Just For Fun with Language
1. Aliens Love Underpants
Author: Claire Freedman
Illustrator: Ben Cort
Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Synopsis: When little aliens fly down to Earth, they don't come to visit because they want to meet the Earthlings. They simply want to steal everybody's underpants! They like them large or small, they like them red or green--and they like them in all other sizes and colors, too. They think that Mom's pink, frilly panties are a perfect place to hide. And Grandpa's woolly long johns make a super-whizzy slide! The text is in verse, the illustrations are big and bright, and kids who open this book will giggle from first page to last.
Also comes in Spanish
2. Don't Cry Sly! (Sly Fox and Little Red Hen!)
Author: Henriette Barkow
Illustrator: Richard Johnson
Publisher: Mantra Lingua Talking Pen
Publication Date: March 16, 2009
Synopsis: How is Sly going to catch Little Red Hen (which his mother wanted him to get for dinner)? By being a cunning fox. How is little Red Hen going to escape? By being a resourceful hen. A humorous retelling of a classic folk tale ends with a clever twist. Also comes in French and English in parallel.
3. Batter Up Wombat
Author: Helen Lester
Illustrator: Lynn Munsinger
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
Synopsis: This was a brand-new baseball season, and the Champs were ready to go in their spiffy clean uniforms. The previous year they finished last in the North American Mammal League, this season would be different. But when a Wombat wanders onto the field opening game day, the Champs have no idea just how different the game was about to become.
4. Snow Wonder
Author: Charles Ghigna
Illustrator: Julia Woolf
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 28, 2008
Synopsis: When two children wake up to find that it has snowed, they spend the day riding sleds, building snowmen, making snow angels, skating a figure eight, and even taking a break to make gingerbread cookies with grandma. It’s a day filled with wonderful wintry fun!
5. Chester
Author: Melanie Watt
Illustrator: Melanie Watt
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: August 1, 2009
Synopsis: Chester is more than a picture book. It is a story told, and retold, by dueling author-illustrators. Melanie Watt starts out with the story of a mouse in a house. Then Melanie's cat, Chester, sends the mouse packing and proceeds to cover the pages with rewrites from his red marker, and the gloves are off. Melanie and her mouse won't take Chester's antics lying down. And Chester is obviously a creative powerhouse with confidence to spare. Where will this war of the picture-book makers lead? Is it a one-way ticket to Chesterville, or will Melanie get her mouse production off the ground?
I would incorporate these books in my classroom as a fun, free read time. This could be where the students are done with their work and have extra time before we begin doing another activity as a class, after lunch, or after/before a special. I would encourage the students to grab a book and read.
Author: Claire Freedman
Illustrator: Ben Cort
Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Synopsis: When little aliens fly down to Earth, they don't come to visit because they want to meet the Earthlings. They simply want to steal everybody's underpants! They like them large or small, they like them red or green--and they like them in all other sizes and colors, too. They think that Mom's pink, frilly panties are a perfect place to hide. And Grandpa's woolly long johns make a super-whizzy slide! The text is in verse, the illustrations are big and bright, and kids who open this book will giggle from first page to last.
Also comes in Spanish
2. Don't Cry Sly! (Sly Fox and Little Red Hen!)
Author: Henriette Barkow
Illustrator: Richard Johnson
Publisher: Mantra Lingua Talking Pen
Publication Date: March 16, 2009
Synopsis: How is Sly going to catch Little Red Hen (which his mother wanted him to get for dinner)? By being a cunning fox. How is little Red Hen going to escape? By being a resourceful hen. A humorous retelling of a classic folk tale ends with a clever twist. Also comes in French and English in parallel.
3. Batter Up Wombat
Author: Helen Lester
Illustrator: Lynn Munsinger
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
Synopsis: This was a brand-new baseball season, and the Champs were ready to go in their spiffy clean uniforms. The previous year they finished last in the North American Mammal League, this season would be different. But when a Wombat wanders onto the field opening game day, the Champs have no idea just how different the game was about to become.
4. Snow Wonder
Author: Charles Ghigna
Illustrator: Julia Woolf
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 28, 2008
Synopsis: When two children wake up to find that it has snowed, they spend the day riding sleds, building snowmen, making snow angels, skating a figure eight, and even taking a break to make gingerbread cookies with grandma. It’s a day filled with wonderful wintry fun!
5. Chester
Author: Melanie Watt
Illustrator: Melanie Watt
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: August 1, 2009
Synopsis: Chester is more than a picture book. It is a story told, and retold, by dueling author-illustrators. Melanie Watt starts out with the story of a mouse in a house. Then Melanie's cat, Chester, sends the mouse packing and proceeds to cover the pages with rewrites from his red marker, and the gloves are off. Melanie and her mouse won't take Chester's antics lying down. And Chester is obviously a creative powerhouse with confidence to spare. Where will this war of the picture-book makers lead? Is it a one-way ticket to Chesterville, or will Melanie get her mouse production off the ground?
I would incorporate these books in my classroom as a fun, free read time. This could be where the students are done with their work and have extra time before we begin doing another activity as a class, after lunch, or after/before a special. I would encourage the students to grab a book and read.