By Simms Taback
Everyone knows the poem about the old lady who swallowed a fly, then a spider, then a bird... but never before have we been given such an interesting and humorous view of the situation! Using die-cut holes, we are able to see exactly what is going on inside this crazy old lady's stomach. And Taback's combination of bold painting, crayon, and collage create a very unique perspective of a well-known story. Attentiveness to detail and humorous asides are what make this book a pleasure to read. And since the story itself has been put into books countless times, it's impressive to see how unique Taback was able to make this story - so impressive, in fact, that it won a Caldecott Honor award.
I think the best part of this book is its sense of humor. The humorous illustrations and the clever asides of the animals mean that readers will want to take their time looking through all the pages. And the story ends with a very strong moral: "Never swallow a horse." It's pretty hard to argue with a message like that!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Mirette on the High Wire
By Emily Arnold McCully
Like Hurry, although this book is fiction, it feels very realistic and historically accurate. Mirette on the High Wire takes place one hundred years ago in Paris, and the details that McCully includes in her story make the readers feel like they are actually there. McCully's attention to detail in both the text and the illustrations make the story oddly captivating - we can visualize the characters, hear the French accents of Mirette and Bellini, and even easily imagine a stereotypical French accordion playing in the background while the narrator tells this story. It's no surprise that this book won the 1993 Caldecott Medal.
The story itself teaches us to dream big and to face our fears - and that the only way to get really great at something is through practice, practice, practice! Once Mirette decides to learn how to walk on the tight rope, she never gives up. And although the Great Bellini develops his own fears, he learns that he must not give up his dream either. The story itself is unique and interesting, but the messages it sends to children are fairly universal. I think a wide variety of readers would find this book very enjoyable!
Like Hurry, although this book is fiction, it feels very realistic and historically accurate. Mirette on the High Wire takes place one hundred years ago in Paris, and the details that McCully includes in her story make the readers feel like they are actually there. McCully's attention to detail in both the text and the illustrations make the story oddly captivating - we can visualize the characters, hear the French accents of Mirette and Bellini, and even easily imagine a stereotypical French accordion playing in the background while the narrator tells this story. It's no surprise that this book won the 1993 Caldecott Medal.
The story itself teaches us to dream big and to face our fears - and that the only way to get really great at something is through practice, practice, practice! Once Mirette decides to learn how to walk on the tight rope, she never gives up. And although the Great Bellini develops his own fears, he learns that he must not give up his dream either. The story itself is unique and interesting, but the messages it sends to children are fairly universal. I think a wide variety of readers would find this book very enjoyable!
Hurry!
Illustrated and Adapted by Emily Arnold McCully
Adapted from Farewell to the Farivox by Harry Hartwick
This book is a great way to introduce the idea of extinction and endangered species to young animals. Though the story is fiction, it reads like a piece of historical nonfiction, listing names, the date, and specific details that successfully place the story in small-town Iowa in 1916. 10-year-old Tom Elson is walking to the library but stops to watch the town blacksmith work... it is at the blacksmith's shop where he meets a strange man with a crate in his wagon. Inside the crate is a strange animal, the farivox. The book reads, "it's face was wide and flat, like a monkey's face, but it had a long body like a weasel's, with a bush tail like that of a fox. Tom could barely see the animal's small feet, which were clawed like a lion's. Its ears were tufted up and sharp like those of a lynx, and it had a hooked beak like an owl's." And most interesting of all: the farivox can speak! Tom asks the man about the animal, and whether it is for sale. The strange man offers to sell it for $10.00, no less. Tom tells the man he'll be right back - and much to his surprise, the farivox says "Hurry!" The rest of his book is full of excitement and wondering - will he manage to buy the farivox?
This book has a lot of great attributes. The realistic story, accompanied by McCully's wonderful watercolor illustrations, would make this book captivating for a wide variety of readers. There is also a sense of excitement as Tom hurries to gather all of his money so he can buy the farivox. The one thing that I had trouble dealing with is that, although it reads like a fable or a nonfiction story, as far as I've been able to tell it is 100% fiction. An introduction or a post-script telling readers that the farivox is completely made up would be helpful - though it does very nicely relate to the idea of extinction and endangered species (the intro talks of passenger pigeons and the end of the book speaks of other animals that have disappeared).
