Reading level and Leveling System:

Guided Reading: O

Lexile Measure: 450L

 

Tina loves her brand-new socks so much that she's never, ever going to take them off. But when her wonderful socks start to get smelly, her classmates must take action. For students to show comprehension of the story they can complete a true/false activity. The students will read the statements and decide if they are true or false based on the story. A fun science activity would be for students to sort items into a good or bad column based on the items smell/order. 

 

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park is a very engaging book for young readers where students can relate to the main character Junie B. Jones. Junie B. has her first day of Kindergarten and has to ride the school bus to school, which Junie B. does not enjoy.  At the end of the day, instead of going home on the bus, Junie B. hides in the school causing lots of chaos.  Junie B. eventually agrees to ride the school bus if she gets to be with a friend.  Julie B. Jones is very clever, but still has many lessons to learn.  This book would go well with teaching the importance of rules, especially those enforced at school.  Using Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, teachers could have students help make classroom rules and specifically point out dismissal rules at the end of the day.  The Fountas and Pinnell text level for Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus is Level M (Grades 3 and 4).  

Tina loves her new socks so much that she never wants to take them off! But, when her new socks get smelly, her friends must do something about it! This book is great for Kindergarten-2nd grade! Students could have an activity on problem and solution, characters, and setting. After, they could create their own new, smelly socks!

 

Lexile Level: 450L

Sigfried's Smelly Socks! - Len Foley Sigfried's Smelly Socks! is an illustration book for children that focuses on describing the smell of dirty socks at its fullest. Whilst I have mixed feelings as to how disgusting this subject is, I quite liked the bright-coloured illustrations.
I strongly believe that children are meant to love this book - it is full of wittiness and it made me giggle a few times, when the author describes how different coloured socks smell differently, and all so awful.

This book has a tendency to make you imagine the smells in your mind while reading and watching the illustrations. It can even make you feel like you could actually smell them in the room. Lovely description, though some parts might be too hard to be understood by the younger audience:

But nothing compares to the other smell that burns the hairs on my head.

While we discuss the subject of how the book focuses on dirty socks and some people might find it unbearable - I would point to the fact that this book is a perfect masterpiece in reminding the little cute monsters that they need to keep their socks (and their hygiene in general) neat and clean. It is a great moral and life lesson through a very funny story told by the silly Sigfried, who seems to notice all the rotten smells that surround him.

Lovely read, and a lovely told story in a witty way. This book deserved a 4 out of 5 stars , for the sole reason of this book maybe being too rich in the vocabulary for the audience it wants to reach.

Zombees (Smelly Monster Tales Book 3) - ... Zombees is the 3rd book in a series, but you don't need to read the other two to figure out what's going on. The Kindle edition is only 22 pages so it's a good sized read for a 5 year old. There are no pictures though, so it would be good to read it as playfully as possible to help keep their attention. There's lots of mentions of farts which should amuse plenty of kids. It definitely amused Miss L as we were reading it for review.

This was a fun book to read. There were only a few words that younger readers might not understand. And the mystery was easily solved (although how the bird seed also changed them into zombees versus regular bees is something you can debate with your kid). All in all, a pleasant little story.