Friends From the Other Side by Gloria Anzaldua

This book is about a young girl named Prietita who makes friends with a young boy named Joaquin. Joaquin is from the other side, meaning Mexico. He snuck over the border with his mom to find work. Prietita protects Joaquin from the mean kids and hides his family when the Border Control come looking for illegal immigrants.

This is considered a controversial book for a couple reasons. One is the topic of illegal immigration. Although kids may not understand the topic or even care, parents can get very heated about the topic and may not like their kids reading such a book. Also, the book uses the term "wetback" when the mean kids are talking about Joaquin. Another reason may be that there seems to be animosity between the whites and the Hispanics. At one point in the book, the Border Control asks if anyone knows where illegal immigrants may be living and one character points to a community where the whites live, making a joke.

One thing I do like about this book is that it is written in both English and Spanish which can be very helpful for ELL students. I wasn't too impressed with the illustrations. I felt the illustrator could have done a better job drawing the people. Their faces are not proportioned right and to be honest, they look kind of scary. Because this book is a little longer than most picture books and the topic is more deep, I would recommend it for kids ages 6-10.

The Silly Gooses by Dav Pilkey

This picture book is divided into chapters. The first chapter is about Mr. Goose who is so silly that no one in his flock wants to marry him. The second chapter is about how Mr. Goose meets a silly Miss Goose from another flock and they fall in love. The third chapter is about their silly wedding and the fourth is when they decide to have a family. The fifth chapter is when the silly baby geese are born and the final chapter is about their silly life to come.

I like this book just because I can picture kids laughing throughout this book. The text talks about the silly things that they geese do but it is really the illustrations that bring the humor to life. Some of the silly things that the geese do are float in a bean-bag chair, wear hats on their feet, ride bikes in the water, and put ketchup and mustard on their ice cream.

This is a good book for beginner readers because they can get the feel of reading a "chapter book" without it being too difficult. Plus, if they get stuck on a word they can just look at the illustrations and try to infer what the word may be. This is a good book for ages 2-8.

Once Upon a Dragon by Jean E. Pendziwol

This is about a young girl and her dragon. They are playing at the park when they fall into the dragon's book. They go through each chapter which is a different fairy tale. They run into the wolf from "The Little Red Riding Hood," the fox from "The Gingerbread Man," and all the other bad characters from the classic fairy tale stories. At each encounter, the dragon wants to listen to the bad character but the girl keeps the dragon safe by telling him that he doesn't go with strangers.

I like this book because it is a good lesson book. The whole idea of it is to get kids to understand that they should not listen to or go with strangers. The way the author went about this was very creative. She included many classic fairy tales that children would be familiar with and since they know who the bad characters are, they can begin to understand why it is dangerous to go with strangers. Another thing I really liked about this book was that it all rhymed. This is a longer children's book so it is impressive that Pendziwol was able to make it all rhyme while making sense. The illustrations in this book are done with colored pencils and they are good drawings but I wouldn't consider it anything spectacular. I am more impressed with the text than the pictures. At the end of the book there is a "Dragon's Stranger Safety Rhyme" and there are guidelines for how to talk to kids about strangers. I would recommend this book for kids ages 2-8.

Chimps Don't Wear Glasses by Laura Numeroff

This book talks about different animals and the things that they don't do (i.e. the title of the book). This is a great book for beginner readers because it is short and it rhymes. And if the reader is stuck on the word, they can just look at the picture and guess.

This book is funny and sparks imagination. It's fun to picture horses hang gliding or llamas shopping. The illustrations really bring the text to life. They are very detailed and filled with humor. The book ends by asking the reader what they see so it gives kids the chance to think of silly things that they would never see animals doing. If you were having your students write a book, this would be a good model for them. You can read the book and then they would have to write their own story about animals. And the illustrations that they would draw would go right along with the text. This is a funny book and I would recommend it for ages 2-8.

Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann

This book is about a new girl in class named Ruby. Ruby sits behind a girl named Angela and copies everything that she does. She wears the same clothes and says that she does everything that Angela does. The teacher, Miss Hart, has a talk with Ruby and tells her to be herself. Ruby says she likes Miss Hart's fingernails and the next day at school, Ruby has the same fingernails as her teacher. Miss Hart isn't very happy but gets Ruby to tell the class something that she's good at. Ruby tells the class that she can hop and she is the best hopper the class has ever seen. Everyone starts hopping like Ruby and now they are copying her.

