Emily's World Literature For Children Blog

The Moon and I

2008-05-02T19:00:00.002-04:00

Betsy Byers, The Moon and I

Simon & Schuster, 1991

Biography, Snake Stories

Ages 9-12

Betsy Byars is an author and one day she is sitting on her porch at her log cabin reading over what she had just written. She, for no real reason, looked up into the rafters of the porch and there was a black snake coiled around a beam. Very quickly she becomes attached to the snake, quite protective over it. That day she continually checks to see if the snake is still there, and each time the snake is till lazily laying around on the beam. All of the sudden Betsy gets caught up in what she is writing and spends a few hours without checking on the snake.. To her dismay, the snake is gone when she finally looks for him again.

When Betsy was little she always dreamed of growing up and working in a zoo and keeping all the baby animals. She and her best friend, Wilma, would play zoo in her Betsy's backyard. One day while they were out looking for more animals to add to their "zoo" they found a nest of eggs under a woodpile. They decided that they would each take two eggs and leave the rest in the nest. So they each picked up two eggs and put them in their mayo jars. She described the eggs as elastic and tough, nothing like a hen's egg, they were almond white and smooth. Almost as soon as Wilma got home her sister told her mom that she had put the eggs in their sock drawer and her mom flushed them down the toilet.

A week later Betsy's egg started to hatch, it took a whole day until it had finally hatched. It turned out to be a bull snake and she had to let it go, since it is posionus.

While later when Betsy was back at her cabin working she ran outside to try and find the snake, by this point she had named it Moon, she finally found it. Moon was backup against a corner by the neighbors cat, Betsy yelled at the cat and she went running home. Moon was still a little shaken up by the encounter with the cat, he finally got over it and slithered away. She did not see Moon for another little while.

Finally one day she saw Moon on the back porch. The dog went walking by and scared Moon off the porch. He left a third of his body still on the porch and Betsy went to touch his tail. She had a desire to know what he felt like. Well Moon did not like the fact that she did this so he struck at her, he only got her hand once but struck three different times.

Three weeks later she saw Moon again and followed him into the woods. While she and her husband were trying to find him, they realized that he was right under her feet. Her husband and her managed to pick him up but both Betsy and Moon freaked out. After only a few minutes she dropped him and Moon hurried away.

One day on her way to the cabin she saw a blacksnake dead in the road, stopped and picked it up and put it in a paper bag in her backseat. While she was driving she started to hear the crinkle of the bag moving and freaked out, with good reason. She pulled over to the side of the road because she was scared that if the snake got out of the bag and touched her leg it would cause her to get in a wreck. A man stopped to help her and they determined that the snake was dead so he dumped it in the ditch and went on his way.

Betsy hadn't seen Moon in a month until one day her husband told her that he was lying out in the driveway enjoying the sun. She went out to watch him, he did not mind being watch as long as she stood still. That same day a little boy came up to her door and tried to sell her a black snake he had caught. She ended up buying it from him for $10 but then set the snake free.

A while later she went shopping for her dog's birthday and found a snake that was for sale in the pet store. She knew right then and there that she was going to buy it, and she did. She was so excited since she has wanted a snake since she was 7 years old. A dream come true

I just randomly stumbled up this book in the library one day, I had never heard of her and thought it might be an interesting read. The book turned out to be alright, not one of my favorites for sure but not terrible by any means. It was basically just a biography that did not really flow together very well. She had some funny little anticdotes about her childhood included which made it quite entertaining! I would not suggest this book, per say, but it could be used it doing projects on biographies. Aside from that there really is not much to say about this book, not much to it either.

The Day I swapped my Dad for two goldfish

2008-04-28T22:44:00.006-04:00

Words: Neil Gaiman

Pictures: Dave McKean

HarperCollins Children's Books, 1997 and 2001

K & up

Fiction

There was a boy who one day was left alone by his mother with his little sister and his dad. His dad was reading the news paper and not paying attention to waht was going on around him. He and his little sister went outside to play, she with her Barbie dolls and he trying to put mud down her neck, then his friend Nathan came over.

With him Nathan brought a bowl with two goldfish in it. He really liked the fish, thought they were quite "neat" and so he offered to swap Nathan something for it.

He offered Nathan transformer robots, baseball cards, books, a punching bag, a penny whistle that gave his mom a headache, a spaceship that no longer floated in the tub, a puppet, and his Clownie that he slept with every night. Nothing seemed to satisfy Nathan, so he thought and thought and thought. He gets brilliant ideas about two or three times a week. "I'll swap you my dad", Nathan replied with "That's not a fair swap. I've got two goldfish, and you've only got one dad." He went on the explain how much bigger his dad was than two goldfish and how he can swim better than a goldfish, even though his little sister disagreed. So Nathan decided that he would trade for his dad. His little sister warned him how mad their mom would be when she got home, but he took no notice of this warning.

When their mom got home she started to look for her husband but all he could talk about was his new goldfish. She looked everywhere for their dad and finally untied his little sister, took out the sock in her mouth, and asked if she knew where he went. As little sisters always do, she told her mom what he had done with their father. Well their mother being furious told him that he was not to come home until he had their father, and the little sister was to go along too, "Fancy allowing your brother to swap your father for two goldfish and a bowl. The very idea."

Off to Nathan's only to find out that he swapped his father for a guitar from Vashti Singh, so off they went to her house. Once they got there they discovered that she had already swapped him for a gorilla mask. Off they went to Blinky's, and what a long walk it was! Along the way his little sister put the mask on and he made fun of her, but when he put it on she told the policeman that he had escaped from the zoo, well at this the policeman yelled at him, making his sister laugh at him. Blinky had a very big house and when they rang the doorbell a butler came and answered the door, he asked "Whom shall I say is calling? Me. I said. And me, said my little sister." Well Blinky comes down and makes the butler give them some ginger beer (which they did not really like) before he showed them Galveston, a fat white rabbit with one black ear. So they took Galveston and went to Patti's house. How excited everyone was to have Galveston back, even the Queen of Melanesia (who was there visiting) shouted in excitment! Finally they took the bother and sister duo to the back of the house where there was some chicken wire around a rabbit house and in the middle of it sat their father. He was simply sitting there eating a carrot and reading his paper. He opened the door and his father crawled out covered in grass.

Finally on their way home! Father kept eating his carrot and reading his paper all the way there. When they got home their mother was very angry, she made her husband take a bath and put all his clothes in the laundry. While his Dad was in the bath his mother began to tell him off, she made him promise that he would never, ever trade their dad for anything ever again. (But he never promised about his little sister, HA)

I must say this is the most fantastic book I have read to date! Oh my, just the very thought of it! In the back of the book you can read how the book was inspired. One day Gaiman said something to his son that made him angry and he lashed back with "I wish I didn't have a dad! I wish I had...." Apparently his son thought about this for a bit and finally finished his thought with "I wish I had goldfish!" Well everything just went from there, the idea started coming and so Gaiman went to his computer and wrote the first couple of sentences but then did not know what to do next, so he simply saved in on his computer. A few years later he got stuck on writing a tv script and went looking through his computer to see if there was anything interesting there. He found the first to sentences of this book, all of the sudden he just knew where he wanted to take it. After writing it he gave it to McKean to do the illustrations, which I might add are out of this world! They are so fun and interesting! I could stare at each page forever and probably never see all that is on it. It is mixed media, collages of photographs, hand-drawn images, and the typical style of McKean. There is no way to describe what they look like, it is something that you just have to see for yourself! I could see children absolutely loving this book and wanting to read it again and again! The fact that he swapped his dad for goldfish is hilarious and it just seems to be something natural that always happens, no one finds it weird. In fact, the children keep passing him along! What a world it would be if we could swap people for things such as goldfish! It would be easy to read this book and pay close attention to the illustrations, then have the students make collages of their own out of all sorts of mixed media that can be easily found in the room, or even in the art room. It would be so fun! It would be such an open assignment that I am sure the creativity would flow out of the children and onto the paper! This is most DEFINITELY going to be in my classroom!! I also and not the one who discovered it. My roommate was in the library, I guess looking at the picture book section I had showed her recently, and found this book and like the illustrations (being an Art major) and checked it out! Then I found it in the living room and decided to give it a look, and lo-and-behold I feel in love with it!

Dave McKean's website

(Which everyone should check out, he is one of a kind)

The Boy Who Saved Cleveland

2008-04-28T21:58:00.003-04:00

The Boy Who Saved Cleveland

James Cross Giblin

Micheal Dooling, illustrator

Henry Holt and Company, 2006

Ages 9-11

Ten year old Seth Doan loved to read, his favorite story was Abraham and Isaac. He read this story from the family bible that had been brought with them on the long journey from Conneticut, the only book that they brought with them to Northern Ohio. However much he loved to read he did not have a lot of time to read because he was always busy with chores, they ranged from hauling water into the house, to clearing the land, to fishing. Today was a special day, his father let him stay inside and read while his older sister, Mercy, when out to help their parents weed the cornfield. Back when they lived in Conneticut his mother was the one always encouraging him to read, ever since they moved to Ohio she did not want him to read and said that his father was too easy on him. One reason why his father was so easy on him was because he was the last living son. His older twin brothers, Ethan and Matthew, died of lung fever back when they lived in Connecticut. He also had a baby brother named Thomas, he died two months earlier due to colic.

Seth's special day was cut short when suddenly his mother screamed and his father rushed Mercy into the house and laid her on the bed, she had the Shakes & Fever and fainted while working in the field. His mother had to stay inside and take care of Mercy so Seth ended up having to go and work anyways. In order to make it more interesting Seth pretended to race his father at pulling weeds. One second he saw his father and then when he looked up again he did not see is father. He yelled for him and went running over to where he was weeding, to find him on the ground, much like what had happened to Mercy. So, his father also went to lay down in the bed, this sent a sense of dread over Seth.

They had a simple life out in Cleveland, ate mostly corn, squirrel, rabbit, fish, wild fruit and berries. Since they relayed so much on corn they had to make trips to the mill quite often. The next day his father was still too ill to go to the mill so Seth volunteered to go, even though it was up hill the whole way. Cleveland was very small, only three cabins were there yet and it was founded by a Mr. Carter. Seth missed his life in Connecticut, he had friends there and no one here was his age.

On his way back from grinding the corn, Seth ran into Lorenzo Carter. Lorenzo gave Seth a squirrel to take home and give to his other to cook in stew, he told Seth that they had to stay well and take care of everyone. This made him very excited, Lorenzo, the giant of the settlement had treated his as an equal. When he got home he could tell that his other was coming down with the illness as well. He helped her make dinner and fed it to the rest of the family, even though no one really had an appetite. That night Seth had a bad dream that everyone in his family, except him, had died in a snow storm. He awoke in a cold sweat.

The next day his father was too sick to go to the mill again so Seth was getting ready to go when he heard someone at the door. It was Mrs. Stiles, her husband had also become sick and was unable to go to the mill, she asked Seth if he could grind corn for them as well. He also had to do it for the Carters as well because they had also become ill. Now he had three bags of corn to grind. He did this everyday for two weeks, carrying three bags up hill, grind them, carry them back down, and deliver them to the other families. One time he heard a bear coming so he froze in place and did not more, thankfully the bear when on his way after determining that he was not a threat to him.

Since his family was sick not only did he have to take care of the corn for everyone in the settlement, he had to do all the chores around the house. He hauled water in to bath them, made food for them to eat, took care of their needs as best he could, and listen to what they had to say, even if it made no sense. The hardest conversation he had to listen to was his fathers. His father was talking about if he died Seth had to take the rest of the family back to Connecticut where his Grandfather and Uncle could take care of them. Seth begged his father not to talk in this way but his father made him listen. Seth became so worried that he could not sleep and had to sit up and read out of the bible till he fell asleep.

One afternoon when Seth got back from the mill, he was surprised to see that Mercy was out milking the cow, she looked much more like herself than she had in the past two weeks. He was very greatful to have her help so that he could rest before dinner time. Next morning when he woke up he had a little bit of a chill as he got dress but he shrugged it off, he knew he had to go to the corn mill again in order to feed and take care of everyone. Mercy noticed something different and asked if he was alright, he lied and told her he was fine. He set out on his everyday mission to the mill, this time the bags seemed heavier than normal and he had to rest more often, but he still made it and ground the corn. On his way back however, he had a seizure and fell down. Next thing you know he was back in his cabin laying in the big bed, he had no idea how he got there. His father told him that he had found him after he did not return and that Mercy had carried the corn meal back. Seth had the chills for three weeks, by this time everyone was better.

They decided to celebrate the fact that no one had died and everyone was better. So one day in September they all made food and went down to the lake to celebrate. Out of no where come to strange men, they said that they had cut a road from Cleveland to a city that was 70 miles away, they started in early May and just arrived there in September. As a token of everyone's appreciation, they presented Seth with a book. This was the best gift he would have gotten! All he wanted to do was go off somewhere and start his book on Robinson Crusoe.

I had never even heard anything about his book or the author, I simply found it on the bookshelf in the IMC when trying to locate another book. After reading the Author's note at the end that not only was this a story of a brave little boy, it is also based on a true story and the character in the book is a real person that lived in Cleveland, as were most of the other characters. Seth's family arrived in Cleveland in 1798 and were among the first settlers of the area. Before Ohio became a state in 1803, it was part of the Western Resene of Connecticut. The land was first surveyed in 1796 by a man named Moses Cleaveland, he was the one that established the settlement and also what it was named after, with out the "A" of course. The illness they talk about, shakes & fever, also know as ague, was a type of malaria. It came to Cleveland in the summer of 1978 and was most likely brought in by mosquitoes. The real Seth actually kept everyone alive, just like the story tells. When he grew up he was a county sheriff, and he lived to see Cleveland grow from three cabins to one of the largest cities.

This book would be excellent if the class were doing a study on a person who helped contribute to the society they lived in, a history project. The student, after reading the book, could look up and see if they could find out anymore information on Seth or the settlement of Cleveland. It could be presented to the class or just as an assignment for a history lesson.

Illustrator interview

Dragon

2008-04-28T16:06:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you about me,

Children love me,

You're a child.

All my heads are green and handsome.

All my eyes are red and wild.

All my toes have claws upon them.

All the claws have hooks.

I blow smoke through all my noses.

It is hotter than it looks.

All my tails have points upon them.

All my teeth are sharp and blue.

I won't bite you very badly.

I am fond of you.

All my scales are shaped like arrows.

They will hurt you if you touch.

So, although I know you love me,

Do not pet me very much.

- Karla Kuskin

From Eric Carle's DRAGONS DRAGONS & other creatures that never were

Published by Philomel Books in 1991

The main reason I chose this poem, aside from the fact that Eric Carle illustrated it, is because I know that if I were a child this would have been one that I loved. I have always liked dragons and this is a comical take on what a dragon might say to a child. There is a rhyme scheme to this poem but I did not identify it at first it appears to go AABCBDEFEDGAGHIAI. So it is not exactly the most rhyming poem but it does have the element of the end words rhyming somewhat. There are also repeated phrases like "All my". This poem also offers up a strong visual image of a dragon, just by reading it is very easy to see a dragon is ones mind. It has a columnar form to it. There is not much depth to the poem, just something fun for a child to read.

A mouse with a lioness's voice

2008-04-28T15:49:00.014-04:00

Pam Munoz Ryan

Scholastic , 2004

5th grade and older

Fiction, Realistic, Multicultural

What's in a name? "A rosy by any other name would is still a rose"(Howard Trachtman, I believe).

