Wanted: The Perfect Pet is a book written and illustrated by Fiona Robinson. It is the story about a boy wanting to have a dog, even though he had more than 25 different species of frogs, At the same time, a duck with no friends wants to have a friend, and saw the ad for a pet. So he disguised himself as a dog and goes to the house. After playing a bit with his “owner,” his disguise’s ears fell off. The duck revealed himself as a duck and was accepted into the family due to not doing as many troublesome things as dogs. The first connection I can make is a text-to-text because in another book I read, it had the same plot as this one. Person wants pet and animal wants friend so animal disguises itself as the animal the person wants, eventually is revealed and is accepted. The second connection is text-to-media. Many stray cats and dogs are being accepted into houses after getting shots so that they don’t have any diseases that could be troublesome, I know about this because some people post it online. The third connection is text-to-others because homeless people are getting helped, the same as homeless animals. I can’t make a text-to-self connection to this book. All in all, I believe that this was an amazing book to teach kids to not be greedy and just accept what you have.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a picture book biography on William Kamkwamba written by Bryan Mealer and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon for 3-5 year olds. It is a biography about the life of William Kamkwamba. Starting when a major drought hit Africa. There was no rainfall to shield the crops from the oppressive sun, and so the crops eventually died. Along with the disappearance of crops, came the disappearance of money. Many families had to pull kids out of school because they could no longer afford to send William to school. Eventually, William remembered there was a library and read science books and came across a windmill picture and found out it can be used to make electricity and drain water from the ground. William went to the junkyard, found the parts and constructed a windmill to power the town with two friends. I can make a text-to-self connection because I’m getting help from my siblings and parents when needing help with something related to school. I can also make a text-to-media connection because many people can’t do anything without the help of a few friends. I can make a text-to-text connection because in a sci-fi book I read, someone invented hovertech with two friends. The last connection I can make is text-to-other connection. Many people would have failed without the help of at least one friend or family member, no matter who they are. All in all, I believe that The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an amazing picture book to teach young kids to not be restrained by what your community thinks of you.

After the fall:How Humpty Dumpty got back up again is a book written and illustrated by Dan Sanat for 3-5 year olds. It is a book about the famous egg named Humpty Dumpty and his fall. This book describes the details that came from after this event. One of them, is a severe case of acrophobia. I can make a text-to-world connection because many phobias come from after someone had an accident with something. For example, if you got bit by a spider and nearly died, you could’ve developed arachnophobia. After this, Humpty Dumpty wanted to see the birds but was too scared to climb the wall, so he just watched from the floor. I can make a text-to-media connection because I have read about many people having phobias get in the way of something they enjoy, so they settle for where they can go without going out of their comfort zone. After humpty dumpty got bored he made a paper airplane. I can make a text-to-self connection because I had gotten bored before so I made a paper airplane. Humpty Dumpty was proud of the paper airplane, but when flying it, it got stuck on the top of the wall. Before he could walk away, he decided to face his fears and climb the wall. He was very scared when climbing the wall, but eventually overcame his fear when he got to the top. I can make a text-to-other connection because while many people have phobias, many people are also overcoming their phobias just as Humpty Dumpty did.All in all, I believe that the moral of this story is to not let phobias get in the way of things you enjoy, and Dan Sanat did a good job describing this tale.

The Noisy Paint Box, The Colors and sounds of Kondinsky’s Abstract is a book written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Mary Grandpre for 3-5 year olds. It is a book about one of the earliest abstract artists who started being an artist, all because of a noisy paint box. It started with hearing a sound that nobody else could hear. From that, Wassily painted something abstract. From that, he went to an art school. After that, Wassily got a law degree and tried to live his life. However, the paintbox was too noisy for him to ignore. After that, he painted a bit more and quit his job to go study with an artist. After the art teachers questioned what it was, Wassily returned to drawing houses and flowers. After a meeting with his artist friends, he made a piece of art that was the embodiment of a feeling. When Wassily got enough confidence, he published it to the world. After a bit of discussion, they understood that there was no actual main focus of the painting. Abstract art was born. I can make a text-to-text connection because it is believed that Wassily Kodinsky had Sinisethia, and that is how he could hear paint, and the protaginest in another story also had Sinisethia, which made for it to be an interesting story. Another connection I can make is text-to-world because many people have mental disabilities and mutations. The third connection I can make is text-to-media  because I have read many different posts and blogs about people that have disabilities. The final connection I can make is text-to-self. I can make a text-to-self connection because while many people believe they have no disabilities, but everyone has a disability of some kind. Most are just minor. All in all, I believe that The Noisy Paintbox is a good book about how abstract art came to be.

