Hoai's Book Island

  About Book Title: The Name Jar Author & Illustrator: Yangsook Choi Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction Major Book Awards: No major book awards Recommended Age Range: 3 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels: Pre-k to 3rd Grade [can be used up to 5th grade] Summary This story written by Yangsook Choi talks about a girl named Unhei, who moved from Korea to America with her family. As the new kid on the school bus, a kid asked for her name. Telling them her name was Unhei, the kids on the bus couldn't pronounce her name and started teasing her. Feeling a little shocked from this situation, she decided to not introduce herself on the first day and tells her classmates that she hasn't picked out a name yet. Fascinated by Unhei, her classmates then tried to help her pick out a name by putting their ideas in a jar. Unhei practiced introducing herself with all the suggested names and day by the day the name jar got fuller and fuller. Next week came and Unhei was ready to introduce herse...

  About Book Title: Those Shoes Author: Maribeth Boelts      Illustrator:  Noah Z. Jones Genre:  Contemporary Realistic Fiction Major Book Awards:  No major book awards Recommended Age Range: 5 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels: Kinder to 3rd Grade Summary This book written by Maribeth Boelts talks about a boy named Jeremy wanting a new pair of shoes. He asks his grandmother, but she is unable to buy them, reminding him that what he actually need are new boots for winter. When he comes to school the next day, he sees his schoolmates and everyone with the shoes he's been wanting. When Jeremy's shoes break, the guidance counselor gives him a pair and everyone laughed. The only person that didn't laugh was his classmate, Antonio. Because Jeremy needed a new pair of shoes, his grandma decided to go with him to check out the pair of shoes that he's been wanting, hoping she is able to afford it. But once they saw the price of the shoes, they were unable to ...

  About Book Title: All the Way To America Author & Illustrator: Dan Yaccarino Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction Major Book Awards: No major book awards Recommended Age Range: 5 to 9 Appropriate Grade Levels: Kinder to 4th Grade Summary This book written by Dan Yaccarino talks about the several generations of his Italian family utilizing a little shovel. The story starts off with his great-grandfather Michael Yaccarino, who lived in Sorento, Italy. His great-grandfather decided to immigrate to America in search of better opportunities. As he leaves, his father gave him a shovel telling him to "work hard, but remember to enjoy life," while his mother added "And never forget your family." When Michael went to New York, he used the shovel his father gave him to measure out flour and sugar. The shovel was eventually passed on to his son Aniello, but everyone calls him Dan. Dan then used the shovel to measure out beans, macaroni, and olives in his market. Dan pas...

                                      About Book Title: Peter's Chair Author & Illustrator: Ezra Jack Keats Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Picture Book Major Book Awards: No major book awards  Recommended Age Range: 3 to 5 Appropriate Grade Levels: Pre-k to 3rd Grade Summary This book written by Ezra Jack Keats, talks about a boy named Peter who is learning how to adapt to the changes in his house when his parents just had his baby sister, Susie. Peter isn't the only child anymore. His mom tells him to quiet down when he was playing with his blocks. They took his cradle and painted it pink. And his dad even asks if he wanted to help paint his blue chair pink as well. Seeing all of this made him angry and upset. His jealousy made him come to the decision of running away. He quickly got up to get his dog Willie and filled a bag with cookies and dog biscuits. He also plans to tak...

About Book Title: If you Decided to go to the Moon Author: Faith McNulty Illustrations: Steven Kellogg Genre: Science Fiction Major Book Awards: No major book awards Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels:  Kinder to 5th grade Summary This book written by Faith McNulty teaches about space exploration, specifically about the moon, and it is aimed at those who wish to take a trip to space. It starts off by showing a boy on Earth getting ready for his space trip, as he packs up his necessities to take with him. The story progresses to the boy in the spaceship blasting off to space and shows what he experiences inside for the next 2 days. Once he reaches the moon, he takes on an exploration learning about the history and science of space and the moon. After some time of exploring he heads for his spaceship to go back to Earth. As he is landing, he sees all the animals and the beautiful nature Earth has to offer. He learns that what makes Earth unique from the other plan...

