A Blogger's Reflection

Before taking this class, I had never blogged before. I knew what they were, but I never had any intention of even starting a blog. I didn't think I had anything to blog about. However, I think that this blogging thing was a really helpful way to express my feelings openly and casually about different children's books that I liked and disliked. This was definitely a better way to discuss children's books for this class. I think that writing papers becomes tedious; it eventually becomes work. But by blogging thoughts down without any boundaries, I was able to express my feelings without feeling boxed in. I would recommend using the blogs again, in future classes. I intend to continue to use mine to obtain feedback about literature I use in my classroom, and to get advice about how to use this literature in creative ways from other educators. While I have this idea to continue to use my blog right now, its actual use might change over time. I am going to remain open minded since that is what this blog has taught me to do - to remain open and to use this blank space to compile thoughts and reflections on things I continue to learn about teaching and children's literature.

The World's Worst Fairy Godmother

The World's Worst Fairy Godmother, by Bruce Coville

This was a book that I felt would be a great one to end my blog with for right now. I have had this book on my bookshelf for years but never read it. It is a HILARIOUS book for children to read! It is about Maybelle Clodnowski, who is, by the title, THE "world's worst fairy godmother." After she makes ANOTHER mistake with her spells, her boss, Mr. Peters, makes her turn a PERFECT little girl named Susan into a normal kid. As Mr. Peters and her overseer, Edna Prim, who was Fairy Godmother of the Year for 147 years, watch the class that Maybelle's assignment is in, she takes guesses based on the naughty little prank-pulling children in the class as they tease one another, however Mr. Peters wants Maybelle to turn Susan into a better child so she won't think she's so perfect anymore. However, there is an evil little creature named Zozmagog who is trying to end Maybelle's career as a fairy godmother, so he creates an "evil apple" to give to Susan instead of a "normal magic apple!" Susan eats it and tears apart the town, and takes all of her classmates with her. They are all HORRIBLE children. Meanwhile, Zozmagog has a secret... A BIG secret! He is in LOVE with Edna! And he wants help of his own becoming good from the woman he loves most. I think that readers should see what happens next in this fun HILARIOUS imaginative story, so the ending will be kept a surprise, but I LOVED IT!

Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Year of Impossible Goodbyes, by Sook Nyul Choi

Year of Impossible Goodbyes, the second book that was being compared in our class along with So Far From the Bamboo Grove, was another really, really good story. I actually like to consider it as a story within a story, because there are two plot twists in it. A big theme in this book was "spirit." The Japanese army endlessly attempts to tear Sookan and her family apart as they continue to take over Korea, changing Sookan's school, forcing her to work at a sock factory, make weapons for the Japanese army, and eventually Sookan's mother is forced to sell something precious of hers in order to pay for food since their family is struggling to survive. A similar struggle in this book; Sookan's mother also gets sick. Eventually, Russia takes over North Korea, which is where I felt that the second plot came into play, and Sookan and her family attempt to escape to South Korea where America is in control and they can be free. This book has a lot of great details which also draw the reader in, and I still believe that children in elementary schools should be allowed the option to read it. This is an important part in history that shouldn't be lost for being "too real."

So Far From The Bamboo Grove

So Far From The Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

This book was one of two books based in the same area of history that was discussed in our class. To begin the discussion of this book, we discussed parts of the story which we thought were important to us individually. I thought that this was going to be a challenge, but I pinpointed a specific instance where I was touched within the entire book; when Yoko's mother passed away. The passage was about how upset the two girls were that their mother passed away, and that she made it so far from where they first came from. The two girls discuss things that they wished they would have done and wouldn't have done while their mother was still alive, but it didn't change the fact that they were going to have to handle it like adults; which is what they did. Even as young girls, they had to overcome a lot, and this was certainly just another, if not the most terrifying, obstacle that they had to get through. I was touched by this part of the book, mainly because my own mother had a heart attack last year and it really made me wish and think in the same way that the girls did about their mother, particularly Yoko. It not only made me grow up a little bit more, but it really reminded me not to take my family for granted and to always tell them I love them no matter what we are all going through.

In terms of the content of this book, I thought that it was choppy but very accurate in terms of history. I think that's why these books get challenged in school classrooms, because they tell so much information and sometimes, that information is not what parents of children want to hear. I think that this book would be the better one of the two for children to read, because of the vivid pictures it paints in the reader's mind, and because it moved me so greatly. If you can find a book that does that, it is certainly worth reading and exploring.

Lights OUT

Lights OUT by Arthur Geisert

This book is about a little pig who is afraid of sleeping with the lights off. On the first page of the story, the only page with writing on it, the little pig explains that if he can figure something out, he can keep his lights on past 8 until he goes to sleep. The entire story is about the contraption he creates to make this possible. I felt like I was looking at pictures of a wordless manual. I didn't really like this book at all, and I felt as though it was clever, but not a fun read at all. I guess the only thing I enjoyed was the creativity of how he made his light cord extend throughout the house. Other than that, I didn't think it really would draw readers in, especially young readers.

The Yellow Balloon

The Yellow Balloon by Charlotte Dematons

This story is about a balloon that travels around the world, through time, and through imaginative worlds. The illustrations span out far beyond the space the pages give them. It travels through a busy city, a sky filled with UFOs, a witch on a broomstick, and cherubs singing on the clouds; rolling plains with colorful farm lands, Native Americans in teepees and a kingdom at battle; and a scene of mountains, ski hills, and volcanoes all in the same vicinity. When first reading this book, it is impossible not to look for the yellow balloon in every scene, which really takes away from the unbelievably colorful, detailed illustrations. This gave it too much of a "Where's Waldo" feel. However once I read it the second time, I actually took the time to pay attention to what was going on in the pictures, and I thought it was so cool to see all how busy every picture actually was. This would be a good book for a child to "get lost" in, since the illustrations are so detailed and really draw the readers in. This is a good independent reader book, just for fun.

Dancing Boy

Dancing Boy by Ronald Himler

On the inside cover of this book, the author compares the Dancing Boy in the story to a "mini Pied Piper." The story is about a single naked little boy who comes along and "frees" other children from their boredom so they may get a sense of liberation. Every time the children run into more children, they all remove their clothes and dance through the streets, however the adults on the streets continue on as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened at all. It is as if the children have frozen time and they are the only individuals who are experiencing their freedom. I like this book for ADULTS, because it reminds us to remember the child inside of us all, however not for children to read. This is a great example that some children's books are seemingly intended for adults, in terms of their overall message and content, and not for children to understand. After the children say farewell to their friend who started it all, he continues down the road in the buff, and each child returns to where he found them, put back on all of their clothes, and life picks up again as if nothing odd has happened. The author really makes a point to show that no one else has noticed that the children are all taking off their clothes on the page where a little girl gets off a park bench and quickly removes her dress. The illustration is divided in three parts, and her grandmother continues to look to the left even when the little girl walks naked to the right. I think that there is definitely a moral to this story, that I think is intended mainly just for adults; to never forget the free spirit youth that has shaped us all.

