August 6, 2015

The Challenge Continues . . . Buckeye Book Award Reading Challenge 1989


And the reading challenge continues!  As stated in a previous post, my librarian friend Ashley Lambacher of the Book Talker and I are hosting the Buckeye Book Award ReadingChallenge.  Our goal is to read all the past winners from the children’s book category in chronological order from 1982 to the present.  I will read the K-2 picture book winners and Ashley will read the 4-8/3-5 chapter book winners.  Because 1988 was skipped, today I continue my challenge by reading the winner of the K-2 Buckeye Book Award in 1989, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff and illustrations by Felicia Bond.

 If You Give a Mouse a Cookie introduces Mouse, an energetic rodent whose repeated requests run his young host ragged.  A boy gives a mouse a cookie, but that leads to a glass of milk, and a straw, and a napkin, and a look in the mirror to make he doesn’t have a milk mustache, and . . . the story goes on and one, until the young boy collapses with exhaustion.  Told in simple text with colorful pictures, this book is great for teaching cause and effect for the young readers.  Mouse’s demands continue with If You Take a Mouse to School and If You Take a Mouse to the Movies.  Numeroff and Bond created other If You Give books involving other animals like a pig, dog, cat, and even a Moose. It’s hard to believe the original story, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, is more than 25 years old.  It still resonated with young children today and remains a popular choice for beginning readers; making it a fitting winner of the 1989 Buckeye Book Award.

Ashley, your upcoming 1989 Buckeye Book Award read is Even More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, another Alvin Swartz book.  Best of luck reading more scary tales.  I’m looking forward to hearing your critique.  

Would you like to join Ashley and I as we read through Ohio’s award winning books?  We welcome any and all who are interested in participating in this fun reading challenge.  For more information, click here.

1 comment:

  1. I love this book, and the series. I remember a teacher reading this to me as a child, and then I would reread it over and over on my own. The cause/effect style of writing is perfect to get young kids wondering what crazy thing the mouse is going to want next! I'm not at all surprised it was chosen as the winner in 1989. I can't believe it's that old...

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