Reading Is Good

Author: Cynthia Rylant; Illustrator: Mark Teague

The Great Gracie Chase

Mark Teague (Illustrator). Blue Sky Press 2001, Hardcover, 40 pages, $9.91

Gracie is a dog that likes things quiet. She likes cats that nap on the windowsill and goldfish that go ‘bloop’ in their bowls and a house that is calm and serene. So when her owners hire a team of painters with big voices and long clangy ladders, Gracie gets rightfully upset.

But imagine her suprise when she barks her discontent and it’s Gracie who gets put outside!

Indignant, Gracie spots an open gate and decides to break with doggy law and take herself for a walk. The painters come after her and the Great Gracie Chase has begun.

The painters chase Gracie because she is runniing away. Gracie runs away because the painters are chasing her. It’s a classic catch-22 that draws paperboys, delivery drivers, hot dog vendors and all kinds of cats, birds and rabbits into the Chase as Gracie runs clear across town.

Finally, as Gracie barrels along at high speed, her pursuers give up. The paperboy loses a wheel. The painters collapse in exhaustion. Noone can keep up with Gracie. Left alone on a calm and quiet street, Gracie is reminded of her cozy house and turns to go back. And it’s Gracie’s lucky day. The painters can’t come back because they need to rest, leaving Gracie’s house, and her afternoon, just the way she likes them — quiet.

This is a great book.

I don’t just say that because, like Gracie, I treasure peace and quiet (although as a kindergarten teacher I really do).

I don’t just say it because Mark Teague’s pictures are both comical and cute, and ripe with minute details — like a cat sliding to a halt rather than follow Gracie through the park fountain — for kids to find and enjoy.

And lastly, I don’t just say it because Cynthia Rylant has created a story with a loveable character and a plot resolution that kids can easily grasp.

I say it because this book is a pleasure to read-aloud.

The story is told at a perfect pace, with sentences that literally roll off the tongue in expressive fits. Dialog is sparce (a good thing in a read-aloud story (see my article, Five Qualities of a Good Read-Aloud Children’s Book, for more), sentence length is varied, words are expertly chosen and age appropriate. Rylant is a truly skilled storyteller.

Combined, these factors put The Great Gracie Chase: Stop That Dog! at the top of my read-aloud list. It makes several appearances in my classroom throughout the school year, and is always greeted with applause.

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Author: Tedd Arnold; Illustrator: Tedd Arnold

No Jumping on the Bed!

Tedd Arnold (Illustrator). Puffin 1996, Paperback, 32 pages, $3.00

It’s bedtime, and young Walter is enjoying a few good-natured bounces on his bed when dad walks in with the eternal parental edict flying from his lips: ‘No more jumping on the bed!’ ‘One day,’ he cryptically warns, ‘it’ll crash right through the floor!’

Walter obediently goes to sleep, but when he hears the kid upstairs jumping on his bed, Walter decides to take just one more bounce…

And wouldn’t you know it - CRASH! - down through the floor he goes!

Walter’s downward journey through seven floors of New York apartment building brings him into sharp contact with lots of humorous characters and many belongings that all plummet through the building with him. There’s Miss Hattie and her delicious spaghetti and meatballs, Aunt Batty and her sticky stamp collection, Mr. Hanratty and his colorful paint cans, all falling through floor after floor.

It isn’t until Walter’s bed crashes through to the basement, where things are dark and quiet, that he finally realizes it was all a dream.

Except that the kid upstairs is jumping on his bead again, and Walter hears a CRACK…

No Jumping On The Bed is one of the funniest children’s books around. The words are written at a rapid, hectic pace that keeps things moving as Walter’s bed falls down, down, down. The further he falls, the more stuff falls with him, until the paragraphs, and pictures, are simply choked with plummeting people and their possessions. Kids love to listen to the laundry list of falling items and will usually start trying to recite them along with you; a sure sign that they’re involved and engaged with the story.

Tedd Arnolds pictures are bright and colorful and filled with minute details. These details, from the expression on the TV monster’s face as the television falls through the floor to the images on Aunt Batty’s stamps, give pre-literate students plenty to focus on and talk about without the need for being able to decode the words. Pre-Readers and Early Readers can use the pictures alone to tell or retell the story.

The use of rhyming words for all of the building’s inhabitants creates a fun, lilting story and make some of the more difficult details easier for kids to remember.

Lastly, this book goes a long way towards helping pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students learn about cause and effect. Whole discussions on the subject can generate from this one text, whose lovable characters, vibrant illustrations, and whimsical story make all that learning seem like just a lot of fun.

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Author: David Shannon; Illustrator: David Shannon

Duck on a Bike

David Shannon. Blue Sky Press 2002, Hardcover, 40 pages, $6.33

It’s just another day on the farm when Duck gets a ‘wild idea.’ After eyeballing a big red bike, he hops on and goes for a ride!

