Chapter 8 was also full of helpful information. I agree with the authors when they say that the reading teacher has two jobs and that is to teach children to read and to teach children to want to read. I believe this is the teacher’s most important job because reading opens up the world to you. When you can read, you can travel the world thru books. You can learn a lot thru books. You can explore a hobby; you can read about whatever you find interesting or whatever you want to learn more about.
Fiction is also my favorite type of book. I like the contemporary realistic fiction. They say this genre is most popular among intermediate and middle school students because students can relate to the characters in these books. I agree with this statement because I remember when I was in school I read a book that made a big impression on me. I remember thinking how the character in the book was so much like me and so I was able to relate to the character in the book. To this day I still remember this book and the character.
One thing I found interesting about historical fiction is all the research that goes into writing one of these books. Gloria Houston says that the research involved sometimes surpasses the research needed for a graduate degree. The authors of this book say that these historical fiction books can complement content areas studies such as social studies or history because students can learn so much more than what they can by just reading the text book. They say “historical fiction supplies the humanity in history.”

Tomie DePaola has been publishing books for over 40 years but he is best known as a children’s author. He has also been recognized with several awards including the Caldecott Honor Award and the Newberry Honor Reward. Tomie loved reading books since he was a child because his mother used to read books to him every day. He says he knew he wanted to write stories and draw pictures for books since he was four years old and that’s exactly what he did. The first book that Tomie illustrated was for a science book called Sound. That was over 40 years ago. Since then Tomie has done the illustrations for over 200 books and wrote the stories to over 100 books. He has sold over 6 million books and his books have been published in 15 countries. One of the books that I came across from Tomie is called Pancakes for Breakfast. It is Tomie’s first wordless picture books. It’s actually a cute book that you could use in a writing lesson plan. Student’s can write words to it.

Judy Schachner was born in 1951 in Massachusetts. She’s been drawing pictures since she was a child. She said her teachers complained that she was too shy and that she needed to improve her mat but that they never complained about her art work. She went to college and graduated with a BFA. Then she went to work for Hallmark designing greeting cards for them but she wasn’t happy. When she got married and had two kids, that’s when she started drawing again and writing stories. Her first book that was published was called Willy and May. Since then she has written many children’s books including books about Skippyjon Jones and the Grannyman. This book is for pre-k or kinder students and it teaches kids about opposites. It is called Skippyjon Jones Up and Down.

The Three Little Cajun Pigs is a fractured fairy tale by Mike Artell and Illustrated by Jim Harris. Of course this story is a different version of the Three Little Pigs. In this version, the three little pigs are Cajun and they even talk a little French and instead of a wolf there is an alligator. It’s basically the same story except the three little pigs and the alligator have a Cajun accent. Mike Artell is an award winning author, illustrator, and TV cartoonist. He has written many types of books including picture books, how to book and non-fiction books. He has won several awards. You can read more about Mike Artell at http://www.mikeartell.com/. His website has a section for kids, parents, and teachers.