The Pineapple Pages

Author(s): Won-Ldy Paye and Julie Paschkis Illustrator: Margaret H. Lippert Awards: 2007 Bank Street- Best Children's Book of the Year Ages: Pre-K- 2nd Grade Pineapple Points:3/5 🍍🍍 🍍  Summary: During the planting season, the animals all gathered to plant crops. The spider refused to help, despite the animals tries to get him to contribute. The spider eventually got tired of plain rice and decided he was going to pick some of the vegetables. The veggies became animated and told the spider that he did not deserve to harvest the crops. Defeated and learning his lesson, the spider returned home to have a bowl of plain rice. Evaluation: When rummaging the children' s section in the library, I thought this book would fall in the fantasy genre. Turns out, this book is a retold folktale MUCH like The Ant and the Grasshopper. Though I enjoyed  The Ant and the Grasshopper, this version was simpler and would be nice to use for a younger crowd. I am very pleased with th...

Author: Tomi Ungerer Illustrator: Tomi Ungerer Awards: Top 10 Children' s Book 2013- New York Book Review A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013 A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2013 Ages: Kindergarten- 3rd Grade Pineapple Points: 3/5 🍍🍍 🍍  Summary: A brother and sister go out to the water in their small curragh. They are warned not to go to Fog Island because everyone gets swept up by currents and never return. The children get caught in fog and are swept to the small island. They find a man in the island who welcomes them in and explains that he is the culprit behind the fog. He turns off his fog, so the children can make it home in the morning. When awaking they find themselves alone in a bed with hot soup on a night stand. No wise fog man is to be seen. They make it back to shore in a terrible storm.  Evaluation: This book was cute. A colorful read that would be a great science introductory book for older readers  or v...

Author: Naoko Stoop Illustrator: Naoko Stoop Awards: none Ages: Pre-K- 1st Grade Pineapple Points: 🍍🍍 Summary: A little girl in a red knit cap and her bunny look for ways to talk to the moon. After consulting the owl, the girl and her forest friends conjure up a plan to talk to it. After an epiphany, the little girl gets her wish. Evaluation: This book is simple and good for early readers. It's a good bedtime story to teach children and remind adults to unplug and enjoy nature, despite this electronic world. The characters are very simplistic and if read to the classroom would be a great and easy idea to decorate a classroom bulletin board.

This weekend, I made the journey home; to a suburb of Corpus Christi, Texas. My heart is always refueled by the love of my family whenever I make the trip. An added bonus, the coast is my favorite place to be. I got to go to my favorite spot on the beach; a block from my home. My little brother put up with my bossy butt and I am so thankful that he did. He trucked along in the Harvey ravaged shoreline (that happens to be more mud than beach right now), and helped me capture more pictures for my blog. My pineapple heart is full. Thanks baby brother. Love,  The Girl in a Pineapple cast. 

Author: Jerry Pinkney Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney Awards: None Ages: Kindergarten- 3rd Grade Pineapple Points: 3/5 🍍🍍🍍 Evaluation: Little Red Riding Hood is sent to her ill grandmother's house, by her mother, to deliver a basket of goodies. The little girl strays from her path and is intercepted by a hungry sly fox. The fox talks Little Red into going to get firewood. The fox then goes to Granny's house and gobbles her up. The fox disguises himself in the grandmother's clothing and hops in her bed to wait for Little Red. Little Red shows and asks her odd-looking grandmother  a bunch of suspecting questions. She asks about her teeth and the wolf gobbles her up too. The wolf lays down to take a post-meal nap. A nearby lumberjack swings by Granny's house to check on her. He discovers the sleeping wolf and his bulging wriggling belly and slays him with his ax. He then cuts out the girls with some sewing shears. They all have a meal together to end the day. Little...

While, my blog is super fun to create and totally reflects my personality... the behind the scenes of my pineapple pictures are quite embarrassing. SO! If you see a girl rummaging around in the sand, with a pineapple and children's literature, just please turn your head and ignore... Pineapple Points: 1/5 🍍

Author: Amy Lowry Poole Illustrator:  Amy Lowry Poole Awards: None Ages: 2nd- 4th Grade Pineapple Points: 4/5 🍍🍍🍍🍍 Summary: A naive grasshopper leisurely enjoys the fall weather and tries to deter the hardworking ants from preparing for the winter. Winter comes and the ants are prepared and the grasshopper is left cold, hungry, and regretting not listening to the ants. Evaluation: I would want to use this book in a lesson in the beginning of the school year to teach my students that they will be rewarded if they work hard and stay on task in the classroom.

