Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

1. T.S. Eliot says in the first poem in this collection, “Naming of Cats”, that all cats have three names---the name the family uses on a daily basis, the official name, and a particular name known only to the cat. Do you or a family member have a cat? If so, what is its nickname and what is its official name? What name do you think the cat has given to itself? Why?
   
   
2. Which of T.S. Eliot’s practical cats would you like to own? Why?
   
   
3. The colorful pictures are full of wonderful creatures. Can you find the snail, the cow, a sheep, a butterfly, a bird, a bee and a police dog, a Yorkshire terrier and a Pug?

Winter's Tale

1. What makes this story a pop-up book?
   
   
2. What details do you like best?
   
   
3. What is important about the animals in this book?
   
   
4. Look for other books that have been written by Robert Sabuda and discover how he uses pop-up imagery to tell other stories.
   
   
5. With construction paper, scissors, and glue, try your hand at making a pop-up design.

The Snow Day

1. Have you ever had a snow day as does Little Bunny in this story?  How did you spend your time? What did you do?

2. Do you like to play in the snow?  Have you ever made footprints and tracks in the freshly fallen snow? Where did this take place?  How did the experience make you feel?

3. In this story, Little Bunny makes many things out of snow-----snow dumplings and snow monsters. What have you made out of snow? Discuss snowballs, snow angels, snowmen and snow forts. Did anyone help you?

4. THE SNOW DAY has been named one of the best-illustrated books for children in 2009 by the New York Times. What pictures do you like the most? Why?

The Goblin and the Empty Chair

1. Why is the family so sad?
   
   
2. Why does the Goblin help the family members?
   
   
3. Why does the family invite the Goblin into their home to dine with them?
   
   
4. What clues do the illustrations provide us to understand what is happening in the story?
   
   
5. Why is this story considered a fairytale?
   
   
6. Look for other books that have been written by Mem Fox and discover how they tell stories about families and other fairytale events.

Listen To The Wind

1. Have you ever listened to the wind as Dr. Greg did in this story? What did you hear----birds singing, traffic going by, children playing, a train passing, church bells, a screech owl or a baby crying?
   
   
2. Why do the children of Korphe make their own games and own toys? Have  you ever made up a game or created a toy. Please describe.
   
   
3. The children in this book live in Korhpe in the Baltistan region of Pakistan. Do you know what county, state and city you live in? Can you find it on a world map? Can you find Pakistan on a world map?

Niwechihaw or I Help

1. Kôkhom is the Cree word for Grandmother.  Research and learn how Grandmother is said in other languages.
   
   
2. What special activities do you do with your grandparents?
   
   
3. What are “rosehips”?
   
   
4. Write or tell a story about your favorite memory about your grandparents.
   
   
5. Create a scrapbook of special times spent with your grandmother or grandfather.
   
   
6. Ask your parents to tell you about a special memory they have about their grandparents.

The Lion and the Mouse

1. Study the front cover of this picture book. What is the Lion looking at out of the corner of his eyes? Look on the back cover.
   
   
2. The sounds in the book all relate to animal noises. Can you identify animals by the following sounds: whooo, screeeech, grrrrr, squeak, roaarrr? Can you find one sound in the book that is made by a piece of machinery rather than an animal?
   
   
3. Can you identify the animals in the picture on the front end papers? What is funny about the picture on the back end papers?
   
   
4. How are both the Lion and the Mouse heroes?

1. How would you describe a Mermaid?
   
   
2. What aspect of mermaids and creatures of the deep did you find most fascinating?
   
   
3. Draw a picture of what you would like to find in a Mermaid’s cave?
   
   
4. Create a diorama of an underwater village.
   
   
5. What story or vignette did you like best and why?

LIVING SUNLIGHT

1. In the beautiful two paged tableau showing the earth’s creatures eating plants can you find a monkey eating a fruit, a horse eating an apple, a crow eating a cherry, cows eating alfalfa, a chicken eating grapes, bunnies eating lettuce, a skunk eating a pumpkin, a goat eating flowers, a femur eating pears, a man collecting cherries, a girl gathering flowers, squirrels eating oranges, a beaver eating a watermelon, a snail eating lettuce, a man picking pineapples and a pig eating roots?

2. What kinds of plants do you eat? Discuss fruits, leaves, flowers and seeds.  Which is your favorite?

3. Discuss the process of photosynthesis as you learned about it in this book. Why is it called a circular process? How does the cycle keep going around?

THE GRAVES FAMILY

1. What are some of the unusual things about the Graves Family?

2. Why do people in the village fear them?

3. Mrs. Graves considers herself a gourmet cook.  What does that mean?

4. If you were a gourmet cook, what would you fix for a special dish?

5. Use your imagination and draw a picture of a haunted house and create a story to go along with it that uses humor as Patricia Polacco has done in her book, The Graves Family.

1. Gilbert and Sullivan were fine friends before their feud. Have you ever had a serious argument with a friend? What was it about? How was the problem solved?
   
   
2. This story takes place in the kingdom of Topsy-Turvydom. Why do you think it is called that? What do the words mean? Can you tell anything about this kingdom from the pictures?
   
   
3. Gilbert and Sullivan wrote plays with lots of music and lots of comedy called operettas.  Have you ever gone to the theatre? Have you ever seen a musical play of any type? Discuss your experience.

A GIFT

• Research the topic of the Chinese New Year.  What are some of the traditions associated with this celebration?
• What traditions are celebrated in your family?
• What is the importance of the Dragon in this story?
• Look at a map of China.  Can you find how far away it is from where you live?
• Amy’s uncle carved a dragon out of stone.  Research how carvings are done. 
• Amy and her mother receive a letter from their family in China. 
  Take time and write a letter to someone special in your life.

