The Many Hats of a School Librarian

Moo! by David LaRochelle My rating: 5 of 5 stars Moo. Mooo. Moo! I love it, my students love it! It's a great way to talk about how punctuation and size of words changes the meaning. The illustrations are funny. I wear a button that says Moo! on my work badge. View all my reviews

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt My rating: 5 of 5 stars Hilarious! I love the point of view of each crayon. It really shows that everyone sees things a little differently, everyone has a different experience, and everyone is needed to make a perfect box of crayons. It makes me think just a bit differently when I color. View all my reviews

I LOVE THIS! I am so checking this out of the the library (or buying it) when Callie needs some help with the dark. I, myself, have been slightly afraid of the dark myself. I think I was about 20 years old before I didn't run up the stairs away from my parent's basement when I shut off the light. I wish someone had told me a long time ago that even though I was afraid of the dark, the dark isn't afraid of me and that is why it is always around.

Betty Bunny Didn't Do It by Michael B. Kaplan My rating: 3 of 5 stars This could be shared with kids as a opener to lying. It's kind of funny, but has a great message. View all my reviews

Bunnies on Ice by Johanna Wright My rating: 3 of 5 stars Of course I liked this book since I am a champion figure skater, too. It's a nice book to read with cute illustrations. View all my reviews

Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal My rating: 4 of 5 stars Adorable! I hope my 1st graders can use ! . and ? in this book to remember when they should use them in their own writing. View all my reviews

Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj My rating: 5 of 5 stars Adorable. I cannot wait to read this to kindergarten at the beginning of the year next year. I have to remember to either buy it or check it out from the public library so we have it at the beginning of the year. I would love to see the kindergartners do all of the actions that these cats ask the reader to do as we go along. View all my reviews

Zero the Hero by Joan Holub My rating: 5 of 5 stars So clearly I like picture books for older kids that are very clever. This book is about numbers and it would be great to use as more of as a review or introduction to place holding, zero multiplication, addition,subtraction, any of those things. But, because of the figurative language in this book, I really think that it would be best for older kids. the cute little jokes will go over the younger kids heads. View all my reviews

Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal My rating: 5 of 5 stars I love this but I don't think second-grade and under will get it. I think that the figurative language, idioms, puns, clever illustrations and ideas in this book will fly over the heads of little kids. That being said, I think it would be great in some older classrooms to help teach some of those Language arts skills. I think it is an adorable story and I also think it can be used to teach people how to be an individual. It is about two chopsticks that are always together and I need to learn how to be apart for a while. View all my reviews

Perfect Square by Michael Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars I love this. It's a great way to say how to make lemons into lemonade or look at the sunny side of the street or look for the silver lining in the cloud. It is about a square that gets damaged essentially and makes himself into something better each time. I would love to see how teachers could use this with older kids for art or writing or geometry even to take a piece of paper of different shapes and alter/repurpose them into some something artistic. I just love the imagination of this artist illustrator. I would recommend this for all grades depending on how you want to use it. View all my reviews

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger My rating: 3 of 5 stars I would definitely recommend this book for kindergarten for green day. But I have to say, I really liked First the Egg better. This is a beautiful book explaining the color green and different ways to look at green in the world. View all my reviews

Argus by Michelle Knudsen My rating: 3 of 5 stars This story about a young girl who has an egg and a chick that's a little different from the rest is okay. The girl learns that it is okay to be different, however it's a little too different and kind of feels obvious like why isn't this teacher doing something about this giant dragon is that really isn't a chick. I would recommend it for kindergarten and first grade. View all my reviews

Spike, the Mixed-up Monster by Susan Hood My rating: 4 of 5 stars Oh what a great little book for reminding kids that just being nice is all it takes to turn something scary into something friendly. This is about a little monster who tames a big monster. I can't wait to read this colorful book to my students! View all my reviews

Boot & Shoe by Marla Frazee My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a story about 2 dogs that live together and "lose" eachother. It's a good story of friendship and what happens when you miss someone. I will read it to Kindergarten as a Read-Aloud. I think it is cute. I'm not sure what else it could teach. View all my reviews

It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is super fun! I can't wait to read it to Kindergarten. View all my reviews

Bailey at the Museum by Harry Bliss My rating: 4 of 5 stars Bailey is at it again. Being mischievous on his field trip is a great way to remind all of our students of the rules when we are on field trips. Plus, it's funny and a nice book. View all my reviews

Listen to My Trumpet! by Mo Willems My rating: 4 of 5 stars I laughed out loud at Piggy's "music." I loved how Gerald the Elephant chose his words very carefully so he wouldn't hurt Piggy' feelings. View all my reviews

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae My rating: 3 of 5 stars How nice to read about a gangly giraffe that doesn't think he can dance. He feels terrible and the others make fun of him. I sure hope Giraffe finds his confidence to dance soon! View all my reviews

Cat Up a Tree by John Hassett My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was recommended by one of my 2nd graders who said it was "hilarious!" I giggled as I read all of the funny responses and looked at the pictures of the crazy cats! It's also a good book for counting by 5s View all my reviews

It's a Book by Lane Smith My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is funny View all my reviews