It's a Tiger by David LaRochelle

Are you looking for an interactive book that will give your students a story that they can enjoy and that is easy enough for them to memorize after just a couple of readings? Then you need to look for It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle. The book has an easy to remember pattern, with language that flows naturally.

It starts by inviting the reader to imagine themselves in a jungle, and continues to paint word pictures that are enhanced by the illustrations, but could easily be ignored since that words are so descriptive. It's a fun game to look for the tiger in each scene and kids love shouting "It's a tiger! Run!"

Don't miss this delightful story. Your kids will love it, and I expect that you will too.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (1957)

Saturday is Dr Seuss' birthday!!!!!!!

So why not use one of my free days to write about the most beloved of children's authors and one of his greatest books? So let's talk about the Cat in the Hat.

In 1954, Theodore Geisel read an article called, "Why do students bog down on the first \R?" (This refers to the 3 Rs-reading, writing, (a)rithmatic. I know, only one of them actually starts with an R.) In the article, John Hershey was upset about the quality of the books available to elementary students for reading.

This article led to a challenge from Houghton Mifflin's education division head, William Ellsworth Spaulding-create a book using only 225 words from the list of 348 words that every 6-year-old should know that will appeal broadly to 6 and 7-year-olds. The story uses a total of 1629 words, most of which are single-syllable words.

Now that I've talked about the history, let's talk about the book that you should already know about:

It's a rainy day, and our two young children are stuck inside while their mother is away. They get a visit from a strange creature known as the Cat in the Hat. He speaks in rhyme and has a messy and dangerous idea of fun, especially if you are a fish.

In the book, the children are overwhelmed by the aggressive nature of the Cat in the Hat, and even a talking fish isn't up to the task of chasing him away. The Cat in the Hat tries to show off his balancing skills by holding a growing variety of items while standing and even bouncing on a ball before everything crashes, and he enlists the aid of Thing 1 and Thing 2 in his chaos.

The story ends with the return of the mother, but before she comes in the door, the Cat in the Hat returns and picks up the mess.

In 1971, there was a musical version of the book in cartoon form. It makes the children more active in enjoying the antics of the Cat in the Hat, and gives the Cat in the Hat more reason for staying. After being expelled from the house, he returns in a search for his  "moss-covered three-handled family gradunza." No one knows what this is, but they turn the house upside down looking for it. The fish gets a name (Karlos K. Krinkelbein) and has more of a role than just trying to kick the Cat in the Hat out of the house.

My favorite part of this cartoon comes near the end when the Cat in the Hat gets to sing a song about his name that includes translating Cat in the Hat into different languages. (Cat, hat, in French, chat, chapeau. In Spain I am a gato in el sombrero.)

If you haven't read this book before, then shame on you. Go get one of the 11 million copies that have been published. Also, check out the cartoon. It is worth the time.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede

Is it just me, or are all of the stories involving a princess about a discontent princess who doesn't want to be a princess? (At least most of the modern tales seem to be that way.)

Princess Cimorene may not be happy being a princess, but she definitely doesn't fit into the mold of your typical discontented princess. Fortunately, that part of the story ends by the end of the first chapter, and Cimorene can move on to more important details.

To avoid marrying a rather worthless prince, Cimorene follow the advice of a talking frog and makes her way to a cave. This cave just happens to be filled with dragons. The dragons debate what to do with her since "It just isn't done" for a dragon to take a willing princess. One of the dragons, Kazul, declares that this tradition is stupid and takes Cimorene on as her princess.

Cimorene has to deal with all sorts of duties that she actually enjoys-organizing the library and a variety of collections, cooking dragon-sized meals, and leaning about magic and fighting. She also has to deal with a variety of heroes trying to rescue her.

So things seem to be going well, so let's throw in some complications. What about wizards? In this world, wizards get to use magic by stealing it from other sources. They are always trying to find new sources of magic and causing trouble. Oh, dragons are allergic to wizards because their staffs try to take the magic that dragons generate naturally.

Dragons and wizards don't get along for another reason, because wizards are not polite, and dragons demand a certain level of formality.

The first book is Dealing with Dragons and deals with Cimorene and friends trying to prevent the wizards from influencing the choice of the next King of the Dragons.

What about this Enchanted Forest?
In the Enchanted Forest, we meet King Mendenbar who also isn't terribly excited about the formality of his role as the King. In fact, if it weren't for the awesome magical powers, he would probably just walk away from it all. You see, the King of the Enchanted Forest is able to access the magic of the forest directly. He sees the magical patterns and use it by reaching out and touching the magical field.

He discovers that part of the forest has been damaged. It looks like it was burned, and since there are dragon scales in the area, it must have been a dragon. He travels to the Mountains of Morning to talk with Kozul the King of the Dragons. (King is a job so gender doesn't matter a little bit.)

