Robin Powers

I love reading this book every year, around this time. It is a fun read aloud for our youngest students, with a fun surprise ending! Eric Carle's collage illustrations always remind me that beautiful things can be created from the most unexpected materials.

This is another story that is a wonderful read aloud for all ages. This story gently shows us all that sometimes the things we wish for are not really the things that will bring us joy or happiness, and that finding the blessing in what you already have is worth taking the time to do. Shel Silverstein's simple line drawings are really funny as he shows the main character "It" off in search of its missing piece.

This is a life changing book that I read many times as a 4th grader. It taught me that every person has her own story and that judging a person from the outside will never help you truly know who that person is. This story will make you cry....a lot...but you will be forever glad that you read it. Even though this is a short chapter book, Eleanor Estes has some simple and lovely water color drawings in there.

This is a great book I recently read for the first time. Brian Selznick tells this story mostly through the imagery of pencil drawings in the same way the Adventures of Hugo Cabret was written. I fell in love with this story even more when I came to the very unexpected ending. I don't want to give anything away because this book is worth discovering on your own from cover to cover!