*When you post to the wiki, please use your first and last name as the heading along with your unit plan/craft pause title.  Please also add a picture or graphics if available and a hyperlink to the page where we could order the book or resourses shared online if we choose to.

 Puppies and Piggies by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Cammie Price

Love this sweet little story! My students love this story too because they love any story with animals!  The repetition in this book makes it easy for my first graders to read independently. Rylant gives an animal, such as a puppy, then tells 3 things they love and one additional sentence. She goes through several animals and each group of 4 sentences have a rhyming patterns, which my students indentify with. At the end of the story, Rylant writes what baby loves. Sweet story and an easy read for first grade!

The Stars will Still Shine by Cynthia Ryant

Recommended by Kelly Compton 

This book is about all th beauties and wonderful things the world has to offer. This book would be a great book to read at the beginning of the year to let the students see what the world has to offer as the seasons change just as we do in life.  Rylant uses simple words to describe the wonders of the world.

Birthday Presents  (there's no picture on Amazon) by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Kelly Compton

This book is about a little girl who is born into her family and they celebrate her birth and her birthdays. The birthdays have all been centered around the little girl with the mama and daddy doing everything to make her birthday special. Until her 6th birthday when she begins to do the same things for her parents birthdays just as they have done for hers.  This books gives great details of party events and Rylant uses a repeating like "We Told you we loved you. Happy Birthday." throughout the book. I used this book in a lesson about making connections to our schema and also for cause and effect.

 In November by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Bonnie Cumbo

Rylant writes about how nature prepares for winter in her book  In November.  She uses a repeating pattern when most of the pages begin with the phrase, "In November".  She also uses personification when she gives the sun and the earth real life characteristics on the last page in the book.  This is a beautiful story about nature, life, people, family, and memories.  We can all relate to those topics.

  Mr. Griggs' Work   by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Cammie Price

Mr. Griggs'  works at the Post Office and loves his job. He loves it so much he thinks about it nonstop. He is very upset when he has to miss a day due to being sick. This story is great to use when teaching character traits. You could teach responsibility, punctuality, and effort with this story.

Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story

Recommended by Cammie Price

This has been one of my favorite Rylant books. I love how Rylant has used kindness throughout every book of hers I have read. In this book, Frankie, a small boy waits year after year for the Christmas Train to come on December 23rd and bring him a silver package with a doctor's kit inside. He's dissappointed when he doesn't receive his kit, but he was given something each year that he really needed, such as mittens and a hat. When Frankie grows up, he returns back to the mountains and watches the Appalachian children eagerly wait for the Christmas Train. At the very end, a little gir trips and falls when running for her silver package. Frankie goes straight to her, and helps her out by giving her a band-aid from his doctor's kit. Frankie grew up and was a doctor his very own doctor's kit now! My students enjoy this story every Christmas. I have students complete a readers response with what they would love to get in their shiny silver package.

Little Whistle's Dinner Party  by Cynthia Rylant

Cammie Price:  This is a precious little story about a small guinea pig names Little Whistle who hosts a dinner party. He is the only creature who is actually living in Toytown with several other toys.  When Little Whistle prepares for his dinner party, the toys come to life with their own special characteristics, that are like humans. The dinner party was a huge success after Little Whistle found the perfect stove, tea set, and his delicious treats.

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant 

Amber McDonald:This week we have started to work on a Cynthia Rylant study. I read to the kids The Relatives Came.  I love this book becuase of its ability to really allow kids to relate to it. They can say, "Yeah we do that in our family!". It is also great because they can look at some noticings about the book and the way that Rylant writes. They loved the pictures and the colors were amazing also! It is agreat way to start out our memoir study.

