Book Review: Too Tall Houses

Author/Illustrator: Gianna Marino
Interest Level: Ages 3 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Owl and Rabbit are good friends and neighbors and live happily in two small houses next to each other...UNTIL Rabbit's garden grows a little too tall and blocks Owl's view. Now Owl isn't so happy. Maybe building a bigger house will solve the problem. But now Rabbit isn't happy. Maybe building his house taller will be the solution. And before long, there are two very tall houses and two very unhappy neighbors. What will it take to make them friends again?

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This book could not have come at a better time. I am doing some reteaching with grades K-2 on solving problems. Owl and Rabbit are a great example of what happens when you argue and fight. They are also very stubborn and won't give in because each wants their way and wants to be right. They try and one up each other by building their houses taller and taller....which was a great metaphor for how big they are making the problem.

It has a very cute ending showing a fixed friendship and a solution at work. The morale of the story is it's a huge waste of time to involve yourself in negative behavior when faced with a problem - it only makes things worse and results in the loss of a friend. This generation needs LOTS of conflict resolution encouragement. Great book.

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Book Review: Yo! Yes?

Author: Chris Raschka

Interest Level: Ages 3-8

About This Book: An effective, unusual 34-word story of the beginnings of a friendship, accompanied by wild and wonderful illustrations. Against pastel backgrounds, in vibrant, colorful images, an African-American boy and a white boy meet on the street. "What's up?" "Not much." "Why?" "No fun." "Oh?" "No friends." These one- and two-word exchanges on each spread lead to a tentative offer of friendship, sealed as both boys jump high in the air and yell "Yow!" The succinct, rhythmic text and the strong cartoonlike watercolor-and-charcoal illustrations are perfect complements. The feelings of each child run the gamut from loneliness, curiosity, fear of rejection, and hopefulness to, finally, joy; the illustrations do a particularly fine job of limning each boy's emotions in very simple images on the oversized pages. With a beautifully balanced, economical style, the book illumines the peaks and pitfalls of getting acquainted, and puts in a good word for brotherhood as well. Amusing for story times, or for use in discussions of feelings, it is fun to read and look at, and appealing to the eye, ear, and heart. "Yow!" -School Library Journal

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This. Book. Rocks. It's one of those read alouds where the whole class goes silent. I know - your loving it even more now! But the silence is because they are secretly hoping for something special to happen...an awesome thing called friendship. I've had classes clap after I finish reading. Yep, they are totally clapping for friendship. Pretty sweet. Yo! Yes? has been a wonderful teaching tool. It's helped kids on both sides of the friendship spectrum from shy to outgoing. There's all kinds of goodness you can do with this book. Sincere questions I ask students: How can you reach out to someone you'd like to be friends with? How can you spot someone who is lonely and reach out to them with your friendship? Have you ever had a friendship similar to Yo! Yes?  What do you notice is different about the boys? You get what I'm saying here - there are many discussion starters and role play scenarios to be used as teachable moments. Allow your child or students to read this out loud to you. They really get into the fluency, tone, and body language.

PS. Just discovered a DVD that has an animated version of Yo! Yes? on it. Just previewed it with the kids. Totally rocks. I'll add it to the links below. It's on the Corduroy...and More Stories About Friendship DVD.

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