Mendenbar meet Cimorene and they get along pretty well even though her dislike of princes and his dislike of princesses could have been a sticky issue. Kozul is missing, and the two decide to go looking for her.

I'm going to skip  books three and four so I can talk about some of the great characters you get to meet in these stories.

• Morwen is not your typical witch. She doesn't wear a pointy hat and she has nine cats instead of one, but she is an amazing woman. Her door is enchanted to go wherever she wants it to go. Her sleeves are enchanted to hold lots of stuff. She is an amazing witch, and she is an amazing friend.
• Telemain is an absent-minded magician. He is often mistaken for a wizard, but while wizards steal magic and only work with their staffs, magicians work with a variety of magics. Telemain works in a variety of cool things like magic mirrors and helping Mendenbar understand the magics of the Enchanted Forest.

Those two are also main characters, but I also want to give you some incentive to read these books by listing some other characters you will encounter.

• All of Morwen's cats because the story follows her in the third book, so you get to hear them.
• Killer-a rabbit that falls under a variety of enchantments and ends up as an intangible blue donkey with wings.
• The giant and his wife from Jack and the beanstalk
• Herman, the descendant of Rumplestiltskin, who has a large number of children he has won from spinning straw into gold. He loves them, but he can't afford them.
• Old MacDonald

There are plenty of others to mention, but hopefully I've convinced you to check them out if you haven't already.

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth (2005)

Zen Shorts is a great book. It didn't win a Caldecott, but that doesn't change anything. (I recently realized that Charlotte's Web was only an honor book for the Newberry Medal. Ginger Pye certainly doesn't stick out that much these days.)

Zen Shorts is an interesting look at Zen philosophies and stories. Three children discover that their new neighbor is a panda bear named Stillwater. Each of the children visit with the bear and hear a story that he shares with them that applies to their situation.

The focus of these stories is to give a different (Zen) perspective on the situations each child is facing. Stillwater is a good friend who is happy to share his wisdom. The stories are adaptations of familiar stories of Zen wisdom.

Here is the lesson of the three stories, but I won't tell you the actual stories:

• Sometimes good luck and bad luck are wrapped up together.
• Don't keep the past with you, especially if it keeps you from enjoying the moment.
• Even if you give away everything you have, there are still things you can have and enjoy.

These stories are provide an opportunity to help your students examine their perspective on the situations. You can ask them questions about how they feel about the choices that were made in the story. Along with this you can explore the decision making process.

This book is definitely worth the read, and a great addition to your lesson plans. Check it out.

Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parish

Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parish (1966)

This is the book that made me realize that I loved reading. I'm not sure how I got a copy or why I decided to read it the fine Saturday morning instead of going outside, but it was a very important moment in my life. I read this book from cover to cover in a single day, and I was only in second grade.

Peggy Parish is best known for her character Amelia Bedelia, the maid with no understanding of figurative language. However, Parish wrote a variety of stories including a set of stories during her life including a series of young children solving mysteries.

Key to the Treasure, is the first of these stories involving siblings Jed, Bill, and Liza. In this story, the children are spending the summer with their grandparents. Grandpa's family has a story that has been passed down for generations. Actually, there are two stories to tell.

When Grandpa's Grandpa was a boy, he lived near an old Indian woman names Old Jane. (This is written in the 60's when that name was acceptable.) When she died, she left him all of the tribal treasures she had collected.

When Grandpa's Grandpa grew up, he got married, and had three children-two boys and a girl. The children love their father's games, and the Indian treasures. Each of them has a special item that they love most. Grandpa's Grandpa is called away to fight in the Civil War, and to keep the kids out of trouble, he takes their favorite items and hides them. There are a set of clues to the hiding place. Grandpa's Grandma is given the first clue which she accidentally washes when she does the laundry. All that remains is a painting with a the Indian headdress, a clay pot, a strange key, and a question mark. Each generation tries to find the treasure, but there is something missing, some clue.

The next day, the children are playing with the headdress before it is sent to be a part of an exhibit at the local museum. They fight over whose turn it should be, and Bill accidentally pulls out one of the feathers. Inside the cup that holds the feather, they find a piece of old paper that holds a clue to the treasure. The children decide to try to find the treasure in secret so they can surprise Grandpa.

I love the clues because they are a variety of word puzzles that you can solve for yourself. You just need to write out the clues and stop the story long enough to solve them.

I actually used this book when I was doing my student teaching. I only had the one copy so I read it. We did all sorts of lessons with secret codes and puzzles. We learned Morse Code, and solved each of the puzzles.

I definitely suggest this book, and you should check it out as soon as you can.