The Other Side

The Other Side by Istvan Banyai

This is an interesting book that was hard for me to follow at first, but when I read it the second time I understood what the author was doing. Every page on the front and back has different perspectives on the same situation. For example, a little boy looks out the window of an airplane onto the world, but on the other side, in the plane, a couple examines a travel brochure of where they are going. The following pages take us inside of that very brochure and to the very destination in the picture, and the people in the brochure are looking up at the plane at the same time. Each page has a clue that leads into the next page. It reminds me of a combination of the book Zoom, which was also a wordless picture book, and QUICK! Turn the Page. Zoom is a book that uses just pictures and continues to "zoom" out to show the bigger picture as a whole, and QUICK! Turn the Page is a book that directs readers to turn the page as quick as possible before something bad happens in the book. However whatever happens on the previous page is resolved on the following page, showing a little bit of perspective as well. The Other Side is a sort of combination of these two books, with a unique twist, and just a really interesting book that teaches the concept of perspective and shows the power of illustrations.

Bow Wow Bugs a Bug

Bow Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden

This is the clever story of a puppy who chases a bug around town, while running into a few minor issues along the way which only continue to become bigger issues. The story begins with a small black dot on one page, and Bow Wow snoozing away on the other. He wakes up in the morning, goes down to his food bowl for breakfast, when the little black bug bounds over to his bowl and intrigues Bow Wow. Bow Wow follows his little bugger around town, until he runs into a dog with all kinds of black dots on him. He loses his bug friend on this dog, but then realizes that all of the black dots on thew new dog are actually bugs. Bow Wow finds his bug of interest again and continues to stalk him around town. Eventually, Bow Wow runs into a dog that looks exactly like him, who also has a bug to bother. The two dogs realize that they look so similar so they begin to mirror one another on the sidewalk. When they part ways, Bow Wow follows his bug until he bumps into an ENORMOUS dog that looks just like him. The large dog chases Bow Wow around the block, when suddenly Bow Wow sees that all the dogs in the city have their own bugs to bug too. When he quickly turns and runs in the opposite direction, he finds something quite ODD -- ENORMOUS BUGS bugging small dogs! As the dogs bug the bugs, and the large bugs bug the small dogs, Bow Wow hides out until his little bugger comes around the corner and leads him home. He gets home, and the bug and him go right to sleep.

I love this book. The detailed, quick changes from illustration to illustration in this story will provide children and adults alike an opportunity to pay close attention to the differences and patterns in the story. I think that children will like the irony of the story, with the big bugs bugging little dogs. This would be a fun introduction for an extension activity, where children could create their own stories where the patterns seem to reflect off of one another as the story goes on. I love this book!

Rain

Rain by Peter Spier

Rain is a story that I selected because the title was similar to Rain Makes Applesauce. It also goes into the next type of storybook I chose to blog about for this week; wordless picture books.

When the reader first opens the book, they see a storm brewing in the left hand corner of the illustration, and two children playing outside in their sandbox. The following page has the title of the book and other information about it and the author, however now it has begun to rain. The pages following this one have a hard rain storm coming down, and the two children rush inside to get their proper gear on for the weather. These pages are another title page with the vital information about the book including publishers and the cities where this book has been published. I thought it was cool how it didn't start the storm over after the series of title pages and instead went right into the excited children getting ready to go have an adventure in the rain.

This book was interesting in that it was so detailed in showing us the curiosity of two children as they explored a huge rain storm, and all of it's effects on things in the outside world. They observe intense details, such as the mushy sand filled with puddles of water in their once dry sandbox, the way the drops form ripples on the pavement, and the beads of water that get caught on a very large spider web. They continue to play in the storm until it is time to come in for dinner and dry off. They look at the storm which was once friendly in the daylight in it's dark and harsh state as cars and people brave it while the children go to bed. The next day, the children have a whole new world to discover, as they look around to see what the storm has left behind in their backyard. An extremely detailed story with a lot of potential use in the classroom, however my next set of books will help me determine how to read wordless picture books aloud to children, or alternatives to how to use them.

Rain Makes Applesauce

Rain Makes Applesauce, by Julian Scheer with pictures by Marvin Bileck

My mother informed me that I used to LOVE having her read this book to me as a little girl, however since I did not recall this memory at all, I decided to revisit it to see what I must have loved about it so much. And I cannot believe I don't remember loving it so much, it is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL story! When I read it recently, I got this feeling of happiness, and all of my worries seemed to disappear =). Who knew that could happen from reading a children's book from 1965? Every page has gorgeous illustrations with words tangled in them somehow, and the pages always end with "Rain Makes Applesauce." All of the actions in the story are imaginative and impossible, but that's what makes this book a perfect read for children and adults alike. It reminds us to just relax and live a fun, free spirited life. That it's okay to be a grown up and still think like a child. The things that this book teaches us remind us to just let go of everything stressful and frustrating and just laugh sometimes at the good things in life. I love this book. I think everyone should read it and own a copy somewhere in their home.

The Z Was Zapped

The Z Was Zapped, by Chris Van Allsburg

I read another book similar to this one which I also posted about; The Graphic Alphabet, and decided to compare the two since they are both about the alphabet. This one was a lot different than the other selection, in that the focus here wasn't on individual words that began with each letter, but more so on alliteration in writing. The author wrote about each letter of the alphabet, and something that happened to each letter. For example, the E was slowly Evaporating, the D was nearly Drowned, and my favorite, the K was quietly Kidnapped. While I liked the pictures more in the other story, I loved the concept of this one far more. I love the simple torture of each letter, and the creativity that the author used to describe what happened to each letter was so interesting. They are both great books to use to teach the alphabet, however I realize that comparing them is like comparing apples to oranges. I would certainly use both of them with earlier grades, and for completely different purposes, but they are great books to teach about the alphabet.

The Graphic Alphabet

The Graphic Alphabet, by David Pelletier

This week, I wanted to read some books that either were similar in the actual story aspect, or in the title as well, and compare them. I chose to read this one and compare it to a book that I will discuss in a different post about the book The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg. I wanted to see how the authors in these books taught or represented the concept of the alphabet in each of their books. This author did something kind of cool; since he is a graphic designer, he had a typed word at the bottom corner of ever picture that began with the letter of the alphabet that went with that page. In some pictures, the letter that was the focus was obvious to find, however on other pages the letter was difficult to locate in the pictures. I think that this is a REALLY cool book, especially in terms of what he did with the letters in the pictures to still show the actual letter itself. I think that a cool thing to do with this book would be covering up the words in the corners and having students try to guess what letter of the alphabet was on that page. This would be a good activity for younger children to review the entire alphabet after they learned it throughout the year. It's definitely a cool book, and a little different than The Z Was Zapped, in that the letters have different actions placed upon them while they are on a stage. Both books teach the alphabet in different but similar ways, and also teach different aspects of language. This book, The Graphic Alphabet, taught simple words that start with each letter of the alphabet, whereas The Z Was Zapped taught basic alliteration and verb usage.