Henry And Mudge And the Starry Night by Cynthia Rylant

Bonnie Cumbo:

 Cynthia Rylant loves to include animals in her books. In this 2nd grade level book, Henry, the main character, is best friends with his big dog Mudge.  They love spending time together and when they go on a camping trip in this short chapter book they do many things together.  They think about all kinds of animals, hike, and watch the stars at night.  Then the whole family snuggles up right outside of the tent in their sleeping bags and fall asleep.  Henry and Mudge set a great example of friendship for young readers.  There are also many other books in the Henry and Mudge series.  Students can make text to text connections between them as well as make self connections.  Most young children can connect to having a pet or at least wanting a pet.  They can also relate to wanting and having a friend.  This is an excellent series to use with higher first grade students and 2nd grade students.  I love using Henry and Mudge books with my students.

Our book study group will be exploring many levels of Cynthia Rylant books because we have a wide range of grade levels that we work with.  We decided to recommend books that we are familiar with during our last book discussion on January 25th.

An Angel for Solomon Singer by Cynthia Rylant

Amber McDonald:

This week I chose to read a picture book from Rylant. I am a fan of hers and had never read this book. In this book Solomon is a very sad man who is lonely and misses his out west home as a child. He misses the outdoors, the fireplaces, the colors, the animals... So living in New York City he isn't able to get these things so he just dreams about them and visits a diner. As he orders each night he silently in his mind orders one of the things he misses. He feels that his angel happens to be the waiter Angel, who is the one who encourages him to come back each night and dine more as he orders more and more things he misses. 

I loved this book because it has great imagery and vivid language. In my room we call  the vivid language the fancy smancy words. I think that you could use this to talk about how the pictures tell more of the story sometimes than the words themselves and how does a writer work with an illustrator to make it work. In this book a picture is worth a thousand words!

The Ticky-Tacky Doll by Cynthia Rylant

Cammie Price:

The Ticky-Tacky Doll was a sweet story about a little girl leaving her doll to begin school. This is a wonderful story to read to primary children the first week of school when they are missing their families and toys they had to leave behind.  Her Ticky-Tacky doll was made from sewing scraps from her grandmother, and the girl cherised it so much.  When she began school, she was not able to bring her doll with her, and it affected her ability to learn. Her grandmother made her a new ticky-tacky doll that was small enough to take with her to school. The child did much better and was able to learn her numbers and letters knowing her small ticky-tacky doll was in her bookbag and her other doll was at home waiting on her.  Rylant referred to this doll made from scraps as "being made from scratch like a buttermilk biscuit."  This doll, although made from left-overs, was beautiful and so loveable. Cynthia and the illustrator painted a pretty picture of the doll when she wrapped her floppy arms around the little girl's neck. This line is throughout the story.  At the end of the story Rylant uses an elipses to describe the doll as beautiful scraps and bits of pieces of dreams.  I really enjoyed this work of Rylant and am looking forward to reading more from her.

 The Old Women Who Named Things by Cynthia Rylant

Reccomended by Kelly Compton. This book is about a little old lady who has outlived all her friends, therefore, she only names things that she will not outlive.  She names her old car "Betsy", her old chair "Fred", her old bed "Roxanne", and her old house "Franklin".  These things haven't let her down yet so she gives them the names of friends she has outlived because she likes to name things.  One day a puppy comes to her fence, which she hasn't named, because it has rusty old hinges.  The little old lady tells the puppy to go home.  The puppy continues to come to her rusty old gate.  She begins to feed the puppy, daily, while telling it to go home.  Eventually the puppy grows up to be a dog but doens't show up one day at the rusty old gate. The dog doesn't come for several days. She begins to call around and calls a dogcatcher to see if he's found a shy, brown dog.  The dogcatcher ask the name of the dog...there isn't one.  The little old lady goes to look for the dog.  When she thinks she's found it, she wonders what it's name could be, she decides it needs to be "Lucky" because she is lucky to have him.  She calls his name "Lucky" and he comes running to her voice. From that moment on "Betsy" didn't make all dogs sick, "Fred" was happy to allow dogs to sit on him, "Franklin" didn't mind little dog hair, and "Roxanne" made plenty of room for the shy, brown dog and the woman who named him. 

