Fran Manushkin's Birthday

Today is Fran Manushkin's Birthday! She's got a bunch of great children's books out there that are wonderful books for a variety of reasons! Unfortunately I could only get my hands on two of them from the local library system, however, they were good ones! You can also check out a previous review of Fran Manushkin's The Tushy Book, here.
-The Teacher's Calendar, 2008-2009

Manushkin, Fran.
Buster Loves Buttons.
1985.
Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

Summary from Barnes & Noble:

After buying all the buttons he can, Buster, the button glutton, begins stealing them off people's clothes until Kippy and her dog decide to stop him.

Do you have a button collection? I do! However, my button collection comes no where near close to Buster's! I definitely want a copy of this book to use in a classroom someday, as it places a great deal of emphasis on the activity of sorting buttons. And, as all teachers know, in the early childhood classroom, sorting, classifying and graphing is a huge math concept!

• Button Sorting Lesson Plan
• Frog and Toad Button Sorting Activity
• Chubbie Cubbie's Button Activities
  
• 12 Easy Button Kids Crafts

Manushkin, Fran.
The Shivers in the Fridge.
2006.
Dutton Children's Books.
Guided Reading Level: L

Summary from Barnes & Noble:

Little, flat Sonny Shivers and his family only know it's cold and dark where they live, and whenever the earth quakes, a monstrous hand, reaching forth in a great flash of light, snatches away part of their landscape --Buttery Cliffs, towering Mt. Ketchup . . . and with the landscape goes his family, one by one, until only Sonny is left to face the monsters. Who are they? What and where is the Shivers family? Children will delight in puzzling it all out before the Shivers do.

This is a really clever, funny story! The whole idea seemed kind of bogus to me as I began reading and I'll be honest in saying that I almost didn't read the whole book! However, I'm so glad that I did! Kids are going to love this one - especially if you "hide" the cover and title from them and turn the reading of this into a mystery, allowing children to gradually figure out that the "Shivers" are a magnet family who somehow got put away inside the refrigerator instead of on the door! I would suggest reading this book on a rainy day and then working as a family to create your Shivers' Family magnets by crafting some clothespin dolls and gluing a magnet to the back of them. Directions to create clothespin dolls of your own can be found here (I did this craft with a group of third graders and they absolutely loved this craft)!

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com.