The first thing that Naomi is worried about is her name, Naomi Soledad León Outlaw. Naomi, Owen and Gram live in Baby Beluga, a Airstream trailer. Gram was an expert

at naming things for exactly what they looked like. They lived in Lemon Tree, CA but this upset Gram because

there was not one "citrus" in sight. The Spray'n Play was one of their favorite places to go, it was a

car wash-deli-playground combination. Now Owen could fool people based on the way he looked, they thought

he was in lower grades because his head tilted to one side and was bent down to his shoulder, also one of his

legs was sorter than the other so he walked funny but, he got the best grades in his class. Gram had always told

them that if they had positive thinking that you could make things happen, she called it "self-prophecy". One of

the things that Naomi is best at is making lists and she had a list for just about everything! I wonder why she

always had these lists, sort of therapeutic I would guess. I think it might help her deal with things, especially the

things that she does not understand or want to remember or even perhaps control in a sense. You find out later

in the story that she had many problems when she came to live with Gram those 7 years ago, I wonder if while

seeing the counselor they suggest that she keep list of things to help her deal with the world around her. You

could get your students to start to make list of anything, something that is important to them, the project

could run the rest of the school year and you could revisit the idea behind the list and have to children think

about everything they put into the list and why they put it there. If it were me, I would not tell them, but it

would be a confidential thing that they would not have to turn in. The things that Naomi makes list about tend

to be things that just about every child worries about or thinks about from time to time. Her example could

help the children in your class room to deal with things in their lives.

Naomi eats lunch in the library, even though according to the rules this is not allowed, but the librarian, Mr.

Marble, allows the few students that are there to eat at the tables. Naomi loves to read and find things to add to

her lists and things that would make good new lists and Mr. Marble would help her out with finding this info.

You find out that Gram is not their grandmother, but actually their great-grandmother. This does not effect

the children at all nor does it seem to bother Gram. To me it seemed that at first people gossiped about it but

they stopped after they realized that it was the best thing for everyone involved. I also love how this is part of

the story, there are children everywhere, and probably in the everyday classroom, that live with their aunts and

uncles, grandparents, who know. I love that it makes it seem almost "normal" and it is not a negative thing at all

that they live there. It could make a child feel better about the situation that they live in. They also live in a

trailer park in one of the smallest ones there, and they do not care one bit about it, they are very happy living in

Baby Beluga! I am sure that every year there will be a student that had this kind of living situation, not exactly

the same but something similar for sure, yet again making the not feel so bad about it. When they first came to

live with Gram, Naomi was not talking and her hands shook all of the time, she did not remember what had

caused it but Gram had a solution, just like she did for everything. Gram tried to keep Naomi's hands busy at all

times, as well as her mind. So Naomi started to carve bars of soap and it appeared to help tremendously! One

day after Owen had finished his homework he walked over to Naomi and asked her how she knew what to carve

in the soap, "I imagine what's inside and take away what I don't need". We find later that this is exactly what her

father said about carving as well. I love that Naomi already has this preconceived notion about her carving and

how she comes up with what to do even before she ever meets her dad.

All of the sudden on day, completely out of the blue their mother turns up at their doorstep! Terri Lynn came

right up to them and half expected them to remember her. She had changed her name to Skyla Jones since her

boyfriend, Clive told her he did not like Terri Lynn. One thing that struck me as very, very odd about this part

of the book was how she hugged Naomi for the first time in seven years and the only way I know how to show

how it happened is to just use exactly what Naomi says. "I walked over to Skyla and she put her hands on my

shoulders, keeping me at arm's length. She did that sort of leaning-in type of hug, with a quick cheek-to-cheek

touch. It was not the I-haven't-seen-you-in-seven-years type of hug that I would have expected." I wondered

why she would hug her children like this when it was the first time in so long but later I read the real reason why

she wanted to come back and get her children, or Naomi. One of the first things that Skyla noticed about Owen

was the fact that he had a piece of clear tape on his shirt, she tried to pull it off but was quickly stopped by a yell

from Gram and Naomi. They explained how it was a comfort thing he does. Yet another thing that I do not

understand why it happened and even after finishing the book I am still not sure why he does this... Naomi

quickly figured out that the return of their mother was going to be a life-changing experience. There were two

reasons why Naomi came to this conclusion, 1) Gram and Fabiola were going to miss Wheel of Fortune for the

first time in 743 nights in a row and 2) Gram marched out of the trailer with her curlers still in her hair, a thing

she never does.

The reason that they had the name Outlaw attached to their names was for Gram, she wanted to form some sort

of family structure since they were going to be living with her. It was never done legally but just to make her

and the children feel better. At least that's what I think.

Right off the bat Skyla did not fit what Naomi had pictured a mother to look like, but she did have a memory of

her father and Mexico. She remembered him saving them from a flooded motel room and taking them to the

church to be safe durning the storm, she remembered his shirt tasting salting and smelling of soap. To help get

her mind off of the storm, her dad carved and elephant out of soap and gave it to her. She feel asleep and never

saw him again.

What would be going through your head if you saw your mother for the first time since you were a baby? Do

you think you would be excited or scared or something else?

Skyla went shopping and bought Naomi some clothes since Gram had always made her clothes, but she did not

get anything for Owen, but he did not seem to mind. Skyla also did her hair and did a French Braid, Naomi

loved it! The next day she wore her hair in the braid and the new clothes that her mother had gotten for her.

The same day a new student came to their class, Blanca Paloma, and she sticks to Naomi right away. On the

playground, Blanca comes up to Naomi and starts speaking Spanish, she had assumed since Naomi looked

Mexican that she must speak Spanish, but she did not. Naomi feared that this would cause her to lose Blanca as

a friend but she was proven wrong. Blanca attached herself to Naomi and they spent the rest of the day

together, she even went to eat lunch in the library. She was quite different from Naomi, very outspoken and

always asking questions. At this point I am scared and excited for her. I fear that Blanca will end up not being

friends with Naomi or that they will become great friends. I hoped the latter was correct, and sure enough I

was right! So excited for her, her first real friend. Naomi thought that it was her new look that brought her

good luck, she had her mother to thank for that, so she thought.

Skyla promised that she was going to go with the children to their parent-teacher conferences which made both

of the extremely excited. This part always really worried me because Skyla had not really proven that she could

be reliable to do such important things. Well the day came for their meetings and Naomi and Owen, along with

Blanca and her mother, waited for Skyla to come. Naomi and Blanca wanted their mothers to meet. Finally

Blanca's mother had to go to work at 2:30, which was the time Naomi was supposed to be meeting with her

teacher. They wait and wait and wait, finally at 5 Ms. Morimoto found them and took them into the office to

where Ms. Dominguez tried to call Gram. They finally got a hold of her and she came to pick them up. Trying to

cheer them up, Gram took them to the Spray'n Wash, but it did not make Naomi feel better. Why do you think

this did not cheer her up when this was her favorite place to go? Would it have cheered you up if you had been

in that situation? This is what I had feared and predicted would happen, I can not believe that a mother could

do something like this to her own children. Espiecially since she just got there and was wanting to spend time

with them and even volunteered to go to the meetings. I am really afraid that this happens in the world today

I just do not know what I would do or feel if this sort of thing happened to me. I feel that I would lose a lot of

trust in my "mother" and I hope that I would not have a desire to see her again. Although I understand why the

children did still feel a connection to her. I am able to sympathize with Naomi because of the way that Ryan

writes her thoughts in the sentences, you come to be one mind with her some of the time. It is really hard for

me to understand and feel what it would feel like to be in that situation but I can almost grasp what it would be

like just from Naomi's thoughts.

After asking Gram several questions about what Naomi had over heard about her mother, she discovered that

their father had been sending them money several times a year. Naomi became very frustrated at this, she does

not understand why "grown-ups" feel the need to keep things from children, why they think that they can not

handle the information. Naomi exclaimed how she could have written him letters but Gram told her that she

had tried several times but they always came back and never reached him. It was impossible to find out where

he was living since he never gave his return address.

Three nights later Skyla turns up again at the trailer, she wanted them to come and see what she had brought

with her. She acted like nothing happened, something Naomi did not understand, and got everyone to come

out to see what she had gotten. Her excuse for not coming back for so long was that she and Clive had gone to

Palm Springs for a long weekend. Then she told them that she had invited him over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Finally they saw what she had gotten this time, a bike! One of the expensive one, according to Naomi, just what

every kid would want, especially Owen. It is not possible that she did this just out of the kindness of her heart,

she did this to make up for her running off and not going to the meetings. She was trying to buy them off with

stuff, and it worked on Owen for sure. All he had wanted was a bike to ride and sure as shit that's what she got

him. Everyone was to happy and excited to be angry at her any longer. However when Naomi tried to thank

her for what she had done, Skyla snapped at her and told her that she needed to speak up and that when she

met Clive she would talk louder and thank him for everything he had paid for. Naomi did not understand what

had just happened, she feared that she was in trouble, she was full of all different questions. What had just

happened was very troubling to her.

Well Thanksgiving came around and so did Clive and he was broad and thick, wearing a leather jacket with his

hair pulled back into a ponytail. Everyone started arriving, including Lulu (Fabiola's dog) which set off Clive

from the start, so she had to be taken home. All of the sudden Skyla hits everybody with the notion that she

and Clive want to take Naomi with them to live in Las Vegas to live with them and Clives daughter, Sapphire.

Everyone rejects to the idea from the get go, and Naomi's hands start to shake. Gram gets her to help take the

dishes to the kitchen to try and distract her from what had just happened. After pissing everyone off throughly

they end up leaving as soon as dinner is over. Would you want to go and live with Clive and the mother you just

meet for the first time in 7 years? Every thing that Skyla does just amazes me more and more, I just can't even

begin to fathom have such ideas and presenting them in front of all the guest. To top it off the only reason they

appeared to want her was so that she could basically babysit Sapphire. Despicable.

Well it is time for Owen to go to his doctors appointment but Gram is going to have to cancel because she had to

work on a wedding dress that is going to be picked up the following day and needs major work. So being the

mother trying to win over children, Skyla offers to take him, along with Naomi, to the doctors. Well while they

are there she starts to freak out, yells at Naomi for talking to quietly and then runs to the bathroom, coming

back smelling of Gram's rum cake. When the Dr's tell Skyla that there is nothing to be done until Owen is an

adolesent, she starts to freak out and yells at the doctors, and she ends up storming out of the hospital and

drove too fast all the way home. Well once they got there Naomi was supposed to call Gram and tell them that

they were back, but Skyla tells her to drop the phone and to sit down. She yells at them both for embarassing

her at the doctors office and tells Owen that he is going to have to stop putting tape on his shirts, and just

continued to yell at her about everything. Well Naomi finally gets up the courage to talk back to Skyla and it

makes her so mad that she slapped her across the cheek, leaving a perfect imprint of her hand. They finally

manage to get away and run towards Fabiola's house. When they get there she bursts into tears,understandably

and Owen recounts the story. An argument ensues between the adults and Skyla threatens to go to court to try

and get her children back. It is so hard for me to imagine acting like that towards a child. I know that Skyla had

many problems but I still can not even begin to imagine hurting my own child, not that i have any but still... You

feel so sorry for Naomi, you can feel her pain and her anger at her mother, and it is all rightfully so.

One morning Naomi wakes up and thinks that there is an earthquake and freaks out and wakes her brother up,

she continues to yell for Gram until, they figure out that it is not in fact an earthquake but the trailer going

down the highway. They find out that they are going to Mexico for the famous La Noche de los Rabanos, they

will miss two extra weeks of their Christmas vacation but Gram had already called their teachers to let them

know what was going on. Before they left Gram had gotten temporary Gaurdianship from the judge in town.

Do you think this is a smart thing on Gram's part? What do you think the reason she did this was? I think this is

a brilliant idea on Gram's behalf, it should help to protect the children from their mother.

When they arrive in Mexico they go to the house of Fabiola's sister. After being introduced to the family

everyone hugs them. This was not something they were accustomed to since they did not know each other and

in Lemon Tree this did not happen. After being there for a while and getting to know everyone, the family

started to think about what they were going to carve for the festival, it was only 12 days away. She felt happy to

be in Mexico, relieved. The main reason that they made the trip to Mexico was in hopes of finding their father,

to see if he would help them deal with Skyla. They caught wind that the cheese lady that worked in the market

had married a Leon, so they went down to the market to talk to her. She had indeed married a Leon, so they

exchanged number and she told them that she would inquire about their father from her husband and call them

and let them know what she found out. Throughout the story when they get to Mexico, Ryan starts to use real

Spanish words to identify things, she always tells the reader what the word means. "We walked through the

uneven streets of Barrio Jalatlaco to el mercado, the market." Also with some words she spells out how to

pronounce the word: "Quseillo." "Keh-sill-owe". This helps children to learn new words in a different language

it helps to submerge the reader into a different culture, just making this a great multi-cultural book! The cheese

lady calls and tells them that she in fact has not information on Santiago, their father. The children, including

Ruben (Graciela's son) start to call people in the phone book who have the last name of Leon. Well one Sunday

they finally get a call back but, Graciela is the one that answers the phone. The adults discover what they have

been up to and have to pay them back since the phone call was long distance and cost quite a bit of money. The

plus side was that they found someone who knew their father, it was their great aunt Teresa.

They go and visit her and she shows them a picture of Santiago when he was a boy, he looked exactly like Naomi

and even she could tell. The find out that for the past 100 years a Leon has entered in the carving festival and

that their father had come to everyone except one. So Teresa predicted, with much confidence, that he would

come this year as well. Hearing all of this would be an exhilerating feeling! One can just feel the excitment that

Naomi and Owen feel at the prospect of meeting their father and getting help from him so that she does not

have to go and live with Skyla and Clive. I love how Ryan gives more of the Mexican culture with each passing

chapter, you learn a little something around every bend.

Finally the festival and its festivities begin! One night they go on a walk around town that is a Christmas

tradition for them. It makes a range of emotions occur for Naomi, she is so happy that she realizes why her dad

loves the festival so much! She just can not wait to see him. The men finally decide what they are going to carve

and announce it one morning to the family. It is going to be a huge "tree" with all sorts of animals hanging off

of it as if they were the leaves and on top is going to be a lion, the king of beasts. They had been inspired by the

soap carvings that Naomi had been doing. Another example of integrating the Spanish language into this book

is when Naomi is asked if she wants to go to the market or stay home and help the men carve, "Aqui" said

Naomi. "Here." Graciela rolled her eyes. "Bueno, como quieras. As you wish." A little while later the truck

appears with the radishes and they begin to carve at once, even Naomi started to carve animals for them. Owen

and Ruben were assigned the job of misting the radishes so that they would not dry out. The last day of carving

Naomi is given a big radish and is told that she is to carve the lion for the top of the structure, she knew at once

that this was a huge honor.

The day of the festival they ride into town in the truck and unload everything at their table, then Bernardo went

to go walk with the women down to the festival. She told Bernardo that she wanted to stay and help set every-

thing up. He tells her that she cannot, she must go and look at all the other tables and inquire about her father.

They found many people who knew him, but none of them had seen him recently. They were almost back to

their table and saw a huge crowd around it. Finally the judges came around and scored everything, then the

party began and everyone relaxed. Finally came the time for the judges to announce who were the winners of

the year. When it got to their category there were so shocked to find out that they had made 2nd place! They

had never gotten in the top three before! After everything was over and they started heading home, a man

came up to congratulate Bernardo, but suddenly he turned around and started running, Gram told Naomi that

that was Santiago. Naomi started to run after him but could not catch up and had to return to Gram. It is good

luck to get a piece of one of the winning categories and to try to cheer Naomi up she is given the Lion that she

had carved.

When they got home they heard a rustle in the trees and realized that there was no wind that could be causing

the flowers to fall off of the tree. Then out of no where Santiago come out. Owen ran forward but Naomi was

planted to the ground, she could not move. Owen started jabbering to their father and when he mentioned her

name, Santiago looked up at her. She burst into tears, Santiago picked Owen up and came over the Naomi and

pulled her close into him. She was crying into his chest and she could taste the familiar sea salt on his shirt, and

smell the soap. When they stood up there was not a single dry eye in the whole place. When he found out that

Naomi had participated in carving for the festival, his face lit up with pride. The spent a lot of time together

over the next few days until Naomi, Owen, and Gram had to return so that they could meet with the judge to

see what was to be their fate. Santiago agreed to help them and wrote a letter telling all about their mother and

how he recommended the stay with Gram, also that he wanted to start having visits with them on holidays and

such.

