Grand View Elementary School Library

Heidi Snively - Library Media Specialist

455 24th Street

Manhattan Beach, California 90266

310-546-8022 x5404

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First Grade - New Books and Old...
...One is Silver and the Other Gold
"Horatio"
            by Eleanor Clymer              

Horatio the cat doesn't like
all the fuss and bother of the other
animals in the house, so he runs away and
learns to care for two homeless kittens.
First published in 1968.

Paired with:
"Bad Kitty"
by Nick Bruel

When a kitty discovers there is no cat food in the house,
she decides to become very, very bad.  
Published in 2005.

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Kindergarten - Rock Unit
"Sylvester and the Magic Pebble"
by William Steig

Sylvester the donkey finds a magic pebble
that grants his every wish,
but in a moment of fright he wishes he were a rock,
and then cannot hold the pebble to wish himself back to normal again.

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Kindergarten - Ocean Life Unit
"Deep Sea Farm"
by Dahlov Ipcar

A merman tends his farm under the sea.

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First Grade - Memorial Day
"The Story of Ferdinand"
by Munro Leaf

Ferdinand likes to sit quietly and smell the flowers,
but one day he gets stung by a bee and
his snorting and stomping convince everyone that
he is the fiercest of bulls.

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Kindergarten - Teacher Appreciation Week:
"No, David!" and "David Goes to School"
by David Shannon
 
In "No, David!" a little boy is caught
red-handed doing what he ought not.
Imagine such a boy at school:
not so much his teacher's jewel...

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First Grade - Teacher Appreciation Week:
"Thank You, Mr. Falker"
by Patricia Polacco

At first, Trisha loves school,
but her difficulty learning to read makes her feel dumb,
until, in the fifth grade, a new teacher
helps her understand and overcome her problem. 
Like many of her stories, this one is autobiographical.

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Second Grade - Fairy Tale Unit:
"I Was a Rat!"
by Philip Pullman

A little boy turns life in London upside down
when he appears at the house of a lonely old couple
and insists he was a rat.

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Third Grade - Just for Fun:
"My Brother Louis Measures Worms:
And Other Louis Stories"
by Barbara Robinson

Young Mary Elizabeth relates
the humorous misadventures
of her brother Louis
and the other wacky members
of her unpredictable, very odd family.

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Fifth Grade - Last Novel of the Year:
"The Van Gogh Cafe"
by Cynthia Rylant

The Van Gogh Cafe, located in Flowers, Kansas,
has magic in its walls, causing strange and mysterious events to occur there.

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Fourth Grade - Companion to CORE Literature Selection
 "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls:
"Rascal"
by Sterling North

The author recalls his carefree life in a small Midwestern town
 at the close of World War I,
and his adventures with his pet raccoon, Rascal.

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Second Grade - Fairy Tale Unit:
"Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude"
by Kevin O'Malley

Cooperatively writing a fairy tale for school,
a girl imagines a beautiful princess whose beloved ponies are being stolen by a giant,
and a boy conjures up the muscular biker who will guard the last pony in exchange for gold.

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Kindergarten-First-Third Grades - Creating Art from Recycled Materials:
"Dumpster Diver"
by Janet S. Wong

Once a month--every week in the summer--Steve the electrician
dons special gear and, with the help of youngsters who live in his building,
dives into a dumpster seeking useful objects that they can transform into imaginative new ones.

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First Week of State Tests:
Readers' Theater
"Who's on First?"
by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

The classic baseball routine about two coaches
discussing the players on the team is as funny today
 as it was long ago when the world was in black and white.
 

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Kindergarten - Screen-Time Awareness Week:
"If..."
by Sarah Perry

Illustrations present such imaginative possibilities as worms with wheels,
caterpillar toothpaste, and whales in outer space.

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First Grade - Screen-Time Awareness Week:
"The Dragon in the Clock Box"
by M. Jean Craig

When Joshua says he has a dragon's egg in his mother's discarded
clock box his entire family plays along and asks the boy
questions about when the egg will hatch and what the dragon will look like.
The charm, besides the forthright way Joshua fends of questions that ask
for too much information, is that no electronic entertainment is visible and readers
can see all the different ways family members spend their leisure time.

