Joyia's Book Corner

Number the Stars is the story about Annemarie, who is growing up during WWII. When her best friend Ellen goes into hiding due to Jewish persecution, she learns a lot about bravery and the world she lives in. 

Number the Stars received a Lexile score of 670L, making it readable for most 6th grade readers. This book can be used in conjunction with history to teach about historical perspectives. Students will gain an understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust. Students can also analyze Annemarie's perspective of the events, and predict what Ellen may have felt throughout the story. 

Sideways Stories from Wayside School is a collection of stories from a wacky school. Each chapter features a story of one of the students in Ms. Jewls' class.

Sideways Stories from Wayside School received a Lexile score of 460L, making it readable for most 3rd grade readers. This book can be used to introduce a class-wide writing anthology, in which each student writes a story to include in a publication of Sideways Stories from Ms. Teacher's Class.  

Bud, Not Buddy is the story of a young African-American boy who runs away from an abusive foster home in search of his father. Along the journey, Bud learns about family and persistence. 

Bud, Not Buddy received a Lexile score of 950L, making it suitable for 4th through 6th grade readers. This book would be good to teach about African American history as Bud learns about the Great Depression and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the increasing racial tensions. 

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs provides a new take on the traditional story of the three little pigs. Alexander T. Wolf offers a new perspective on the classic story.

This book received a Lexile score of AD570L, making it a book to be read by the teacher to a group of students. This book can be used to teach about perspectives, and that there are multiple sides to each story. 

The Watsons Go to Birmingham is the story about the Watson family's trip to Birmingham, Alabama during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout the journey, the family learns a lot about each other, growing up, and racism.

The book received a Lexile score of 1000L, making it suitable for most 4th-6th grade readers. This book is a great book to teach about African-American history and the Civil Rights era. The book is based on true events, and gives an excellent commentary on the views and fears of many African-Americans during that time. 

Pete the Cat's school playground is a mess. It has gone to shambles, and the school needs a new one. So, Pete the Cat takes the initiative to design and build a new one. 

Construction Destruction received a Lexile score of AD420L, making it best used in read-alouds. This book would be good to teach about problem solving, or just as a fun read. 

The Spring Dance from the Black Lagoon is a silly book following Hubie's fears about the upcoming school dance.

This book received a score of 420L on the Lexile score, making it suitable for most third grade readers. It can be used as a fun independent reading, or as an introduction to your school's upcoming dance. It could also be used to introduce a creative writing exercise about students finding out that things they thought were scary aren't really scary at all. 

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is a heartbreaking story about a young girl who attempts to fulfill the legend of folding one thousand paper cranes to make her well again. It is a story of hope and perseverance.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes received a score of 630L on the Lexile scale making it suitable for most end year third graders. This would be a good story to teach about Hiroshima and the disaster it faced when a bomb destroyed it during WWII. It could be used as a continuation of a history lesson, and students can write letters to Sadako and fold them into paper cranes. 

Mother Bruce is a silly tale about a grumpy bear named Bruce, who accidentally comes to raise a flock of goslings. He tries to get rid of them, but to no avail.

Mother Bruce received a score of AD570L on the Lexile scale, making it a bit difficult for students to read independently. This would be a great book to use as a read aloud just for fun, or to teach sequence of events. This is a fun book that is humorous for both children and adults. 

The Runaway Bunny is a sweet tale about a young bunny who threatens to run away from his mother, and his mother threatens to find him. It is silly and imaginative in the two bunnies' creative plans. 

This book received a score of AD600L, which would make it difficult for independent readings, but is a great story for a read aloud. This book would be great to read just for fun, or could be used to teach about imagination or cause and effect. It is a classic book and children of all ages will love it. 

this is our house is a story of a house that has seen three generations of one family. It is a sweet story that shows how similar parents' and children's experiences are.

This book received a score of 3.3 on the Flesch-Kincaid reading scale, making it a good book for third grade or above. This would be a good book to use to explain the similarities between generations.

Good Night, Firefly is a sweet story about a young girl who is afraid of the dark, and the firefly she catches as a nightlight. It is a story about understanding and doing what is best for others.

This book scored a 2.4 on the Automated Readability Index, making it ideal for 2nd grade and above. This book can be used to teach empathy to students. Classes can discuss how the characters might have felt throughout the story, and whether or not the main character did the right thing in the end. 

Library Lil is a silly book about a librarian like no other. She breaks the librarian stereotype with her unique personality and even managed to get the rowdiest of people to take to reading.

Library Lil recieved a 570L on the Lexile readability scale which would make it suitable for students around the fourth grade level. This would be a good book to teach about breaking stereotypes as Lil strays from the traditional librarian role. Other characters in the story also break the stereotype norm as the book progresses.

Real Cowboys is a book about cowboys and how they are people just like us. It provides a sweet and moving insight to a side of cowboys that we do not often think about.

Earning a score of 8.4 on the Gunning-Fog scale, the book can be a bit difficult due to its long sentences. The vocabulary can be a bit tough for younger students, so this book would work best as a teacher led read-aloud for a class of older age students. 

This book would be great to use to teach about dispelling stereotypes. Having students compare what they know about cowboys from the media and the information they find in this book would be a great activity to teach students that people aren't always how they are portrayed to be. 

Once Upon a Banana is a silly story about a monkey that causes a lot of chaos in one small town. The book has very little text aside from street signs, so the story is very picture heavy. The text that is there received a 1.9 on the Gunning-Fog readability scale and should be easy for first and second graders to read. The book heavily relies on pictures however, so it can easily be understood regardless of reading level. After my second read through, I noticed that the signs are introduced in a rhyming order, which would be great to point out to students. This book would also be great to teach cause and effect as every action leads to a crazier and sillier new action. Inference can also be taught with this book as there is no text to explicitly say what is happening. 

Families is a short nonfiction book describing the many types of families. It received a score of AD210L on the Lexile reading scale, and would be a good book to use in a kindergarten or preschool classroom. This would be a good book to teach about diversity as it explains that families come in many different varieties.