Great Books for TOCs

As a TOC, I love to carry around a book or two for those moments when you just have a few minutes to fill, and don't want to play a game.  Since I usually work in the primary classes, most often there are lots of books already in the classroom.  I like to bring my own books though because then the students are more likely not to have read them.  Plus, then I also have a book to read when working with the older kids since there aren't usually as many books available to read aloud in these classes.  Don't forget, older kids love being read to too!

Here are a few of my favourite books to bring along as a TOC.

Right now, all my favourites are written by Chris Van Allsburg.  He's fantastic!  He writes and illustrates his books and both the pictures and stories are very creative and engaging.  Every time I read his books the students just love it.  Plus, despite the wonderful stories and pictures, teachers don't seem to read his books much in class so the students are even more interested since they've never heard the books before.

The only drawback is that his books are quite lengthy and take a long time to read.  Typically, I like to read these books when I know I'm going to be in a class for a couple days so we can read part of it one day and finish it the next day.  Or if I knew I had a bit of time in the morning and a bit of time in the afternoon I would also read these books to them.

I like many of the Chris Van Allsburg books.  The Sweetest Fig, Jamanji and Zathura are ones I can carry around all year.  I also like The Widow's Broom around Halloween time.  It's not strictly about Halloween, but it does have a spooky theme.

Another great Chris Van Allsburg book is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  There are two versions of this book.  The original is a book filled with pictures, each with a caption that sparks the imagination.  This is a great book to start some creative writing and can be used as a handy time filler when working as a TOC for times when the teacher hasn't left a lesson plan.  The second version has short stories based on each of the pictures written by other famous children's authors.  It could be used in combination with the first to show how the students came up with quite different stories from the authors, or on its own as a short story book.

This picture is from wikipedia.

What are some books you use as a TOC?