This is our class book for the month of October. The children will love Junie B. in this introduction to FIRST GRADE. We will laugh and cry during her first grade adventures.

• Junie B's website!
• Buy your very own Junie B. books!

In the 24th installment of Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones series of illustrated early chapter books, Boo... And I Mean It!, the precocious first grader is worried about Halloween--with good reason. Paulie Allen Puffer has given her five good reasons, in fact, not least of which is that real witches and monsters go trick-or-treating on Halloween (no costumes necessary); if you carve pumpkins with pointy teeth, they will bite your feet; and...shhh...candy corn isn't really corn. Junie B. goes to great lengths to avoid trick-or-treating altogether, but she finally decides that if she dresses up like Squirty the Clown (a disturbing circus clown who terrified her grandmother by chasing her with a seltzer bottle and making her wear an "unattractive balloon hat"), even the most horrific witches and monsters will be scared off. As ever, her way of expressing herself "I did a groan" and "Chills came on my arms" is grammatically unique, but as you get to know her, more endearing than alarming. Children who have mixed feelings about Halloween festivities will relate to Junie B.'s fears, and they'll be relieved when Halloween passes without a monster attack or pumpkin bite, just a delicious bag of 100% candy.

• Junie B's website!
• Buy your very own Junie B. books!

Note: This book is available in our Library.

It's pooey on B-A-B-I-E-S until Junie B. finds out that her new dumb old baby brother is a big fat deal. Her two bestest friends are giving her everything they own just to see him.

• http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/junieb/

Note: This book is available in our Library.

Playful, rhyming text brings home the fact that nouns are people, places and things. Nouns are highlighted for easy I.D.

• http://www.brianpcleary.com/

Note: This book is available in our Library.

A small boy recounts some of what he is--a child, a friend, a helper, etc. The book concludes with the boy as daydreamer and stargazer, wondering about all that he is and all that he will become.

• http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Eileen-Roe/707136/books

Note: This book is available in our Library.

An unexpected rain shower causes quarreling among the members of a small community, until finally the sun comes out, and everyone in town ends up smiling and lending one another a hand. By the creator of the Caldecott Honor book, No, David!

• http://www.scholastic.com/titles/nodavid/davidshannon.htm

Note: This book is available in our Library.

Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! is a children's book credited to Dr. Seuss "with some help by Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith". The book is based on verses and sketches created by Seuss before his death in 1991, and was expanded to book length and completed by writer Prelutsky and illustrator Smith for publication in 1998. The story surrounds a school that is well liked by its students notably because of its many eccentric teachers. However, the students must make a good grade on a standardized test (which turns out in the end to be a revising test on multiple subjects they regularly learn) or else they will be sent to an adjacent school, which requires uniforms to be worn and is incredibly dull.

• DIFFENDOOFER GAME
• http://www.seussville.com/#books

Miss Nelson is a grade-school teacher whose students constantly take advantage of her nice nature. After an especially rowdy day in Miss Nelson's class, her students discover that she is not coming to school the next day. "Now we can really act up," yells one of the students (Allard, 8). However, before they get the chance to make mischief, a substitute, Miss Viola Swamp, shows up. Swamp is a strict disciplinarian and gives the students significantly more school work than Miss Nelson ever did. The contrast between the two teachers is so great that the students actively go looking for Miss Nelson and make unlikely conjectures about what may have happened to her. After many days of tyranny under Miss Swamp, Miss Nelson returns to class and the children rejoice. At the end of the book, it is implied that Miss Viola Swamp was Miss Nelson in disguise.

• About the Author
• Buy your own copy of Miss. Nelson is Missing!

Note: This book is available in our Library.

It all began with one lonely pumpkin that grew plump, and plumper. But over time, seeds from that pumpkin grew into an army of roly-poly pumpkins. When a mighty wind blew, the pumpkins flew, and a sleepy valley town woke up one morning to a rumbling, tumbling surprise.

• Visit the Author: Elizabeth Spurr

Happy or sad? Hot or cold? Up or down? Sometimes you may feel every which way, and that's just fine. Keith Baker uses opposites and an irresistible banjo-playing, cake-baking alligator to remind us all of one of life's simplest--and most important--lessons: Anything is possible if you like who you are and you like what you do.

• http://www.keithbakerbooks.com

This humorous story illustrates the importance of hard work and shrewd business practices. Hare's family was hungry, with no land to raise a crop. Bear was lazy with plenty of farmable land. Hare proposes a deal to Bear: Hare will farm the land for half the crop - tops or bottoms. Bear is in for quite a surprise!

• http://www.janetstevens.com/

Note: This book is available in our Library.

It is Thanksgiving day, and the turkey needs to be carved. Who will do the job? A killer whale, or a saber-toothed tiger, or a Tyrannosaurus rex? None of those seem to be quite right. So who will carve the turkey this Thanksgiving?

• Buy your own copy of this book!