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.