New Reads

I've been trying to read the books from the 2011 Rebecca Caudill book list, but Illinois has a new book award: The Blue Stem awards. I really like that there is a focus for students in grades 3-5. Some of the Caudill books are way too advanced for this level reader, unless I read them aloud to my students. I've found some good books on the new Bluestem list.

Here is a link to the Bluestem 2011 list.

I've recently read Kenny & the Dragon.


This book is written by the author of the Spiderwick Cronicles, which I've never read, but many kids enjoy. Anyway, this book is about a cute, litte rabbit who is quite unliked by his classmates because he loves to read and knows a lot about non-fiction things. He'd rather have a book than play sports.

This book is set back in the times of kings. It is a small town that thinks dragons are bad. As I was reading, I thought the first chapter was quite comical. The narrator doesn't understand how you can be "upon time" like you can be upon a horse or upon a farm, so he feels he can't start the book with the traditional fairy tale beginning Once upon a time.

Also having seen the original St. George and the Dragon sculpture, this reminded me a lot of that. I know the author was probably connecting to that, but I think that might have been written more for the adult reader.

I enjoyed this book, it was a fast read. I loved the pencil illustrations that helped extend the story for the reader. I thought this might be a class read aloud, but I've recently found one I think I like a bit better. Stay tuned, that will be my next blog post!