Top Grade: K-8 selections, Spring 2015
Created by Top Grade on March 9, 2015
Look Where We Live!
In this engaging nonfiction picture book, five young friends --- Nick, Yulee, Pedro, Sally and Martin --- spend the day traveling around their neighborhood and participating in activities designed to raise money for their local library. Along the way, they learn about the people and places that make up their community and what it means to be a part of one. A map opens the story, with each of the places the children will be visiting labeled, including the gas station, retirement home, school, pol …
Rosie and Rolland in the Legendary Show-and-Tell
When Rosie is finally picked for show-and-tell at school, she worries she has nothing special to share — until she and her canine companion, Rolland, discover a strange map. They follow it from its starting point in her adventurer grandfather’s study through to a mysterious jungle kingdom, where a secret pyramid houses a monkey king. In his hands is the perfect item to bring to show-and-tell, if Rosie can defend it from bully Freddy Jones.
This classically told adventure story is full of pe …
Rosie thought it would take forever for Ms. Fairfax to pick her. Tomorrow was Friday. And like every Friday, it was show and tell day. Maybe this would be the day.
“You’ll get your chance sometime soon,” her Grandpa had said as he helped her with her bag that morning.
And so Rosie sat up straight and tall, hoping that her teacher would notice her.
Other kids waved their hands or said “Me, me! Pick me!” Freddy Jones jumped up, just like he did every week. But Ms. Fairfax had always told them settle down and sit nicely, so that’s what Rosie did. But her stomach bubbled inside of her, like Grandpa’s kettle.
Finally, Ms. Fairfax spoke. “Alright, Janice. Can you bring in something special to show the class next week?”
Freddy piped up quickly. “But Ms., she’s already brought something!” He just wants to go next, Rosie thought.
“Oh, that’s right.” Ms. Fairfax said. “Okay Freddy, you can bring in something tomorrow..."
She looked around the room. “And Rosie! Can you also bring something?” Rosie breathed out finally.
“Thank you!”
Sidewalk Flowers
Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustrated Book
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year
In this wordless picture book, a little girl collects wildflowers while her distracted father pays her little attention. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter.
“Written” by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, Sidewal …
The Old Ways
Simon enjoys school, TV, pizza, and video games. So when his grandmother tells legends of the sea goddess, Sedna, and his grandfather invites him to build an igloo, Simon's heart sinks.
"Sorry Ananaksaq, my show is on. Sorry, Ataatga, maybe another time," he responds.
Secretly he thinks his grandparents are stuck in their old ways. Secretly his grandparents hide their disappointment and wait for "another time."
Soon enough, that other times comes. When he and his grandparents prepare to visi …
Charlie's Dirt Day
Charlie learned about the life cycle of butterflies in Bye Bye Butterflies and now is back for another Tell Me More Storybook adventure.
When Charlie and his dad follow a parade of their neighbours through the local park they discover everyone is walking towards a big pile of dirt!
But this isn't just any pile of dirt - this is compost. Charlie learns from his neighbors about the gardens they have and the delicious vegetables they grow in them. Mr Martino is growing tomatoes while Mrs Lee has oni …
A Brush Full of Colour
The true story of how a boy's passion for learning saved him from a life in England's coal mines and led him to a career as an internationally acclaimed artist and illustrator, famed for his images of Canada's north. Includes full-colour reproductions of Ted Harrison's art and a preface by the artist himself.
Ted Harrison’s (1926–2015) brightly coloured and wildly imaginative paintings set in the Yukon have become synonymous with the North. His instantly-recognizable images of the land of the …
Fishermen Through and Through
Peter, Santiago and Ahab are fishermen through and through. The sea is the place where they spend their lives. Still, they have dreams of other places and when the sea is gentle the fishermen talk of those fantasies — of sand dunes and camels, of hot-air balloons high up in the clouds, of fields full of rainbow-coloured tulips.
On one of those dreamy days the fishermen make an extra special catch — a lobster as white as the clouds of Santiago's daydreams. Never before have they seen anythin …
Hungry for Math
Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming team up again for another poetry collection for young readers with the emphasis on math concepts including measuring time, patterns, counting, symmetry, numbers, shapes, estimating and more!
He was hungry for math, always ready to munch.
Math for his breakfast, math for his lunch.He'd pig out on pie charts and bar graphs galore,binge on skip-counting, and still ask for more.Shapes — he discovered — were less filling fare.He'd taste test a rhombus, …
