Lindsay Foster's Book Reviews

SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN MOON BEAR (Genre: Informational / module 8)

2008-05-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Search for the Golden Moon Bear
Author: Sy Montgomery
Illustrator: Nic Bishop
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Publication Date: October 2002
ISBN: 9780743205849

This is the story of the search for a new bear species that takes place in Southeast Asia. Written in Montgomery's entertaining narrative style. However this book differs in that it is written from a first person point of view, unlike like her observational third person style of books like The Tarantula Scientist and The Snake Scientist. Montgomery participates not only in the writing process but also in the scientific one, including taking hair samples from existing captured bears to perform DNA analysis. Tantalizing the bears with marshmallows and sweetened condensed milk is just one of the adventures that Montgomery experiences in this experience of discovery and observation.

ZOOBOOKS! Lions (Genre: Informational/module 8)

2008-04-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Zoobooks: Lions
Author: John Bonnett Wexo
Illustrator: Richard Orr (paintings)
Publisher: Zoobooks/Wildlife Education, Ltd.
Publication Date: March 2008
ISSN: 0737-9005

Full of color photographs, paintings, and other graphic illustrations, this periodical walks the reader through the life and habitats of lions. Part of the popular Zoobooks! series that features various animals inspired by the author's trips to local zoological gardens, this issue highlights many access features including illustrations, photographs with captions, diagrams (cutaways and cross-sections), sidebars and inserts, author and illustrator notes, and photo credits. Each periodical includes an activities insert that focuses on vocabulary development, aristic and creative activities, parental involvement activities, facts, and questions. These periodicals also include teacher lesson guides and activities available at their thematic curriculum link.

GIVE ME LIBERTY!: THE STORY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (Genre: Informational/module 8)

2008-04-25T08:15:00.001-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Give Me Liberty!: The Story of the Declaration of Independence
Author: Russell Freedman
Illustrator: Russell Freedman
Publisher: Holiday House, Inc.
Publication Date: November 2001
ISBN: 0823417530

In this 96 page recounting of the creation of the Declaration of Independence, Freedman relates the various challenges and issues that arose within the birth of the American nation. Freedman uses quotations, contextual situations, and actions to define and describe the forefathers including Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, and Washington. Additionally the book includes the full text of the Declaration, facsimiles of the first and final drafts, and a list of all its signers. This book is a sure winner for any teacher or student studying the origins of the United States.

THE REASON FOR A FLOWER (Genre: Informational/module 8)

2008-04-25T08:08:00.001-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: The Reason For a Flower
Author: Ruth Heller
Illustrator: Ruth Heller
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication Date: February 1999 (reissued)
ISBN: 9780698115590

Heller is known for informational books written in rhyme and this book is no different. Labeling the parts of a flower as well as its purpose in the ecosystem, Heller walks the reader through the botany and ecology in a simple story with an entertaining rhythm. The illustrations are beautifully done and include some flowers that don't appear to be flowers but really are. This is part of Ruth Heller's "World of Nature" series.

GALAXIES, GALAXIES (Genre: Informational/module 8)

2008-04-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Galaxies, Galaxies
Author: Gail Gibbons
Illustrator: Gail Gibbons
Publisher: Holiday House, Inc.
Publication Date: September 2006
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2002-5

Take a bite out of the Milky Way and explore our universe in this delightful book about our solar system (albeit now outdated due to recent astronomical redefinitions) and the galaxy in which we live. Learning about astronomy the science, the astronomers who make this science their livelihood, telescopes, and the types of galaxies that are classified makes this a great resource for a basic astronomy information in the classroom, with caveats regarding distortion of size and redefinition of planets.

Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures, Vol. 1 (Genre: Fantasy/module 7)

2008-04-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information:
Title: Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures, Vol. 1
Author: J. Torres
Illustrator: J. Bone
Publisher: Onipress
Publication Date:
ISBN: 978-1-929998-20-3

Alison Dare is not your typical 12-year-old. The daughter of an archeologist/adventurer and the masked hero known as the Blue Scarab (and the niece of an international super-spy), Alison's life has always been different from other girls her age. A craving for danger is in her blood. Sent by her parents to the prestigious St. Joan of Arc Academy for Girls, hoping that this would lead to a more "normal" life for their daughter, Alison and her cohorts, Wendy and Dot, seem to have the adventures find them. Genies, bank robbers with super powers, and members of the peerage bent on world domination all cross Alison's path. A modern day, preteen combo of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, these graphic novels are sure to be a hit with youngsters of both sexes.

THE RIVER OF WIND - Guardians of Ga'Hoole Series #13 (Genre: Fantasy/Module #7)

2008-04-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information:
Title: The River of Wind (Guardians of Ga'Hoole Series #13)
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Publication Date: July 2007
ISBN-13: 9780439888073

The owls are seeking out a sixth kingdom in this thirteenth book of the series. Following the religious incident with the ember worship which nearly destroyed the colony, Coryn and the Chaw of Chaws have returned order. However the band must seek out the new kingdom when Bess, from the Palace of Mists, discovers the unknown sixth kingdom across the Unnamed Sea. The owls set out on a quest to discover the new land and also to rescue one of the triplets who has wandered astray and been sucked into the River of Wind, unbeknownst to the band. They discover a new group of monastic owls who differ than any others from the Five Kingdoms but the challenge comes from the race against the Purists and their desire to restore the ember. This low fantasy novel features talking owls and other creatures as well as foreign settings and is indicated to appeal to nine to twelve year olds. The owl language can be difficult to follow at times and this doesn't seem to be a good series to start at a midpoint as the previous story lines tie into the current one.

ARTEMIS FOWL: THE ARTIC INCIDENT (Genre: Fantasy/module 7)

2008-04-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Artemis Fowl : The Arctic Incident
Author: Eoin Colfer
Publisher: Hyperion/Miramax Kid
Pub. Date: May 2003
ISBN-13: 9780786817085

Artemis Fowl, the thirteen year old criminal genius and mastermind returns in this book to rescue his father from the clutches of the Russian Mafiya. However, Fowl's plans run afoul of the LEPrecon forces that seek him out based on curious goings-on in the Underworld. Forced to ally himself with Captain Holly Short and the other magical creatures of the LEPrecon regime, Fowl may not be able to ransom his father in time. This fantasy book transports the reader through the center of the earth and to the Artic Circle. Following traditional fantasy celebrating imagination and intellect this series engages readers both young and old.

WIZARD OF OZ (Genre: Fantasy/module 7)

2008-04-13T07:14:00.001-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: The Wizard of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Pub. Date: March 1995 (reprint)
ISBN-13: 9780140366938

The first, in a subsequent series of fourteen fantasy novels, takes Dorothy Gale from Kansas to the emerald land of Oz as a result of a cyclone. This novel has been noted for its political overtones and themes which were revelant to social issues of the day, such as the gold and silver standards, however the novel itself has withstood the test of time. Dealing with various children's fears regarding a lack of dedication (heart), lack of intelligence (brain), and childhood nightmares and worries (courage), the book takes a turn into each child's imagination and teaches them that their concerns can be overcome. This book makes an excellent read aloud and the film version starring Judy Garland, while not to be missed, is and inaccurate retelling of Baum's bedtime tale.

CHRONICLES of PRYDAIN: THE BLACK CAULDRON (Genre: Fantasy/module 7)

2008-04-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: The Black Cauldron (Chronicles of Prydain Series #2)
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated
Pub. Date: May 2006
ISBN-13: 9780805080490

In this third book of the Chronicles of Prydain series, Taran, the assistant pig keeper, goes in search of one of his charges Hen Wen who appears to have gone insane. Taran discovers that Hen Wen is in fact magical and possesses powers of premonition. Through Hen Wen's visions, Taran and guardian Dallben discover that the Horned King seeks the Black Cauldron, a vessel which contains the imprisoned soul of an evil king and that the Horned King plans to utilize Hen Wen for that purpose. Taran encounters Gurgi, a creature who wishes to befriend Taran, while traveling through the forest but must follow the dragon like creatures that capture Hen Wen and take her to the Horned King. Taran saves Hen Wen by pitching her into the moat but himself is captured and placed in the dungeon where he encounters Princess Eilonwy who is dismayed to discover that Taran is not a hero but instead an assistant pig keeper. Taran and Eilonwy encounter Fflewddur and it is at that point that Taran discovers his sword and its magical abilities. Later in the woods, the witches, now in the form of clouds, inform the heroes that the Black Cauldron can never be destroyed, but only its evil power can be stopped. A living being must climb into the cauldron of his own free will, however the good person shall never climb out alive. This novel is based loosely on Welsh mythologies however it deviates from Welsh lore and the geography and history are not Welsh in nature. This book follows the traditional hero tale as well as including elements of high fantasy: unusual creatures, quests and magic.

ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS (Genre: Historical fiction/module 6)

2008-04-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information:
Title: Island of the Blue Dolphins
Author: Scott O'Dell
Publisher:
Publication Date:
ISBN:

This is the 1960 Newbery Award winning tale of Karana, based on the real life individual Juana Maria a member of the Nicoleno tribe who was stranded on San Nicholas Island. Karana's small village of Ghalas-at is visited by Aleuts who wish to hunt sea otters on their island. The Aleuts attempt to leave before paying the villagers. A war breaks out and many of Karana's tribe are killed. When a village elder attempts to get a ship to take the remaining tribe to safety a storm breaks out and Karana jumps ship when she realizes her brother has been left on the island. Karana's brother is subsequently killed by the village dogs which have become feral and she takes on duties and responsibilities previously reserved only for the men in the tribe in order to assure her own survival. Avowing revenge on the dogs, Karana kills many of the feral pack but injures the leader whom she later befriends. The Aleuts return, this time with a young woman who eventually befriends Karana. Later a ship appears to rescue Karana. She dresses in her finest clothing, a skirt made of cormorant feathers and a sea otter pelt top. Her rescuers determine that Karana is unprepared for civilization, dress her appropriately, and take her to a mission in Santa Barbara. This book remains a popular choice because it discusses gender roles and responsibilities, offers an opportunity for youth to debate whether they would be able to step up as Karana did, and offers an opportunity to discuss various environmental concerns. Young adult readers may identify with Karana for her courage and nobility as well as her personal dedication.

THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER (Genre: Historical Fiction/module 6)

2008-03-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information:
Title: The Sign of the Beaver
Author: Elizabeth George Speare/ read by Greg Schaffert
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: July 1984
ISBN: 9780440479000
Format: Audio Book CD 3 hours 10 mins (3 CDs)

This book about a twelve year old boy, Matt, is set in the wilderness of Maine during the late 1780s. Matt and his father establish a homestead for the family, including Matt's mother and siblings, however Matt's father must return to fetch the remainder of the family. Left to face the wilds alone with an heirloom family timepiece and a shot gun, Matt faces many challenges. Losing the gun to a drifter, the crops to local wildlife, and his rations to a bear, Matt takes opts to raid a bee hive in order to add honey to his diet. His failed attempt results only in multiple bee stings and during the attack, Matt sprains his ankle while diving into the river, only to be saved by the local savages, some Native Americans who offer him assistance. In return Matt offers his only book, Robinson Crusoe, but Attean, the young Penobscot native, does not know how to read English. In exchange for food, Matt offers to to teach Attean how to read. The two establish an unlikely friendship, which lasts several months. Forced to choose between his new found friends or waiting for his family, Matt must decide between guaranteed survival and his family. The book offers a very realistic view of the expectations for a young man in the late eighteenth century as well as an historically accurate portrayal of individuals in that part of the country at that time. The audio recording is entertaining; the reader truly puts enthusisasm into the book and encourages listening.

BUD, NOT BUDDY (Genre: Historical Fiction/module 6)

2008-03-26T20:06:00.001-07:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Bud, Not Buddy
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Illustrator:
Publisher: First Dell Laurel Leaf
Publication Date: September 2004
ISBN: 9780553494105

Bud is a foster child living in Depression era Flint, Michigan. His mother has passed away and Bud quickly discovers that the foster care system in which he has been placed is less than desirabel. Meeting up with a fellow foster child, Bud hops a train in search of the father that he has never known except through a newsprint advertisement. Bud narrates the story through life lessons or rules that he has learned, ways in which he copes with the uncertainty of his environment. Young adult readers will identify with the struggles that Bud faces daily, particularly those from lower income families or those from foster care situations. Additionally, Bud's insights into human and adult behavior offer a unique perspective of a youngster's mature view of the world and the way that it works. Young readers will identify with Bud's insights into the ignorance and general stupidity of the adult world and its workings.

THE WRIGHT 3 (Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction/module 5)

2008-03-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

This is a sequel to Chasing Vermeer and features characters Calder and Petra and the addition of Calder's friend Tommy, who moved away a year before, and who is jealous of Calder and Petra as they received recognition for saving the Vermeer. Tommy feels that he deserves something, as he is the "expert finder." On Tommy's first day of class, their teacher announces that the world-famous Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is scheduled for demolition. The class takes a field trip to the house, and both Calder and Petra discover that there are many secrets concerning the building that they were not aware of. The trio, who call themselves the Wright 3, work to save the house.. Tommy finds a fish talisman in the Robie House garden and realizes it was worth a lot of money. Finally, after saving their own lives, they manage to save that of the house. As in Chasing Vermeer, the illustrations in this book help to give young readers something to look for, in this case a fish. As with much contemporary realistic fiction, this book deals with peer situations that will appeal to young adult readers and who can connect with characters of Calder, Petra, and Tommy who are social outcasts.

