The Brainstorm Plus: The Brainstorm 169: Books for Reading, Writing, and Language Arts

This week we’re looking at books that can be used to help teach language arts (reading, writing, grammar, etc.). There are skills in here for the most beginner of readers and writers, and skills for advanced readers and writers. I’m changing the way I present the books a little bit for this so it won’t take up as much space. I am putting the books under the topic that the book can be used to help teach or does a splendid job of exemplifying. Each book will appear with a summary and an abbreviated list of target readers (who might want to snatch this book up in addition to language arts learners and teachers). If you want to see more of my review and why I list those specific target readers, click on the title of the book. If you’re looking for great language arts resources you may also want to check out Brainstorm 87: Language Arts Lively Lit which includes parts of speech books, punctuation books, and some great simile books, or Brainstorm 123: Excellent Vocabulary & Lyrical Writing which includes more books with excellent vocabulary and amazing writing. I’m not including any of the books that appeared in either of those Brainstorms in today’s blog.

Assonance & Consonance

Earthquack! by Margie Palatini, ill. by Barry Moser
Chucky Ducky feels the ground rumble and quake, and runs to warn the other barnyard animals. Meanwhile, a wily weasel plots ways to fill his tummy using the commotion. And eventually, the truth about the quakes and the weasely plots are uncovered.

Target Readers: Art Lovers, Beginning Readers, Chicken Little Rewrite Fans, Humor Fans, Pun Lovers, Picture Book Fans

A Greyhound, a Groundhog by Emily Jenkins, ill. by Chris Appelhans
A celebration of sound with a greyhound and groundhog discovering friendship along the way.

Target Readers: Tongue Twister Fans, Read Aloud Fans, Animal Lovers, Picture Book Fans

Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems
With words that tend to feature the short e sound, Willems tells the story of a little frog, Nanette and the day she is first entrusted to get the daily baguette. If only baguettes were not so tasty, trouble might have been avoided.

Target Readers: Beginning Readers, Frog Lovers, Silly Story Fans, Picture Book Fans

Randy Riley’s Really Big Hit by Chris Van Dusen
Randy Riley is absolutely awful at baseball. It isn't that he doesn't try, it's that he gets distracted by the science and misses the ball. When this young genius realizes that there's a giant fireball from space headed to his hometown and no one believes him, he decides to do something about it himself in the day he has to plan.

Target Readers: Read Aloud Fans, Retro Setting Fans, STEAM Fans, Scifi Fans, Rhyming Text Lovers, Picture Book Fans

Collaboration in Writing/Creating

Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett, ill. by Adam Rex
This is supposed to be a story about Chloe, a little girl who runs into a lion in the woods, but the artist and author have some disagreements on how the story should go and the whole things turns into a big (and hilarious) mess.

Target Readers: Anyone Who Has Had to Do a Group Project, Humor Fans, Metafiction Fans, Picture Book Fans

The Element of Surprise

Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise by David Ezra Stein
The little red chicken comes home from school announcing to her father that her teacher has told her there's an elephant of surprise in every story and she's supposed to read three stories and find it. Her father thinks it is more likely the teacher said the element of surprise, but they settle in to read some stories and find out which it is.

Target Readers: Father-Daughter Story Fans, Humor Fans, Chicken Lovers, Picture Book Fans

Farce/Irony/Hyperbole

The Puppy Invasion by Alastair Heim, ill. by Kim Smith
The people of Strictville have an unprecedented emergency on their hands when puppies start showing up in town.

Target Readers: Art Lovers, Dog Lovers, Humor Fans, Picture Book Fans

Footnotes

The Ministry of SUITs series by Paul Gamble
Jack is a pretty normal boy. He's not super smart or dumb. He's not super popular, but he is generally well-liked. There's just one area where Jack stands out. He's super curious. Curious to the extent he gets that thing about cats and curiosity and death quoted to him all the time. After rescuing a man from being mauled by a bear in morning traffic, Jack's curiosity leads him to find the organization the man works for, the Ministry of Strange Unusual and Impossible Things. Becoming an agent for the Ministry of S.U.I.T.s is easier than Jack ever would have imagined. Staying alive as an agent and figuring out how to complete missions... that's a bit more challenging. And it is up to Jack and his partner to figure out what is going on at their school and save several fellow students (and maybe all of Northern Ireland).

