Our Favorite Book Characters

Hello there! We are excited to team up with Katie at Minute Mommy and other amazing bloggers to bring you Summer Reading Stash #4: Our Favorite Book Characters. I hope you enjoy our post and I hope you hop along to read all of the blog posts in this link up. Kelie and I have sure been enjoying them! :) 

Please tell me you have read Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner!? I absolutely LOVE this book. This is the first book, and in my humble opinion, the best book, in a series of books about a Chihuahua. I mean, a Siamese Cat. Hehe. Ok, so Skippyjon has quite the imagination and one day he zooms past a mirror and sees his big ol' ears. In his best Spanish accent he says, "Holy Guacaomole! I am a Chihuahua!" I REALLY get into character when I read this book and love using my Spanish accent. Haha. The kids love it, too! We all laugh so hard we have tears streaming down our faces. And, usually by the time I finish I have to guzzle down some water... using my best Spanish accent really makes my voice hoarse and my throat itchy. But it's SO worth it. Haha. Skippyjon goes on an adventure in his bedroom closet after being grounded by Mama Junebug. In his closet Skippyjon meets a group of Chihuahuas and he ends up defeating the Great Bandito. The first time I read this to my kindergarteners I worried they wouldn't be able to sit through it because it is kind of long. But, it engaged them from the front to the end and they begged me to read it often. If you haven't read this book....run....now.....you won't be sorry. :)

Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells was a required read aloud in my Kindergarten classroom when we used SRA Open Court Language Arts curriculum and were on the "Stick To It" unit. My students LOVE Ruby and Max. Who doesn't? They are just too cute. Ruby is the older sister and Max is the little brother. Max is always causing trouble for Ruby. In Bunny Cakes, Ruby just wants to bake a special, fancy cake for her grandmother, but Max has other ideas. Max wants to decorate the cake with "red hot" candies so he keeps causing Ruby to lose the ingredients needed for baking a cake. Ruby then sends him to the store and each time Max attempts to get his candies but he doesn't know how to write yet. Each time Max tries a different way to get his request on paper for the grocer. If you haven't read this book yet, I won't tell you how it ends but instead encourage you to read it. Max and Ruby is also a cartoon and my students loved watching this episode after reading the book. And... Max and Ruby happen to be the names of my sister's kids! True story. :)

Next up on our list of favorite characters are those created by Judy Blume. I love how she uses humor and reality when writing books about everyday family life, because it really allows students to relate to what they are reading.  All students can relate at some level as they read about events such as: moving to a new town, making new friends, or mom having a new baby.
Judy Blume does an amazing job of turning these real life events into a page turning novel.  I mean, what child doesn't want to find out if the main character's little brother ate their pet turtle?  Your students will love reading this whole series just to see what crazy things little brother Fudge has up his sleeves, and see how big brother Peter deals with it all.

Need a novel study to get you started? Check out this resource found in my store (*on sale through the weekend!):

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Novel Unit

Last on our list of favorites this week are the wonderful books by author Roald Dahl. 

I love his magical way of using storytelling when writing books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG.  He is able to turn everyday things into something extraordinary- peaches the size of houses with talking insects or a finger with the power to turn people into other things. Readers beware- these books are really geared towards a more mature audience (3rd grade on up), as there is a bit of a fear factor built into his novels.  However, in every book, the kids triumph over the evil and  really, you can't ask for more than that!

Hop on over to Ashley's Brainy Centers to read about her favorite book characters.

 

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