The Stranger

The Stranger, by Chris Van Allsburg

It is well known by readers everywhere that Chris Van Allsburg writes generally unconventional, twisted stories for children. I have maybe read two of his books before I picked this one off the shelf while looking for something else, and from the cover, it seemed as though the man pictured on the cover illustration was being fed by whoever the Stranger in the book was. However, when I read the book, the Stranger is the man eating in the picture. He falls upon a family in a countryside when he is hit by the man who lives there. The Stranger struggles when he tries to get up off the road, and the owner of the home assists him to the car where he ends up staying with the family for a while. During his stay, the Stranger realizes that even though he has gotten used to how the family lives and loves living there, he is the reason why the weather has gone from fall to summery in the matter of only a few weeks. He hasn't spoken since he began his stay at the family's house, but it clicks with him that he is the reason for the leaves on the trees changing to springtime green instead of autumn oranges and browns, and decides that he must leave the family because those pretty colors were what made the trees beautiful, and he wanted them all to look like that. As soon as the Stranger hugs the family and runs out the door, the weather goes back to how it was before the Stranger came upon the family. However, every time fall comes around, the leaves on the trees turn back to green for a week and then overnight they are back to their normal fall colors. An eerie ending; after the trees change back, the frosty windows of the farmhouse say "See you next fall."

I didn't really "read" the pictures when I read the book; I was too drawn into the mystery of the story! I had so many questions; who was this strange man? Where did he come from? And perhaps the biggest question, HOW did he control the changes in the weather?? I went back and looked at the pictures a second time through, scanning for clues that might indicate why the Stranger had control over the changes of the weather, and if maybe he wasn't able to speak because he was always alone and stayed away from others because of his effect on the weather... I was definitely left wanting answers!! But maybe someday my students and I will read this book and look for our own answers. I believe that many of his other books are like this, filled with suspense and mystery, and I think that working with his books would be a great way to introduce predictions and forming our own ideas about the direction in which open endings can go in. I can't wait to read more from him, and maybe find the answers that I am looking for from this book!!

Quick as a Cricket

Quick as a Cricket, by Audrey Wood

Quick as a Cricket is another short children's book done by the power duo of Don and Audrey Wood. In this selection, a little boy describes different characteristics of himself in comparison with different animals and creatures. He does the same actions that the animals he is comparing himself to, and the story ends with pulling all of the characteristics together to make him as an individual.

I love this book. This definitely goes with the pattern that I have established, in that I love all books by both Don and Audrey. Together, something in their stories comes to life. Not just for children, but for adults as well. I think that this is a great book to read to kindergarteners to make them aware of how special and unique they are, and how all of their quirky qualities are what make us who we are!

Weird Parents

Weird Parents, by Audrey Wood

I brought this book in to my kindergarten practicum class to have a little boy do a sample miscue analysis for me. I gave him a selection to choose from which included Piggies (which I thought he would choose since it was a little easier to read) and he selected Weird Parents. This book is about a little boy whose parents do some pretty goofy things that tend to embarrass the little boy from time to time, but he still loves them even with their quirks.

I thought this was kind of an ironic book that the little boy selected. We did a picture walk beforehand, and this was the winner in his eyes. However, I really didn't think about it until we started reading; he has two mommies! I thought it was a great selection, because although there is NOTHING wrong with his home situation and having two mommies, this book strengthens the point that no matter what our parents are our parents and we love them unconditionally. I do really think that this was a great book selection for him to try to read, and he really really enjoyed it.

The Flying Dragon Room

The Flying Dragon Room, by Audrey Wood

The Flying Dragon Room was an interesting selection from the Audrey Wood collection, mainly because there was a different illustrator used for this one. Mark Teague is the illustrator, and his artwork and illustrations can be found in a number of books. The book itself is similar to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, in that a little boy is given a special set of tools that he can build ANYTHING he wants with. The things he builds in his cellar in his backyard are those of his wildest dreams and imagination, like a Subterranean Room, Small Creature Garden, the Bubble Room, The Food Room, and even a Snake Slide! My favorite place that he created was the Jumping Room; the pictures are incredible and make me want to just join them in the fun that they are having. The story ends leaving the readers wondering what will happen next, as Mrs. Jenkins picks up her special toolbox and invites everyone to her house tomorrow to take a tour of the Flying Dragon Room...

The illustrations are unbelievable in this book, with bright and vibrant colors and details, however I did wonder what the pictures would have looked like in this story through the eyes of Mr. Don Wood. While Mr. Teague does have a unique technique to his illustrations, Don Wood's are certainly different too, and there is something about what he does to the characters in the stories that I just love and have clung to. I cannot seem to steer away from Don Wood being my favorite children's illustrator, and I don't know if this is true or not, but I have seemed to notice that when stories are illustrated by Don Wood, the books seem less complex because they do not take away from Don's amazing artistic talent, or Audrey's gift of storytelling, but instead balance each other out. Regardless, Mark Teague is a fantastic children's illustrator and I really would like to read some stories that he has illustrated for.

This little piggy...

Piggies, by Audrey and Don Wood

Piggies caught my attention not only because I chose Don and Audrey Wood for my author study, but because of the intricate cover illustration done by Don Wood. It is a child's hand with five miniature piggies doing all kinds of silly things on each of his five fingers. Throughout the story, the piggies are described by their characteristics (smart, fat, long, silly, and wee) in twos, since there are piggies on each of the child's 10 fingers. Sometimes they're hot, sometimes they're cold, and sometimes they're clean, sometimes they're dirty, sometimes they're good, and sometimes they dance until they rest peacefully for the night on the child's folded hands after they are lined up with their corresponding pair on the other hand for a goodnight kiss.

This is SUCH a creative book, which is something I really really like about Audrey and Don Wood's storytelling. They come up with some of the coolest ideas for stories, however their ideas are basic and they make them HUGE with the illustrations and text. This book reminds me of something that I would have liked to have read to me as a little girl before bed, I just LOVED it!

Elbert's Bad Word

Elbert's Bad Word, by Audrey Wood

During an elegant garden party, Elbert hears a word that is new to him. A bad, dirty word. However, in the story, he sees the word as a piece of filthy fuzz floating through the air. He decides to put it in his back pocket, and even though he forgets about it, it creeps up to his head and into his mouth. When an incident at the party occurs, Elbert releases the once little fuzz as a HUGE, loud, extremely ugly monster. Elbert's mother makes him wash his mouth out, however the little fuzz still sits on his shoulder and in his mind. He goes to a practicing wizard, who devises a solution to get rid of the bad word from Elbert once and for all. He gives Elbert a different bunch of "strong words" to replace his one big bad word to help him express his emotions in a better way.

At another party after he is given better word choices, another incident happens where he is forced to test the spell the wizard gave him. Instead of using the monster bad word, he uses a great deal of his words from his "strong word" choices, which pleases everyone at the party and makes them all so happy that the bad word did not come out again!

This is an interesting book to read to children, because it really does present a strong message; once children are exposed to a bad word, they have it in their vocabulary and it is often hard to get rid of, if at all. This might be because if someone overreacts to the word being used by a child, the child knows it is bad and will illicit a response from adults for some reason. However, this book will lightly explain "strong/weak" words, instead of "good/bad" words, without going into detail about why exactly the word is so negative. I think that the authors did the right thing by saying "strong/weak" words because it shows children that there are right and wrong ways to express themselves, even with "weak" words that are better than "bad" words. An all around good book to read to students if an incident ever occurred in the classroom similar to Elbert's.

