First Grade Library Classes: Red Clover Books

This is a guest post from RES teacher librarian Beth Redford.

2014-2015 Red Clover nominee 

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin 

by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet

First graders are enjoying this year's Red Clover books in the RES library. Named after Vermont's state flower, the Red Clover Award is Vermont's children's choice award for picture books. Every year, a group of teachers and librarians puts together a list of  10 fiction and nonfiction Red Clover books. Students who read or listen to at least five titles from the list get to vote on their favorite book. Their votes, along with votes from students all over the state, help choose the Red Clover Award winner.

Scholars are practicing their critical thinking skills while they are discussing these books in library classes. Our questions to focus on are: do I like or dislike this book, and why? What specific details in the text or illustrations make me think this book is interesting or boring, beautiful or ugly, serious or funny?

This week we read and discussed A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet. More information about this unique American artist and his work is available at the Red Clover Website. More information about the Red Clover program and the rest of this year's reading list is also available at this link.



cover image is from https://sites.google.com/site/redcloveraward20142015/home/a-splash-of-red-the-life-and-art-of-horace-pippin