CHASING VERMEER (Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction/module 5)

2008-03-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Information

Title: Chasing Vermeer

Author: Blue Balliett

Illustrator: Brett Helquist

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Publication Date: June 2004

ISBN:9780439372947

Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay sit in the same class but they would never associate with one another until a series of unusual events brings the two into a search for various pieces of art created by Peter Vermeer. However, nothing is as it seems and no one seems to be forthcoming with the truth. Instead the two young sleuths must solve an international art crime using nothing but what they are learning in school, their own skill of logic, and a bit of intuition. This book includes puzzles and various key elements in the illustrations which make it an ideal book for the child who has lost a bit of interest in reading and needs to be inspired to read between the lines - literally. The story is simply engaging and it brings to mind a young, gen X Tommy and Tuppence. Additionally this book offers information and insight into the world of classical art without being overly preachy or educational.

JUNIE B., FIRST GRADER AT LAST! #18 (Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction/module 5)

2008-03-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Bibiliographic Information:

Title: Junie B., First Grader At Last!

Author: Barbara Park

Illustrator: Denise Brunkus

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Publication Date: August 2002

ISBN: 978375815164

The unsinkable Molly Brown of the twenty-first century, Junie B. Jones has passed on to first grade. Junie anticipates this event with excitement and trepidation, however she struggles with her new teacher and with the challenges of first grade life. When Junie is asked to copy words from the blackboard, a new challenge arises - poor eyesight! Junie's desire to fit in and yet to be unique reflects the everyday experiences of youngsters today. This book is the eighteenth installation in the Junie B. series. Young readers who are just beginning to tackle chapter books will enjoy the simple text and contemporary themes of peer pressure, friendship, and surviving every school day without embarrassment. These books are also ideal for read alouds as they have short chapters. The illustrations occur often enough to engage readers who are moving out of picture books into more abstract literature and Brunkus' drawings reflect a cartoonish yet realistic character who is larger than life.

THIS LITTLE PIGGY WITH CD: LAP SONGS, FINGER PLAYS, CLAPPING GAMES, AND PANTOMIME RHYMES (Genre: Poetry/module 4)

2008-03-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information:

Title: This Little Piggy with CD: Lap Songs, Finger Plays, Clapping Games and Pantomime Rhymes

Author: Jane Yolen (editor)

Illustrator: Will Hillenbrand

Publisher: Candlewick

Publication Date: February 2006

ISBN: 978-0763613488

Colorful and engaging illustrations accompanied by lyrics and sheet music set this anthology of sixty rhymes, finger plays, and songs for toddlers and their care givers apart. Familiar games and chants are accompanied by the not-so-familiar and the compact disc features thirteen of the various rhymes and finger plays in the anthology. Children will hop, dance, sing, and chant along with the bouncy rhythms and fun accompaniament of the CD. Yolen had previously featured some of these poems and rhymes in her collection Lap Time Song and Play published in 1989 but this collection is more comprehensive and cohesive, and the CD adds additional support for the preemergent reader. Parents will appreciate the small type instructions and children will enjoy the wonderfully entertaining illustrations.

HONEY, I LOVE AND OTHER POEMS (Genre: Poetry/module 4)

2008-03-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

Biographical Information
Title: Honey, I Love and Other Poems
Author: Eloise Greenfield
Illustrations: Diane and Leo Dillon
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: May 1986
ISBN: 9780064430975

This collection of poems written from the point of view of a child discuss the "loves" in her life and the daily activities. From her observations at school "Miss Allen smiled/and blinked her eyes/and plinked the piano/and pushed the pedal/And the pdeal said/SQUEEEEEEEAK!/and we laughed/But Miss Allen didn't" to her expressions of enjoyment at the manner of speech of her cousin from the south "'Cause every wod he says just kind of slides out his mouth." The illustrations of childlike chalk or pencil drawings interspersed with the beautiful charcoals of the young narrator add to the realistic and fantastical elements of the poems. These poems will touch the heart of any child.

THE BEAUTY OF THE BEAST: POEMS FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM (Genre: Poetry/module 4)

2008-03-01T10:41:00.001-08:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the Animal Kingdom
Author: Jack Prelutsky (selected by)
Illustrator: Meilo So
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date: March 2006
ISBN: 9780679870586

An anthology of various animal poems accompanied by beautiful watercolor illustrations discuss everything from insects to reptiles to fish to birds to mammals. Poems are written by a variety of authors including Margaret Wise Brown and Robert Frost as well as Marianne Moore and Jack Kerouac. The end pages are wonderful watercolors that evoke feathers and fur and the cover illustration predates the collection. Ideal for explanation as well as enjoyment, this collection is sure to grab the reader's attention for creatures great and small.

!PIO PEEP! RIMAS TRADICIONALES EN ESPAGNOL/TRADITIONAL SPANISH NURSERY RHYMES (Genre: Poetry/module 4)

2008-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information:

Title: !Pio Peep! Rimas Tradicionales en Espagnol/Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes

Author: Alma Flor and F. Isabel Campoy (selected by); Alice Schertle (English adaptations)

Ilustrator: Vivi Escriva

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: February 2003

Even a non-native speaker of Spanish could enjoy this lovely collection of traditional Spanish nursery rhymes. Paired with the Spanish, the English "poetic recreations" offer a unique perspective on the native oral traditions of the Hispanic culture. The soft illustrations are enticing to young and old eyes. When read aloud, the Spanish poems are gently soothing and pleasing to the ear. The twenty-nine different selections express a variety of childhood activities from finger play type games to star-gazing to animal observations.

BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD (Genre: Traditional Literature/module 3)

2008-02-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Beautiful Blackbird
Author: Ashley Bryan
Illustrator: Ashley Bryan
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date: December 2002
ISBN: 9780689847318

The illustrations in this fascinating "why" book explaining how birds were colored with black are mesmerizing. The author/illustrator, who used scissors to create the beautiful collages, creates images that assist with the telling of this rhythmic Zambian tale. Children will surely want to chant along with the rebus of the book "Black is beautiful, uh-huh." Blackbird, unlike other children's literature characters such as the Rainbow Fish, willingly shares as much of his black coloration with other birds as possible, however his focus remains on the beauty within each bird. This book's focus on one's inner beauty makes it a unique tale and a tale that stands out among folk literature. The ending is a bit abrupt and my leave younger readers wondering, but the overall effect of the book makes it a must read. Appropriate and engaging for readers of all ages, Blackbird reminds everyone that one cannot judge a bird by his feathers.

ON NOAH'S ARK (Genre: Traditional Literature/module 3)

2008-02-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information:

Title: On Noah's Ark

Author: Jan Brett

Illustrator: Jan Brett

Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons

Publication Date: September 2003

ISBN: 9780399240287

Noah's granddaughter narrates this story of the days leading up to and the days spent on the ark. She describes the challenges getting all of the animals aboard, where they all fit on the boat, and the ensuing chaos. Noah's granddaughter calms the animals and helps them to fall asleep until forty days later when her dove goes out to bring back a green leaf. This is an interesting perspective of the Noah's ark tale. First, the story is told from the point of view of the granddaughter, in first person. This brings the tale a realistic touch for children because they can associate with a the young girl. Second, as always Jan Brett includes illustrations in the margins as well as with the main body of the text. Brett uses various shapes (my daughter said they looked like cookie cutters) to include additional information about the story in the sidebar illustrations. Each page includes a minimal amount of text, telling the Noah's ark story in a simplistic yet easy to read fashion. Finally this book has beautiful illustrations that truly do help to tell the story. Brett and her husband travelled to Africa to help her recreate the mammals and birds that appear in the text. The papyrus paper that appears on the borders of the book was inspired by Brett's trip in which she saw the large amounts of papyrus plants growing along the Okavango Delta. It's obvious in this work, that the African trip influenced Brett's work in this publication because Brett describes the experience as "primal" in the jacket notes and the simplicity of the illustrations belies a native, natural feel. This book is appropriate for all audiences as it doesn't have the moralistic feel of a traditionally Biblical Noah's ark tale. Brett omits the references to God or punishment that are often associated with this story and instead includes the essential elements of the paired animals, the forty days and nights of rain, and the dove bearing the greenery to signify the end of the storm and the receeding waters.

THE GOLDEN MARE, THE FIREBIRD, AND THE MAGIC RING (Genre Traditional Literature/module 3)

2008-02-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information:

Title: The Golden Mare, the Firebird, and the Magic Ring

Author: Ruth Sanderson

Illustrator: Ruth Sanderson

Publisher: Little Brown & Co

Publication Date: April 2001

ISBN: 9780316769068

A young man, Alexi, wishes to serve as a huntsman for a tsar of Russia. Upon entering the woods, Alexei encounters a golden mare whose life he spares. In return for sparing the animal's life, Alexei is offered the opportunity to gain his goal. The tsar wishes to keep the mare for himself, but the horse only allows Alexei to be her rider and so the tsar settles for Alexei's service to him as a huntsman. Because jealousy clouds his emotions the tsar sends Alexei on formidable tasks including capturing the Firebird and procuring Yelena the Fair, a beautiful young maiden. Despite these Herculean type tasks, Alexei succeeds with the assistance of the golden mare, and eventually tricks the tsar and becomes tsar himself.

The oil illustrations in this story are gorgeous. They assist in telling the tale which is appropriate for older elementary aged children and middle schoolers. Rich in color and detail, the illustrations truly bring a sense of wealth and age to the book.

The story of a Russian folk tale, similar to the northern European tale of Puss in Boots, offers an enchanting story in which a commoner achieves greatness with the assistance of a magical helpmate animal. The golden mare serves as Puss in Boots and Alexei is the miller's youngest son. Following the instructions of the mare, Alexei achieves reknown and struggles with his feelings regarding his insincerity toward Yelena the Fair.

This book is a bit too complicated and the story too intricate to interest younger readers/listeners. Older children will be enchanted by the rich color, double page spread illustrations and the story's intracacies, but younger children may lose interest. The text is longer and the story would certainly be appropriately broken into segments for a wonderful bedtime story reading.

This is another of Sanderson's attempts and The Crystal Mountain was critically acclaimed as a success.

HORSE HOOVES AND CHICKEN FEET: MEXICAN FOLKTALES (Genre: Traditional Literature/module 3)

2008-02-20T09:46:00.001-08:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Horse Hooves and Chicken Feet: Mexican Folktales
Author: Neil Philip (selected by)
Illustrator: Jacqueline Mair
Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date: September 2003
ISBN: 9780618194636

This colorful Aesop award winning book contains folktales from the Mexican and Mexican American cultures. Filled with vibrant colors and authentic illustrations, the book offers insight into the religious and daily lives of the individuals who passed this one through oral tradition. Tales such as The Two Marias are reminiscent of the classic fairy tale Cinderella while The Story of the Sun and the Moon combines elements from Puss in Boots and Jack and the Beanstalk. Other tales seem to be more locally flavored such as Pedro the Trickster, a story of man who cheats Death itself. Religious icons and themes are prevalent in this collection with appearances by Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, God, the devil, and Death personified, however this is keeping with the strong Catholic ties that lie within the Hispanic culture and should be viewed in that manner. Stories like The Mule Drivers Who Lost Their Feet surely will make children laugh will glee at the lack of common sense that adults sometimes display. The end notes assist in locating original sources for the tales and the end papers, respendent with chilis, give the book its truly southwestern feel.

DIM SUM FOR EVERYONE! (Genre: Picture books/module 2)

2008-02-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information:

Title: Dim Sum For Everyone!

Author: Grace Lin

Illustrator: Grace Lin

Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: January 2003

ISBN:9780440417705

In this charming story, a young girl and her family go to a local restaurant to sample the dim sum. Dim sum literally translated to English means "little heart" or a "touches the heart" but in this playful romp through the various dishes, it means tasty meal for a little girl and her family. Each member of the family has a different favorite dish and the reader is introduced to each character and his or her palate, culminating in the family feast to be shared by all. The illustrations and simple text make this book a wonderful read aloud. Lin's use of color as well as her nod to her native culture interest even the youngest of readers. The end of the book carries notes regarding the history of dim sum and traditions within Asian eating, but the endpapers are truly a masterpiece. Each set of endpapers includes illustrations and labels for the various dim sum dishes. And like most Chinese meals, this book once read will leave you satisfied but wanting to read it again in another hour!

BUT EXCUSE ME THAT IS MY BOOK (Genre: Picture Book/module 2)

2008-02-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data

Title: But Excuse Me That Is My Book

Author: Lauren Child

Illustrator: Lauren Child

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: January 2006

ISBN: 9780803730960

Brother and sister, Charlie and Lola of the Disney Playhouse series of the same name, are heading to the library to check out books. Lola has decided that her favorite book Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies is the only text that she can check out. However Lola discovers her book missing from the shelves when she arrives at the library. Charlie attempts to introduce Lola to books of various types, styles, and topics until he determines what she wants in a book. Lola spies another patron with Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies and promptly wants to give up on Cheetahs and Chimpanzees - the alternate book that Charlie has recommended based on Lola's descriptions. Lola learns that there can be more than one favorite book.

My children, ages 4, 6, and 8, all enjoy the Charlie and Lola series featured on Playhouse Disney. Charlie, the older brother, frequently tries to assist Lola in various situations. In this book, Charlie is trying to help Lola to find another book to read since her text has been checked out by another patron. As is common with many young readers, Lola has repeatedly requisitioned the same text and she doesn't wish to change to another.

While I like the collage style of the illustrations and I appreciate the overall message (that there are many good books in the library to be found on a variety of topics) I really don't care for the premature adult position in which Charlie has been placed. Charlie, although Lola's older brother, is forced to help Lola circumnavigate the options until he determines what her specific requirements in a book are: lots of pictures, a story, no big words, and animals to make her laugh. I think that it's wonderful that the older brother is helping Lola, but the fact that he is acting as a surrogate father (in this story the father takes them to the library but makes no appearance in any of the illustrations) for Lola is distasteful to me.

