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 ...