We read so many books, both from our Literature List and also just randomly chosen from the library's shelves, I thought I'd try to start a monthly Top Ten list.
1. The Art of Miss Chew by Patricia Polacco - a great story that features a main character with learning differences
2. Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs by Willy Claflin - We read this as part of our Fairy Tale project (yes, we're still working on that!) and enjoyed the silly mashup of fairy tales.
3. Appelemando's Dreams by Patricia Polacco - an imaginative tale of visible dreams
4. Freedom's School by Lesa Cline-Ransome - set after the Civil War, when schools for African-Americans were being started, but were surrounded by racism
5. Pinduli by Janell Cannon - the author is better known for Stellaluna but I think I like this tale better. Basically a morality tale of "what goes round come around" when you say things that make others feel bad.
6. The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie by Chris Van Allsburg - The story of a mistreated hamster and the many children he is passed around to. Not a happy story, but a simple one that introduced the idea of what happens when animals aren't cared for properly; still has a happy ending for Sweetie Pie.
7. Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace - This was my favorite of the Rapunzel stories we read this month, with adjustments to the tale as it is typically known in the U.S. to fit the island setting.
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream retild by Bruce Coville - a well-illustrated picture book retelling of the Shakespeare classic. This was The Kid's first introduction to Shakespeare and she enjoyed it so much that we followed up by going to see a local production of the play.
9. The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool - an imaginative story with the theme of taking only what you need and no more, a greedy king orders a woman who can spin the clouds into cloth to make fine clothes for himself and his family until there are no clouds left and the kingdom is without rain
10. The Shaman's Apprentice by Lynne Cherry and Mark J. Plotkin - tells the tale of a boy who wants to become the next shaman in a remote village in the Amazon, and a village caught between tradition and newly introduced Western ways
