Children's Literature Awards of Spring 08

"Accidents of Nature" is a very touching story about a girl with Cerebral Palsy. This book is more suitable for young adults because of its language and references to sex and communism. Jean has gone to a Normal school all her life and one summer goes to a cripple camp when she is seventeen. Jean meets many other people with disabilites and experiences life like she never has before. She befriends a very outspoken girl named Sara, who envisions equality for people with disabilities and introduces her own human rights movement. Jean spends ten days coming to terms with her disability and leaves with a new outlook on life. Through Jean's eyes you are truly able to see what it is like to have a disability and feel the rollercoaster of emotions that she experiences.

This book is about a little boy who is relaxing by the lake and a fly goes by. The little boy grows curious as to why the fly flew past so fast. He catches up to the fly and finds out he is running from a frog. This begins a story where various animals and a man are running from the thing that comes after them. The little boy finally figures out that the animals aren't chasing after each other and that one noise started it all. The repetitive rhyming nature of this book will hook children instantly. The book does an amazing job in combining the elements of a story and poetry. This would be a great book to use in a poetry unit to show that poems aren't always just a few lines long.

This book features eighteen children who showcase their family. On each left-hand page, there is a photo of the child and their family. The left-hand page also features the child's signature. This book does a good job of exposing children to different kinds of families. It could also help a child, who feels they live with a "different" family, accept and appreciate the family they have. The book also reassures children that they are not the only ones who live in a non-traditional family by explaining family differences from the perspective of a child. A weakness of this book is that it features a lesbian family and a foster family, which could raise questions in younger children.

The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume is a good book. This book is about a kid, Freddy Dissel, who is the middle child in the family. He never gets to be the center of attention. However, one day he heard about a play being held in this school. They were looking for fifth and sixth graders, but Freddy tried out and got the part of the green kangaroo. The day of the performance came and his family went to watch him. He performed his heart out and played the best green kangaroo ever, He never worried about being in the middle anymore. This book is for great for children ages K-4. This book can be found in Penn State Libraries.

Almost Late to School is a collection of poems about school. The book starts off with a poem about the first day of school. Then, the topics range from getting along with classmates to detention to what happens after school. These poems will probably make any student laugh! The illustrations in this book are very cute and colorful. Almost Late to School would be a fantastic book to read in a classroom after a very long and stressful day. What I really like about this book is that it does a great job at introducing poetry to children in a very humorous way that they can understand. When you want to look at this book, let me know.

This book tells of a Navajo girl who has to deal with the death of her grandmother, which she was been warned of ahead of time. She has a hard time dealing with it at first and tries to find ways to postpone it, but she deals with it in the end.

This story is about an elephant who is told by a hippo that she has a big nose. She becomes self conscious and ties her nose in a knot to make it smaller. She decides that looks silly. She finally gets the knot out, and she is happy with her nose. When she goes back to school and they tease her, she points out that she may have the biggest nose but the hippo has the biggest mouth, the alligator has the biggest tail, and the rabbit has the biggest feet. I think this is a great story of how life is tough. She isn't making fun of the others, she is just pointing out that no one is perfect. It is a good lesson for children to learn. It would make them see that they shouldn't make fun of others,

"Lon Po Po", written and illustrated by Ed Young, is a fantastic twist on a traditional fairytale. In this version of "Little Red Riding-Hood" the children are left home alone while their mother takes food to their sick grandmother, or in Chinese, Po Po. The children are reminded to keep the door locked at all times and to watch for strangers. Not long after their mother leaves, there is a knock at the door from the children's Po Po. But it is actually a scary and dangerous wolf! The exciting illustrations leave the reader wondering what will happen next. This picture book is an excellent read for any age.