Target Readers: Humor Fans, Fantasy Fans, Spy-ish/Superhero-ish Story Fans, Middle Grade Readers on up

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl novels by Shannon & Dean Hale
Doreen Green is a pretty typical 14 year old girl, eager to make friends in her brand new neighborhood in New Jersey. She just has one tiny, itsy difference from most 14 year old girls. She has a tail. Oh, and some other squirrel traits, including the ability to communicate with real squirrels. She never lets anyone outside her family see the tail though. The groups at her new school are proving as tough as walnuts to get into, but Doreen does make one friend. Ana Sofía honestly doesn't at first welcome Doreen's olive branches of friendship, but Doreen's knowledge of ASL does break down a little of the wall with a girl who can't hear and then there's Doreen's relentless positive attitude. Doreen also makes some friends among the local squirrels when she destroys some crazy evil traps someone set up around town. When Doreen uses her squirrel powers (and squirrel friends) to help thwart a troublesome gang in the neighborhood, Squirrel Girl gets her first appearance. Doreen always admires the Avengers and other superheroes, but she's never really thought she could be one. Squirrel Girl saves the day a few more times in the coming days, and she gets the attention of local would-be super villain Micro-Manager. He wants to make a name for himself, and what better way to do so than to take down a superhero. Besides, Squirrel Girl has already annoyed him by messing with his rodent traps around town. Can Squirrel Girl really save the day, or is she just a girl with a tail?

Target Readers: Superhero Fans, Humor Fans, Squirrel Lovers, Middle Grade/Young Adult Readers

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series by Ryan North, ill. by Erica Henderson, et al
Squirrel Girl aka Doreen Green is off to college majoring in computer science. Can a mutant secretly superhero girl have a normal college life? That's still to be seen. Doreen can hardly make it through orientation without having to duck out to save the world from Galactus and (with the help of Tippy-Toe and other squirrel friends) stop a bank robbery. She, her roommate, and her squirrel friends help save the day over and over again in this series.

Target Readers: Superhero Fans, Humor Fans, Squirrel Lovers, Computer Geeks, Graphic Novel Fans, Psychology Fans, Middle Grade/Young Adult Readers

Foreshadowing/Prediction Practice

Ben Franklin’s in My Bathroom (History Pals, #1) by Candace Fleming, ill. by Mark Fearing
Nolan's summer is pretty humdrum. His dad has moved away to London and his parents are getting a divorce. His mom has serious writer's block, and it's up to him to keep his little sister Olive occupied. But when a mysterious package arrives for Nolan, their humdrum summer suddenly gets much more eventful. After they fiddle with it a little, the strange box with H.H. on it makes some flashes and suddenly Ben Franklin is standing in the living room. Yep, that Ben Franklin. Nolan is immediately trying to figure out how to send Ben back to the past. But Olive is thrilled to show Ben Franklin all the wonders the 21st century has to offer, and Mr Franklin's curiosity is quickly getting the better of him. Before he knows it, Nolan is chasing Ben Franklin and Olive all over town trying to prevent a major catastrophe and figure out how to get Mr Franklin back to his proper time. While most of the book is normal text, it contains flashbacks of Ben’s past in graphic novel format and the book ends with hints of what historical figure is coming to visit them next.

Target Readers: Ben Franklin Studiers/Inventor Fans, Time Travel Fans, Humor Fans, Graphic Novel Fans, Reluctant Readers, Middle Grade Readers

If You Want to Bring a Piano to the Beach, Don't! by Elise Parsley
Magnolia is headed to the beach with her mom and two siblings. Her siblings are bringing things like boats and balls, she wants to bring the piano. Her mom warns her not to lose it, and they head off to the beach. Of course, things do not go as planned, and Magnolia realizes what a horrible idea it was to bring her piano to the beach.

