Tuesday

Title: Tuesday
1992 Caldecott Medal Winner
Author/Illustrator: David Wiesner
Published: 1991
Summary: A swarm of harmless frogs on flying lily pads hover over a slumbering neighborhood.
Memorable Quote:
Artistic Example: Hues of dark blue depict the midnight sky.
Teaching Idea: Show how pictures tell a story. Have children draw conclusions about the story by asking them questions about the pictures.
Grade Level: PreK - 3
Reading Level (Lexile): N/A

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

Title: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
2004 Caldecott Winner
Author/Illustrator: Mordicai Gerstein
Published: 2003
Summary: A true story about how in 1974 French trapezist, Philippe Petit, walked on a tightrope suspended between the World Trade Center towers.
Memorable Quote: Now the towers are gone.
Artistic Example: Gerstein artistic play on vertical and horizontal line denotes Petit's balancing act.
Teaching Idea: Use google map to teach geographical concepts such as location, direction, region, etc. by locating site where World Trade memorial and museum will be. Discuss the purpose of memorials and national traditions that honor the memories of historical events. Work with students using personalized google map to create a map of some other national memorials such as Mt. Rushmore. Upload photos of these memorials with brief description onto google map. Discuss other books that feature national memorials such as So You Want to Be President by Judith St. George; take students on virtual tour of national monuments using United Streaming.
Grade Level: K5 - 3
Reading Level (Lexile): 730

Smoky Night

Title: Smoky Night
1995 Caldecott Winner
Author/Illustrator: Eve Bunting/ David Diaz
Published: 1994
Summary: Looking down from their window, Daniel and his mom watch people riot in the streets.
Memorable Quote: They don't care anymore what's right and what's wrong.
Artistic Example: Photographs of symbolic debris such as bits of food and coat hangers give the story a very realistic feel.
Teaching Idea: Encourage tolerance of diversity and foster students strong sense of connection and responsibility for their communities by discussing ways children can volunteer in their community. Students create a journal of volunteer ideas and experiences. Some students that volunteer in their community will be featured on school's morning news show to share volunteer experiences.
Grade Level (Lexile): K5 - 3
Reading Level: 360

Golem

Title: Golem
1997 Caldecott Medal Winner
Author/Illustrator: David Wisniewski
Published: 1996
Summary: Rabbi Loew forms a giant, Golem, from clay to defend the Jews of Praque from persecution.
Memorable Quote: Would a people who celebrate the end of their own slavery wish to inflict slavery on others?
Artistic Example: Layered cut-paper collages of Rabbi Loew giving life to the clay formed Golem convey the richness of symbolism in Jewish mysticism.
Teaching Ideas: Discuss the art technique of collage. Students will use magazines to make a collage inspired by another collage illustrated book about a group of people who have historically fought against prejudice and intolerance such as African Americans in Nikki Giovanni's Rosa.
Grade Level: 3 - 6
Reading Level (Lexile): 690

The Stray Dog

Title: Stray Dog
2002 Caldecott Honor Book
Author/ Illustrator: retold by Marc Simont
Published: 2001
Summary: The story of how a family, when going to the park, plays with a stray dog and falls in love with him.
Memorable Quote: "This dog is a stray. He doesn't belong to anybody."
Artistic Example: Illustrations are cheerful and simple for the targeted audience.
Teaching Idea: Have children act out the emotions of a lost dog
Grade Level: PreK - 2
Reading Level (Lexile): 60

Black and White

Title: Black and White
1991 Caldecott Medal Winner
Author/Illustrator: David Macaulay
Published: 1990
Summary: Four different stories inventively illustrated about trains, cows, parents, and workers are united by one motif.
Memorable Quote: "And every evening at seven o'clock they come home, sort through the mail, ask about homework, and send us to bed."
Artistic Example: The story about parents is illustrated in drab brown to represent their monotonous lives.
Teaching Idea: Examine Macaulay's use of irony in presenting illustrations that contradict the text. The title Black and White is illustrated in blue and green.
Grade Level: K5 - 3
Reading Level (Lexile): 610

Seven Blind Mice

Title:Seven Blind Mice
1993 Caldecott Honor Book
Author/Illustrator: Ezra Jake Keats
Published:1992
Summary: The fable of the old blind men is remixed with learning concepts--days of the week, colors, and ordinal numbers--to advise young readers to always get the whole story before making a judgment.
Memorable Quote: "Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole."
Artistic Example: Bold, vivid colors are contrasted against a black background.
Teaching Idea: The mice in this story make educated guesses about what the "strange Something" might be. Use this story to teach children how to form a hypothesis based on evidence.
Grade level: PreK - 2
Reading level: 350