HAUNTED PARTY

• Can you tell by the pictures what the ghost served to eat at his party? Who is eating bacon and eggs? What are the gruesome goblins eating?
• Why are the monsters afraid of the cute kids?
•  What has been your favorite Halloween costume?
• The last illustrations show the ghost resting happily in a rocker. The cute kids’ trick or treat bags are strewn all over the ground. What do you think happened?

GEORGIA RISES

• Look at the artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe.  Which ones do you like best and why?
• Create a timeline of Georgie O’Keeffe’s life with its important events and dates.
• Look at a map of New Mexico and find out more about the area where Georgia O’Keeffe lived.
• Look at some of the artwork created by Georgia O’Keeffe when she lived in New Mexico.  Do you see any of the artifacts discussed in the book?
• Look up information about other famous American artists. 
• Each artist has his or her own special qualities related to their work.  What quality of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work is most interesting to you and why?

BIRDS

1. Why did the blackbirds fly away all at once and so suddenly? Did they hear a loud noise? Did they see someone coming toward the tree? What do you think? Have you ever seen a large flock of birds fly away all at once? Can you describe what you saw?
   
   
2. What ability does the little girl in the story have in common with the birds?
   
   
3. In the pictures what bird is the smallest and what bird is the largest?
   
   
4. Would you like to fly like a bird?  Why?

THE LION'S SHARE

• Create a cake out of construction paper and practice “halving” it  by cutting it into smaller sections as illustrated in THE LION’S SHARE.
• Create a diagram where you draw multiple cakes to represent the doubling of cake offers as illustrated in THE LION’S SHARE.
• Discuss the actions of the guests at Lion’s dinner party and identify which behaviors represent poor manners. 
• Describe a time when someone you know didn’t display good manners.
• Each animal guest has a favorite cake, discuss why the cake choice best represents each of them.
• If you were going to bake Lion your favorite cake, what would it be and why?

THE MITTEN

1.Have you ever stuffed so much into a sack, a bookbag, a basket or a toy chest that it broke? If so, discuss what happened. Did it rip, did the handles come off or did the zipper break?

2. If you were to put the animals in this story in order from the smallest to the largest what would the list look like? Why do you think it was the smallest animal that finally damaged the mitten?

3. Have you ever lost something that someone has made for you? What was it? Can you describe it? Did you ever find it?

4. All the animal in this story had cold toes! When you are out in the snow what part of your body gets very cold----hands, fingers, face , ears, feet or toes?

OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR

1. Name at least five other African Americans who have done great things in their field.

2. Who is the most important person in your life and why?

3. If you could do anything you wanted when you grow up, what would you do and why?

4. Ms. Cook has provided some  information about ten individuals in this book, who would you like to know more about and why?

5. There are several different illustrators featured in this book, find another book that one or more of them has illustrated and share that book with a parent or friend.

SUBWAY RIDE

1. Have you ever taken a subway ride? If so, what did you like about it the most?  What did you like about it the least? Can you describe your experience? Where were you going? How long did it take? Did you have to change trains to reach your destination?

2. In the book SUBWAY RIDE why were the children so happy? What did they see? What did they hear? How many cities did they pass through and what was their final destination?

3. On the first page of the book the children gather together in a subway to begin their trip around the world. Where do you think they are when they start? What could the five stairways mean?

4. How does the artist capture the feeling of the moving train in the illustrations? Do you have a favorite illustration? Why?

IN OUR MOTHERS’ HOUSE

• What do we mean by family traditions?
• Describe some traditions that your family shares at different times of the year.
• When the grandparents come to visit, the family gathers in the kitchen to cook special kinds of food.  What does your family or friends do when they visit you and your family?
• Ask your parents, grandparents where your ancestors were born and if there are any special cultural traditions that they remember.
• Create a scrap book of special family events and traditions that you want to remember when you are grown and have a family of your own.

MERMAID QUEEN

1.Discuss the double meaning of the first sentence of the book, “Annette Kellerman loved to make waves.”

2.How did the water make Annette feel? How does being in water make you feel?

3. What obstacles did  Annette  Kellerman  face as a woman athlete?        

4.  Would you call Annette Kellerman a pioneer? Why?

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS

1. Who is Langston Hughes and why was he an important poet?

2. Where would you find the following rivers?
• Euphrates
• Congo
• Nile
• Mississippi

3. What importance did rivers play in the lives of people?

4. Try your hand at writing a poem by describing a place that is special to you.

How I Learned Geography

1. Why did the father in this story buy a map instead of bread? What did he hope would happen? Did it happen?
2. How does the boy’s imagination rescue him? Do you know what the word imagination means? Describe your imagination.
3. How does the title relate to the story?
4. This book was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 2009 for its pictures. Do you like the illustrations? Which ones are your favorites?

The Storyteller's Candle

1. Who is Pura Belpré and why is she important?
2. What is special about the storyteller’s candle?
3. Why is it important to Hildimar’s family to celebrate Three Kings Day?
4. Do you have a favorite holiday celebration?  What makes it special?
5. Do you know where Puerto Rico is?  Take a few minutes and look at a map find out where Puerto Rico is located and learn about the climate, the people, and the traditions of Puerto Rico.
6. Do you know where New York City is?  What is different between Puerto Rico and New York City?
7. Do you have a favorite story that you can tell as a storyteller?

Hey Mama

1. How do Mothers help their son’s in this book?

2. Can you find the following things in the pictures:

• a grasshopper
• a rope
• a basket
• a cape
• a clock
• a cane
• a paintbrush

3. The final illustration is a group portrait of the boys after they grow up. Can you match each man with his boyhood picture? Study the faces, clothing and headgear.