With this books reading level at grades preK through kindergarten, this book is targeted for starting readers. This book is about a young raccoon starting the first day of school, but he does not want to go. Mother Raccoon is concerned and teaches the young raccoon a secret for when his outside world gets a little scary. Your students will love this heartwarming classic.  

     A great way to use this book is starting a new school year. The students listen to the story, create a handprint craft, and practice retelling the story.

On the first day of school, new students are asked to tell what they want to happen during this school year! Some answers are reasonable, while others are crazy! Kindergarten-2nd grade would enjoy reading this book during the first few days of school. As a teacher, it is a good idea to ask the students to set goals for the year, so this would be a great way to introduce goal setting.

Lexile Level: 440L

Another funny book about the Herdman clan!  I would use this book at the beginning of the year as a model for what not to do in the classroom.  As the students read about the Herdman's antics, allow them to create what they believe would be important classroom rules for your classroom.  This is something teachers will normally do anyway, but with the text, literacy could be incorporated.

I've been reading most of this aloud to the 4th grade class i'm working in. (Speaking of which, there's one 4th-grader reading The Fault in Our Stars . Isn't she a little young for that?)

I'm not really a fan of it. There are some funny moments. I don't really like the way it's written. There's basically one adventure per chapter and with multiple flashbacks, it seems disjointed. The name of the narrator is only in the first and last chapters, so you kind of forget who she is. Besides that, it's just not my kind of story.

*Review written on November 5, 2014.*