Adapted from Farewell to the Farivox by Harry Hartwick
This book is a great way to introduce the idea of extinction and endangered species to young animals. Though the story is fiction, it reads like a piece of historical nonfiction, listing names, the date, and specific details that successfully place the story in small-town Iowa in 1916. 10-year-old Tom Elson is walking to the library but stops to watch the town blacksmith work... it is at the blacksmith's shop where he meets a strange man with a crate in his wagon. Inside the crate is a strange animal, the farivox. The book reads, "it's face was wide and flat, like a monkey's face, but it had a long body like a weasel's, with a bush tail like that of a fox. Tom could barely see the animal's small feet, which were clawed like a lion's. Its ears were tufted up and sharp like those of a lynx, and it had a hooked beak like an owl's." And most interesting of all: the farivox can speak! Tom asks the man about the animal, and whether it is for sale. The strange man offers to sell it for $10.00, no less. Tom tells the man he'll be right back - and much to his surprise, the farivox says "Hurry!" The rest of his book is full of excitement and wondering - will he manage to buy the farivox?
This book has a lot of great attributes. The realistic story, accompanied by McCully's wonderful watercolor illustrations, would make this book captivating for a wide variety of readers. There is also a sense of excitement as Tom hurries to gather all of his money so he can buy the farivox. The one thing that I had trouble dealing with is that, although it reads like a fable or a nonfiction story, as far as I've been able to tell it is 100% fiction. An introduction or a post-script telling readers that the farivox is completely made up would be helpful - though it does very nicely relate to the idea of extinction and endangered species (the intro talks of passenger pigeons and the end of the book speaks of other animals that have disappeared).
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Love That Dog
By Sharon Creech
I can think of a plethora of ways to use this in the classroom - modeling the use of a writer's notebook, encouraging written response during the reading workshop, modeling our work off of the writing of others, showing students that poetry can be about whatever inspires us most.
We don't know much about Jack. We don't know what he looks like. We don't know who his friends are. We don't know what he likes to do in his free time. We just know what he has written - and through that, we learn more about him than we could ever possibly imagine. I loved seeing Jack's thought process peek out in his writing, and I loved seeing how his thoughts and feelings evolved over time. I especially loved seeing his transformation from a boy who doesn't want to write poetry into a boy who has found his voice and believes in himself as a thoughtful and powerful writer.
As educators I think this is a dream that we have for all of our students, regardless of what they look like, who their friends are, and what they like to do in their free time. And that is what makes this book so universal: there are enough details in this book to make it realistic, but the themes are broad enough that every single reader can put themselves in Jack's shoes. As I started reading this book I wished I had more details about Jack, but it turned out that none of them mattered. Even if we don't know everything about him, we can relate to him through his writing.
I think this is an important message to take away as readers, as writers, and as educators. Even if we leave out some of the details, when we write we are putting ourselves onto the paper. Sometimes it's scary and hard, sometimes we don't want to do it, and sometimes we write things so personal that we thought they would stay inside us forever. The same is true of our students. I think introducing them to and "turning them on" to poetry opens up a whole new world of self-expression and reflection that none of them ever imagined. And reading this book is a great way to help us achieve that goal.
I can think of a plethora of ways to use this in the classroom - modeling the use of a writer's notebook, encouraging written response during the reading workshop, modeling our work off of the writing of others, showing students that poetry can be about whatever inspires us most.
We don't know much about Jack. We don't know what he looks like. We don't know who his friends are. We don't know what he likes to do in his free time. We just know what he has written - and through that, we learn more about him than we could ever possibly imagine. I loved seeing Jack's thought process peek out in his writing, and I loved seeing how his thoughts and feelings evolved over time. I especially loved seeing his transformation from a boy who doesn't want to write poetry into a boy who has found his voice and believes in himself as a thoughtful and powerful writer.
As educators I think this is a dream that we have for all of our students, regardless of what they look like, who their friends are, and what they like to do in their free time. And that is what makes this book so universal: there are enough details in this book to make it realistic, but the themes are broad enough that every single reader can put themselves in Jack's shoes. As I started reading this book I wished I had more details about Jack, but it turned out that none of them mattered. Even if we don't know everything about him, we can relate to him through his writing.
I think this is an important message to take away as readers, as writers, and as educators. Even if we leave out some of the details, when we write we are putting ourselves onto the paper. Sometimes it's scary and hard, sometimes we don't want to do it, and sometimes we write things so personal that we thought they would stay inside us forever. The same is true of our students. I think introducing them to and "turning them on" to poetry opens up a whole new world of self-expression and reflection that none of them ever imagined. And reading this book is a great way to help us achieve that goal.