As he clumsily pedals around the barn yard, Duck passes each of the other inhabitants of the farm, quacking out a hearty hello. Each animal responds as we’d expect - ‘M-o-o-o,’ says cow - but adds their own critique of the Duck’s zany behavior.

The Cow thinks Duck is being silly. The Sheep thinks he’ll get hurt. The Cat wouldn’t waste her time like that and the Horse knows he can run faster than any bike. The Goat would just as soon eat the bike as ride it and the two Pigs think Duck is a show-off. Clearly, the animals are not impressed with Duck’s idea.

Or are they? We find out for sure when a pack of children come riding up to the farmhouse. As they dump their bikes on the front lawn, the animals gather and stare. An idea forms, a wild idea, and next thing you know all the animals are pedalling around the yard having a wonderful time and praising Duck for his smart thinking.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that I have a special love for children’s stories that take place on the farm. There’s something about the mix of animals and tractors and crops and big, red barns that is just so perfect for kindergarten storytelling. And when this essential kiddie setting is mixed with a humorous story, all the better.

If you read many children’s books in the Funny Farm genre, you start to see common threads. For instance, cows and sheep are maternal, chickens are, well, chicken, and the duck is always the troublemaker. (Don’t believe me? Check out Click, Clack, Moo, Giggle, Giggle, Quack, Duck for President, Serious Farm, and Babe.)

By tapping into these expectations, Duck On a Bike provides students an immediate connection to the story. Without knowing the details, they understand the basic structure of what is about to happen. It is through discovering and tapping these personal connections that students build an ability to comprehend stories and texts they read on their own.

Duck On A Bike also gets kids thinking about dialog in a story. Without being overwhelming (I have very strong opinions on what constitutes good or bad use of dialog in a children’s book), the animals’ dialog shows children how to handle the introduction of speech in a book. Even better, since every pre-kindergarten and kindergarten student knows the sounds farm animals make, children will have fun saying or listening to the animals’ lines in their own special voice.

Needless to say, David Shannon’s illustrations once more win the day. The expressions on the animals faces, especially as they eyeball all those bikes are truly priceless. This book would be a winner without any words at all. My students especially like the end of the story where we see duck rubbing his chin and considering the big, red tractor that sits before him. This sort of detailed, well-considered picture support lays a groundwork for getting students to think about and extend the stories they read.

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Author: Melinda Long; Illustrator: David Shannon

How I Became a Pirate

David Shannon (Illustrator). Harcourt, Inc. 2003, Hardcover, 44 pages, $2.92

Young Jeremy Jacob, expert sandcastle maker, is minding his own business on the beach one day when Braidbeard the Pirate and his scurvy crew row ashore. When Braidbeard spots Jeremy’s digging skills (his castle has quite a moat), he recruits the young lad to help him bury his treasure.

Jeremy quickly finds that he likes the pirate life. He doesn’t have to eat his vegetables (there aren’t any on board), he doesn’t have to say please or thank you, and bed time is just a fading memory.

But great as it is, there’s a downside to being a bucaneer. Pirates don’t read bedtime stories, nor do they tuck little boys into bed (No Tucking! is the rule.). Jeremy finally decides that the pirate life isn’t for him after all when a scary storm whips up and cracks the ship’s mast in half.

Not wanting to leave his new friends high-and-dry, Jeremy offers a simple solution to their treasure problem by helping them find a safe (and conveniently close) place to bury the chest of gold.

The true joy in a book illustrated by David Shannon lies in his hilariously detailed pictures. How I Became A Pirate is no exception.

David Shannon’s illustrations are a riot. From the comically hulking pirate with sail-boat PJs to the soccerball chomping shark, the illustrations add a depth to the story that carry it far beyond words. They draw children into the book, enticing them to look for more and more details, and to notice changes in each character from scene to scene (like the pirate whose eyepatches are different on every page). Since so much of learning to read has to do with noticing picture details, books like this one with really great illustrations make for particularly good kindergarten reading.

These detailed, story-telling images are a joy by themselves, but add to them a funny story, with plot twists and perfectly timed dialog, and the book becomes an enchanting read, as well. Throughout the pages, Braidbeard speaks to his crew, only to have them chant it back in large, bold letters. Kids in my class routinely mimic my pirate voice (you simply cannot read this book without one), reading back to me the pirate crew’s words with enthusiastic ‘Arrr!s’ and ‘Aye!s’ When kids are that involved in a book, it’s a safe bet they’re learning something, too.

Add to all of this the book’s subtle message (the life of a kid is a pretty good life) and the suggestion that perhaps Jeremy is making all this up (what kid hasn’t fantasized about pirates), and you’ve got a really fun children’s book with a ton of learning opportunities built right in.

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