Schneider Family Book Award

Lyon, G. E., and L. Avril. The pirate of kindergarten. New York: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2011. Print.

Genre - Fiction  - Realistic Fiction

Ginny sees everything in double-vision and thinks that is normal until her vision screening. Her doctor prescribes glasses, exercises, and a patch! Ginny becomes the Kindergarten Pirate who can see things correctly!

This book should be shared, in whole group, at the beginning of school to discuss acceptance of people’s differences and compassion for others.

Immediately, I thought my class would enjoy this book because pirates are so popular right now. Once I read the book, I thought my students would still enjoy the book because the illustrations are colorful and Ginny is a typical student who is easy to relate to.

After reading this with my class, I would try to supply pirate patches for my class. How does the patch affect your sight? How would you function if your vision was obscured? We would continue the lesson with a discussion about disabilities.

Seeger, P., & Jacobs, P. (2006). The deaf musicians. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Genre - Fiction  - Realistic Fiction

Lee plays with a jazz band every night until he loses his hearing. After he learns sign language, he gradually creates a new kind of band, made entirely of deaf musicians.

The musical and rhythmic language in this book is engaging and interesting.

Keeping the lyrical language in mind, I would be sure to use this during story time. 

Because this book uses so much onomatopoeia, I would reinforce this by having students brainstorm other onomatopoeia phrases for inanimate objects.

Parker, R. (2008). Piano starts here: the young art tatum. Random House, Inc.

Genre - Non-Fiction - Biography

Art Tatum, who was born with limited vision that continued to worsen, became a famous piano player despite his vision difficulties.

Parker uses vivid language to describe Tatum’s environment. His descriptive language adds to the visualization of Tatum’s world and experiences.

I would use this book with older students during a large group lesson about visualization. I would first read several pages to my students who cannot see the illustrations. Then, I would ask them to sketch out the scene/experience described in the book. When completed, we would compare the students’ sketchbooks to the actual book illustrations.

Schneider Family Book Award