(Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award Winners and Honor Books

(Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award Winners and Honor Books

Arnold, T. (2009). I spy fly guy. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc.

            Buzz has a pet fly named Fly Guy. Buzz and Fly Guy like to play hide and seek, and Fly Guy loves to hide in the garbage cans. One time as Fly Guy hides in the garbage can, Buzz sees the dump truck pick the garbage can up and take the trash away. Buzz goes after him to the dump. When he gets to the dump, he realizes there are tons of flies buzzing at him, and he knows he will never find Fly Guy again. Then Buzz has an idea to say he gives up. That’s when Fly Guy buzzes at Buzz under his hat. Buzz is so excited to have found him, and all the while Fly Guy says Buzzz Lozzz all the way home. This book is creative with the characters and plot. Kids will surely love to read this funny book. The words are easy with big pictures, so younger children starting to read will have no trouble following along.  (Geisel Honor, 2010).

Beaumont, K. (2006). Move over, Rover!. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Books, Inc..

             Rover is in his doghouse alone when a storm suddenly fills the sky. All of a sudden, animals like a cat, snake, raccoon, blue jay, and squirrel come into his doghouse. Then a skunk comes and everyone scatters out of the doghouse because of the awful smell. Finally, the storm ends, and Rover is back in his dog house all alone. He is not romping, racing, jumping, or chasing, but happy he is alone in his dog house. This story is a short read, but follows a pattern as the animals move into Rover’s doghouse. This pattern helps young readers catch on easily to the words. Young children will love the picture of the pretty dog, Rover, too. (Geisel Honor, 2007).

Bloom, Suzanne. (2005). A splendid friend, indeed. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Boyds Mills Press, Inc.

            A curious goose asks tons of questions to polar bear. Goose asks what polar bear is doing, if he is reading, if he is writing, and if he is eating a snack. The pictures indicate that at first polar bear is bothered or annoyed by goose’s many questions. Finally, polar bear learns to accept his friend, the goose, for who he really is. The two are able to overcome each other’s differences and realize they can be friends. This is a great book for children to read to understand that you may be different, but it doesn’t mean you cannot be friends with someone different than you. The story has big, beautiful, and colorful pictures with simple phrases that are excellent for young readers just learning how to read. (Geisel Honor, 2006).

DiCamillo, K, & McGhee, A. (2010). Bink and Gollie. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

            Bink and Gollie are two friends that find themselves in three adventures throughout the book. In the first story, Bink gets outrageous rainbow socks that Gollie hates. In a half-way compromise, Bink promises to get rid of one sock while Gollie promises to give Bink half of her pancakes. In the second story, Gollie goes on an adventure to the Andes Mountains in her bedroom. However, Bink keeps bothering her until Gollie finally lets Bink inside to see her adventure. The final story in the book is about Bink getting a new fish that Gollie feels like is replacing herself. Gollie hates that Bink takes the fish everywhere and when the fish jar breaks, Gollie takes the fish to a pond. Gollie explains that she saved the fish from dying. Bink finally tells Gollie that she is the best companion ever, and things go back to normal. This book is for children who are almost ready to move onto chapter books. It is an easy read, but a little longer story divided into three mini stories. The pictures and easy read helps the story go by faster, too. (Geisel Medal, 2011).

Henkes, K. (2013). Penny and her marble. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publisher.

            Penny finds a blue marble in her neighbor’s front yard. She picks it up and takes it home with her. Soon Penny feels guilty about taking her neighbor’s marble. She starts to not feel well and cannot sleep or eat; she only can think about the marble. The next day she returns the marble to her neighbor’s yard. Her neighbor sees her put the marble on the grass, and she asks if she would like the marble. The neighbor exclaims that she hoped someone would pick up the marble. Penny is so excited to get to keep the marble, and had a great rest of the day. This is a simple book for readers just starting to read small chapter books because there are pictures on each page. Also, it is chunked by small chapters that make students feel like they are reading a big chapter book. This story explains how one can feel if we take something that doesn’t belong to us, and this is a wonderful lesson for young children to learn. (Geisel Honor, 2014).

Litwin, E. (2012). Pete the cat and his four groovy buttons. New York, New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books.

            Pete the cat starts off with four buttons, but he soon loses one button at a time. Every time he loses a button, he just keeps on singing. When he loses his last button, he doesn’t give up because he still has his belly button to sing about. Pete the cat teaches his readers that stuff will come and stuff will go, but it is nothing to cry about. Instead we are to just keep singing. This story has a great moral to it that things will come and stay and come and leave, but life moves on and we must keep going. There is repetition of Pete’s story which makes reading and following along a lot easier for students just starting to read. Also, a plus about this book is it incorporates subtraction when Pete loses his button. (Geisel Honor, 2013).

Pizzoli, G. (2013). The watermelon seed. New York, New York: Disney & Hyperion Books.

            Crocodile loves eating watermelon, but one day he eats a watermelon seed. Crocodile begins to worry about the outcome of swallowing the seed. He is worried it is growing inside him, and that vines will start coming out of him. He thinks he may be in a fruit salad, and his tummy is feeling funny. All of sudden the seed comes back up and out of his mouth. He is so relieved and tells himself no more watermelon ever. However, he has one more watermelon. By the end of the story, crocodile has swallowed another seed. The story ends with crocodile looking all worried again. This funny story will have younger children laughing along the way as they imagine what is happening to crocodile because he ate the seed. The children just beginning to read can read these simple words in this short book in no time. (Geisel Medal, 2014).

Sayre, A. (2007). Vulture view. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, Publishers.

            As the sun rises, the vultures go up in the sky looking for their food. They search for just the right food and not the snake, fox, bear, or flowers. The vultures look for dead and rotten food like a stinky, dead deer. They eat and clean, and then they go back up in the sky looking for more food. When the sun goes down, the vultures go down to sleep in a tree with their family, but tomorrow when the sun goes up, they will get up to look for food. The words are simple, and only a few words are on each page while the pictures are big and take up the two pages. Children just learning to read can read easily about who vultures are and what they do with these easy words and big pictures that follow closely to the words on the page. (Geisel Honor, 2008).

Sullivan, M. (2013). Ball. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

             This picture book tells of a dog that loves his ball. The dog plays ball with his owner before his owner goes to school. While the owner is at school, the dog tries to get mom and the baby to play ball with him, but no one plays ball with him. He tries to play by himself, and even dreams of playing ball. Nothing compares, until his owner returns home and can play ball with him. As soon as his owner returns, she plays ball with him, and he is a happy dog again. This is a great picture book with only one word repeated throughout the story, “ball.” This is good for when you are working on developing one new vocabulary word. The constant repetition of the word and visuals will help children learn the word. (Geisel Honor, 2014).

Willems, M. (2011). I broke my trunk. New York, New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

            Gerald, the elephant, has broken his trunk and Piggie wants to know how. Gerald exclaims that it is a long story, and each page Gerald tells a little more of his story. Hippo and Rhino were lifted on Gerald’s trunk, and soon Hippo’s sister and piano were lifted on his trunk. That is not how he broke his trunk, though. As he goes to find Piggie to tell him his crazy story, he trips and falls. He breaks his trunk going to tell his friend his crazy story. Piggie wants to go tell this crazy story too, and on his way the same thing happens to Piggie that just happened to Gerald. Piggie breaks his snout at the end of the story. This story is an easy read for children because it repeats the same words and phrases like “crazy story” and “is that how you broke your trunk?” The words are simple and only a few words to each page with colorful pictures of the elephant and pig. (Geisel Honor, 2012).