Children's Books discussion

Hi. I'm a 2nd grade teacher and I'm always looking for good read alouds. They can be picture books or chapter books. The key is good writing! If you have suggestions or favorites please tell us! Thanks a ton.

Karen

some favorites: Thunder Rose, Brothers of the Knight, My Feet Are Laughing, Click Clack Moo, Scaredy Squirrel, and Bark George, Bark

yes. On the web try to google: Making Meaning, and In the book. Both of these will take you to a site that lists read alouds that can be used to teach comprehension strategies. They also have plans that can be used with the read alouds.

When I was in 2nd grade, our teacher read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to the class.

My 2nd grader is currently reading Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson and LOVES it. She especially loves the British words. It's a great story about friendship and family.

I work in the children's section of a bookstore. Once a year I read at a local school. One year I read "a mouse called wolf" by Dick King-Smith to first graders. They were entranced.

all of the Cynthia Rylant books, all of the Patricia Polacco books, all of the Donald Crews books. His books are great for visualizing, text features. I like the way he writes the words on the illustrations instead of under them. Peggy Parish's Amelia Bediela books are great for teaching multiple meaning words. Google: In The Book. This is a great website that has lessons and text suggestions for teaching comprehension. Angela Johnson has some great books for teaching think aloud.

I would love for you to look at my new children's picture books. They were designed for early readers. You might be especially interested in "Zachary Goes Treasure Hunting" which stimulates imagination or "The Beautiful Princess Without a Face" which discusses the five senses.

I am currently working with a teacher to provide free lesson plans and activity sheets on all of my books. "A Message of Love" has its sheets posted at www.robinfalls.com.

Hello,
I am sorry. I wrote the Google search incorrectly. It should be "Into the book" instead of "In the book."

I remember my second grade teacher reading a Beverly Cleary book to us, which got me interested in her books. I thought they were the greatest!

I recently heard from another poster on another book board that Candyfloss is great, too!

I also really like Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

Here are some of my favs to read to my second graders:

*Jumanji, Zathura, and Probuditi - all 3 by Chris van Allsburg [the kids LOVE these!:]

*The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein [they can't believe it's true!:]

*Diary of a Worm/Spider/Fly by Doreen Cronin

*Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins - this is my FAVORITE chapter book for this age! The kids love it too.

Thank you all so much for the wonderful recommendations. I have written them down, so that I can look for them in our school library. How great to belong to a group such as this. My students thank you too.
Karen

You are welcome. I love this site. It is a wonderful arena to share and learn about books.

How about Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Janssen? Each chapter is it's own little adventure. I loved this series as a kid. I'll second Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

The great read aloud book that pops into my mind is
"The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig" by Eugene Trivizas, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, New York; Simon and Schuster, 1993. It can easily be read aloud in one sitting and the author has the good sense to throw in a few big words (ie pneumatic drill and tarantella)that the kids just love. There are several opportunities for funny voices and even a bit of group participation.
Enjoy! Linda

Some that our younger students are loving are the Magic School and Magic Treehouse chapter books - they're nice to supplement social studies too :).

I just want to second anything by Chris Van Allsburg - he's so amazing. And my daughter LOVES Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, too.

Every year we read The Fantastic Flying Journey, by Gerald Durrell. In it, two children (with the unfortunate last name of Dollybutt)fly around the world in an extravagant hot air balloon with their Uncle Lancelot. They have the ability to talk with animals, and explore animal communities around the world. Although not lyrically written, the author uses tons of comparison in his descriptions, so it is a great read to encourage the recognition and use of simile in writing.
We also read the tender story The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, which is the very well written story of a toy rabbit who learns the hard way to appreciate love.

Sounds like a close read to Mimzi the rabbit by Walt Desney movie.

Tumble Tower (Anne Tyler)
Falling for Rapunzel
Slender Ella and her Fairy Hogfather
Great Kapok Tree (Lynne Cherry)
Mummies in the Morning (Osborne)
Bookshop Dog (Rylant)
Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
(I have too many to post on this discussion)

The children i read to really liked the Junie B Jones books

The Toys Go Out--I second that one!
The Fairy Rebel, by Lynne Reid Banks
The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate di Camillo
Clementine, by Pennypacker

charlotte web
stuart little
tale of desperaux
jungle book
junie b jones
any magic tree house


I know the teachers at my kids school reads on the next grade level, she works on compression this way and I have seen an improvment in reading

My name is Colleen Dougherty and I'm the author of the Joanie Adventure series. My I suggest my book "Joanie Adventure: Picking Out Puppies?" http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66... for your second grade students? It is designed for children from 5 - 8. This book follows Joanie as she celebrates her sixth birthday and gets the gift of her dreams, puppies! She soon finds out that having puppies isn't as easy as she thought it would be and that they can be quite the handful. You can also find my book at this great site ireadiwrite and find my book at http://www.ireadiwrite.com/Joanie-Adv... for a sample of the first page or it's also available at http://smashwords.com/b/233 where you can sample the first 1/3 of the book! I do hope you'll check it out and share the fun with your students!

