The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister is the Timeless Thursday choice this week. In looking over some information for this book, I discovered that it was originally published in Switzerland! It was published in the United States by North-South Books just under 20 years ago. Can you believe it? The Rainbow Fish is almost 20 years old. When I saw a copy of the board book this past week, I couldn’t believe that it was so old–that’s what made me think it would be a good Timeless Thursday pick since children are still enjoying it today.

If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s a about a little fish who is just absolutely beautiful on the outside with sparkly scales. But he’s not such a nice little fish and is actually pretty greedy. Another fish comes up to the rainbow fish and asks him to share one of his sparkly scales, but the rainbow fish is like, “NO WAY. I’M NOT SHARING.” (If you are around any preschoolers, this might sound familiar to you.) Rainbow fish soon finds out that in order to have friends, he has to share; and so he gives away his sparkly scales–keeping one for himself. Since he shared, he now has friends. Oh, and the sea is much more sparkly!

Besides the first book by Marcus Pfister, there are some rainbow fish sequels such as Rainbow Fish Finds His Way or Rainbow Fish Counting and much more. The reason why the rainbow fish is still around, and he has all these sequels is because the concepts in the stories are things that young children are dealing with on a daily basis. They can learn about their world and how to deal with problems through the rainbow fish’s world. When you finish reading this cute book with great illustrations, then talk with children about sharing and friendship, using the fish as an example.

Do your kids or students love The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister?

In case you missed it, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst was made into a 30-minute animated musical in 1990. I bought this from Scholastic Book Clubs when I was an elementary classroom teacher, and I used to show it to my third grade class. They loved it because they loved the book. I’m not sure if it’s a great animated special or not–but if you are a fan of the book, you will like this special. Of course, there are some differences, and students and children can find these and use a Venn Diagram to chart them. You can probably still find this video at your public library.

This book can be used in so many ways in the classroom and with home school children. Kids can repeat the phrase “terrible, horrible, no good very bad day” each time it is read. They can make personal connections between their own bad days and Alexander’s. You can discuss with them about how moving away to somewhere like Australia won’t solve their problems and then brainstorm some ways to solve some of Alexander’s problems. Children can also write their own version of this book and title it something like: Margo and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the book from Amazon.com Review:
“Millions of Cats is a wonderful tale of vanity versus humility, written and illustrated by the singular Wanda Gag. An old man and his wife decide to get a cat, so the old man goes out in search of the prettiest cat of all. When he is forced to choose from “hundreds, thousands, millions and billions and trillions” of cats, he (naturally) brings them all home. When the wife points out their inability to support the legion of felines, it is left to the cats to decide who among them is the prettiest. Anyone who has ever owned more than a single cat can tell you what happens next.

Gag’s simple, appealing black ink drawings are perfect for the story, somehow capturing at least the idea of millions of cats in a single page. Repeated lines and the sing-song title refrain make this a read-aloud natural.(Ages 4 to 8)”

Millions of Cats won a Newbery Honor award in 1929; and according to Wikipedia (so check your sources), it is the oldest picture book still in print.

This book can really get you and your students (or children) thinking. You can ask several questions such as: “What does it mean to be the prettiest?” “Who should decide who is the prettiest?” “Is being the prettiest most important?” “What can be more important than being pretty?” The end of the book is wonderful when the old man and woman find a skinny cat that survived because it didn’t consider itself pretty. Discuss with children why this cat survives, why the man and woman take it back in, and what happens to the cat with some love.

In a world where children are often exposed to the over-importance of material objects and beauty in the media, Millions of Cats, from 1929, reminds us what is really important. It’s great to read a book that can do that!

Take It’s Not the End of the World. The major problem in this book is that Karen’s parents are going to get divorced. And Karen thinks that it’s her fault. How many tweens and teens are going through this kind of thing right now? Too many to count, unfortunately. And so many kids are racing around trying to fix problems and acting almost out of their heads because they think that their actions will stop the divorce or even get their parents back together. Karen does that in this book. When you read It’s Not the End of the World, Judy Blume reminds us how scary divorce is for everyone and how people may not act like themselves during this time.

