News from the Curriculum Resource Center

DiPucchio, Kelly.  Grace for President.  Illustrated by LeUyen Pham.  New York:  Hyperion Books for Children:  2008.  ISBN:  9780786839193.

With all the current events surrounding the national elections this year, be prepared for a flood of election-related children’s books.  Grace for President  not only tells the story of a classroom election between Grace and Thomas, but attempts to explain the electoral college.  Rather than each student getting one vote, each student is assigned to be a state with the corresponding number of electoral college votes.  Both Thomas and Grace … Continue Reading

Shaskan, Trisha Speed.  If You Were Onomatopoeia. Illustrated by Sara Gray.  Minneapolis, MN: Picture Window Books, 2008. ISBN:9781404840980..
If You Were Onomatopoeia is part of the Word Fun series from Picture Window Books.  Bright colorful collages illustrate this concept book that explains and gives dozens of  examples of onomatopoeia. Included is a glossary, index, weblinks, and related book list.  A great teaching tool, find a copy with the CSCL books in the CRC hallway at JUV 428.1 S5328i.

Riggs, Shannon.  Not In Room 204. Illustrated by Jaime Zollars. Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman & Company.  ISBN: 9780807557648.

Shannon Riggs thoughtfully presents a children’s picture book on the topic of sexual abuse.  While this topic appears to be nearly impossible to tackle in such a format, the story of Regina Lillian Hadwig is a hopeful and sensitive treatment to this difficult subject.  Mrs. Salvador, Regina’s teacher, gains Regina’s trust by providing a safe and structured environment for her students.  Mrs. Salvadore goes beyond the typical “stranger danger” lesson and tells the children that sometimes … Continue Reading

Gantos, Jack. I Am Not Joey Pigza. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.  ISBN: 978-0-374-39941-2.
Jack Gantos has added a fourth book to the Joey Pigza series titled I Am Not Joey Pigza.  Not surprisingly, Joey has a bit of an identity crisis when his dad shows up and announces that he has changed the family’s names to go along with the new exciting people that they are to become.  No one goes untouched, and Joey becomes Freddie Heinz and even the chihuahuas Pablo and Pablita become El Gordo and Quesadilla.  … Continue Reading