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Second Grade - Screen-Time Awareness Week:
"Emma Kate"
by Patricia Polacco

Emma Kate and her best friend share many activities,
such as homework and soccer practice, and even have their tonsils out at the same time,
all the things best friends do.
But there is more to this best friend than meets the eye,
revealed in an imaginative twist at the end.

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Third Grade - Screen-Time Awareness Week:
"When Charlie McButton Lost Power"
by Suzanne Collins

A boy who likes nothing but playing computer games is in trouble
when the power goes out and his little sister has all of the batteries in the house.

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Fourth Grade - California History-Gold Rush:
"The Gold Miner's Daughter: A Melodramatic Fairy Tale"
by Jackie Mims Hopkins

Gracie Pearl has until sundown to find some gold to pay the rent to Mr. Bigglebottom,
or he will take back the family gold mine and force her to marry him.

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Fifth Grade - Screen-Time Awareness Week:
Readers' Theater
"Who's on First?"
by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

The classic baseball routine about two coaches
discussing the players on the team is as funny today
 as it was long ago when the world was in black and white.
 

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Kindergarten, First and Second Grades:
"It's Okay to Be Different" and "The Peace Book"
by Todd Parr
  
Author Todd Parr visits Grand View April 24th to speak to
A.M. Kindergarteners, First Graders, and Second Graders;
sponsored by Toy Jungle and the Zellweger Family. 
Todd will appear at Toy Jungle in El Segundo Plaza at 2:00pm the same day,
and will participate in the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books April 26th and 27th.

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Second Grade - Earth Day
"Miss Rumphius"
by Barbara Cooney

Little Alice Rumphius resolves that when she grows up
she will go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age,
and do something to make the world more beautiful.
She does all those things, the last being the most meaningful of all.

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Third Grade - Earth Day
"Common Ground" (videorecording)
by Molly Bang

Opening with a visit to a wetlands preserve,
the video's message of conservation and responsibility for our shared natural resources
is the heart of an allegory that inspires respect for the environment.
PAIRED WITH
"Who Lives in an Alligator Hole?" 
by Anne Rockwell

Describes the habitats of these reptiles which scientists call a "keystone species"
because they change the environment for their own use
in a way that helps many other plants and animals.

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Fourth Grade - Earth Day
"Someday a Tree"
by Eve Bunting

A young girl, her parents, and their neighbors try to save an old oak tree
that has been poisoned by pollution.
PAIRED WITH
"Big Yellow Taxi" (audiorecording)
by Joni Mitchell

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 Fifth Grade - Earth Day
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (videorecording)

PAIRED WITH A BRIEF LOOK AT
"The Little House"
by Virginia Lee Burton

With a discussion of the word "rampant"
and how the video images can conjure a picture of
the consequences of rampant development in a community. 

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Kindergarten and First Grade:
"And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street"
by Dr. Seuss
  
Published in 1937, this first book for children by Dr. Seuss
was rejected by 26 publishers before being accepted by lucky #27, Vanguard Press.
Marco struggles to report truthfully to his father the events of his day
rather than embellish the dull sights in order to make for a more exciting tale.
 

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All Grades:
California Young Reader Medal 2008 Nominees: Picture Book Category
"I Wanna Iguana" by Karen Kaufman Orloff
"Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies" by Carolyn Crimi
Superdog: Heart of a Hero by Caralyn Buehner
"Traction Man" by Mini Grey
"The Giant Hug" by Sandra Horning
         

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 Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grades:
California Young Reader Medal 2008 Nominees - Picture Books for Older Readers Category
"Mr. Maxwell's Mouse" by Frank Asch
"Dad, Jackie, and Me" by Myron Uhlberg
"Basho and the River Stones" by Tim Myers
         

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Kindergarten, First, and Second Grades:
"There Is a Bird on Your Head!"
by Mo Willems
Winner of the 2008 Seuss Award

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Mushy Love Stories for Valentine's Day...
Kindergarten: "Mr. Tannen's Ties" by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
First Grade: "Yuck, a Love Story" by Don Gillmor
Second Grade: "Shiro in Love: a True Story" by Wendy Tokuda

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