Grade: K

This book contains a greeting game that can send your students into a whirlwind of imagination. Vivian is hungry and tired of waiting for her pizza to arrive. “Where, oh where is that pizza man?” she wonders. When he arrives, she plans to say, “Hi, Pizza Man!” But to pass the time while they’re waiting for the pizza, Mama asks, what if a dinosaur knocks on the door? What will Vivian say then?

The text in Caldecott medalist Peggy Rathman’s latest book tells a simple story. Father begins counting down to bedtime, and his son does his best to get ready. He takes his bath, puts on his pj’s, and brushes his teeth. But this is not a typical evening. The boy’s computer-literate hamster has created a Web site that invites virtually every hamster on the planet to come take a “bedtime tour” of the house. As more and more hamsters arrive, the boy’s nightly bedtime ritual turns into a fun-filled circus.

In a striking debut, Tomie dePaola finds just the right voice for his first chapter book about his adventures during the year the family built their house at 26 Fairmount Avenue. It all began when the “Big Hurricane of 1938″ roared into town…then his first day of school took an unexpected turn…so did Mr. Disney’s Snow White, the movie everyone had been waiting to see. These are only a few of the stories that will have readers racing from one episode to the next. Tomie fans, young and old, will be delighted to find favorite characters from his picture books, such as Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs, Tom and others. Funny, dramatic and memorable moments combined with lively illustrations throughout will make everyone wish they had grown up in the dePaola family.

Written for children, this book tells the story of a young boy who encounters a polar bear while they are both climbing a snow covered mountain. The boy and bear become friends and learn an important lesson. Young readers will enjoy the story and benefit from learning calming techniques to reduce stress, prepare for sleep, and improve self-confidence.

Before Scully can open her eyes and put in her hearing aids, her brother Leo begins a tease-torture campaign. Meanwhile Mom, who is studying for exams, has no patience to discuss anything. Scully sneaks out into the rain and turns her hearing aids all the way up to catch the whooshing sound. She is dragged back inside from this favorite activity by her wet, angry mother and grounded until dinnertime. Later, a more relaxed Mom and Scully go outside and wait for the stars to come out. The text is rich in imagery especially when Scully uses her senses to enjoy nature.

Skinny as a bean pole and born on February 12, a young boy points out the similarities between himself and Abraham Lincoln. Ted Lewin’s extraordinary black-and-white drawings of Lincoln contrast nicely with the colorful paintings of this boy and his world.

“A my name is Alice and my husband’s name is Alex. We come from Alaska and we sell ants.” (Alice is an ape. Alex is an anteater.) The 26 verses of this jump-rope rhyme introduce young readers to entrepreneurial animals whose names, homes, and wares span the alphabet from A to Z. After learning the rhyming structure, children will be sure to make up verses of their own. Take time to enjoy the details in Kellogg’s humorous drawings.

He could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He went to sleep with gum in his mouth and woke up with gum in his hair. When he got out of bed, he tripped over his skateboard and by mistake dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running. He could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Nothing at all was right. Everything went wrong, right down to lima beans for supper and kissing on TV. What do you do on a day like that? Well, you may think about going to Australia. You may also be glad to find that some days are like that for other people too.