use the power of their own imaginations.

   Hello!   I am Lori Salyer a kindergarten teacher at Cyril Elementary.   I am in my second year of teaching, but my eleventh  year in education.  I love teaching kindergarten because of the children.  It is exciting to watch them grow and learn.  Kindergarteners are a amazing group to work with.