Just for You! by Christine Leeson

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info: Scholastic Inc., 32 pages

Awards or Honors Received: N/A

Summary: This book is about four mice who want to give their mother the best gift for her birthday. They had a vase at the beginning of the story, but when they were getting ready to wrap it, the vase got broken. The four mice went in search for the perfect birthday gift. They found several items, such as strawberries, feathers, and a flower, but all of these items already belonged to other animal friends. The mice seen something fluttering in the sky but became very sad when they realized it was only a piece of paper. However, one of the mice had an idea. They borrowed some of the strawberries, some of the feathers, and pollen from the flower to make their mother a picture for her birthday. The story ended with their mother saying this was the best birthday present ever. The mice were very proud of themselves.

Personal Rating and Reason for Rating: ***Good. This is a cute story that young children can relate to. The mice were in search of the perfect present, and young children also do this when they are trying to find a present for someone. I also like how the story focused on the mice not taking things that did not belong to them just so their mother could have the perfect present. Instead, they had to be creative and make something for their mother. This story showed how sometimes we have to really think and try hard to solve our problems.

Reading Level: 2.9

Interest Level: K-2

Possible Uses of the Text in Integrated Units of Study (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum): This book could be used during a unit on friends. This would be a great story to point out how we treat others and that we do not take things that are not ours. Social studies could be incoporated by discussing the social skills in this book and how the mice treated their friends. This book could also be used to discuss how sometimes we get disappointed, but that we have to keep trying. Writing could be incorporated by having the students think about a time when they were disappointed and write about what they did to solve their problem. This story could also incorporate literary elements, such as retell, sequence of events, main characters, and plot.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: I see no problems with this book.