Reading Selections for Monday, July 12

A good group of books today that seemed to be roundly enjoyed by about 20 different kids today.

1. Tuff Fluff by Scott Nash.  A fun silly detective story about the missing brain of a stuffed duck and the stuffed rabbit detective.  Bright colorful pictures.  The story is actually a chapter book with several short chapters (2-4 pages).
2. Serious Trouble by Arthur Howard.  I had read this book several times last year while substituting and usually had good luck with it.  It is the story of a young prince who would rather be a court jester who is forced to save the kingdom from an indecisive three-headed dragon.  A good book for class clowns.
3. Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen.  This is a dorky story about Mr. Magee and his dog getting into trouble while out for a boat ride.  Despite its dorkiness I really enjoyed reading it because of its creative rhyming.  The book has such a fantastic rhythm.  The rhythm was so good that I had trouble turning it off during the rest of the books that I read today. 
4. Country Kid, City Kid by Julie Cummins. A cute book about the differences between a city kid and a country kid (as a former country kid myself I did find the book to be quite stereotypical).  In the end the two "different" kids meet at camp and become best friends.
5. My Chair by Betsy James, illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma.  As stated before I really liked this book.  Unfortunately I think much of it was lost on the kids in my reading corner.  This would probably be a better read aloud book with just one or two kids.

Despite its true dorkiness, my top pick for the day would be Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee because it is such a fun book to read out loud.