The Icky Bug Alphabet Book

Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Jerry Pallotta
Illustrator: Ralph Masiello
Awards: none
Grade level: K-2nd 

This is an alphabet book that gives many facts and pictures about different bugs students may encounter. This book is extremely colorful, and the layout is simple and easy for younger students to understand what the different bugs are and which letter of the alphabet that bug correlates with. This book is great because students can learn the letters of the alphabet while learning about many different interesting types of bugs.

I would definitely have this book in my classroom! It is an informative book that allows students to learn about bugs and the alphabet. I chose the age range to be between K-2nd because it allows younger students to learn about the different bugs as well as the alphabet, and for older students who already know the alphabet they can learn more interesting facts about these bugs. I would use this book to have students think about the alphabet and create their own alphabet book similar to this one.

Amazing animal groups

Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Suzanne Venino
Illustrator: Suzanne Venino
Awards: none
Grade level: 1st-4th Grade

This is a book with amazing descriptive pictures about how animals group together as well as how different animals work together to survive. This book gives extremely detailed pictures, and list many different animal groups. The book talks about the different ways animals rely on each other to survive and how some animals even rely on each other to build their homes.

I love this book! The pictures are absolutely amazing and the text is so detailed and descriptive. I would definitely have this book in my classroom so children can explore the different animal groups. I chose the grade level to be between 1st-4th because younger children could easily learn information from the pictures while older students can read and gather a deeper understanding from the text. I would use this book during an animal unit and teaching about how animals are different but many rely on each other to live.

Digging Up Dinosaurs

Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Aliki
Illustrator: Aliki
Awards: none
Grade level: 1st-3rd grade

This is a creative book that gives a lot of facts about dinosaurs in a unique way. It talks about many different dinosaur fossils at the museums and surrounding those dinosaurs are many people talking and giving speech bubble facts about the different dinosaurs. After discussing 5-6 dinosaurs, the book then talks about how dinosaurs are found and how difficult it is to be able to complete a whole dinosaur fossil.

This book gives a lot of information about dinosaurs in a fun way for students to stay entertained while reading. I would definitely use this book in my class because it allows students to learn about dinosaurs in a fun way. The appropriate grade level is 1st-3rd grade because the vocabulary is simple enough for younger students to understand, but also gives a variety of detailed information about dinosaurs and fossils. I would use this book during the dinosaur unit and pair it with a dinosaur fossil discovery activity. 

Hurricanes

Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Patricia Lauber
Illustrator: None (real pictures)
Awards: none
Grade level: 2nd-5th

This is an amazing book that gives a lot of information about hurricanes! It starts off with a table of contents and goes into information about how hurricanes form, the many different parts of hurricanes, and how hurricanes have affected people over the span of many years. This book offers real images from many years ago in the early 80's to recent hurricanes with more detailed pictures. This book also gives information on what to do if you ever come in contact with a hurricane and the best way to stay safe in a hurricane.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom! It is a great book that teaches students how severe hurricanes can be as well as how hurricanes form and the properties of a hurricane. I said the appropriate grade range is 2nd-5th because there is a lot of information in the books that might make it difficult for younger students to comprehend, but they could also look at the informative pictures and get ideas from those. I would use this book during a unit talking about the weather and use it to introduce hurricanes,

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? is a nonfiction children's book written by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. This book received the Caldecott honor book in 2004 and is geared towards children in early through middle elementary school. I really enjoyed reading this book because at the beginning it says that animals use their eyes, noses, tails, mouths, ears, and feet in very different ways and encourages the reader to try and guess which animal each body part belongs to. Throughout the book, it shows a single body part from about 5 different animals and asks what do you do with a body part like this? Once you flip the page, it then states the animal and how they use that certain part. My favorite part is at the end of the book because it gives a summary of each animal mentioned and how they use the body part listed. It's perfect because it allows students to put it all together at the end and see some of the unique things animals can do!

As a teacher, I would definitely use this book in my classroom for an animal unit so students can learn about animals in a fun way. I think it's perfect for 1st-2nd graders because they can expand their knowledge of animals and learn unique things animals can do! It's also great for younger kids because it is filled with information, but throughout the book, the amount of words isn't overwhelming and the pictures are definitely appealing to younger children. I also really enjoyed how the author asks the reader what you do with a certain body part before listing the animal and what it actually does. This book would be great as a read aloud because you could get the children's input and ideas about the different animals.