Well once they get back to CA, they must go and meet with the judge. Of course when Skyla walks in she acts as

if she is a wonderful mother who misses her children. After hearing from all of the adults and looking at all of

the letters everyone had written in favor of the children staying the Gram, the judge wanted to speak to Naomi.

When she gets up to the seat next to the judge at first she is not able to say anything, but then she remembers

what she dad told her about being brave. All of the sudden she starts to recount everything that had happened

with Skyla and everything that she had been told. When asked if she wanted to go live with her mother she said

flat out, "No.". She said every word in front of Skyla and Clive. I can't imagine having to do that, sit in front of

your mother and tell a judge that you have no desire to live with her and her boyfriend. She really did take to

heart everything that her father told her, for the first time she spoke out and loud about what she wanted and

how she felt! It must have been such a release for her! I feel like it would have been an exhausting task to do!

One thing that children can take from this is how brave Naomi ends up becoming! She stands up for herself

even against her mother. I hope that a child that I ever encounter never has to go through this but, that is not a

realistic thought, especially in these days, but if the child has read this book it might encourage them to be

brave and stand up for what they want and need!

The judge decided to grant custody to Gram, especially after finding out that Skyla only want to take Naomi and

not Owen as well, the judge did not believe in splitting up siblings that have lived together all of their lives. They

could not have hoped for a better resolution to this disaster in their lives. Naomi when back to school with

many things to tell her new best friend, Blanca. At lunch she met the new library kid and showed Mr. Marble

her soap carvings, he was very impressed by what he saw. He asked her if he could put them in the display for

open house next month. Of course she agreed, seeing how this was a dream of hers, the display was seen by

everyone and they were also so excellent that no one could resist but to look at them every time.

Everything ended in the perfect way to suite Naomi and her family (which does not include Skyla or Clive) and

she was very happy. They went every year to the festival and to visit their father, a promise made that was never

to be broken. Naomi finally grew into her name, which was one of her biggest fears.

In my opinion I think this is an excellent of a multicultural book that I would want all of my classes to read. I

almost cried at some parts. This is the kind of book that you can really get into and really start to feel for the

characters! I honestly had to hold back tears when they first met their father, for real not in the square. I do

not know how Naomi could not have cried. I think Ryan did a superb job writing this book and she is most

definitely going to be an author that I keep in my classroom. Not only do you attach yourself to the characters

but you are also put into a culture that is more than likely different from the one that you grew up in, you learn

things about the culture, they were things that I never knew. I think learning about different cultures is a

quintessential part of a persons life, I think it helps us to break down prejudices at an early age, if they are

exposed to different cultures and types of people when they are younger. The introduction and incorporation

of the Spanish language is done beautifully in the book, it always makes sense and seems appropriate! You can

also see how Naomi and the rest of her family are beginning to pick up on the language, which is oh so very true

if you are submerged in the culture. Over all I can not say ONE bad thing about this book, give me more of her

books to read and I will gladly dive right in!

The Magician's Nephew

2008-04-27T15:38:00.008-04:00

The Magician's Nephew, The Chronicle of Narnia (Book 1)

C. S. Lewis

Pauline Bayens, Illustrator

HarperCollins, 1955, renewed 1983

Ages 8 and Up

The story is about a time when your grandpa was a child, it is important because it talks about the first goings and comings between our world and that of Narnia. Sherlock Holmes still lived on Baker Street and treasures were still being persuade. Wearing stiff collars was an everyday thing, though this would not be enjoy able, at this time food was better and incredible candy was cheap. In this time a girl named Polly Plummer lived in London, on one of the long rows of houses that were all joined together. One day to her surprise a boy come up over from the garden next door. She was so shocked because a child had never lived in the house next to hers, only Mr. and Miss Ketterley (Brother and Sister). Digory and Polly introduced themselves to each other. There had always been a rumor that Mr. Ketterly was mad, when asked Digory agreed or said that there must be some other mystery if he is not mad. He has a study on the top floor and Miss. Ketterly strictly instructed Digory never to go in there. Digory does not find all of this exciting because he hears Uncle Andrew always sneaking around at night, Digory also claims that "he has such awful eyes". This was the manner in which Polly and Digory became friends. Since it was such a rainy summer they were forced to start "indoor adventures". I love how this is talked about, I remember being a child and loving to play indoors when it was nasty outside. You can let your imagination take control and anything is possible, no matter where you are inside. Do you like to have adventures indoors? What do you do, where do you go? etc. Polly had already discovered a dark place in the box-attic, it was something like a long brick tunnel with the roof sloping off on one side. Being careful was essential since you had to step from rafter to rafter or else you would fall through the ceiling of the room below. Polly had already created a sort of floor for their secret place, using different pieces of things she found around. It looked almost like a smugglers cave. Digory was very fond of the cave and loved to go exploring, he wondered how long the tunnel would go. Polly informed him that the walls do not extend to the roof, this was great news for Digory! Polly thought about the house next to Digory's and how her dad had always told her that it was empty, Digory suggested that they go and have a look. My how fun that would be, I think I would still enjoy it even being 21 years old! They decided that they were going to go and check it out, but how would they know when they got there? They tried to figure out how many rafter it would be until they got there, and any door beyond Digory's house would be the empty one. Do you think it will be empty? would you want to go and check it out? Silently the crawl through the tunnel until they think that they are in the empty house, and they open the door they find and step inside. Much to their surprise the room was completely furnished and there was even a fire burning. Right off the bat Polly sees a tray of the most beautiful rings she has ever seen. The room was silent except for the clock ticking. Suddenly from the high-backed chair someone rises up, it turns out to be Uncle Andrew! They were not in the house next door but in the top of Digory's house. "There! Now my fool of a sister can't get at you!" say's Uncle Andrew. At this Polly and Digory started to feel very uneasy and just wanted to crawl back to Polly's house. They tell him that it is time for dinner and that they need to go home, but Uncle Andrew tells them that they are not to leave yet, they cannot pass up the opportunity that lays before him. Uncle Andrew can tell that Polly really likes the rings so he offers her one of the yellow ones, claiming that he cannot give away the green. However, Digory feels as though something is array and shouts at Polly to not take the ring, too late. In an instant, a blink of the eye, Polly was gone, only Digory and Uncle Andrew remained. This would terrify me, would you be scared? Who do you think had the greater shock, Polly or Digory? Why?

Uncle Andrew starts to tell Digory a story of Mrs. Leafy, how he came to posses the rings. When she was dying she wanted to see no one but Uncle Andrew and right before she passed she gave a box to Uncle Andrew and made him promise that he would destroy the box. Well, Uncle Andrew did not keep this promise that he made to Mrs. Leafy. He claims that she was one of the last mortals that had fairy blood in her and that the box was from the lost city of Atlantis. Uncle Andrew discovered that the yellow rings would take you to a different world and he told Digory that he would have to go after Polly, since she did not have a green ring which to bring her back. Before he was able to try his experiment with the children he had used guinea-pigs. A quote that I really like however twisted it could be is "No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice." He tricked Polly into taking the rings, knowing that he would have to get Digory to go after her with a green ring in order to bring her back. He had tricked them both and knew it all along.

All of the sudden Uncle Andrew and the study vanished and Digory went off the another world. It seemed to be quite a dreamy place, he came out of a pond but was not in the least bit wet after emerging from it. He was in the quietest imaginable, and there were dozen of pools just like the one he had come out off all over the place. After only moments Digory almost forgot that he had just gotten there,he felt as if he had always been there. He was not scared or curious or even excited, after looking around for a while he noticed a girl lying underneath a tree. They looked at each other for a long while before she spoke. When she did finally start to speak it was in a very dreamy tone, she thought she had seen him before, Digory had the same thought. Neither of them could quite figure out what was going on until finally they started to piece everything together and realized how they came to be in the woods. Once they knew what had happened they decided that they need to get back to our world.

Now Digory is the sort of boy that wants to know everything, he wants to go and explore the other puddles for he feels that they will take them to different worlds. They came to think that the woods were a sort of in-between place. Polly did not want to go and explore but after arguing for a while decided that if they could truly get back to our world then she would go with him into other puddles. So they put on their green rings and jump in the puddle and as soon as they start to see Uncle Andrew they switch to their yellow rings and return to the woods. Would you agree to jump into other pools or would you want to go home? If you went home, would you want to come back another time and try and explore the other worlds? I think I would have done the same as Polly, make sure that we can get home then go and explore.

They mark the tree by the pool that takes them home and they set off the jump into another pool. After finding one they jumped in and once everything became clear they realized that it was a very old place that they had come to. Arched doors everywhere, courtyard after courtyard, everything look as though it were falling apart and there was rubble everywhere. Nothing seemed to be alive, not even insects. Poll felt uneasy and wanted to go home but Digory kept going on and wanted to explore more. Then they came upon a room that appeared to be full of hundreds of people, they were all seated and perfectly still. Digory claimed that the room was enchanted. They walked up and down the room looking at all of the different faces that the people had. In the middle of the room was pillar about four feet high, there was a small golden bell that hung on a little golden arch in the middle. Laying beside of it was a little golden hammer, it appeared that there was something written on the side. The inscription said "Make your choice, Adventurous Stranger; strike the bell and bide the danger, Or wonder, till it drives you mad, What would have followed if you had." Being the curious boy that he was Digory rings the bell. The bell made a beautiful noise that carried on for what seemed like forever, just when they thought that nothing was going to happen they hear a voice asking who as awakened her? The Queen seems almost offended that it was he who awoke her. They told her that they had gotten there by magic but she determined that they had no magic in them but, were just servants of a magician. If I were Polly I would probably been offended by the Queen the way she was. The Queen basically took no notice of her at all. Would that make you mad or would you even care?

They found out that the Queen had basically killed all of her people in a battle. She just kept saying that she was the Queen and they were her people and what else were they for but to serve her. Would you be afraid of the Queen after hearing this? Or what would be going through your mind? Finally they decided that it was time to get out of that world, so when the Queen let go of their arms they quickly put their rings back on and headed back to the woods. When they were coming out of the pool Digory heard Polly screaming for someone to let go, but it was not he who was holding on but the Queen. They quickly figured out that you could go from world to world just by touching someone who is wearing a ring.

Once they were in the woods the Queen started gasping for air, it was as if the air in the woods was hard for her to breathe. They then tried to come back to our world and leave the Queen in the woods but as they were jumping Digory felt her cold finger on his ear. Upon reaching our world the Queen appeared to be catching her breath and regaining her strength. Uncle Andrew was speechless when he saw what they had brought back with them. Almost immediately Uncle Andrew became the Queen's slave, doing everything she commanded of him. Once this happened she lost all interest in the children and seemed to not even notice them.

Polly had to go home because it had become quite late but made a "pax" that she would come back as soon as she could. The first thing that Uncle Andrew did was get himself a glass of wine from where he hides it in his wardrobe. After his glass of wine he went down to try and get some money from his sister, she refused. Right at that moment the door flung open and the Witched appeared (the Queen). She did not believe Andrew when he told her that she was his guest and demanded that she leave the house. Aunt Letty did not approve of bare arms.I wonder why this is so? Ask the class and she what answers they come up with and perhaps they could look it up on the internet to see if it had to do with the culture of the time. The Witch tried to use her magic powers on Aunt Letty but realized that they did not work so, instead she threw Aunt Letty across the room. It was very lucky for her that she had been working on a mattress, which saved her life.

The Witch made Uncle Andrew take her out into town because she was trying to conquer our world, Digory did not know what to do. He had no idea where they were going to nor did he have money to ride in a taxi so he resolved to sit and wait for them to return, so he sat by the window waiting... Digory started to think about the different worlds and the different possibilities, then a friend came by to bring some fruit for his mother, she was very ill and had to stay in bed all the time. The ladies started talking about how nothing would cure her in this world, only fruit from the land of youth could help her now... So while Digory was sitting there waiting for the Witch to come back he started to wonder if there really was a land of youth somewhere and if he could find it by jumping into the pools in the Woods. Well after time had passed he heard a fire engine and wondered if it was her, and sure enough it was. She came round the corner riding on top of the hansom and flogging the horse with no mercy to keep running. It seemed as though the witch was what was making the horse go mad, the horse was neighing but it sounded more like a scream and tossing it mane everywhere. Then second hansom pulled up it had a police officer and a fat man in a coat. A third came barreling up with two more policemen, then all sorts of people came running up behind. Out of the first hansom pops Uncle Andrew, he was wearing his best top hat but now it had been bashed over his head. Apparently the Witch had reeked havoc al over town and everyone was upset and trying to get the police to do something about it. Finally the cabby whose horse she was riding came up and was trying to calm the horse down and get her back from the Witch. Some of the people started to mock the Witch, in turn this infuriated the Witch so she broke one of the arms off of a lamp post and started to charge forward on the horse. If I were there I would be sooo soo scared, I do not think I could be like the others and run after the Witch to see what would happen. Although it would be interesting and make for a great story to pass along. Asking the children what they would have done in a class discussion is sure to bring up so interesting thoughts. Digory and Polly saw this as their chance, the ran forward and caught on to her ankle. Polly quickly put the ring on and they went off to the Woods. When they arrived the realized that they had also brought Uncle Andrew and the Cabby, they only meant, or thought, they were brining the Witch and the horse with them.

They put on the green ring hoping to return to our world and to leave the Witch behind but instead they ended up going to an empty world, "This is Nothing", so it seemed at the time. It was nothing but blackness. Then all of the sudden something started to happen, a voice seemed to be singing, it was the most beautiful sound anyone had heard. One moment there was nothing but dark and then there were stars and planets and all sorts of things developing in the sky. It appears that the Witch and Uncle Andrew neither one liked the singing very much while Polly, Digory and the Cabby loved it. Once the sun had risen they saw what was singing, it was a lion. The lion continued to sing, but the song would change and with each different melody he would create something else. At last there appeared earth and water and trees. At one point the Witch throws the bar from the lamp post at the Lion but it does not seem to effect it, he just keeps singing and the bar fall to the ground, where it had fallen to the ground it grew into a lamp post! The Witch got scared and ran off in the opposite direction of the Lion. The song kept on changing and now there were animals appearing out of lumps on the ground, lumps of all sizes turned it to every kind of animal imaginable!

"Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be talking beast. Be divine waters." These were the first words that the Lion spoke. Right before he said this he had chosen certain animal, he touched them and they came and made a circle around the Lion. Once he spoke those words all the creatures that he touched and those that could speak said, "Hail, Aslan. We hear and obey. We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know. One thing that I found interesting was the fact that one of the animals he chose was the horse that the Witch was riding, the one the cabby was after. How crazy would it be to experience something like that! You could talk to the class about how they would react to something like this. All the animals start to talk and laugh and joke around, Aslan warns them that there is already evil present in the world of Narnia, even though it was not but a few hours old.

Digory gets to thinking and he has to talk to Aslan,it was about his mother. He ends up getting a ride from Strawberry, the cabby's horse, to where Aslan is talking to his close council about the evil that is already in the world. When Digory gets there Aslan asks him to explain how the Witch got there, Digory had to tell the council that he was the one who brought her there. Polly and the Cabby finally arrive there after the explanation of the Witch. Aslan asks Cabby if he would like to live there forever, the Cabby says that he would only if his wife were there with him, so Aslan starts to sing again and there appears his wife. After she arrives Aslan crowns them as the first King and Queen of Narnia.

After getting done with the ceremony, Aslan turned to Digory and asked him if he was ready to undo the wrong that he had already caused in Narnia. He agreed to do what he was asked to do, he thought about his mother and helping her when he made this decision. Aslan tells Digory that he must go and fetch a seed for him that is only found in a special place that is very far away from where they are. When he is told this, Digory becomes afraid and thinks that it will never happen, therefore he will not be able to help his mother. Alsan tells Digory that he will have help on his mission and then he turns to Strawberry and asks him if he would like to become a flying horse. Well of course he accepted this and was transformed into a flying horse, and his name from then on Fledge. So Fledge and Digory are ready to set of when Polly asks if she can join them on their journey.I love how it is just not the boy that goes on the quest that Aslan gives him, although it is geared more towards men being the hero of this story and the protagonists. Off they go in the direction of the mountains. After a while they become cold and tired and then land on a nice looking spot to stay for the night. Fledge eats grass and Polly finds a bag of toffee in her pocket and she and Digory split it. They also had the idea to plant one of the toffees to see if it grew into a tree just like the lamp post did. The children and Fledge were chatting about where they were to go in the morning and what Digory was supposed to get. The talking became less and less while they were drifting off to sleep when all of the sudden Polly hushes everyone but at first no one hears anything but then Fledge hears something to. Polly swears that she saw a tall, dark figure go off in the westerly direction. Who do you think it could have been that Polly saw? Why do you think they were there? Do you even think that Polly actually saw someone?

