Laurence Yep

The Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep

This book was a 1994 Newbery Honor winner. It is a sequel to "Mountain Light". It begins with Otter the main character who accidentally kills a Manchu and is forced to join his Dad in California who is one of the many Chinese laborers working on the transcontenal railroad. This is a wonderful book to introduce history along with a wonderfully written literary piece, it really brings the time period of the building of the transcontenal railroad alive. Some other books the Yep has written are:

Hiroshima; The Earth Dragon Awakes : The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906; Dragon of the Lost Sea (Dragons of the Sea Series); Child of the Owl (Golden Mountain Chronicles : 1965)

Jerry Pinkney

Jerry Pinkney is a writer and illustrator. He is most noted for his highly detailed illustrations. He is the only illustrator who has won three Coretta Scott King medals and he has also won three Caldecott awards.

Julius Lester

John Henry by Julius Lester


This book is a retelling of the American tall tale of John Henry. John Henry was made famous with his legendary race with with a steam drill. John Henry with a sledge hammer in each hand entered a race with a steam drill tunneling through the Allegheny Mountains. John Henry wins but then dies of exhaustion. Lester begins the story with a brief history of John Henry and a history of the search for his existence. It also states that he based his book on two sources: B.A. Botkin's, A Treasury of American Folktale, 1944 and Alan Lomax's Folk Songs of North America, 1960. He ends the story with a moral, "Dieing isn't important, it's how you live that is important". He worked very closely with Jerry Pinkney who illustrated the book. Pinkney masterfully depicted the heroism and strength of the character through his highly detailed watercolor paintings.

Other Books that he has written: To Be a Slave; The Tales of Uncle Remus : The Adventures of Brer Rabbit; Pharaoh's Daughter : A Novel of Ancient Egypt; Cupid : A Tale of Love and Desire; From Slave Ship to Freedom Road

Correta Scott King Award Winner

Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen

This is a 2004 Corretta Scott King award winner. It is a tall tale with the main character Rose who was born with extraordinary strength. The story takes place outwest, where she lives on a farm and faces many challenges. The author uses colorful vocabulary to describe objects and events in the story. Very similar to Pecoes Bill.

So You Want To Be President by Judith St. George

This is a wonderful book for sparking interest in presidents and elections. It gives wonderful and little known facts about presidents from Washington to Clinton. It also gives helpful hints about how to increase your chances on becoming a president based on statistics.

Flotsam by David Wiesner

This 2007 Caldecott winner, is a wonderful true picture book about a little boy who goes to look for flotsam along the beach and finds an underwater camera. He takes it to get the pictures developed and to his surprise he finds extraordinary sea creature and a new world of living things under the sea. Later to discover that he isn't the first person to find the camera. The illustrations are colorful, well drawn depictions of truly original. Wonderful book for all ages.

The Man Who Walked Between The Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

This book is a 2004 Caldecott award winner. It is based a true story of a young French aerialist named Phillippe Petit who walked a tightrope between the twin towers. The feet was illegal and required him to prepare in darkness. He successfully walked, danced and performed tricks before later getting arrested for his actions but resulting in a sentence of performing for the children of city. The book has many colorful illustrations and would be a great introduction for a history lesson for 3rd or 4th grade.

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

My Friend Rabbit is a 2003 Caldecott award winner.

The book is a colorfully illustrated picture book about a mouse and his friend the rabbit. The rabbit has, "good intentions," and try throughout the book to help his friend the mouse but something always goes wrong. It is a wonderful book for younger audiences, good use of prediction.

Caldecott Award Winners

Kitten's First Full Moon

This is a delightful book about a kitten who sees the moon in the sky and thinks that it is a bowl of milk. The small kitten tries many different ways but doesn't reach that big bowl of milk in the sky but the sad little kitten finds that home has a big surprise. The book has wonderful black and white illustrations which mimic the moonlight in the night. The book also has repetition with would be great with younger children.

Despereaux
Despereaux , by Kate DeCamillo is a 2004 Newbery Award winner and is recommended for ages 9-12. First of all let me say that I loved this book! The book is about a mouse who is born into this world “with his eyes open”. He is smaller than all of the other mice and he has really big ears. He is different in other was as well, he likes to read, and loves the light and music. His being different eventually winds him up in the dungeon where he meets the other two main characters of the book a servant girl named Meg and a rat named Roscuro. All three have things that they are trying to obtain, Despereaux has fallen in love with a human princess, Princess Pea and wants to be with her, Mig longs desperately to become a princess and Roscuro is tired of being in the dark and craves to live in the light. All three through twist and turns discovers many things about each other as well as themselves. An interesting part of the story was the involvement of the narrator. The narrator all through the book adds humor and insight to situations. DeCamillo, also intertwines moral lessons and examples of real life experiences in her book that brings it to a higher level of comprehension. It is a book that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Crispin The Cross of Lead
Crispin, The Cross of Lead written by Avi

Summary: This is a book is set in 14th century England. The main character is a boy that for the first half of the book has no name. He is a poor boy who for the first 13 years of his life lived with his mother in an English medieval village. Throughout the first of the book he is known as “Asta’s son.” When his mother dies he is left on his own with out a home to go to. He soon finds out that his bad luck continues when the villagers label him as a “wolf’s head” which meant that he was able to be killed without repercussion by any who sees him. Fleeing for his life, he finds out that his name is Crispin. So with his only possession, a lead cross that belonged to his mother he sets out on his journey. He meets up with a jester named Bear who befriends him but my have a hidden agenda of his own. Together they have many adventures most of them dangerous and sad but ends up miraculously surviving at the end.

Review: This book is a historical fiction 2003 Newbery Medal winner and it targets ages 9-12. The book, although written with some medieval terminology I found it to be an easy read. It is in some areas quite violent and somewhat sad. This book would be in fact a good way to introduce the medieval period to students, the author does a great job of presenting the setting and character hardships during that period. This book due to its nature would be a great book for boys of the targeted age group.