This is a sweet, sweet story that uses details and repetition to tell a story of an old lady who's heart is soften by the love of a dog.

The Blue Hill Meadows by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Martha Vest

I read this complilation book by Cynthia Rylant and I totally recommend it for children of all ages, and adults who are in need of some gentle, homespun humor and endearing tales.  Rylant spins the scene of Willie Meadow and his family in Blue Hill, Virginia.  Four gentle stories are crafted about family life in rural Virginia in a simpler time.  My favorite is "A Much - Loved Dog", the recounting of a stray that wandered into their lives and soon into their hearts.  Willie treats her immediately like a baby and spoils her with icecream and ham trimmings and sneaking her into his bed.  Later we are treated to the retelling of Lady's first litter and the joy and excitement for the boys.  Rylant does it again in The Blue Hill Meadows.

Snow by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Bonnie Cumbo

Cynthia Rylant writes "The snow loves them back.  It gives them angels and new friends." (snowmen)  This book is all about the magical feeling we get when we see snow falling.  Snowfall brings a feeling of excitement.  Snowfall brings memories and fun with family and friends.  In this book the snow takes on it's own personality and characteristics.  There are many opportunities for a young reader to infer, predict,  and make connections within this text. 

                                                 Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Martha Vest

What a precious book!  Rylant has blessed countless children with her ideas about Dog Heaven.  This darling picture book is filled with gorgeous illustrations(done originally in acrylics) with short descriptions on each page. 

Rylant assures grieving children that their deceased puppy is alive and well with the Lord. She describes their dog playing with children and eating lots and lots of doggie biscuits.

She uses short descriptive sentences and humor.

"Ther are kitty-cat biscuits and squirrel biscuits, ice-cream biscuits and ham-sandwich biscuits."

Yum!

Try this yummy book by Rylant.

  Cat Heaven by Cynthia Rylant

Recommended by Bonnie Cumbo

How can we explain what happens to our cats when they die?  Read this book to them.  Cynthia Rylant uses descriptive words to help us understand what a cat's heaven is like.  They are well taken care of with plenty of food, warmth, and love.  Heaven is a wonderful place for cats that have left us.  This book is sure to comfort any heart, young or ord.

Poppleton:Everyday Amber McDonald

I actually used this book during my small group reading time in my classroom. I like the fact that it is easy enough for the kids to read fluently but also challenging enough for them. This Poppleton book was created by Rylant that takes you through the daily life of Poppleton and Hudson! The kids adore Rylant and are so excited

that daily we are able to find new texts from her! 

                    The Ticky-Tacky Doll by Cynthia Rylant  Book Review

                                Missing Grandma                    

   * * * * *  I give this book 5 stars! It's an easy read and easy to identify with the relationships and feelings in the story. I would recommend this book to any primary grades teacher or parents who have a child beginning school.

Cynthia Rylant writes about a little girl going off to school and she is missing her Ticky-Tacky doll, made by scraps from her grandmother, at home. The relationship between the girl and the doll is parallel with her relationship with her grandmother. The girl becomes withdrawn at school, which young students just beginning school will be able to identify with. The end story ends with the little girl happy to be at school with her smaller version of her Ticky-Tacky doll. Beautiful illustrations help to entice this reader in this book.

An Angel for Solomon Singer   Book Review (Amber McDonald)

This book by Cynthia Rylant gets 5 *****  stars in my opinion. I thought that this was a book that needed to be read by adults and children. I think that adults could relate to the sometimes disconnection that we have to the outside world when things don't in the right fashion, or the way we feel it should. Solomon Singer found himself looking from the outside in wanting things that he didn't have. I also feel that this book was a great one to use to teach children how to learn from pictures and how pictures can tell a story. A great book for adults to use as a reflection on life!