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OUR TOP TEN FAVORITE FICTION PICTURE BOOKS OF 2016 by Holly Mueller and her 6th Grade Class
For several weeks in December my 6th graders have been reading and reviewing many of this year’s picture books in order to choose contenders for the 2017 Caldecott Award, which will be announced on January 23rd. I always like to watch the ALA Youth Media Awards with my classes, but it’s way more exciting to watch if you have read the winners! I gathered about 50 “buzz” books from book lists and blog posts and piled them up on the front table in my classroom. We concentrated on fiction picture books before our holiday break, and after break we will take a look at nonfiction. It’s always interesting to see what kids pick as their favorites! Here are our top ten titles:
Ida, ALWAYS by Caron Levis and Charles Santoso
Lauren finished this book and looked up from it at the end with big tears in her eyes. She immediately picked it as her favorite. Abby, Braden, and Viktoria all agreed. Although it is very sad, we all thought the friendship Ida and Gus shared was extremely special and that the zookeeper played a special part in helping Gus cope with his great loss. Consider pairing it with the beautiful book, Always Remember by Cece Meng and Jago.
We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen
My students LOVE Klassen’s hat trilogy. The dark humor, the hilarious expressions on the animals’ faces, and the discussions about what the endings really mean make these books favorites every year. Marah, Hailey, and Sophia picked this as their favorite and loved how it ended the trilogy. Even though they enjoyed the dark humor of the previous two, they liked the happy compromise that came with the finale. I will continue to share this trilogy with students every year!
King Baby by Kate Beaton
Lots of laughter surrounded this book. Peyton, Nicole, Kayley, Emi, and Connor all picked this as their favorite. This book has great “kid appeal” with the funny King Baby expressions and haughty, kingly announcements, the good-intentioned, loving, but exhausted subjects (parents), and twist ending. If King Baby thinks he can keep ruling, he’s got another thing comin’ with the arrival of…(I won’t spoil the finale.)
Dear Dragon by Josh Funk and Rodolfo Montalvo
What a clever book! Aaron, Hunter, and Braden loved this book best. They thought it was fun to see how each character reflected his own perspective through his thought bubbles when reading his pen pal’s letters and contrasting that with the reality of what really happened. Aaron noticed one of the things that showed a friendship developing was the letter greetings and closings. That’s close reading! This is a wonderful book for discussions on acceptance and celebration of differences. I’d like to use it in the future for our 5th grade Empathy and Diversity unit.
A Hungry Lion or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals by Lucy Ruth Cummins
We couldn’t help but compare this to Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat with its dark humor and sarcastic tone. We loved the turtle. Kyle and Luke chose this book as their favorite. Another similar book popped up as a favorite, but I don’t think it’s eligible for a Caldecott: Little Red by Bethan Woollvin. You can tell my 6th graders enjoy these kinds of tales!
The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles by Michelle Cuevas
This book captivated Sophia. She loved the idea of having the job of uncorking ocean bottles and delivering messages. Can you imagine all the amazing messages that come floating over the waves? The quiet tone and muted colors capture the man’s loneliness, but we love how his sad eyes and tired face lifts into joy when he arrives at the party. Wonderful cast of characters, too! It’s a beautiful book in story and pictures; Erin Stead is one of my favorite children’s illustrators. Every book she illustrates is something special.
The Storyteller by Evan Turk
The Storyteller is Christopher’s top choice, along with the next book featured.
Evan Turk implores us to remember the storytellers.I love the beautiful illustrations – reds, browns, greens, blues. lots of movement. The repeated line, “…that is a story for another day”, reminds me of the read alouds my students love, and how they accuse me of stopping on cliffhangers to torture them. I always tell them, “Now you have a reason to come back tomorrow!” Turk has another 2016 book out, Be the Change: A Grandfather Ghandi Story that I’m going to use in the future for our Social Responsibility unit. |
Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis
We all had fun trying to figure out the bug language in this one. Carson Ellis’s illustrations are gorgeous. I remember loving Ellis’s book Home from last year. This book is certainly unique, and kids and adults alike won’t be able to look at it just once; it’s one that begs multiple readings! This was Christopher’s other favorite book. Interesting that he picked two very different kinds of stories!
I Am Pan by Mordecai Gerstein
Sixth graders LOVE mythology, so this is Karlie’s favorite. Sophia asked if this is our introduction to the mythology unit we’re going to delve into later this year. I loved Gerstein’s 2014 Caldecott Medal-winning book, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. I read it aloud almost every year to my students to commemorate September 11th. This one is FULL of high-spirited, colorful, playful illustrations, reflecting the wild character of Pan.
The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Christian Robinson
This book was originally published in 1965, but was newly illustrated this year by 2016 Caldecott Honoree, Christian Robinson. This was a controversial pick by Isabella. Not all of us loved it, but it was her favorite because she felt like the theme was to show kindness. Some other kids chimed in and thought it celebrated childhood. At first it bothered me that the kids were smiling as they carried the bird to the grave, then they cried profusely, and then they smiled and laughed again. I guess that is true to young children, though – life is meant to be celebrated, death mourned, emotions are full and swift. I like that my students helped me look at this book in a new light.
Holly Mueller is a gifted intervention specialist who teaches accelerated 5th/6th grade ELA at Columbia Intermediate School in Kings Local School District in Ohio. She loves to read, teach, write, learn, hang out with friends and family, walk her dog, and travel. Holly is a frequent presenter at literacy conferences. Books cover every corner in her house and classroom. She blogs at Reading, Teaching, Learning and tweets as @muellerholly. She is a recent recipient of the District 4 Ohio Teacher of the Year award.
It does say sixth graders, correct? Obviously sixth grader choices will be very different from younger aged children. However, I think picture books can be for all age levels.
Yes, sixth graders! I agree that some of their choices would be different from younger children, and I whole-heartedly agree picture books are for all ages.
I need to add some books to my to-read list.
What a wonderful list. I loved Dear Dragon and Ida, Always, and The Dead Bird is new to me, will look for it. It’s wonderful to have old favorites re-done and loved today, too! Thanks, Holly!
I’m glad to see picture book choices by 6th graders. A lot of kids exude around 3rd grade that picture books are “baby” books and they end up missing some fabulous stories. I’ve added the ones I don’t already own to next year’s wish list.
Great picks! I love everything Jon Klassen does. I just brought home The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles from the library, so I’m glad to see it on your list!
I love that The Dead Bird made the list. I think it is a book kids will really respond to. Thank you Ms Mueller and your students!
I teach sixth grade and would love to have your full picture book list!
Dee,
Are you on Twitter? DM there, and we can exchange e-mails. I’d be happy to share. @muellerholly
Thanks so much for offering to share,
Holly! I just followed you on Twitter. I will DM my email as soon as you follow me. I’m so excited to get your “big kids’ ” picture book list!
The Pan book looks real fun!
This is fantastic! Picture books are for all ages. I am going to share this with my students. It will be a great jumping off point for own book list.
Thank you for the recommendations, summaries, and potential connections. I’m looking forward to checking out some of these books!
Great list! I will look for these! 😀