How Do We Dream?

How Do We Dream? Edited by Jack Myers

When I was a little girl, I was really really curious. So one year for Christmas, my mom (Santa at the time was how I knew her) put a series of books edited by Highlights Science Editor Jack Myers under the tree to answer some of my burning questions. Each book had a different overall "concept," and the book I chose to examine for this blog was How Do We Dream? which contains questions about our bodies.

Children send questions into this super smart man, who attempts to give the best answer that he can. Some of the coolest questions I found in this book were "Why is your mind always thinking?" "How come when you tickle yourself it doesn't tickle, but when somebody else tickles you it tickles?" and "My right hand is bigger than my left hand. Can you explain this?"

I never really truly realized the amazing-ness of these books until now. They are definitely for the curious learner; the one with all the questions. I also realize now that these would be PERFECT for a classroom library! If students have a question or inquiry about something science related, it is almost sure-fire that one of these books has the answer that he/she could be looking for. I love books like this; they are basically written by kids for kids. To think that so many children had so many questions they wanted answered that they were published in a series of informative books so neat, since there might very well be children with the same question out there, wanting to have it answered as well. The concept of these books is great; asking questions leads to learning more than you ever thought possible. It teaches children that if they ever want to know something, they can either ask or seek out the answers on their own. These books are wonderful.

Milk

Milk by Aliki

There is no question that Aliki is a very unique author, which is mainly found in her illustrations. Of all the books by Aliki that I have read, it seems that her characters look like they are from Hawaii, with their dark hair and tan skin. However, if you research the author, she is a cute little old lady who looks an a little bit like Dolly Parton! It is a curious thing why she chooses to create her characters in many of her books looking like that.

Milk is an informational book about how cows and dairies produce Milk for us. It goes from how the cows make it, to the process it goes through at the dairy, to the uses we can get out of it. It is a wordy selection, however it has detailed illustrations of a dairy and a cow which would be helpful for children to see the distinction between the processes.

This book really reminded me of what my kindergarteners do during their Morning Meeting. They read very basic books about whatever topic they are discussing for a given unit, and I believe that the more basic the book, the more they will obviously learn. This book would maybe be a better selection for children who are a little older, maybe 1st or 2nd grades. However their are so many possibilities for in class or out of class discovery, with what can be done with milk in your home. Also, even though this book is a little old (Copyright date 1992) maybe a good idea would be to bring a milk website into the equation and see how things have changed or stayed the same, to get a more up-to-date representation of everything milk.

A Book About Your Skeleton

A Book About Your Skeleton by Ruth Belov Gross

This book also gives basic facts about the skeleton and other parts of the body, and how they are all connected to one another. It also gives simple examples of how the parts work together and how vital they are to the way you move from day to day.

The cover that I have is different than the cover pictured above. I don't know if I really like this book or would just use it to teach about the skeleton and the body. It is outdated for the most part and almost too basic. I think it undermines the amount of knowledge that children can hold and breaks it down to such a short level that it would probably be difficult to hold the interest of children. This book however, combined with a KWL chart and more colorful, lively books about the same subject would be more successful to teach with. Also, books that offer children more opportunity to be hands on with their OWN bodies (ie, touch your joints in your fingers) would be beneficial as well.

Uncle Willy's Tickles

Uncle Willy's Tickles, by Marcie Aboff

When I was searching for a picture of the cover to include in my blog, I couldn't seem to find the same cover that is on the copy of this book that I read. I chose to include this version because although the picture and title are the same, something that I noticed which was different is the big, blackened all caps letters that say "A CHILD'S RIGHT TO SAY NO." I think this was something that really enhanced the cover page and the purpose of the book more.

This story is about a little boy who LOVES his Uncle Willy, but sometimes he tickles too hard. After the little boy confronts his sister about what is going on and she says it's normal, he starts to devise ideas about how to avoid Uncle Willy the next time he comes over to the house. Eventually, he tells his mother and his mother models the solution to her son for the next time that Uncle Willy comes over.

The point of this book is to show children that there are right and wrong ways to touch and be touched. There is an introductory page all about touching and what a child should do if he/she is being touched inappropriately, and then it is actually modeled at the end of the story so that children and parents alike can understand the proper way to handle a frustrating situation like that. I think it is important for parents to read this book to their children when discussing a similar occurrence, so children will understand that they can speak up about something like this.

Stargazers

Stargazers, by Gail Gibbons

This week I chose to mainly focus on informational books. I found this book in my attic when I was browsing around for informational books that interested me when I was a little girl, but I didn't remember reading it or not so I decided to read it for my blog this week. The author starts out by explaining what stars are and what makes them shine. Throughout the book, the facts become increasingly more in depth, and there are captions in the pictures which define vocabulary words as well. Readers will find out much more than they thought they knew about stars, constellations, seasons, telescopes, and stargazing in general at a very basic level.

This would be a great book to use during an astronomy unit, especially connected with a KWL chart. Students could have conversations as a whole group or in small science groups about what they know already about stars, and what they want to know. Using this book and other resources, they could put together some sort of basic presentation for the teacher to assess what they have learned about not only the topic of stars and astronomy, but how students process information from factual books differently than other books. Students could also use stars as one aspect of astronomy as a focus for a presentation to the class while other classmates research others, and at the end the KWL chart could be completed and students could write down 2 facts during each presentation. Finally reading this book well after I got it as a little girl, I think I will include it in my class library and it has given me a starting point of ideas of how I might organize the books in my class library.

The Misfits

The Misfits by James Howe

I have heard a lot about this story in other classes and have wanted to read it ever since. Five students are picked on and singled out by their classmates for five different reasons but one thing that they all have in common is that they are different from the rest of their peers. One occasion that got me at the beginning of the story was when Addie, the girl of the group, refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance and actually gave decent reasoning for not doing so. Thus begins the adventure of The Misfits; these students do things a little differently than everyone else.

Addie is sent to the Principal's office due to her little outrage in class with the Pledge, and she decides that the rest of her group of outsiders should form another group to run in the student government so that everyone gets a voice. The same woman who is in charge of student government is the same teacher that Addie spoke out to during class, and she turns down the request. With the help of other students outside of the group of 5, they begin to plot their campaign anyways. They come up with a great slogan: "sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit," however since they didn't get permission from Mrs. Wyman, they are forced to be removed from consideration at all.

Bobby decides to come up with the "No-Name Party," where they hope to end name calling at their school. He writes a powerful speech and although he is afraid to give it, he does so anyways, and even though they lose the election which is an unexpected ending, they have touched the entire school and the rest of their peers. Some of the parts of the ending were a little too perfect; for example, with Joe and Colin going to the dance together; it just seems as though that wouldn't have just fit together just like that in the real world, and that it wouldn't just turn out that Colin is gay as well, but I think that the characters deserved a "fairy-tale ending," and even though they didn't win the election, they definitely changed the little world that they lived in in their school.

This is a pretty powerful book, it's such a shame that many parents disagree with it being put into classroom shelves. Children/students should know that they can do anything they put their minds too and maybe even change the world a little bit along the way.