Further, I think for younger readers, the type face and the collage in the text is confusing and is certainly grammatically incorrect. I wouldn't want to use this book to demonstrate the proper grammatical presentation for book titles, which are not italicized but appear more as cutout letters from newsprint or magazines.

Overall the theme of the book is strong - check out the options available to patrons at the library as one might find other topics that he or she likes, but the underlying concepts left a bad taste in my mouth.

I WILL NEVER NOT EVER EAT A TOMATO (Genre: Picture Book/module 2)

2008-02-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data

Title: I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato
Author: Lauren Child
Illustrator: Lauren Child
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: September 2003
ISBN: 9780763621803

Brother and sister, Charlie and Lola of the Disney Playhouse series of the same name, return in another book. This time Charlie is trying to convince picky eater, aka Lola, to try foods that she would normally reject. At the beginning of this text Lola lists quite a long set of dislikes and won't eats in order to reject the meal being set before her. However in his mature and charming manner, Charlie convinces Lola that the various food items are merely alien foodstuffs and Lola gobbles them up rather than allow such delicacies to go untouched.

As I have said before in the But Excuse Me That Is My Book review, while I find these books to be appealing to the children for whom they are written, ages three to eight approximately, this book even more so than But Excuse Me puts Charlie in the role of the absentee parent. In fact the text states, "Sometimes Mom and Dad ask me to give Lola her dinner." (p. 1) I'm not entirely certain how old Charlie is, but I don't ask my eight-year-old son to convince my four-year-old son to eat his veggies.

That having been said, this text certainly is creative in its nomenclature of the various foodstuffs that Lola would normally reject. The carrots are not carrots but instead are "twiglets from Jupiter." (p. 10) The green peas are "green drops from Greenland" (p. 12) which are "so incredibly rare" (p.14) as Charlie offers to remove Lola's serving and consume it himself. I particularly enjoy when Lola turns the tables on Charlie and requests the dreaded tomatoes, which are not tomatoes but instead "moonsquirters." (p. 28)

Certainly every parent of a picky or fussy eater could use this book as a resource for encouraging varied and healthy eating.

MOVE OVER, ROVER! (Genre: Picture book/module 2)

2008-02-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data:
Title: Move Over, Rover!
Author: Karen Beaumont
Illustrator: Jane Dyer
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
Publication Date: September 2006
ISBN: 9780152019792

Rover the dog is quietly napping in his doghouse when a rainstorm threatens his peaceful existence. Joined by a cat, a raccoon, a squirrel, a bluejay, a snake, a mouse, and one other unwelcome guest, Rover waits out the storm. All of the critters scatter to the four winds when they discover a skunk in their midst, but the storm ends and finds Rover back at home safely ensconsced in his doghouse.
First, the illustrations are fantastic! Colorful, vivid and highly entertaining, these watercolors and liquid acrylics enchanted the reader. Hiding the skunk in the initial frames makes a "search and find" activity in the second, third, and fourth read throughs a must for young readers!
Second, this is a wonderful book to act out in reader's theater or to assign parts during a read aloud. The easy rebus makes chanting various parts simple even for the preemergent reader and the youngest of children laugh at the doghouse's capacity crowd. Additionally, creating a storyboard, overhead, or flannel board story for this book would be very simple and would add to the listener's participation activity as young readers place the various animals into the doghouse.
Finally, simple text, easy typeface and font, limited sentences per page, and predictable story make this an ideal early reading book. Even struggling readers will chime in and read chorally or echo previously read portions and this book being an ideal text for developing specific rhyming lessons or listening for beginning sounds lessons.

ELIJAH OF BUXTON (Genre: Young Adult/Historical Fiction / module 1)

2008-01-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information:
Title: Elijah of Buxton
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Illustrator:
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Publication Date: August 2007
ISBN: 9780439023443

Plot Summary:
Elijah is the first generation of free-born members of his family. Escaping the oppression of the pre-Emancipation Proclamation and pre-Civil War torn United States, Elijah's family escaped to an established free-black community in Canada. The book focuses on events in Elijah's life - attending school, doing chores, fishing, and playing with his friends. Elijah experiences growing up free in a settlement of former and escaped slaves and he is just beginning to understand what that means when the local "preacher" steals money that is being saved to purchase the freedom of others trapped in the U.S. Elijah embarks on a mission to return the funds to their rightful owners and crosses into the prejudice ridden United States.

Critical Analysis:

From the author of Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 comes another award winning novel describing the trials and tribulations of young Elijah, a freed slave who lives in a free-black community in Canada in 1859. Elijah is known as the baby who threw up on famous African American and former slave, Frederick Douglass, and he carries with him throughout the novel a view of the importance of himself and his people.

In this pre-Emancipation era, freedom is cherished. Every slave who makes it to Buxton is greeted by the tolling of the Liberty Bell atop the schoolhouse, repeated 20 times. Buxton, Ontario, Canada was an actual stop along the Underground Railroad and was founded as a community for freed or runaway slaves by an abolitionist.

This book takes a candid, yet fictitious, look at the every day life and events of a twelve year old child. Elijah attends school but his teacher is also the Sunday school teacher so in the words of Elijah, "the man is on you like a tick." (p. 78) Elijah struggles with growing up; his mother claims he is fra-gile but as Elijah has experiences including revealing the death of another member of the community's husband, Elijah believes he is growing up and becoming less fra-gile; his mother acknowledges his maturation, "What you done was real growned, son!" (p. 200)

However Elijah is also young and he makes the mistakes of youth. When describing a situation in which the schoolteacher attempted to explain the saying familiarity breeds contempt, Elijah slips into the vernacular of the day and calls himself and his classmates "little nigg-"
(p.96) although his parents have taught him that it is a word of hatred and a sign of ignorance. Although the lesson didn't stick when the schoolteacher attempted to teach the students about respecting one's elders, when Elijah uses this term around Mr. Leroy, Elijah learns the lesson and it sticks. Mr. Leroy belts Elijah and then explains, "You think it ain't choke up with the same kind of hate and disrespect it has when they say it? You caint see it be even worst when you call it out?" (p. 99) I found this particular chapter to be very interesting especially in light of recent events regarding this same word and local schools. I think that the author would argue that Mr. Leroy's argument is his own - the word that is derogatory is even more hateful than when another says it. I am very tempted to read aloud this chapter and the previous to demonstrate just that fact to students or patrons.

Finally Elijah is faced with a coming of age issue when Mr. Leroy kidnaps him, taking him to Detroit in an attempt to catch up with the Preacher who has stolen several thousand dollars earmarked for the purchase of Mr. Leroy's family's freedom. The Preacher shoots the accompanying Buxton man who is supposed to protect the money and gambles it, but Mr. Leroy and Elijah track the Preacher down. Mr. Leroy dies of a heart attack and Elijah is faced with continuing on and finding the Preacher. Elijah does find Preacher, but he also discovers a family of chained, escaped slaves, one named Mrs. Chloe who laughs upon discovering she is but one hour from freedom in Canada. Elijah leaves Mrs. Chloe, her husband, Kamau, their daughter Hope, and two other slaves and attempts to get help from others but there is none. Elijah almost returns to Buxton alone, but he feels compelled to attempt to help Mrs. Chloe and he returns to her and the others in the barn. At that moment, Elijah tries to read the situation as an adult would, "I took anotehr deep breath so there waren't gonna be no backing off from talking growned, which when you look at it seems to be a powerful lot like lying." (p. 331)

At the end of the book appears a two page summary of information about Buxton and the site that the author visited. He encourages readers to visit this location, with its hidden Liberty bell (that was enclosed in a bell tower when the Buxton church was sold) and it history and to open a discussion about these events. If I ever get the chance, I believe I will visit Buxton and see history come to life!

Editorial Reviews:
From Barnes & Noble
As a first-generation freeborn black, 11-year-old Elijah Buxton had no direct experience with slavery. That changes, however, when a thief steals money set aside for freeing a friend's enslaved family. Elijah sets off rapidly in pursuit, leaving behind his Canadian home and crossing into dangerous American territory, where he encounters terrifying evidence of the grievous human cost of slavery. History is made palpable in this novel by Newbery Medal winner Christopher Paul Curtis.

The New York Times - Bruno Navasky
Floating up like a bubble through layers of history, buoyed with hope and comic energy…Elijah of Buxton tells the story of Elijah Freeman, the first freeborn child in the historic Elgin Settlement, a village of escaped slaves in Canada…As in his previous novels, Curtis is a master at balancing the serious and the lighthearted: as Langston Hughes said of the blues, "not softened with tears, but hardened with laughter." He has already received a Newbery medal and an honor for two novels rooted in the experience of black Americans: "The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 and Bud, Not Buddy. His latest book is another natural award candidate and makes an excellent case, in a story positively brimming with both truth and sense, for the ability of historical fiction to bring history to life.

Publishers Weekly
Elijah Freeman, 11, has two claims to fame. He was the first child "born free" to former slaves in Buxton, a (real) haven established in 1849 in Canada by an American abolitionist. The rest of his celebrity, Elijah reports in his folksy vernacular, stems from a "tragical" event. When Frederick Douglass, the "famousest, smartest man who ever escaped from slavery," visited Buxton, he held baby Elijah aloft, declaring him a "shining bacon of light and hope," tossing him up and down until the jostled baby threw up-on Douglass. The arresting historical setting and physical comedy signal classic Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy), but while Elijah's boyish voice represents the Newbery Medalist at his finest, the story unspools at so leisurely a pace that kids might easily lose interest. Readers meet Buxton's citizens, people who have known great cruelty and yet are uncommonly polite and welcoming to strangers. Humor abounds: Elijah's best friend puzzles over the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" and decides it's about sexual reproduction. There's a rapscallion of a villain in the Right Reverend Deacon Doctor Zephariah Connerly the Third, a smart-talking preacher no one trusts, and, after 200 pages, a riveting plot: Zephariah makes off with a fortune meant to buy a family of slaves their freedom. Curtis brings the story full-circle, demonstrating how Elijah the "fra-gile" child has become sturdy, capable of stealing across the border in pursuit of the crooked preacher, and strong enough to withstand a confrontation with the horrors of slavery. The powerful ending is violent and unsettling, yet also manages to be uplifting. Ages 9-12. (Oct.)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Children's Literature
Christopher Paul Curtis knows how to write characters so engaging and believable you want to meet them in person. In fact, after reading his books, you feel like you have. From the author of award winners, The Watsons go to Birmingham 1963 and Bud, not Buddy, comes another novel with heart and meaning wrapped in rollicking humor. Readers will slip into the story as they, along with eleven-year-old Elijah, assume a life of freedom, but this is the 1850's and slavery still exists in America, alarmingly close to the freed slave community of Buxton, Canada. Helping people escape from slavery is a deadly business, hardly a task for the fragile Elijah. His claim to fame is being the nervous baby who threw up on Frederick Douglas. He is scared to death of snakes and is taken in by a colorful con-artist called the Preacher, but the kid has heart, a sense of responsibility, and a feeling of what is right and wrong. He witnesses death and learns grisly truths, including the idea that giving up a child for the sake of freedom may well be the greatest gift. Elijah's heroism is believable, growing from almost accidental, to faltering, to determined, albeit limited, saving one tiny soul rather than a whole group, which is all that can be expected of a child. Indeed, giving a child the opportunity to learn the horrors of the past but understand the hope of the future is the most we can ask of a character—and of an author.

Kirkus Reviews
Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman is known for two things: being the first child born free in Buxton, Canada, and throwing up on the great Frederick Douglass. It's 1859, in Buxton, a settlement for slaves making it to freedom in Canada, a setting so thoroughly evoked, with characters so real, that readers will live the story, not just read it. This is not a zip-ahead-and-see-what-happens-next novel. It's for settling into and savoring the rich, masterful storytelling, for getting to know Elijah, Cooter and the Preacher, for laughing at stories of hoop snakes, toady-frogs and fish-head chunking and crying when Leroy finally gets money to buy back his wife and children, but has the money stolen. Then Elijah journeys to America and risks his life to do what's right. This is Curtis's best novel yet, and no doubt many readers, young and old, will finish and say, "This is one of the best books I have ever read." (author's note) (Fiction. 9+)

Connections:
-Read the chapters 6 and 7 aloud and have students discuss what "familiarity breeds contempt" means to them and to the characters in the novel. Also discuss the power of words.

- Use this novel in conjunction with other Underground Railroad stories to discuss the motivation and accomplishment that occurred in assisting slaves to escape.

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (Genre: Poetry / module 1)

2008-01-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Information
Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends
Author: Shel Silverstein
Illustrator: Shel Silverstein
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: November 1974
ISBN: 9780060256678

Plot Summary:
A collection of silly, humorous, and thought-provoking poems for the young and the young at heart. These poems include every day problems such as "Sick" which features a young child who suffers from nearly every malady known to man until she discovers that it is Saturday and there is no school - suddenly cured, the young lady informs her mother she is going outside to play; "Ma and God" in which a child bemoans the gifts of God that are thwarted by a mother; visual poetry including a poem written on the neck of a giraffe; "For Sale" in which an older brother tries to sell his younger sister; and "Dreadful" which tells the unfortunate tale of a baby who has been consumed by some unknown individual.

Critical Analysis:
I admit it. I am a Shel Silverstein addict. I own all of his children's poetry books, and I have an extensive collection of Silverstein reading his own poetry. Heck, I even own the lesser known, more adult musical selections as well. Warning: to those who would do an author study on Shel Silverstein - he wrote songs for Johnny Cash (A Boy Named Sue), Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show (Don't Give a Dose to the One You Love Most, I Got Stoned and I Missed It, and Freakin' at the Freaker's Ball among others), and has often been featured for some of his more electic works on the Dr. Demento Show; make sure that websites that you are visiting with students have been previewed for content and material and listen to any audio files - don't trust that because it says "Shel Silverstein" that it is appropriate for younger audiences.

