We discussed the importance of transitional chapter books in building fluency and reinforcing vocabulary. The slides mention that many early chapter book series deal with events and situations that are familiar to kids, which makes the stories easy for children to understand. And they often include a chapter or section to introduce the setting and characters to the reader, setting the stage for the story.
Since they are short, easy books, we had quite a stack of books shared this month! We did not formally book talk all of these, some were just mentioned and briefly described as we were winding down. Here are the books shared at our meeting:
- Freckle Juice by Judy Blume
- The Haunted Library by Dori Butler
- The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron
- Ballerina Dreams: From Orphan to Dancer by Michaela DePrince
- Little Sister is Not My Name (Sassy) by Sharon Draper
- Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford
- Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny by John Himmelman
- Bunnicula by James Howe
- Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look
- Ruby Lu, Brave and True by Lenore Look
- Judy Moody Gets Famous by Megan McDonald
- A Crazy, Mixed-Up Spanglish Day (Get Ready for Gabi) by Marisa Montes
- Who's That Girl? (Get Ready for Gabi) by Marisa Montes
- Tales from the Odyssey, Part 1 by Mary Pope Osborne
- Tales from the Odyssey, Part 2 by Mary Pope Osborne
- Abel's Island by William Steig
- Keena Ford and the Field Trip Mix-Up by Melissa Thomson
- Keena Ford and the Second Grade Mix-Up by Melissa Thomson
- EllRay Jakes, the Dragon Slayer by Sally Warner
- Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom by Eric Wight
I think we heard about a great variety of stories that will be good to share with those 2nd and 3rd grade classes we're visiting.
Next month, we'll be discussing mystery books, which is definitely a genre I do NOT gravitate toward (so a month that will be especially good for me!). What are your favorite middle-grade mysteries?