The Frog Prince...Continued

The Frog Prince...Continued by Jon Scieszka

This story takes a twist on a classic fairy tale. The story opens showing readers that the Frog Prince and his wife the Princess didn't quite live as happily ever after as the story goes... and were actually stuck in a rut. One day, the Princess comes in and tells her husband that she thinks that they would both be better off if he was still a frog... and that's when he gets the idea to run away.

He runs deep into the forest and finds many different witches, asking them to change him back into a frog. The witches are from different fairy tales with different princesses, and they try to cast nasty spells on him so he doesn't disturb any Snow Whites or Sleeping Beauties. One witch even tries to "fit him in for lunch..." and that's when he runs into the Fairy Godmother. She has never transformed anyone into a frog, but he decides she is all he has got and gives it a go. Sadly, he gets transformed into a carriage. When the clock struck midnight, the carriage formally known as the Frog Prince turned back into his human self and he runs into his Princess's arms, who was actually extremely worried about him! The rut was over, they kissed and.... turned back into frogs! A cool book with such great illustrations and a neat twist on a classic fairy tale.

Christina Katerina and the Time She Quit the Family

Christina Katerina and the Time She Quit the Family by Patricia Lee Gauch

This is a classic book in my household that my mom bought for me when I said that I wish I wasn't a part of the family anymore... I'm pretty sure that this book changed that thought immediately.

Christina loves her mother, father, and brother, but something happens that makes her not want to be a part of the family anymore. She changes her name to Agnes, and her mother tells her to call her Mildred from now on. They divide up sections of the house for Agnes and for the rest of the family. At first, Agnes loves the idea of being able to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, until she starts to realize how lonely she is, how scared she can get, and how cut off she is from the rest of her family. At the end of the story, Mildred (mom) tells Agnes that her brother wants a blood-curdling story that only she can tell, that no one else wants to eat cake with as much frosting on it, and that her father misses her loudness throughout the house. This story shows that every family member has certain traits and characteristics that make a house a home. It is a good one to remind children to be thankful for their family members and that in a family every person fits together like pieces to a puzzle =)

Pirate Pete's Giant Adventure

Pirate Pete's Giant Adventure by Kim Kennedy

This book has a little hint on the cover and in the title of what the story is going to be about. Pirate Pete is a little pirate who floats along in a float-boat with his parrot, dreaming of being a real swashbuckler. He wakes up one day and says that he would do ANYTHING for a real pirate ship, when out of nowhere a sea-fairy appears from the bottom of the ocean and tells him that if he finds the stolen Sea-Fairy Sapphire and brings it back to the Sea-Fairy Kingdom, she would give him a beautiful pirate ship. She tells him to follow the thunder to get to the island where the sapphire is, but warns him that not everything that booms will be thunder...

When he comes upon the sapphire, he wishes for a map that will lead him to the world's greatest treasures, and the world's mightiest sword. His parrot friend tells him to throw it right into the ocean IMMEDIATELY so they can return and get a ship! All of a sudden, a large booming sound shakes the island, and Pirate Pete looks up to see a GIANT hovering over him. He tricks the giant to throw him into the ocean, and when he does, his ship appears almost immediately. This book is perfect for predicting events in a story, teaching and introducing plots in a story, and reading with expression. Teachers could have students predict why he wished for the sword and the map, and what he would do to escape from the giant's strong clutch. Also, students could predict why the sea-fairy warned him about the thunder. To read with expression, teachers could change their voices for each character; the sea-fairy, the pirate, the parrot, and the giant, to show students that every character is different in a story, and in this story that concept is more prominent than in other stories but important nonetheless. Fun adventure!

Cars

Cars by Patricia Hubbell

This book would have been PERFECT a few weeks ago in my practicum classroom! I am so upset that I didn't find it until now =( My students were working on a car/automobile/transportation unit and this book would have been so fun to read. The illustrations were so different than anything I have seen before, since they looked like the characters on each page were glued into the paintings. Some of the pages were typical and read horizontally, while some of the other pages were flipped and read vertically. Not only did the words rhyme, but sometimes the font changed to match what words were used to really exaggerate the story. The font was either changed in size, boldness, type, and sometimes the words were twisted and contorted to match the road that the cars were driving on. Sometimes, things in the illustrations were labeled as well, for example, as a car drove down a road, the author labeled the different places that could be traveled to, such as mountains, forests, deserts, and farmlands. In a page similar to this, the author pointed out the basic parts of a car. This is just a flat out awesome book to teach to kids, and to demonstrate rhyming and show how cool and different writers can make the words and illustrations in a story look. I LOVE this book!

ZOOM!

ZOOM! By Diane Adams

This week I scanned the shelves of my public library in my hometown of St. Charles, IL to see what I could find. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just browsing for anything that would catch my eye. It brought me back a little bit, looking in the kids section, since I haven't been down there in a while. I reminisced on the days where I used to sit in the circus wagon and get lost in different children's books while my parents explored the adult section upstairs. During today's excursion, I came across the book called ZOOM! by Diane Adams. The brightly colored cover caught my attention, and it just looked like a fun book to read. It is about a little boy and his dad who visit an amusement park. At first, the little boy's dad encourages his son to go on it even though the little boy is afraid, but by the end of the story, it's the little boy who drags his dad back on the coaster for one more go!

This book is short, however it teaches a few important literary techniques. It introduces rhyming and descriptive words. Words to describe the coaster ride were "zigging, zagging, click-click-clacking, zooming, lurching, rumbling, slipping, sliding, creaking, squeaking," and on one occasion, the author has the word "AAAAAAHHH!" spread across two pages, painted into the illustration. This is a great book to introduce these basic concepts, and I would greatly consider using it with younger children and having them come up with instances, memories, stories, etc where they would need to include descriptor words on their own.

Dear Jen...

So far, I really really like Children's Literature and what we are doing with it. I don't really know what I was exactly expecting out of it, but I think that if I had any thoughts before the semester began they have been matched with what/how we are learning. I was really excited to learn new things about children's literature and have a soothing Monday night just talking about it with others who are love to talk about it as well.

I think a big part of me loving this class so much and loving what I am getting a chance to read is the fact that I am in Practicum right now. Everything that we are learning I am applying back and forth to our class and to my Practicum students. For example, my students know how to identify different types of covers of children's books (wraparound was a big one; they are always looking to see if the covers are wraparound). As I watch them learn from the books myself or my CT read, I think about the things we discuss in class and what makes children in general so excited about having stories read to them, or even reading them on their own. Taking these classes together was one of the best decisions I have made yet while being in the College of Education.

As I get ready to graduate, I really am looking forward to taking everything I have learned in this class and using it, one way or another, in my classroom someday. I fully intend to recommend The Misfits and my students will DEFINITELY read Love that Dog. I guess that the one thing I have really recognized in this class is that children's literature doesn't have to be so one dimensional. When I was a student in elementary school, it seemed that the books we were directed to read were the same format. The books we have read as a class are making me think about the selections I am making individually. I want to select books that are out of my element, books that I normally might just ignore while browsing the shelves of the library. Because based on my prior experience, it seems that the books that I am nervous about reading are the ones that I enjoy the most.