I love Silverstein's twisted look at the world through the eyes of a child. His poems brought me joy as a youngster and I have used them in the classroom to teach a variety of lessons. For example, Silverstein's take on experimentation is discussed in his poem "Stone Telling" (p. 147):

How do we tell if a window is open?

Just throw a stone at it.

Does it make a noise?

It doesn't?

Well, it was open.

Now, let's try another ...

CRASH!

It wasn't!

I particularly love the audio of Silverstein reading this poem (click here to listen) because you can hear the joy and laughter as he thinks about the idea of throwing a rock at a window to see if it is open.

Silverstein's point of view on personal hygiene is another example of how adults can speak to children and how children can twist the lesson into someting else entirely. "Warning" is a poem that directly speaks to the taboo of nose picking. Silverstein uses the common adult threat that something will bite a finger if a child sticks it in his nose and creates a whole new animal, both literally and figuratively:

Inside everybody's nose

There lives a sharp-toothed snail.

So if you stick your finger in,

He may bite off your nail.

Stick it farther up inseide,

And he may bite your ring off.

Stick it all the way, and he

May bite the whole darn thing off. (p. 75)

Silverstein continues to appeal to audiences both young and old because his topics are timeless, his poetry is both irrereverent and respectful, and his illustrations add to the color, concept, and development of his writing.

Editorial Reviews:
BfK (Books for Keeps No. 144, January 2004)

These two collections by Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic, were first published in 1974 and 1981 and they have more than withstood the test of time. Silverstein believed in the symbiotic nature of word and image and would not allow his verse to be illustrated by anyone else; reading these collections tells you why. The relationship between illustration and poem makes these books very special. His black and white drawings echo and complement the poems which can be funny, cautionary, serious and sometimes surreal. Silverstein's subjects and thoughts are everything and everyone under the sun, plus a few more. There's the 'Skin Stealer': 'This evening I unzipped my skin / And carefully unscrewed my head, / Exactly as I always do / When I prepare myself for bed.' There's the baby bat who 'screamed out in fright, / Turn on the dark, / I'm afraid of the light.' But, there is also the place 'Where the Sidewalk Ends' 'And before the street begins, / And there the grass grows soft and white, / And there the sun burns crimson bright, / And there the moon-bird rests from his flight / To cool in the peppermint wind.' One, and preferably both, of these poetry books should be part of the canon of children's poetry. Category: 8-10 Junior/Middle. Rating: ****. ...., Marion Boyars Publishers, 176pp; Poetry, D9.99 each hbk. Ages 8 to 10.

Connections:
- Use "Sick" as part of a lesson identifying the various parts of the body

- Use "Helping" to discuss how people can help or not help one another

- Use "Smart" to discuss the various values of money. Did the child win or lose in the end by making those exchanges?

- Use in conjunction with the audio recordings to discuss changes between the print and recorded versions of poems such as "Warning."

LIBRARY LION (Genre: Picture Book/ module 1)

2008-01-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: Library Lion
Author: Michelle Knudsen
Illustrator: Kevin Hawkes
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: July 25, 2006
ISBN: 978-0763622626

Plot Summary:
A lion wanders into a library and listens to story hour. When it ends, the lion expresses his displeasure by roaring loudly only to be reminded that library users must be quiet in the library. Upon promising to keep his voice low, the lion returns each day to story hour, assisting librarians and patrons with general tasks. However, one day, the head librarian falls and sends the library lion for help. The poor lion is faced with the choice of breaking the rules or saving his friend.

Critical Analysis:
I absolutely loved this book. First the story is enchanting. My four year old son asked for it be read aloud multiple times. The concept of a lion wandering into the library (rather than just sitting as a statue outside) was appealing. Additionally, I appreciated that the text accepts this unusual event and incorporates a different individual into its every day processes - despite the protests of Mr. McBee.

Second, I was completely entranced (as was my four year old) by the acrylic and pen illustrations. While I initially thought that these had been done in watercolors, I made certain to read the Library of Congress information which explained the process choice for these wonderful and engaging pictures. I was even inspired to go to Kevin Hawkes website to determine if he offered more information on his medium choices. (He doesn't but he does take emails; if he responds to mine, I will post the response here.)

The story is simple, yet entertaining and it offers in a very comprehensible manner what rules are and why they should be followed. Additionally, it allows children the time to consider when breaking a rule or policy might be allowed (such as an emergency) and it would open up a dicussion for that topic even with the youngest of children.

Editorial Review:
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 2–Miss Merriweather, head librarian and decorum-keeper, first meets Lion when he saunters past his stone counterparts and into the stacks. Scowling circulation assistant Mr. McBee seems intent on having the enormous cat ejected, but his boss declares that as long as he breaks no rules, he is welcome. The beast does misbehave though, roaring loud displeasure when storytime ends. At Miss Merriweather's reprimand, the contrite-looking lion promises to reform. In fact, he becomes something of a fixture in the building, dusting with his tail, licking envelopes, and serving as a stepstool for small patrons. Everyone appreciates him–except Mr. McBee. When Lion lets out another tremendous RAAAHHHRRR!, the man bursts into Miss Merriweather's office to snitch–and there he finds her in distress, having fallen from a stool and broken her arm. Lion, à la Lassie, has saved the day, but he is so chagrined by his own rule-breaking behavior that he doesn't return to the library. People miss him. Even Mr. McBee. A feel-good ending and a reminder that Sometimes, there is a good reason to break the rules bring the story to its most-satisfactory conclusion. Hawkes's deft acrylic-and-pencil pictures have appeal for generations of library lovers. They are rich with expression, movement, and detail. The lordly, lovable lion is a masterful mix–regal beast and furry friend–and the many human characters are drawn with animation and emotion. This winsome pairing of text and illustration is a natural for storytime and a first purchase for every collection.–Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. This story's appealing premise is clear in the first sentence: "One day, a lion came to the library." There's the expected uproar as the lion pads through the stacks, but librarian Miss Merriweather only asks: "Is he breaking any rules?" The lion is not, and so he is allowed to stay. He makes himself useful and enjoys story hour until Miss Merriweather falls and breaks her arm. The lion roars for help, but his noise prompts a scolding from an uptight, oblivious staff member. The story falters a bit as it explores messages about rules and exceptions in a way that feels both purposeful and a bit convoluted. The warm friendships will easily draw interest, though, as will the handsome, nostalgic pencil-and-acrylic illustrations. Children will easily see themselves in the wild lion, which yearns to explore and enjoy the library but worries about the constraining rules. A fine partner for other library tales, such as Judy Sierra's Wild about Books (2004) and Lauren Child's But Excuse Me That Is My Book (2006). Gillian Engberg

Connections:
- Use in a lesson on appropriate library or classroom behavior at the beginning of the year.
- Use in a lesson for when it is "okay" to break the rules.
- Use in a lesson on acceptance of different individuals.

THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY (Genre: Fiction/Young Adult)

2007-11-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: The Higher Power of Lucky
Author: Susan Patron
Illustrator: Matt Phelan
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Publication Date: February 2007
ISBN: 9781416901945

Plot Summary:
Lucky, a ten-year-old girl, struggles with her life in Hard Pan, California. Fearing that her guardian, Brigette, who is her father's first wife, wishes to return to her homeland of France, Lucky plots to run away into the desert. Unfortunately, Lucky doesn't count on the dust storm or the five-year-old, Miles following her and altering her plans.

Critical Analysis:
This book has recently been the focus of a windstorm of controversy for the use of the word "scrotum" in the initial chapter. More information regarding that may be found here, however I was disappointed by this Newbery winner.

Frankly, the book was rather dull and boring. While I understand that a ten-year-old child who is now motherless and placed into guardianship might fear that the placement was impermanent, I think that this book stretches Lucky's fears and irrationalities too far. First, Lucky never verbally expresses her fears to anyone. Her inner monologue and tendency to ramble to extremes would probably be behavior that was noticed by an adult. The fact that adults don't speak to Lucky about her mother's passing or her feelings regarding the matter strikes me as unusual, particularly since the book is set in contemporary times in which psychology would be used for a child who has suffered the trauma of losing a parent and probably grief counseling as well.

The book isn't as enjoyable to me as many other Newbery winners. The story is slow moving and focuses entirely upon Lucky's fears. The only catalyst that seems to be Lucky's reason for leaving is her fear that she will be abandoned. "They can die, like Lucky's mother. They can decide they don't even want you, like Lucky's father. And they can return to France as suddenly and easily as they left it, like Brigette." (p. 81) While Lucky presumes, incorrectly, that Brigette is studying a restaurant management course so that she will return to France, this doesn't seem to be the unseating moment that drives her to leave. Lucky had already mentioned running away several points in the past and she is obsessed with abandonment.

Editorial Review:
Publishers Weekly
Patron's poignant Newbery-winning story about a girl who fears being abandoned by her legal guardian—and her only semblance of a family—sails along with believable childlike rhythms and kid's-eye-view observations. Listeners will especially appreciate Campbell's subtlety and smooth, comforting delivery in a heartbreaking scene in which 10-year-old Lucky recalls, with gentle support from her best friend, her deceased mother's memorial service. On the remainder of the recording, Campbell remains a welcoming guide to Lucky's world—populated by eccentric friends, the quirky townspeople of tiny, struggling Hard Pan, Calif.—and Brigitte, the guardian she desperately wants to keep, maybe with some help from a Higher Power. Campbell appropriately gives recent Parisian transplant Brigitte a French accent, though it's thankfully never overplayed. By program's end, listeners will be rooting for Lucky and Brigitte to remain together forever. Contains an interview with the author, in which Patron says she is working on a companion novel. Ages 9-up. (Jan.)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Connections:
Tie into a lesson on desert animals.

Compare and contrast Lucky's desert environment with other environments and ecosystems including arctic, rain forest, tundra, and grasslands.

SPEAK (Genre: Fiction/Young Adult)

2007-11-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data

Title: Speak

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Illustrator:

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Publication Date: April 2006

ISBN: 9780142407325

Plot Summary:

Melinda Sordino is suffering from a choice she made to call 911 from a high school party - right before school starts. Ostracized by her peers and selectively mute, Melinda is entirely alone in her freshman year experience. Avoiding the issue that brought her to this fate, Melinda works to strive to create an existence for herself, living through a project in her art class in which she is challenged to express a tree as art.

Critical Analysis:
I found that this book really connects with many of the aspects of young adult literatures.
Becoming one's own person: Certainly the character of Melinda goes through a transformation throughout the book. Melinda, while not mute, chooses to speak selectively, and some of her choice can be attributed to the trauma she suffered. Her art teacher, Mr. Freeman says to Melinda, "I think you have a lot to say. I'd like to hear it" (p. 123) In fact, Melinda does carry an inner monologue throughout the book including a war between Melinda One and Melinda Two, in which she describes her desire to participate but her fear based in her traumatic experience. Melinda's character even describes learning to be comfortable in her own skin, comparing herself to a burn victim, "I just need to hang on long enough for my new skin to graft." (p.125)

Coping with problems of the human condition: Melinda also deals with the repercussions of her rape. Though the actual event isn't described until the book is nearly two-thirds completed, Melinda obviously struggles with many issues related to high school and young adulthood in addition to her traumatic experience, which has colored all of her other experiences. For example, Melinda identifies herself as a "The Victim" in a performance art piece (p. 35) when her parents discover her first quarter slipping grades. Melinda deals with issues of being individual or part of the group when describing the different social groups and cliques at the school and even counters her friend Heather who believes that one must belong to something by stating that they should join a club; Melinda's response: "Nothing. The clubs are stupid. Want some popcorn?" (p.23) and Melinda recognizes Heather's enthusisam, which was formerly hers, "Have I change that much in two months? ... My goal is go home and take a nap." (p. 24) But Melinda's biggest issue, by far, is her fear of what she calls "IT", the senior boy who raped her. Throughout the text, Melinda compares herself to a rabbit, being chased by a predator. "Maybe he won't notice me if I stand still. That's how rabbits survive; they freeze in the presence of predators." (p. 97)

As much as I enjoyed the book, I would be hesitant to have younger adult readers (eighth grade or lower) read it as it discusses the rape, although not in graphic detail. I certainly would love to use this as a cross curricular discussion for all high school students perhaps using it in the freshman year and then again as a senior to discuss where they were then and where they are now.

Editorial Review:
Horn Book
(Young Adult)Speaking out at the "wrong" time-calling 911 from a teen drinking party-has made Melinda a social outcast; now she barely speaks at all. A conversation with her father about their failed Thanksgiving dinner goes as follows: "Dad: 'It's supposed to be soup.' / Me: / Dad: 'It tasted a bit watery, so I kept adding thickener....'/ Me: ." While Melinda's smart and savvy interior narrative slowly reveals the searing pain of that 911 night, it also nails the high-school experience cold-from "The First Ten Lies They Tell You" (number eight: "Your schedule was created with your needs in mind") to cliques and clans and the worst and best in teachers. The book is structurally divided into four marking periods, over which Melinda's grades decline severely and she loses the only friend she has left, a perky new girl she doesn't even like. Melinda's nightmare discloses itself in bits throughout the story: a frightening encounter at school ("I see IT in the hallway....IT sees me. IT smiles and winks"), an artwork that speaks pain. Melinda aches to tell her story, and well after readers have deduced the sexual assault, we feel her choking on her untold secret. By springtime, while Melinda studies germination in Biology and Hawthorne's symbolism in English, and seeds are becoming "restless" underground, her nightmare pushes itself inexorably to the surface. When her ex-best-friend starts dating the "Beast," Melinda can no longer remain silent. A physical confrontation with her attacker is dramatically charged and not entirely in keeping with the tone of the rest of the novel, but is satisfying nonetheless, as Melinda wields a shard of broken glass and finds her voice at last to scream, "No!" Melinda's distinctive narrative employs imagery that is as unexpected as it is acute: "April is humid....A warm, moldy washcloth of a month." Though her character is her own and not entirely mute like the protagonist of John Marsden's So Much to Tell You, readers familiar with both books will be impelled to compare the two girls made silent by a tragic incident. The final words of Marsden's books are echoed in those of Speak, as Melinda prepares to share her experience with a father-figure art teacher: "Me: 'Let me tell you about it.'" An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last. l.a.

