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Thursday, January 22, 2015

Series I'm Adding to 3rd Grade Classroom Library

It seems that no matter how many books I have, it just isn't enough to keep 25 3rd graders engaged every day.  There always seems to be a gap.  A few kids seemed to be in a rut and I realized they needed some early chapter books and they'd read most of the series we had that interested them.

Katie DiCesare mentioned the Branches books and although I had a few (I love the Boris series), I didn't realize that there were so many others. So I bought a few of the series I didn't know and have been reading a few.  Two that I read this week were:


Monkey Me and the Pet Show. This is a silly series about a boy who turns into a monkey when he gets excited. In this book, he ruins picture day and he also enters a pet show as the monkey. This is just goofy silly and I think some 3rd graders will love it.  The thing I like about this is that when Clyde is a boy, the text is written in linear, chapter book form.  But when he is a monkey, it switches to graphic novel/comic form.  I'm wondering if kids will notice that on their own right away. It looks like there are at least 4 books in this series so enough to keep kids reading for a bit.



The Notebook of Doom: Rise of the Balloon Goons is another with a goofy
sense of humor.  Alexander moves to a new house and a new school and finds a notebook filled with monster drawings.  It seems that some balloon monsters are after him.  This is a funny book that will make kids laugh.  It is a bit longer and more difficult than Monkey Me but definitely perfect for 3rd graders.


I hope to read more of these Branches books over the next few days.  Series that I have on my stack are Dragon Masters, Looniverse, Eerie Elementary, Owl Diaries and Lotus Lane. I love these Branches books and am glad to have discovered more of them!

2 comments:

  1. My students love the Branches series. Their favorite by far is The Notebook of Doom. I have also had many girls read the Lotus Lane series.

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  2. I have every book in the Branches series. They look so much like more grown up books, but have simpler language. My 2nd graders adore these books.

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