Ms. Tointigh's Book Blog

Title:   Mr. Wuffles Genre:  Science Fiction / Fantasy Author /  Illustrator: David Wiesner Major Awards:  Caldecott Award  Age group : 1st-5th Summary This graphic novel follows a day in the life of a house cat named Mr. Wuffles.  In Mr. Wuffles house there's a whole space ship full of little green men, they even speak their own language made only of symbols.  Mr. Wuffles attempts to play with these aliens as he's not interested in any other normal cat toys and definitely not interested in his owner.  The only thing he's interested in is a small silver spaceship that houses these small little aliens.  Then the story cuts to the aliens developing a plan that will help launch their spaceship back into the atmosphere.  They work along side the insects such as ants and lady bugs and when the time comes they get Mr. Wuffles to jump on a platform that launches them out the window and back into the atmosphere.  Then Mr. Wuffles is left al...

  Title:   April and Esme Tooth Fairies Genre:  Fantasy Author /  Illustrator:  Bob Graham Age group : 2nd-4th Summary In this story the reader gets to follow two sisters who also happen to be tooth fairies on their first lost tooth mission.  April and Esme are in a family of tooth fairies and usually it's their parent picking up teeth however for Daniel these girls were specifically requested.  after getting a pep talk from mom and dad the sisters are off.  The one rule is that Daniel cannot see them or else it ruins the magic.  April and Esme get to Daniel's house with no problem and then they make their way up to the bedroom.  There they find Daniel sound asleep and look for his tooth.  it is sitting on a dresser inside a cup of water.  So April takes the dive in the cup and gets the tooth but as she gets out Daniel wakes up.  Both girls fly over the Daniel and pull his eyelids closed.  After getting a text from th...

  Title:   Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Genre:  Fantasy Author : Judi Barrett Illustrator:  Ron Barrett Age group : 2nd-4th Summary Grandpa tells the children a bed time story about a town where food falls from the sky.  The tiny town of Chewandswallow was like any other town but the had no food stores in this tiny town.  The weather happened three times a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Each meal time the people of the town would head outside with silverware and a plate or bowl so they would be ready to catch all the food the sky had to offer.  The sanitation workers of this town had to clean up any left over food or food that fell on top of houses that the people could not eat.  Then suddenly the weather began to turn violent one day of nothing but gorgonzola cheese fell and the next after that the was a fog of pea soup.  Then came a storm of bread rolls of all sizes from breadstick to giant car sized rolls.  It was li...

  Title:   A Bad Case of the Stripes Genre:  Fantasy Author/Illustrator : David Shannon Age group : 2nd-5th Summary  This story follows a young girl named Camilla.  She is very nervous to start school and of course the morning of school she wakes up covered from head to toe in rainbow stripes. So the family physician comes in and checks out Camilla and says she's well enough to attend school.  And at school everyone laughs and makes fun of her stripes.  Then things get worse than she could imagine when based on whatever is happening in the room Camilla's stripes change!  Students begin shouting out random things in order to get her appearance to change.  Doctors and scientists alike are unable to figure out why Camilla has stripes and most certainly are unaware of why they are changing.  They suggest a virus and viruses begin to appear on Camilla's body.  Same thing with bacteria and fungus.  Then an environmental therapist tel...

  Title:   Where the Wild Things are Genre:  Fantasy Author/Illustrator : Maurice Sendak Major Awards:  Caldecott Award Age group : Kinder-3rd Summary This story follows a young boy named Max.  Max is running amok in his house and his other sends him off to his room because of it.  In his room Max cannot believe that his mom sent him to his room, so his walls turn into jungle and suddenly he is transported into a forest with wild monsters and huge trees.  Max then becomes the king of the wild things as they have all conceded that he is the wildest of them all.  They all begin to dance the whole night away when he remembers how much he misses his mom.  The monsters do not want their king to go however Max wants to return home to his mom.  So then he goes home and supper and his mom are both waiting. Evaluation This story is filled with the child-like imagination that all children have experienced.  I think this book could be used to ...