In 2010 and beyond, parents, teachers, and kids can read this book, which was published the first time in 1972, and use it as a starting point for a discussion about all the feelings, problems, and issues that surround divorce. Even if a child is not going through a divorce herself, she probably knows a friend or another family member that is. Judy Blume’s books can bring fears and questions to the surface, so adults can deal with them honestly and effectively.

Making personal connections to books is one of the best comprehension strategies that we can teach our kids. If we teach them to put themselves into books or find characters to relate to, then we are helping their reading skills. However, when we are dealing with books like this with a serious issue, we are also helping them deal and cope with life problems–which is just as important.

Do you have a favorite Judy Blume book?

Let’s hope that while we are reading about this fantastic-Caldecott-Medal-winning book, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats that it is not snowing anywhere where you are reading this post. It’s spring or fall–wherever you are in the world, right? But still The Snowy Day is a timeless classic, and preschool and elementary school-aged children have been enjoying it since 1962. I remember reading this book at the library when I was young and re-reading and re-reading.

Why is The Snowy Day so special? Peter is the every-child. You’ve heard of the every-man, well, to me Peter represents what we all like to do as children–play in that newly fallen snow! How many of us have made tracks and snow angels, built a snowman, and tried to save the snow in our pockets? I bet everyone reading this is now raising their hands. If you don’t remember playing in the snow but you are a parent, then I bet you have watched your own children or grandchildren do exactly what Peter does in this book–especially this last winter since some places got SO MUCH SNOW! If you were one of those unlucky kids who grew up in a warm climate, then I bet you still loved The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats because you could imagine being right there with Peter and playing in the snow when you read that book.

If it snows, why not read The Snowy Day outside to your class or your children and have them do the same things that Peter does (although we do have to be careful with the sticks!)? Children can also be inspired by this book to write their own stories about playing in the snow–either fiction or non-fiction–it doesn’t matter. You can also use this book in a study of Caldecott Medal winners and show students how illustration styles have changed over the years and talk about why The Snowy Day might have won the year it did. Can students create their own snowy scenes in the same style as Ezra Jack Keats?

No matter what you decide to do with this timeless picture book, just don’t do a snow dance. Here in the Midwest anyway, we are finished with snow–I hope! Enjoy Ezra Jack Keats at her finest, and explore a snowy day with Peter.

Many children and tweens are familiar with Bridge to Terabithia because of the 2007 movie, starring Josh Hutcherson and Anna Sophia Robb. But this story is definitely a Timeless Thursday choice because the book has been around since 1977. And like many good books that stick around, people challenged it and tried to ban it and said it was not good for children to read. These challenges probably made even more parents, children, teachers, and librarians read it and helped it get made into a movie.

So, what’s the controversy? In 2002, Paterson was interviewed and had this to say about why her book has been challenged or banned in the past: “Initially, it was challenged because it deals with a boy who lives in rural Virginia, and he uses the word ‘Lord’ a lot, and it’s not in prayer. Then there are more complicated reasons. The children build an imaginary kingdom, and there was the feeling that I was promoting the religion of secular humanism, and then New Age religion.” (Source: http://news.bookweb.org/freeexpression/677.html) Or how about because the book has to deal with a very difficult subject that children have to deal with all the time in real life–death? My goodness, we wouldn’t want to give them anything to read to help them deal with difficult issues, now, would we? (Note: sarcasm here.)

If you are not familiar with the story, it’s about two fifth-graders, Jess (a boy) and Leslie (a girl), who become friends in spite of the fact that Leslie beats him in a race. Leslie draws Jess into her world of imagination–Terabithia–where they are the rulers among the forest plants and creatures, and they are safe from bullies and other problems in the mundane world. It’s a story of friendship and courage. It has tragedy–so be prepared to have your tissue box nearby.

This book has been shared in classrooms for years. Now, you can even do the book/movie comparison activity, and children can see first hand how books are always better than the movies. (Right?) They can also look for similarities and differences between the two different forms, and they can discuss why changes were made for the movie. Were these changes necessary to create a good movie? In these discussions about Bridge to Terabithia, serious themes may come up and take time to address them with students or your children. Allow them time to write or draw in their journals before and after discussions.

Is Bridge to Terabithia one of your timeless favorites?