Allison Wonderland

The Lion and the Mouse Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney Picture book Genre: Fiction Award: The Caldecott Medal Grade: Kindergarten and up This is a wordless adaptation of Aesop’s fable The Lion and the Mouse. It is a story about a mouse who is running away from an owl and it encountered a lion. The lion saved the mouse and let it go back to its babies. One day, there are humans who brought ropes for capturing animals. The humans set it up secretly and the ropes are hidden pretty well for the animals to not see. The lion ended up falling for it and was caught by the rope. The lion got captured and made a loud noise. The mouse heard it and came to rescue the lion. The mouse nibbled and tear the rope so the lion will be set free. The lion fell to the ground and was set free by the little mouse. And they all lived happy in the end. This is a great picture book because due to its illustration, words do not need to be added. It was very well drawn that readers can understan...

The Polar Express Author/Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg Audio book by: Liam Neeson Time: 16 minutes and 36 seconds Genre: Fantasy Fiction Book Award: The Caldecott Medal  Grade:   Kindergarten and up The audio starts with the introduction of the title and the authors name, Chris Van Allsburg. It starts off with a peaceful classic music. The story is about a boy getting on a train while he was looking out the window on Christmas Eve. The train is called the Polar Express, and it is heading to the North Pole. As soon as the Polar Express reached the North Pole, the kids got out and saw Santa himself. Santa picked the boy and asked him what he wants for Christmas. He wanted one of the silver bells from Santa’s sleigh. Santa gave him the silver bell and declared it the first gift of Christmas. Later on when they got back to the train, the boy got all sad because he lost the silver bell due to a hole on his pocket. He then got dropped off and the next day is Ch...

Smoky Night Author: Eve Bunting Illustrator: David Diaz Genre: Historical Fiction Award: The Caldecott Medal Grade: 1st grade and up This is a story about a boy named Daniel and his mother who lives in an apartment. As they are about to sleep, there are a bunch of noises outside. People are stealing from Mrs. Kim’s store and people are rioting along the streets. They do not go to Mrs. Kim’s store because her mother prefers to buy from their own kind of people. Daniel explained how Mrs. Kim’s cat does not get along well with his cat. There’s a fire in their apartment and they are moved in a church shelter, but Daniel’s really worried about his cat. Once they are all settled in the church hall, the firefighter came and brought two cats. One of them is the Daniel’s and the other is Mrs. Kim’s. The little boy asked where the cats were and the firefighter said they were together underneath the stares. The boy was shocked because he thought the two cats do not get along we...