  About Book Title: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie Author: Laura Numeroff Illustrator: Felicia Bond Genre: Fantasy Major Book Awards: No major book awards, but does have awards Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels: Kinder to 2nd Grade Summary This story written by Laura Numeroff describes what happens after a boy gives a mouse a cookie. After the mouse gets a cookie, it asks for a glass of milk. After getting some milk, the mouse asks for a straw. After this, a series of events follow, where the mouse keeps asking for requests. When one event occurs, this leads the mouse to want something else, which seems never-ending. Towards the end of the story the mouse was thirsty and again, asks for milk. Once it asks for milk, we know what will happen next.  Evaluation - Would I Incorporate this book in the Classroom? This book was super fun to read. I love how the illustrations are more present in the book, than the text. I liked how in this book, the text was kept sho...

  About Book Title: Where the Wild Things Are Arthur & Illustrator: Maurice Sendak Genre: Fantasy Fiction Major Book Awards: Caldecott Medal Recommended Age range: 3 to 5 Appropriate Grade Levels: Pre-k to 3rd Grade Summary This super fun book written by Maurice Sendak, talks about Max, a boy who was sent to bed without supper by his mother, because he was wild. He takes this chance and goes on an adventure far away in his imagination. After sometime of "traveling," Max was able to reach the land of where the wild things are. The big creatures tried to scare Max, but he looked at them straight in the eyes without flinching once. The wild things were scared and crowned Max as king of all the wild things. As he was in control, he ordered the creatures to dance, sing, and be wild as much as they want for the next few days, as this is what he always wanted to do at home. After some time, he grew tired and sent them to sleep without supper. This made Max miss his mom, as this ...

  About Book Title: Once Upon A Time Author & Illustrator: John Prater Genre: Fantasy Major Book Awards: No major awards Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels: Kinder to 3rd grade Summary This book written by John Prater, tells a story about a boy's "normal" day. The story starts off with an empty neighborhood as everyone is just waking up. As the boy is narrating his life through the text, his neighborhood starts to form through the illustrations. There's a baby bear crying over his broken chair by Goldilocks, red riding hood walking with her basket of food, the 3 little pigs starting to build their house, and a witch flew on her broom. As the boy is observing the common folktale and nursery rhyme characters coming to life, he continues to live his own life as well. When the story comes to an end, all the characters were eventually able to solve their own problem and starts to head back home. The boy finishes his night as well by suggesting to re...

  About Book Title: Imogene's Antlers Author & Illustrator: David Smalls Genre: Fantasy  Major Book Awards:  No major book awards Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels: Kindergarten to 2nd grade Summary This book written by David Smalls, talks about a girl named Imogene who suddenly woke up with humongous antlers on her head. Everyone was shocked about this. Her mom constantly fainted every time she sees her, the doctor had no idea of what's going on, and her principal offered no advice, but Imogene didn't mind. Her antlers were helpful around the house. She could help the maid dry some towels, feed the birds their food, and hold plenty of candles during piano practice. The day was over and Imogene went to bed. She finally woke up without her antlers and her family was very happy, but not until she walked in with a peacock's tail. Evaluation - Would I Incorporate this Book in the Classroom? This book was really cute and funny. I liked how throughou...

  About Book Title:  The War That Saved My Life Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley  Genre: Historical Fiction  Major Book Award: 2016   Newbery Medal, 2018 Golden Kite Award for Middle Grade Fiction Recommended Age Range: 9 to 12 Appropriate Grade Levels: 5th to 8th grade Summary This book written by Kimberly Bradley talks about the life of Ada and Jamie Smith during WW2 between Germany and Europe. They lived in an abusive home with their mother, so they took this chance to evacuate London for safety from the war and their mother. Once they've arrived to Kent, a woman named Susan Smith were forced to take them in. She never wanted them, or kids in general. But she did things far more than their "mother" back in London ever had. Throughout the story Ada, Jamie, and Susan created a special bond, like a real family. The three were soon then separated after a year together, because their mother forcefully took them back, due to financial issues. Susan realized t...