I love this blogging thing. I feel like I can just write thoughts and ideas openly on here without being restricted to the dimensions of a paper of any kind. This definitely feels more open and free, and I love getting a thought from what I am reading and using the Internet right away to help my thoughts web out even further. I think something I am going to try to do is really look for a slue of different books before the semester ends. I had ideas about what I wanted to do, but those ideas continue to change with each passing class. I can't wait to see what else I can find when I go to the library, and hopefully it will shape me as a teacher more and more as I approach graduation and the end of this class.

Pinkerton, Behave!

Pinkerton, Behave! By Steven Kellogg

Pinkerton, Behave! is the story of a new puppy who needs to be trained. The illustrations are set up a little bit like a comic book, and there really is nothing too special about this book, in my eyes. The owners of Pinkerton need to train him to do important things that all dogs need to learn how to do, but they also decide to train him to attack a burglar in case he will ever need those skills someday...

One night, low and behold, a burglar breaks into the home of the family and -- here's where the controversy lies -- he holds a gun to the owner's head not once, but TWICE in the story. It is terrifying! The burglar not only has a mean, evil look to him but he is holding a gun at close range and ready to shoot at any given moment. Definitely too graphic and scary for kids to see, and certainly too violent. However, Pinkerton jumps in before the man gets to shoot, so he saves the day during this suspensefully inappropriate scene. Decent story, but I can definitely see why it's placement in school libraries is challenged.

Visiting Day

Visiting Day, by Jacqueline Woodson

This is the story of a young African American girl and her grandmother. As the story opens, we see the girl and her grandmother preparing to go and visit daddy in a place where, as the grandmother describes lightly to her granddaughter, he is "doing a little time." The illustrations in this story were beautiful, very realistic, and I was touched to see how happy both the father and his daughter were when she visited him. I picked this book out on my own, and I don't know if it could truly be challenged or deemed as controversial, but the one thing I picked a little bit up on was the fact that the family was African American, so it could almost be considered a slur to SES that the man is black and in prison. Also, while this book shows that all families are different, I felt as though it wasn't particularly right to show being in prison in a light manner, as if life is not as bad as it seems even if you commit a crime.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig

I vaguely remember reading this story as a little girl. However, when I started reading it it all came back to me. Sylvester is a little donkey who collected pebbles of all shapes, sizes, and colors. On a particular day out, he comes across a unique red pebble. While holding it, he says, "I wish it would stop raining," and magically, the rain completely ceases. He soon realizes that the pebble he possesses is capable of granting him any wish he wants. When he strolls along the forest upon a hungry lion, he thinks a little too quickly and wishes to be a rock instead of home safe with his parents. Not his best thinking, since he cannot move and hold the pebble to change himself back.

As I read the book, I thought that maybe the only controversial thing was the fact that he was missing from his family for such a long time and his parents said that they wouldn't scold him anymore, representing an unrealistic approach to what kids should expect from their parents. However, with a little help from Amazon's compilation of "Controversial Children's Picture Books," I learned that the issue in this book was the fact that the police officers were depicted as, literally, pigs. I had to laugh a little, because I thought it was a pretty funny way to represent official acts, but I can see where this would be a challenged part of the book. However, it is a stretch indeed, and something readers would really have to pay attention to while reading it.

In the Night Kitchen

In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak

The next book on my list of "Curiously Controversial Children's Books" comes from Maurice Sendak, the author of the wonderful classic, Where the Wild Things Are. When I opened this book, I didn't really see why it could be seen as controversial. However, on the second page, we see the little boy, Mickey, falling "through the dark, out of his clothes." He literally, becomes, completely naked, exposing his genitals. On the next page, we see a larger picture that more clearly shows the same naked boy in case you missed it on the previous page. He sits in a bowl of something, and his adventure in the night kitchen begins.

Three oversized bakers, who look a little bit like Sendak's monsters in size and stature from Where the Wild Things Are, begin mixing Mickey into the batter that they are working on. As he escapes from the thick cakey-batter, he continues to find himself in a type of imaginary city where everything is created from food and items that you really would find around a kitchen. Mickey continues to somehow lose his "food clothes" throughout the story and is constantly in the buff.

Aside from the fact that the story is essentially told from a naked little boy with a wild imagination, this is a wonderful story. I loved how the illustrations looked, and how the author used his creativity to make the world of the night kitchen from bags of beans, cartons of cream, and loaves of bread. Having the little boy be naked, where the most controversial aspect of the story lies, is almost necessary as the bakers are trying to create a cake with him as one of the ingredients. However, I think that showing him completely nude could have been done in a much different way and still have made the story as good as it was.

Happy to Be Nappy

Happy to Be Nappy, by Bell Hooks

I had the most difficult time looking for critical children's literature, even with the help of two librarians. Eventually, we found this book, and it is immediately easy to see why it is controversial -- the title speaks for itself. At first I didn't really understand why "nappy" could have been seen as controversial, but after I looked on urbandictionary.com (probably not the best source but still gave me answers) I discovered that nappy meant: tightly coiled/curled unaltered hair. Coiled hair in its natural state. This book tells the story of all the neat things that "nappy" hair can do, what it feels like, how flowy it can be, etc. What I got from this story, was that it is specifically directed at African American girls, and told them to be happy the way they are. It is a very uplifting story, calming and relaxing for little girls to read about. Other children could learn a lot from reading this story, but I think it would benefit African American girls much more. However, again on the other hand, it would teach children to accept all of their peers and classmates and all of their differences. The only aspect of this story that I saw to be controversial was the title. But at the same time, it shows pride if the author decided to display it openly on the cover. The theme of pride is present throughout the entire story, and all of the illustrations show characters who are clearly happy with the way that they look, and open about showing the readers to be proud for the same reasons.

Love That Dog...

Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech

...and love this book. As I sat and read this book, I couldn't put it down. When I first started reading it, I was a little hesitant because of the way the story was actually typed up. However, I just couldn't bring myself to put it down, even though I wanted to blog about all the ideas I was coming up with as I was reading it. 

While I was reading, I felt like I was reading about a student in my own class. I felt like the narrator, Jack, was actually writing in his poetry journal to me, and directing his worries, doubts, and thoughts about poetry towards me. I almost came to tears when Jack was talking about going to the pound to look for a dog, when he saw Sky (probably because of the way he said Sky was connecting with him and his family as they looked for a pet), and when Sky died. Jack was a great narrator and I felt as though he was certainly a complex character, and something just reminded me of myself in him. 

It has been a while since a book actually moved me that much. I think the last book I read that had that affect on me was The Secret Life of Bees, which I read 3 years ago and is still my favorite book thus far. Like I said, Jack was just a great narrator who really drew me into what was going on in his classroom. I was so excited that he found a poet that he really liked enough to write to and ask to come to his classroom, let alone find a love for poetry in general. 

I think that students will really like this book. It is unconventional, in my eyes, as children's literature, and I think that reading something by a well known author in the eyes of a child story teller who is going through the same difficulties in school as they might be would really touch the lives of my students. I think that if I connected with Jack, then my students certainly would. 

