Every Friday by Dan Yaccarino

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I stumbled upon this book while looking for memoirs. Although I don’t think this is a memoir, it is a great personal narrative. In the book, a boy and his father spend every Friday going to breakfast together. The story focuses on their walk to the diner and the people that they see along the way. It is a fantastic book for pointing out how to zoom in on a moment and describe the things that are important.

It can also be a great way to help students brainstorm family traditions or rituals that they have that can become a story. 

Guys Read: Funny Business edited by Jon Scieszka

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Jon Scieszka is always putting together great collections to help promote reading among boys. This book is no exception. The stories will capture the interest of any boy who reads them. The stories are each written by several different authors and each one easily holds the interest of the reader. There are several different kind of stories, some realistic, some fantastical, but all entertaining to those who read them.

Blackout

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With such busy lives, it is easy to forget that spending time together as a family is so important. In John Rocco’s book, Blackout, he shows how a child is trying to get the family’s attention to play a board game. When everyone says that they are too busy to play, the child dejectedly walks back upstairs to play video games, alone.

When the city experiences a summer blackout, all the neighbors come outside to visit and stay cool. When the lights finally come back on, everyone begins to return to their normal routine. But as the author states, “Not everyone likes normal.” Soon the family is back playing another game.

The illustrations are fantastic. There are many small details that might be missed if you don’t look carefully. This book could be used to model ellipses. There are several pages where an ellipsis is used . . . correctly.