The next morning Polly wakes everyone up and exclaims how the toffee did turn into a tree! The fruit on the tree was not pieces of toffee but fruit that reminded them off toffee. The morning was beautiful and they take off to try and find the seed that Aslan has sent them after. They start to smell something wonderful in the air and it seems to be coming from further up ahead. They realize that it is coming from the very place that they need to go. When they reached the top of the hillside they found green walls surrounding a garden of sorts. They found a set of high gates of gold, they were shut and facing east. Fledge and Polly had thought up until this point that they were going to go in with Digory but once they got there they realized that it was a private place that was only meant for him to go into.

"Come in by the gold gate or not at all, take of my fruit for others or forbear, For those who steal or those who climb my wall Shall find their heart's desire and find despair" was the encryption that was written on the outside of the gate. Digory was not sure how to open the gates but when he walked forward and touched them, they sprang open. Once Digory was inside he knew exactly which tree to get the fruit from, so he reached up and got a piece and put it in his jacket pocket. While he was there he was tempted to eat a fruit himself, while he was having these thoughts he looked up into the tree and saw a beautiful bird that was sitting there and appeared to be peering down upon him. So this was the deciding fact as to if he were going to take an apple for himself or not. Would you have eaten an apple? Or obeyed what the enscryption had said? Do you think it was wrong that he had the temptation, do you ever get tempted to do things that you know you are not supposed to do? Do you act on those thoughts or do you obey what you know? I think it would be very hard to resist eating an apple, at least for me. It probably took a lot of will power to resist something that looked that appealing.

As soon as Digory was ready to leave the garden and head back to the gates he turned around for one last glance and to his dismay he saw that the Witch was there. She had just finished eating an apple and threw away the core. The juice appeared darker than expected, it had made an awful stain around her mouth. He realized that there was in fact some sense in the last line. The Witch appeared stronger and prouder than ever, but her face was as white as salt. After he had processed all that he had just seen, he turned and ran out of the gate with the Witch right after him. As soon as he was beyond the gates, they closed all by themselves giving him a little bit of time to try and get away from the Witch. He called out to Polly to get on Fledge but by that time the Witch was already over the fence. It turns out that the Witch was the thing that Polly had seen the night before. The Witch tries to tell Digory that he should not take the apple back to Aslan, that he should keep it for himself and he could give it to his mother so that she would be healed. Digory knew that he had the hardest choice laid out before him. The Witch continues to taunt and tempt him until he finally realized that his mother would not want him to break his promise to Aslan. Then she also made the fatal mistake of brining Polly into it. She suggested that he leave her behind and return to his home, the meanness behind this idea cleared his head and he could clearly see what the Witch was trying to do. After that it was easy to disregard everything that the Witch was saying. They mounted on Fledge and flew away.

Aslan was very pleased when they returned with the apple and he knew that the story of what he had done would be passed down for hundreds of years. Aslan told him to throw the apple towards the river bank, on the softer ground. Then there was the official crowning of the King and Queen. While everyone was cheering behind Digory he heard Aslan tell him to look, the whole crowd turned and saw that tree had already started grow! Aslan instructs the Narnians that the tree is to be of the up most priority, it is their shield. While the tree lives and flourishes the Witch can cause no harm to Narnia.

Digory is still preoccupied with his mother and Aslan knows. Aslan then tells Digory that evil would have befallen them if he had stolen and apple, but since Aslan is going to get him to pick an apple from the tree that has just grown. He is warned though that it will not give endless life but it will help to heal her. After he got the apple they went home. Aslan tells them that they do not need rings when he is with them. I have still to figure this statement out, even after completing the book I do not know exactly what he means when he says it.

When they get back it appears that the adventure has taken no time at all, for they are brought back to the time when they left. Digory raced up the stairs and to his mothers bedroom, the fruit looked different in our world compared to the way it looked in Narnia. He talked to his mother and she agreed to eat it, so Digory cut it up for her and fed it to her piece by piece. As soon as she finished it she smiled and fell asleep, it was not the sleep that she had been getting lately, it was a real, natural sleep. What a great feeling that would be, to finally see your mother get the sleep that she desperately needs and desires. What feelings do you think were going through his mind as he was feeding the apple to his mother? Do you think he was scared that the apple would not help his mother or did he have so much trust and confidence in Aslan that he knew it would work? That evening he buried the core in the back garden. When the Doctor came by the next morning he exclaimed how extraordinary Mother's health had improved. That afternoon he went and met Polly in the garden and they buried all of the rings along side of the apple core. When they got to where the apple core was buried the day before you could already tell that it had grown some, more than normal in our world, but not the same as in Narnia either. A month later the whole house had changed, Digory's mother was well and up and about the house. She had all the windows open, the curtains drawn back, flowers everywhere, the piano was tuned, everything was much brighter and much more cheerful in the Ketterley house! To top it off Digory's father decided to come back from India forever and they were going to move into the giant country house they had!

Polly and Digory remained friends always, she would come and visit them almost every holiday. When Digory was middle-aged and the Ketterley house belonged to him a great storm came through and blew the tree in the back yard down. He couldn't even imagine having the timber chopped into firewood so, he got it made into a wardrobe. He, himself, did not ever discover the magic behind wardrobe but there were discovered by someone else. This was the beginnings of the coming and goings between our world and Narnia. When Uncle Andrew was to old to live in the house by himself, Digory brought him to the country house. By this point he had given up on Magic, he had also become a somewhat more desirable of a person. However, if he was ever alone in a room with someone he would tell them stories of a women who had a devilish temper but was quite beautiful. I hope there is no need to explain who "she" is. I had never read any of these books before this one, although I had seen the movie, "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" as I am sure most people have. I was very surprised to see how it all began, nothing like what I was expecting. I have always heard about the religious undertone to these stories and after reading this book I can easily see why. It could be seen as very similar to the creation story if one were to analyze the particulars of both stories. I want to read the rest of the books to see how they differ and how the real story goes compared to what is shown in the movie. I would suggest these books to my class but it would probably not be one that I would get a class set of, although I throughly enjoyed it(I would have them on the shelves in my classroom in a heart beat)!

A series of Unforunate events

2008-04-27T13:11:00.011-04:00

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book The First

Lemony Snicket

Brett Helquist

Scholastic, 2002

3-5th

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters." I love how this book opens, with a warning as to what is going to happen in this story. In my opinion it makes me more intrigued as to what is going to take place that is so not happy. One thing that might be possible at this point, asking the class why he might start the book off in the manor that it does. It might be too much of an advanced question but it could make for an interesting conversation if nothing else. More than likely the teacher would have to lead that discussion. Another extraordinary thing about this book, and I assume with the whole series, is that there is vocabulary built into the story line. He uses words that the students might not know and it gives them an opportunity to increase their language while enjoying a interesting book. An obvious activity to do with the students is to have them compile a vocabulary when the find the words within the story. Also you could ask the students what they think about this technique. Violet is the eldest likes to skip rocks, she is fourteen years old, they like to go to the beach even when it is grey and cloudy out, they claim it is the best time when there is no one there. She is also quite interested in inventing things, and if you knew Violet you would know that when she tied her hair back in a ribbon that she was thinking really hard and did not want to be bothered with hair. Klaus, the middle child, while at the beach would sit and examine creatures in tide pools. Klaus is just over twelve, and he was quite the intelligent lass. He would sit in their parents huge library and read the books, he had already read a great many of them. He was quite skilled at retaining the information that he read. Sunny was the youngest, just an infant, but her favorite thing to do was bite things. She was not to the point where she could speak words but she would make some sort of shrieks that usually meant much more than it would appear.

One grey day the Baudelaire children were alone on the beach when they say a strange looking figure walking towards them. Violet, who still had a stone in her hand, felt the need to throw it at the figure. If a strange figure was walking towards you, would you also have the same desire that Violet had, especially since you were the only one on the beach? As the figure got closer the children realized that it was Mr. Poe, this was quite a relief since they knew Mr. Poe. He was a friend of their parents and they had often met him at dinner parties. One thing that was special and made Violet, Klaus, and Sunny was the fact that their parents allowed them to be apart of the dinner parties. They were allowed to sit at the dinner table and talk with the adults where as, a lot of parents did not allow their children to participate in such events. What emotions do you think the Baudelaire children had at these type of parties, especially when they were quite young? How do you think it would make you feel? Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire raised their children to be very polite, even when they did not feel like it. They children try to make polite conversation, especially since it seemed very odd that Mr. Poe would come to the beach when he clearly was not dressed to be there. After only a few minutes Mr Poe says, "Your parents, have perished in a terrible fire." Mr. Poe had no tact in telling the children that their parents had died, that their house had burned, that they were now orphans. I do not know how I would have handled telling Violet, Klaus, and Sunny the news about their parents, I would hope that I would have been able to find a better way of telling them this horrific news. Here they also interject a vocabulary. What would be going through your mind after hearing this news, how would you react? If you knew that your house was going to burn down, what would you have wanted to grab beforehand? Keep in mind that you can only take what you can carry. Mr. Poe was the executor of the Bauddelaires and therefore was in charge of their money and taking care of the children, making sure they had a home to live in. For a while the children stayed with Mr. Poe while he figured out where they should move to, their parents wanted the children to live with a family member. He told the children one evening that he had found a family member of theirs that lived in the city, the children were quite perplexed because they had never meet him before even though they lived in the same city. The next morning Mr. Poe wakes up the children to take them to Count Olaf, he had to take them on his was to the bank.

Mr. Poe pulled up to Count Olaf's house, it was the prettiest house on the block. It was made of clean red brick, you could see a well maintained garden, and standing in the door way was the kindest looking woman about to go water her plants. She was Justice Strauss, and when she shook hands with Violet, Violet had a warm feeling that she had not felt since their parents died. They were quite sad to find out that this was not the house they were going to be living in, but in fact the house was across the street. Count Olaf's house was the complete opposite of Justice Strauss's house, it was covered with soot and looked as though it was quite run down. There is an amazing simile on page 21, "the entire building sagged to the side, like a crooked tooth." This would be perfect to point out to the class, especially for a language arts lesson. This simile makes the image extremely imaginable, especially to younger children. One of the first things that Violet noticed was an image of an eye carved into his front door. What would you think if you saw this and you were about to enter your new home? Count Olaf was a tall and extremely thin man, he was dressed in a grey suit that had many stains on it. Instead of having two eyebrows he appeared to only have a one, a very long one that ran together, he was also unshaven so it did not help with his appearance. Klaus tried not to cry as he looked around his new "home" since it was not in the best condition and seemed quite depressing. Right off the bat Count Olaf asks Mr. Poe about the Bauldaire fortune but, he tells the Count that the money will not be used until Violet is of age. At this the Count's eyes glinted like an angry dogs eyes do. What would you think about Count Olaf already inquiring about the money? What do you think his intentions are. There is also another great simile in this sentence, when they compare Count Olaf's eyes to that of an angry dog, another addition to a language art. When Mr. Poe left the Bauldaire orphans wished they could go back with Mr. Poe, when the children looked down they noticed that the Count had the exact same eye tattooed on his ankle that was on the front door. I wonder what the significance of the eye is.

Snicket then asks the reader about first impressions, he says that the initial thoughts usually change over time. Would you agree? Yet again I LOVE LOVE LOVE how he talks to the reader, as if he were sitting there telling you the story face to face. Well Snicket tells us that he wishes this were true of Count Olaf but, it is not. He is as horrible as he appeared on that first day and his house was just as depressing as it seemed. He took the children to their room, which all three were to share, and found that there was only one bed and they had to take the curtains off of the window to create a make shift bed for Sunny. They had no closet just a giant cardboard box where their clothes were just piled into. Of course there was also a huge painting on the wall of the eye that appeared everywhere in the house. Would anyone what to live in this house with Count Olaf? How would it feel to go from living in a very nice, large house to this? Count Olaf was horrible to the children, making them do all sorts of awful chores. He announced that his "theater troupe" was going to be coming to dinner that evening and the children were going to make dinner for all ten of them. This seems like such a ridiculous task for children, who none are older than 15, to do. They had never cooked such a meal, in fact none of them knew how to cook. It just seems to me that he is using the children more as slaves then family. The Count leaves the children a little bit of money and no real instructions as to what he wants them to serve. The orphans are obviously not happy with their new "life". Violet and Klaus talk about how much they hate it and they wish their parents were still alive. What he writes next is amazing, "Sometimes, just saying that you hate something, and having someone else to agree with you, can make you feel better about a terrible situation." Do you agree with that, does it help to talk about these kinds of things? Another thing that I love about the style of this book is that he makes you feel like you are not the only one that has hard situations. He makes it relatable to the reader. The children have no idea what to do about dinner, especially since they could find no cookbooks, so they decide to go over to Justice Strauss's house to see if they could get a recipe to make. They copy down a puttanecca recipe then go with Strauss to the market to buy what they need. In this scene there is some magnificent vocab. words that relate to food, could be used in a nutrition lesson or perhaps just interesting to see if the children have ever had any of the things that are being talked about. Olaf returns that evening with his troupe, he yells out for the "Orphans", as he calls them. Despicable. Then he freaks out because they did not make roast beef, even though he did not tell them that was what he wanted them to make. He yells at them and then picks Sunny up and dangles her high up, they other two children tell him to put her down but, he does not until his troupe arrives and enters the kitchen. They end up eating the dinner after a while of complaining about it and just get drunk off of wine. Olaf tells the children that after they clean up they are to go to bed, well at this Klaus freaks out and yells at him, in turn Olaf strikes him across the cheek knocking his glasses off his face, leaving a bruise on his face. I can't imagine even having that thought run across my mind. It is all too sad to know that this kind of thing probably happens more than we would like to think. If you feel that it would be appropriate, you could ask the class how it would feel to have this done to you. The children are so shocked and shocked by what happened that they all cry the night away.

I think this is an excellent thing to include in the story because it shows children that it is not a big deal to cry when they are sad. It might help some of the students who are not in the best situations are home to realize that it is ok and even good, to cry when they are sad.

After the events of the previous day Violet and Klaus (and Sunny) decide that after they are done with their chores they are going to go down to the bank and find Mr. Poe and tell him that they no longer wish to live with Count Olaf. So they set off, not knowing where they are going at all, to find Mr. Poe. They finally reach to bank and try to talk to him but he is very distracted and tells them that there is nothing he can do about it. I hope that today this would never happen, although I fear that it does. Towards the end of the chapter another vocab. word is introduced and Snicket even gives different examples of how the word is used. Excellent way for children to expound on their language art skills.

The next morning the children awake to find that Olaf is still at the house, despite the fact that every other morning he is not, and also that he has made them oatmeal and even put raspberries on it. He proves that he did not poison it and they children enjoy a wonderful, warm breakfast. Then he tells them that Mr. Poe had called and told him how the children had come down to the bank and complained about the Count. This shocked them since they thought the meeting was held in confidence. Count Olaf "apologizes" to the Bauldaires for being standoffish and tells them that they are to be part of his next play. He tells Violet that she will be playing the role of his wife, at this Violet has a dreadful image of being his wife. Violet tries everything to get out of being in the play but Olaf is forcing her to be in the play. The Bauldaires have a feeling that the Count is up to something, trying to get at their money.