This is a good lesson book because very often in elementary school, kids copy eachother. This book shows that it's ok to be yourself. It is also a funny book and it's a good "predictor book." Children can use evidence from the text and illustrations to figure out what may happen next. For example, when Ruby says that she likes Miss Hart's fingernails, one can predict that Ruby will show up the next day at class with the same fingernails.

I would say the illustrations in this book are mediocre but they do provide humor. When Ruby tries to look like Angela by wearing the same daisy sweater, Ruby pins flowers on a sweater and it looks very messy. The illustrations do a good job of showing how hard Ruby is trying to look like Angela, even when it is not pretty. I would recommend this book for kids ages 3-8.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

This is the first time I have ever read this book and I can't believe it took me so long to read it. Actually, I feel a little cheated that I wasn't assigned to read it in elementary, middle, or even high school. But who knows, maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if I read it when I was younger. In 6th grade I had to read A Wrinkle in Time and I did not like it. I thought the reason must be that I just didn't like science fiction. So, when I found out that The Giver was science fiction, I thought I was going to hate it. The truth is, I was just too young to fully understand and appreciate science fiction. I bet that if I read A Wrinkle in Time today, I would like it. So maybe it is a good thing that it took me so long to read The Giver.

This book is about a boy named Jonas who lives in an Utopian-like community where everyone is governed by rules every minute of the day. There is no pain, choice, colors, seasons, animals, or individuality. When Jonas turns twelve in December (along with everyone else in his age group) he is assigned the job of Receiver of Memories and the person that gives him the memories was the old receiver, now referred to as the Giver. The Giver gives Jonas memories of the past including experiences such as sledding, rainbows, holidays with family, and sunshine. But along with the good things, he experiences bad things such as starvation and war. Jonas feels cheated in his life because he was never allowed to experience these things so he runs away which leaves all the memories with the people of the community. He feels that they should all get to have the experiences and a freedom of choice.

I like this book because of the community that Lois Lowry creates. She has to have some imagination to have created it. The community is obviously something that doesn't exist today so the idea of it came from pure imagination. She explained everything with such detail that I could easily picture it in my mind. Lowry adds such an element of suspense that I had to keep reading to see what would happen. I was disappointed when the book ended because I wanted more, but I think if Lowry would have continued, the book wouldn't have been as good. She ended it leaving the reader thinking and I think that is what a good book does; it doesn't give you all the answers to your questions, it gives you a chance draw inferences.

Although the text in this book is easy, the meaning of the text is deep. Kids in elementary school could read this book but I think older kids (such as middle or high school) would appreciate it more and would be able to think more critically about it.

Jazper by Richard Egielski

This book is about a young bug named Jazper who lives with his father. Jazper comes home one day and finds out that his dad has been injured at work so Jazper must find a job to help pay for the rent. He goes into town and decides to house sit for 5 moths that will be gone for 3 weeks. While he is there he reads books about magic. After 3 weeks, Jazper goes home and shows his dad that through magic, he can turn into things. They decide to have shows and charge money to see the Amazing Jazper. The moths find out and are upset that Jazper read their books so when Jazper turns into a pickle, the moths turn into knives. When Jazper turns into a nut, the moths turn into nutcrackers. When Jazper turns into a paper airplane, the moths turn into burning flames. Before the moths can turn into something else, Jazper turns into a rain cloud and puts out the flames. After all this, Jazper and his father decide that Jazper will just stay himself for awhile.

The first thing I noticed and liked about this book is that Jazper just lives with his father and they have real-life problems such as how to pay the rent. So many stories are about the typical, white, middle-class family but so many children do not live like that. It was refreshing that this book portrayed a family that is very real and that many kids can relate to. I also liked the creativity the author used in turning Jazper and the moths into different things. If Jazper is a paper airplane, then of course the moths would be flames to destroy Jazper. This is a good opportunity to ask kids what else Jazper and the moths could have turned into. For example, if Jazper had turned into a rock, would the moths have turned into jackhammers? This is a good chance for kids to get creative.

The author is also the illustrator and although his illustrations aren't as detailed as I like, he portrayed the characters well. He made the moths look scary and mean which is the way they are supposed to be. And although Jazper and his father are bugs, he made the characters seem very loving. This is a cute book and I would recommend it for ages 2-8.