Mini Lesson Ideas and Related Books
This web link will be updated periodically as new titles are
found or received. This link will only contain books used
effectively by teachers. We welcome your suggestions as you
find books that work for your students. Simply e-mail the title,
author and topic to
jkemp@mail.nspencer.k12.in.us
and it will appear within our list!
*Books most recently added will appear in bold.
Need something you couldn’t find? A Topic? A Book? Another idea?
Simply e-mail the above address and the search will begin!
Cause/Effect
• If you give a moose . .
mouse, etc by Numeroff
• Rain Came Down by
Shannon
Description
• A Quiet Place
• Alexander and the Terrible
by Viorst
• Big Bad Bruce by Peet
• Chester the Worldly Pig
• Ella Sarah Gets Dressed
• Fly’s Eyes
• Francine Francine, the Beach
Party Queen
• Gossip Times Three by Koss
• I was So Silly by Curtis
• Little Pig, Biddle Pig
• Mary Had a Little Ham
• Sierra by Siebert
• The Big Box
• The Cinder-eyed Cats
• The Hickory Chair by
Fraustino
• The Lorax
• The Loudest Roar
• The Pinkish Purplish, Bluish
Egg by Peet
• The Remarkable Farkle
McBride
• The Scrambled States of
America
• The Twits by Dahl
• The Way I Feel
• The Wump World by Peet
• Three Cheers for Tacky
• Water Dance
• Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
• Roxaboxen by McLerran
• The Boy who Cried
Fabulous by Newman
• High as a Hawk by Barron
• The Misfits by Howe
• The Seashore Book by
Zolotow
Ending
• Bark George by Feiffer
• Guess What? Mem Fox
• Mick Harte was Here by Park
• The Bear
Fluency
• Alexander and the terrible,
horrible, no good very bad
day by Viorst
• I love you as Much by Krauss
• If I were in Charge of the
World by Viorst
• Joyful Noise by Fleishman
• Slugs by Greenburg
• Wump World by Peet
• You Read to Me, I’ll Read to
You
• Three Nasty Gnarlies by
Graves
How-To
•
• Don’t Do That!
• Eloise’s Guide to Life
• Freckle Juice
• How to Be a Perfect Person
in Just Three Days by Manes
• How to be a Practically
Perfect Pig by Ward
• How to Eat Fried Worms by
Rockwell
• How to Fight a Girl
• If you were a Writer by
Nixon
• Substitue Teacher Plans
• The Way to Start a Day by
Baylor
Ideas
• A Writer’s Notebook by
Fletcher
• Amelia’s Notebook by Moss
• Bee Tree by Polacco
• Dear Mr. Blueberry by James
• Fables by Lovel
• Faithful Elephants by
Tsuchlya
• I Love you the Purplest by
Josse
• Important Book by Brown
• Letter from Felix by Langen
• Miss Rumphius by Cooney
• Mysteries of Harris Burdick
by Van Allsburg
• Thank you Mr. Falker by
Polacco
• The Kissing Hand by Penn
Leads
• A Series of Unfortunate
Events by Snicket
• Awful End by Ardagh
• Blister
• Desert Voices
• Fig Pudding
• Flying Solo
• Freak the Mighty by Philbrick
• Gossip Times Three by Koss
• Hiccup Sniccup by Long
• Hidden Talents by Lubar
• Holes by Sachar
• How I Spent my Summer
Vacation
• Humpty Dumpty Eggsplodes by O’Malley
• I, Freddy
• Judy Moody was in a Mood
by Mazer
• Maniac Magee by Spinelli
• Me and Charlie: Life as we
Know It
• Meanwhile by Feiffer
• Micke Harte was Here by
Park
• Nora and Mrs. Mind your
own Business
• Olive’s Ocean by Henkes
• Out of the Dust
• Pictures of Hollis Woods by
Giff
• Stay! Keeper’s Story
• The Amazing Days of Abby
Hayes
• The Mysteries of Harris
Burdick by Van Allsburg
• The Night I Followed my
Dog by Laden
• The Skin I’m In by Flake
• The True Story of the Three
Little Pigs
• The Web Files by Palatini
• Tough Cookie by Wisniewski
• United Tates of America
• What Jamie Saw by Coman
• When Zachary Beaver Came
to Town by Holt
• Wilma Unlimited by Krull
• Witness
• You Don’t Know Me by
Klass
• Your move, J.P.
