2X2 Reading List

Baseball Hour
Nevius, C. (2009). Baseball hour. New York: Marshall Cavendish Children.

The story follows a baseball team from the beginning to the end of an hour of practice. The sepia tone pictures show students stretching, running, throwing balls, batting, catching, and using teamwork to win a game. The illustrations are so real at times they seem to be photographs instead of illustrations. The excitement of the game is shown on the children’s faces on every page and the concentration that the players have is shown through the intensity in their eyes.

Genre: Realistic fiction
Type of Book: Picture book
Interest level: 1-3 Reading level: 3.9
Awards: 2X2 Reading list

Duck Soup
Urbanovic, J. (2008). Duck soup. New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Max, the duck, is on a mission to make a soup that everyone will love and remember him for. After much pondering over the ingredients Max goes outside to get an herb from the garden. While Max is gone his friends Brody, Dakota, and Bebe come in and are drawn to the kitchen because of the wonderful smell. His friends are about to eat some of the soup, without Max, when they discover a feather in the soup and think that Max has fallen into the soup. Brody, Dakota, and Bebe’s hilarious actions to save their friend destroy the soup.

Genre: Fiction
Type of Book: Picture book
Interest level: K-3 Reading level: 2.4
Awards: 2X2 Reading list