Bob Benden Reviews

Bob Benden

Second Five Picture Book Reviews

Iwamura, Kazuo. Hooray for Fall. New York: NorthSouth, 2009. Print.

                This is a story about three squirrels who are outside enjoying the fall weather and the colors of autumn. The illustrations in this book are brilliant, with mostly red, yellow and orange coloration. The story helps to inform children about the natural processes of the fall (birds flying south, bears preparing for hibernation etc) and would be a great book to use with particularly young students in the fall. A great read aloud book with a small class, and it would definitely need to be passed around so students could enjoy the beautiful artwork.

McElligott, Matt. Bean Thirteen. Putnam, 2007. Print.

                This book is a great math teaching book. It is about two bugs trying to share thirteen beans between them, and eventually a whole party of other bugs, and finding out they cannot. Coupled with a math lesson about division or even perhaps prime numbers, this book would be a great tool to entertain the students and have them realize a semi-practical application of the math. The illustrations are fairly basic, as is the language but this book definitely serves as a great lead-in to a math lesson.

Curtis, Jamie L. Big Words for Little People. HarperCollins, 2008. Print.

                This book is all about big words such as “inappropriate” and “understand” and helps kids to use them and understand what they actually mean. It shows kids that though certain words may be awfully long, they’re very useful and necessary. I think this book does a good job of showing kids words they’ve probably heard before, yet just didn’t know what they meant exactly or what they even looked like. The book ends with small words like “love” and “family” and teaches their importance and how they’ve even more important than the big words. A great book to enrich children’s vocabulary, all while teaching them a great lesson as well.

Deriso, Christine. Dreams To Grow on. New York: Illumination Arts, 2002. Print.

                This book is about a little girl and all her dreams she has of what she wants to be when she grows up. The illustrations I found to be very good and imaginative at the same time. I think this story is great for children when you’re trying to discuss goals and dreams of young children when it comes to growing up. Not only that, but it can also lead into a great discussion about goal setting and how to realize all the dreams one has for themselves. The rhyme in the story makes the book go with a great rhythm and is definitely an easy, fun read for students.

Gomi, Taro. My Friends/Mis Amigos. Chronicle Books, 2006. Print.           

                This book is written in both English and Spanish. It has simple sentences in it as the character goes out and meets many different animals and they teach her how to do things. The illustrations are done in primary colors and are fairly simple yet still nice. The book’s sentences help students learn a lot of useful Spanish, all the while making sure the reader is never overwhelmed with too much information. The same page English/Spanish format definitely helps kids learn but also allows them to practice seeing the Spanish and English next to one another therefore they are never intimidated. The story is pretty simple, but for its purposes the book is a great learning tool to create a bilingual classroom.