Connections:
Develop a "revisit the novel" concept in which students who are freshman read the book and then again revisit it as seniors, perhaps basing a senior theme comparing their own high school experience to the Melinda's and reflecting on the previous four years.

THE GIVER (Genre: Fiction/Young Adult)

2007-11-30T05:57:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data

Title: The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry

Illustrator:

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Publication Date: September 2002

ISBN: 9780440237686

Plot Summary:
Jonas lives in a futuristic society in which everyone's roles are predetermined by a committee. He is reaching an age in which he will be assigned his lifelong occupation and receive training for it. However, unlike his classmates, Jonas is chosen for a unique occupation within the community - he does not receive an assignment but rather a duty. As the Receiver, Jonas takes on the memories of the community and learns about the secrets, passions, and fears as well as other emotions that his society has forsaken in the pursuit of order.

Critical Analysis:
I am not a fan of apocalyptic books. In fact, when I read this book, my first thought upon completion of it was that it is simply a young adult version of Orwell's 1984. I was also reminded of the apocalyptic and futuristic film Soylent Green. The author chose to create a society in which there are little to no choices. No color, no feelings or emotions (although feelings are shared during the evening meal - but as Jonas comes to realize the "feelings" that they have within this society are not truly feelings at all.)

I found this book to be rather distasteful. First, it deals rather practically with the issue of euthanasia. The elderly are "released" upon their request. As Jonas discovers, in the case of the twin, "release" is not a sending off to another place to live in peace, but rather a medical procedure of putting oneself to sleep. The society sees little use or no use for duplicate humans, as in the case of the twin, of problematic children, such as Gabe, or for the elderly as they have lost their functionality. I'm not sure that the discussion of euthanasia is appropriate with younger young adult readers; my local librarian shared that seventh grade students in our ISD are reading this as a required text. While euthanasia is a topic that appears in the news, thirteen years old is a bit young, in our society in my opinion, to discuss putting humans "to sleep." Second, the book addresses the concept of independence in a rather cavalier manner: choice is taken from all citizens in this society by those who create the infrastructure. It is argued that the choice was removed because it was safer, that if people chose they might choose incorrectly. This particular theme will probably strike a chord with young adults who are beginning to experience freedom and independence in a very concrete manner, but I found the society in this book to be exceedingly oppressive and very socialistic. Finally, the book deals with sexuality and burgeoning sexuality in an oppressive manner. Because emotions often "muck up the waters", members within this society simply take a pill to prevent sexual feelings. Marriages are not made by choice but rather by a committee match based upon compability. Again, young adults are confronted with sexual feelings and in our society sexual images at this age and frequently earlier than young adulthood. While I was off-put by the book's society's choices regarding sexuality, I found that the topic would allow for an interesting, but guided, discusssion.

I did like the character of Jonas himself and that he recognized the value of independent thinking. One example of this was Jonas' choice to stop taking his "pill" so that he could enhance his receivership and the emotions that he felt and was learning to accept. Students will probably sympathize with Jonas because young adults experience many of the same emotions, challenges, and fears that Jonas experienced: uncertainty regarding career, challenges with dealing wtih emotions and change, fear of the unknown, frustration with authority and the status quo.

I think that this text is an excellent example of a book that could easily be tied into social studies for comparing socialist and capitalist societies as well as comparing the challenges of contemporary times to the decisions that led Jonas' society to become the society that it is/was.

Editorial Review:

Publishers Weekly
Winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal, this thought-provoking novel centers on a 12-year-old boy's gradual disillusionment with an outwardly utopian futuristic society; in a starred review, PW said, ``Lowry is once again in top form... unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers.'' Ages 10-up. (Sept.)
"Wrought with admir-able skill -- the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel."

Children's Literature
Lowry won the Newbery award for this book, her first science fiction story. Jonas is an adolescent living in a world that has a decidedly futuristic feel. When he turns twelve, he gets the job that will last him the rest of his life. He's the Receiver of Memory, the one who receives from the Giver all the memories of his society. Jonas is given great privileges, new privacy, and information that allow him (and readers) to see through the society's apparent Eden. At first his world seems great, but then, bit by bit, she tears away at the perfection she has built.

Children's Literature
Jonas lives in a perfect society. There is no pain, poverty, divorce, delinquency, etc. One's life's work is chosen by the Elders. At the Ceremony of 12, Jonas is shocked to learn that he has been awarded the most prestigious honor. His assignment will be that of Receiver of Memories. He studies with "the Giver," a man he comes to love. Within time he learns the horrifying secrets of his community and must make a decision that will test his courage, intelligence, and stamina. This is a stunning, provocative science fiction story that will inspire discussion. 1997 (orig.

The ALAN Review
Winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal, Lowry's thought-provoking fantasy challenges adolescents to explore important social and political issues. The Giver trains twelve-year-old Jonas as the next Receiver of Memory, the community's receptacle of past memories. This seemingly utopian society (without pain, poverty, unemployment, or disorder) is actually a body- and mind-controlling dystopia (without love, colors, sexual feelings, or memories of the past). In an exciting plot twist, Jonas courageously resolves his moral dilemma and affirms the human spirit's power to prevail, to celebrate love, and to transmit memories. From the book jacket's evocative photographic images-The Giver in black and white; trees in blazing color-to the suspenseful conclusion, this book is first-rate. Just as Lowry's Number the Stars (which received the 1990 Newbery Medal) portrays the Danish people's triumph over Nazi persecution, The Giver engages the reader in an equally inspiring victory over totalitarian inhumanity.

School Library Journal
Gr 6-9-- In a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written an intriguing story set in a society that is uniformly run by a Committee of Elders. Twelve-year-old Jonas's confidence in his comfortable ``normal'' existence as a member of this well-ordered community is shaken when he is assigned his life's work as the Receiver. The Giver, who passes on to Jonas the burden of being the holder for the community of all memory ``back and back and back,'' teaches him the cost of living in an environment that is ``without color, pain, or past.'' The tension leading up to the Ceremony, in which children are promoted not to another grade but to another stage in their life, and the drama and responsibility of the sessions with The Giver are gripping. The final flight for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable. The author makes real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay with readers for a long time. --Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Connections:

Use text to compare and contrast types of economic and governmental systems.

Compare and contrast Jonas' experiences with independence and authority with students' own current experiences.

STEPPING ON THE CRACKS (Genre: Historical Fiction)

2007-11-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data:
Title: Stepping on the Cracks
Author: Mary Downing Hahn
Illustrator:
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Publication Date: October 1, 1992

Plot Summary:
Margaret and Elizabeth share the common experience of having brothers serving in World War II. These young women encounter an unique experience when they discover that the local bully, Gordy, is hiding his brother, Stuart who is a deserter. Despite their feelings and what they have been told to believe about those who don't serve their country, the girls decide to help when Stuart takes ill and is at death's door. Listening to her heart, Margaret acts despite the loss of her brother, Jimmy, and the possible consequences that might occur.

Critical Analysis:
I loved this book about the homefront experience of young girls during WWII. Hahn's approach to the discussion of life for those who were left behind is a realistic portrait of the common experience of that time. The characters in the novel note that other than a few rations and an inability to get bicycles for Christmas, their lives really didn't change all that drastically.

However, facing the reality of assisting a known Army deserter is a choice that Margaret and Elizabeth must make on their own. Margaret's growth as a person by choosing to listen to her heart and evaluate the sitaution on its merits, rather than on her parents' choices to follow blindly, create an individual rather than a young girl. Margaret shows tremendous growth and maturity throughout the book, dealing with her brother's death, her parents' abandonment of her due to their son's loss, and her choice to respect Stuart's beliefs that killing anyone, enemy or friend, is not the ultimate solution.

Additionally Margaret demonstrates herself to be a profoundly interesting character when she discusses her dilemma regarding her wish that her brother had also been a deserter but her pride in his service to his country.

Editorial Reviews:
From Publishers Weekly
Most WW II homefront novels are unambiguous in their approach to patriots and traitors, allies and enemies. Hahn's subtle, thought-provoking work, however, proposes the legitimacy of a variety of ethical responses to critical situations. Margaret's brother Jimmy is overseas fighting, and Margaret and her parents avidly follow news of Allied advances. She and best friend Elizabeth, united in their dislike of Gordy the bully, slowly uncover several ominous secrets: Gordy is helping his older brother Stuart, an Army deserter, hide in a weatherworn shack in the woods; and Gordy's father batters his mother, his siblings and Gordy himself. At first Margaret and Elizabeth see their discovery of Stuart's shack as a way to "blackmail" Gordy into treating them decently, but when Stuart falls dangerously ill, the girls feel obliged to help care for him. Soon they begin to reexamine the standard propaganda about the war. While some of her characters seem anachronistic and certain developments are unlikely, Hahn succeeds in raising questions as valuable as they are vexing. Ages 9-12. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8. In a small southern town in 1944, two girls secretly help a seriously ill army deserter, a decision that changes their perceptions of right and wrong. Issues of moral ambiguity and accepting consequences for actions are thoughtfully considered in this deftly crafted story. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Connections:
Have students write a letter to either a contemporary soldier or one of the characters in this novel and discuss the war and its implications on the homefront.

COWBOYS OF THE WILD WEST (Genre: Biography)

2007-11-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data

Title: Cowboys of the Wild West
Author: Russell Freedman
Illustrator:
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Publication Date: September 1993
ISBN: 0590475657

Plot Summary:

A bibliographic recounting of cowboys in the "wild west", this book debunks the myths and legends surrounding cattle drives and cow punchers. In the approximately 100 pages, the author retells the stories of the young men who inspired legends by working the open ranges and performing cattle drives in the 1890s.

Critical Analysis:

What I enjoyed most about this biography was the interspersing of interviews and quotations among the retelling of the events. One cowboy, Hiram Craig, described a cattle drive in vivid recollection, "finally forming one big herd, and then the fun would start." (p. 38)

The author breaks the information down into manageable parts. He discusses not only the physical make up of the cowboys who generally were African American or Mexicans by ethnicity but also the various aspects of cow punching and the lifestyle. The author discusses the dress, saddle, acoutrements, and spending habits of the typical cowboy as well as the life on the trail.

The author uses colorful description such as those to describe the events that might generate a stampede. "Almost any noise or disturbance - a flash of lightning, a rabbit moving through the brush, a cowboy striking a match - could panic a herd... All hands would leap from their beds, dash to their night horses, and gallop into the dark." (p. 57) This helps the reader to live in the story and experience it rather than be a mere observer.

Editorial Review:

Publishers Weekly
Freedman's careful research and inviting texts have made his nonfiction can't-miss titles in homes and libraries. Here is a sequel to Children of the Wild and the author's other award winners. He has selected over 50 photos from the Library of Congress and state archives to illustrate his chronicles of life on the range. Cowboys, readers discover, were really boys. Many were teenagers, a few ``old hands'' were in their early 20s; and they were responsible for driving great herds across the plains in the 1800s. Freedman describes the buckaroos' clothes and equipment, how they passed the days on the ranch and on the trail, during the big roundups, etc. There were black and Indian cowboys as well as whites, all working hard together. Although these storied riders of the purple sage are different from the gun-totin', steely-eyed movie types, they are as exciting and interesting to meet and learn about here. One feels wistful when the book ends with a lament from a man who remembers: ``I would know an old cowboy in hell with his hide burnt off.'' He says the fellows punching cows today couldn't match their predecessors, independent and proud, who sang as they earned a tough dollar, ``I've roamed the Texas prairies,/ I've followed the cattle trail;/ I've rid a pitchin' pony/ Till the hair come off his tail.'' (8up)

Connections:

Make a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting a television or movie cowboy with the cowboy as presented in Freedman's book.

CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY (Genre: Historical Fiction)

2007-11-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

Bibliographic Data:
Title: Catherine Called Birdy
Author: Karen Cushman
Illustrator:
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Publication Date: May 1995
ISBN: 9780064405843

Plot Summary:
Catherine, or Birdy, is a young woman living in the Middle Ages. Having come upon marriageable age, her father decides to act. Through many attempts to foil her would be suitors, Catherine shows the reader the realities and some of the fantasies of life in the Middle Ages for a young woman of means.

Critical Analysis:
Birdy is an unusual character who by expressing her personal distaste of her suitors would not react the way that a normal female in her position during the Middle Ages would. While I find the book amusing, the presentation of women's roles in the Middle Ages is inaccurate in regard to Birdy as a character. Other characters, such as Birdy's friend Aelis, are truer to the spirit of young women in the Middle Ages.

This book would have to, in my opinion, be used for comparison and contrast purposes as it does not at all accurately reflect Birdy's position in life nor does it reflect the manner in which a young woman in her position would react. While other characters behave in a traditional fashion, the author takes great liberties to give Birdy freedoms that would have resulted in punishments more severe than those that she endured in the text. Additionally the freedoms to run away (without an escort of any variety) and to associate with the local goatherder probably also would not have been allowed.

