Stone Soup: By Marcia Brown

 This story begins with three hungry soldiers looking for a good meal.  They come to a town full of peasants with not enough food to spare.  When the peasants hear them coming, they hide the little food they do have.  Since no one is willing to spare any food for the soldiers, the soldiers trick the peasants by saying they will make stone soup. They begin making a soup by adding stones to a pot but slowly trick the peasants into bringing out more and more food to add to the soup saying it is already good, but it would be just so amazing if it only had one more ingredient.  Without even realizing it, the peasants prepared an entire feast and were praising the soldiers for their creating even though it was a trick.  The peasants praised the soldiers and did not realize they had been deceived.  

I am not sure if I would use this book in my classroom.  I plan on teaching kindergarten or first grade so I do not know if the students in my class would really understand what was happening in this book.  I also am not sure if I would want to use this book since the entire plot of this book is based on trickery and deceit.  If I did decide to use this book with older elementary kids, I think I would do an activity with it related to the order of events or with cause and effect.  

The Little Red Hen: Retold by Heather Forest

This story begins when the Little Red Hen finds some golden wheat seeds and decides she wants to grow wheat to bake a cake.  She askes the dog, the cat, and the more who will help her plant and care for the seeds and who will help her bake the cake.  Each time, all of the other animals refuse to help her.  When the time comes and the cake is all ready, all the animals want to help eat the cake. The hen says she will share her cake with those who help when there is work to be done.  The story ends with the hen, dog, cat, and more all helping to bake and eat a cake.  

I think I would use this book in my classroom.  It is a good story for younger kids that I personally remember reading and loving when I was in lower elementary school.  I could use this book to talk to the kids about helping others.  It also talks about how working together makes work more fun so we could talk about ways to make things like chores and homework fun.  

The Gingerbread Man: Retold by Jim Aytesworth

 This story begins with a little old man and a little old woman making a gingerbread man.  They mix the batter, shape the dough, and decorate him.  Next, they cook him and after a while, they can tell he is all done because of the wonderful smell coming from the oven.  When they open the oven to take him out, the gingerbread man runs away! The gingerbread man runs and runs away from everyone.  He is too fast to catch! Eventually, a fox tricks the gingerbread man into getting close enough to him and the fox eats the gingerbread man.  

I would definitely use this book in my classroom.  It is such a fun read-aloud book.  It has lots of repetition and rhyme in it.  It is great for younger kids or kids who do not really enjoy reading because it is not too complicated or hard to understand.  I would use this to get students interested in books and reading and I think it would be fun to let students do a coloring page that goes along with the story.  If I were teaching kids who were a bit older, I would do an activity with the rhyming words in the story.  

The Lion and the Mouse: By Bernadette Watts

 This story begins with a group of lion cubs playing in the sun.  Once the sun becomes too hot, they all lay down for a nap.  While one lion cub is napping, a mouse runs over his paw and wakes him up.  The mouse is fearful the lion will harm him, but the lion shows kindness to the mouse even though he views the mouse as "below him".  The mouse promises that if the lion is ever in need, he can call on the mouse and the mouse will repay the kindness shown to him.  The lion laughs at this, for how could a little mouse ever help a great lion.  Many years later, the lion gets caught in a trap. All the other animals try to help, but there is nothing they can do.  The mouse gets there and offers to help, yet the lion still doubts the mouse.  The mouse chews through the rope and sets the lion free.  After this, the lion promises always to help the mouse.  

I think this is a great book for me to use in the classroom.  I think this book would be really good for kindergarten and first grade.  We could talk about how even though the students are still young there are different ways they can help the people around them.  This could also be used to talk about showing kindness to everyone.  

Ella Enchanted: By Gail Carson Levine

 This story is the story of Ella. She has been given the cures of always having to be obedient. She is close only to her cook, Mandy.  Mandy is also a fairy and cares for Ella but Mandy warns Ella of the danger of big magic and will only do small magic. Ella must fight everyone's plans for her and everyone's command to learn to be true to herself.  Ella falls in love with Prince Char, but can not be with him until the curse is broken in order to protect him.  Ella and Mandy convince Lucinda that her curses are evil and Lucinda vows to stop giving these "gifts" to people, but she also vows to stop doing any big magic including reversing Ella's curse.  Ella finally breaks the cures and marries Char.  

I honestly do not know if I would use this book in my classroom.  I think first of all it is definitely a higher reading level than the grade I plan to teach.  If I do teach an older grade, I think this would be a really fun literature book to read, but I am not sure if it would really tie into other lessons.  I think this book is the correct reading level for around fourth or fifth grade.  

New Kid: By Jerry Craft

 
This story begins with Jordan Banks being told by his parents that instead of going to art school like he wants, he will instead be attending a private school knows for its academics.  At this new school, Jordan realizes he is one of only a few colored students in his grade.  The other students tend to treat Jordan differently because of his race, often calling him rude names.  Jordan begins to make friends, but he still feels as though he does not belong at this new school.  The teachers try to be inclusive but treat Jordan and his friend Drew completely differently than the other students.  There is also a lot of negativity around the thought of students being on financial aid as well as untrue stereotypes associated with students based on their race and on the makeup of their family at home.  In the end, Jordan begins to see his place in both his new school as well as still having a place with his old friends.  He finds friends who get to know the real him and he is recognized for his artistic ability.  

I think that this book is really good for students around 8-12 years old.  Since I want to teach younger students I probably will not use it, but I think that if I teach older students I definitely would.  This book really shows school from a perspective not many books do.  I think I would use this book especially towards the beginning of a new school year to encourage students to really get to know each other and not make assumptions based on stereotypes.