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 It is outdated for the most part and almost too basic.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.