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7. Mind
Stretching Picture Books © 2001 Nancy Polette
These titles were especially chosen for use in an integrated K-3 curriculum to
stimulate intellectual curiosity, increase vocabulary, and foster both critical and productive thinking.
- Birdseye, Tom. Look Out Jack! The Giant is Back! Illustrated by
Will Hillenbrand. Holiday House, 2001. Gr. K-3. Readers will enjoy the tall
tale exaggerations and be inspired to try some of their own.
- Bradbury, Ray. Switch on the Night. (Science) Dutton, 2000.
Excellent introduction to point of view. How would a rabbit view tall grass?
How would a boy with a lawn mower view tall grass? How many others can you
think of?
- Brown, Ruth. Toad. Dutton, 1997. (Science/Lang Arts)
Outstanding descriptive language.
- Bunting, Eve. Terrible Things. HarperCollins, 1980. (Social
Studies) An allegory on the Holocaust. What is injustice? What act of
kindness can you do today?
- Capucilli, Alysa. Inside A House That Is Haunted. Scholastic, 1998. (Lang
Arts)
A great rebus model.
Capucilli, Alyssa Satin. Inside A Zoo In the City. Illustrated by Ted Arnold.
Scholastic, 2000.
- Clements, Andrew. Workshop. Clarion, 1999 Science/Lang. Arts
"Saw is a biter. Tooth after tooth, saw rips away by bits. Saw turns boards to
dust."
Outstanding personification..
- Clifford, Eth. Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye.
Great for inductive reasoning.
- Cronin, Doreen. Click, Clack Moo Cows that Type. Simon &
Schuster. 2001. (Social Studies). Farmer Brown's cows organize and strike to
have their demands met.
- Cutler, Jane. The Cello of Mr. O. Dutton, 1999. Old Mr. O brings
courage to a town under siege.
- Edwards, Pamela. Dinorella. Hyperion, 1997
An alliterative approach to a stone age Cinderella
- Edwards, Pamela. The Boston Tea Party. Putnam, 2001. Retold using
the "House that Jack Built" pattern.
- Flor, Ada. Gathering the Sun. An alphabet in Spanish and English.
- Hassett, John & Ann. Cat Up A Tree. Houghton, 1998
Excellent introduction to community helpers.
- Henkes, Kevin. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Greenwillow 1995.
Use the career pattern: I wish I were? Where? Doing what? How?
- Jackson, Shirley. 9 Magic Wishes. Farrar, 2001. K-3. If a magician
gave you nine wishes, what would you wish for?
- Kay, Verla & McCurdy, Michael. Iron Horses and Covered Wagons,
Bumpy Trails. Putnam, 2000 (Social Studies) Rhyming accounts of
traveling west in a covered wagon and of the building of the
transcontinental railroad.
- Krensky, Stephen. Shooting for the Moon, Farrar. 2001. The amazing
life and times of Annie Oakley, Gr. 2-4.
- Lester, Helen. Hooway for Wodney Wat. Houghton-Mifflin, 1999. (Language
Arts)
A speech problem doesn't stop Rodney from becoming a hero!
- Lee, Milly. Earthquake. Farrar, 2001. Gr. 3-6. In 1906 in San
Francisco, the earth shook. Buildings fell. Fires flared and hundreds fled
their homes ad did Milly Lee's mother. A true account.
- Levitin, Sonia. Boom Town. Scholastic, 1998 (Social Studies)
How can you make pies without pie pans? Rank order facilities a new town needs most to least.
- Lindenbaum, Pija. Bridget and the Gray Wolves. R&S Books, 2001.
Gr K-3. When Bridget meets a pack of wolves in the dark woods she takes
charge and teaches them games like "Catch the Pinecone" and
"Climb the Trees." But all the wolves want to do is lurk behind
the trees and snarl.
- Martin, Rafe. The Storytelling Princess. Gr. 2-4. Putnam, 2001. A
prince refuses to consider any girl as his bride unless she can tell him a
story whose ending he has never heard.
- Minor, Wendell. Pumpkin Heads. Blue Sky Press, 2000. A wide variety
of unusual jack-o-lanterns.
- Polette, Nancy. Little Old Woman and the Hungry Cat. Greenwillow, 1991.
Teach skills naturally from the literature.
- Polette, Nancy. Point of View Fairy Tales. Pieces of Learning,
2001. Gr 2-6. Fairy tale play from another point of view.
- Rathman, Peggy. Officer Buckle and Gloria.
Let children finish safety tips from the book.
- Rylant, Cynthia. The Bird House. Scholastic, 1998. (Science, Lang. Arts)
Look for the holes in the story.
- Schnur, Steven. Summer. Clarion, 2001. An alphabet acrostic of
summer delights.
- Schwartz, David. If You Hopped Like A Frog. Scholastic, 1999.(Science/Math)
"If you hopped like a frog you could jump from home plate to first base in one mighty leap!
- Shannon, George. Tomorrow's Alphabet. Greenwillow, 1998
Practice in reverse thinking!
- St. George, Judith. So You Want to Be the President. Philomel,
2000. (Social Studies) Wonderful comparing of various presidents.
- Stojic, Manya. Rain. Dutton, 2000. (Social Studies/ Science)
African animals predict and react to rain with the five senses.
- Walton, Rick. The Bear Came Over to My House. Putnam, 2001. Gr.
K-2. The bear came over to my house to see what he could see. And what do
you think he saw? ME!
- Walton, Rick. That's My Dog. Putnam, 2001. K-2. Sentence expansion
beginning with "A big red dog" and adding a word at at time to
achieve" "He's my big, red, happy, muddy, smart, bouncy, slobbery,
sneaky, stinky dog!"
- Weigelt, Udo. Who Stole the Gold? Illus. by Julia Gukova. North-South
Books, 2000.
- Wyeth, Sharon. Something Beautiful. Doubleday, 1998. (Social
Studies)
A little girl looks for beauty in everyday sights