Holly's Secret
By Nancy Garden
When 11-year-old Holly moves from Manhattan to Massachusetts, she and her lifelong friend Kelsey devise a new plan for her new life. After all, new beginnings offer us a chance to change the things we don't like about ourselves, right? Holly decides to call herself Yvette (after her glamorous and girly aunt) and lies to her new friends about a central fact of her life: that she has two moms. As could be expected, assuming this new identity proves to be harder than Holly ever expected. And readers are left wondering: how long can she keep it up before her secret comes out?
Of course, eventually Holly's plan backfires, and she learns a lesson about being who you truly are, without shame or fear. While I appreciated the theme and message of this book (while there are several picture books regarding homosexuality is has been difficult for me to find any novels, particularly from the perspective of a child with gay parents), the entire story felt a bit contrived. Since the book is written in the third person, as a reader I felt like I was never really able to get inside Holly's head. What was she feeling? And it seemed as if Holly was never really able to stand up for herself until she had absolutely no other options. I understand that Garden was trying to reflect upon the fact that dealing with such issues is often difficult for children, but it would have been beneficial to see a much stronger heroine in this story. Additionally, Garden leaves out a lot of details (such as saying they ate "all Holly's favorite dishes" for her birthday, instead of actually giving us any details). I get the feeling that this was an attempt to make Holly seem more universal to a wide audience, but in reality it made the story seem less real. As a reader it was very hard to relate to any of the characters or situations in this book.
Overall I think this book was okay - nothing spectacular. I have to give Garden credit for tackling a difficult subject that many authors avoid - but at the same time, I am left wishing for a story that would be more realistic.
When 11-year-old Holly moves from Manhattan to Massachusetts, she and her lifelong friend Kelsey devise a new plan for her new life. After all, new beginnings offer us a chance to change the things we don't like about ourselves, right? Holly decides to call herself Yvette (after her glamorous and girly aunt) and lies to her new friends about a central fact of her life: that she has two moms. As could be expected, assuming this new identity proves to be harder than Holly ever expected. And readers are left wondering: how long can she keep it up before her secret comes out?
Of course, eventually Holly's plan backfires, and she learns a lesson about being who you truly are, without shame or fear. While I appreciated the theme and message of this book (while there are several picture books regarding homosexuality is has been difficult for me to find any novels, particularly from the perspective of a child with gay parents), the entire story felt a bit contrived. Since the book is written in the third person, as a reader I felt like I was never really able to get inside Holly's head. What was she feeling? And it seemed as if Holly was never really able to stand up for herself until she had absolutely no other options. I understand that Garden was trying to reflect upon the fact that dealing with such issues is often difficult for children, but it would have been beneficial to see a much stronger heroine in this story. Additionally, Garden leaves out a lot of details (such as saying they ate "all Holly's favorite dishes" for her birthday, instead of actually giving us any details). I get the feeling that this was an attempt to make Holly seem more universal to a wide audience, but in reality it made the story seem less real. As a reader it was very hard to relate to any of the characters or situations in this book.
Overall I think this book was okay - nothing spectacular. I have to give Garden credit for tackling a difficult subject that many authors avoid - but at the same time, I am left wishing for a story that would be more realistic.
Carnival of the Animals: Poems inspired by Saint-Saens' Music
Poems by James Berry, Kit Wright, Cicely Herbert, Judith Chernaik, Adrian Mitchell, Gavin Ewart, X.J. Kennedy, Gerard Benson, Gillian Clarke, Valerie Bloom, Wendy Cope, Edwin Morgan, and Charles Causley
Edited by Judith Chernaik
Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura
More than 100 years ago, French composer Cimille Saint-Saens wrote a light-hearted "zoological fantasy" as a surprise gift for a friend. But he just wrote it for fun and thought the Carnival of the Animals was too frivolous to be taken seriously, and so it was never performed during his lifetime. However, in this day and age, the piece is a favorite of music lovers and animal lovers alike. Each movement paints a musical picture of different animals - lions, elephants, a graceful swan. And in this book, 13 writers came together to create a book of poetry inspired by these songs. Complete with a CD featuring each poem followed by the musical passage that inspired it, this book allows us to create our mental paintings not just through music, but also through words and illustrations.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Just as each movement in the Carnival of the Animals is drastically different from the rest, each of these poems portrays a unique sense of style. Each writer clearly has his or her own personal style of writing. And although the entire book was illustrated by Kitamura, each poem (and musical movement) has a very unique illustration which is just as captivating as the poems and the music.
I have read a lot of mixed reviews about this book, but honestly I think it is great. It is always refreshing to me to see unique ways that people manage to pull together music, art, and the written word. This book could easily be read for fun by very young readers, but it also opens a whole world of possibilities for discussing the connections between all of these varying forms of art.