There is a book written and illustrated by Marie-Lousie Futzoatruck for 2-5 year olds. There is a book written about someone who represents everyone and themselves questioning abilities. Such as “There is a jungle, will I get through?” I believe the metaphorical “jungle” is the education system, being sometimes difficult to get through, as you don’t always know where you are going in the education system. You will either get through the school system and live a successful life, or you will fail and get trapped in the jungle, not being able to get through. I can make a text-to-world connection because this “jungle” and either the failure or success of getting through the school system. I can also make a text-to-media connection because the main character that is supposed to represent everyone walks around, wondering how the world will change in the future. This happened to people a century ago who didn’t have any electronics, and here we are today, typing on computers to post on a website. I can make a text-to-self connection because sometimes there are hard parts, just like the “jungle,” but if you get through it, you will have an easier time later in life. The final connection I can make is text-to-text. Many people have been curious as to how the future will be like, and the same can be said about the main character in the book. We never know how the future will be like, but we can dream and hope that it turns out for the better. All in all, this is a very philisophical book, that really makes you think about many things, such as the future.

Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa is a book for 3-5 year olds about standing up for the environment. Wangari did chores, as well as doing well at school. She went to a college in America, and when she returned, her forest was missing quite a few trees. Wangari planted nine trees to start with, and eventually spread out the movement. She gave the seedlings of trees to other women who planted them into rows of trees, thus starting the greenbelt movement. Wangari pays the women who have trees still existing after three months some money, the first they made. Eventually, the movement spread to women in other villages. Though they were planting trees, the government continued cutting down trees. When she protested to the government, she got imprisoned. Though she was imprisoned, the movement didn’t die. Thousands of women continued to plant trees in longer and longer rows.”The seedlings take root and grow tall–until there are over 30 million trees where there were none.” The women in the villages didn’t have to walk so far to get firewood. After the trees returned, they could grow food easier. I can make a text-to-world connection because this book describes how one person can start a movement to change the world. Another connection I can make is text-to-text because I read something about residential schools, and the exact same thing happened there as here. However in Kenya they could fix the problem. Whereas with residential schools, they couldn’t fix it easily. I can also make a text-to-media connection because I am aware that deforestation is happening around the world quite a lot, especially in Kenya, but there are people there fighting the deforestation there. The final connection I can make is a text-to-self connection. I try my best to interact with nature. All in all, this is an inspirational story about teaching young kids to stand up for what they believe in.

The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau is a book written  and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino for 10-12 year olds. Jacques was a weak French boy when he was born. He bought a camera and made some movies, then took it apart to see how it worked. When he was a young man, Jacques got into a car accident. When he was told he needed to wear arm braces for the rest of his life, he turned to the sea for strength like he always did. While working with an engineering friend, they made an invention named the “Aqualung.” Jacques bought a boat and turned it into his ocean-borne laboratory. Jacques wanted to show what he saw to the world, and eventually found a way to have a camera working underwater. People were happy with his show, and wanted to see more. So Jacques made more, and used the money from the show to build vehicles to go deeper. He worked on colonizing the ocean, but was proven to not work because humans need sunlight to survive. I can make a text-to-world connection to this book because some people have big ambitions, and are willing to do anything to get there. The lightbulb is a good example of this. When Jaques returned to the mediterranean sea, it was polluted, He started a foundation that worked to teach people about the seas, and to help preserve them. I can make a text-to-self connection because they like the ocean, and so do I. I can also make  text-to-media and text-to-self connections because I have read some books and articles about trying to preserve ocean life.All in all, The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau is an amazing autobiography about an interesting person.

Enemy Pie is a book written by Derek Munson and Illustrated by Tara Calahan King for 2-5 year olds. Enemy Pie is a book that teaches young kids to not judge people based on how they look, but who they are. This book also teaches kids that sometimes to make an enemy a friend. One example that you can make an enemy a friend is one of my friends. They will remain anonymous, but in one grade, they were my enemy and fast forward some years and he is now my friend. An example of not judging people before you get to know them is most enemies. Most enemies are made because people judge them before you actually know them. All in all, Enemy Pie has many connections to the real world.

The Sir Circumference and the Dragon of Pie: A Math Invention is a book written by Cindy Neuschwander and illustrated by Wayne Geehan for 3-5 year olds. It is a book about Sir Circumference getting a stomach ache and turning into a dragon from a wrong potion that his son Radius gave him. Radius went to get help, but the dragon was spotted by the guards on watch and alerted the town. Radius alerted his mother that he gave his dad the wrong potion, and tried to find a recipe to solve it. After getting a random poem, he went around the castle and tried to find out what it meant. After visiting a few people he understood. After he told his mother what he understood, he was going to make the medicine. While radius was making the medicine he fell asleep. He woke a short bit before the knights would be moving to slay the dragon. Radius and his mother worked to solve the “dragon” problem. When radius’ medicine worked, Radius was lifted onto the knights shoulders. All in all, this story shows kids to do a job well, and not rush to get something because something bad could happen.

My sixth act of kindness was helping my mother go through my old clothes and toys to donate to Big Brothers and Sisters organization. This is a project that my family has supported for a long time, and so we all look through clothes and other items we no longer use so we can donate them. This act of kindness is important to me because it prevents old items being tossed into the garbage, which is bad for the planet, but it can be used by someone else and the money made from it to help an organization that helps other kids. This made me feel satisfied that I was helping others as well as making less waste in the world. While the kids who benefit from this act don’t know me, I am sure they are happy that they get support from Big Brothers and Sisters and that there are people in the community who want to help them.