I will credit the author with remaining true to history. Jacobs & Tunnell (1996) note that historical accuracy is paramount and that historical occurances must not be ignored or white washed. Certainly Cushman recognized that young women in the Middle Ages, such as Birdy's friend Aelis, would be married to even younger men and that death could befall the spouse before the marriage was even consummated. Additionally Cushman often remained true to the physical environment (such as the fleas upon Birdy and the condition of the rushes in the main dining area), the patterns of daily living (Birdy's embroidery in the solar), and the spirit of the times (the daily events and happenings within the village and with the villagers.)
What saddened me most in reading this book was that while Cushman seemed to take great pains to be historically accurate, even to the recounting of Queen Eleanor's death, she took great liberties with the main character and painted an unreasonable portrait of life for a young lady in the Middle Age period.

Editorial Reviews:
Publishers Weekly
``You can run, but you can't hide'' is the rather belated conclusion reached by Catherine, called ``Birdy'' for her caged pets, in this fictive diary of a medieval young woman's coming-of-age and struggle for self-determination. Escaping regularly into a fantasy life of daring escapades and righteous battles, Birdy manages to postpone the inevitable sale of herself as a wife to a very unwelcome suitor. Just as she resigns herself to her fate with the comforting knowledge that ``I am who I am wherever I am,'' word comes that she will not have to marry the oaf after all. Birdy's journal, begun as an assignment, first wells up in the reluctant and aggressive prose of hated homework, and then eases into the lighthearted flow of descriptive adventures and true confessions; the narrative device reveals Birdy's passage from rebellious child to responsible adult. Despite the too-convenient ending, this first novel introduces an admirable heroine and pungently evokes a largely unfamiliar setting. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)

Connections:
Compare Aelis' reaction to her marriage with Catherine's.

Contrast Catherine's foibles with the realities of life in the Middle Ages for a young woman her age.

Compare and contrast Catherine's behavior and choices with a young adult's choices in contemporary society. Are there societies that exist in the "modern" world that would favor Catherine's parents' position?

THE TARANTULA SCIENTIST (Genre: Nonfiction)

2007-10-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data:
Title: The Tarantula Scientist
Author: Sy Montgomery
Illustrator: Nic Bishop
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date:
ISBN: 0-618-41799-3

Plot Summary:
Sam Marshall, an arachnologist, leads the reader through the jungles of French Guiana in search of tarantulas. This colorful and humorous informational book laces vignettes of Sam's adventures with facts, figures, illustrations, and explanations regarding all types of spiders but focusing on tarantulas in particular. Montgomery is able to offer what could be dry and boring information in a palatable and entertaining way by interweaving the anecdotes of Marshall with basic fact. The captions for the beautiful illustrations offer further explanation and add to the air of authority the book carries.

Critical Analysis:
As I have said before, I'm not a fan of nonfiction, but I was truly amazed and engaged reading this text. My eight year old son and I read the book from cover to cover and spent quite a bit of time commenting on the various illustrations, the commentary, and laughing at some of Marshall's misadventures (such as walking into a wasp's nest while searching for tarantula holes.)

Not only does the book offer information on spiders, but it also includes information on Marshall himself. In one vignette, Marshall reveals his struggles in college and how research on desert and jungle tarantulas turned his views regarding education and science, in particular, around. "Once I understood that anybody can do the process... that was the thing that totally changed my life!" (Montgomery, 2006, p. 26)

This book also explains the scientific process in detail to the reader but in an interesting way. For example, in one section, Marshall explains how he observed and experimented with a hypothesis regarding why a Goliath birdeater tarantula would molt onto a silk mat. What Marshall hypothesized was that fly larva were parasites that would be trapped by the silk mat. His subsequent testing proved his hypothesis and readers can follow along with this experience in an interesting anecdote rather than reading a research study.

The photographs are simply amazing. The detail as well as the color make this book pop up and engage the reader. While not all of the photos are to scale, these pictures offer detail to a reader that might only appear with use of a magnifying glass or microscope. I was completely intrigued to flip through the book to glance at the illustrations and I found that animals that can appear frightening are really fascinating.

Approximately eighty pages, this book is chockful of fun, facts, and arachnids. I would recommend it highly and I'll probably read it again to catch information I missed the first time!

Editorial Reviews:
School Library Journal
Grade 5-10-Superb color photos abound in this spectacular series addition. Readers follow the career of Sam Marshall, tarantula scientist extraordinaire, from his "Spider Lab" at Hiram College in Ohio to the rain forests of French Guiana as he hunts for, finds, and studies the creatures he loves so well. The conversational text contains as much spider lore as scientific investigation and provides a cheerful look at a dedicated scientist. (The fact that he did not do well in school may encourage those late bloomers who have not yet found their passion in life or believe it to be far beyond their academic grasp.) Informative, yes, but even more important, this is a vivid look at an enthusiastic scientist energetically and happily at work, both in the field and in the lab, questioning, examining, testing, and making connections. A treat, even for arachnophobes.
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Montgomery and Bishop, who worked together on Snake Scientist (1999), team up once again to deliver another fascinating slice of the natural world. This time they venture to the French Guiana rain forest, where they follow arachnologist Sam Marshall on his quest for his favorite quarry: tarantulas. Enthusiasm for the subject and respect for both Marshall and his eight-legged subjects come through on every page of the clear, informative, and even occasionally humorous text. Bishop's full-color photos, which concentrate on detail, not scale, are amazing--Marshall coaxing an elusive tarantula into the open or bringing readers literally face-to-face with a hairy spider. The section on students' research seems tacked on, but it adds an interesting sidelight to the book, which is longer and richer in both text and illustrations than others in the Scientists in the Field series. Readers will come away armed with facts about spiders in general and tarantulas in particular, but even more important, they'll have a clear understanding of how the answers derived from research become the roots of new, intriguing questions.
Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Connections:
Invite an entomologist or arachnologist to the classroom to share live bugs and spiders with students.

Ask students to find the steps of the scientific process in a read aloud of one of the experiments described in the book.

SEYMOUR SIMON'S BOOK OF TRAINS (Genre: Nonfiction)

2007-10-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data:
Title: Seymour Simon's Book of Trains
Author: Seymour Simon
Illustrator:
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: February 19, 2002
ISBN: 978-0060284756

Plot Summary:
In a very interesting but simplistic format, Simon juxtaposes a full color photograph with a paragraph or two explanation of different train types (steam, diesel, electric) and various types of storage cars (boxcar, gondola, hopper, tank cars, etc.) The text is easy to understand and contains basic information regarding trains in the United States and a few other locations in the world.

Critical Analysis:
I enjoyed reading this book to my four-year-old son who is a Thomas the Tank Engine addict and who loves to watch the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad trains which are based in our hometown of Saginaw, TX. The information was easy for him to understand, the photographs were large and colorful, and the text wasn't overly informative or boring.

I found the book predictable in its format, a very comforting element to a young child who wishes to revisit a familiar topic, but I also found it to be less informative than other informational books on the same topic. In some regards, I found myself comparing this to Donald Crew's Freight Train, a basic concept book, and thinking that it would be a good follow up to that text. I have found DK's The Big Book of Trains to be more informative and more colorful.

I also found this book to be Eurocentric in its presentation of trains. Simon mentions the TGV, but does not offer an explanation of what this abbreviation means (Train Grande Vitesse) and while he mentions electric trains, he neglects to mentions maglev trains or the Japanese Bullet Train that travels faster than nearly every other train on the planet.

I would recommend this book to introduce more information on trains, but I would progress to another book with more information such as The Big Book of Trains for specific examples, more pictures, and a more global viewpoint.

Editorial Reviews:

Publishers Weekly
In Seymour Simon's Book of Trains, the author dedicates one spread each to various kinds of trains, with a full-color photograph on one side and, opposite, a couple of paragraphs describing it. He covers everything from old-fashioned diesel trains to subways that run on electricity to France's TGV (with speeds of between 200-300 mph). A series of spreads on the freight train details different kinds of cars.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

School Library Journal
School-Grade 4-Trains and individual freight cars are displayed in glorious full color in this oversized book. Simon offers information on different types of these machines from the earliest steam locomotives to France's TGV, which can reach speeds of 300 miles per hour. The section on freight trains delves into each car from boxcars to the now-obsolete caboose. The sharp pictures cover half of each spread. One small complaint is that while the TGV and Japan's bullet trains are mentioned, they are not pictured. But never mind. Even preschoolers will be drawn in by the large, abundant photographs. Another winner from a popular author.
Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Connections:
Have students read book and then "train spot" for a weekend or a week. Create a graph of the various types of trains, cars, and other related transportation items that they saw.

AN AMERICAN PLAGUE: THE TRUE AND TERRIFYING STORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC OF 1793 (Genre: Non Fiction)

2007-10-26T05:44:00.001-07:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
Author: Jim Murphy
Illustrator:
Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date: June 23, 2003
ISBN: 978-0395776087

Plot Summary
This eleven chapter Newbery Honor Book recounts the horror of the yellow fever epidemic that held the city of Philadelphia in its grasp in the summer and into the fall of 1793. The disease that chased thousands out of the City of Brotherly Love also succeeded in shutting down the Pennsylvania and federal governments. In this novel, Murphy tells the tale of the baffled physicians, the dedicated Free African Society nurses and caregivers that remained to help the ill and dying, and the middle class citizens who risked imprisonment for their choice to serve on city government and keep the city moving.

Critical Analysis
I am not at all a fan of nonfiction books. However, I really enjoyed reading this novel. From the beginning, Murphy sets out to create a setting that honors the reality of the situation while drawing the reader in and hooking him in the dire situation. The descriptions of characters such as Benjamin Rush paint a colorful portrait of the individuals who fought the dreaded disease. "He was passionate and outspoken in his beliefs; no matter what the subject... Along with his beliefs went an unimaginable amount of energy. Despite a persistent cough and weak lungs... he worked from early in the morning until late at night..." (Murphy, 2003, p.12) The book also includes drawings of various characters, when available that lend to the shaping of that person in the reader's mind.

Further, each chapter begins with an excerpt from the newspaper accounts of the time. These clippings help to support the author's points regarding the news reports of the day. In a later chapter, Murphy discusses the issues that surrounded the printing business due to the lack of imports arriving and the problems that arose for publishers. Philip Freneau, editor of the National Gazette, for instance limited fever never, avoided obituaries, was vague about the spread of the disease, and never mentioned the rise in the crime rate perhaps because Freneau had to limit himself to one page rather than his usual four to eight. (Murphy, 2003)

Overall I would highly recommend this book. It was balanced in its praise of the positive choices and in its criticism of choices that would impact the city of Philadelphia and the country for the short and long term. Additionally the author offered a balanced accounting of those who stayed to assist the ill and those who fled. This author was more generous in his accounting of the events than was publisher Matthew Carey, an individual who sat on the emergency council of twelve that ran the city of Philadelphia during the crisis. Carey published A Short Account of the Malignant Fever Lately Prevalent in Philadelphia... in which he openly criticized the Free African Society nurses for raising their prices to an almost usurious price. In his criticism, Carey neglected to mention the bidding war by the whites in the area which caused the price "gouging" and as a result generated the first African American written response to accusations in the United States.

Due to the graphic nature of the illness and some of the information contained in the book, I would limit exposure to this topic to children sixth grade and above. While none of the book is grotesque, the description of yellow fever symptoms that arise accompanied by the veracity contained in the book might best be evaluated by children who have a basis in history and are able to understand the events within the context in which they occurred.

Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10-If surviving the first 20 years of a new nationhood weren't challenge enough, the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, centering in Philadelphia, was a crisis of monumental proportions. Murphy chronicles this frightening time with solid research and a flair for weaving facts into fascinating stories, beginning with the fever's emergence on August 3, when a young French sailor died in Richard Denny's boardinghouse on North Water Street. As church bells rang more and more often, it became horrifyingly clear that the de facto capital was being ravaged by an unknown killer. Largely unsung heroes emerged, most notably the Free African Society, whose members were mistakenly assumed to be immune and volunteered en masse to perform nursing and custodial care for the dying. Black-and-white reproductions of period art, coupled with chapter headings that face full-page copies of newspaper articles of the time, help bring this dreadful episode to life. An afterword explains the yellow fever phenomenon, its causes, and contemporary outbreaks, and source notes are extensive and interesting. Pair this work with Laurie Halse Anderson's wonderful novel Fever 1793 (S & S, 2000) and you'll have students hooked on history.
Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-12. History, science, politics, and public health come together in this dramatic account of the disastrous yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation's capital more than 200 years ago. Drawing on firsthand accounts, medical and non-medical, Murphy re-creates the fear and panic in the infected city, the social conditions that caused the disease to spread, and the arguments about causes and cures. With archival prints, photos, contemporary newspaper facsimiles that include lists of the dead, and full, chatty source notes, he tells of those who fled and those who stayed--among them, the heroic group of free blacks who nursed the ill and were later vilified for their work. Some readers may skip the daily details of life in eighteenth-century Philadelphia; in fact, the most interesting chapters discuss what is now known of the tiny fever-carrying mosquito and the problems created by over-zealous use of pesticides. The current struggle to contain the SARS epidemic brings the "unshakeable unease" chillingly close.
Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Connections
1. Use excerpts from the book as a springboard for class discussion and comparison/contrast assignment based on early American government.

2. Have students take positions and debate whether Congress could have constitutionally been moved out of Philadelphia, arguing the viewpoints of Jefferson, Madison, and Adams.

3. Introduce a unit on health and wellness and the importance of sanitation. Ask students to evaluate the sanitation conditions at the beginning of the novel with later improvements. Use the maps provided and have students develop a sanitation plan for the city that might have relieved some of the disease's progress.

STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY SISTER WENT CRAZY (GENRE: Poetry)

2007-10-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data:
Title: Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Sister Went Crazy
Author: Sonya Sones
Illustrator:
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Publication Date: February 2001
ISBN: 9780064462181

Plot Summary:
This is, according to the author's website, an autobiographical account of what happened when her older sister was hospitalized due to her mental breakdown. The author reflects on her own feelings of frustration, fear, anxiety, and nostalgia as she walks through the text.