• Mary had a Little Ham by
Palatini
• The Transmogrification of
Roscoe Wizzle by Elliott
• I, Jack by Finney
• Keeper of the Doves by
Betsy Byers
• Dear Dumb Diary by
Benton
• The Misfits by Howe
Letter Writing
• Dear Mr. Blueberry
• Dear Mr. Henshaw
• Dear Mrs. LaRue
• Dear Whiskers by Nagda
• Letters from a Nut by Nancy
• Letters from Camp by Klise
• Luv Amelia, Luv, Nadia
• Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers by
Winnick
• Regarding the Fountain by
Klise
• The Jolly Postman
• First Year Letters by
Danneberg
Narrative
• Any Patricia Polacco Book
• Baseball Saved Us by
Mochizuki
• Big Brother’s Flying Machine
– Wilbur, Orville, and Me
• Casey at Bat
• Dadako
• Freak the Mighty by Philbrick
• Going Home
• How I Spent my Summer
Vacation by Teague
• I was so Silly!
• Joe-Joe’s First Flight
• Judy Moody Gets Famous
• More than Anything Else
• More than Anything Else by
Bradby
• Mrs. Katz and Tush
• Niagra Falls, or Does It? By
Winkler
• Oh Boy, Amelia
• Peppe The Lamplighter
• Rose’s Journal
• Sweet Clara and the Freedom
Quilt
• The Big Lie by Pedersen
• The Hickory Chair by
Fraustino
• The Night I Followed the
Dog
• The Other Side
• The Raft
• Today was a Terrible Day
• What Hearts by Brooks
• Zachary’s Ball by Tavares
• Zoe Sophia’s Scrapbook
• The Transmogrification of
Roscoe Wizzle by Elliott
• Lizzy’s Ups and Downs by
Harper
• High as a Hawk by Barron
• Keeper of the Doves by
Betsy Byers
• The Misfits by Howe
Organization
• Bubba and Beau GO NightNight by Appelt – sequence
• Daily Life in a Covered
Wagon by Erickson
• If you give a Mouse a Cookie
by Numeroff
• Meanwhile by Feiffer
• On Call Back Mountain by
Bunting
• ReZoom by Banyai
• Tops and Bottoms by
Stevens
• Two Bad Ants by Van
Allsburg – Sequence
• Zoom by Banyai
Parts of Speech
• Onomatopoeia
o Crocodile Listens by
Sayre
• Alliteration
o Some Smug Slug by
Edwards
• Adjectives
o The Wump World by
Peet
o Many Luscious
Lollipops by Heller
o The Boy Who Cried
Fabulous by
Newman
o A Dark Dark Tale by
Brown
• Comparing with Adjectives
o Things that are Most
in the World
• Adverbs
o Fortunately by Charlip
• Limericks
o The Hopeful Trout by
Ciardi
• Similes
o Quick as a Cricket by
Wood
• Homophones/graphs
o A Chocolate Moose
for Dinner by Gwynne
o The King who Rained
by Gwynne
o A Little Pigeon Toad
by Gwynne
• Verbs
o Kites Sail High by
Heller
o Lizzy’s Ups and
Downs by Harper
• Nouns
o A Cache of Jewels by
Heller
• Metaphors
o Wonderful Words by
Hopkins
• Expressions
o There’s a Frog in My
Throat by
Leedy/Street
Persuasive
• Alexander, who Refused to
Move by Viorst
• Earrings by Viorst
Poetry
• A Grand Celebration –
Grandparents in Poetry
• Baseball Jokes and Riddles
• Bing Bang Bong
• If I were in Charge of the
World by Viorst
• Lots of Limericks
• Lunch Money and other
Poems about School
• Marvelous Math
• My Dog Ate my Homework
• My Dog is a Carrot
• No More Homework! No
More Tests!
