Fiesta Babies by Carmen Tafolla Illustrated by Amy Cordova

Fiesta Babies is a picture book about several cute babies of all races coming together to celebrate the parade as well as what they do with their families. It mixes several simple spanish words into the text and then includes a glossary at the end. However, it's really the illustrator whose pictures really make the story come to life. She uses very hard strokes of brightly colored paint to make the pictures pop and to make the history of the Mexican culture come to life.

Grandma's Gift by Eric Velazquez

Eric goes to visit his grandmother from Puerto Rico in New York for his Christmas break. Together they cook and go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art so that Eric can complete his project over the painting Juan de Pareja by the artist Diego Velazquez. This is actaully based on the author Mr. Velazquez's memories of going to visit his grandmother in El Barrio in Harlem when he was younger. It also has spanish phrases peppered in throughout the text as well as the meaning of each.

Lafayette and The American Revolution by Russell Freedman

Marquis de Lafayette left his family and came over to fight with the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He quickly proved himself in all of his posts and was eventually given more difficult missions by General Washington. This is the biography of Marquis de Lafayette from the time he was nineteen years old to his part at the Battle at Yorktown, told in such a way that even middle schoolers will enjoy it. The illustrations chosen by the author consist of drawings, photgraphs or paintings. He also utilizes footnotes.

Ballet for Martha by Jan Greenberg

Choreographer Martha Graham, composer Aaron Copland and artist Isamu Noguchi were the mastermind collaborators behind the ballet and compostion known around the world. This book tells how these three people spent over a year collaborating to create the final masterpiece. Written in the present tense, this is a story for young people and gives a good message about how collaboration takes place and shows them that it doesn't happen over night. It also includes alot of additional resources that looks like a program for the ballet.

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein

Little Red Chicken is supposed to go to sleep, but Papa Rooster needs to read her a bedtime story first. Papa warns her not to interrupt, but she can't help herself with trying to help out the fairy tale characters in the book, eventually Papa has an idea and they both fall asleep. This was the type of book that both parents and teachers can relate to because many kids no matter what age like to interrupt when you're trying to talk or read something to them. The chickens were bright and really stuck out against the duller backdrop. I would recommend this book to teachers and students .

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip C. Stead

Amos goes to work everyday at the zoo and pays special attention to the animals. One day Amos wakes up with a cold and doesn't go to work. His animal friends are worried so they decide to go visit their friend. This was a charming picture book and the author used a special technique called woodblock printing to achieve the effect of the illustrations. This is definitely for younger elementary and has a good message about kindness and friendship.

The Buddy Files: The case of the Lost Boy by Dorti Hillestad Butler

King (aka Buddy) was put into the after his family disappeared. He's now been adopted by a new family who named him Buddy. However, when his new owner Conner disappears suddenly when they are on a walk he sees an opportunity to solve a case like he used to with his previous owner. This was a very quick read and would be a very good book to introduce younger students to Chapter books. It has bigger font than most books, the chapters are short and the writing is very straightfoward and easy to understand. Please check out a special message from Buddy at the following site http://blabberize.com/view/id/468511