My name is Sheri. I am an aspiring author and a former teacher of K-3 grades. When I taught second grade my class loved all the Tomie de Paola books, the picture books by Caralyn Beuhner, Kristyn Crow's Bedtime in the Swamp, Poppy by Avi, Ereth's Birthday by Avi, and the Junie B. Jones books I just discovered and they are fun.
Some of the books are way beyond second grade in previous posts but are worth trying. I agree Patricia Palacco books are great, too. Good luck with inspiring your kids to read more and love reading.

Sheri, my book series Joanie Adventure was inspired by Junie B. Jones. My son used to read with my husband every night until we ran out so together we created the first in the series and it's ebook published. I'm working on the second book now and Joanie has a facebook page so the children can write to "her" and she can write back. I just opened that yesterday!
I think if we can just keep the kids reading than anything is possible!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pag...

Favorite picture books:

The Stinky Cheese Man - fractured fairy tales that also teach how a book is put together.
Oh Were They Ever Happy - about kids painting the house while the parent's are out.

Read aloud chapter books:
These books are all about children that are around 8 years old so they appeal to second graders.

Betsy and Tacy
Little House in the Big Woods
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Russell and Eliza
Eddie and the Fire Engine

I recently launched BRANDY AND VAL, REAL DOG WITH REAL TALES about two real shelter dogs, one a Hurricane Katrina survivor. There are 3 in the series and the stories are simple but the themes can be opened up to further classroom discussions geared towards the age group (healthy eating, family, pet care, friendship). The third book, BRANDY AND VAL'S SPECIAL STORY is a bit more advanced and talks about the pups' adoption. Real photos of the dogs are used and children with pets really relate to them. htto://www.BrandyandVal.com. The other two titles are BRANDY AND VAL and BRANDY AND VAL'S FAVORITE THINGS by Ilene FIne

That sounds like a really fun story Ilene:) I love that one of the books talks about adoption. That is a point in my book as well and I think it's important to talk to kids early about adoption of pets so when it's their time to become pet owners they will be educated.

Thank you, Colleen for the comment and incorporating pet adoption as a theme in your book. I'll check it out. I really hope the word spreads that when ones adopts a dog, it becomes a member of the family and not a disposable item that is discarded when the children (or parents) tire of it. It is, indeed, a true responsibility that should be taken seriously. There are so many sad stories out there. The dogs that are cared for are forever grateful and loving.

My son really enjoyed the Moongobble series. They are short chapter books sometimes dealing with bullying (and I think some other bigger issues). They are relatively funny. Not full of complicated vocabulary (unlike most of the books my son enjoys). The first one is The Dragon of Doom. It should at least hold their attention and I think it will appeal to both boys and girls.

I agree Ilene. As I sit here watching my dog trying to lick something off the tip of his nose it's hard to believe that someone would ever deny a pet care. They are so trusting and innocent. Education is the key! And having your pet spayed or neutered! (Thanks Bob Barker!)

I have a 2nd and 3rd grade class combined and I try not to repeat books from year to year because many have heard the ones from the previous year. But over the past few years I've discovered these:

Lily and Miss Liberty (about the arrival of the statue of liberty from France)

The Twits, James and the Giant Peach, Esio Trot by Dahl

Charlotte's Web by White

My Weird School Series (very funny)

Henry and Ribsy by Cleary

We loved The Magician's Elephant! Such a wonderful story to read to children. Also, Ferdinand the Bull (which is much shorter), is another great one.

I've got a whole Goodreads shelf on First Read-Aloud Chapter Books. It's got lots of reviews and all the books my kids and I enjoyed most, so you may find something that looks appropriate for your classes. (Lots of fantasy, since that's my thing, but some other genres, too.)

Goodreads has another listopia list called Best Read-Aloud Chapter Books that may help, as well.

Wild About Books is a hilarious read-aloud about a book mobile that makes a wrong turn into the zoo. The librarian finds books and for all the animals and they learn to read. Also, some of my perennial favorites are: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Lorax, Strega Nona, The Relatives Came, Do Not Open This Book! and anything by Shel Silverstein. Some chapter books that have been a bit hit are:
A Cricket in Times Square
Little House on the Prairie
Trumpet of the Swan
The Tale of Despereaux
James and the Giant Peach
Any Mercy Watson book!

Toys Go Out has been popular in my school. The Trouble with Chickens is pretty good too. Both are chapter books.

I thought that Anna Maria's Gift by Janice Shefelman was an amazing and surprisingly nuanced chapter book (would be a great book as a read aloud for a unit on music or history, especially Italian or Venetian history).

And if you are ever doing a unit on Helen Keller, these two very recent picture book biographies look interesting, Annie and Helen by Deborah Hopkinson and Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller by Doreen Rappaport

I really enjoy Chris Van Dusen. They are colorful and fun. A few of my faves are Down To The Sea with Mr. Magee/A Camping Spree/Learning To Ski.

Oh, Chris Van Dusen's books are awesome. If I didn't know any better, I would think they were classics, with those retro-feel, 70s-style illustrations. We discovered If I Built a House first, then bought it through the Scholastic catalogue. If I Built a Car is just as good, and we would borrow all of his books if only they had them in stock at the library.