• Sad Underwear and other
complications
• Silver Seeds
• Somewhere Today, A book
about Peace
• Sports! Sports! Sports!
• Time for Bed
• Spinning through the
Universe by Frost
Point of View/Perspective
• Apple Island by Evans
• Baseball Saved Us by
Mochizuki
• Cinderella’s Rat by
Meddaugh
• Define Normal by Peters
• Diary of a Worm by Cronin
• Faithful Elephants by
Tsuchiya
• Flipped by Drannen
• Hey World, Here I am by
Little
• Hey, Little Ant by Hoose
• My Secret Camera
• Mysteries of Harris Burdick
by Van Allsburg
• Red! An Adventure in Color
• Stay by Lowry
• Voices in the Park
• Witness by Hesse
• Zoom
• Spinning through the
Universe by Frost
• I, Jack by Finney
• Never Mind! By Avi
Sequence
• Bubba and Beau go NightNight by Appelt
• Meanwhile by Feiffer
• Two Bad Ants by Van
Allsburg
Setting
• My Rotten Redheaded Older
Brother by Polacco
• No Dogs Allowed by Cutler
• No Moon, No Milk by
Babcock
Story Elements
• A River Ran Wild
• Baseball Saved Us
• Dear Mrs. LaRue
• Faithful Elephants by
Tsuchlya
• Hey, Little Ant
• Hope for the Flowers
• More than Anything Else
• Pink and Say by Polacco
• The Butterfly by Polacco
• The Great Kapok Tree
• The Lorax by Bill Peet
• The Other Side
• The Worry Stone
• Wump World by Bill Peet
Voice
• Alexander . . Bad Day by
Viorst
• Alexander, Who’s Not Going
to Move by Viorst
• Bark George by Feiffer
• Cinderella’s Rat by
Meddaugh
• Earthlets by Willis
• Freak, The Mighty
• Hey World, Here I Am by
Little
• Holes by Sachar
• I’ll Fix Anthony by Viorst
• Judy Moody Books
• Julius, The Baby of the
World by Henkes
• Love that Dog by Creech
• Meet Danitra Brown by
Grimes
• Moonstruck by Choldneko
• Out of the Dust by Hesse
• Pictures of Hollis Woods by
Giff
• Rainbows, Head Lice and Pea
Green Tile by Bagert – For
Teachers
• Swamp Angel by Issacs
• The Amazing Days of Abby
Hayes
• The Goat in the Rug by
Blood
• The Night I followed my
Dog by Laden
• The Paper Bag Princess by
Munsch
• The Skin I’m In
• The Stories Julian Tells by
Cameron
• Tough Cookie
• Two by Two by Hewitt
• Wilma Unlimited by Krull
• Yo, Hungry Wolf by Lewin
• You Don’t Know Me
• Spinning through the
Universe by Frost
• Keeper of the Doves by
Betsy Byers
• Dear Dumb Diary by
Benton
Word Choice
• A Cache of Jewels by Heller
• Double Trouble in Walla
Walla by Clements
• Feeling Sorry for Ceila by
Moriarty
• Fighting Words by Merriam
• Hoops by Burleigh
• Some Smug Slug by Edwards
• Verdi by Cannon
• Wilma Unlimited by Krull
• Yo, Hungry Wolf by Lewin
• You Read to Me, I’ll Read to
You by Hoberman
• Mary had a Little Ham by
Palatini
• Roxaboxen by McLerran
• I, Jack by Finney
• Hot Day by English
• The Boy Who Cried
Fabulous by Newman
• High as a Hawk by Barron
• Hoops by Burleigh
• There’s a Frog in my
Throat by Leedy/Street