If The Shoe Fits by Krista Bell is a delightful story about a young girl named Cassie who loves to dance but is terrified to perform in front of an audience. This fear of performing or speaking in front of others is shared by many people. Cassie wants to be like her favorite dancer Miranda Farren but in order to do so she must get over her stage fright.
In Cassie’s class there is a boy named Jake who is a great dancer and appears to be confident. What Cassie doesn’t know is that Jake is also afraid of performing in front of others, specifically his hardest critic his father. When Jake shares his fear with Cassie the day of their recital she realizes that just because you feel afraid doesn’t mean you can’t get out there and do it. Jake and Cassie both confront their fear with help from one another.
I used to get nervous about public speaking and I thought I was the only one. Once I saw that other people shared the same fear I felt better about doing it. Sometimes all you need is that reassurance that you’re not alone and then with practice that fear slowly goes away. This book is a wonderful example of not letting your fears get in the way of your dreams.

I found Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann in the Caldecott section at the public library. The first thing that came to mind when I saw the dog doing a flip on the cover was a circus. As I skimmed through the pages I realized the book was not about a circus but instead a police officer concerned with safety and his dog named Gloria.
Officer Buckle and Gloria shows the importance of team work through the friendship of the officer and his dog. They are not successful without one another. In the beginning the officer goes to a school to present safety tips and no seems to listen. After the buys the dog he notices that his presentations go much more smoothly, the crowd is finally tuned into what he is saying. When he finds out it is because the dog is doing tricks he feels like no one really cares about what he has to say. So when the dog goes to a school without Officer Buckle the presentation goes all wrong. In the end it is made clear that together they make the best team.
The book is a good way to show children the significance of being different. Officer Buckle and Gloria are different in many ways but they make an awesome team. It is good that people have unique strengths because that way each person has something special to bring to the table. The book does a great job of illustrating this concept and it is definitely worth reading!

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is an adorable pop-up book about finding the perfect pet. Many times children visit the Zoo or the pet store and do not understand why their parents won’t allow them to have a certain animal. This book illustrates why some pets are simply not made for the home.
Up until 5th grade I always thought having a pet camel would be ideal. Well my aunt got a camel for her barn in Wisconsin when I was in 5th grade. I got to see him that year and he was not friendly. After that experience I understood why parents never let me get one and my dreams of getting a camel left. I decided I’d rather have something simple like a dog. Coincidently a camel is one of the pets the character in the book tries out and the camel is sent back because he is too grumpy.
Sometimes it is hard for children to understand why they cannot have something their way and it helps to explain why. This book is a good illustration to children on why it may not be so bad to have a dog, cat, or bird as a pet. Also the pop-up part of the book makes it fun for them to read!

Danny’s first snow by Leonid Gore took me back to memories of my first experiences with snow. In the story Danny is not sure what he thinks about the white flurries falling from the sky. He asks his mom twice what snow is and she responds, “you’ll see.” When Danny goes outside to play in snow for the first time he is pleasantly surprised with how much he can do with the snow.
Experiencing snow for the first time is an exciting occurrence in a child’s life. There are so many new activities that can be done when there is snow on the ground. I remember building snow forts with my dad, making snowmen with my friends and sledding on a hill nearby our elementary school. The memory that stands out the most in my mind is tasting my dad’s recipe for snow ice cream. We used to play outside together for hours and when we would come back in he would make me his famous snow ice cream along with hot cocoa to warm me up.
This book presents the idea that playing in the snow can be different each day because there are always new discoveries that can be made. It allows the reader to relate to Danny’s first experience while bringing to mind about their own memories with snow. I like that it ends with Danny heading in from his first positive experience with snow leaving the reader to imagine what his second experience will be like.

I picked The Trouble with Dragons by Debi Gliori off the new shelf at the curriculum lab. It caught my interest because of the illustration on the cover, a dragon surrounded by animals holding the earth. The dragons in the story are careless, as the book says, “they use up everything without stopping to think”. The planet and its creatures are at risk of extinction because of the dragons behavior. Once the dragons see this they decide to change their bad habits with advice from all of the animals.
The book stresses the importance of protecting the environment in a kid friendly way. From the text and the illustrations it is easy for children of all ages to see that we all need to work together to protect the earth and all its living things. I remember learning about the significance of reducing, recycling and reusing in Elementary school and I wish the teacher would have had a book like this to initiate the discussion with us. The trouble with Dragons is certainly a book I would recommend reading to children to present or reemphasize the importance of doing everything we can to protect our planet.

I sat down to read I Miss You Every Day by Simms Taback and I was immediately wrapped up in its pages. I had not heard anything about the book prior to spotting it on the shelf in the curriculum lab but it is a book I would certainly recommend to anyone who is separated from a loved one. It took me back to elementary school and the feeling of continuous longing to see my grandparents more often.
The phrase “I miss you every day” is repeated throughout the book by the young girl, stressing the fact that she can’t bare to be apart from the people she loves. Although it is not made clear by the text whom exactly she is missing I noticed that on the back side of the front cover the words grandma and grandpa, daddy and cousin Beth were listed. Who she is missing must be left out purposefully so that the reader can easily relate to missing a loved one.
The illustrations in the book are wonderful, not only because they are beautifully drawn but because you can learn more about the text by taking a closer look at the pictures. The young girl thinks of a solution to getting to see her loved one, she imagines wrapping herself up as a package and sending herself to their home. This is something many of us wish we could do when we long to see our loved ones. I often joke about being able to teleport myself to see friends and family separated from me by distance. The last page shows the girl peacefully asleep in bed, my take on it is that she is dreaming of spending time with the loved ones she misses.