In honor of April’s National Poetry Month, Battle of the Books pitted Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends against Jack Prelutsky’s My Dog May be a Genius.

Shel Silverstein explained that his book Where the Sidewalk Ends is about him making poems about how an adult should take a rest from everything that is happening and think of them as a kid again.

The book My Dog May be a Genius is just different kid poems that Jack made so that kids can have fun while reading the book and enjoy their time reading.

We decided we should go to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. A lot of kids in third grade choose Where the Sidewalk Ends and a lot of the 5th graders chose My Dog May be a Genius, but the fourth graders tied!

This the graph of how many people chose Where the Sidewalk Ends and how many people chose My Dog May be a Genius Where the sidewalk end has 53.2% votes and My dog may be a genius has 46.8% votes. Many students wrote that Where the Sidewalk Ends inspired them to make poems and a fifth grader said that the book My Dog May be a Genius was very funny and he wants to make book just like it.

In my opinion I think that these both books are very special and inspiring in their own ways. I also think that the book Where the Sidewalk Ends is very weird but in a good way because they are supposed to be poems that are trying to bring adults back to a kid and it reminds me of something I would want to read when I am an adult too. Something about the book My Dog May be a Genius is that it is very childish and for kids that want to imagine different things. I think that if I would have to choose one it would be Where the Sidewalk Ends because I feel like it has a bigger story during each poem, but I think that My Dog May be a Genius will catch the kids attention.

Stay tune for next month which we will be doing DC vs MARVEL 

This month we decided that the books that should compete are Sisters by Raina Telgemeier and Cardboard By Doug TenNapel.

VS

The book Sisters is about Raina and her sister Amara always fighting nonstop.  One day when they went on a road trip to Colorado to go see their family, they started to get closer and closer to each other.

The book Cardboard was about a little boy named Cam who lost his mother and his dad had to take care of him.  When it was Cam’s birthday his dad didn’t have any money so he bought him cardboard to make something with him, but the cardboard was magical and this neighbor name Marcus stole some and started to make monsters that come to life and take over the world.

We decided we should go to 3 and 4 grade.  A lot of the students in 3rd grade chose Cardboard  and in fourth grade it was even- some kids chose Cardboard  and Sisters.

This up here is the graph of how many voted for Cardboard and Sisters. Sisters has 84 votes and Cardboard has 103 votes.One of the 4th graders said “I love how Cardboard has adventure and action”. Another 4th grade said that sisters reminds me of me and sister and how we fight a lot but not as much anymore.The rest of the 4th and 3rd grades said that the both books are very funny and grabs their attention.As we can all see Cardboard won, but both of the books are special in their own ways.

In my opinion i think anybody of any age can read these both books, but I only chose 4th and 3rd grade because those are the grades I read those books.  Honestly, I think that a lot of the kids chose the book that grabbed their attention, but it doesn’t matter if the book has a pretty cover or not its about if the book inspires you or catches your attention about what is happening.Maybe next time digital committee will choose a two book that are easier and will catch the little kids attention.

Stay tune for next month which we will be doing Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi vs Bone by Jeff Smith.

This year we’re introducing a new monthly post, Battle of the Books.  Battle of the books is when a member of Library House comes into your classroom and reads a page of the two books that the class has to choose from.  This month, digital committee presents…

The 1st Dork Diaries book, Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life, is about Nikki introducing herself and telling her story about the guy she likes and how this girl was trying to steal him from her.  The page we read for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Long Haul, (the 9th book) is about how Greg’s mom wants Greg to go outside because it is not natural for a kid like him to stay inside, but Greg obviously does not agree with his mom at all.  Most of the classes thought that it was funny that Greg does not want to leave his house and that Nikki is so jealous that the girl Mackenzie was trying to steal her true love Brandon.

One of the third graders said “I choose Dork Diaries because it is challenging to read and I like that.”  Another third grader said, “I like Diary of a Wimpy Kid because it has a movie and it explains more.”  Most of the third, fourth, and fifth graders said that both of the books are funny, but in the end Diary of a Wimpy Kid won the battle as you can see from the graph.

In my opinion I think that all of the grades voted more for Dairy of a Wimpy Kid because most of the time boys think that Dork Diaries is a “girl book” and Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a “boy book” so they choose Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but a lot of the girls voted for Diary of a Wimpy Kid too.  Girls were able to vote for Diary of a Wimpy Kid society has made it able for girls to express themselves, even their inner masculinity. Meanwhile, males haven’t gained the chance to express their interests due to them not having the opportunity and not feeling like they are allowed to.

The fact that there’s a movie for Diary of a Wimpy Kid means kids who don’t like to read can go and watch the movie so that they have the same experience as the people who do read the series.

I’m glad that a lot of the kids in the classes showed that you can choose any book that grabs your attention.