Thump, Quack, Moo: A Whacky Adventure by Doreen Cronin

The cows, the chickens, Farmer Brown, and Duck are back in their newest book. It is time for Farmer Brown to create his annual corn maze. Everyone helps out. The chickens build a fence, the cows paint the barn and Duck reluctantly builds the ticket booth. While Farmer Brown creates his corn maze, Duck puts his own special touches on the maze. See what happens when Duck and Farmer Brown take their hot air balloon ride to admire their masterpieces.

Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

Jack is back! He is now in fifth grade and his teacher is Miss Stretchberry! Jack is thrilled that his fourth grade teacher moved up with his class, he tells her "you really get my brain". Last year Miss Stretchberry taught the class about poetry and had them write their own poetry. This year they will be expanding their knowledge of poetry and their exposure to different poets. In the same narrative format Jack takes us through his poetry journey with a lot of insight. We also meet Jack's parents and hear more of his life story. The cat that Jack hates, is a big black cat that torments him at his bus stop. In Love That Dog (see the review below) we learn that Jack's beloved dog, Sky, is killed by a car. In Hate That Cat, Jack cannot let go of the hurt of losing Sky until he receives a special Christmas gift that helps him get over the pain. Will Jack continue enjoying writing his poetry? What about those big words, onomatopoeia and alliteration? What do these words have to do with poetry? Join Jack on his poetry journey and you may learn a thing or two about writing poetry ... Miss Stretchberry (and your teacher) hope you do! Ms. Creech includes a great bibliography at the end of the book with the poetry books mentioned during the story.

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

Jack is a student is Miss Stretchberry's fourth grade class. The class is beginning to discuss and write poetry. Jack is not thrilled about this new development, after all, "Boys don't write poetry. Girls do." Soon Jack discovers anyone can write poetry ... you just have to write short lines. This is a great way to introduce writing poetry to students. They will enjoy Jack's comments throughout the story about how he does not like to write poetry, but when his teacher wants to type up Jack's works he starts to understand maybe he can write poetry. Jack begins to think poetry really isn't so bad, plus all the poems that Miss Stretchberry shares with the class are actually inspiring . Ms. Creech introduces us to poets such as William Carlos Williams and Walter Dean Myers. After hearing a poem by Walter Dean Myers called Love That Boy, Jack writes a poem about his beloved dog, Sky and he writes Love That Dog. The story is a truly enjoyable narrative by Jack. We learn so much about his life, and how we can all be a poet! Jack enjoys Walter Dean Myers' poems so much he invites him to school for a celebrity visit. Will Mr. Myers come? Read Love That Dog, I guarantee it is a winner! The story ends with the beginning of the next book, Hate That Cat (see the review above). Visit Ms. Creech's web site to see what other stories she has written.

All in Just One Cookie by Susan E. Goodman

Have you ever made chocolate chip cookies with your family? Did you ever think about where all the ingredients came from? In this non-fiction book Grandma takes us step by step though how to make chocolate chip cookies while we learn where the ingredients originated. Did you know that it takes twenty-one pounds of milk to make one pound of butter? Learn the fascinating facts about butter, salt, vanilla, flour and the main ingredient that makes the cookie so good - the chocolate chips! Yum - I think I am going to make some chocolate chip cookies right now!!

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

Henry loves books. Loves them so much that he begins to eat them at an alarming rate. The more books Henry eats the smarter he becomes. Everything is well and good until Henry starts to feel sick and all the things he has learned from eating books becomes jumbled in his mind. What will he do? Will he stop eating books?

Henry finally decides that it might be much better if he simply reads the books instead of eating them. Read the story to find out if this solves his problem.

The images in the book are just as delicious as the story itself. Jeffers used old library books and other papers to create the collages on each page. And watch out - there's a bite right out of the back of the book!