  Title:   George's Marvellous Medicine Genre:  Fantasy Author: Roald Dahl Illustrator : Quentin Blake  Age group : 3rd-5th Summary This story is about a young boy named George.  George's parent have left him alone with his grandmother, the only thing George had to remember was to give his grandmother her medicine at 11:00 o'clock sharp.  George's grandmother is terrible towards George especially when his parents are not around.  George waits on his grandma hand and foot and is really at his grandmother's beck and call.  So George takes matter into his own hands and decides to whip up a wicked concoction with shampoo and dish soap and so much more vile things that will substitute for his grandmother's medicine.  So the time comes for grandma to take his medicine and George is in for a wild surprise.  Grandma takes the medicine and begins to grow like a bubble, then she deflates.  Then she begins to grow super tall and starts breakin...

Title:   The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales Genre:  Fantasy Author : Jon Scieszka Illustrator: Lane Smith Major Awards:  Caldecott Award  & Texas Bluebonnet Age group : 2nd-4th Summary This picture story book is a collection of fairytales.  These are not just any ordinary fairytales though, these are the fractured fairytales.  This is a specific type of fairytale that has the same characters but is told differently.  Jack the narrator is just trying to write this story and some of the characters are being uncooperative like the giant or the red hen.  Jack just wants to tell everyone's fairly stupid stories.  These fractured fairy tales are not full of the morals that everyone's used to like how the ugly duckling grows up to be a handsome swan, in this story he just grows up to be an ugly duck. Evaluation The humor created by Scieszka is unmatched.  The way that he brings Jack's character to life as something more tha...

  Title:   Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Genre:  Fantasy Author/Illustrator : Mo Willems Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Award Age group : PreK-2nd Summary This picture book begins with a request from the bus driver.  The bus driver asks the reader to watch his bus while he runs a few errands and leaves the reader with one rule: Don't let the pigeon drive the bus.  So then the bus driver leaves and the reader meets the pigeon.  The pigeon then proceeds to beg the readers to let him drive the bus. He attempts to bribe them or say things like "just once around the block."  Then after all his failed attempts the pigeon has a huge temper tantrum and pleads for the reader to let him drive and then the bus driver returns.  The bus driver thanks the reader and says "you didn't let the pigeon drive did you?" And then he drives off.  The reader then sees the pigeon look at a semi truck and start having a daydream about that and forget the bus. Eval...

  Title:   Charlotte's Web Genre:  Fantasy Author: E.B. White Illustrator : Garth Williams Major awards : Newberry Honor Award Age group : 3rd-5th Summary This story follows a special pig named Wilbur.  When Wilbur is born he is the runt of the litter and his fate is to be slaughtered.  With the convincing of a little girl named Fern her father decides to spare Wilbur.  From there Fern and Wilbur become best pals and do almost everything together.  After this Wilbur is moved to Fern's uncles farm to help Fern with the separation because when he is older his fate will still be being slaughtered.  At the farm Wilbur becomes very lonely and misses Fern more than anything.  Luckily after a few days of sulking Wilbur befriends the other animals on the farm.  One animal whom he is the fondest of is a spider named Charlotte. Wilbur soon over hears that winter that he will be slaughtered and in an effort to save Wilbur's life Charlotte agrees to...

  Title:   Zombie in Love Genre:  Science Fiction Author: Kelly DiPucchio Illustrator : Scott Campbell Age group : Kinder- 3rd Summary Zombie in Love is a short picture book that follows Mortimer.  Mortimer is a zombie and he wants to do all the things that live people do.  In  specific Mortimer wants to find love and a date to the sweethearts dance.  We see Mortimer go through his day and get ready and even try to ask a few girls out.  When he is shot down by all the girls Mortimer decides to go to the dance anway on his own.  After spending most of the night by himself watching everyone else dance Mortimer gets up to leave but just as he does Mildred appears.  Mildred is also a zombie!  The two of them finish the night on a drive and share a nice plate of brains right beside the candle light.  Then as the book ends the two zombies get married. Evaluation This book was a very cute read and it was nice to see that Mortimer actu...