File
advertisement
Page 1 IS 590: Picture Books Across the Curriculum Picture Book Review Author, Title Review # Ackerman, Karen; Song and Dance Man .................................................................................... 77 Adler, David A.; The Babe & I .................................................................................................. 165 Alexander, Lloyd; The King’s Fountain .................................................................................... 164 Allard, Harry; The Stupids Die .................................................................................................. 174 Andreasen, Dan; With a Little Help From Daddy ..................................................................... 140 Anholt, Laurence; Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail ........................................................... 191 Averbeck, Jim; In a Blue Room ................................................................................................... 13 Avi; Silent Movie ....................................................................................................................... 173 Aylesworth, Jim; Old Black Fly................................................................................................. 119 Bang, Molly; Ten, Nine, Eight ..................................................................................................... 51 Bang, Molly; When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry… ............................................. 163 Bannerman, Helen; Little Black Sambo ..................................................................................... 110 Bannon, Kay Thorpe; Yonder Mountain .................................................................................... 134 Barton, Byron; Machines at Work ............................................................................................. 109 Base, Graeme; The Sign of the Seahorse ................................................................................... 101 Bemelmans, Ludwig; Madeline’s Rescue .................................................................................... 46 Bernard, Robin; Juma and the Honey Guide ............................................................................. 147 Birdseye, Tom; She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain ............................................................ 117 Blake, Quentin; Snuff ................................................................................................................. 183 Bornstein, Harry; Little Red Riding Hood ................................................................................. 135 Brisson, Pat; Melissa Parkington’s Beautiful, Beautiful Hair ................................................... 146 Browne, Anthony; Gorilla ......................................................................................................... 182 Budney, Blossom; A Cat Can’t Count ....................................................................................... 197 Burleigh, Robert; Pandora......................................................................................................... 136 Burns, Khepra; Mansa Musa ..................................................................................................... 137 Burton, Virginia Lee; Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel ....................................................... 49 Burton, Virginia Lee; The Little House ....................................................................................... 50 Byrd, Robert; The Hero and the Minotaur .................................................................................. 20 Carle, Eric; The Grouchy Ladybug ............................................................................................ 198 Carle, Eric; Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me ........................................................................ 121 Carle, Eric; The Very Quiet Cricket ........................................................................................... 103 Carlstrom, Nancy White; Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? ...................................................... 85 Carney, Margaret; At Grandpa’s Sugar Bush .............................................................................. 89 Carson, Jo; You Hold Me and I’ll Hold You .............................................................................. 108 Casanova, Mary; One-Dog Canoe ............................................................................................... 90 Choi, Yangsook; Behind the Mask............................................................................................. 169 Climo, Shirley; Korean Cinderella .............................................................................................. 26 Cole, Stephen; Shrek, The Essential Guide ............................................................................... 192 Coville, Bruce; Hamlet .............................................................................................................. 139 Cousins, Lucy; Hooray for Fish! ............................................................................................... 111 Craft, Mahlon F.; Sleeping Beauty ............................................................................................... 22 Creech, Sharon; A Fine, Fine School ........................................................................................ 138 Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 2 Crews, Donald; Freight Train...................................................................................................... 69 Cronin, Doreen; Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type .................................................................. 37 Cullen, Lynn; Moi & Marie Antoinette........................................................................................ 12 Cunnane, Kelly; For You are a Kenyan Child ........................................................................... 114 Dahl, Roald; The Enormous Crocodile ........................................................................................ 31 Daly, Niki; Jamela’s Dress .......................................................................................................... 99 Danneburg, Julie; First Year Letters .......................................................................................... 168 Daugherty, James; Andy and the Lion ......................................................................................... 32 Davis, Donald; The Pig Who Went Home on Sunday .................................................................. 96 Defoe, Daniel; Robinson Crusoe ................................................................................................. 92 De Paola, Tomie; Mice Squeak, We Speak ................................................................................ 189 De Paola, Tomie; Strega Nona .................................................................................................... 39 Edwards, Michelle; Eve and Smithy .......................................................................................... 166 Egielski, Richard; Buz .................................................................................................................. 62 Ehlert, Lois; Mole’s Hill .............................................................................................................. 27 Ehrlich, Bettina; Pantaloni ........................................................................................................ 175 Ehrlich, H.M.; Louie’s Goose ...................................................................................................... 94 Engel, Diana; Josephina the Great Collector ............................................................................ 162 Ets, Marie Hall; In the Forest .................................................................................................... 188 Falconer, Ian; Olivia .................................................................................................................... 33 Falconer, Ian; Olivia Forms a Band ............................................................................................ 10 Feiffer, Jules; Bark, George ......................................................................................................... 36 Fleming, Denise; Lunch ............................................................................................................. 112 Freeman, Lydia and Don; Pet of the Met ................................................................................... 190 Fox, Mem; Tough Boris ............................................................................................................. 120 Frame, Jeron Ashford; Yesterday I had the Blues...................................................................... 161 Galdone, Paul; Puss in Boots ....................................................................................................... 56 Geisert, Arthur; The Giant Ball of String................................................................................... 160 George, Jean Craighead; Frightful’s Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel ..................................... 9 Gerstein, Mordicai; Carolinda Clatter! ..................................................................................... 116 Gollub, Matthew; The Jazz Fly .................................................................................................. 167 Graham, Bob; Max ..................................................................................................................... 177 Graham, John; A Crowd of Cows............................................................................................... 176 Gregory, Nan; Pink ...................................................................................................................... 11 Griek, Susan Vande; The Art Room ............................................................................................. 23 Grimm, Brothers; The Bremen Town Musicians ........................................................................... 6 Hall, Donald; Ox-Cart Man ......................................................................................................... 80 Handforth, Thomas; Mei Li.......................................................................................................... 47 Harshman, Marc; A Little Excitement ........................................................................................ 181 Henkes, Kevin; Kitten’s First Full Moon .................................................................................... 18 Henkes, Kevin; Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse ............................................................................. 107 Henkes, Kevin; Owen ................................................................................................................ 125 Hest, Amy; Off to School, Baby Duck! ...................................................................................... 113 Hill, Eric; Where’s Spot? ............................................................................................................. 60 Hoban, Tana; Round & Round & Round ................................................................................... 158 Hoberman, Mary Ann; The Marvelous Mouse Man .................................................................. 170 Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 3 Hoberman, Mary Ann; The Seven Silly Eaters ............................................................................ 84 Hoff, Syd; Duncan the Dancing Duck ....................................................................................... 157 Hogrogian, Nonny; One Fine Day ............................................................................................. 159 Isadora, Rachel; Lili at Ballet ...................................................................................................... 95 James, Simon; Little One Step ................................................................................................... 152 Jobling, Curtis; Frankenstein’s Cat ............................................................................................. 83 Johnson, Angela; Julius ............................................................................................................... 75 Johnson, Crockett; Harold’s Fairy Tale .................................................................................... 199 Jonas, Ann; Aardvarks, Disembark! .......................................................................................... 122 Kasza, Keiko; The Wolf’s Chicken Stew ...................................................................................... 59 Keats, Ezra Jack; Maggie and the Pirate ..................................................................................... 55 Keats, Ezra Jack; Whistle for Willie ............................................................................................. 54 Keller, Holly; Farfallina & Marcel ........................................................................................... 151 Kimmel, Eric A; Anansi and the Magic Stick ............................................................................ 196 Krause, Ruth; The Carrot Seed .................................................................................................... 40 Langton, Jane; The Queen’s Necklace ......................................................................................... 97 Lasker, Joe; Lentil Soup ............................................................................................................. 186 Lester, Julius; Black Cowboy Wild Horses ................................................................................ 102 Lester, Mike; A is for Salad ....................................................................................................... 105 Lewis, J. Patrick; The House of Boo .............................................................................................. 3 Lieshout, Elle van, and Erik van Os; The Nothing King................................................................ 4 Lobel, Arnold; Fables .................................................................................................................. 79 Macaulay, David; Why the Chicken Crossed the Road ............................................................... 76 Marion, Jeff Daniel; Hello, Crow .............................................................................................. 104 Marshall, James; George and Martha ......................................................................................... 70 Martin, Bill, Jr.; Chicka Chicka Boom Boom .............................................................................. 38 Martin, Jacqueline Briggs; The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig ................................................ 2 McClosky, Robert; Make Way for Ducklings .............................................................................. 44 McClosky, Robert; Time of Wonder ............................................................................................ 45 McCully, Emily Arnold; Mirette on the High Wire ..................................................................... 43 McDermott, Beverly Brodsky; Sedna ........................................................................................ 126 McGhee, Alison; Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth ....................................................................... 52 McKissack, Patricia C.; Goin’ Someplace Special ...................................................................... 66 Meddaugh, Susan; Martha Blah Blah ........................................................................................ 118 Michelson, Richard; Happy Feet ............................................................................................... 115 Moses, Brian; Trouble at the Dinosaur Café ................................................................................. 1 Moss, Miriam; Bare Bear .............................................................................................................. 5 Munari, Bruno; Bruno Munari’s ABC ......................................................................................... 63 Murphy, Mary; I Kissed the Baby! .............................................................................................. 74 Myers, Tim; Tanuki’s Gift ........................................................................................................... 88 Nakatani, Chiyoko; The Zoo in my Garden ............................................................................... 156 Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds; Keeping a Christmas Secret ............................................................ 187 Nolen, Jerdine; In My Momma’s Kitchen .................................................................................... 98 O’Brien, Thomas M.; To Know a Tree ...................................................................................... 171 Ogburn, Jacqueline K.; The Magic Nesting Doll ......................................................................... 93 Osborne, Mary Pope; New York’s Bravest ................................................................................ 155 Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 4 Oughton, Jerrie; How the Stars Fell Into the Sky......................................................................... 87 Pedersen, Judy; When Night Time Comes Near......................................................................... 185 Peppe, Rodney; The Mice Who Lived in a Shoe ........................................................................ 184 Provensen, Alice; Shaker Lane .................................................................................................. 172 Quackenbush, Robert; Danger in Tibet ....................................................................................... 81 Radunsky, Vladimir; Manneken Pis .......................................................................................... 