Kaytee Keefe

This book is a very simple and silly read about a zookeeper closing his zoo for the night. When he says goodnight to the gorilla, the gorilla steals the zookeeper’s keys and unlocks himself and the rest of the animals. The animals all follow the zookeeper home and to bed, but are eventually caught and taken back to the zoo.

This book can be used in the classroom for teaching students about how illustrations help to tell a story. Without the illustrations, the reader would not be able to know much about what’s going on in this story.

• Lexile Measure:BR

I loved reading this and getting to follow Pete the Cat as his shoes changed colors. Even though Pete loved his white shoes, he didn’t get upset when he stepped in the strawberries, blueberries, mud, or water. He couldn’t do much to change the color of his shoes, so he changed his attitude about them instead. I love Pete’s positivity!

This book could be used in the classroom for sequencing; students could sequence the the things that Pete stepped in throughout the story.

AD240L - Lexile Measure

In this book, you get to see the story of the three little pigs from the wolf's perspective. The wolf claims that all he needed was a cup of sugar, so he went to ask each of the pigs if they had any. When he arrived at each house, he felt a sneeze coming, and his sneezes were so big that they blew down the first two houses made of straw and sticks. His sneeze was not big enough to knock down the third house made of brick, though, and the pig that lived inside called the police to take the wolf away. The wolf says that he was framed. 

This book could be used in the classroom for comparing and contrasting with the original story of The Three Little Pigs. It could also be used to talk about point of view. 

AD570L - Lexile Measure

This version follows the story line that a mother pig let her 3 baby pigs off when they got old enough. The first pig built a house of straw, the second built a house of sticks, and the third built a house of bricks. After the big bad wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses and eats them, he attempts to do the same to the third pig but fails. The wolf tells the third pig he was only kidding and tries to befriend him, only to find out that the pig was plotting revenge the whole time. I had not previously read this version of The Three Little Pigs, but I liked how the pig tricked the wolf at the end! It also has a video version of the story to go along with it on YouTube. 

In the classroom, this story would be great for comparing and contrasting with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.

560L - Lexile Measure