This all being said, I really liked this book and came up with a great deal of activities that could be used during and after reading this book. I could have students write to Jack, much like how he wrote to Walter Dean Myers and give him ideas about how he could gain a liking for poetry; students could research and present information about poets that are used in the book; or students could create poetry much like how Jack did (page 37). There are lots of possibilities, making this book a potential lit circle choice. It has a great lesson in it as well; Jack wasn't confident in writing poetry at first, but then discovered a way to make himself love it. He found one aspect of it and just really found some sort of pleasure in creating new poetry and writing more and more to his teacher about his poetry. I would hope that my students would pick up on that; that if they give new things a chance, they just might find something, somewhere, to even the smallest decibel, that they might enjoy. 

The Borrowers

The Borrowers, by Mary Norton

The Borrowers is a book I have had on my shelf for years and years, but never got around to reading. I think it was even made into a movie at one point, but I never saw it. Reading it now, I can’t believe it took me this long to experience it. It is a really great book by Mary Norton about little people who live under the floor of a house in England. It is amazing how the miniature families use objects for their lives that we use everyday and don’t think anything of. When one of the daring sisters is seen by a human, she and the rest of the borrowers must make sure they can escape the hardships and keep on living their peaceful, sneaky life amongst the humans.

This is a great book for anyone with a wild imagination. I would definitely consider using this book for literature circles, however I don’t think that it would be my first choice. I think that if I lose interest in it, my students will as well, and although it is very imaginative, I think there are better choices out there to represent this. This book was, to me, a little weird. I can't put my finger on exactly why it was, but something in it didn't keep my interest. However, I will still probably keep a copy in my "classics" section in my classroom so kids have the option if they want to read it on their own. I shouldn't keep their imaginations closed off in case I keep them from reading something they will actually like.

Where will YOU Go?

OH The Places you’ll Go!, Dr. Seuss

This is such a fun book for any child to read. I got this book for a graduation gift when I graduated from high school. It is so uplifting and motivating for anyone who needs that little boost of confidence. Dr. Seuss’s books are classics for any library to have, and I think that an entire unit on Dr. Seuss would be beneficial for my students, since he is such an important author that all children should know. I want my students to learn as much as they can about someone as important to the world of literature as Dr. Seuss, since he touched the lives of children and adults alike, and I have so many ideas already brewing about what a unit would consist of based on Dr. Seuss, and what my kids could do to really learn as much as they can about him and what he was all about.

Velllcommme....

Velcome, By Kevin O'Malley

A “scary” story with a twist, this book has bold pictures and funny dialogue. I wanted to read this book for my own understanding after we used it in our "dissection of a children's book" activity a few weeks ago. The man telling the story keeps jumping around and not finishing a story before he starts another one. His stories also don’t really make much sense, and start out scary but the endings make them funny instead. Children will get a laugh out of the sly pictures, the way the story jumps around, and the way the words look in the story as well. I would encourage my kids to read this on their own, since I think they will find the story amusing and enjoyable, and from here, I would hope that they would find an author that they really enjoyed and would want to keep reading books from.

Imogene's Antlers

Imogene’s Antlers, by David Small

Since my “theme” for the most part this week is Kristen’s Classics, I decided to re-read another favorite of mine from when I was a little girl – Imogene’s Antlers, by David Small. I LOVE this book. Always have. Imogene wakes up one morning and to her dismay, has grown a pair of large antlers. While the people she is around from day to day find many uses for her antlers, and she helps them out since she has them, but no one can figure out what caused them, how to get rid of them, and why she has them. When she wakes up the next morning, they are gone, but something else appears instead! This is such a great book to use for PREDICTING, and questioning. I feel that every child should read this book at one point in their lives, since it is funny and out of the ordinary. It will definitely be in my class library.

Will There be Enough Room?

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., and John Archambault

While working on the letters of the alphabet with my kindergartners last week, I was thinking of a better way to introduce alphabetizing words. We had been using letter magnets on the chalkboard in the front of the class, but the children seemed to get a little lost after a few minutes. I remembered this classic book from when I was a little girl. This book is about the 26 letters of the alphabet as they try to climb up the coconut tree without falling out, and as they attempt to pile into the tree, the letters tell one another in order to meet in the coconut tree. The children will love the quirky words and sounds that the book allows them to make, and I really think this will grab their attention. This is the kind of book that doesn’t make sense to me NOW as an adult, but will always speak clearly to children so it seems, and something that they can really have fun with. Hopefully, using this book in my lesson will either show me to keep it in my book list as I become a teacher, or show me that I need to rethink my class library.

Jumanji

Jumanji, By Chris Van Allsburg

Jumanji is a dark story about two children who find a board game, and decide to play it. Little do they know that playing the game will make the actions of the game come to life. Every time they roll the dice, they are risking jungle animals coming out of the game and into their house, and wreaking havoc all over the place. However, once they start the game, they MUST finish it.

Children will find Allsburg’s drawings dark, yet they will be drawn into the action of the story through the pictures as well. After reading several other of Mr. Allsburg’s children’s books, it is easy to see his creative mind and imagination threaded through each one. However, it is almost as though the illustrations are the focal point in his books. They are so detailed, yet drawn in a unique way. He definitely has a different story telling technique, but when I have my own classroom, I am going to make sure that I have a section in my classroom with books by this talented author.

Elijah of Buxton

Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis

This Newbery Medal Winner is a FANTASTIC novel that ties in some elements of true American history with fiction. Elijah is a little boy who just so happens to be the first born child in a new, free settlement in Canada. Since he doesn't know much of what slavery is, he is sure for surprise when he chases after another free slave for stealing his friend's money. The money that his friend saved was of course going to be used to free his family, who were still being kept as slaves in the South. Elijah travels back to America, and through the use of his childish language, the audience sees slavery through the eyes of a little boy. After he makes it safely back to Canada, he realizes what he shouldn't ever take for granted- his freedom.

When I become a teacher, I am going to either read this book to my class, or have our entire class read it altogether. I think it is perfect for cross-curricular activities. We have the historical aspect, but then it also fits in with reading. It is not like any other book I have even read. The language is different, and a bit difficult, but I think that the students will be completely drawn to Elijah and his story. Getting students connected to characters seems to be a challenge in books these days. However, this book would hopefully be a step in the direction of preventing that from being the case anymore. This is certainly a book that I would want my students to become excited about reading, mainly because of this character that Mr. Curtis has created for us all to enjoy. The elements of a story are so important, and as I said before, it takes a lot these days to draw children to books. However, if they can relate to a character in any way, even if it is just because the character is a child like they are, then they will hopefully become excited about what is to come in this book. I can't wait to use it someday in my classroom.

Priscilla and the Hollyhocks

Priscilla and the Hollyhocks, by Anna Alter

This book tells the story of a little girl named Priscilla who is entirely separated from her family and working on a plantation. She gets sold around from owner to owner, and eventually meets a man named Massa Basil Silkwood. He shows up early in her life, and then even saves her from slavery at the end of the story. As Priscilla goes from place to place, she plants hollyhock seeds; a part of her past at her first plantation. As she moves around, she finds peace and comfort in her little garden that she plants. One thing I really liked about this book is that it showed how during hard times, if you can find something that shows you hope, something as small as her hollyhock patches, you have some sort of comfort that things will get better. 