Edited by Judith Chernaik
Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura
More than 100 years ago, French composer Cimille Saint-Saens wrote a light-hearted "zoological fantasy" as a surprise gift for a friend. But he just wrote it for fun and thought the Carnival of the Animals was too frivolous to be taken seriously, and so it was never performed during his lifetime. However, in this day and age, the piece is a favorite of music lovers and animal lovers alike. Each movement paints a musical picture of different animals - lions, elephants, a graceful swan. And in this book, 13 writers came together to create a book of poetry inspired by these songs. Complete with a CD featuring each poem followed by the musical passage that inspired it, this book allows us to create our mental paintings not just through music, but also through words and illustrations.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Just as each movement in the Carnival of the Animals is drastically different from the rest, each of these poems portrays a unique sense of style. Each writer clearly has his or her own personal style of writing. And although the entire book was illustrated by Kitamura, each poem (and musical movement) has a very unique illustration which is just as captivating as the poems and the music.
I have read a lot of mixed reviews about this book, but honestly I think it is great. It is always refreshing to me to see unique ways that people manage to pull together music, art, and the written word. This book could easily be read for fun by very young readers, but it also opens a whole world of possibilities for discussing the connections between all of these varying forms of art.
The Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Dave Mckean
"It takes a whole village to raise a child," or so the old proverb goes. But when it comes to Nobody Owens, instead of a village, it takes a graveyard. When Nobody (who goes by Bod for short) was the sole survivor of an attack on his family at the tender age of 18 months, the residents of the local graveyard took it upon themselves to raise him. Bod grows up in a strange world of limbo - still living, he learns the habits, knowledge, and magic of the graveyard. And his life is anything but ordinary - he meets ghouls and witches, and his personal mentor is a vampire. Readers watch as he tries to make friends and fit in at school (which of course is difficult, considering the differences that exist between Bod and "normal" children). Eventually, he confronts "the man named Jack" who murdered his entire family when he was a baby, and after that we see his attempt at living in the "real world."
I also really like the illustrations of this book. Mckean's wonderful hand-drawn artwork is at the beginning of every chapter. And though this book definitely involves a lot of reading, I think the illustrations add a lot to readers' interpretations and mental images regarding the story.
This Newberry Medal-winning book opens our eyes and our imaginations to what it might be like to be raised by the dead. Not only that, but through the entirety of Bod's adventures, we learn just how wonderful it is to actually be alive. Though this book has "mature" themes, I think it is a wonderful book for upper elementary aged readers.
There is another great aspect of this story. Though the book itself forms the entirety of Bod's story, each chapter can be read alone as an independent story. Gaiman, who wrote the book this way on purpose, ended up going on tour, reading entire chapters at a time to his audience. He followed each chapter by an extended Q&A session. And, not only that, but he posted all of these readings online for everyone to see. Not only can we buy and read the book, but through this use of technology we can see and hear the author read the entire book to us. What a great idea for a class read-aloud!
Illustrated by Dave Mckean
"It takes a whole village to raise a child," or so the old proverb goes. But when it comes to Nobody Owens, instead of a village, it takes a graveyard. When Nobody (who goes by Bod for short) was the sole survivor of an attack on his family at the tender age of 18 months, the residents of the local graveyard took it upon themselves to raise him. Bod grows up in a strange world of limbo - still living, he learns the habits, knowledge, and magic of the graveyard. And his life is anything but ordinary - he meets ghouls and witches, and his personal mentor is a vampire. Readers watch as he tries to make friends and fit in at school (which of course is difficult, considering the differences that exist between Bod and "normal" children). Eventually, he confronts "the man named Jack" who murdered his entire family when he was a baby, and after that we see his attempt at living in the "real world."
I also really like the illustrations of this book. Mckean's wonderful hand-drawn artwork is at the beginning of every chapter. And though this book definitely involves a lot of reading, I think the illustrations add a lot to readers' interpretations and mental images regarding the story.
This Newberry Medal-winning book opens our eyes and our imaginations to what it might be like to be raised by the dead. Not only that, but through the entirety of Bod's adventures, we learn just how wonderful it is to actually be alive. Though this book has "mature" themes, I think it is a wonderful book for upper elementary aged readers.
There is another great aspect of this story. Though the book itself forms the entirety of Bod's story, each chapter can be read alone as an independent story. Gaiman, who wrote the book this way on purpose, ended up going on tour, reading entire chapters at a time to his audience. He followed each chapter by an extended Q&A session. And, not only that, but he posted all of these readings online for everyone to see. Not only can we buy and read the book, but through this use of technology we can see and hear the author read the entire book to us. What a great idea for a class read-aloud!
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