The beginning of the next chapter Snicket, yet again, warns the reader that if they do not like terrible stories where terrible things happen to children, to put the book down immediately and not to read on. The children go over to Justice Strauss's library to try and read books about laws to see if they can discover what Olaf is up to. While they are there a horrible member of the theater troupe comes over and fetches the children, for fear of finding out what is going on. Klaus is able to smuggle a book back over to the Count's house. He stays up all night reading the book about Nuptial Law, and he finally figures out what Olaf's plan is. Its awesome how much Klaus loves to read, I feel that if children got really attached to him it would encourage them to read more books. Which is always an awesome thing to happen.

Klaus wakes up early the next day to catch Olaf before he leaves to tell him how he has figured out what his plan is. Olaf is going to marry Violet in order to get at the Bauldaire fortune. Klaus then tells him that he is going to foil his plan and tell Violet of this evil plot, however much to his dismay, the Count had already thought out the whole process. He captured Sunny and had her locked away in the forbidden tower. Klaus tells Violet about Olaf's plan and she tries to refuse to be in the play. Much to their surprise Olaf has Sunny in a bird cage dangling 30 feet in the air off of the towner. Olaf explains how he is going to kill Sunny if Violet does not agree to marry him. Of course Violet agrees since she does not want her baby sister to be killed. Immediately Violet tries to start inventing away out of this, but it seemed impossible.

That night Violet stays up all night making a grappling hook so she can scale the towner wall and get her sister down and out of the cage. She is successful at making one and getting it to where she can climb the tower. Unfortunately it hooks to a man that is in the theater troupe that has hooks for hands, and now she is locked up in the tower along with her baby sister. Shortly after Klaus is brought up and locked in the room as well. Violet, in my eyes, is one of the most selfless people, she agrees to marry Olaf in order to save her sister, how many people would do that?

Finally the night of the play comes and they children are moved down to the set and dressed in their costumes, under close watch of course. Justice Strauss had been asked to be in the play and since it had always been a dream of hers to act she readily agreed. Olaf also told her to read straight from the book so that it would sound more like a "real" wedding. In fact he did this so that he could get a legal marriage while on the stage. Violet comes out in the last scene and says "I do" when it is her turn, then they have to sign an real document to make the marriage legal. The Count however does not know that Violet has already figured out a plan, and she signs that document with her left hand, even though she is right handed. After the scene is over, Olaf stops the play and announces to the audience what has just happened. As you well can imagine the audience is appalled that they were apart of just a despicable thing. It also appears that there is nothing that they can do since it was in front of an official Justice. Olaf is extremely shocked when Violet tells him how she signed the paper with her left hand, making the document not legal. Before Olaf can tell the member of the troupe to drop Sunny, she has already been brought down and was in Klaus's arms. Olaf switches off the lights in order to escape and not go to jail, Mr. Poe takes the children home until he can find out where they are to go next. Before Olaf runs he tells Violet how he will find them and get their money then kill them.

The story ends with another line that I am quite fond of, "They didn't understand it, but like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so."

I loved this story and these books will absolutely in my classroom. There is soooooo much that can be taken from the book. Vocabulary is scattered everywhere, there are amazing lessons that can be learn and applied to everyday life. It is just such a good read and I can easily see how children would enjoy it!

Hunwigs Egg

2008-04-22T11:32:00.001-04:00

Mem Fox
Pamela Lofts
Harcourt Inc, 2005
Fiction, Animal, Friendships
Ages 3-7

Hunwick is a a bandicoot that lives at the edge of a big and dusty desert. One day there is a big and strong storm that happened in the desert. After the storm had passed there appeared an egg next to Hunwicks burrow. He asked all his neighbors if they knew what kind of egg it could be, alas no one knew. Hunwick decided that he was going to give it a home, so he took it to his burrow and made it all nice and cozy in it. He told the egg that it would be safe with Hunwick down in the burrow, he wondered what would would happen when and if the egg hatched. Every evening before he left to go and find something to eat he would cover the egg with twigs and then he waved goodbye to the egg, even though it never waved back, and "neither did it hatch". One night Hunwick mustered up the courage to tell the egg that he was very fond of it, but yet again the egg gave no reply and still it did not hatch. Hunwick and the egg would sit out under the moon light and he would tell it stories and the egg listened is silence, still it did not hatch. Hunwick would hold the egg close at night when they slept, they were always there for each other but STILL it did not hatch. Everyone began to wonder if it would ever hatch but Hunwick did not care, he had already come to the conclusion that it was not an egg but a stone that was in the exact shape of an egg. Hunwick loved the egg and it remained as his friend forever.

This is an excellent book to show how no matter what everyone else thinks about something you are fond of you should not worry but continue to be friends with whatever it happens to be. Hunwick did not care if it was an egg, the "egg" was always there for him and that was all he needed. One could use this when they are doing friendship section with the class, it would more than likely need other books to go along with the friendship unit. Another activity that would be quite interesting for the class to do was to try and find out what a bandicoot was, since we do not have them here in the USA, it is a native animal to Australia. The explanation that is in the back of the book describes the bandicoot as a bilby that is also knows as a rabbit-eared bandicoot, it is an endangered species. Also with this activity you could expand it beyond just the bandicoot and the class research other endangered species, it could also be restricted to just Australia or it could include all endangered species. The illustrations are basically in one page format, although there are illustrations are both pages. The illustrations flow but they are not necessarily running together in what would be considered a two page format. They are done in watercolor pencil on Fabriano Cotton watercolor paper. As I said this is an excellent book to use in the classroom.

Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild

2008-04-21T23:40:00.002-04:00

Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild
Mem Fox
Marala Franzee
Harcourt Books, 2000
Fiction, Clumsiness, Temper, Mother & Daughter
Age 4-8

Harriet Harris is a "pesky child", she did not mean to be so pesky, she just could not help it. At breakfast she knocked over a cup of juice. When snack time came she got jam all over he,r jeans. Even before lunch she made a mess, she dripped paint all over the carpet. When lunch got there she slid out of her chair and took the table cloth with her. At nap time she ripped a blanket apart sending feathers everywhere. Her mother did not like to yell so up until now she had just said to Harriet that she drives her wild and asked her what they were to do. Well finally her mother cracked and started to yell and yell at Harriet. Harriet gave her sincerest apology and her mother knew that she meant it and she apologized for yelling at her. They started to laugh and they laughed the whole time they were cleaning up the feathers.

This is great book for talking about being clumsy and not meaning to be. Also another important lesson a child could take from this book is apologizing for making a mess, even when they do not mean to. It shows a great relationship between a mother and daughter! It shows how both parents and children can make mistakes. It can portray that a mom can lose her temper and explains why they might yell at the child. This could help children to understand if there mom or dad sometimes yells are them. There is also a cute dog that is in every illustration. The pictures were done using pencil and transparent drawing inks on Stanthmore paper and finished on a hot press. They were single page spread style and there typically was a lot of white space around the picture, and generally in the whole book. They were pretty small in size but they were quite detailed in and of themselves. Over all I think this book would be a great read at home but it would also be useful in the classroom. Talking about respect and trying to do ones best. Hopefully Harriet and her mom do not have this kind of day everyday, that is liable to drive her mother crazy, ha!

Where is the Green Sheep?

2008-04-21T23:08:00.003-04:00

Mem Fox
Judy Moracek
Harcout Books, 2004
Animal Fiction
Infant to 5 years, as suggested on the book

All different types of sheep are named, starting with a blue sheep. There is a red sheep and a bath sheep, bed sheep, but where is the green sheep. It moves on to show a thin and wide sheep, swing sheep and slide sheep. An up sheep and a down sheep, the band sheep and a clown sheep, but still there is not green sheep. We find a sun sheep and the opposite,a rain sheep. There is a car and a train sheep, a wind and a wave sheep, but still there is no green sheep to be found. The scared sheep and brave, the near and the far sheep. We go to outer space to find and moon and a star sheep, but even they can not find the green sheep. Finally we take a peep around the page and find the green sheep fast asleep, hiding behind a green bush.

This book is PERFECT for very young readers, or even the ones who still are not able to read. It will help them learn the four different colors that are presented by the four different sheep. It can also start to help them to learn some adjectives; thin & wide, up & down, etc. They will also be able to start to identify different things; clown, wind & wave, car& train, the list goes on. The colors are very vivid in this book, which is perfect for such young readers, it helps to keep there attention on the pages. also the sentences are extremely brief and to the point. The illustrations are done in Rotring Isograph pens and Art Stretchers watercolors on Arches hot-press paper. It is a good concept book, teaching all different kinds of words used in language frequently.

Possum Magic

2008-04-21T22:11:00.002-04:00

Mem Fox
Julie Vivas
1st publised by Omnibus Books in Australia, in USA by Abingdon in 1987
Animal Fiction
1-3 Grade (perhaps)

Deep in the Australian bush lived two possums, Hush and Grandma Poss. Grandma Poss was able to do bush magic, she could do all sorts of things. she made wombats turn blue and dingoes smile, emus shrink. The greatest thing she could do was make Hush invisible. Hush was able to have great adventures since no one could see her, although she was squished by koalas at times. Another thing she loved to do was slide down the back of a kangaroo. The main reason Grandma Poss made Hush invisible was so that she would not been able to be seen by the snakes that were in the bush. One day Hush told Grandma Poss that she wanted to be visible again, she wanted to know what she looked like. Grandma Poss started to look through all of her magic books but could not find the magic for making Hush visible. Hush told her that she did not mind even though in her heart she really wanted to be visible again. Finally the next day she figured out that it had something to do with eating people food, although she did not know exactly what. So later on that day they left the bush that they had always lived in to see if they could find the food to make Hush visible. They went to Adelaide first and ate Anzac biscuits, which are a traditional rolled oat and syrup cookie. Then they are Minties in Melbourne, they are a minty nougat candy. Off to Sydney where they ate steak and salad, then to Brisbane to eat pumpkin scones. They ate vegemite sandwiches in far north Australia, vegemite is a brand name for a salty yeart spread eating on sandwiches. Finally a tail appeared on Hush! Later on they ate a piece of pavlova at Perth beach and Hush's legs appeared( Pavlova is a meringue shell topped with fresh fruits and whipped cream). Hobart, later that night, they had lamington and Hush's head appeared! Lamington is a square sponge cake dipped in thin chocolate icing and rolled in coconut. From then on Hush was visible and every year on her birthday they had a special meal of vegemite sandwiches and a piece of pavlova and half a lamington. They did this just to make sure Hush stayed visible forever, I am sure also because it was delicious!

There is no real lesson to this book, it is just a fun book for children to read! It is all about magic and trying to solve a problem. I suppose a lesson that could be taken from it would be that even if you have a problem that you do not know the answer to you should keep searching for the answer. For younger children you might have to point this out to them as it might not be that obvious. This I must say is a charming book for the young reader! This is definitely not a story you would read in upper Elementary school. Also you could point out how Hush is not afraid to eat people food, since I am sure she has never had it before. The illustrations are done using watercolor and ink, I believe since it is not told in the book. The illustrations are just priceless, they are so cute, if I may. The possums and the Koala bears! However the possums are not the same as the American possum, they are in fact much more attractive an animal!

Hattie and the Fox

2008-04-21T21:21:00.003-04:00

Hattie and the Fox
Mem Fox
Patricia Mullins
Scholastic, 1987 originally published in Australia in 1986
Early Elementary, K-1
Animal Fiction

The book starts out with Hattie the chicken spotting something in the bushes in an alarmed fashion( I suppose she is frightened or taking off guard). She must have alarmed some of the other animals because at first the goose and duck are also alarmed by Hattie's discovery, "Good grief said the goose. Well, well! said the pig. Who cares? said the sheep. So what? said the horse. What next? said the cow." Then Hattie can see more of the creature in the bushes and tells the other animals. All of the other farm animals repeat what they said the first time Hattie made her discovery. This continues until finally a Fox jumps out of the bushes, and she flies into a nearby tree. All of the farm animals freak out and the cow Moos so loud that the Fox gets scared and runs away. The farm animals were so surprised that none of them spoke for a long while.

This would be a perfect book for young children because it has a very predictable story line. For the most part the animals say the same thing over and over again. Usually what Hattie says just builds on what she told the animals on the last page. The book is perfect for beginning readers because of the element of predictability. It is also good because they are being introduced to farm animals and can see them on the pages and their names is also printed with everything they say. For say a kindergarten to have them point out the different animals to see if they could identify and tell the difference in the animals. The paintings in the book are done with watercolor. The paintings are pretty simplistic but it goes along with the story line since it is a fairly simplistic book. The entire book is done with a two page spread with the illustrations flowing from page to page. The paintings also illustrate what is being said by the farm animals and towards the end they begin to have more expression in their body language. This could also help children to start to identify what different emotions look like. This was not my favorite book by Mem Fox but I think it is very appropriate for young children. It is also a pretty accurate portrayal of what, in my opinion, what the farm animals would say if they could actually talk!

Mirror of Erised

2008-04-16T14:41:00.002-04:00

I am not going to be able to put pictures up right now because the ones I want to add I need to scan into my computer and I haven't quite figured that out yet.... So i will just write a little blurb about it...

I love the inscription on the mirror, "I show not your face but your hearts desire".

It is hard to say what is my deepest desire. I think that a lot of it would be deep inside of us on an almost unconscious level. The one thing that I know that I really would love to see and I feel is one of my deepest desires is to see my sister again. She passed away when we were both little...

I also have a deep desire to travel all over the world, I have been fortunate to have been to all of the places that I have thus far in my measly 21 years of living.

A new found passion and desire I have is for the ocean and scuba diving, I have never found something that was so incredible and made me feel the way I do. Just when you are down underwater with the creatures in their natural habitat, it is mind blowing! (April 2008)

I am not really sure of what else is deep inside of me at this point but perhaps as time goes on I will be able to add to this list.

Harry Potter Prt.2

2008-04-15T20:57:00.003-04:00

Well after finishing the book after a long absence of reading of his adventures, I find myself still extremely satisfied! I just can't help but love these books! They just still fascinate me! Well aside from that lets get down to business!

I ended last talking about how awesome it is to find one thing that you excel at. For Harry it was flying and becoming the first seeker to be a first year in a century! That must have been a great feeling compared to his previous experiences in life. I loved how he got an exception and was able to get the "Nimbus Two Thousand", also it was classic how Malfoy got so jealous after talking so much about being such a great flyer and etc. I also loved how excited Wood was about Harry, "The secret weapon". But also it showed a quality in Harry, he did not boast about it, I mean he did a little but not as much as say, Malfoy would have done I'm sure. Even from the get go you can tell that he is very good hearted.

Well the second half of the book is where the adventures really start to flow! There is the three headed dog, "Fluffy" what a name, who is closely associated with with Greek/Roman mythology, I believe his name is Cerberus, or at least one of them. I love how Hagrid has all of these crazy animals, he is the epitome of an animal lover!

One thing that might be an interesting topic of discussion would be to ask the students to think about having a family that does not care for you or even really acknowledge that you exist, although this could be a VERY touchy subject so it might be best to do in some other way, which alludes me at the moment. But you could even get the children to write down all the bad feelings that they have sometimes and talk about it. It would relate because of Harry and he expresses his feelings in his mind.

What is "Home", write a paragraph (or more depending on age group and time period) about what the word "Home" means you to. I love to hear that Harry finally has a place that he feels at home! What a magnificent feeling to finally have after 11 years. It only took 2 months for Harry to finally feel that he had a home that he was comfortable in and a family that loved and cared about him! I can't even begin to image how incredible it must have felt to have a "home" and a"family" after never knowing what it feels like!

I found it touching and ironic how after Ron had made Hermione cry all day that he (and Harry) saved her from the the mountain Troll. It just shows that no matter how you might act towards a person at one time, in a serious situation tendencies tend to change. It just shows that in times of need our true feelings come out in a strong force. And before all of this happened Harry and Ron tended to get pretty annoyed with Hermione and then after all of the happenings of the troll they seemed to become the best of friends! "There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other..." I love that quote! It is so true.

