If You Give a Pig a Pancake: By Laura Numeroff

 This is a story about a girl and her pig.  It starts off with the girl giving her pig a pancake.  It follows through as every time the pig gets something new, it needs to have or do something else. The pig ends up with a pancake, some syrup, a bath, a rubber duck, tap shoes, music, a photoshoot, a bunch of letters to mail, a treehouse, and in the end, more pancakes!

I think I probably would use this book in my class.  It has a lot of different events so I could do an activity with that.  It also has a lot of events that students would relate to.  I think this book would be best for first or second grade.  

Corduroy: By Don Freeman

 This story is about a little stuffed bear who wears green overalls.  His name is Corduroy.  In this story, Corduroy lives in the toy store and a girl named Lisa sees Corduroy in the store. Lisa wants to buy Corduroy but her mother says no because he is too expensive and he is missing a button. That night Corduroy goes on an adventure to find his missing button but he can not find it. The next day Lisa comes back with her piggy bank and buys Corduroy.  She takes him home and sews on a new button.  In the end, Lisa and Corduroy talk about being friends and how they have always wanted a friend.

I think I would use this book in my classroom because it is just a fun read-aloud.  It seems perfect for lower elementary students, around kindergarten through 3rd grade. I am not sure how I would tie it into other parts of the lesson, possibly talk about the sequence of events.  

The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: By Joanna Cole

In this book, Ms. Frizzle's class goes on a field trip to examine flowers.  They all get on their magic school bus and it magically grows wings and shrinks to take them inside of a flower.  They see bees and ladybugs that are the same size as their bus and then make their way into the flower.  The class stepped in sticky nectar inside of the flower.  They examed the anther, which is the part of the flower that makes pollen.  They visited the stigma which is the center part of the flower. They also saw the seeds flying in the wind.  After visiting each part of the flower, the students get back on the bus where they return to normal size and return to their classroom.  

I think I would use this book in my classroom while doing a science unit on flowers.  I think this book would be good for students in 2nd or 3rd grade.  I think it could be used for a science lesson as maybe an opening to a unit on flowers and the different parts of them.  

Dolphins at Daybreak: By Mary Pope Osborne

 This book is book number nine in the Magic Tree House series.  It begins with Jack and Annie going to their magic tree house and finding a quest that has been left for them.  They must visit the ocean to solve a riddle, and they get to the ocean by picking up a book about dolphins and wishing they could go there.  They are then magically transported in their treehouse to a coral reef.  They get in a submarine and look for the answer to the riddle they have been given.  The sub begins to crack and they worry it will sink.  They get out and start swimming to shore, but it is too far.  They end up riding on the back of dolphins back to the shore. Right as they are about to give up on the riddle, they finally solve it.  Jack steps on an oyster which is the answer to the riddle.  They then get back in the treehouse and wish to go home.  Once they arrive home, it is like no time has passed.  

I really like this book and I would really like to use it in my classroom.  I think it sparks a lot of imagination of where would you go if you could wish it in a magic treehouse.  I think that it would be really fun to have the students try to solve the riddle as they read.  I also think it would be really cool to read when studying the ocean in science class.  I think this book would be good for 2-4th grade.  

Charlotte's Web: By E.B. White

 Charlotte's Web begins with a hook.  Fern speaks first with the attention-grabbing line “'Where's Papa going with that axe?". This immediately grabs the reader's attention as the story unfolds.  The story focuses on a spider named Charlotte and a pig named Wilber.  Fern's father plans to kill Wilber because he is a runt but Fern stops him and Wilber is instead sold. This story has a central theme of seasons and life passing/the circle of life.  Wilber and Charlotte become friends and Fern continues to come to visit Wilber and insists that she hears the animals talk.  Charlotte begins to spin words in her web to play tricks on Wilber's owner, Mr. Zuckerman.  Mr. Zuckerman brings Wilber to the fair and Charlotte and Templeton, the rat, hide in the crate with him.  While at the fair, Charlotte announces that she will not return home since she will die soon, but Wilber and Templeton bring her egg sack back home with them so that Charlotte's descendants can continue to live on with them.  Wilber cares for the eggs and eventually they hatch and Wilber's new friends are born.  

I am not sure if I would use this book in my classroom. I remember reading it in second grade, but going back and rereading it, I am not sure about it.  I think that it does portray an interesting view on the circle of life and different seasons, but I feel like there are much better books now that portray that same message.  I think that the idea of Wilber and Charlotte talking does bring a spark of imagination to the reader which I really like, but I do know that some people are very bothered by some of the portrayals of death in this book.  I think it would change a lot based on where I was teaching and what the background of my students is.