Marty McGuire by Kate Messner is a book about a girl named Marty McGuire. In this book, Marty’s class is putting on a play about the Frog Prince. Marty is chosen to play the princess. The thing is, she doesn’t want to be the princess. Marty tries to convince her Mom and her teacher that she is not the person in the job, and that they should make one of the other girls do it, but they continue to insist on making her the princess. My favorite part of this book is when Marty and her friend bring in a frog for the play to be the Frog Prince … and Marty actually kisses it! I thought that was so funny!

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Sideways Stories from Wayside School is a book of silly stories. Each chapter is a story. Each story is about a different person at Wayside School. Some chapters are about teachers at Wayside School. Some chapters are about students at Wayside School. My favorite chapter is called Mrs. Jewls . I also really liked reading the chapter called Maurecia.

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Have you ever read the book My Very UnFairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski? I have. Well that is what this post is about, right?

Anyway, the main character in this book is 12-year-old girl named Jenny. Jenny is an adventurer. She runs around different magical worlds defeating bad guys and helping creatures that live in those worlds. It was so cool how Jenny traveled from different worlds doing lots of very exciting things. Jenny’s guide, Anthony, is a candy-loving gnome. Pretty much the whole time while she’s on adventures, he’s eating candy. Anthony has magical powers so he can transport Jenny between worlds (because she doesn’t have any magic). Jenny doesn’t grow up with her parents – she lives with her aunt (because her parents disappeared when she was little…).

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Amy Krouse Rosenthal is quickly becoming one of my favorite picture book writers. One of the many books of hers that I have come to really appreciate is called Plant a Kiss. Illustrated by the award winning Peter H. Reynolds, it’s about an adorable little girl who plants a kiss, waits for it grow, and spreads love everywhere. Drawn on all white background with mostly black and muted colors, textured (literally raising off the page) kisses grow sparkling from the ground. Written in rhythm-free rhyme, the 86 words in the text combine to become a perfect spring book, love book, bedtime book, or anytime book.

Plant a Kiss
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This week is Children’s Book Week, so we’ve joined up with Mother Daughter Book Reviews and Youth Literature Reviews‘ Kid Lit Giveaway Hop. We’re giving away (see below) a copy of Call Me Oklahoma! signed by the author Miriam Glassman, who has been kind enough to answer a few questions from our resident 2nd grader, Greek Girl.

In Call Me Oklahoma!, Paige Turner decides to change her name to Oklahoma upon entering the 4th grade in an effort to give herself a new identity. Throughout the book, Paige struggles internally with who she is and who she wants to be, but she also has to handle best friends and book fairs and mean girls and talent shows. In the end, this seemingly light-hearted tale has a deeply emotional core with an admirable lesson that’s not preachy in the slightest. The characters are real, not cartoony. The voice is pure, not forced. The situations are completely believable. Most importantly, Paige is a character with whom every child struggling to find an identity will be able to relate – and isn’t that just about every child?

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