Oh and then there is Christmas! I hate Malfoy; if I haven't made that obvious yet, i guess I feel more sorry for him than dislike, but he makes fun of everyone that is having to stay over the break which I think is just very selfish. However, it does turn out to be the best christmas ever for Harry! Mrs. Weasly is so sweet and thoughtful for going to all the trouble to make Harry a "Weasly" sweater! He seemed so happy about it and I just feel like he is so thankful and appreciative for it! I would probably agree with the way Harry thought about wanting to take the invisibility cloak out by himself for the first time. It probably was a very special intense feeling to experience, considering it was his fathers who he never met. Also Hagrid makes a flute for him. And then, let us not forget, there is the INVISIBILITY cloak ! I mean just think how amazing that would be to have! And the fact that it belonged to his father. You could do a really funny and, pardon me but, cute activity. You could bring in a special piece of clothe and have it as sort of a "reward" or just fun thing to do, one child could wear it or use it once and they would get to be invisible to everyone else. Creating rules would be necessary to do, but you would have some reason that the clothe would be able to go around the class throughout the day.

Now for the mirror of Erised, I would love to be able to look into the mirror and see what would be before me. When I was reading the book I knew that Erised is desire backwards and the inscription is the same thing. It says "is how not your face but your hearts desire." I love the meaning behind this mirror! It can be taken so many ways. You could do essentially the same activity that we are doing in our class. If the class and students have blogs you could just get them to do a blog post about it (just like we are) or you could have the students write a paper about it and turn it into a writing/ drawing activity. I think it would be a crazy thing to see your family for the first time! I can't imagine how intense that would be. I think, for me, that it would be a really hard thing to have to go through, I would not really know how to handle it. I think Dumblerdore is one of the most brilliant men (at least in this fantasy world) and he knows exactly what is going on in Hogwarts. It is as if he has some kind of different sense to where he can tell what is going on, everywhere. He knew that if Harry kept going to the mirror that he would become consumed with thoughts of his family. He also knew exactly what to say to Harry to convince him that he didn't need to return the mirror or seek it out.

I remember the first time that I read this book that I just hated Snape, as I think a lot of people thought, but once you get to the end I had this kind of "awww" feeling. Although he probably did it so that he could feel like he had repaid Harry's dad for saving his life a long time ago. I also think that deep down he sees the potential in Harry to be a great wizard some day.

All in all I think that this is one of the most interesting books and I believe that it really grasps children's attention( and I have seen this). Even as an "adult" I still get great pleasure out of reading these books. I think children can take a lot of lessons out of this book if they are given a chance to. There are also a lot of things that children can look to in the book, things that they might be able to relate to. I think it is a shame and a sad thing if they are able to connect with the book in some of the horrible ways. All in all this book is pretty well rounded and a good read for anyone who enjoys things out of the ordinary...

Harry Potter Prt.1

2008-04-13T22:07:00.007-04:00

J.K. Rowling

Scholastic 1997

Appropriate for all ages based on reading ability.

First of all this is absolutely one of my favorite series! I am astounded every time I read this book or any of the others, every time I read them there is always something that I missed the first time I read it! I loved going back and rereading The Sorcerer's Stone because I can remember the first time I read this in 7th, grade I believe, so it was amazing to think about to that time and reflect on it now! I think the content of this book is appropriate for any age of reader as long as they are capable of reading this level. When I was tutoring last year with a group third graders on of the students was already reading the 3rd Harry Potter! The rest of his classmates were no where near his reading level but they all were interested in Harry Potter and most had seen the movies and would ask him classmate about it!

With regards to Rowling's vivid imagery in her stories I would have to totally and completely 100% agree with that statement! I think this is one reason that I love reading these books, still to this day, you can so easily see what she is talking about. I feel that I am right there with the students at Hogwarts! Especially I feel that I am inside of Harry's head a lot of the time. The way she writes makes you have empathy of the characters and their "lives" in the book. I feel that if I saw Harry and Ron and Hermione I would know exactly who they were and I would know all about their lives. You know the characters and you know their personalities. This book does struggle with the power of good and evil, just as a lot of fantasy books do. Every fantasy has their own evil and in this series it is Voldermort, a dark wizard. Despite the fact that this is a fantasy it is very easy to see how there are still practical life lessons embedded with in the exhilarating tale! Some of the struggles that the characters in the book go through could pertain to a student who is having similar problems in their lives. Especially with Harry people can identify with him because he is just trying to fit in. He has lived in a totally different world where he knew nothing of who he really was, this could be taken apart and have the magic removed and this could be any kid. People are always trying to fit in and be accepted, Harry is no acceptation. Within this book it shows how Harry is trying to find his own place in the world and trying to find friends and people to identify with, some people try to make the decisions for him but he realizes that it shouldn't matter about the outside but the inside is what counts. Malfoy meets Harry when they are getting fitted for their robes and he is talking about how only Pure Bloods should be allowed into Howgarts, but after Harry starts to meet some of the other students he begins to realize the Malfoy is not who you want as a close friend. That is just one of the many different examples of Harry befriending people he believes in and not just based on what others say. Also in the same scene Malfoy also makes jokes about Hagrid but Harry stands up for him despite there just meeting.

The book opens talking about the Dursley's and how "normal" they are. It is fantastic because this is something that almost every kids wants to be, every person for the most part at that. Especially for children it is very important to fit in and be "normal" and that is what the Dursley's were. They were so consumed with being "normal" that they would not even talking about Mrs. Dursley's sister, Lily. One day Mr. Dursely starts his day off normally, or so he thinks. Well all sorts of weird things happen to him that day that completely freak him out and at one point he even hears someone mention the name "Potter". Well this is the last name of Lily, Mrs. Dursely's sister, and Mr. D is to scared to say anything to his wife about this. Well eventually they find out that yes indeed they were talking about the very Potters that they are related to. The last thing they wanted was to be associated with the Potters and their lifestyle. Well despite the fact that they had not talked to the Potters in years one day their son, Harry, showed up on their doorstep.

After the tragic death of Harry's parents, killed by the Dark Wizard Voldermort, Albus Dumbledore decides that Harry needs to come to the Dursley's to live until he has come of age. One of the main reasons that Dumbledore decided to have Harry stay with the Dursely's is because he will be so famous for something that he will not even remember and Dumbledore says "Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it in?"(p 13). How would it feel to be famous of something that is such a personal tragedy? One thing you could ask children when reading this book is what they would think if they were famous for something they didn't really do or something they do not remember doing. You could also ask if they would have done the same thing Dumbledore did, taking Harry to his aunt and uncles. I think that Dumbledore knew what the Dursely's were like but he did not want Harry to grow up with everyone making a big fuss about him to his face, he wanted him to be like his parents in that they were humble and grateful people.

Harry's life is something that would be very humbling to anyone! He lived under a staircase in a cupboard where there are lots of spiders. How would it feel to live under a staircase. Make a small space, a cupboard of sorts, and have the children lay in it for a period of time and get them to imagine having to live in a space like that everyday. Harry only had hand-me-downs from his cousin who was 4 times bigger than Harry was, so he always looked a bit silly in those clothes. His glasses were always broken because Dudley would always punch him and they would not buy him new ones. I love how ironic it is that Harry's favorite apart about himself, up until this point, is his scar. A scar is something that most people don't fancy and is definitely not a favorite part of most people's bodies. But it is the only thing that is his, Harry's, no one can take it away from him. His whole life nothing was given to him but still things were taken from him. Other children never wanted to play with Harry because Dudley would beat them up so Harry was always along until one day...

One day letter after letter starts to come for Harry and in some of the most mysterious ways. Uncle Vernon freaks out and takes them out to a crapy cabin on top of a rock island in hopes that no letters will be able to reach Harry. Well it's the night before Harry's 11th birthday and as soon as it turns to midnight there come a knocking at the door and in busts Hagrid! Well needless to say the Dursely's freak out and are terribly scared of him, I mean he is huge! Well Hagrid tells Harry for the first time that he is a wizard and that he is getting ready to go to the best school for wizards.

It seems strange but almost instantly Harry has great trust in Hagrid. Why does Harry trust Hagrid so much after just meeting him? "...even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him." (p 68) I think that Harry had never felt the feeling that you can sense when someone really cares about you and I think that when he met Hagrid and after hearing what he had to say could feel that he cared about him.

Feeling out of place is something that can be a daunting thing for a person. Harry has to deal with this when he runs into Malfoy for the first time in Diagon Alley.

I love how when Harry has his first encounter with the Weasly's it is a positive one. Mrs. Weasly tells her children, specifically, George & Fred, not to bother Harry. It shows compassion, a mothers instincts had to have helped with that decision because it was exactly what Harry needed.

I think it is very interesting to see how Harry reacts when people do not want to say Voldermort but only will call him "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Names". To me this just shows how fear is something that is instilled in us and something we are not born with, well at least with some things (others are debatable). On p 107 Harry tells Ron how he would rather just say Voldermort because he was never taught that it is a name that one should not say. I agree with Dumbledore, if we do not call something by its name we give it more power and prove that we are afraid of it. You could talk to your class about this idea and see if they believe the same thing. We have to try and help future generations from being afraid of things and letting the affect them and the world negatively.

All of the first years are terrified about, well probably everything! There is a lot of anxiety about being put into the different Houses and everyone has their own desire for which house they want to be in. Having a class discussion about being the "new" person in a social situation and see what that feels like, this could be quite comical or hard for some students to talk about. Coming to a school can be a very very scary thing. No one knows what is going to happen and they are afraid especially after they learned that they will be sorted in front of the entire school. Well everyone finally gets put into their appropriate Houses and it is finally time for dinner! After dinner everyone goes upstairs and passes out after a long and exhausting day. Despite all of the excitement Harry still has a bad dream that is very similar to the ones that he has had before when he was still living with the Dursely's, he wakes up after the nightmare but goes back to sleep and does not remember having the nightmare the next morning.

The first day of school can be horrible for anyone, but Harry has everyone looking at him and whispering things about him as he passes, it makes him even more anxious then he was already. New school anxiety is something that would be a great topic for the beginning of the year, even if not associated with this story. Every single student is more than likely very scared on their first day of school, or the first day of school at new school. This could be a good and uplifting conversation to have with students. Showing them that they are not the only one that is afraid on the the first day of school could be a great comfort. Harry also gets lost all the time especially at the very beginning of the year, children could also be able to relate with this.

Harry feels that this has been a huge mistake that he is not supposed to be a wizard, a famous on at that. He feels that he is so far behind compared to everyone else and it was nothing like he expected it to be when he first heard about his destiny from Hagrid. Finally the day comes that they get to learn to fly on a broom stick, everyone is so excited and very nervous! Hermione is terrified for what seems like the first time all year! Well they get outside and ready for the lesson, well Neville, who is quite clumsy, is unable to control his broom and is knocked down and breaks his wrist. Well Madam Hooch has to take him up to the hospital wing and while she is gone Malfoy takes his Rememberall and is threatening to put it up in a tree or on top of the roof. This makes Harry really angry so he jumps on his broom and is chasing Malfoy. Well Malfoy gets nervous and just throws the Rememberall and Harry has to dive after it to catch it, which he is extremely successful at! Well he thinks that he is in major trouble when Professor McGonagall comes running down screaming at Harry. He fears that he is going to get expelled after only two weeks but to his surprise he actually makes Seeker on the Quidditch team! He is the youngest one on the team in a century!

Harry finally is starting to find his very own place in the new world of his!

If no one has not been to J.K. Rowlings website you have to check it out!

Rosa

2008-04-09T13:57:00.002-04:00

Nikki Giovanni

Illustrated by Bryan Collier

Scholastic Inc, 2005

Mid to Upper Elementary

This is a story that everyone should read! I learned a lot from this small "children's book" This story is so inspirational and I think that every single human being can learn from Rosa Parks and the small yet giant step she took that day on her bus ride home. I love how this story makes her seem more like a person that everyone can relate with. When we are taught about what she does in her everyday life it makes her seem more like every other person in an everyday life! I never knew that she was an excellent seamstress or did i know of any of the types of daily activities she did. I had never heard anyone talk about her husband before, in fact had NO idea she was married. I totally agree with the Coldecott Honor Award being given to this book.

This book would be perfect, of course, to use during black history month! Well this might not be possible but it would help students to see how it feels to be discriminated against for no reason. You could randomly choose something like eye color, and tell all the children that have that eye color that they have to stand at the back of the line, etc. And then as the day goes on change it to something else so that all of the children have experienced the replicated false discrimination. At the end of the day you could ask the children how it felt and then read the book to them. And then continue the converstation and talk about what we can do to help prevent things like that from happening again.

2008-04-08T21:09:00.003-04:00

Animals In Flight

Steven Jenkins

Illustrations: Robin Page

Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001

Informational Text, Animals

All ages in Elementary School, in my opinion

This book is all about things that fly; birds, insects, a mammal. This book has beautiful illustrations, they are made of paper collage. The illustrations are so layered and colorful and detailed. I think this book is so appropriate for many different age ranges. There are the basic sentences at the top of the pages that are written in bigger print. There are also smaller font captions that go into more detail about interesting facts about things that fly, and these small excerpts build more knowledge about these different things. The book talks about the fastest and the biggest and the smallest and all sorts of different creatures and facts about them.

I think this book could be such a useful tool in the classroom. Children are always wondering about things! So this book would be something that they would really enjoy. Every time they read the book they can gain more and more knowledge. I know that when I was reading the book and the small excerpts in there I learned somethings that I never knew and was completely astonished to find out. The illustrations are captivating! Even a child who is not able to read yet would be able to look at the different creatures in the book and see how beautiful they are.

Like I said before this would be great when teaching about animals especially when talking about birds or things that. After reading the book or after the children have been able to look through it one idea would be to have the children pick something that can fly and do some research on it and do some sort of research project. They could pick a certain kind of something that fly's and make a mobile out of and you could put it up on the ceiling in the classroom, like they were flying!

Hottest Coldest Highest Deepest

2008-04-08T16:34:00.002-04:00

By: Steve Jenkins
Houghton Miffilin Company 1998
Informational Text, Geography

This book is perfect for a Geography lesson! The illustrations are absolutely beautiful! The book talks about some of the most extreme places on earth and gives a short and comprehensible summary that most young children would be able to understand. It goes to the Highest, the Deepest, the windiest, the Coldest, the Snowiest, the Rainyist, the list just goes on! It even goes into more detail in a smaller blurb in a different area of the page. The illustrations are wonderful as I said before, they were done using paper collage. Like I said this would be a perfect lesson in Geography and the extremes of the world. You could get the class to, after reading the title, guess what some of the other extremes might be. Even just reading it and having them do an activity with the places in the book would be fun!

2008-04-08T16:21:00.003-04:00

Cesario
Confused, Hard Working, Political
Son, Sibling, Husband, Father
Lover of Farms, Arizona, Equality, Family
Feels: Confused, Underpaid, Underprivileged
Finds Happiness in Helping Others
Who needs to be paid adequately
He gives to his Community, Rights, Freedoms, Equality
He fears droughts, pesticides, judgment based on skin color
Who would like to see Equal Rights to All
Who enjoys bringing happiness to other
Who likes to not wear Shoes when he was younger
Resident of Arizona then California
Chavez

BioPoem

2008-04-08T14:01:00.003-04:00

John F. Kennedy

President, Influential Leader, Youngest President, Religious

Sibling, Husband to Jacqueline, Father

Lover: of the USA, the American Dream, Economic stability

Who feels: Revolutionary, Loyal, Loved

He needs: Another chance

He finds happiness in: being out doors

He gives: to his country

Who fears: Castro, Nuclear Weapons, Death

Who would like to see: Equivalence of Humans

Who enjoys: Time with his Children

Who Likes to wear show no fear when addressing the Nation

Resident of the USA, born in the year of 1953

Kennedy

Wikipedia

Famous People

Nonfiction Text

2008-04-08T13:55:00.002-04:00

I think that nonfiction text can be a very useful tool in the classroom. If the text is done well then the children will be able to enjoy them and might not even be able to know that they are actually absorbing information. Children need to be engaged in everything they do but if it is something that is boring or over their heads they are not going to be very engaged, but when reading something fun and informational their minds will be active in learning. Things like alphabet books can be a useful tool in helping children and they can also be adorable and enjoyable.

