Heidi Heckelbeck Makes a Wish by Wanda Coven

Heidi Heckelbeck Makes a Wish

Author: Wanda Coven
Illustrator: Priscilla Burris
Genre: Novel (Modern Fantasy)
Awards:N/A
Age: 1-2 grade

Summary:

Heidi Heckelbeck is a young witch who wants her class field trip to the botanical gardens to go perfectly. When the word gets out that it is supposed to rain on field trip day, Heidi has a plan to ensure the weather is nice. She finds a spell in her spell book to grant her a wish, but something goes wrong. A substitute she made in the spell caused it not to work. It rained all day at the botanical gardens and Heidi's class had to go home early. While Heidi was upset, she accidentally wished she was no longer a wish and it worked! She ran to her aunt for help. The only way for Heidi to reverse the wish is to grant 3 friends wishes without using magic. Heidi hunts for wishes at school and after a long day, she helps 3 of her friends with various tasks, such as riding their bike. When she returned home that  Day, Heidi's powers were back! The story ends with a moral: "Be careful what you wish for!"

In this novel, there are few illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. Most of them include the main character, Heidi. They may help students create visual images to match the story.

Evaluation: Students can discuss how Heidi made a poor decision while feeling angry and compare to times that they too have felt angry. Students can also discuss how during her quest to grant wishes, Heidi's good deeds for her peers resulted in new friends.

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

The Story of Ferdinand

Author: Munro Leaf
Illustrator: Robert Lawson
Genre: Traditional Literature
Awards:N/A
Grade level: pk-2

Summary: Ferdinand is not like the other bulls in his pasture. He doesn't like to fight, run, or butt heads. Instead, Ferdinand enjoys sitting under his favorite tree and smelling the flowers. One day, Some matadors came to the pasture to look for the fiercest bull to take to madrid. Ferdinand gets chosen accidentally after sitting on a bee, which makes him run and buck around in pain. The matadors take him away and, much to their disappointment, Ferdinand does not perform well in Madrid. He is distracted by the flowers in the women's hair and sits quietly admiring all of the flowers. This makes the Matador very angry. He takes Ferdinand home, but Ferdinand goes back to his favorite tree, where he smells the flowers and is happy.

Evaluation: Students can discuss why Ferdinand is different than the other bulls and compare to ways that they are different than their peers. The story also includes many cultural references to discuss with students, like matadors, banderilleros, and picadores.

Ricky, Rocky, and Ringo Go To The Moon by Mauri Kunnas

Ricky, Rocky, and Ringo go to the Moon

Author: Maruri Kunnas
Genre: Modern fantasy
Awards: N/A
Grade leve: pk-3

Summary: Ricky, Rocky, and Ringo are 3 astronauts who are sent on a mission to the moon. They are instructed to help an old robot scientist (Zack) because he has stopped working! Second before the rocket takes off, Ricky's mother runs onto the launch pad to give the astronauts their scarves they had forgotten. During their trip to the moon, the scarves caused a few problems by getting in the way. Upon arriving on the moon, they evaluate Zack to see what the problem is. Zack was not broken, he is just sad! The astronauts use the pretty scarves they have to make him feel better and return home to Ricky's mother assuring them that she knew the scarves would be useful.

The illustrator uses funny and engaging drawings that will keep students laughing. They matched the story and will help students follow along

Evaluation: Students could discuss why Zack feels sad and the importance of other people's emotions and how to respond to them. You can also point out how the characters turned something that seemed negative (the scarf) into something positive (comforting Zack).