Critical Analysis:
This book has some interesting points, particularly for a student struggling with depression or anxiety or with a parent or sibling struggling with these issues. One poem that struck a chord with me was "Snapshot" which describes the author's nostalgia as she recalls a particular photograph. "You didn't look crazy/at all back then./I wish you could be eight/again." The author is struggling with her feelings of frustration that her life and her sister's were normal and she is expressing her desire for normalcy. Certainly this poem can touch anyone who is having an "off" day - not just a person experiencing the roller coaster ride that is associated with manic depression and bipolarism.

However, this text is a fairly mature one and it deals with a difficult subject matter. For example, the poem "Mass Pike" describes the father's breakdown as they are driving down the road. While the father collapses emotionally, the rest of the world continues as it did before. "and we weep with him/while cars filled/with happy families/whiz past."

Reviews
Booklist
One Christmas eve, 13-year-old Cookie's big sister has a nervous breakdown: a wild-eyed Jewish girl wearing only a nightgown," she rushes out the door to Midnight Mass. Following this manic moment, the sister is institutionalized. This haunting novel, told entirely in Cookie's first person poems, is the story of what happens in the wake of this emotional disaster. Some of it is heartbreakingly predictable - Cookie is terrified that she will have a breakdown, her former friends shun her, her parents' marriage begins unraveling. But there are wonderful surprises, too: Cookie is introduced to photography and finds in it an opportunity to heal herself and her sister: a new boy comes to school, and he and Cookie fall in love. The poems - some as short as five lines, none longer than three pages - have a cumulative emotional power that creeps up on the reader, culminating in a moving, unexpected line or phrase: "I blink/and there you suddenly are/inhabiting your eyes again...and I'm feeling all lit up/like a jar filled/with a thousand fireflies." Such small moments become large in the context of their promise of healing and the demonstration of life's power to continue. Based on Sones' own family experience, this novel-in-verse shows the capacity of poetry to record the personal and translate it into the universal.—Michael Cart

School Library Journal
An unpretentious, accessible book that could provide entry points for a discussion about mental illness - its stigma, its realities, and its effect on family members. Based on the journals Sones wrote at the age of 13 when her 19-year-old sister was hospitalized due to manic depression, the simply crafted but deeply felt poems reflect her thoughts, fears, hopes and dreams during that troubling time. In one poem, the narrator fears that "If I stay any longer/than an hour/...I'll see that my eyes/have turned into her eyes/my lips/have turned into her lips..." She dreads having her friends learn of her sister's illness. "If I told them that my sister's nuts/they might act sympathetic/but behind my back/would everyone laugh?" and wonders what she could have done to prevent the breakdown. All of the emotions and feelings are here, the tightness in the teen's chest when thinking about her sibling in the hospital, her grocery list of adjectives for mental illness, and the honest truth in the collection's smallest poem, "I don't want to see you./I dread it./There./I've said it." An insightful author's note and brief list of organizations are included. —Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI.
In a story based on real events, and told in poems, Sones explores what happened and how she reacted when her adored older sister suddenly began screaming and hearing voices in her head, and was ultimately hospitalized.

Kirkus Reviews
Individually, the poems appear simple and unremarkable, snapshot portraits of two sisters, a family, unfaithful friends, and a sweet first love. Collected they take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale and presenting a painful passage through young adolescence. The form, a story-in-poems, fits the story remarkably well, spotlighting the musings of the 13-year-old narrator, and pinpointing the emotions powerfully. She copes with friends who snub her, worries that she, too, will go mad, and watches her sister's slow recovery. To a budding genre that includes Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust (1997) and Virginia Euwer Wolff's Make Lemonade (1993), this book is a welcome addition.

Connections
From the author's own website: "But when I told my sister about the book, she was thrilled. She said, 'A book like this could be used in schools to open up discussions about mental illness.' My sister and I are hopeful that the people who read Stop Pretending will come away from the experience feeling more compassion for the victims of mental illness. "

What Is Goodbye? (Genre: Poetry)

2007-10-12T14:20:00.001-07:00

Bibliographic Data:
Title: What Is Goodbye?
Author: Nikki Grimes
Illustrator: Raul Colon
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Publication Date: April 1, 2004
ISBN: 0786807784

Plot Summary
Two children, Jerilyn and Jesse, express their feelings about the death of their older brother Jaron in this short text. Each child expresses his or her feelings a different way and in a different manner. The book's poems track the children throughout a year of loss, beginning with the initial news and ending with a new family portrait.

Critical Analysis
This is an excellent text for a child who is experiencing a loss. Because the text is written from two voices or viewpoints, it offers a child different visions of grief and loss. I especially think that the opening poem, "What is goodbye/Where is the good in it?/One leaves/and many hearts/are broken./There must be/a better arithmetic/somewhere." is an excellent example of the hole that is left when a beloved person or pet is lost. According to Morin and Welsh (1996) by the time an individual has reached adolescence, it is likely that he or she has been exposed to death. Some adolescents encounter it through a personal loss, such as the death of grandparents, parent, or even a peer. However, even those who have not experienced a direct loss, have some experiences and perceptions of death. It is virtually a universal experience to be exposed to the sensationalized treatment of death through the media such as television, movies, lyrics, and even video games such as Mortal Kombat.
Further, I think that the poem "Mad" which expresses Jerilyn's frustration about her dead sibling and how she wishes he had never been born could be used for bibliotherapy for a student who has experienced a recent loss and needs to release his or her anger.

Reference:
Morin, S. M. and Welsh, L.A. (1996). Adolescents' perceptions and experiences of death and grieving. Adolescence, (31) 123.

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-8–Grimes's novella in verse is a prime example of how poetry and story can be combined to extend one another. When their brother dies, Jerilyn and Jesse cope with the anger, confusion, and the silence that grief brings to their family. Jesse's rhyming verse faces his older sister's free-verse comments on her experiences. When Jesse hits a home run in a league game soon after his brother's death, he glows, "I took off around the field,/legs pumping like lightning!/I slid into home plate clean./Man, I'm so cool,/I'm frightening!/...What am I supposed to do,/spend each minute crying?/I wish I could please you, Mom,/but I'm sick of trying." Jerilyn muses, "It's his right to smile,/isn't it?/To be delirious?/So what if I don't understand?/This ghost town,/draped in shadow,/is desperate for/a few more watts of light." Grimes handles these two voices fluently and lucidly, shaping her characters through her form. Colón's paintings in muted colors combine imagism with realism to create an emotional dreamscape on nearly every page. The clean design combined with the book's short, easy pace and small size give readers a comfortable place from which to listen to the characters as they make their way from "Getting the News" to "Anniversary," and finally to "Ordinary Days." The book closes with a poem in two voices, and Jesse and Jerilyn come together for a new family photograph. "Smile!"–and readers will. Fans of Vera B. Williams's Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart (Greenwillow, 2001) will appreciate this powerful title.–Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 4-8. At the funeral for her older brother, Jaron, Jerilyn is furious that "no one tells the truth": "Dead is dead. / Not 'gone away.' / Not 'lost.' / Not 'on a journey.' / Not 'passed.'" Her younger brother, Jesse, is angry, too, but he's mad at Jaron: "You left me . . . I hate you for that!" In poems that alternate between voices, Jerilyn and Jesse describe their complicated, private thoughts as they grieve for their beloved brother. Grimes often chooses rhymed couplets for Jesse's voice, and the singsong sounds and tight rhythm create a young tone that's indicative of Jesse's age but, nonetheless, feels distractingly at odds with the somber subject and raw emotions--feelings that Grimes gets just right. Moving and wise, these are poems that beautifully capture a family's heartache as well as the bewildering questions that death brings, and they reinforce the message in Grimes' warm author's note: "There's no right or wrong way to feel when someone close to you dies." Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Connections:

Use as a starting point of bibliotherapy for a child experiencing a loss.

It's Raining Pigs And Noodles (Genre: Poetry)

2007-10-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Bibiliographic Data
Title: It's Raining Pigs and Noodles
Author: Jack Prelutsky
Illustrator: James Stevenson
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publication Date: 2000
ISBN: 006029194

Plot Summary

This is a collection of children's poetry. Some are shape poems such as Zigzag (a poem shaped in a zigzag style) and I'm Caught Up in Infinity (a poem shaped like the infinity symbol and seemingly having no beginning and no end) and others are poems about childhood experiences such as Why Do I Have to Clean My Room? and I Ate a Tooth This Morning. However, whatever type of poem, children will relate to the amusing illustrations as well as the everyday events that take place in the poetry of this book. Some of the poems are purely nonsensical, such as The Sniffing Snutterwudds which are creatures that have a dozen noses but shut down their smelling when a skunk appears.

Critical Analysis
This book, like many others by the same poet-author will tickle the fancy of the young and the old. For children, Prelutsky raises the inevitable questions and issues of childhood. For example, in the poem Why Do I Have to Clean My Room? the young narrator questions the necessity of cleanliness. After all his room has bits of clay stuck to the walls, which he scarcely notices, week-old apple pie under the bed, pizza in the corner, and a drums and a basketball that he "almost never trips upon."
Shape poems such as I Am Shrinking, in which the text gets progressively smaller and smaller until it nearly disappears on the page will engage children and encourage them to attempt to read to find out the end... that is if they can read print that tiny!
However, my favorite poem is Hello and Good-Bye in which the poem begins in a standard print font but progressively lightens until it nearly disappears on the line "Good-bye!" The narrator in the poem ponders whether he or she exists, and when the question "It also seem I am not there.../perhaps I am not anywhere" the poem and the narrator begin to fade away on the page.

Review Excerpts
Publishers Weekly
Following A Pizza the Size of the Sun, the reigning czars of silliness are back on the warpath, wreaking poetic havoc with yet another deliciously sly volume. The titles alone are a treat: "Never Poke Your Uncle With a Fork"; "I'm Ironing My Rhinoceros"; "Waffles Give Me Sniffles." Prelutsky trips the light verse fantastic across territory that's familiar yet fresh. He gleefully descends to the depths of gross-out humor ("Worm puree, oh hooray!/ You're the dish that makes my day"), engages in nimble wordplay ("There's no present like the time," he notes in "I Gave My Friend a Cuckoo Clock") and once again proves himself king of the final one-two punch (a knight confesses to ineffectuality in an ode closing with this couplet: "My name is famed through all the land/ I'm called Sir Lunchalot"). The sassy selection of nonsense rhymes and puckish poems will further endear Prelutsky to his many fans. Meanwhile, partner-in-crime Stevenson peppers the pages with his inimitably impish sketches, from pigs in kilts on stilts to fleas on a circus trapeze. Hats off to these two glorious goofballs! Ages 5-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal
K-Gr 6-Another felicitous collaboration from this team, full of the joy of words and whimsical images. Though the format, size, and type of content is similar to the duo's other books, the verse is fresh and catchy with sparkling wordplay and unexpected rhymes, and Stevenson's line drawings project the humor with verve. Included are the usual poems about weird animals and unusual children, a dragon, yucky food, fantastic experiences in everyday situations, and quite a few clever shape poems. There is even a disappearing one that actually vanishes off the page. All but two of the selections are new. As in the previous books, a wide variety of typefaces and printing tricks are utilized to create an imaginative and entertaining look. Wonderful tools for teachers, the poems boast impeccable rhythms and rhymes and strongly appeal to a child's sense of humor, whether read aloud or independently.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

The Christian Science Monitor - Karen Carden
When kids feel silly, outrageous thyming poems can be great companions. Poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrator James Stevenson have teamed up again to offer more camraderie. It's Raining Pigs and Noodles is their fourth volume of funny, clever and just plain goofy verse...most kids will love it.

Connections

Read the poem I'm Caught Up in Infinity and have the students develop a mathematical poem.
Read the poem What Oinks? and have students develop poetry riddles.

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush (Genre: Folk Literature)

2007-09-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: THE LEGEND OF THE INDIAN PAINTBRUSH
Author: Tomie dePaola
Illustrator: Tomie dePaola
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Publication Date: April 16, 1996
ISBN: 978-0698113602

Plot Summary
A young boy, Little Gopher, is encouraged in his art to paint after he receives a vision through a dream. This tale tells how the sunset is created through the art of this boy, later a man, using a white buckskin canvas and the various flowers (Indian paintbrush) available in his area, which he had not previously been able to achieve. The story tells how Indian paintbrush came to grow in the southwestern United States.

Critical Analysis
The illustrations in this story truly capture and express the spirit of the tale. My children have sat on my lap and at my knee listening to the tale of Little Gopher since infancy. The story is also engaging. It tells of an unathletic boy who will achieve his own fame through the arts.

The character of Little Gopher is flawed, and many children will connect with Little Gopher’s inability to excel in athletics or in a specific area. Demonstrating his human frailties allows children to see that everyone has his or her own unique talents.

Additionally the southwestern United States’ setting may help students to tie into their own geographic awareness.

Review Excerpts
From Publishers Weekly
In this companion to The Legend of the Bluebonnet, Little Gopher is smaller than the rest of the children in his tribe and can't keep up with those who ride, run, wrestle or shoot with bows and arrows. But, he has a talent of his own: he is an artist. When he grows older, a Dream-Vision comes to him: a young Indian maiden and her grandfather tell him that he will paint pictures of the great warriors with colors as pure as the evening sky. Little Gopher's paintings never satisfy him because the colors are dull and dark, but he keeps trying. In the night, a voice tells him how to find paint-filled brushes; Little Gopher locates them, and they become brilliantly colored flowers known as Indian Paintbrush. This tale is related with deceptive simplicity by dePaola; he enhances the plainness of the story with his primitive illustrations, and, like Little Gopher, he finds inspiration in the colors of the sunset. Ages 2-7.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Connections

Use for lesson on explanation myths of how things have come to be.
Use in an art lesson to tie in to color blending.
Use for inspiration to those students who lack a skill to demonstrate that each person finds his or her talents.