Cendrillon

2008-04-01T16:21:00.003-04:00

Robert D. San Souci
Illustrator: Brian Pinkney
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1998

This book was a lot like the Disney version of Cinderella, it was given from the perspective of the godmother of Cendrillon. The majority of all aspects of the French version are in this book, the magic and the slipper and a "godmother", even though she was not a fairy but works as a washerwomen.

As I said the basics of this story are all the same, the major difference is the French words that are incorporated and the fact that it is the Caribbean version. The culture is different as is the language. It starts out with the Godmother taking care of Cendrillon's mother because she is so sick and then she passes away and her father remarries. He marries a french woman who has one daughter, another difference but similarity all wrapped up in one. Once he gets remarried the stepmother makes Cendrillon do all the chores and wash the clothes. One day Cendrillon comes to the river to do the wash and for once she is not happy, the godmother asks her was is wrong and Cendrillon tells her that there is a ball tonight. All she wants to do is go to the ball so her godmother promises that she will go. The godmother gets the wand that she inherited from her mother and transforms Cendrillon into a beautiful young lady who is fit for the ball. Well just like the Disney version they must leave by midnight because the magic will wear off. Well Prince Paul dances only with Cendrillon all night and tries to chase her when she runs off, but she is gone. All that is left behind is a pink slipper that came off of her foot. Well the next day Prince Paul goes around to all of the houses trying to find that young women. The godmother sends Cendrillon down the stairs and Paul realizes that it is her and falls in love immediately. Well, of course there is the fairy tale ending, and they get married and have a wonderful life!

This story was much closer to what version I was used to. The illustrations are FANTASTIC! They were done in scratchboard, luma dyes, gouache, and oil paints. I love how the paintings look so realistic and seem to be very characteristic to the Caribbean culture. A lot of the illustrations were two page but some were just one. Typically with the one page ones the opposite page was usually bordered with something that corresponded to the other page. Just the way that these pictures were done is just incredible to me! You can see where the lines are but it does not distract from the picture or call away from the beauty of it. It is hard to explain if one has not seen the work but I just love the style. I loved how the godmother at the end suggest to the stepmother to cut off the big toes! It is like the Grimm brothers version! I loved how that small detail was incorporated into this new spin on an old story. I would highly recommend this version to anyone, just to see the illustrations.

One thing that could be done in the class that is doing a Cinderella unit is they could compile all the information on the Cinderella character and draw pictures of her. After they have written descriptions, writing activity, and drawn the characters, art activity, they would be able to make a book on all the different characters. Also would be useful would be a Venn diagram, it would probably be essential for a younger class.

Cinderella Lesson Plans

Princess Furball

2008-03-31T21:07:00.004-04:00

Author: Charlotte Huck
Illustrator: Anita Lobel
1989 Greenwillow Books

This book was quite different from the story of Cinderella that I am most familiar with. There are no evil stepsisters or an evil step mom. This is a European version of the classic story that most girls fall in love with when very, very young.

The princess has a father, a king, and he does not have much time to attend to her but she has an Old Nurse who is very wise and tries to make the princess as happy and successful as possible. She is allowed to play with the children from the village, visit the Cook and learn from him, but the Old Nurse never forgot that she was still a princess so she still is taught the most proper of manners, has many tutors. "...so the Princess grew to be strong and capable and clever, besides being beautiful." The classic image of what a princess is like, at least in the fairy tales. Well the Old Nurse dies and she is basically all alone once again. To make matters worse her father promises her to an Ogre, so she asks her father for three wedding presents. She is clever in thinking that these will be impossible to attain but alas her father was successful in giving her the gifts: three dresses - "one as golden as the sun, another as silvery as the moon, and the third as glittering as the stars." The last gift was finally ready, a fur coat made of thousands of different kinds of fur. The Princess decides that she must run away, so she does, she pack up some of her belongings and is on her way. She is found later the next day sleeping in the trunk of a tree by the King whose land she was on. She is taken by them and forced to work in the kitchen doing all the chores that no one wants to do. One day the King has a ball at the castle and the Princess convinces the Cook to let her go for half an hour. She runs to her shed and put on one of her dresses and goes to the ball, well this happens three different times. The King finally realizes that she was the mysterious woman from the balls and begs her to marry him and it happens the very next day. Finally after all of her troubles she gets the fairy tale ending, and lived happily ever after with the King.

Like I said this was some what close to the version of Cinderella that I was familiar with, but it had its own twist to it that the Disney version does not have. I really enjoyed this one, but the Disney version is still better, in my opinion, but that may be just because I am familiar with it and have grown up with that version. This story is also very classic and I could see it being around for a long time and being read to many, many little girls. I was not particularly a huge fan of the illustrations in the book. I really only liked the way that the hair on the characters was done, for some reason. The princess of course had the most lavish and beautiful hair compared to all of the rest in the book. They were done with watercolor and gouache. The illustrations were also one page ones where each page had a distinct and relevant panting to correspond to the text. I suppose I also loved two of the dresses that were in the story, that one that was of the sun and the other of the moon. The thing that I love about fairy tales is that although not possible it teaches children to think outside of what they know is reality and reach beyond to what their minds can create. Now you can't encourage this to go too far or the child may get stuck in the fairy tale world, ha (I would love to live there!!!). One thing that as a teacher you could do, is read the original (or even have the class take turns adding a part of the story outloud) and then read this version and after all of that is said and done, the children could create a story of their own. It could be developed into an on going process that would work on writing and reading skills.

"Fractured Fairy Tales: Cinderella"

2008-03-17T21:32:00.003-04:00

Mine was for the Lon Po Po, the gingko nut and then on the right is the cape of Little Red Ridding Hood. Sorry about the mess coffee spilled on it and my printer stopped working. I will reprint everything and repost a better picture later on.

Little Red Ridding Hood, Jerry Pinkney

2008-03-17T20:58:00.004-04:00

Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)

Hachette Book Group 2007

Picture Book, Folklore

All Ages

This is your classic tale of Little Red Ridding Hood. A little girl is sent by her mother to go to her grandmother's house so she can bring her food since she is not feeling well. She is told to go straight there but on her way Little Red Ridding Hood see a wolf and stops to talk to him, he has an instant desire eat her. Being clever as he was he asked where she was going and told her he was going to tag along. Well along the way she stops to pick up fire wood so that she can help to warm up her grandmother, while doing so the wolf runs ahead and goes to her grandmothers house. When he gets there he gobbles down the grandmother in one gulp. Little Red Ridding Hood gets to her grandmothers house and the wolf is in the bed, well we all know what happens. He ends up eating Little Red Ridding Hood, well he falls asleep and starts snoring really loudly. The wood cutter hears the snoring and goes inside and finds the wolf sleeping in the grandmothers bed. He ends up killing the wolf and splitting open the his stomach and the grandmother and Little Red Ridding Hood jump out. Well they enjoy her mothers soup and then Little Red Ridding Hood goes straight home and has no more run ins with any evil forest animals.

This is the classic story that everyone knows and loves very dearly. Pinkney did not change the basic story himself but he did the illustrations for the classic story. The illustrations that he did were done with pencil, water color, gouache and ink on paper. The illustrations are wonderful, very detailed and they portray the story beautifully! You could have children read different versions of the classic story then have them compare and contrast the stories.

Teaching Links:

Little Red Riding Hood and other Fairy Tales

First-School

Read.Write.Think

Swamp Angel

2008-03-16T19:14:00.003-04:00

By: Anne Isaacs

Illustrations: Paul O. Zelinsky

Puffin Books, 1994

Tall Tale, Picture Books

K-4th Grade

Caldecott Honor 1994

This is a story about a girl named Angelica Longrider, or more commonly Swamp Angel. From the day she was bore she was, lets say, larger than life. She grew up in a traditional Tennessee home back in 1815. By the time she was two she had already built a log cabin, and once she was grown she was able to do all sorts of mind boggling things. One summer there was a giant bear that was raining hell on the Tennessee settlers, he was known as Thundering Tarnation.

I would say this would be his baby picture.

Since Thundering Tarnation had eaten all of the food the settlers became worried since it was almost winter and a great reward was set for anyone who could get his pelt. As soon as people heard about the offer all sorts of Tennessee daredevils started trying to capture the giant bear, and since it was unheard of for a women to do such work everyone gave Swamp Angel a hard time about wanting to try to capture Tarnation. All of the daredevil men tried and they all had all sorts of terrible things happen to them as a result of Tarnations antics. Well it finally came down to Swamp Angel being the only one left to try to defeat the giant bear. Well they started to fight and Swamp Angel threw him up into the sky and thought she had lost him there. She was so determined to get his pelt she did many different things, at one point she even had to drink a whole lake until it was dry as a bone. Well finally a giant pine tree fell on top of Tarnation and killed him. That night they fixed Tarnation up and fed everyone in Tennessee, there was a great big celebration. Well Swamp Angel decides to keep the pelt as a rug but it was too big for Tennessee so she moves to Montana. And people think that they would never see anything of Thundering Tarnation but when Swamp Angel threw him into the sky he left a permanent mark up in the stars.

This is a fantastic story, so creative and innovative, it seems that most people do not try to create new tall tales such as this one, which makes it spectacular! Isaac's definitely had fun writing this story, at least I would think so if it were me! From the get go Swamp Angel is larger than life and already doing things out of the ordinary! It would be an excellent and entertaining story to read with a class. Getting the children to try to predict what is going would be something that would be really fun and would be useful with teaching creative thinking and story telling. You could have the children create their own tall tales and even have them illustrate them, it could be something that could be turned into a longer project that dealt with creative writing and then have a the final project where they actually make it into a book. Speaking of illustrations, the ones in this book are FANTASTIC! They were painted in oils on cherry, maple, and birch veneers. They fit with the story and they type of tale that it was just so perfectly! The illustrations were so detailed and something that could be looked at over and over because there was always some small detail that I did not notice at first glance but only saw after I looked through them again. It is refreshing to see someone create another tall tale that is current and yet sticks with the traditional genre.

Lesson Plans:

Tall Tale Lesson Plans

Read.Write.Think

Reading Is Fundamental

ArtsEdge

Lon Po Po-A Red-Riding Hood Story From China

2008-03-16T16:47:00.004-04:00

Ed Young (arthur and illustrator)

PaperStar Book, 1996 (Part of Penguin Books)

Folklore, Picture Book

2nd-4 Grade

Caldecott Medal winner in 1990

Similarities:

This is a story that is very similar to a folk tale that we all know, Little Red Riding Hood, but this is the Chinese verse of this story. It is similar in that there is a wolf that is trying to get to a little girl, but in this version it is three little girls, Shang, Tao, and Paotze. Also like the American version of this story the wolf is hungry and trying to eat the little girls. The wolf disguises its self as the grandmother in both versions also.

Summary:

When the girls mother leaves to visit their grandmother on her birthday a big wolf sees the mother leave, so later that night the wolf dresses up as an old woman and goes to knock on their door. Pretending to be their "Po Po" or grandmother, the youngest two girls get excited about seeing their grandmother and open the door for the wolf. The wolf is smart and blows out the candle so that no one can see his face, he then acts as if he is tired so they all go and lay down. The eldest daughter, Shang, feels the tail at the edge of the bed but the wolf makes up a story that would explain why it feels like fur and also why he has sharp claws. Shang lit the light and was able to catch a glimpse of the wolf's face before he blew out the light. Shang, being a very smart girl realizes that she must get her and her sisters out of the house and away from the wolf, she asks him if he had ever had gingko nuts. The wolf expresses desire for the nuts but also that "no longer can she climb trees" so Shang suggests that the three of the girls go and get the nuts. So the girls never come down and tell the wolf that he has to come get the nuts in order for them to be magical, so the wolf gets a basket and some rope and throws it to the girls. They "attempt" to bring the wolf up in a basket but keep dropping it until "not only did the wolf bump his head, but he broke his heart to pieces" and was dead. After they made sure that the wolf was dead they climbed down and went to bed and slept. When their mother returned the next day they told her of the wolf who had tried to eat them.

Reaction:

I loved the similarities that were in this book but more so the small and big differences that it had between the American version and this version. I loved how the illustrations were done in panels and that each page had multiple panels to it. I think that it might have been done with oil and or water color, but I am not very sure at this point. I believe a lot of the old traditional Chinese paintings were done with water color so that is perhaps was Young was trying to capture here. I think that perhaps one reason Young might have chosen to do the panels is because, in my opinion, it is very typical of Chinese art, the paintings that I have seen that are traditional Chinese seem to have a panel effect to them if they are not just straight up panels. I loved the lack of detail that was in the background of each of the illustrations and that everything seemed to be very traditional in its look, I think this is great for children so they can see some kind of Chinese art and style. Over all I think that this is a great book to use in the classroom, especially if you compare and contrast it to a different version. You could even do a version other than the American one of Little Red Riding Hood. Having done these different versions of the same basic story you could talk about different cultures and maybe why they were different. When I was looking up stuff about this story I found these links that have different information and activities that go along with this story.

Teaching Links:

Starting School

2008-02-27T21:33:00.003-05:00

A: Starting School
B: Franzeska Ewart
C: Leonie Shearing
D:Parragon Publishing
E: Realistic Fiction/Picture Book
F: preK-K, maybe 1st

This is a story about a little girl, Sadie, and a little boy, Sam, who are just now starting school. Sadie is very excited but Sam is pretty nervous about the whole school thing. They get there and have to say their first goodbyes to their parents and go inside the classroom, they put their stuff away and do puzzles and paintings, etc. They get introduced to the class pet, a gerbil named George, Sadie is very excited about having a class pet. They get to play on a playground, which was just fantastic because it was huge and had lots of games for the kids to play. They do music and movement exercises, learn to write simple words and write numbers and at the end of the week one of the children get to take George home. Sadie is so excited, she hopes that she will be the one that gets to take him home, and it turns out that she is the lucky one to take him home first. On Friday while the children line up to go home Sadie tells Sam that she likes school and he agrees with her.

This book is one that is not really for sheer entertainment, it talks about something that every child goes through, separation anxiety and the fear of new things as well as excitement. Most children are afraid on their first day of school and this book shows them that other children are as well and that it is very likely that they are going to have a great experience at school, even though it might seem very scary. I think this would be a great book for a parent to read to their children before they have to go to school for the first time. I would not consider this a great book by any means, it is more of one that I would suggest to parents to read to their children before they come to school and not really one I would keep in my classroom. This was a book that my mom let me borrow so it is nothing that I have ever heard of before. The book was alright, it was not outstanding by any means but it was still informative and it would be worth a read to a five year old who is about to go to school for the first time. ( I also could not find any illustrations from this book when I searched on Google.)

Feathers and Fools

2008-02-27T19:52:00.006-05:00

A: Feathers and Fools
B: Mem Fox
C: Nicholas Wilton
D: Harcourt Brace & Company
E: Picture Book, Animal Fiction, Fable

F: 2-3

This was a story about two different types of birds and how they were afraid of each. They allow themselves to become afraid of each other because of the differences that they saw. In the end these fears ended up killing the birds. They started to make weapons because they were afraid and it ended up destroying all of them. After the peacocks and the swans had died from a battle there was a peacock born and also a swan. When they walked into each other they were very curious about each other and discovered that the only difference that they had was the color of their feathers, they both had two eyes, feathers, two legs, and a head. they became friends and went off in peace and they were not afraid.

I loved the meaning behind this book, there was an excellent message that everyone can appreciate and should take to heart. The lesson of equality and not being judgmental. The illustrations were breath taking and could not have had anymore expression just within themselves. The pictures added so much to the story, just the way that the were done and were more than just paintings, they were very symbolic. Even if a child could not fully understand what was going on in the illustrations, since they are a bit abstract, the text would explain everything easily so that one could understand. The medium that is used for this extraordinary picture book is acrylic on illustration board. It is always amazing to me to see how people can make such beautiful works of art, I know that it must be very difficult, something I could never do but wish that I could. The illustrations in this book are one page type, although both pages are illustrated. The right page is always the main painting but on the left there is always just a little extra, more details added if you will. I love how Wilton did this with the pages that are on the left, I think it just shows how much work he put into doing this book and in my opinion it makes it seem like he really enjoyed this book since he did do those little extras on the left hand page. I think children and art lovers alike would be able to appreciate this picture book!