Author: Barbara McClintock Illustrator:  Barbara McClintock Awards: None Ages: Pre-Kinder- 3rd Grade Pineapple Points: 4/5 🍍🍍🍍🍍 Summary: The age old story of the poor Cinderella, whose father passed away and was left with her evil step-mother and her two daughters. Cinderella, despite the abuse, does everything that her step-mother pleases. She slaves away night and day and was treated no where near as well as her step-sisters. The prince was throwing a grand ball and the girls were invited. The step-mother would not allow Cinderella to go for fear that she would outshine her daughters with her far more beautiful appearance. A fairy Godmother found Cinderella weeping about her not being able to go to the ball. The fairy Godmother placed spells on common items to grant her with everything she would need to go to this ball. She did was warn that the spell would wear off at midnight, Cinderella happily went on her way. Cinderella arrived and became the center of attent...

Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney Awards: Caldecott Medal 2010 Ages: Pre-K- 2nd Grade Pineapple Points: 5/5 🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍 Summary: A small mouse is trying to escape a hungry owl when he finds himself in the claws of a gracious lion. The lion decided to let his little mouse prey go. When wondering his territory the lion gets entangled in some poachers' net. He let out a ferocious roar out of fear and anger and helplessness. The tiny mouse heard his cries and came to gnaw him free from his ropes to repay him for previously letting him live. Evaluation: I would most definitely use this book in a classroom. The author left out text so that the reader would have to infer what was happening in the story and it also has a great message. It would be great for grades Pre-Kindergarten to Second grade. This would be a great work to teach foreshadowing and making inferences.

Author: Dennis McDermott Illustrator: Dennis McDermott Awards: none Ages: Kindergarten- 2nd Grade Pineapple Points: 3/5 🍍🍍🍍 Summary: A poor woodsman had three sons. The eldest son packed a small lunch and set out to cut down the biggest tree in hopes of gaining the attention of the king. Along his journey he encountered a troll who begged for a bit of food in exchange for a secret about the tree and the boy refused. The boy swung his ax and it broke and landed on his head. The next day the second son set out to chop down this tree. He also had the same results. Finally, the father made the youngest son, who had no desire to cut down the tree or win favor of the king, go to learn how to chop down this tree. The young boy, Hans, sat beneath the tree admiring the beautiful day and sat to eat his small meal. He noticed the troll and offered half of his food. The thankful troll told Hans that he would have the strength to chop down the tree and that there would be some...

Author: Diane Namm Illustrator: Sarah S. Brannen Awards: none Ages: Pre-K- 1st Graders Pineapple Points: 5/5 🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍 Summary: A baby duckling is hatched and he does not look like his siblings. He is sad because he thinks he is ugly because he is different. He runs away and tries to fare out on his own. He gets into a few predicaments on top of feeling sad and isolated until a nice farmer takes him home. When the Ugly Duckling outgrew his farm home, the farmer released him to a nearby pond. While peering into the water, the duck realizes that he is actually a beautiful swan and has been all along. He is accepted into the flock of swans and is happy to have found his niche.  Evaluation:  This small picture book is maybe five by seven inches in size and perfect for small hands. The message is clear and can be beneficial to a classroom of pre-kindergarteners to first graders. The book, while teaching a lesson, can also be an introduction into a science or m...

Author: R.J. Palacio Awards: none Ages: 4th- 8th Grade Pineapple Points:  5/5 🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍 Summary:  August "Auggie" Pullman, the main character, is a ten year old boy who wants nothing more to fit in. Auggie was born with many deformities and had to have many surgeries to try to fix his poor face. Due to the amount of time he has spent in hospitals, Auggie has been home schooled by his mother. It is almost time for August to start fifth grade, and his parents decide that he needs to go to a real school. With hopes for August to learn more than his mother can teach him and for him to learn to face the world, August's parents sends a indecisive August to Beecher Prep. August meets two good friends; Summer and Jack Will. Despite the principle's best intentions to save Auggie from bullying, he still went through a lot. Kids would avoid touching him because "he had the plague" and he was even betrayed by his new friend, Jack. During the novel we have a fe...

Hey everyone!  Welcome to my blog where you will find 50 works of Children's Literature that I have read and reviewed! I hope that you are able to come and enjoy my blog and the word garble that has escaped from my crazy colorful brain! You may ask, "Why pineapples?"... Pineapples are my reminder to have thick skin, be bright and cheery, be sweet, never take off my crown, and that the best way to always go and grow... is up. So with that being said... Enjoy, grab a glass of pineapple juice, and stay a while.  Love always, The Girl in the Pineapple Cast