And the Green Grass Grew All Around (Genre: Folk Literature)

2007-09-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: AND THE GREEN GRASS GREW ALL AROUND
Author: collected by Alvin Schwartz
Illustrator: Sue Truesdell
Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
Publication Date: March 1992
ISBN: 978-0060227579

Plot Summary
This is a collection of folk poetry and rhymes. It includes various children’s songs such as The Green Grass Grew All Around and On Top of Spaghetti among others but also includes the children’s variants of famous songs such as Battle Hymn of the Republic “Mine eyes have seen the glory/Of the closing of the school” which makes an appearance yearly on the last day of classes.

Critical Analysis
This book enraptured all of my children (preschool, first and second grade.) They laughed and hooted at the different parody songs, and they sang along with the more traditional folk poetry and lyrics.

This text is a wonderful resource for educators to pull traditional folk literature. It is also a great book to use to inject some humor into the classroom when things are getting stressful or too serious.

The notes are very helpful for poetry study and could be used not only for primary information but also for springboards for in depth author or poet studies. I particularly liked the source section that traces historical information and helps readers to understand the roots of the poem or lyrics.

Review Excerpts
From School Library Journal
Grade 3 Up - A marvelous book that is sure to become a classic if children have any say in the matter. Schwartz has gathered sassy, funny, scary, and slightly naughty children's folk poetry heard on schoolgrounds and wherever else kids are having fun. Adults who stew over the appropriateness of Roald Dahl's books or Shel Silverstein's poetry may have concerns here, but kids will love having all their underground playground rhymes in one volume. Scores are included for ``On Top of Spaghetti,'' ``Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory/ Of the Closing of the School,'' and other songs. It's hard to imagine illustrations better suited to the book's silly, energized tone than Truesdell's big-eyed, animated, and humorous characters. Given plenty of white space, they tumble, goof, and guffaw across the pages, in ideal tandem with the poetry. These drawings may be in black and white, but readers will never pick up a more colorful book. Of additional interest to many people, adults in particular, are the ``Notes'' in the back on folk poets and poetry; ``Sources'' that trace the selections' origins are also helpful. Read this outrageous volume before it is shelved; once the kids discover it, it will always be checked out. --Lee Bock, Brown County Pub . Lib . , Green Bay, WI
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Not since Carl Withers's A Rocket in My Pocket (1948) has there been such a grand compilation of familiar (and unfamiliar) rhymes and chants from the children's own tradition: riddles, games, wishes and taunts; poems about love, food, school, or animals; parodies, nonsense, and stories. Schwartz organizes them by topic and/or form and provides all kinds of fascinating supporting material: an engagingly conversational introduction; general explanatory notes plus full item-by-item sources, many of which are intriguing in themselves (``Avik Roy, age 13, Detroit...1986''; ``Editor's recollection, Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp...1940''), or which give alternate versions; even an occasional tune. In b&w pen and watercolor, Truesdell's marvelous characters dance across the generously broad pages, peering inquisitively at the hilarious goings-on or gleefully joining in the shenanigans. It's hard to imagine a child who wouldn't greet this treasure trove with enthusiasm. Extensive bibliography (items ``of interest to young people'' are starred); index. (Folklore. 4+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Connections

Use as a resource for traditional children’s folk songs.
Use for poetry study resource.
Use as resource for tracing lyrical history and folk poetry history.

CINDERLILY: A FLORAL FAIRY TALE (Genre: Folk Tales)

2007-09-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: CINDERLILY: A FLORAL FAIRY TALE
Author: Christine Tagg
Illustrator: David Ellwand
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: 2003
ISBN: 0-7636-2328-8

Plot Summary

This book is a Cinderella variant featuring beautiful photographs of flowers as the various characters in the tale. The book features Cinderlily (Cinderella), two sisters (the stepsisters), a fairy godmother, and the Sultan (the prince). Cinderlily and the Sultan meet at a ball and dance. Cinderlily loses one of her petals when she leaves as the clock strikes midnight. The Sultan seeks the one maiden whom the petal fits and the two live happily ever after.

Critical Analysis

This Cinderella variant includes some interesting features. First, the book is written in three acts so it lends itself well to comparison with drama and dramatic elements. Second the photographs which compose the illustrations are beautiful in both their simplicity and their clarity. Third, the scientific naming of the flowers at the end of the text open the investigation toward various science lessons including classification, botany, and horticulture.

This Cinderella variant is missing the prototypical “evil” stepmother and the stepsisters are simply replaced by two sisters. However this text features many of the characteristics of the Cinderella tale including the prince, the ball, and the lost item; in this text the prince is a Sultan and the lost item is a petal rather than a slipper.

My biggest complaint is that the text is very difficult to read. The backgrounds are frequently black and the font type is more cursive style than serif or non-serif. Also the type font is small. It would be a difficult book for a younger reader to read simply due to the type font but it makes a good read aloud. Also, although I found the illustrations to be enchanting, I don’t think they would hold the attention of a younger child.

Review Excerpts

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-In this visually intriguing twist on the traditional tale, Ellwand has replaced the human protagonists with flowers. Using Adobe Photoshop, he has arranged lilies, pansies, tulips, roses, and other petals in graceful poses against stark black backgrounds. While the pictures are technically well executed, it is unlikely they will engender other than a passing interest in children. Tagg's text, written in reasonably well-rhymed couplets, is thin on plot, character development, and imagery. In addition, the alterations she makes in the original tale are incongruous. The prince has become a Sultan, but nonetheless the "band strikes up a waltz" at his Royal Autumn Ball. The fonts, which change frequently in an apparent attempt to match the action of the story, are often hard to read, particularly when placed against those black backgrounds. For a more effective use of natural objects as characters, stay with Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffer's How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods (Scholastic, 1999). Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights

Connections

Tie into lesson on botany or horticulture.

Introduce scientific classification.

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type (Genre: Picture Books)

2007-09-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: CLICK, CLACK, MOO: COWS THAT TYPE
Author: Doreen Cronin
Illustrator: Betsy Lewin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date: February 2000
ISBN: 9780689832130

Plot Summary
Farmer Brown throws out his typewriter only to hear “click, clack, moo” all day long as his cows and other farm animals begin to make outrageous demands in exchange for their services.

Critical Analysis
This book cracks me up every time I read it. My children have it on their shelf and in animated form courtesy of Scholastic videos DVD collection. The illustrations really bring the farm animals to life and make it seem possible that cows could type on a typewriter. This book is the first in a long series of books involving the same mischievous farm animals and the easy foiled and frustrated Farmer Brown.

Review Excerpts
Children's Literature
"Cows that type? Impossible!" That's what Farmer Brown thinks when he first hears the "click, clack" from the barn, but then he reads the note the cows write him. All they want is electric blankets for the cold barn. When he refuses, they go on strike. What's worse for the farmer is that the strike spreads to the cold hens as well. Duck finally negotiates a compromise. Unfortunately for Farmer Brown, the ducks have learned from all this, leaving us with a smile at the ending. This broadly humorous nonsense finds an appropriately bold, almost slapdash visual counterpart in Lewin's illustrations. Thick, brushed black lines define the characters and farm environment, while washes of color help emphasize gestures and evoke emotions, as when the red door symbolizes the farmer's rage. Great slapstick also suggests thoughts on animal rights.

Esmé Raji Codell - Bookbag Magazine
This hilarious story with a surprise ending is a great tribute to fair play and introduces the power of communication in a way that even the youngest listener will enjoy.

From Publishers Weekly
Plucky barnyard denizens unite to improve their working conditions in this hilarious debut picture book from Cronin (appropriately enough, an attorney). Farmer Brown is dumbfounded when his cows discover an old typewriter in the barn and begin experimenting ("All day long he hears click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickety clack moo"). Things really get out of hand when the cows began airing their grievances. Lewin (Araminta's Paint Box) conveys the fellow's shock as he reads: "Dear Farmer Brown, The barn is very cold at night. We'd like some electric blankets. Sincerely, The Cows." When Farmer Brown denies the cows' request, the bovine organizers go on strike. Through the use of the man's shadow, Lewin communicates his rage: the straw in his hat creates the appearance of his hair on end. With help from a neutral duck mediator, the exasperated Farmer Brown finally makes concessions. But, much to his dismay, the cows are not the only creatures that can type. Cronin humorously turns the tables on conventional barnyard dynamics; Lewin's bold, loose-lined watercolors set a light and easygoing mood that matches Farmer Brown's very funny predicament. Kids and underdogs everywhere will cheer for the clever critters that calmly and politely stand up for their rights, while their human caretaker becomes more and more unglued. Ages 3-7. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Connections
Use this book to begin a unit on letter writing and communication to improve conditions or to protest events. This ties in well with a civics lesson in citizenship and the right to peaceably assemble in social studies.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Genre: Picture Book)

2007-09-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data

Title: JOSEPH HAD A LITTLE OVERCOAT

Author: Simms Taback

Illustrator: Simms Taback

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Publication Date: October 1999

ISBN: 978-0670878550

Plot Summary
Joseph, a farmer, has a coat made of his favorite cloth. As it begins to wear, Joseph recreates his favorite cloth into a new article of clothing, with each successive article smaller than the last.

Critical Analysis
This is a wonderful picture book. It has all of the elements which make it a Caldecott Award book: vivid and descriptive illustrations beautifully done. What makes this an interesting text are the cut-outs on each section that grow smaller and smaller as the piece of cloth grows smaller and smaller. Children can visualize the cloth shrinking with wear. Because the story was adapted from folk songs, it captures and holds the attention and its repetition engages children of all ages.

Review Excerpts
From Publishers Weekly
As in his Caldecott Honor book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Taback's inventive use of die-cut pages shows off his signature artwork, here newly created for his 1977 adaptation of a Yiddish folk song. This diverting, sequential story unravels as swiftly as the threads of Joseph's well-loved, patch-covered plaid coat. A flip of the page allows children to peek through to subsequent spreads as Joseph's tailoring produces items of decreasing size. The author puts a droll spin on his narrative when Joseph loses the last remnant of the coat - a button and decides to make a book about it. "Which shows... you can always make something out of nothing," writes Taback, who wryly slips himself into his story by depicting Joseph creating a dummy for the book that readers are holding. Still, it's the bustling mixed-media artwork, highlighted by the strategically placed die-cuts, that steals the show. Taback works into his folk art a menagerie of wide-eyed animals witnessing the overcoat's transformation, miniature photographs superimposed on paintings and some clever asides reproduced in small print (a wall hanging declares, "Better to have an ugly patch than a beautiful hole"; a newspaper headline announces, "Fiddler on Roof Falls off Roof"). With its effective repetition and an abundance of visual humor, this is tailor-made for reading aloud. All ages. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc

Connections
Use this text to tie into a unit on recycling and have students write paragraphs about the original use of the item and the new use of the item.
Use this text to tie into recycled art projects.

A Caldecott Celebration (Genre: Picture Books)

2007-09-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Bibliographic Data
Title: A CALDECOTT CELEBRATION
Author: Leonard Marcus
Illustrator:
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 1998
ISBN: 978-0802786562

Plot Summary
This book highlights the backgrounds and back stories of six Caldecott award winning illustrators. The books chosen represent a decade of Caldecott award winners and exemplify some trait or aspect of the winning concepts within that decade. Marcus explores the reasoning behind the illustration, artistic types, and historical information while weaving an interesting story that explains how the book came to be.

Critical Analysis
This text would certainly be appropriate for elementary and middle school aged students to use as a resource text in an author or illustrator study. Written in an informal manner, the text identifies anecdotes that may or may not appear in basic character information available on book jackets and the like. However, I found that the book lacked a form of description or formula in characterizing each illustrator. Informational tidbits regarding specific illustrative techniques were described in detail for one individual and missing from others. All in all, I would recommend this text for classroom use and for individual pleasure reading.

Review Excerpts
Publishers Weekly
Filled with witty anecdotes and pithy observations, Marcus's (Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom) approach to examining the works of six Caldecott Medalists will be of as much interest to adults as to picture book readers. He has chosen one book from each decade, "so that viewed together, the six offer an informal cross section through time of the American picture book": Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings, Marcia Brown's Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, William Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Chris Van Allsburg's Jumanji and David Wiesner's Tuesday. With a generous sprinkling of the artists' own words and sometimes those of his or her editor, Marcus chronicles the inspiration behind these works, the creative process, the artists' reactions to winning the prestigious award and its effect on their careers. He fills the volume with the kinds of details children relish: McCloskey once shared his Greenwich Village digs with 16 ducks and Steig does black-and-white drawings first, then fills in each color one by one throughout the book. Encouraging readers to see each picture book through the artist's eyes, Marcus shows Brown's compositional studies, explains how Van Allsburg chose from which perspective to view the coiled python in the living room and how Sendak decided "that the illustrations leading up to the rumpus would get larger and larger, as Max's emotions pushed out the words." He traces the evolution of the illustrations for Tuesday from Wiesner's first quick sketches, when the idea occurred to him on a jet plane. With Marcus's sure hand guiding this tour, readers will find cause for celebration. All ages.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Connections
Excellent for use as a reference text in an illustrator’s study. Use one illustrator who was nominated for multiple Caldecott awards and received Caldecott Honor Book in preceding or following years from the Caldecott winner and compare the artistic techniques developing a Venn diagram.

Introduction

2007-08-30T06:40:00.001-07:00

Thanks for stopping by the Book REview. As part of my graduate studies at Texas Woman's University, I am writing a blog this term to review, highlight, and feature various texts from children's literature. I hope to break the blog down into sections that will allow individuals to post their comments, their favorites, and their recommendations for the different literary genres. I look forward to sharing my favorites and "best of"s with you and hope you will do so too!