I would suggest to any teacher that the reading and showing of this story would be an excellent idea. It could be used at any time especially when talking about inequalities. It teaches a good lesson and is a fresh spin on an old principal, this is the kind of story that is timeless. With the children you could get them to talk about why the peacocks and the swans were afraid of each other, and then talk about if it is fair or not and what could be done to make this problem not happen in the future. I believe that it is important for children to understand how prejudice is something that is wrong and something that no one wants to experience.

The Straight Line Wonder

2008-02-27T19:34:00.003-05:00

A: The Straight Line Wonder
B: Mem Fox
C: Marc Rosenthal
D:MONDO Publishing
E: Picture Book, fiction
F: K-1

This is a book that is about three straight lines, one day one of the lines gets tired of always being straight. So this line starts to do all kinds of crazy things, he bends and twists. The other two lines do not like the fact that the one line is doing all kinds of crazy things, they yell at him and tell him to stop doing that, that he will be embarrassed and people will stare at him. But the line does not care and he keeps on doing those silly things and in the end it is a good thing. One day the line is spotted by a famous film director and the director thinks is he fabulous. The director makes him into a famous star. The other lines are not jealous but they do tell everyone they meet that they are his friends.

If I were a child I would absolutely love this book! It is amazing, I love the illustrations and how the line does all kinds of crazy things. I think it is fantastic. The text of the story has such a great message that I think everyone could appreciate! The drawings were everywhere on the page and it was never predictable where they were going to be on the next page, it kept my attention so well, I do not know how a child would not be entranced by this book. Aside from the Divine Wombat this is one of my favorite Mem Fox books, that I have read thus far.

This book would open up an excellent conversation or lesson plan on individuality and how important it can be. You could open up the floor for the students to tell you about how they interpret what individuality means and what it is to them. Also getting them to make a list of everything that they think that makes them an individual.

Sophie

2008-02-27T19:08:00.005-05:00

A: Sophie
B: Mem Fox
C: Brenda Lynn Robinson
D:Ian Drakeford Publishing Pty. Ltd.
E: Picture book, Multicultural
F: K-1

This is a very simple book with no more than 14 words per page. It is all about a little girl named Sophie and she loves her grandpa very much. As he grows older her grandpa grows smaller and slower. In the end her grandpa dies and she is sad until she has a child of her own.

This book, honestly was not a favorite of mine. There was not much context to the book, no real meat to the story. And I was not very fond of the ending, it just said that she was sad after her grandpa died but then as soon as she had her own child "sweetness filled the world, once again". I suppose the point was just to talk about the cycle of life but it made death seem like something that can be solved with having a child. Aside from the text I was intrigued by the illustrations they were so unique and like nothing I had ever seen in a children's book. They were made using acrylics, dyes and house paint on rag cloth. I have never heard of paintings being done like this and I thought it was a great thing to do for a children's book.

The only way that I can think to use this book would be to talk about the cycle of life. Also you could talk about how the illustrations are so abstract and exaggerated and see if the children could do paintings like the ones that are in the book.

Baseball Saved Us

2008-02-27T18:35:00.008-05:00

A: Baseball Saved Us
B: Ken Mochizuki
C: Dom Lee E:Lee & Low books
F: Historical Fiction, Multicultural, Picture Book
G: K-3

This was a book, written for the perspective of a child, that was about how the Japanese were forced to live in internment camps after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. In the book he describes how life was before they went to the camp, which was not good at all, and then how it was in the camp and it ended talking about what life was like after they had returned from the camps. The only source of entertainment they had was a baseball field that the boys father built.

I was doubtful at first when i picked up the book, but I had no idea what it was about. It reminded me a lot of what we have read of Weedflower. The similarities in the two is striking, the details are almost exactly the same. It also reminded me of Aleutian Sparrow, although they were a different race and ethnicity the same thing happened to both of these people, they were persecuted for things that were not true and totally unfair. Once I started to read the book I really enjoyed it, even though the topic is a bit on the depressing side. I really liked how the father had the idea to build the baseball field so that everyone could have something to enjoy and occupy their time. The boy seemed to be as optimistic as possible which I thought was a really good character trait. The majority of the pictures were single page including the panel type illustrations. I read on the copyright pay how the illustrations were done and it blew my mind. It from beeswax that was scratch out and the oil.

One connection that could be made is to talk to the students about fairness and treating others like equals. It would be perfect the use when talking about Japan and the Japanese people, it could follow, or proceed, reading Weedflower. They complement each other well, for younger children they probably would not be able to understand all of Weedflower but they would be able to grasp the concepts of Baseball Saved Us. You could talk about how there is a difference is sides of everything that happens, including World War 2. Another thing that would work well is trying to simulate what happened to the Japanese in the classroom, could be interesting.

Wombat Divine

2008-02-27T13:36:00.008-05:00

A: Wombat Divine
B: Mem fox
C: Kerry Argent
D: Harcourt Brace & Company
E: Fiction, Animal Fiction,Picture Book
F: K-2.5

This is one of THE most adorable books I have read in a really long time!!

Wombat Divine is all about a little Wombat in Australia who just wants to be a part of the Nativity play. Christmas is his favorite holiday and now he is finally old enough to go and join his friends and be a part of the play. So he hurries over to audition to be in the play. All of his friends are there and he is so eager to get a part in the play. He tries many different parts but is either too big, to heavy, to short, to sleepy, too clumsy, to shortsighted and finally there were no parts that appeared to be available. He was really upset that he was not able to get a part in the play and was almost in tears when someone remembered that no one had been given the part of baby Jesus, so this was given to Wombat and he "was so dizzy with pride"!

I am not sure as to what the medium used in this book is but I talked to my roommate who is an art major and she said that it looked like mostly water color with maybe some guach(No clue how to spell it). For me the illustrations are what really makes this book pop for me. I suppose it is really the text with the illustrations that make it so wonderful. The majority of the book is single page style with each page showing a different scene that goes along with the text. I love the one when Wombat is trying to be Gabriel and they are hoisting him up, or trying, and it just won't work, the expressing on Wombats face is to die for(I tried to get a picture of it off the web but still have not found one). I love stories where the characters are animals and in this book that is all that is seen and they were painted to where they look exactly like they do in real life, despite the fact that they are putting on a play and wearing costumes.

One teaching connection would be to talk about how eagerly Wombat wanted to have a part in the play and it seemed that he was not fit to do anything in the play, but he kept trying and trying to do the best he could. You could point out how he kept trying and talk to the children about perseverance and to keep trying even if it seems like nothing will work out, something always works out you just need to keep trying and one day it will come.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

2008-02-27T00:24:00.005-05:00

A: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

B: Mem Fox

C: Julie Vivas

D:(Originally by Omnibus Books in 1984)

E: Fiction and life/Picture Book

F: Younger Elementary School

This is such a fetching little book. It is all about a small boy named Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. He has four names and his favorite person in the world is an old lady who just happens to have four names as well, Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt. He lived next to the "old persons home" and so he was always over there and he knew every last one of them. There are many different types of older people in the home and they all do different things with Wilfrid Gordon but in accordance with above Miss Nancy is his favorite and he tells her all of his secrets. One day his parents are talking about Miss Nancy and said that she was losing her memory, well Wilfrid Gordon did not understand the concept of memory so he set off to find out what it meant. He talked to all of the people at the home and each person gave a different answer on what they thought was memory. So then Wilfrid Gordon goes home and he starts looking for memories of his own to give to Miss Nancy, he gets sea shells, a puppet, a medal from his grandfather, his football, and a warm egg from under a hen. He brings Miss Nancy his basket of memories and she starts to remember some of her own and then she remembers all of the secrets that she and Wilfrid Gordon had told each other. It ends here on a happy note, "Miss Nancy's memory had be found again".

The illustrations in this book mirror and follow the text very well. I am not quite sure what the medium that was used is but I think that there has to be some watercolors in there with maybe pen or pencil. The majority of the book had single page images while there were a couple of double page spreads. Even without the pictures I think that the text of this book could hold your attention fairly well, it is just a cute little story about a small boy and his friend who happens to be much older than him. The Images in this book are very realistic and charming. the only thing about the pictures that would be false is some of the proportions of the older people. Which I thought was really cute because that is probably how he felt when he was standing next to those tall men and women.

This could be used to help talk to children about older people and how we should treat them just the same as everyone else. To be respectful to those who are older than us. Also talking about curiosity would be something to discussed and I bet it would find some interesting conversations with in that context. You could ask the students to think or maybe write down something that they are curious about and then you could talk about them in class and see if the answers could be found, which could integrate the internet into a class activity. A safety talk could be appropriate there if it had not been done yet or in a while. You could possibly talk about how you need to be careful of strangers and it is generally not ok to just go into the home and start talking with the residences. Those are just a few of what could be done with this book.

The Fortune Tellers

2008-02-26T18:03:00.004-05:00

A: The Fortune Teller

B: Lloyd Alexander

C: Trina Schart Hyman

D: Dutton Children's Books (Division of Penguin Books USA Inc.)

E: Picture Book, Fiction

F. 2nd - 4th (?)

This was a story about a young carpenter, his name is never revealed, who lives in the country of Cameroon. He was very unhappy with the trade he was in and wondered if this is what he would do the rest of his life. He caught wind of a fortune teller that was coming to the town next to his, so he set off immediately to go and talk with the man and see if he could get his questions about his life figured out. The first thing that the fortune teller says is a prediction that the carpenter will become rich, "On one condition: that you earn large sums of money". After the fortune teller said that he had the carpenter hooked and he gladly paid the man. The carpenter asked all kinds of question, about being famous, getting married, and living a long life. With every question asked the fortune teller told him good news but always with one condition to it. He started to walk away after his initial questions had been answered but stopped and decided that he had more questions to ask so, he turned around and ran back to where the carpenter was. Once he got there he found the room empty and the cloth merchant's wife came in (the owned the room that the fortune teller was using) and thought it was a miracle that the fortune teller had preformed. She thought that he had turned himself from an old man into a young and handsome man. She would not believe anything the carpenter said so she made him tell the family their fortunes. Pretty quickly people kept coming and giving him money and so he decided that he would give up being a carpenter and pretend to be a fortune teller since the money was so easy. He ended up getting everything he wanted; fame, riches, a wife, and he lived a long time. Then we come to find out what really happened to the original fortune teller, he had fallen from the balcony, fell into a cart with a running bull carrying him into the savanna, was chased by a lion up a tree, broken a hornet's nest, got carried off by a GIANT eagle, and finally dropped into a river and was never seen again. The carpenter thought fondly of the fortune teller but he lived a long and happy life in his new profession.

This was a WONDERFUL picture book, quite humorous and entertaining to say the least. I think that it would easily keep the attention of any child while either reading, listening or even just looking at the illustrations.

Now the illustrations were one of my favorite parts of this book. Trina Schart Hyman did an excellent job. They were so vivid and realistic, it was so easy to visualize what the carpenter would see on his journey. I loved how whenever the fortune teller would speak of a prediction for the carpenters life there would be an illustration that had a little different of a hue to it, like it was what he would imagine it to look like if it did indeed come true. The colors were magnificent! I am pretty sure that most of the illustrations would be considered double page because most of the time the pictures flowed from the left page to the right page of visa versa. I love how the book does this it just makes the story flow so smoothly. At one point there was even a page turn effect, when the fortune teller was having to deal with all his problems that lead to his disappearance. The medium that was used was comprised of four different eliminates all of varying kind: ink, acrylic, and crayon and it is done on Arches watercolor board. I believe that the art alone would be interesting enough for a very young child just to look at, the colors are just so bright and vivid!

Over all I thought that this was a really cute story and the illustrations were beautiful. I tried to pick something other than an ordinary picture book and saw on the list that he was considered to be a writer of fantasy, even though the majority of the books i found by him were chapter books.

Me

2008-02-18T18:51:00.002-05:00

I come from unknowns
Blood unknown
From things never said
I come from love
Loss and broken home
I come from beliefs no longer believed
I am grilled cheese and "Stack-A-Meal"
Extravagant Holidays
Become a world traveler, to continue
I am music and art
Bad habits and Bad attitudes
I am the life I have become
"Adult" yet a child,
Lover of all things living
Striving to understand those things that evade me
I STAND STRONG DESPITE DEFEAT

Response to the picture book "Moses"

2008-02-03T16:15:00.000-05:00

A. Moses:When Harriet Tubman Led Her People To Freedom
B. Weatherford, Carole Boston
C. Nelson, Kadir
D. Hyperion Books for Children
E. Picture Book, Realistic Fiction
F. Ages 4-6

I was simply blown away by the illustrations that were in this book. They were breath taking! I believe that it was done with oil paints, which make for such a rich illustration and it can appear very realistic. The illustrations make the book, not that the text was not inspiring but the painting...
Another thing that I loved about this book was how the text would flow across the page. I like how when God talked to Harriet that the text was different and it would always offer advice to her and help her on her journey to a free land.
I believe that the text alone would hold the readers attention especially since the way the text would flow around the pages and even encircling Harriet on the one page. The text, on a more adult level is very inspiring, the book says that its for 5-8 year olds but I am not sure if they would be able to get all the truths out the story. It is a pretty heavy topic for kids to grasp and understand but I think they would be able to get a lot of good information out of the story! I think that they would really be able to appreciate the pictures and see them for what they are worth even though they might not fully understand what is being said in the story.
The art in the story is extremely accessible and very interesting, at the very least! I think that children would appreciate the art work but I am not sure that they would fully understand and appreciate the art work. If the children did not fully understand the story I think that they would be able understand more through the pictures and be able to know what it is talking about, perhaps.
I think that the medium that was used was the best one that would have been chosen for this book. It is a heavy topic that is something that is very realistic in our history and I do not think that using something other than a realistic medium would be able to convey was well as what was done.
I did not really dislike anything about this book, the only thing that I would have liked to have seen would have perhaps been the pictures being a bit lighter so that you could enjoy the details of the paintings. I do understand that it is a heavy topic and the pictures being darker makes it more realistic for what is happening in the text.
Over all I loved this book and absolutely thought it deserved all of the recognition and awards it got!

Response to "What Do You Do..."

2008-02-03T15:20:00.000-05:00

A. What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?
B: Page, Robin
C. Steven Jenkins
D. Houghton Mifflin Company Boston
E. Picture Book, Realistic Fiction
F Age group k-3

I love how the book has further descriptions of the animals in the back of the book! I love when small picture books can be so educational to children, even though they just think that they are reading a cool, funny book.
I think one of my favorite illustrations in the book was the one of the skunk! It was so cute and it look so life like with the tail done the way that it was. Also the Bush Baby was really really cute!
I loved how at first glance you did not necessarily know what the animal was until you turned the page and then it told something about the animal so that they can guess what animal it was before looking at what it actually was. I think the text goes so well along with the illustrations and keeps the reader very engaged. It gives just a tidbit of information of the animal a look at the body part that is going to be described and then it is revealed on the next page along with an interesting fact about the animal and how they use that part of the body.
I loved how it uses cut-paper collage to illustrate the animals it gives it it a more rich image of the animals in a unique way. I think it can make them look more realistic vs using just water color or oil paints. I also really enjoyed how the animals were just placed all over the page and not just put in a line or in a very stoic placement. It would keep the children engaged because its not very predictable as to where the animals are going to be placed on the page. I think this book is very appropriate for the age group that it targets and would keep their attention very easily. Its very easy to see how it was a awarded the Caldecott Honor!
For me there was nothing about the book/illustrations that I did not like. I thought it was wonderful, as it would appear from what I wrote above. It was very engaging and the illustrations were fantastic!
This is a fantastic picture book and I would never hesitate to use it in my classroom!