Mel's Book Corner

Title: Sumo Joe Genre: Multicultural Author: Mia Wenjen Major Awards: None Age Group: Pre-K-1st grade This is the story of Sumo wrestler, Joe and his little sister. Sumo Joe spends Saturday afternoons Sumo wrestling with his friends. They build a "ring" out of pillows and wrestle in the living room. As they put their wrestling gear on, they state in Japanese what each object they are putting on is called. First they stretch, shiko, and then do a drill called teppo. As they are getting into their wrestling, Joe's little sister comes in the room and wants to join. Well, this is a "boys only zone", so Joe isn't keen on her joining. She keeps on asking, so he agrees to at least let her try. In the end, his little sister rises to the occasion and takes Joe down! I am not sure that I would want this in my classroom. It didn't have much of a plot to me; it was mostly just about a bunch of boys wrestling and shouting Japanese words. It just didn't...

Title: Home at Last Genre: Multicultural Author: Susan Middleton Elya Major Awards: None Age Group: 3rd-5th grade This is the story of Ana Patino and her family, who have recently moved to the United States from Mexico because of her Papa's job. Ana was excited for this new time in her life, despite knowing no English upon entering school the first day. Though she could not speak any English that first day, by the end of the school day, she had already learned a ton. Her parents did not know any English, so as she gets home, they ask her in Spanish how school was, and she states that she likes it. Although Ana is loving this change, she knows that her Mama is struggling. Ana and her father are starting to learn English, but her mother will have no part in it. This makes it difficult, especially as she goes to the grocery store and gets overcharged for meat, but cannot do anything about it since she knows no English. It is also difficult as Ana gets important letters sent h...

Title: Too Many Tamales Genre: Multicultural Author: Gary Soto Major Awards: None Age Group: 2nd-4th grade This is a story of a Hispanic family gathering together on Christmas Eve to celebrate. They have a tradition of making tamales, and Maria decides to help her parents make them this year. This year more than ever, Maria feels grown up: her mother lets her wear lipstick, perfume, and she even gets to help make tamales. As she helps her mother, she thinks to herself that she wishes she could wear her mother's wedding ring. Her mother places the ring on the counter as she prepares the food, and as her mother leaves the kitchen, Maria picks it up and puts it on her thumb to admire it. As her mother comes back into the kitchen, Maria notices that the ring is gone. She assumes it went into the tamale dough, but she cannot not tell her mother yet. As her cousins start to arrive at her house, she takes them upstairs, explaining the situation she has herself in. Maria and her c...

Title: Bebe Goes Shopping Genre: Multicultural Author: Susan Middleton Elya Major Awards: None Age Group: Preschool-Kindergarten This is a story about a little baby taking a trip to the supermercado - the grocery store, with his mother. On each page, there are words in Spanish and in English, describing things they encounter while shopping. The little baby wants to help his mother grocery shop, but instead he wrecks havoc and causes stress for his mother. He gets annoyed that he cannot help, so he starts kicking, knocking over displays of food, throwing things from the cart onto the floor, and tries to escape from the grocery cart. His mother becomes infuriated, but then sees a display for animal crackers. She gives them to the baby, and this distracts him for the rest of the shopping time. In the end, the baby starts to act better and even gets a balloon as he leaves.  I would like this book in my classroom because it is a great introduction to the Spanish language for ...

Title: Beautiful Oops! Genre: Paper Engineered Author: Barney Saltzberg Major Awards: None Age Group: Pre-K-1st grade This is a paper engineered, pop-up heavy book about seeing the magic in making mistakes. With each page, there is a statement about a mistake being made in school, and how you should see the beauty in it. For example, one page states, "Every spill has lots and lots of possibilities!" Here, a juice spill transforms from a spill to a spill that is shaped like an elephant, using pop-up features. Another page states, "Bent paper is something to celebrate." Here, the actual page of the book is bent and the illustrator made the bent paper into a penguin head, and drew the rest of the body below it. There is also a page that says, "A scrap of paper can be fun to play with." Here, a piece of newspaper is painted to look like a dog. At the end, it states, "When you think you have made a mistake, think of it as an opportunity to make so...

Title: Nope. Never. Not for Me! Genre: Special Needs Author: Samantha Cotterill Major Awards: None Age Group: Preschool-Kindergarten This is a story of a little girl with autism having to try broccoli for the first time. Her mother places it in front of her, and the girl states that it is too bumpy, too lumpy, and very jumpy. She states, "Nope. Never. Not for me!" Her mom asks her if she will at least touch it. She does, but says it feels too pokey, too scratchy, and too ouchy. She again states, "Nope. Never. Not for me!" The little girl has a fascination with dinosaurs, so her mom tells her that she guesses not every dinosaur likes trees, after all. This causes the girl to place her toy dinosaur in front of the broccoli, and then the girl gets the courage to try it on her own. She tries it, but is not a fan. Her mom calls her a brave "Try"ceratops for trying something new. In the end, she gains more courage to try other foods and ends up liking s...

Title:  What You Never Knew About Beds, Bedrooms, and Pajamas Genre: Bluebonnet Author: Patricia Lauber Major Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Master List Age Group: 7th-8th grade This is a story about how beds, bedrooms, and pajamas came to be. The book starts out by stating that humans like to sleep lying down with pillows and blankets, but it has not always been this way. In the Stone Age, it is assumed that people cut boughs from trees, spread hides of furs over them, and used furs as blankets. The Egyptians were the first to use beds, made out of wicker. They later traded grain for wood, and this is how wooden beds came to be. The footboards they made kept the person from sliding off. Greeks had day beds in their homes, and their bedrooms were more like closets than rooms. In the Middle Ages, everyone lived together under one roof, and each person was given a sack and some straw to make a bed. Houses were used as shops during the day, and then were transformed into real house...