No Arm In Left Field and Punk Farm

Title: No Arm In Left Field

Author: Matt Christopher

Age Group: Grades 3-6

Rating: 5

Summary: This book is about a young African American kid who moves to a new town and is invited to play on the towns little league baseball team. The majority of kids on the team are accepting of Terry, except for Tony who is not accepting of Terry at all. The story centers around Terry's play on the diamond as well as his relationship with Tony throughout the book

Opinion: I thought that this book was great. I remember when I was younger and I had to read a book I would always go for the Matt Christopher written sports books. I think that Christopher does such a good job of presenting an interesting story with hidden messages that can be very important. It think that the age group around grades 3-6 could very easily pick up on the message of acceptance, friendship, and teamwork that Christopher is trying to touch on.

Connection: Like I talked about in my opinion section, I think that this book does a good job of connecting to a few different issues. It brings up the issue of racism, but it also brings up the issue of acceptance for who someone is and not what they look like. This would be a great book to use in an elementary school classroom. I think it would be extremely effective in a small town classroom. Schools that don't have very much diversity may have students who have never seen people who look different from them. In a case like that, this book would be great to show that color doesn't matter.

Title: Punk Farm

Author: Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Age Group: Any

Rating: 5





Summary: This book is a song book about an animal band. The song presented in this book is Old MacDonald.

Opinion: I think that this book is amazing! I had to read and sing this book to a preschool class last year for my music course, and I found that the kids loved it. I think it's cool that the author took a popular children's song in Old MacDonald and gave it his own twist to make an interesting story. It is very captivating for young children, I found it very easy to keep their attention.

Connection: This is obviously a great book for the younger grades. Not only does it do a great job of keeping the attention of young kids, but the way it is written allows for many different ways to present it to the class. When I read this to the preschool class I had them use instruments for all the times that the animals used instruments in the book. This allowed for a lot of movement and action among the children. Because it's a song book they are also encouraged to sing along during the singing parts. This makes a lot of fun for the whole class!