Mel's Book Corner

Title: Jack and the Beanstalk Genre: Traditional Literature Author: Emma Fucci Major Awards: None Age Group: Pre-K-1st Grade This story is about a young boy named Jack. He lives with his mother, and they do not have much money at all. All they have to their name is a cow, but one day the cow stopped producing milk. Jack's mother told Jack to go and give the cow to whoever could offer him the most money. Jack ran into a butcher who traded him the cow for five beans. Jack returns home to his mother who is furious for bringing home "worthless beans", and throws them out the window. The next morning, Jack awoke to find a large beanstalk had grown out his window. Curious, he climbs the beanstalk, which leads to a castle with a wealthy king and queen. Here, Jack steals coins from the king. At the end, the king tries to catch Jack on his way back to his home, but Jack's mother cuts the end of the beanstalk, killing the king. They end up keeping the coins and never h...

Title: The Three Little Pigs Genre: Traditional Literature Author: Barry Moser Major Awards: None Age Group: Pre-K-1st grade In this Three Little Pigs story, a group of three pigs is told by their mother that they need to learn how to live on their own. The three pigs venture out and along the way, each pig builds a home using materials gathered from townspeople. The first and second little pig build their homes out of straw and wood. A wolf asks them to let him inside, but as they decline his offer, he blows their houses in and eats them. When he goes to bother the third little pig, he runs into trouble, as this pig was smart enough to build his home with brick. The wolf tries to invite this third little pig to go out and do things with him, but the pig knows the intentions of the wolf and outsmarts him. At the end, the wolf comes looking for the pig, sliding down his chimney only to find that the pig has placed a pot of boiling water at the end of the chimney, so the wolf di...

Title: Goldilocks and the Three Bears Genre: Traditional Literature Author: Katherine Eaves Major Awards: None Age Group: Preschool-Kindergarten This is the traditional story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In this story, a family of three bears lives in a house and decides to take a walk one day. While they are gone, a girl named Goldilocks wanders through the woods and happens upon their home. While there, Goldilocks wrecks havoc on the home. At the end, the three bears return home to find their home a disaster. They find Goldilocks in the youngest bears' bed, and Goldilocks leaps out of it. This frightens her, and she promises to never snoop in a house again.  I definitely plan to use this book in my future classroom. It is a classic children's novel that children love to have read to them. Aside from that, it teaches children an important lesson on personal property and the importance of not taking what does not belong to them.  I would say this book is per...

Title: Gingerbread Baby Genre: Traditional Literature Author: Jan Brett Major Awards: 2000 Bookseller's Choice-Picture Book Age Group: Preschool-1st grade Gingerbread Baby is a story about a young boy named Mattie who decides to make a "Gingerbread Boy" on a cold, winter day. On the Gingerbread Boy recipe, it is made clear to NOT peek at the Gingerbread Boy baking in the oven until the full eight minutes are up. Mattie just cannot help himself, though, and decides to take a small peek after it had been in for five minutes. This turned out to be a huge mistake. The Gingerbread Boy runs away from Mattie, and terrorizes animals and people in the town. Mattie assumes that the Gingerbread Boy is still in his home, and decides to make a Gingerbread House for him. After giving the whole town a panic by thinking he has been eaten, the Gingerbread Boy returns home and lives happily ever after in the Gingerbread House.  I would use this book in the classroo...

                                      Title: The Little Red Hen Genre: Traditional Literature Major Awards: ALA Notable Children's Book, New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Books of the Year Age Group: Pre-K-2nd grade The Little Red Hen is a story about a hen who lives with a frog and a cat. The frog and cat are extremely lazy, and will not help the hen with any chores. The hen spent all day cleaning and cake a cake with no help from the frog and cat. Irritated by their actions, the hen leaves home. She encounters a fox who tries to make her his breakfast. The hen breaks away from the fox and decides to head home to her friends. Upon returning, she finds the frog and cat cleaning. They explain to her that they are sorry for their actions, and promise to never act lazy again.  I would use this in my classroom to teach students a lesson on how acti...