Target Readers: Humor Fans, Beach Goers, Picture Book Fans

Homophones, Homonyms, and Homographs

All Paws on Deck (Haggis and Tank Unleashed, #1) by Jessica Young, ill. by James Burks
Haggis and Tank are two dogs with grand imaginations. To beat boredom they climb aboard their pirate ship and let loose their imaginations on a grand pirate adventure.

Target Readers: Pun Lovers, Dog Lovers, Imaginative Readers, Pirate Story Fans, Lower Grade Readers

Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas, ill. by Jennifer Plecas
A knight on watch responds to various roars he hears, and finds some rather surprising requests from three little dragons on the other end of those roars.

Target Readers: Bedtime Story Fans, Sweet Story Fans, Dragon & Knight Lovers, Beginning Readers, Prediction Challenge Seekers, Adjective Admirers, Leveled Reader Fans

When I Was Small by Sara O’Leary, ill. by Julie Morstad
A little boy asks his mother to tell him a story about when she was small. Mother has a little fun, purposefully misunderstanding him and instead of telling him tales of her childhood tells him of extraordinary imaginary adventures she had when she was a tiny person.

Target Readers: Art Lovers, Imaginative Story Fans, Picture Book Readers

Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs by Linda Sue Park, ill. by Jennifer Black Reinhardt
Say hello to some humorous homographs. Each page features an animal (or small human) that is the noun version of a word acting out the verb form of their name. Yaks yak, parrots parrot, etc. The back of the book includes some linguistic history.

Target Readers: Humor Fans, Animal Lovers, Word Play Fans, Word History Fans, Picture Book Readers

Idioms/Figures of Speech

More Parts by Tedd Arnold
A boy becomes increasingly worried as he hears his parents, neighbors, teachers, and friends say things about his body coming to pieces. Broken hearts, cracking skin, giving up limbs...it's worrying stuff! Eventually, his parents explain that these phrases are just figures of speech and he doesn't need to worry.

Target Readers: English Language Learners, Humor Fans, Picture Book Readers

You’re Pulling My Leg: 400 Human Body Sayings from Head to Toe by Pat Street & Eric Brace, ill. by Eric Brace
Idioms, figures of speech, and other weird sayings of the English language that are body-related are presented with funny literal illustrations and actual meanings. The book is organized by body part.

Target Readers: English Language Learners, Humor Fans, Word History Fans, Middle Grade Readers on up

Metaphor

Migrant by Maxine Trottier, ill. by Isabelle Arsenault
A little girl who is part of a family of migrant workers tries to explain how she feels about her life through a series of metaphors comparing herself to animals that migrate. There’s more information in the back of the book about a real group of Canadian Mennonites who migrate from Mexico to the US and Canada for work and speak Low German.

Target Readers: Art Lovers, Empathy Builders, Unique Culture Studiers, Picture Book Readers

Onomatopoeia

Can an Aardvark Bark? by Melissa Stewart, ill. by Steve Jenkins
A survey of different animals that make grunts, barks, squeals, whines, growls, bellows, and laughing sounds. Each animal is labeled and gets a short paragraph about the noises it makes and under what conditions.

Target Readers: Animal Lovers, Curious Readers, Nonfiction Picture Book Readers

The Noisy Garage by Dennis R. Shealy, ill. by Mike Yamada
This garage is a busy place, fixing up cars and trucks with all sorts of problems.

Target Readers: Motor Vehicle Fans, Animal Lovers, Picture Book Readers

Overall Writing Skills

Bad Kitty Drawn to Trouble by Nick Bruel
Bad Kitty, author Nick Bruel, and Uncle Murray help readers get to know the parts of a story and how to write a great book.

Target Readers: Humor Fans, Cat Lovers, Future Writers, Graphic Novel Fans, Lower Grade & Middle Grade Readers

Little Red Writing by Joan Holub, ill. by Melissa Sweet
Little Red is a pencil learning about writing stories. She sets out to write an adventure and does just that, meeting some helpful parts of speech as she struggles to create a good plot and make her story flow. Oh, and she better watch out because there is something trying to get her.