This book did have a flaw; the details were a bit vague. I felt as though something happened but there was no explanation, no in between details as to why and how something happened in the story. I don't know if I would use this book; I am looking realistically for books that I can use to teach some sort of extension lesson with historical fiction, and I really didn't see how I could do that with this book. Maybe someday I will find a way to use it. 

The Patchwork Path

The Patchwork Path, by Bettye Stroud

The Patchwork Path is about a little slave girl and her father as they make the great escape to freedom. Using a special quilt that her mother gave her, the little girl and her father use the designs of the patches to avoid danger and get to safety in the North. Each patch has a different meaning of its design, and signs that they must look for as they escape. I would use this book for my class, because I would want them to make their own patchwork quilts, with explanations behind them and everything. This book does such a good job showing how hard it was to stay away from danger, and that slaves even had to go as far as making their own symbols that only they had to understand to get themselves to safety. I would want my students to understand how important and valued learning should be, and how hard it would be to use something like a quilt to get away from slavery.

Freedom Ship

Freedom Ship, by Doreen Rappaport

Freedom Ship is another powerful story about slavery, however the setting is a little different than usual. It is about a little slave boy who works on a ship with his family, and who one night decide to escape to a boat that will take them to freedom. They sail away from the Confederacy to reach the North, and once they get there they have reached their freedom. 

This was a pretty good book all in all, in terms of emotional intensity, however it was a little slow. The pages look almost rugged and old, and the illustrations are beautiful. However, the story doesn't have much to it. I don't know if I would use this in my classroom at any point. I might use it for literature groups during a unit on slavery, but this would not be one of my focus books. 

Ain't Nobody a Stranger to Me

Ain't Nobody a Stranger to Me, by Ann Grifalconi

This book is about a grandfather and his granddaughter, taking a stroll through town, and the grandfather telling his granddaughter about what it was like when he was a slave. However, while most books are about just how the slaves found their way to freedom, this one tells about how his experience in finding freedom changed him forever. In the story, he walks through town waving and saying hello to everyone, and the little girl asks him why, he says that he does that because "both me and my heart is free." That is one thing that I liked about this book. People go through life experiences and while they change us one way or another, they change us forever. This powerful book really shows the importance of looking deeper into these life experiences, and with that in mind, I would really want my students to observe their own life experiences and recognize what they have learned from these experiences. This is also a book with such good morals to teach students, including, no matter how bad things are, they could always be worse, and making them more aware of our history and the lives of people around them.

Liberty Street

Libery Street, by Candace Ransom

Much of our discussion in class for the last two weeks has been about genres of children's literature. When I selected historical fiction as my genre of choice, I wanted to dig a little deeper into what types of historical fiction books there are in our library. After typing in several different subgroups, I decided to go with the topic of slavery. I found so many books that intrigued me and decided to blog about them for this week.

Liberty Street was my favorite children's book about slavery that I found. Full of emotion, this is a story about a little girl, Kezia, and her mother as they struggle to stay together on the plantation that they work on. The story shows readers that every day of the week, Kezia and her family have work that needs to be done for their master, Missus Grace. However on Sunday, Kezia and her family are allowed to travel down what Kezia calls "Liberty Street." They would walk down here and socialize and have a sort of freedom from their owners. Kezia, along with a few other slave children, are secretly taught by Miss Eulalie. They are taught to read and spell in the dark of the night, with fear that their master will catch them and they will be punished. Eventually, Kezia is separated from her mother when she is told to escape to freedom through the underground railroad. Tells the bittersweet story of getting freedom but losing family along the way, and the difficult decisions slave families had to make.

If I were to use this book in my classroom, I would really make a point to show my students how important education was during the time of slavery. I think that kids tend to take education and school for granted, and see it as something that everyone just has to do. However, this book really touches its audience and I would really do a focused activity to put in perspective about what being a slave and not being able to receive education would be like. This book is memorable and I think it deserves a lesson that would be equally memorable to my students. 

Poppy

 Poppy, By Avi

I first read Poppy in 3rd grade, but reading it a second time around, I understood it so much more than I did the first time. This is the intense story about a little mouse named Poppy. Her and her mouse friends have a sort of deal with an owl named Mr. Ocax; that is, if he protects Poppy and her friends from the porcupines, they must obey his every demand. One night, the free-spirited, daring Poppy and her fiance Ragweed decide to venture out to Bannock Hill, Ragweed is eaten by Mr. Ocax! Poppy and her family want to ask Mr. Ocax for permission to leave their site and find a better life at a place called "New House." When she asks, he of course says no, but this triggers Poppy's curiosity and she decides to take matters into her own hands. She leaves her current home and on her journey, she meets a porcupine who agrees to help keep Poppy protected from Mr. Ocax if he comes to search for her. The story ends with brave little Poppy fighting for her life against Mr. Ocax after she completes her adventure and discovers "New House."

When this story was read to me as a child, I remember being drawn into it and being so consumed by the clever writing of Avi, and being so proud of brave little Poppy. Needless to say, we were read this story while we were doing a unit on owl pellets, so it fit in with our science activity but I can remember this story to this day. If I were to use it in my classroom someday, I would make sure to link it to a cross curriculum activity. I think that is something that really makes incredible stories and classroom experiences even more memorable; when students have other learning happening that relates to a great book, their minds are connected to what they are learning that much more. Since intriguing my students and holding their interest in my classroom is so important to me as an individual teacher, I want to make sure that everything I do has a purpose, and that every piece of literature I select or recommend to my students has a meaning. This might mean putting a number of other books by the same author or about the same topic in our class library, or having students fill out recommendation sheets about books they would encourage their classmates to read. My students are going to have a great deal of say in their own learning, and I am going to make sure that I do my best to balance their ideas with my ideas.

Roberto the Insect Architect

 Roberto the Insect Architect, By Nina Laden

Roberto is a termite unlike any other. Everyone knows that termites eat wood. But Roberto? Roberto likes to build with it. Even though his structures are magnificent, Roberto gets made fun of for being different than the rest of his termite friends. Because of this, he leaves his home and goes somewhere else to try and make a life for himself where he and his wood building will be accepted. After being refused work by leading architects in the minituarized bug city, he decides that he will just build homes for individuals anonymously. However, when his secret identity is revealed, he becomes famous and a legacy for his amazing work. He continues to build homes and buildings out of wood, gets job offers from bugs all over the place, and some bugs even want to make his story into books and movies so everyone will remember what he was known for. Young bugs all over the place hear his story and instead of being told not to play with their food, their parents tell them to "be like Roberto," and that basically their imagination is important and unique to who they are.

I really, really liked this book. Between the unique illustrations, which combine real pictures with artwork, and the use of personification, rhyming, and descriptive words that go appropriately with each bug's name, this is certainly a book I will make sure I have on my classroom shelves. I would even hope to see it as a movie someday. Like Woolbur, another book that I have read on my blog, this one teaches really important life lessons and draws the reader into the story. I would highly recommend this book for teachers to use in their own classrooms.