It's happened in my library. A student puts down a book to look at something and when he or she returns someone else is reading that book. Generally these moments are handled more calmly than in Give Me Back My Book! by Travis Foster and Ethan Long, but the attachment to the reading material is the same.
Told in dialogue with plenty of white space, this book places the focus where it should be -- on its main characters and that very special green book. Expressive faces and body language leave no doubt exactly how these two are feeling at any given time in the story. I loved partially acting out the story as I read. How could I not point dramatically down at the pages, make fiendish faces or shake my arms? See for yourself.
In Give Me Back My Book!, Bloo happens upon Redd, who is reading a green book, the green book that Bloo thinks he had been reading.
Redd, on the other hand, is convinced that this green book is very unique and unlike the one Bloo was reading.
The first and second graders that I read this book with immediately understood the humor of Redd describing his unique book followed by Bloo's response.
This library teacher appreciated the opportunity to talk about using bookmarks.
A bookworm (another great moment of fun with the students) takes advantage of the friend's disagreement and soon these two book lovers are working together to get back that green book.
Students easily understood how these two were feeling. Look at those fiendish expressions above!
Book lovers become friends and that beloved green book becomes a shared treasure. (Don't worry about that bookworm, things work out for her as well.)
After students shared what they loved about the book, I held it up on my lap and slowly slid the cover off.
Audible gasps were heard along with a sense of wondering if this was THE green book. Very clever, book designers, very clever.
Did my students have a book they loved as much as Bloo and Redd loved their green book?
I think so! The students used the prompt to share an experience from their summer reading: something interesting they learned; someone interesting they met; or, somewhere interesting they traveled.
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