I LOVE Joy Cowley. I would definitely consider myself a teacher super fan. (Think spirit fingers in an SNL skit. Ha!) When Hameray Publishing contacted me and asked if they could send me a few of her books to review, I was so excited. Mrs. Wishy Washy and The Meanies have always been a class favorite and boy do those books look tired. The rips and wrinkles in my books are just marks of love from years and years of reading. I can’t imagine how many students her books have touched.
Over Spring Break I received two series, Huggles and Gruesome.
I puffy heart love Huggles. This series focuses on giving hugs. Who doesn’t love hugs? Since reading these books to my kids, we have totally upped our hug game in class. My favorite quote from this series is from Huggles Hug. “The world is beautiful.” What a beautiful lesson to teach young children. The world needs more books about teaching kindness. It’s amazing what powerful lessons can be taught through one cute little character. You can check out more about this series by clicking here.
Gruesome is a series about a family of ogres. Each book has a comical side that made my students giggle (which I love). My class currently has fourteen boys so this series was right up there alley. As the teacher, I loved that at the end of each book, there is a teacher guide that is quite useful. If you want to see more about this series, click here.
The two series shared with me will become anew staple in my classroom and when I leave the classroom, I will gift them to the incoming teacher because Joy Cowley books should be where the children are. If you are like me and didn’t know there were more amazing characters to love, check out the new special product sets containing all ten of the new characters here. They even have a guided reading set with six packs of the books. I definitely will be investing in more of these new character books. It was like finding a hidden treasure!
Anytime you find an author that your students love, you make them a part of your classroom. There are so many distractions today that keep books out of the hands of children. There is nothing like a good book though. More importantly, there is nothing like a good book that engages children, makes them laugh and has them asking for more. That, my friends, is a teacher gold mine!
Now that you have made it to the end of this post, don’t leave yet. You will miss the most important part. I am partnering with Hameray Publishing for a pretty sweet giveaway. Check out the details below and click HERE to enter to WIN.
Good luck and happy reading!
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