Grade: K

“El viejo,” the old man, is very good at working in his garden, but he is not so good at listening to his wife. When the old man’s wife leaves him to go to a barbecue she reminds him to bring “el puerco” (the pig). Although he can’t imagine why he should bring “la puerta” (the door) off he goes to the barbecue carrying it on his back. Each step along the way he finds himself in funny and touching situations where the door comes in handy. Although they don’t have “el puerco” to barbecue, they use “la puerta” (the door) as a table and enjoy the treats el viejo collected along the way. While being amused by this humorous tale, you’ll find yourself learning some Spanish. A glossary is included.

Clover, a young African American girl, lives in a place where a fence separates the black side of town from the white side. Her mother has warned her that it is not safe to climb over the fence to the white side. But one summer a white girl named Annie begins to sit on the fence. Soon Clover joins her and transforms the fence from a divider into a resting place for children, both black and white. This is a touching and powerful story in which “young girls are the activists, the people making the change.”

The Pigeon really, really, REALLY wants a Puppy. C’mon, he’ll take good care of it! He’ll play tennis with it, and water it at least once a month! Will you let Pigeon’s dream come true? In this fourth entry in the best-selling Pigeon series, this now-classic character has his funniest star turn yet.

Late one Christmas Eve after the town has gone to sleep, the boy boards the mysterious train that waits for him: The Polar Express bound for the North Pole. When he arrives, Santa offers the boy any gift he desires. The boy modestly asks for one bell from the harness of a reindeer. The gift is granted. On the way home the bell is lost. On christmas morning the boy finds the bell under the tree. The mother of the boy admires the bell, but laments that it is broken—for you see, only believers can hear the sound of the bell.

Sometimes a rainy day is not wonderful. Clouds darken a sunny day and bring out people’s cloudy dispositions. With humor in both text and art, Shannon’s picture book captures how a change in the weather affects the mood of an entire neighborhood!

With this moving and suspenseful picture book, “readers” will experience the joy of a story without the struggle of deciphering words. This wordless chapter book has beautifully crafted black-and-white illustrations that tell the tale of a farm boy’s daring adventures with a powerful winged horse. Your students will also enjoy comparing their interpretations of the story.

A wolf named Tempesto huffs and puffs in this wildly comic retelling of an old favorite. (”Open up, Pork Chop, or I’ll flatten this dump!”) In this rendition, the three pigs, Percy, Pete, and Prudence, and their mama, Serafina Sow, enjoy a thriving waffle business until one morning when Tempesto shows up with a taste for more than waffles. Children will cheer the pigs’ efforts to outwit the surly creature and comb the pictures for Kellogg’s hilarious visual nuances. The story might also motivate a comparison of Kellogg’s retelling with the traditional story and other variations, such as Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Viking).

This is a Caldecott Medal-winning masterpiece. Readers will be amazed as characters jump out of the pages of one story into the next, changing illustration styles as they go. This Three Little Pigs story begins as expected. But when the wolf comes to the house of straw and blows it down, he blows the pig right out of the picture — and the story! Soon all three pigs are soaring from one tale to the next.