Roar of A Snore

ROAR OF A SNORE 

Written by Marsha Diane Arnold

Illustrated by Pierre Pratt

Roar of A Snore is a story about a little boy Jack who is awakes one night to a roaring snoring sound. He goes to investigate waking his dog, mother, baby sister, father and all of the barn animals. The major conflict in the story is that Jack just can't seem to find what is making the snoring sound. When Jack finally does figure out what is making that roaring snoring sound it is surprising. But the snoring does not end there. The end of the story is quite a cliffhanger. 

I chose this book because I really liked the illustrations and the repetitiveness of the word "roaring" and the rhyming words. I also liked the book for all of these reasons. I thought this word would a great book for a writing activity, which is what I had the 2nd grade students of Carroll Elementary do. I had the students partner up and discuss what they thought was making the snoring sound and why. I also particularly enjoyed this book because growing up my father would snore sometimes and it would awaken me in the middle of the night. It was quite a terrifying sound honestly. This book made me laugh thinking about my dad. 

I would definitely recommend this book for children who are learning rhyming words. I think it would be a good book for Kindergarten or 1st grade. I brought this book to the 2nd grade classroom because many of the students are ESL students and not quite at the 2nd grade reading level. 

Below is a picture of me reading Roar of A Snore to the 2nd grade class. 

Interrupting Chicken

Interrupting Chicken

by David Ezra Stein

Interrupting Chicken is a story about a little chicken who asks her chicken father to read her some well known bedtimes stories before she goes to sleep. The chicken father tells the stories of Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Chicken Little but there is one problem... The little chicken interrupts in the middle of the stories each time and creates her own ending of the stories. This is a fictional story. This book also received Honors for the 2011 Caldecott awards. 

David Ezra Stein, the author, was raised in Queens and loved doodling and daydreaming. Many of his stories revolve around themes of friendship and nature. Many of his stories also are about animals with human characteristics. 

I chose this book because the cover of the book, which I included in the picture above, was interesting and funny to me. I also thought that the title itself was intriguing. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for students from Kinder to 2nd grade. I liked the book because the pictures were very entertaining as long with the story. I found myself laughing hysterically throughout this book which makes me believe that young children would love it even more. I think this is a great book to teach students that interrupting is not very nice but it teaches this lesson in a way that is still humorous. 

Here is an interview with David Ezra Stein about his creative process writing and illustrating Interrupting Chicken.

Video from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_-ul5VQEcs

The Stray Dog

The Stray Dog by Marc Simont 

The Stray Dog is realistic fiction because it was based on a true story. This story is about a family who goes out for a picnic one day and sees a stray dog. They play with the dog and name him Willy. There are two conflicts in the story. The first is when the mother and father tell the children they cannot keep the dog. The second conflict is when the dog catcher tries to pick up the stray dog. The mood of the story is sad at first but the story does have a happy ending. I chose this story because I am an animal lover and I think it's a great story to teach children to be responsible pet owners and it encourages adopting pets from shelters or strays. I really liked this book. I think the author did a great job with creating illustrations that supplemented the story and told the story without any words. I would recommend this book for younger children grades K through 3rd. This is a great book that will teach children to care for animals and to be compassionate and loving towards animals.