About Book Title: The Undefeated Author: Kwame Alexander Illustrator: Kadir Nelson Genre: Poetry, Nonfiction  Major Book Awards: 2020   Caldecott Medal, 2020 Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrator, 2020 Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text Recommended Age Range: 6 to 11+ Appropriate Grade Levels:  1st - 6th grade and up Summary This amazing book written by award winning Kwame Alexander highlights the story and history of African-Americans in the United States. It calls attention to the horrific times of slavery, the MLK Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, and other influential and overlooked figures that has created and shaped black history in the United States today. And most importantly, this book highlights the courageous and strong-willed people that has fought hard in the past and reminds us all that they are still continuing to fight hard today. It is richly filled with history and culture of the lives that African-Americans have lived in the U.S. Evalua...

  About Book Title: A Giraffe and A Half Author & Illustrator: Shel Silverstein Genre:  Poetry, Fiction Major Book Awards: No major book awards Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels:  Pre-k to 2nd grade Summary This humorous and fun poetry book written by Shel Silverstein tells the story about a giraffe who has "what if" scenarios happening to it, causing an item being added to the giraffe after each scenario. But as the book comes to an end all the things that the giraffe has gained, eventually left it, kind of going backwards. Because at the end of the story it ended with just the giraffe itself, just like at the beginning of the book, starting the story off with just the giraffe.  Evaluation - Would I Incorporate this Book in the Classroom? This book was super fun to read! I really liked the illustrations and how the author incorporated both pages of the book, instead of having illustrations on one side and text on the other side. It was ...

  About Book Title:  Once upon a Rhyme Author: Carol Hosking Illustrator: Trevor Pye Genre: Poetry, Nursery Rhyme, Children's Music  Major Book Awards: No major book awards Published: 2001 Recommended Age Range: 2 to 8 Appropriate Grade Levels:  Pre-k to 4th Grade Summary This book by Carol Hosking covers the well-known nursery rhymes, that many children from over the world may know or have heard of. Ranging from Hickory, Dickory, Dock , Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jack & Jill, and many more classic nursery rhymes from all over. From Africa to China and the Scandinavia, just to name a few. After each rhyme is told, the history behind it and how it came to be follows. For an example, in the nursery rhyme of Mary Had a Little Lamb, the book tells us that it is about a girl named Mary who took care of a sick lamb until it got better. Once the lamb got better, it followed her everywhere, even to school. The Ring around o' Roses  rhyme from Europe was created because...

  About Book Title: Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky Author: Georgia Heard Illustrator: Jennifer Owings Dewey  Genre: Poem, Nonfiction [Informational] Major Book Awards: No major book awards Recommended Age Range: 2 to 5  Appropriate Grade Levels: Low - high Elementary Grades Summary This book by Georgia Heard is a collection of poems about the wonderful creatures of the sea and the sky. It gives short details about animals like the fishes, ducks, frogs, bats, bears, whales, eagles, and etc. It covers a wide range of animals. From animals of the aquatic life, to amphibians, mammals, and reptiles. These animals can fly in the sky, swim in the sea, or live on land.  This book also named other types of animals that exist in the same category,  from the characteristics of the animals, and what they do in their natural habitat to survive. Evaluation - Would I Incorporate this Book in the Classroom? I enjoyed reading this book because it was very informative. It gave ...

  About Book Title: Three Blind Mice Author: John W. Ivimey Illustrator:  Paul Galdone Genre:  Poetry, Fiction Major Book Awards: No major book award Recommended Age Range: 5 to 8  Appropriate Grade Levels: 1st-3rd Summary This short story talks about the adventures of 3 mice. One day they decided to go out and roam instead of staying in their usual living space. The three mice had to face some hardships as they traveled, one of it being hunger. Luckily, they kept going and came across a farm. The begged for some bread and cheese from the farmer and he nicely gave them some crumbs. The mice ate all they could and happily danced with joy. The farmer's wife heard all this noise and decided to get her cat to chase them out! As they ran for their lives, they leaped on a plant and was scratched in the eyes by its thorn, making them blind. They continued to run to safety, but unfortunately the farmer's wife cut their tails off. Blind and tailless, the 3 blind mice came acr...