Target Readers: Fairytale Rewrite Fans, Adventure Story Fans, Future Writers, Picture Book Readers

One Day, the End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, ill. by Fred Koehler
A collection of 2 to 4 page stories that use minimal text and illustrations that must be carefully examined to understand the full story.

Target Readers: Future Writers, Art Lovers, Picture Book Readers

Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon
It's time to write stories at school, and Ralph has major writer's block. He can't seem to think of anything to write. With the help of his friend Daisy and encouragement of his teacher and other classmates though, Ralph finally finds his writing voice.

Target Readers: Future Writers (& Struggling Writers), School Story Fans, Picture Book Readers

Parts of Speech

Wordplay by Adam Lehrhaupt, ill. by Jared Chapman
Introduces Noun, Verb, Interjection, Adjective, and Adverb as characters in the story. Verb does things. Noun just is. But Verb gets jealous of Noun, until she realizes they are better working together. Interjection, Adjective, and Adverb provide commentary throughout the adventure.

Target Readers: Teamwork Story Fans, Language Arts Learners, Picture Book Readers

Plot Diagramming

Max the Brave by Ed Vere
Max is a kitten. A kitten who prefers the title of brave rather than cute. To prove his bravery he will chase a mouse...if he can find out what a mouse is. Max goes around asking the various animals if they've seen Mouse, they point him along the way and eventually he thinks he's found a Mouse. But is the Mouse really a mouse? Recommended for plot diagramming examples because the plot is simple and the crisis moment is obvious.

Target Readers: Animal Lovers (especially Cat Lovers), Humor Fans, Cute Story Fans, Picture Book Readers

Research Process

Ain’t Nothin’ But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson
Nelson shares how he was researching the men who worked on the railroad, and that led him to start looking for the real John Henry. There were enough details consistent throughout the various version of the song that suggested people were singing about a real man. He shares about his research process and what he eventually uncovered about a man who worked the railroad named John Henry.

Target Readers: History Buffs, Real Mystery Fans, Music Lovers, Researchers, Middle Grade & Young Adult Readers on up

Noodleheads series by Tedd Arnold, Martha Hamilton, & Mitch Weiss, ill. by Tedd Arnold
Mac and Mac are noodles. They also aren't very bright and take things a bit literally. In their graphic novel misadventures they do things like try to figure out a way to avoid making their beds, they try to gather firewood and then wonder if their friend can see the future, or try to go fishing. In the front or back of each book is extensive information about folklore featuring fools (aka noodleheads) from around the world similar to the stories featured in each book.

Target Readers: Folklore Fans, Silly Story Fans, Graphic Novel Fans, Lower Grade Readers

Suffixes

Builders & Breakers by Steve Light
Two children follow their father to a construction site to give him his lunch. They observe all sorts of things going on at the site, things being built, things being broken, diggers going down, and cranes going up.

Target Readers: Readers Learning to Compare/Contrast, Construction/Demolition Fans, Beginning Readers, Picture Book Readers

Superlatives

The Perfect Dog by Kevin O’Malley
A little girl tries to decide which kind of dog would be perfect as her new pet.

Target Readers: Dog Lovers, Families about to Adopt a Dog, Picture Book Readers

We are Growing! (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading, #2) by Laurie Keller with Mo Willems
Gerald & Piggie are reading a book about several blades of grass. Each blade is growing, but each one grows differently. One is the tallest, one is the crunchiest, and one is the silliest...but something is coming that will put them all back on the same level.

Target Readers: Readers Celebrating Unique Gifts & Talents, Humor Fans, Beginning Readers, Picture Book Readers

Vocabulary

Pocket Full of Colors: the Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo & Jacqueline Tourville, ill. by Brigette Barrager
A picture book biography of Mary Blair, artist and Disney animator who is known for her vibrant, color-filled illustrations.

Target Readers: Classic Disney Fans, Art Lovers, Strong Women Story Fans, Picture Book Biography Fans, Nonfiction Picture Book Fans

The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds
Some people collect rocks or stamps or art. Jerome collects words. He loves basking in their sound and look. But then Jerome finds something even better than collecting words...stringing them together and giving them away.