148 Raschka, Chris; Yo! Yes? ........................................................................................................... 154 Rathmann, Peggy; Good Night, Gorilla ...................................................................................... 41 Rathmann, Peggy; Officer Buckle and Gloria ............................................................................. 42 Rees, Lesley; How to be a Pirate in 7 Days or Less.................................................................... 15 Reynolds, Peter H.; The Dot ...................................................................................................... 200 Rohmann, Eric; A Kitten Tale ...................................................................................................... 14 Rohmann, Eric; My Friend Rabbit............................................................................................... 19 Rosenthal, Amy Krouse; Little Pea ............................................................................................... 7 Runcie, Jill; Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!............................................................................................. 149 Saltzberg, Barney; Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For School? ............................................. 8 Say, Allen; Grandfather’s Journey .............................................................................................. 72 Say, Allen; Kamishibai Man ........................................................................................................ 73 Schertle, Alice; The Skeleton in the Closet ................................................................................ 150 Scieszka, Jon; Squids will be Squids .......................................................................................... 153 Shannon, David; Duck on a Bike ............................................................................................... 123 Shannon, David; No, David! ........................................................................................................ 65 Shepard, Aaron; Master Man ....................................................................................................... 91 Shulevitz, Uri; What is a Wise Bird Like You Doing in a Silly Tale Like This? ........................ 124 Simont, Marc; The Stray Dog ...................................................................................................... 58 Sis, Peter; Fire Truck ................................................................................................................... 67 Slobodkina, Esphyr; Caps for Sale; ............................................................................................. 61 Spinelli, Eileen; Hero Cat ............................................................................................................ 24 Stanley, Diane; Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter ................................................................................ 25 Steel, Danielle; Max and the Baby-Sitter ................................................................................... 132 Steig, William; Amos & Boris ................................................................................................... 145 Talley, Carol; Papa Piccolo ....................................................................................................... 144 Tan, Shaun; The Lost Thing ....................................................................................................... 127 Taylor, Mark; The Frog House .................................................................................................. 133 Thomas, Patricia; “Stand Back,” Said the Elephant, “I’m Going to Sneeze!” ......................... 179 Thurber, James; Many Moons ...................................................................................................... 71 Tobias, Tobi; The Quitting Deal ................................................................................................ 195 Turner, Sandy; Otto’s Trunk ........................................................................................................ 82 Ueno, Noriko; Elephant Buttons ................................................................................................ 178 Van Allsburg, Chris; Jumanji .................................................................................................... 100 Van Allsburg, Chris; The Garden of Abdul Gasazi ..................................................................... 29 Van Allsburg, Chris; The Wreck of the Zephyr............................................................................ 28 Van Allsburg, Chris; The Wretched Stone ................................................................................... 21 Waber, Bernard; Good-bye, Funny Dumpy-Lumpy ................................................................... 106 Ward, Lynd; The Biggest Bear .................................................................................................... 48 Weatherford, Carole Boston; Dear Mr. Rosenwald..................................................................... 30 Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 5 Wells, Rosemary; Yoko ................................................................................................................ 57 Wells, Rosemary; Yoko’s Paper Cranes .................................................................................... 143 Wiesner, David; Flotsam ............................................................................................................. 35 Wiesner, David; The Three Pigs .................................................................................................. 34 Wiesner, David; Tuesday ........................................................................................................... 194 Willems, Mo; Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! .................................................................... 16 Willems, Mo; Knuffle Bunny ....................................................................................................... 17 Williams, Vera B.; A Chair for my Mother ................................................................................. 64 Wood, Aubrey; When the Root Children Wake Up ................................................................... 131 Wright, Betty Ren; The Cat Next Door ..................................................................................... 142 Yarbrough, Camille; Cornrows ................................................................................................. 180 Yee, Wong Herbert; Big Black Bear.......................................................................................... 141 Yolen, jane; The Seeing Stick..................................................................................................... 193 Yolen, Jane; Tam Lin ................................................................................................................... 86 Yorinks, Arthur; Hey, Al .............................................................................................................. 78 Zemach, Harve; Duffy and the Devil ......................................................................................... 128 Zimmerman, Andrea; Trashy Town ............................................................................................. 53 Zion, Gene; Harry the Dirty Dog ................................................................................................ 68 Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 6 Review #1 Citation: Moses, Brian. Trouble at the Dinosaur Café. New York: Walker & Company, 2006. Ill. by Gary Parsons. ! Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Peaceful plant-eating dinosaurs are interrupted when a bullying T-Rex comes in threatening to eat them. They call in help from a triceratops, who knocks the villain over; the others tickle him until he promises not to bother them anymore. Story Notes: Text rhymes ABCB. Set in Illustration Notes: Font size changes for emphasis, 1950s-style café, dramatic bullying with vivid printed on pictures; pictures switch from full scenes vocabulary. Antagonist is beaten but not to panels for drama along with text. Close-ups on Ttaught a lesson. Humorous ending. Rex dramatic. Bright colors, clean lines, texture to dino skin. Endpapers show café switching from neat to trashed following fight. Applications: Use in conjunction with non-fiction dinosaur books to teach fiction vs. non. Age Range: younger elementary Awards/Distinctions: Tags: dinosaurs, bully Review #2 Citation: Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Ill. by Linda S. Wingerter. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A retired sailor has the gift for dowsing, or finding underground water with a forked stick. He, his granddaughter, and their pig enjoy sailing and fishing. After a stint of bad luck, the grandfather decides he has lost the gift, grows depressed, and stops his pastimes, but when the beloved pig goes missing, his granddaughter convinces him to take up the dowsing rod again to find the pig. Story Notes: Text written in lines like poetry, Illustration Notes: Pretty acrylic paintings with soft comes off a little choppy in sentences. Nice colors and warm atmosphere depicting country life, but enough little story, but seems either developed pictures seem a bit disjointed from text, as if it’s too much or not enough; awkward amount of apparent that author and illustrator didn’t work detail and complexity. I have trouble deciding together. Some elements of pictures are specified in what the story is mostly about, so kids will text; pictures should be used for things left unsaid? have trouble too. Text is spatially separate from illustrations, on a white page with a small picture opposite a full-page picture on the other side of the spread. Applications: Use to support cultural lessons on dowsing, other traditional skills Age Range: middle elementary Awards/Distinctions: Tags: dowsing, pigs, sailors Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 7 Review #3 Citation: Lewis, J. Patrick. The House of Boo. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. Ill. by Katya Krenina. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Three children approach a haunted house, believing a hermit lives there. When they see his shadow they retreat into the dark, but in doing so stumble over the gravestone of the house’s supposed inhabitant. When they return to the house to look again, they can see no life in it, and the mystery goes unresolved. Story Notes: Text rhymes AABA, a Rubaiyat Illustration Notes: Very dark gouaches make for a poem. Some figurative language and some spooky night mood, draw reader in and support the unconventional phrasing and grammar to fit the text very well. Text is set onto pictures, sometimes stanzas. Spooky story, no relief in conclusion. lines are incorporated into pictures themselves. Perspective changes from close to the children to farther out, to show their fear and then the cause of it. Pictures use every inch of paper meaningfully. Applications: Halloween holiday, or ghost story anytime. Age Range: older elementary to middle Awards/Distinctions: Tags: haunted house, ghosts, dare Review #4 Citation: Lieshout, Elle van, and Erik vas Os. The Nothing King. Belgium: Lemniscat b.v. Rotterdam, 2004. Ill. by Paula Gerritsen. ! Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: King Bear moves out of the palace, leaving all his servants and nice things behind, to live in a shabby apartment with his pet rabbit. He is teased by his astonished colleagues and subjects, who ridicule and call him a nothing king, but he finds that life is much better without those materialistic things. He has all that he needs, which eventually embarrasses and quiets his tormentors. Story Notes: Few words, carefully chosen to Illustration Notes: Light values in mixed techniques show more than elaborate description would. show a great deal beyond the text, supporting it well. Climax and wit in understatement. Imagery in Uses empty space for “simple life” idea. End papers rich but simple language. Theme of enjoying start with overworked, hassled King (expressing the simple life—not a usual American topic. premise of the book) and end with relaxed King. Applications: Enjoyment, general, use to contrast fiction with non-fiction bears Age Range: any Awards/Distinctions: Tags: bears, kings, independence, happiness Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 8 Review #5 Citation: Moss, Miriam. Bare Bear. New York: Holiday House, 2005. Ill. by Mary McQuillan. # Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A bear’s clothes are blown away in the wind. He walks out to find them, and they appear with three fairytale characters who become his friends. Story Notes: Text rhymes ABCB, has common Illustration Notes: Font size changes for emphasis, refrain, references fairytales, may be criticized text in shapes to support meaning and pictures. for portraying the bear walking around naked. Space in pictures changes, sometimes to fill full Cute and relatable story. page, sometimes to microcosms. Dark values for lost clothes, bright, happy colors for new friends, lost clothes appear early so kids can try to find them. End papers show full then empty clothesline. Applications: Good story to learn for storytelling. Age Range: younger elementary Awards/Distinctions: Tags: bears, clothes Review #6 Citation: Grimm, Brothers. The Bremen Town Musicians. Trans. By Anthea Bell. New York: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2007. Ill. by Lisbeth Zwerger. Source: Hodges CCYAL #& Summary: Four aging farm animals run away from their homes under threat of death from their owners. They intend to make their living by joining a town band, but then they come upon some robbers’ house. They stand on each other’s shoulders to look like a monster, make lots of noise, and scare the robbers away handily, after which they live there from then on. Story Notes: Translation with simple but beautiful language, need to check original tale to see if this one lacks dark elements of Grimm (for instance there’s no violent end, not sure if that’s original or not). This is a folk tale with numerous versions around. Illustration Notes: Simple watercolors with lots of space. Some, with just the character at the bottom of a single-color wash with some small pictures above, seem to be character snapshots with room for the character’s thoughts. Others are full-scene illustrations, but usually still with more space for the landscape than the animals. Small character-only pictures without background or border appear at the bottom of some text pages, showing the misery of each of the characters along with the text about why they ran away from their homes. Endpapers show their efforts to scare away the robbers. Applications: Read multiple versions to discuss the roots of folk tales, compare and contrast for reading skills. This could be acted out fairly easily by kids, would be a good one for storytelling. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: animals, folk tales, aging Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 9 Review #7 Citation: Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Little Pea. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2005. Ill. by Jen Corace. Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Little Pea is very happy and loves a lot of life, but he hates eating candy for supper. His parents make him eat the candy and reward him afterwards with a dessert of spinach. Story Notes: Twist on the eternal problem of children not wanting to eat healthy food but rushing towards dessert. Portrays a happy, well-adjusted child with a good family life, which may lean toward the cliché in some ways but is not overdone. Dialog about how much candy to eat is straight out of a typical family dinner table conversation. Eaten candy is accompanied by kid’s exclamations like “yuck” and “blech”. This would be great to read aloud, and would be good for a beginning reader as long as they are solid enough on their letters to read the font, which is not quite standard. Illustration Notes: Very simple ink and watercolor pictures on otherwise completely white pages. Simple shapes, lines show motion, text often printed around pictures, text size changes for emotion. Applications: Give to early readers, combine with other books addressing the dinnertime issue. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: dessert, eating, parents Review #8 Citation: Saltzberg, Barney. Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For School? Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2007. Ill. by author Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Cornelius’s mom asks him a series of “Did you…” questions, to all of which he answers “Yes!” However, as can be seen in the pictures, what he has done is literally correct but not what we expect to be the proper way to do things. After he declares that he is ready for school, he boards a bus that gives a surprise ending: it’s taking him to clown school. Story Notes: Very easy text, would be good for young readers. Responses allow group participation. Text cannot stand alone as a story, as the twist to each “Yes!” and the surprise ending are shown only in the pictures. Depicts caring, stable mother who makes sure to kiss him before he leaves. Illustration Notes: Integral to the story, as pictures give the punch line to each of Cornelius’s responses. Acrylic and pencil illustrations have bright, fun colors that lend to the comical nature of the story. Simple objects and shapes make it very clear what message each picture is intended to convey to the reader. Text for Cornelius’s responses is in all caps, indicating that he yells or exclaims each time. Front end paper, frontispiece, and title page set mood for the story, but back end paper is particularly important by giving the surprise ending. Applications: Critical thinking skills: discuss why Cornelius keeps saying yes when he has not done what we think he should have. Age Range: very young Awards: Tags: Pigs, school, getting ready Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 10 Review #9 Citation: George, Jean Craighead. Frightful’s Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel. New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Ill. by Daniel San Souci & Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: A mother peregrine falcon and a father weasel each struggle for their families’ interests by feeding and protecting their young. The weasel sees the falcon’s offspring as food and tries incessantly to find a way to get them, while the mother falcon tries desperately to get her babies to fly so that they can move away to safety. They eventually fly only when the weasel finally successfully arrives in their nest. Sam, a human boy character who lives in the same woods, helps the reader to understand that the struggle to survive is just everyone playing their special role in nature. Story Notes: Longer text, mostly realistic but personifies animals occasionally, gives the weasel the roundest and in some ways most sympathetic character, which is un-stereotypical. Satisfying resolution to conflict, but opens discussion on who-eats-who ethical issues. Illustration Notes: Beautiful rich watercolors of mountain nature scenes. They don’t convey enough information to be essential to the story, but they increase its pleasure in telling. Text is set apart from pictures by white boxes, no artistic intent in font. Applications: Could be used for food chain lesson or ethical discussion Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: falcons, weasels, mountains, woods, food chain Review #10 Citation: Falconer, Ian. Olivia Forms a Band. New York: Athenum Books for Young Readers, 2006. Ill. by author. @ Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Olivia’s family is going to see a fireworks show. Olivia decides there ought to be a band for fireworks, and spends the day making herself into a one-pig band. When it’s time to go, she changes her mind and leaves the band behind, but they have a good time anyway. Story Notes: Full of charming just-like-a-kid moments, perhaps funnier adult even than for kids. Full of dialog and humorous understatement. As in real life, doesn’t focus on a single stated conflict, but jumps around as Olivia’s mood changes. Captures parents’ loving frustration with children. Illustration Notes: Charcoal and gouache, black and white with red and blue accents adds to the humorous understatement of the text. Uses the occasional photograph to fill in a scene, which increases humor by being unexpected and contrasting with the rest of the pictures. Title page illustrated with the first scene of the book, end papers give polka dots to represent Olivia’s personality. Back ground to pictures is left blank space, for the reader to fill in by imagining a home. Onomatopoeia for band sounds are printed in large text sizes. Includes a portion of the piano score to Washington Post March. Applications: Humorous light read, should appeal to everyone for general reading Age Range: any Awards: Tags: band Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 11 Review #11 Citation: Gregory, Nan. Pink. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2007. Ill. by Luc Melanson. Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Vivi, the daughter of a trucker and a maid, is jealous of all the “perfect pink” things the wealthy, snooty girls at school have. When she sees an amazing pink doll for sale, she takes odd jobs to save enough to buy it, thinking that will help her fit in. When she almost has enough, one of the snooty girls buys it first. Her parents understand wanting things, but they help her understand that you can’t have everything, and that getting it won’t necessarily make you happier. Story Notes: Delightful story about a low SES girl finding non-material happiness, not cliché and NOT what I expected from the pink cover. Touching story with real-life issues of playground teasing by the more fortunate, working hard towards a goal and having it fall out from under you, imperfect parents who care but can only do so much with their means, people passing judgment on your situation based on your appearance, feeling too old to be comforted by hugs. Language good for lots of reading levels. Illustration Notes: Nice enough illustrations, done digitally in bright colors with values that vary according to mood (bright with family, darker with snooty store owner), but not my favorite. The cartoonish characters are really too simple for all the complex themes addressed. Applications: Use to open discussion about different family situations, maybe by guidance counselor. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: pink, bullies, poverty, contentment Review #12 Citation: Cullen, Lynn. Moi & Marie Antoinette. New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2006. Ill. by Amy Young. Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: The story of Marie Antoinette’s marriage to a prince of France, accession to the throne, and search for happiness through materialism, told from the point of view of her pug dog. Story Notes: Very cute rendition of the thoughts of an “already perfect” dog, presents Antoinette in a much more human way than the “let them eat cake” monster in most stories. Addresses a historical subject, though not in a terribly historical way, with the apparent theme being that true happiness is found in love, as the dog finds it at the end, rather than an informative description of the French court. Illustration Notes: Light, slightly whimsical gouaches that keep the focus on the story of the dog better than rich oils for the grandeur of the court would have. Often leave backgrounds blank space, for the reader to imagine that grandeur. Pictorial as well as textual similarity between Antoinette’s inspection by her mother and the beginning and her inspection of her daughter at the end. Several nice shifts in point of view provide variety, from far-away garden views to looking through characters’ eyes. Applications: Use with older readers in combination with another portrayal of Marie Antoinette to talk about bias in different sources. Theme of finding happiness for younger readers. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: Marie Antoinette, France, royalty, happiness, dogs, bias Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 12 Review #13 Citation: Averbeck, Jim. In a Blue Room. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 2008. Ill. by Tricia Tusa. Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Alice is up too late, protesting that she can only sleep in a blue room as her worthy mother keeps tempting her to sleep with non-blue things. She nods of gradually, and when her mother turns the light off, the moonlight makes it so that she does indeed sleep in a blue room. Story Notes: Alice’s lack of awareness of her own sleepiness seems sweet to adults, but it may not resonate for children, who almost certainly experience the same thing but will deny it just as Alice does when it happens to them. Easy words but rich vocabulary, a good one for young readers to practice on if they like it. Ending with everything bathed in blue is a surprise, but wholly satisfying. Illustration Notes: Very simplistic, almost child-like outlines of Alice and her mother in ink, watercolor, and gouache. Text is mostly on blank pages, but each time her mother gives her something, it extends from the main scene to wrap around the words. Point of view is important, ranging from underneath Alice jumping on the bed to backing out gradually as she falls asleep, leaving the room, house, town, and then planet, seeing only the tiny outline of Earth in the distance as the story confirms in the end that Alice sleeps in a blue room. After the light goes off, all scenes are done entirely in different values of blue, and they become full spreads onto the text pages so that white space doesn’t interrupt the blue in which Alice sleeps. Convincing contrast with the light of the room while awake. Hard cover is blue, while jacket is the light colors of the lit scenes. Applications: Pleasure reading, bedtime story Age Range: any Awards: Tags: blue, falling asleep Review #14 Citation: Rohmann, Eric. A Kitten Tale. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Four kittens wonder what snow will be like when they see it for the first time. Three are terrified of it, but the fourth is excited. When it arrives, the fourth dives right in and has a great time. When they see how much fun he’s having, the other three change their minds and join him. Story Notes: Adorable hyperbole from the worrywart cats. Simple language, parallel structure that can be learned easily. Simple way of addressing the often needless fear of the unknown. Illustration Notes: Color monotype prints, simple outlines but lots of texture and action. Does a great job of showing the energetic activities of kittens and adds a lot to the story about how the fourth kitten goes a separate way from the crowd. Pictures (and thus story) start even before the title page, include the full-spread title page as well as the frontispiece, but not the endpapers. Applications: Good for early readers, talk about fear and courage in the face of the unknown Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: kittens, courage, worry, seasons, snow Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 13 Review #15 Citation: Rees, Lesley. How to be a Pirate in 7 Days or Less. Boston: Kingfisher, 2006. Ill. by Jan Lewis. @& Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: “Instructions” for making oneself into a pirate, divided into seven sections. Full of games, art activities, and recipes for hands-on activities. Story Notes: The hands-on activities are really more important than the reading material in this book (as there is little in the way of continuous narrative at all), though the introductions to each page do give some non-fiction information about pirates, such as what scurvy is. Words are vernacular and very readable, introduces pirate vocabulary words. Illustration Notes: Simple cartoon-style pictures appear here and there to punctuate the text and fill the page with color rather than add much information to the story. They do help to clarify some of the activities, though they are not meant to be instructional. The end papers include templates to trace for skulls-and-crossbones, a cutlass, letters in calligraphy script, as well as a ruler to use for making maps. Applications: This book has a lot of activities that could be used in a library or classroom to support other parts of a unit (such as making a map) or would be very suitable to send home with a student to do with friends and family just for fun. It includes some removable parts, which are probably not suitable for library use, but the book can definitely be enjoyed without them. Age Range: elementary to middle Awards: Tags: pirates, games, maps, recipes Review #16 Citation: Willems, Mo. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2003. Ill. by author. $@ Source: Family collection Summary: A bus driver leaves his bus for a break and asks the reader to keep an eye on it and not let the pigeon drive it. The pigeon, who has been daydreaming about doing just that, begs, pleads, whines, and tries every trick he can think of to convince the reader to let him drive, but to no avail. After the driver returns and drives the bus away, the pigeon is distracted by a new driving goal: a monster truck. Story Notes: Simple text recalls scores of wheedling attempts almost every reader has made in trying to get permission for something denied. Easy to read, great read-aloud if done with expression. Very funny in its true-to-life familiarity. Illustration Notes: Very simple cartoon-style shapes done in solid colors and crayon outlines against neutral backgrounds. Angles and lines make body language and facial expressions of pigeon perfectly clear and add a great deal to the pigeon’s pleas for permission. Pictures creep around the edges of pages for motions and hesitations of pigeon. Story begins and concludes with illustrations on end papers, also making full use of title page, frontispiece, dedication page. Applications: Pleasure reading Age Range: elementary Awards: Caldecott Honor Tags: pigeons, permission Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 14 Review #17 Citation: Willems, Mo. Knuffle Bunny. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2004. Ill. by author. $ Source: Family collection Summary: Trixie helps her daddy on a trip to the Laundromat. Upon leaving, she suddenly realizes her knuffle bunny has been left behind. Daddy doesn’t realize this and does not understand her pleas to go back, but as soon as they reach her mom, the problem is identified and they go back to find it. Daddy has to look hard but eventually finds it, and Trixie speaks her first words in exclaiming relief. Story Notes: True-to-life experience of the panic of forgetting a comfort object, with Daddy both oblivious and heroic. Will resonate as much for parents as children. Very simple text, humorous in its understatement (revealed in pictures), good for an early reader. Illustration Notes: Simple cartoon-style ink sketches, colored and edited digitally onto sepia photographs of Brooklyn, NY. Sketches extend outside boundaries of photos and cross page limits, giving the impression that the Brooklyn landscape goes much farther than the frames given. Pictures flesh out story with emotions and actions, and add humor to the simple text. Text is printed in different sizes for emphasis. Frontispiece and title page give exposition to the family’s story, end papers foreshadow the fate of the knuffle bunny in the washing machine. Applications: Pleasure reading, talk about responsibility with young audience Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Caldecott Honor Tags: errand, Dad, Mom, toddler, comfort object, Brooklyn, laundry Review #18 Citation: Henkes, Kevin. Kitten’s First Full Moon. Greenwillow Books, 2004. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: When Kitten sees her first full moon, she mistakes it for a bowl of milk. She wants it, and she tries all kinds of things to get to it, all of which end unfortunately for her. When she returns home, exhausted and dejected, a big bowl of milk is waiting for her on the porch. Story Notes: Simple sentences, easily read. More text than many picture books with excellent illustrations, but not too much. Repeated refrain recalls the kitten’s attention and efforts to the moon, which could be a good audience participation opportunity. Frustrated efforts to reach the moon will be familiar to many readers. Illustration Notes: Black and white pictures, gouache and colored pencil. Not elaborate scenes, but rich in shadows and texture of the night. Different types of pictures vary the book, from a full scene opposite text on a white page, to close-ups, to large framed pictures with text underneath, to multiple panels of pictures on a single page, to small pictures of kitten and moon in opposite corners on a blank background with text crossing the page seam between them. Applications: Use to discuss perspective, how far away the moon and sky are. Age Range: Younger elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal Tags: kittens, full moon, frustration Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $ Page 15 Review #19 Citation: Rohmann, Eric. My Friend Rabbit. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2002. Ill. by author. $ Source: Family collection Summary: Mouse’s friend Rabbit means well but is always getting into trouble. For instance, when Mouse gets a model plane, Rabbit promptly flies it into a tree. His idea to get it down involves stacking and climbing upon huge animals to reach it, which results in disaster and everyone is unhappy. However, Mouse likes him anyway and always gives him another chance. Story Notes: The story is almost wordless. The premise (that they are friends but that it often brings trouble) is given in text, but the whole plot is described by the pictures. Very humorous, life-like experience of having a hazardous friend, but exaggerated. Repeated motto of “Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea” will make this very memorable. Illustration Notes: Pictures tell most of the story. Ink and watercolors, with some woodblock or linoleum printing. Pictures extend beyond boundaries of pages to show motion, size, and perspective. Small lines and body language depict Rabbit’s eagerness to please and hard work, as well as the other animals’ reluctance to participate in a hare-brained scheme and irritation when it ends poorly. Illustrations use full-page spreads, with text printed onto the pictures. In the center, the book turns lengthwise to show the entire stack of animals. Applications: Discuss plans gone awry, maybe combine with other books on that theme, use as base for an art project to illustrate students’ exploits with their friends Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal Tags: animals, rabbits, friends Review #20 Citation: Byrd, Robert. The Hero and the Minotaur. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2005. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges CCYAL Summary: Presents the mythological tales of Theseus beating the minotaur, Ariadne escaping from her father Minos, and Daedalus and Icarus and their waxen wings. Story Notes: Fairly detailed portrayal of the mythological stories, with a good bit of text, tries to make feelings and thoughts of characters come across. Blends several different myths together, unfortunately losing essential characteristics of a story (3 discernable parts, conclusion, climax, etc.). Good to draw connections, but the loss of focus in stories makes it difficult to discern between the stories if reader is not familiar with the different tales already. Illustration Notes: Watercolor and ink illustrations try to capture style of Greek vases, but come out dead and lifeless. Only illustrated text, rather than adding to it, and sometimes don’t even illustrate. Nice maps in the endpapers, though. Applications: Introduce different mythological characters Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: Greek mythology, Greece, Theseus, Icarus, Minos, Minotaur Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 16 Review #21 Citation: Van Allsburg, Chris. The Wretched Stone. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: The captain of a cargo ship starts a journey with a brand-new crew. Everything goes well, until they see a mysterious island, where they stop to look for fresh water and fruit. They find neither, but they bring on board a strange glowing stone. The soldiers are captivated by it to the point of ignoring the captain during a storm so that they can look at it, and they soon turn into horrifying apecreatures. Without their work, the ship is injured during the storm. The captain reads to them while they await rescue, and by the time it comes the men are returned to normal. Story Notes: Not a cheerful story, not for the youngest readers. Written as series of journal entries, which provide short verbal snapshots, with rich vocabulary, that together make a much more complex story. Believable voice as the captain, writing a journal instead of a narrative. Illustration Notes: Gorgeous paintings—gouache? Lots of unusual perspectives from small, underneath point looking upward at large things, with sails and trees and waves made into dramatic lines. Not bright colors but rich and dark in some scenes, giving the impression that this happened some years ago. Fleshes out the story’s verbal snapshots, especially when adding information about the ape creatures, which I saw and was shocked by before I got it in the text (and better). Applications: Connect with ship life, sea legends, Bermuda Triangle perhaps. Students could write their own journals of fantastic happenings. Put with Anansi and the moss-covered rock? Age Range: Mid to upper elementary Awards: Tags: sailing, sailors, sea myths Review #22 Citation: Craft, Mahlon F. Sleeping Beauty. New York: SeaStar Books, 2002. Ill. by Kinuko Y. Craft. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Traditional fairytale of Sleeping Beauty. Newborn princess is cursed by a wicked fairy to prick her finger on a spindle and die, but a good fairy is able to amend death to a hundred years’ sleep. The king tries to avoid this fate, but it happens and the whole castle falls asleep and is covered by a thick hedge of brambles. A prince penetrates the brambles and kisses the princess, who wakes up and falls in love with him. The two are married and the kingdom rejoices. Story Notes: It’s a traditional fairytale, but the emphasis on the princess’s beauty and the prince’s fearless heroism is a bit outdated. Beautiful language, but enforces feminine stereotypes. Illustration Notes: Rich, gorgeous oil paintings with fabulous details, gives medieval setting and ethereal, magical, fairytale quality. Includes illuminated letters to start each page. Applications: Would be read well together with a more modern take, or “fractured” fairytale, like The Paper Bag Princess. Use to compare and contrast different versions and de-Disney-fy. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: sleeping beauty Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 17 Review #23 Citation: Griek, Susan Vande. The Art Room. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2002. Ill. by Pascal Milelli. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Children respond to an advertisement for art lessons, where they learn not just to draw and paint but also to see beauty in nature and the world. Story Notes: Not a natural childlike narration style, almost more like freestyle poetry. Written in lines of verse. Sentences are long and split between pages, vocabulary is beautiful, lots of alliteration and rhythmic pulse to word and syntax choices. Lovely, could be used with other poetry, but not accessible enough to use individually for the reluctant reader. Illustration Notes: Impressionistic oil paintings, with tons of different colors to make apparently simple images, perhaps as the characters are learning to do. Goes beautifully with the less concrete poetic style of the words. Applications: Could be used to show an art style, to talk about the beautiful ways in which studying art can change the way you experience the world. Older students could look at books with different distinct illustration styles and talk about why each one is most appropriate for each book. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: art, impressionism Review #24 Citation: Spinelli, Eileen. Hero Cat. Tarryton, NY: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2006. Ill. by Jo Ellen McAllister Stammen. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A homeless mother cat has kittens in an abandoned shed. When she leaves to find food one day, she returns to find the shed on fire. She enters the fire five times, rescuing a kitten each time. Story Notes: This was based on a true story from Long Island, NY. The language is easy and suitable for young readers, but the topic is dramatic and poignant enough to use with older students. The poor situation of the cat and its love for its kittens are striking. The happy ending is satisfying. Includes an author’s note at the end explaining the true story of Scarlett and her kittens. Illustration Notes: Pastels illustrate the text and add motion. Mostly darker colors, for the life of a homeless cat and the frightening fire. The first scenes, in particular, really capture the expressions and postures of a cat getting shoo-ed away from everywhere it tries to take shelter. Pictures are lovely fullpage spreads with text (mostly in white) on top of them. Applications: Talk about true stories of brave deeds, leadership skills unit? Age Range: any Awards: Tags: cats, fire, hero Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 18 Review #25 Citation: Stanley, Diane. Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1997. Ill. by author. #& Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Fractured fairytale. Girl from Rumpelstiltskin marries him instead of king, and they have a daughter who gets captured by the king again to spin gold. Instead of finding a way to literally make gold, she tricks the king into giving away gold to poor villagers to make their life better. As the king’s life also gets better when his subjects no longer hate him, he rewards her by making her Prime Minister. Story Notes: Very funny in places, and will please readers in that it pays attention to the needs of poor people instead of focusing on royalty (a somewhat different theme from traditional western lore). Continues rather than alluding to and altering the original tale. Fairly long and detailed text. Lends itself well to storytelling with voices, does not take itself too seriously. Illustration Notes: Exaggerated, almost cartoonish characters in gouache, colored pencil, and collage save it from being the typical rich fairytale pictures you’d expect from the level of detail present. Panels with smaller pictures are inserted into full-page scenes to illustrate more of the text, but with framers and borders this is not choppy or confusing. A few striking perspectives, like viewing the castle from above or the king’s great hall from its far end. Applications: Use with original Rumpelstiltskin to talk about fractured fairytales, different versions of traditional stories, imagining what comes next. Students can write their own extended fairytales. Lends itself well to storytelling. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: Rumpelstiltskin, fractured fairytale, gold Review #26 Citation: Climo, Shirley. The Korean Cinderella. HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. Ill. by Ruth Heller. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A beautiful Korean girl is assigned ridiculous tasks by her jealous stepmother, who is looking for an excuse to get rid of her. When she asks for help, magical creatures appear to finish the tasks. After one such task, a local official notices how beautiful she is and rescues her from her regrettable home life by marrying her. Story Notes: It’s a nice alternate version, and seems to be part of a series of unusual alternate versions of this tale. I’d use it as a story for elementary schoolers, but not as a true cultural artifact. “Omoni”, for instance, is a poor transliteration. Fairly complex text. Illustration Notes: Like text, I’m not sure about using this as a cultural artifact. The colors and style are beautiful and authentic, but the eyes are all drawn slanted…Bright colors, exaggerated magical creatures, modern style in facial expressions, beautiful panels in illustrations. Applications: alternate versions of familiar tales, compare and contrast skills, could be acted out. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: Cinderella, Korea Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! & Page 19 Review #27 Citation: Ehlert, Lois. Mole’s Hill. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994. Ill. by author. & Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Fox, Skunk, and Raccoon think Mole’s hill is an eyesore in their neighborhood, so they summon her to a meeting and tell her she has to get rid of it and move by the end of the summer. She makes her hill bigger and plants flowers all over it so that it is beautiful, and when the end of the summer comes, they don’t want to lose the beautiful hill and she is back in their good graces. Story Notes: The Neighborhood Homeowners’ Association made me laugh, especially the fact that it included Skunk, because it’s so realistic. Very simple text, not much to it, good for young readers. Mole is such a sweet, earnest character that you can’t help feeling very sympathetic as she is bullied. Illustration Notes: Pictures are constructed out of simple shapes in bright-colored collage materials. Almost too simple; shapes are fixed, with no motion apparent in pictures. The style is somewhat abstract in its simplicity, but supports the text to show emotion even without facial expressions or different shapes, lines, values, etc. Not sure why that works. Colors are appealing for young readers. Applications: Use with lesson on problem-solving and getting along with others. Can also go with lesson on shapes, and young children make their own illustrations. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: animals, moles, neighborhood, bullies Review #28 Citation: Van Allsburg, Chris. The Wreck of the Zephyr. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983. Ill. by author. #& Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: An arrogant boy, determined to prove he is the best sailor, heads into a storm and is beached on an island. There he sees boats that can fly and determines to learn to sail through the air. He doesn’t heed a warning about sailing over land and in his arrogance wrecks his boat atop high cliffs. Story Notes: Story within a story, where the first narrator listens to an old man’s tale. The boy is rather transparently arrogant, setting him up to fail, but not cliché. The fact that the old man appears to be the boy is not altogether unexpected as an adult, but is a nice twist and may surprise young readers. Illustration Notes: Lovely Van Allsburg illustrations; my best guess is gouache on the medium. He picks less-than-obvious points of the text to illustrate, which seems to leave more of the story to the imagination. He shows very few faces and not much explicit information in the pictures, which makes it extra astonishing when he does something very concrete (as above in The Wretched Stone). Quality of illustrations is dreamy and ethereal, leaving it to the reader to determine truth. Applications: Talk about tall tales, whether the arrogant boy deserved to crash. Critical thinking about whether we can be sure the old man was the boy. Older students can compare to Icarus story. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: sailors, wreck, story within a story, arrogance Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 20 Review #29 Citation: Van Allsburg, Chris. The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1979. Ill. by author. $# Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Alan accidentally lets a neighbor’s obnoxious dog into a garden whose owner forbids them. He loses the dog, and the owner tells Alan he has turned the dog into a duck. The duck escapes, but when Alan returns to the dog’s owner to say he’s lost the creature, there the dog sits, good as new. It looks like Alan’s been tricked about turning the dog into a duck, but the end suspects otherwise. Story Notes: This is a really neat problem of who knows the truth, whether adults really know more than kids, and what can be believed. Interesting characters in here; the obnoxious dog, the witty and earnest Alan, the imposingly mysterious magician, and so forth. Illustration Notes: Detailed, beautifully shadowed pencil drawings. This is an early book, obviously a different style than the two Van Allsburg books I read earlier today. The pain and frustration of the boy as he tries to do his job is apparent in his facial expressions and postures, as is the adults’ attitude towards him. This dog appears briefly in the author’s other books, I’ve noticed. Beautiful perspectives in looking down a tunnel, up at the mansion, and the small boy standing next to the tall magician. Text is set on white bordered pages opposite each illustration. Applications: Talk about Alan’s motives and feelings, discuss whether the dog was really turned into a duck or not and why, write a different ending to the story Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Honor Tags: dogs, garden, magician Review #30 Citation: Weatherford, Carole Boston. Dear Mr. Rosenwald. New York: Scholastic Press, 2006. Ill. by R. Gregory Christie. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A poor black community in the 1920s rural south raises money to match funds to build a Rosenwald school. Story Notes: Long text, written in verse and separated into very short (usually one-page) chapters with headings. Appropriate for younger audiences, but in smaller chunks. Great opening to talk about a great number of cultural aspects of the South during that time period, especially life for AfricanAmericans between emancipation and the civil rights area. Story ventures off into unrelated points occasionally, which does not add to the plot but fleshes out the lives of the characters. Illustration Notes: Gouache and colored pencil expressionistic illustrations, are not realistic but seem to evoke the importance and business of the difficult task of raising money from poor people. The importance of the task and the people’s excitement are apparent from postures and gestures. Applications: Cultural studies, write to Mr. Rosenwald or local officials of some sort Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: school, Rosenwald school, southern U.S., African-Americans, fundraising, determination Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! & Page 21 Review #31 Citation: Dahl, Roald. The Enormous Crocodile. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. Ill. by Quentin Blake. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: An enormous crocodile concocts “secret plans and clever tricks” to lure children in the village so that he can eat them. As he crawls through the jungle toward the village, he annoys four creatures along the way. When he reaches the village, every time he tries to put one of his plans in motion (and very nearly succeeds), one of those jungle animals warns the children and thwarts him. The last of these, Elephant, solves the problem by flinging the crocodile into space. Story Notes: Long text, not for very young audience. Lots of alliteration, rhythmic words, and madeup words for effect. Sets up the croc as a shamelessly evil character, will delight some but will scare others. Lots of onomatopoeia, good for reading aloud. Illustration Notes: Exaggerated cartoonish characters typical of Dahl books, colored with watercolors in full-page spreads for easier showing to a group than many Dahl novels. Uses lines, space, and printing for effects to show flying motion when Elephant flings the crocodile into space. Applications: Write about or draw everyday situations where something unusual might be lurking. Collect unusual vocabulary words and write a Dahl dictionary. Write an alternate ending. Age Range: older elementary + Awards: Tags: animals, jungle, crocodiles, trickster Review #32 Citation: Daugherty, James. Andy and the Lion. New York: The Viking Press, 1938. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Andy is a boy who loves lions, reading and hearing and imagining stories about them whenever he gets the chance. When he suddenly runs into a real lion, he is terrified, until he discovers that the lion needs a painful thrown removed from a paw, which Andy does. When Andy visits the circus and the townspeople threaten to kill an aggressive lion there, Andy recognizes it as his lion and defends him. The lion calms down, and both he and Andy turn into local celebrities at a parade. Story Notes: Imagery in easy vocabulary. Sentences spread across page boundaries so that nothing is revealed in the pictures too soon; there are more pictures than sentences to fit in. Three parts of the book show a boy’s childlike obsession with lions. Ending throws up the question of whether the plot was imaginary or not. Illustration Notes: Ink drawings, monochromatic tinting with watercolor. Landscape and setting of a country boy in the first half of the 20th century. Lots of movement is shown in lines and characters’ posture. Some of the pairings of pictures with text are quite humorous. Lion’s roars of pain upon pulling the thorn are palpable. Vary from rich to no backgrounds. Applications: Talk about exaggeration, hyperbole. Discuss fables, compare to Aesop. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: lions, good deeds, kindness Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! & Page 22 Review #33 Citation: Falconer, Ian. Olivia. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Depicts the everyday life of Olivia, a thoroughly typical child (pig) with tons of energy, a great and ambitious imagination, and worthy parents who bear with her. Story Notes: Olivia is hilarious because she is exactly like a real child in her activities, her treatment of her brother, and her distractions. The text is very simple, with easy words and short sentences; the humor is revealed in the illustrations. Illustration Notes: Charcoal and gouache illustrations. Often appear without a background, but characters always have a shadow underneath them to show which way the ground is, which is helpful in figuring out what crazy trick Olivia is up to. Pictures vary from full spread scenes to lots of tiny sketches of many different scenes on one page; the variation contributes to the speed and character of the information the pictures convey. Mostly black and white, punctuated with small spots of color. Applications: Write and illustrate stories of students’ own lives, talk about whether they feel similar to Olivia and why. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: pigs Review #34 Citation: Wiesner, David. The Three Pigs. New York: Clarion Books, 2001. Ill. by author. $ Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: In what begins as the traditional Three Pigs story, the wolf inadvertently blows the first pig right out of the pages and into a different world. The other two pigs follow, and they explore the new world and several other stories, physically manipulating the flat pages.. After rescuing a condemned dragon from another story and meeting the cat and the fiddle, the pigs decide it is time to go home, and all five of them climb back into their story. The dragon scares the wolf away, and they are all safe. Story Notes: The actual narrative to the story is very typical, but after they climb out, they simply speak in dialog. The text is very simple, with the burden of the story resting on the pictures. Illustration Notes: Wolf is shown in foreground in very first picture, before mentioning him in the text, indicating that everyone knows what will happen next, but then it doesn’t. Mixed media illustrations create 3-d illusion that pigs are being blown out of their simple drawings and into another world where many other stories are lined up. Blank space is left in the background, to show how big their new world is. Dialog is placed in speech bubbles to contrast with appearance of flat scenes. Applications: Write a story where characters end up in the wrong tale. Age Range: elementary, probably grade 2+ Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: fairytales, nursery rhymes, pigs, fractured fairytales Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 23 Review #35 Citation: Wiesner, David. Flotsam. New York: Clarion Books, 2006. Ill. by author. $ Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A boy is playing on the beach, looking at objects under magnification, when a wave brings up an old-fashioned underwater camera. He develops the film and finds fantastic images of underwater creatures engaging in unbelievable activities. The most intriguing picture is of another kid on the beach, holding up a picture of a third child. When the boy gets out his magnification tools, he finds that quite a few children have found this camera and taken pictures of themselves holding the picture of the last child. He takes a picture of himself doing the same, then casts the camera back into the ocean, where animals carry it around the world until another child finds it washed up on a beach. Story Notes: The book is wordless, but the story is perfectly clear from the illustrations. The images of the different decades of kids who have taken their own pictures portray a poignant message of reaching out and being friendly, even to those you will never meet. Illustration Notes: Watercolors in differing sizes from full spreads (which show setting and other important information) to clusters of small panels (which show action). Close-ups on eyes emphasize the unbelievable yet true aspect of the plot, even on the everyday natural objects the boy examines. Applications: Make messages in bottles, write to pen pals, paint fantastical ocean scenes Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: ocean, beach, camera, magnification, communication, friendliness Review #36 Citation: Feiffer, Jules. Bark, George. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. Ill. by author. &! Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A worried mother dog tries to get her son to bark, but he doesn’t seem to understand that dogs go “arf”. After he meows, quacks, oinks, and moos, she takes him to the vet, who proceeds to reach into his throat and pull out a cat, duck, pig, and cow, after which George barks properly. Story Notes: I expected this to be a story about trying on different roles to find yourself, but it was much more simple fun than that. The twist at the end, where George speaks English, makes you wonder what else he has hidden! Illustration Notes: Simple, cartoonish characters with exaggerated facial expressions and body language. Plain solid colors serve as backgrounds to each page. Applications: Compare fiction and non-fiction, talk about tall tales, discuss critical thinking skills and how to know when to believe everything you read, use in conjunction with “I know an Old Lady who swallowed a fly” Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: dogs, animals Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 24 Review #37 Citation: Cronin, Doreen. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2000. Ill. by Betsy Lewin. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A farmer’s cows find his old typewriter in their barn and learn to use it. They write a note asking for electric blankets, and when he refuses they go on strike from giving milk. The next day the chickens do the same. They work out a settlement in which the farmer will leave them blankets and they will send the typewriter via duck, a neutral messenger, but then the ducks decide their pond is boring and start typing their own complaint. Story Notes: Prominent onomatopoeia motif that kids can participate in. Imperfect grammar, but colloquial. Simple text. Silly premise, but easy to suspend disbelief for. Illustration Notes: Watercolors, simple and surrealistic drawings for a simple and surrealistic text. Dramatic scenes like the announcement of the strike are portrayed at night, with darker values, and lighter action is during daylight, with bright colors. Viewpoint changes to show the cow looking bigger than the farmer, the farmer as only a shadow, et cetera. Applications: Work on cooperation and friendly problem-solving. For older kids, read as an introduction to strike and labor unions. Age Range: any/ younger elementary Awards: Tags: cows, farm animals, strike Review #38 Citation: Martin, Bill, Jr., and John Archambault. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1989. Ill. by Lois Ehlert. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: All of the letters of the alphabet decide to climb to the top of a coconut tree. They soon become too much for it, however, and the trunk bends under their weight and drops them to the ground. They pick themselves up with minor injuries and go home, but after nightfall, A is awake and up the tree again, daring the others to join him. Story Notes: Rhyming story, introduces the alphabet. Lilting rhythm to story, imagery in simple words. Similar to the way kids all want to do what their classmates are doing once someone has started it, often overwhelming the facility or materials for the chosen pursuit. Text could be used to repeat and practice the alphabet, rather than just giving “A is for apple” examples. Illustration Notes: Simple pictures constructed of shapes put together, bright colors, borders around each page. Curve of tree trunk lines show the problem before the text starts to point it out. Background change to dark blue makes it very apparent that the scene has shifted, just right for an epilogue. Applications: Do a half-storytelling, where you show the pictures but concentrate to telling the story rhythmically, have them clap along and use instruments. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: alphabet Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 25 Review #39 Citation: De Paola, Tomie. Strega Nona. London: Prentice-Hall International, Inc., 1975. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Strega Nona, the town’s witch/ wise woman, hires Big Anthony to help around her house but warns him never to touch her pasta pot. He is tempted by the mystery, and one night he overhears the song she sings to make her magic pot work. Unfortunately, he misses the key to make the pot stop. While promising not to touch the pot, Big Anthony seizes the first chance he can get to try the pot for himself, and he invites the whole town over to eat pasta. They are delighted with him until he attempts to make the pot stop, which of course he can’t do without the essential kisses. The pasta overflows with disastrous consequences until Strega Nona returns to stop the pot. Story Notes: Rhyming refrain kids can participate in. Big Anthony gets the perfect punishment for his wrong doing, though I secretly hope he also gets fired. Illustration Notes: Pictures are sometimes full scenes and sometimes clusters of small panels showing action. The scene of panicked people building a siege barricade against pasta is quite funny; they look so panicked! Applications: Find alternate versions, talk about just punishments and breaking rules Age Range: any Awards: Tags: good witch, pasta, Italy Review #40 Citation: Krauss, Ruth. The Carrot Seed. Harper & Row, 1945. Ill. by Crockett Johnson. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A boy plants a carrot seed. Everyone around him insists it won’t grow and there is no point in persisting, but he continues to water and care for it. Not only does it eventually grow, but the resulting carrot is so big it has to be wheeled away in a wagon. Story Notes: There is really not much to this story, not even to fill the 32 pages you expect. Simple words can be easily read by young readers. The fact that the carrot turns out to be so big is a fun twist, but it still makes for little plot. I wonder if it was daring for literature at the time. Today I would not read it as a great story, probably, but might use it for an easily imitable activity within a class period. Illustration Notes: Simple illustrations, just people and a carrot seed, no backgrounds. Pictures are white patches and shades of brown on a yellow backdrop. They don’t include a great deal of detail, but they do a good job of showing how the boy is discouraged from all sides, with everyone looking down on him, and they of course reveal the final twist. Applications: Kids can write simple stories in a similar style or act out as a readers’ theater. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: carrots, optimism, persistence, seeds Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! # Page 26 Review #41 Citation: Rathmann, Peggy. Good Night, Gorilla. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A clueless night guard walks around the zoo, saying good night to each of its animals as he prepares to leave for home. Unfortunately, he does not see the Gorilla steal his keys, and he is unaware that each of the animals is being let out of its cage and following him home. He climbs into his bed t home and goes to sleep—as do the animals—when the guard’s wife discovers their guests. While her husband sleeps, still clueless, she leads them all back to the zoo for the night. Story Notes: The action all happens in the pictures, with only “good night” statements in the text, all written in speech bubbles. Cute story about what can happen when we don’t pay attention, hints with the dedication that this is like children following adults and getting in their parents’ beds. Quick read for early readers. Illustration Notes: Endpapers set mood with a sneaky gorilla. Colors are exaggeratedly bright for night scenes, in pastel, watercolor, and ink. Cartoonish characters contribute to the humor of the story, which is conveyed entirely through its pictures. Switches to word bubbles and a single pair of eyes on entirely black spreads when the light goes out in the bedroom, increases shock value. Applications: Critical thinking, talk about the reasons the guard should have noticed there were animals following him, visit a zoo. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: gorillas, zoo animals, saying goodnight Review #42 Citation: Rathmann, Peggy. Officer Buckle and Gloria. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1995. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A police officer gives very boring safety speeches to schools, enumerating the safety tips he has thought of. When he gets a police dog, he takes her with him. The dog acts out each tips with crazy actions, which gets the kids’ attention quickly, but she sits still whenever the officer looks at her, so he thinks the kids are paying attention and enjoying his speeches. He learns the truth after seeing a video broadcast of one of his speeches and is upset. When he refuses to give another speech because he’s upset, though, an accident happens, and he realizes the importance of his team with the dog. Story Notes: Interesting focus on an adult character and self esteem issues in a book that involves children, rather than having a child protagonist deal with the same. Illustration Notes: Bright colored illustrations, with the text set in white spaces around them. Expressive backgrounds tell what the officer doesn’t know. Applications: Think of safety tips from everyday life, write them on notes with Gloria pictures and make a bulletin board. Age Range: elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: police, dogs, safety Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $ Page 27 Review #43 Citation: McCully, Emily Arnold. Mirette on the High Wire. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992. Ill. by author. $# Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A retired tight-rope walker checks into a motel frequented by circus performers, and the owner’s daughter discovers his art and demands to learn it. She has some talent and enjoys nothing more than learning from him. When an agent checks in and recognizes him, he reveals that the man is famous for daring, impossible feats. Mirette asks him about these feats, and he reveals that he has retired because he is now scared, to Mirette’s great dismay and disappointment. He decides to face his fear in public, but is only able to complete the feat when Mirette walks with him. Story Notes: More complex text than many Caldecott winners. Reads like a dramatic movie, with secrets and suspense and fear and emotions. Universal themes in a specific context, allows for a lot of applications in the classroom. Illustration Notes: Frontispiece gives the setting before it appears in the text. Impressionistic style is highly appropriate, since that was being developed in this place and time. Details like dress and the cat following Mirette give the impression that the story takes place in everyday real life. Final illustration hints that Mirette may go on to a famous career as Bellini’s protégé and assistant. Applications: Write about a time of facing a fear, learn about Paris and French culture, use in conjunction with materials about circus performers and life, study that century around the world. Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: tight rope, circus, fear, courage, Paris, France Review #44 Citation: McCloskey, Robert. Make Way for Ducklings. New York: The Viking Press, 1941. Ill. by author. $ Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Mr. and Mrs. Mallard consider building their nest on an island in a park’s pond, but decide to live on a river instead. When Mrs. Mallard decides to walk her ducklings back to the pond, she is nearly thwarted by the traffic on streets she has to cross. A policeman stops traffic for them and then arranges to have it stopped all over town so nothing can hurt them on their progress. Story Notes: Characteristic squabbling between spouses, very human. Rhyming duckling names great for reading aloud. Benevolent policeman character is nice contrast to the exaggerated tough character in today’s pop culture. Illustration Notes: Great charcoal drawings of late Depression-era Boston, nice expressions on both main character faces and body language and in background characters. Applications: Teach young children to walk in lines. Draw duck scenes in local towns and cities. Observe ducks in local habitats. Play duck action games. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: ducks, Boston, traffic Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 28 Review #45 Citation: McCloskey, Robert. Time of Wonder. New York: The Viking Press, 1957. Ill. by author. $&! Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Describes many beautiful scenes around a family’s life on an island. Story Notes: Beautiful language, very poetic, about mood and setting rather than plot. Makes a God reference, “one pair of eyes is watching over all”, which may not be appropriate for public school. Archaic reference to Indians and white men, and a teeny bit condescending. Lovely, but not a top choice. Besides, this book is way too long to use in a class, and it’s got the Heidi problems of no plot and no characters to keep me from recommending individually. Illustration Notes: It’s immediately evident in the progress of the illustrations how much time passed between Make Way for Ducklings and this. Ephemeral watercolors, like the text, seem more about the ideas and less rooted in reality. More vivid and darker colors as the story progresses, turns to abstract jagged lines in hurricane. Applications: Read along with Fancy Nancy to compare word choices; learn to use a thesaurus. Talk about figurative language and literary devices. Use in selected excerpts rather than in whole. Age Range: older elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: island life Review #46 Citation: Bemelmans, Ludwig. Madeline’s Rescue. New York: The Viking Press, 1953. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Madeline falls off a bridge and is rescued by a dog, who is adopted by the school. The schools’ Board of trustees evicts the dog, but Miss Clavel leads the students on an expedition to find her. The dog not only reappears, but has puppies, enough for all the girls. Story Notes: Rhyming text, good for read aloud. Familiar theme of trying a teacher’s patience, but then it goes wrong (justifying the teacher’s fear). Scary premise, assuming she’s dead. Humor involving dog. Very dramatic and sad when snooty trustees expel the dog. Seems mis-titled, given the focus of the story on the dog, Genevieve. Illustration Notes: Endpapers give setting. Yellow, black, and white pictures inside the school versus full-color paintings outside give the impression that they’re totally different worlds. Not consistent with the colors outside, colors seem to happen more in night scenes, contrary to the usual way of having more color during daylight. Really very simple, abstract, nearly ghostly character drawings, but they convey the story so well that there is no problem suspending disbelief. Applications: Read together with another animal rescue story, talk about losing a pet, act out. Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: Madeline, France, Paris, dogs, pets Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $ Page 29 Review #47 Citation: Handforth, Thomas. Mei Li. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1938. Ill. by author. $ Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A girl steals away from home to attend the fair for the Chinese New Year celebration. She has all kinds of fantastic experiences, and then her uncle takes her home for the New Year’s feast. Story Notes: There’s less stereotype than I was afraid of for this era, as the Chinese characters are neither backward nor menagerie creatures. Unfortunately, though the girl seems to resist her female role, no one notices or cares, no limits are broken, and she ends by resigning to rule her home by cooking and cleaning and looking pretty. That’s only a sign of the times, but it’s blatant enough that I probably won’t use this at a school. It’s very long, also. Illustration Notes: Frontispiece has map of places and things in the story. Perspective in scene of her in the toy shop makes her look enormous, and the figures look alive. Text is not designed to work well with page turns and pictures. Pictures start to mix reality with fantasy as Mei Li goes about enjoying the festival. Illustrations are done in copper plate prints, black and white. Applications: Study Chinese culture, use with advanced students to detect bias Age Range: elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: China, Chinese New Year Review #48 Citation: Ward, Lynd. The Biggest Bear. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1952. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Johnny goes into the woods looking for a bear to shoot, but returns with a live bear cub to keep as a pet. The bear eats them out of house and home, growing to become enormous and a nuisance to the neighbors. Johnny is given the task of getting rid of the bear, and when he finds that the bear won’t just return to the woods, he decides he has to shoot him. When he takes him out to do so, however, the bear gets stuck in a bear trap set by people collecting animals for a zoo, where the bear goes to live happily from then on. Story Notes: Not usable in a modern classroom. Measures self-worth by killing bears, stereotypes rural America, offers no evidence that feeding bears or taking a wild animal as a pet is a bad idea. I’m not sure I even want this one sitting on my shelves; it’s a relic from that time period with very little pertinence to a modern class, not what I want my students to be learning. Illustration Notes: Beautiful, detailed, lifelike illustrations, done in charcoal? In most cases they do not add enough information to change the story, though. Applications: Honestly, I just don’t plan to apply this one. Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Age Range: Tags: bears Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $ Page 30 Review #49 Citation: Burton, Virginia Lee. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Mike and his steam shovel are excellent diggers, but they get displaced by newer gasoline shovels. Desperate for work, Mike challenges the mayor of a town that’s building a new town hall, saying that he can dig the whole thing in one day or it’s free. With the helpful energy of many spectators, they manage it, but then find that they have built themselves into a hole with no way out. They decide to build the town hall over Mike and his machine, and the steam shovel is repurposed as the furnace for the building while Mike becomes the janitor. Story Notes: Slightly anti-progress feel, but nice to stick by an old friend and persevere for a cause. Well-constructed story, with foreshadowing of the action building to the climax. Makes the town mayor the really mean villain, rather than the new technology in the cities. It seems a shame to bury the valiant Mary Anne, but it means she’s not sold for scrap, I reckon. Illustration Notes: Great diagram on the end papers shows the parts of a steam shovel and various vocabulary. Colored pencil drawings, use lines to show motion of the steam shovel and people’s excitement in hurrying to watch. Text is designed in different shapes and angles on each page. Applications: Study railroad and canal construction and what mighty feats of engineering they were, write about what will happen when a common piece of today’s technology falls out of use. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: steam shovel, technology Review #50 Citation: Burton, Virginia Lee. The Little House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1942. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Story Notes: Theme is change, but ends that happiness comes in returning to the old ways. Seems slightly anti-progress, like Mike Mulligan, favors country life over the big, bad city. These were written before and during WWII, so it’s logical that they might be playing on isolationist political sentiment at the time. Illustration Notes: Uses colors and values to portray the change of seasons around the house. Mary Anne the steam shovel makes a cameo appearance, I notice, this time as the new ways pushing in instead of as the old ways being pushed out. It’s interesting to watching the pictures build up until the house is harder and harder to see. Applications: Imagine students’ neighborhoods before they were built up as today, imagine what they will look like in the future, write a story from their house’s point of view Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: urban development, houses Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $ Page 31 Review #51 Citation: Bang, Molly. Ten, Nine, Eight. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1983. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Counts down the numbers of things present in a bedroom at night, leading to one girl all ready for bed and falling asleep. Story Notes: Very simple story, but poignant in that most readers will remember (or wish they remember, or may create false memories if their childhood was not idyllic) being put peacefully to bed in a regular, everyday room like this one. Uses black characters without making a big deal of it, no pointed multicultural reference, so this may be a good story to help young readers see non-white as equals without laboring over the point. Illustration Notes: Title page sets the story in a bedroom, with a loving dad beckoning a small girl to sit on his lap. The cat follows through every picture, showing the different things all around the room, but the characters do not appear in the first half; presumably, we are seeing through their eyes. The love on the father’s face is particularly expressive and evocative. Applications: Practice counting down with very young readers, read a child to sleep. A reading-age student could read this to a younger sibling. Age Range: very young Awards: Tags: bedtime, count down Review #52 Citation: McGhee, Alison. Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 2004. Ill. by Harry Bliss. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: On the way to the narrator’s first day of first grade, a second-grader warns her that her teacher is really an alien trying to steal kids’ teeth. Since the narrator has a loose tooth, on top of her other nerves about first grade, she is terrified, and resolves not to open her mouth for the entire year. When she is finally so startled that she screams, her tooth pops right out, and she is well convinced by her teacher’s reaction that there is nothing to worry about. Story Notes: Childlike hyperbole in well-known “facts”. Very much written from a child’s point of view, with common fears and priorities, like bringing stuffed animals to class. Also gives adults a different perspective on why children may not speak or participate in things they usually love. Illustration Notes: Silly details in the background, like the boy on the bus who’s been duct taped by the girl next to him. Speech and thoughts appear in bubbles. Cartoonish characters, graphic “explosion” of thoughts at climax Applications: Use in conjunction with Pulling My Leg/ Jo Carson to ease fear about losing teeth and the tall tales older people tell. Talk about thinking before believing what other say. Age Range: younger elementary, pref. 1st grade Awards: Tags: loose tooth, tall tales, first grade Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 32 Review #53 Citation: Zimmerman, Andrea, and David Clemesha. Trashy Town. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. Ill. by Dan Yaccarino. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A garbage collector goes around town in his garbage truck, picking up trash cans and emptying them into his truck. He cleans the whole town, then goes home and takes a bath. Story Notes: Short words and sentences, not much variation in syntax, much like a child might write during the action. Nice rhyming refrain and a few exclamations lend themselves well to participation. Almost too many times through the repetition, though, kids may get a little bored. Illustration Notes: Pictures made of very simple shapes, can’t tell if it looks like acrylics or construction paper collage and crayon details. Bright colors, white space for background. A few simple lines and angles show Mr. Gilly’s motion and perspective on the streets he’s cleaning. Text is mostly set in black and white panels on the edges of pages, sometimes on or underneath the pictures themselves. Endpapers show lots of garbage. Applications: Makes pictures in a similar simple style, use for young readers’ practice, talk about all the different kinds of jobs it takes to keep a city clean and make it run, progress to other career activities. Age Range: very young elementary Awards: Tags: garbage, sanitation workers Review #54 Citation: Keats, Ezra Jack. Whistle for Willie. New York: The Viking Press, 1964. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Peter sees other people whistling for their dogs and fervently wishes he could whistle to his own. He goes about the business of being a kid, trying earnestly to whistle all the time. Finally, a real whistle comes out, and his dog responds to it. He is very proud of himself, and his family is pleased with it too. Story Notes: Portrays the everyday activities of a young boy who’s got a very important task to be about. It’s great how his mother plays along with him and gives him an errand so he can walk out and feel grown-up with his new whistling skill. Illustration Notes: Mixed media, unrealistic bright colors but magical, drawing the reader out of dull reality and into the story. Tilt to pictures portraying dizziness is great, with angles and shapes showing the imaginary motion associated with that feeling. Applications: Learn to whistle, collaborate with music teacher to get the best whistlers involved in a program, talk about other ways to communicate with dogs and people. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: whistle, dogs Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 33 Review #55 Citation: Keats, Ezra Jack. Maggie and the Pirate. New York: Four Winds Press, 1979. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Maggie leaves her pet cricket near her house while she’s off on an errand. When she returns, it has gone missing, with a mysterious note from “The Pirate” in its place. Maggie and her friends look all night for the cricket, and Maggie finally discovers is and the culprit. She struggles with the boy, and in the fight the cricket and its cage are tossed into the water, where the cricket drowns. Maggie mourns, and when she asks why the boy would do such a thing, he confesses that he wanted the cage made by Maggie’s dad, because his dad never pays any attention to him. They mourn together and the friends quietly accept the newcomer’s presence. Story Notes: Takes place in a kind of shanty-town on a waterfront, looks like a hippie commune if you examine without charity. Deals with a more mature theme than Peter stories, with the death of the pet cricket and the culprit’s admission of jealousy over parental attention and love. Illustration Notes: Bright, detailed watercolors under collage pieces are very different from Peter stories, showing a big difference in the years between publishing them. Pirate is foreshadowed, lurking in the background of early pictures. Silhouettes against a background of red shades make an interesting and different kind of night scene. Applications: Role play the different characters, send letters explaining their points of view. Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: crickets, pirate, stealing Review #56 Citation: Galdone, Paul. Puss in Boots. New York: The Seabury Press, 1976. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A miller’s son inherits only his father’s cat, and he despairs of being able to make a living with such. The cat promises to be useful and undertakes a cunning scheme, fooling all the humans he meets, resulting in the boy’s marriage to the princess. Story Notes: Silly premise, that a talking cat would be a messenger to a king and could frighten field workers, but still a clever ploy. If cat owners are truthful, we’ll admit that our cats really own us and that they’re probably trying to undertake plots like this all the time. He’s an unusually helpful cat, with no immediate gratification. Illustration Notes: Watercolor and ink, slightly cartoonish style. Manages cat-like postures even when the cat is shown walking upright and wearing boots. King and court men are portrayed as fat and none too bright. Great huge animals that the giant morphs into. Applications: Compare and contrast with other versions, act out. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: cats, Puss in Boots, scheme Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 34 Review #57 Citation: Wells, Rosemary. Yoko. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1998. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A kitten from a Japanese-like cat family takes her favorite sushi to school for lunch, but the other kids have sandwiches and make fun of her. In an effort to get the other kids to be empathetic, her teacher declares an international food day, in which everyone brings a dish to share and everyone must try everything. Unfortunately, everything gets eaten except the sushi. Yoko is devastated, but one raccoon who is still hungry approaches the sushi, and discovers he likes it. They become friends and share food and customs. Story Notes: Using animals instead of people makes the characters very familiar despite their Asian culture, underlines the fact that this story is about being open, understanding and accepting. Songs and elements of the school day are very familiar to young students’ routines at school. I feel so sorry for little Yoko when the class ignores her sushi, but I’m glad the story ends with only one new friend that converts; it’s much more realistic, avoids cliché. Illustration Notes: Watercolor and colored pencil. All of the faces are very expressive even in these simple drawings. Bull dogs are well chosen to be the lead bullies. Simple pictures create a young, uncomplicated mood, better suited to the story than dramatic colors and scenes. Applications: Do an international festival, everyone try sushi, learn about different cultures. Multicultural unit would be good opportunity to celebrate Hispanic heritage of some students. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: Japanese culture, sushi, diversity Review #58 Citation: Simont, Marc. The Stray Dog. HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A picnicking family gets to know a stray dog. They don’t take him home, but they continue to think about him, and when they see him again he is caught for the pound. The children give a belt and hair ribbon as his collar and leash to prove he is owned, and they take him for their own. Story Notes: Simple story, not a complex text, good depiction of friendship between people and animals. Love the creativity of the children’s sacrifice to rescue the dog. I appreciate that the adults are thinking of the dog too, not just the children. Illustration Notes: Uses both big, full-color scenes, and small items on lots of white space. Cute depictions of people distracted from activities while thinking of the dog, especially the wordless implication that they return to the park to look for him. Applications: Journal about pets, write about adventures of a stray dog Age Range: elementary Awards: Tags: dogs, stray Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 35 Review #59 Citation: Kasza, Keiko. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1987. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A greedy wolf who loves to eat starts to catch a chicken to make stew. Right before he grabs her, he decides to wait and fatten her up, so that there will be more stew. He bakes lots of fattening foods and leaves them for her on her porch. When he goes to catch her for the stew, she opens the door and thanks him for all the gifts, inviting him in and revealing the hundreds of baby chicks that have enjoyed those snacks and who now swarm around him thanking him. In spite of himself, he likes the little ones and bakes them cookies instead of eating them. Story Notes: A lot of story packed into not many words, helped by picturesque expressions like “Aw, shucks.” Surprising ending, not the usual fairytale, very cute story of learning to think of someone besides yourself. Illustration Notes: Simple watercolor and colored pencil pictures, usually with white space left around the edges and in the background, to allow the reader’s imagination to fill in the rest. The wolf’s fluster at being covered by grateful, friendly chicks is palpable and very funny. Applications: Plan menus, write stories on topic like “Wolf’s Restaurant” Age Range: elementary Awards: Tags: wolf, chickens, overeating Review #60 Citation: Hill, Eric. Where’s Spot? New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1980. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A mother dog looks everywhere for her puppy, who hasn’t eaten his dinner yet. Story Notes: Story, pictures, and title page start on endpapers, not wasting an inch of room. Very easy text, good for beginning readers. Mostly consists of a question-and-answer format, in which the reader can ask the questions, show under the flaps, and let the audience respond along. Illustration Notes: Paper architecture: flaps on pages promote high interactive level for children to answer. Simple cartoon-style drawings use lines to show movement. Sally dogs a great hunting dog pointer position in a lot of the places she is looking. Font is big and bold for young readers, set in the blank space around the pictures (which have no backgrounds). Applications: Journal about where Spot might be and why he’s hiding, create art project with flaps and things hidden underneath, make a “Where’s [Sarah]?” poster with children’s photos under flaps Age Range: very young Awards: Tags: dogs, pop-ups Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 36 Review #61 Citation: Slobodkina, Esphyr. Caps for Sale. Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1940. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A hat peddler wears all of his hats in a stack atop his head. He goes out and takes a nap under a tree one day when business is down, and wakes up to find his caps gone. They have been stolen by a bunch of monkeys, who are wearing them and sitting up in the tree. He gets angry and demands they give the caps back, but they only imitate him. In frustration he throws his own cap on the ground and begins to stalk away, but then the monkeys imitate him again and throw theirs to the ground, where he can gather them up and go back to his business. Story Notes: Stops for a page turn on “What do you think he saw?”, leaving good opportunity to let kids think, write, imagine what happened to the caps. Multiple opportunities for group audience participation. Surprise solution, reminder that anger really does no good. Illustration Notes: Not the best illustrations I’ve ever seen, but somehow I don’t mind. The story is simple and they are too; they do the job. Ink drawings tinted with color, a little stiff in shapes but mostly just old-fashioned. Good depiction of monkeys imitating the peddler. Applications: Sponsor a hat day, make hats. Have kids write endings to the story before reading the end, stopping as noted above. Act out as readers’ theater. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: salesman, peddler, hats, monkeys Review #62 Citation: Egielski, Richard. Buz. HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A mosquito accidentally gets eaten by a boy. He manages to escape being chewed and swallowed but ends up behind the boy’s eye. The boy gets two pills from the doctor which try to kill him, but he escapes by floating out the ear when the boy takes a bath. He emerges unharmed, but the bug doctor informs him that he’s got something in his own eye: a germ. Story Notes: Great opening line! Plays on colloquialisms like “went to work”. Easy enough text for young readers, but good enough story for older ones. Very imaginative and different from run-of-themill picture books, would be a good one for reluctant readers, especially boys. Illustration Notes: Dramatic opening picture, looking into a gaping mouth, as well as interesting perspectives to follow. Pictures add a great deal of information to the storyline. Funny but slightly icky backdrop in the middle of the boy’s head; better know the audience for this one. Slightly surrealistic in style. Applications: Write a continuation, of the adventure of the germ in Buz’s eye. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: mosquitoes Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! @ Page 37 Review #63 Citation: Munari, Bruno. Bruno Munari’s ABC. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1960. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Standard alphabet book, with different objects given for each letter. Story Notes: Assorted alliterative objects, but no real storyline running through them. The flies do cross into the next pages, which is cute and invites some textual commentary other than just naming the objects. Illustration Notes: Simple shapes and lines, looks like watercolor and ink. Text is set in small chunks next to the pictures each word goes with. At least in this old copy, the book is not well put-together with regard to its illustrations; several of them cross the spine, and parts of them get lost in the middle. Just blank space in the background, not to create a backdrop that the reader imagines, but more nearly just to focus on the individual objects, which are usually not related or in scale to each other. Nic texture on several things. Applications: Have a contest to see who can gather the most words for each letter, do an alphabetical scrapbook project to gather things for each letter. Read a series of alphabet books, maybe one each day. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: alphabet Review #64 Citation: Williams, Vera B. A Chair for my Mother. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1982. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A single mother, her daughter, and grandmother are carefully saving their spare change in a jar. This is because they’d lost everything they owned in a fire. Neighbors had given them many things, but they had nothing like an armchair. When the jar fills with loose change, they use the money to buy the chair they’ve all been dreaming of. Story Notes: Goes through several pages of cheerful-looking saving before the text reveals that this family has lost everything in a fire. Goes into flashback, shows the panic of that terrible day. Easy text, but a more sophisticated theme, not for the very young readers. Illustration Notes: Bright watercolors, maybe gouache. A different border around each page to reflect what’s happening in the picture. Style in some pictures reminds me a little of Faith Ringgold. Not complex or particularly realistic humans, but lots of details in the background, and very expressive postures and faces on the people. Uses dark values to show charred scene of old home. Applications: Use to help grieving children in the same situation. Institute a savings jar in the school to contribute to a good cause in the community or to work towards something for the school. Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: fire, chair, saving money Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 38 Review #65 Citation: Shannon, David. No, David! New York: The Blue Sky Press, 1998. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: David gets into everything—tracking mud into the house, playing baseball in the living room and knocking over a vase, playing with his food, running naked in the street—and he is constantly hearing “No!” from his mother. At the end, though, he hears “Yes” when she gives him a big hug and says she loves him. Story Notes: Entire text consists of admonitions from mother for all the things David is doing (and isn’t supposed to). Based on a book the author wrote at age five, showing all the things he was doing wrong then and with the only words being “No, David”, as he says were the only words he could spell. Illustration Notes: Illustrations begin on title page and frontispiece. Character faces are silly and cartoonish, perhaps because the author is making fun of himself, but the detail and realism in the rest of the pictures is great. Looks like gouache or acrylic, perhaps? Great depictions of an alert, aggressive little boy joyfully doing things he may or may not know are wrong. A bit exaggerated in style. Text is made to look like ill-formed letters printed by a five-year-old. Applications: Students role play right and wrong ways to act, make a charades game out of it. Make their own “No, [Sarah]!” books to send to the author. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: trouble, young boys Review #66 Citation: McKissack, Patricia C. Goin’ Someplace Special. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001. Ill. by Jerry Pinkney. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Tricia Ann makes the journey to Someplace Special, a place where everyone is equal, by herself for the first time. Along the way, she is disheartened by the signs of segregation and Jim Crow laws everywhere she goes. The friends she sees on the way and the words of her grandmother fill her with confidence in herself, and she pushes on to her destination: the public library, where all are welcome. Story Notes: Appears to be autobiographical, or at least partly based on memories. Strong portrayal of the girl’s feelings about segregation as she goes from euphoric to down-hearted upon seeing signs and encountering limitations. Too tense a theme for the youngest readers. Illustration Notes: Beautiful, rich watercolor and pencil pictures, with full-color characters against lighter, transparent backgrounds. Impressionistic style. Capture styles of dress and living in the south during that time period. Applications: Learn about segregation as part of a civil rights unit, write “thank you notes” to leaders of that era for all the things we are allowed to do equally today. Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: library, segregation, Jim Crow, confidence, pride Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 39 Review #67 Citation: Sis, Peter. Fire Truck. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1998. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A boy loves fire trucks more than anything else, and he thinks about them constantly. One day he wakes up and finds that he has become one. The boy-truck zooms around the house rescuing victims and putting out fires, when he suddenly smells something: pancakes. The truck parks and the boy, a human again, eats his breakfast. Story Notes: Lots of things to count, sounds to make, actions to imitate. This is a very imaginative little boy, but not consciously so, much like very young children tend to be in real life. The way he gets distracted by food and immediately becomes himself again is also very lifelike. Illustration Notes: Very simple lines and shapes, with spare but bright colors. Would be easy for young students to imitate. Fold-out page with fire truck picture. Sometimes double-page spreads, sometimes multiple scenes hooked into the same pages, to show quick action between them. Applications: Play a charades game in which everyone must pretend to be the things they like the most. Write a story about what if they turned into something they like. Visit a fire station and see real fire trucks, learn about fire safety. Age Range: very young elementary Awards: Tags: fire truck Review #68 Citation: Zion, Gene. Harry the Dirty Dog. HarperCollins Publishers, 1956. Renewed 1984, 2002. Ill. by Margaret Bloy Graham. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Harry hates being given baths, so he buries his bath brush in the back yard, then runs away. He finds lots of places to play in the city, where he becomes very dirty indeed. With all the dirt, he appears to be a black dog with white spots instead of a white dog with black spots. When he goes home for supper, the family does not recognize him. Dejected, he digs the brush back up and demands a bath, after which he is recognized and taken back in. He steals the brush again before going to sleep. Story Notes: Like a real child, the dog does not seem to regret getting dirty at the end (because it is, for sure, a lot of fun), but he sure did get upset when it wasn’t working out so well for him. I like that he’s stolen the brush again at the end, which helps it avoid cliché. Illustration Notes: Cartoonish charcoal drawings tinted with watercolor. Actions starts on title page, with him stealing the brush. I like the way all the people in the town see him and watch him go by as he’s left the house. Pathetic expression of hungry, dejected dog is great. Applications: Writes stories of other funny things animals do, interview parents about their pets as a child. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: dogs, dirt Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 40 Review #69 Citation: Crews, Donald. Freight Train. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1978. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: The names for the different parts of a freight train as introduced, and the train is showed going through different scenes, until it finally vanishes. Story Notes: Very simple text, good for any young reader and especially those who like trains. This edition is bilingual, so the text appears in Spanish alongside the English on each page, so this could be a good choice either for beginning readers or for beginning ESL students of any age. Introduces lots of train vocabulary that most of us don’t normally use. Illustration Notes: Train tracks appear on frontispiece. Very bright colors of cars on the train. Text set in same colors as the corresponding cars. Very simple shape-pictures of the cars, but elaborate effects to show smoke from the engine, movement of the cars (blurring). Neat interposition of the same picture of the moving train onto a simple (but striking) mountain scene, cities made entirely of light silhouettes, a trestle made just of simple lines, and stark black and white pages to show darkness and daylight, respectively. Only the smoke is left to show the train on the last page, “gone”. Applications: Use to learn Spanish. Talk about how trains are similar all over the world. Give them a print of just the tracks or just one part of a train on an otherwise blank sheet of paper and ask them to draw the rest of the scene. Age Range: younger elementary, mostly Awards: Caldecott Honor Tags: trains, Spanish language Review #70 Citation: Marshall, James. George and Martha. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1972. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Two hippos are friends, and they get into several slightly silly situations that end with lessons or morals about friendship. Story Notes: Book is split into five very short episodes. Absurd exaggeration of elements almost disguises the fact that there is a clearly stated didactic moral, but not quite. It’s still cute, though. The stilted, overly formal language adds humor and makes the moral look like part of the silliness, despite the fact that it is clearly a reasonable lesson. These hippos are not very smart. It’s all a little bit slapstick, though understated; I’ll admit, I laughed. Illustration Notes: Exaggerated, cartoonish drawings remind me a little of Quentin Blake’s illustrations for Roald Dahl books. Looks like ink and watercolor. As with language and story elements, the pictures contribute to understated humor, cute but not uproarious. Applications: Student can make their own books of lessons on friendship, using themselves or animals as characters. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: hippopotamus, friendship, morals Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $ Page 41 Review #71 Citation: Thurber, James. Many Moons. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1943. Ill. by Louis Slobodkin. $& Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: The king’s daughter falls sick and asks for the moon as the only thing that will make her feel better. None of the king’s wise men can get the moon, but the Jester solves the problem. The next day the daughter feels better, but the king worries that she will be upset when she sees the moon in the sky that night and knows that the one she has is not that one. The wise men cannot solve that problem either, but again the Jester asks the daughter for her solution, and she is satisfied. Story Notes: Has some great language to it, as in the list of delicacies the high chamberlain has gotten for the king, uses tongue-in-cheek humor. Fairly long and complicated text, not for youngest readers. Increasing exaggeration about the moon from the wise men, showing that they don’t know either. Cute comment on the wisdom of the fool. Illustration Notes: Portray everything around the princess as enormous, emphasizing how grand the palace is supposed to be, making the princess look small. Simple watercolor and ink sketches, looks like maybe also with pastels?. Lists of deeds done by the king’s counselors are edged with small pictures of things on the list. Applications: Moon art projects, study the moon scientifically Age Range: older elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: king, princess, jester, moon, wise men Review #72 Citation: Say, Allen. Grandfather’s Journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993. Ill. by author. $ Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A young Japanese man travels to America, loves it, and marries and raises his daughter there. He become homesick and moves his family back to Japan, where his grandson (the author) is born, but then becomes homesick for California. He never gets a chance to return again, but the grandson does, and he learns about his grandfather as he too becomes homesick for Japan. Story Notes: Not a difficult text, but fairly complex feelings expressed in few words. Look autobiographical. Idea of living in and being homesick for two cultures, each of which is wonderful (not as foreign as we may think), touches on the war and understanding older people through our own experiences. Illustration Notes: Gorgeous watercolors, impressionistic style, lots of different tones and values for different settings and moods. Text set underneath a different framed picture on each page. Has feel of an album of family photos. Applications: Interview an international visitor, journal about competing emotions Age Range: older elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: Japan, travel, homesick, grandfather Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 42 Review #73 Citation: Say, Allen. Kamishibai Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: An old man, a retired street performer, decides to take his old bike out for a tour around his old rounds. When he gets to his old neighborhoods, he finds they have grown into an ugly, cold city. He calls listeners for old time’s sake, then begins to remember the old days, how everyone loved his stories, and then how they turned to TV instead. He is broken out of his memories when he suddenly realizes that a crowd has formed to listen, of people who listened to him as children. Story Notes: I want to cry—the story is so beautiful, and yet so sad, about a lost way of life and the way it takes an old man by surprise, as he remembers the old days and how things changed. Amazing emotional climax when all the people appear to listen to his reminiscence (and I really do cry now). Illustration Notes: Beautiful, detailed watercolors of the Japanese countryside. No less skilled, but ugly (on purpose) depictions of city life, showing the harshness that the old man isn’t expecting. Pictures show the fact that he’s in a flashback, where the text does not. Flashback pictures grow a little more like cartoons, with outlines and simpler color schemes and less detailed backgrounds. Applications: Learn about culture and local customs that are dying out. Age Range: older readers Awards: Tags: storytelling, culture, indigenous customs Review #74 Citation: Murphy, Mary. I Kissed the Baby! Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2003. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: All of the critters in a backyard are excited about a new baby duckling. They exclaim the virtues of the baby to each other, and ask each other if they have kissed, seen, tickled, sung to, and otherwise interacted with the baby. The mother duck kisses her baby, and the baby is happy. Story Notes: Cute, happy book, but not really any story to speak of. Appropriate for early readers or for students who have a new baby in their household or who just like babies, but not for a classroom. Illustration Notes: The verso suggests that the illustrations are done in ink and “wash”, but doesn’t say what kind of wash that might be. The characters are great big on the page, filling as much space as possible with their simple silhouettes. All miles and forward posture, the characters as well as the text conveys excitement about the young arrival. All characters are black and white except for the duckling, who is bright yellow; the text is also black and white except for the duckling’s words. Applications: Write a “gossip” book in which everyone’s talking about something. Talk about new babies and what they mean to the activities and lies of everyone else. Imitate style of illustrations, could use different techniques for that. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: animals, baby animals Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 43 Review #75 Citation: Johnson, Angela. Julius. New York: Orchard Books, 1993. Ill. by Dav Pilkey. ! Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Maya’s grandfather brings her an enormous pig as a present. He is somewhat of a pain in the house for her parents, as he is noisy, messy, and so forth, but Maya loves him. They do everything together, from dancing to shopping to playing in the backyard, and they teach each other about being friends and how to treat others well. They are both very happy. Story Notes: Pig is highly personified, even giving thoughts on what he’s learned towards the end. Fairly easy but not simplistic text, with a nice theme about learning from those around you even if they’re not who you expected. Illustration Notes: Mixed media, mostly fabric collage, acrylics, and India ink. Vivid colors, different values for moods and times of day. Expressions of irritation on parents’ faces when the pig arrives are priceless. Pictures add quite a bit to the text, not by turning it around and changing its meaning like some, but by filling in the mood and holes in details the author has left. Applications: Talk about fiction versus non-fiction, make a big list of all the ways you know this book is not real. Write outrageous adventures with a pet, or write about an outrageous pet. Age Range: elementary Awards: Tags: pigs, friends Review #76 Citation: Macaulay, David. Why the Chicken Crossed the Road. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987. Ill. by author. @ Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A chicken crosses the road, which startles some cows, who crash into a train, which lets a thief loose…A string of events comes around to finally giving an explanation for why the chicken crossed the road: to escape being dinner. Story Notes: Progressive story, in which everything that happens causing something else to happen, most of it outlandish. Understated humor, fairly easy words and short lines of text but interest level not limited to the youngest readers. Circular tale, ending may confuse some because it is like the beginning. Finally gives an answer to the age-old mystery! Very funny. Illustration Notes: Bright colored acrylics, cartoonish characters. Elaborate pictures tell a story around the spare text. Variety of scenes from full spreads to little collections of sketches on blank backgrounds. Snips of past and/or future pictures are included in other scenes, enforcing the idea that this all happens in the same town. Applications: Give other reasons why, write other circular stories. Compare and contrast with other books on the topic. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: chain of events Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 44 Review #77 Citation: Ackerman, Karen. Song and Dance Man. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. Ill. by Stephen Gammell. $ Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A long-retired Vaudeville performer invites his grandchildren into his attic, where he gets out his old tap shoes and does a show for them. The kids suggest that he must miss the old days of performing, but he assures them that he wouldn’t trade the past for the days he spends with them. Story Notes: Cute depiction of a grandfather happily playing with grandchildren. Medium-difficulty text. Seamless integration of text and pictures; I was not aware of what information I was getting from which source. Good description of what such a show would be like and how it might have gone years ago on a Vaudeville stage. My only problem is that, delightful though it is, it’s hard to believe if you let yourself be aware of exactly how unlikely it is that the old man’s body would still be able to move like that. I think I would have suspended disbelief if the story hadn’t brought to mind so many good memories of my own grandfather, who definitely could not dance and jump anymore. Illustration Notes: Colored pencil drawings, uses a lot of bright colors to show shadows, light, skin tone, even white and other “solid” colors. Great shading, loose edges and unfinished spots give the impression that the pictures keep going into the backgrounds, which are left blank for the imagination to fill in. Great facial expressions. Applications: Learn about Vaudeville, combine with other literature about that era. Interview grandparents or other old people, invite an elderly guest to speak. Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: Vaudeville, tap dance, grandfather Review #78 Citation: Yorinks, Arthur. Hey, Al. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986. Ill. by Richard Egielski. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A poor man lives with his dog, who complains that they never have anything good in life. When a bird offers to take them to paradise, the dog insists they go. It seems great at the island they reach, surrounded by beautiful birds, until they discover they are turning into birds. Panicked, they escape and find real happiness together at home. Story Notes: Portrays a man living in poor conditions but finds simple satisfaction in friendship. Ends with a clearly stated moral. Had a close call that scared me, with the dog appearing to drown. Illustration Notes: Surrealistic style watercolor and pencil pictures, with talking dogs and giant birds and other wild things. Pictures are enclosed in rectangular frames, but have elements that stick outside the boxes. Shows newfound happiness at the end by adding color to the walls of the dreary apartment, but doesn’t explain this, may confuse some younger readers. Applications: Read around thanksgiving, make images of what paradise is. Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: friendship, paradise Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $ Page 45 Review #79 Citation: Lobel, Arnold. Fables. Harper & Row, 1980. Ill. by author. $#& Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Twenty original fables featuring various animals as characters. Story Notes: Each fable is concise, written somewhat in the style of Aesop, clearly meant to be an updated imitation, with more modern statements of morals at the end of each one. These could be memorized and told as stories several at a time. Though each story is short, there are twenty of them, so the book is very long for an early reader; indeed, spread out with lots of pictures, each one might make a picture book. Because there is no overarching storyline going between the fables, this is probably not a book to read cover-to-cover in one sitting with a class, but rather to be picked and chosen from. Illustration Notes: Beautiful watercolor and colored pencil scenes. Because of the nature of the text, this author has the challenge of portraying the entire essence of a story in a single picture. Each is set in a rectangular frame on the page opposite the page with the words of the fable, and in some cases elements of the picture creep outside the boundaries of the frame, bringing them to a sort of 3-d life. Applications: Write and illustrate fables, discuss the literary form, compare to Aesop and others. Age Range: any Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: fables, morals Review #80 Citation: Hall, Donald. Ox-Cart Man. New York: The Viking Press, 1979. Ill. by Barbara Cooney. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A man takes everything he can spare to market in the fall, where he sells it all—including the ox and cart he used to bring it there with. With the money, he buys some things for his family and walks home. There, they go through the winter, spring, and summer making again all of the products that the man will sell at the next market, including nurturing a new young ox and building a new cart. Story Notes: Very “then he did this, then he did this,” not very literary but simple and leaves the emphasis of the story on the pictures. Illustration Notes: Does not specify a time period, but has lovely pictures point to 19th-century lifestyle, with clothing, buildings, and description of the things they’ve made. Reminds me of stories from Laure Ingalls Wilder books. Style of illustrations is reminiscent of that period too, as well as just the things depicted therein. Looks like acrylic paint. Nice panoramic landscapes showing the mountains, roads, and towns of the setting the farmer is walking through. Applications: Use as part of a unit on 19th century life, visit a historic site if possible. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: farm life, 1800s Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 46 Review #81 Citation: Quackenbush, Robert. Danger in Tibet. New York: Pippin Press, 1989. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Miss Mallard, a “ducktective”, travels to Tibet in search of her nephew, who disappeared there after sending her a note asking her to follow him. Her journey takes her climbing up Mount Everest, where a chain of events lands her in a paradise-like oasis city on the mountain. There she finds her nephew, who reveals that this city is in danger from a Swiss criminal. The two leave the city and return to the valley, where they catch the criminal. Story Notes: Story begins with a note on the frontispiece. Slightly clumsy about “telling” instead of “showing”, lays out most of the action in a direct but un-artistic way, as if it’s trying very hard to be a chapter book but got stripped and boiled down to be put with pictures in 32 pages. Very bad clues, no human faults to the detective. Ridiculous claim that “brisk walks and aerobics” prepare you for mountain climbing. Unfortunately, this is really not good enough to use; I wouldn’t buy it. Illustration Notes: Cartoonish watercolor and ink sketches. Image of the snowstorm opening into the paradise-like lost city serves the purpose, but is clumsy and unbelievable. Not adding any info. Applications: Write mysteries, learn about Tibet and Mount Everest. Age Range: elementary Awards: Tags: mystery, detective, Tibet, Mount Everest Review #82 Citation: Turner, Sandy. Otto’s Trunk. HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A young elephant with a short trunk is teased mercifully by his peers in the herd. His mother advises him to accept it, but he finds it too upsetting. Finally, when he gets fed up with the jeers at school, he snorts, which turns into an amazing snort that morphs into other creatures. The other elephants suddenly think he is great and start complimenting him. Story Notes: Familiar taunts from peers, recalls the cruelty of adolescence. Pointing out the exact moment (11 am on Tuesday) that he feels like everyone’s laughing at him really portrays his angst and discomfort well. Even the little bird is in on making fun of him. Naturally, he won’t take his mother’s advice about accepting his trunk. Avoids the cliché of learning to like himself, but ends happily. Illustration Notes: Colored pencil sketches look like they’ve been done on the side of a paper bag, very school-like. Simple sketches of characters and scenes, speech bubbles, would be easy to imitate. Adds touches like lines on his nose when he asks why it’s small, which look a little like trunk wrinkles but which also look much like lines on a ruler. Great morphing of the nose into different creatures when he gives his climactic snort. Applications: Role play teasing and bullying situations Age Range: any Awards: Tags: elephants, bullies, teasing Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 47 Review #83 Citation: Jobling, Curtis. Frankenstein’s Cat. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2001. Ill. by author. # Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Before working on his famous monster, Frankenstein made a cat. The cat looked everywhere for some companionship, but because he was funny-looking and smelly, everyone rejected him. Lonely and hurt, he asked his master for a friend. The doctor complied, but built a dog instead of the expected companion. The dog chases the cat around the castle for all time, and the book ends with a moral that you should be careful what you ask for, especially it it’s a puppy. Story Notes: Great opening hook. Doesn’t exactly count as a fractured fairy tale, but has that feel to it. Friendly storytelling feel to the language, nice alliteration for reading aloud. Humor throughout. I feel so sorry for the cat, getting rejected again and again when he’s only asking to help or to play! Hilarious ending, totally out of the blue. Could be told as storytelling, but would need some editing to fill in information from the pictures. Illustration Notes: Mixed media, with bold colors and picture reaching out of their boundaries. Exaggerated, surrealistic details, cartoon style (by a Nickelodeon animator). Expressive looks on the cat’s face, makes his good-hearted earnest trying and his disappointment palpable. Applications: Build Frankenstein monsters, read for Halloween. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: Frankenstein, cat, loneliness Review #84 Citation: Hoberman, Mary Ann. The Seven Silly Eaters. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc., 1997. Ill. by Marla Frazee. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A mother has seven children, and each of them likes to eat only one thing, prepared only a certain (labor-intensive) way. The night before her birthday, exhausted and upset at the passing of years with nothing but nit-picky work for her, she goes to bed. Her children stay up and attempt to make a breakfast of all the foods they like, to serve her in bed. Since none of them can cook, they only make a mess, and they hide it in the still-hot oven. A delicious cake results, pleasing everyone. Story Notes: Written in rhyming verse. Humorous progression of events when children try to cook, language and rhymes good for read-aloud. Cute twist in the resolution. Illustration Notes: Tinted ink drawings, with lots of details filling out each scene. Pictures, even early on, portray the hideous amount of work the mother is supposed to keep up with. Great depiction of the hectic chaos of childhood. I like that the mother is often shown pregnant in the pictures, instead of supposing that all these children just appear or arrive by mail. I also like that Dad is always shown present and working, not just leaving his wife to do everything. Applications: Talk about ways to help moms, make favorite foods, read for Mother’s Day Age Range: any Awards: Tags: Mothers, children, picky eaters, cake Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 48 Review #85 Citation: Carlstrom, Nancy White. Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986. Ill. by Bruce Degen. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A mother bear asks her son what he plans to wear at morning, noon, and night. He answers with terms of clothing, but also sun, darkness, the things he plays with, the ideas he has, and other things. Story Notes: Rhyming text in three-line stanzas with repeating motif of “in the morning.” Explores all the different meanings of what you can wear. Illustration Notes: Watercolor and ink pictures show pure joy of life, heading out to make the most of a morning. “Heartwarming” seems a cliché descriptor, but that’s the effect they aim for, with idealistic scenes of the ideal carefree childhood. Sentimental, but they’re happy and I’ll admit I like them. Pictures fill in full scenes for the short lines of the text. Applications: Build a wardrobe, write poems in this style. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: bears, clothing Review #86 Citation: Yolen, Jane. Tam Lin. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990. Ill. by Charles Mikolaycak. & Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: The daughter of the head of a Scottish clan plans, when she comes of age, to retake the ancient manor that has been abandoned by her clan, which had been owned by her family but was stolen by faeries. When she goes to announce her claim, she meets Tam Lin, a human that was stolen by the faeries on the manor’s grounds generations ago, the year the manor was stolen. He has lived immortally in the faery world, but now he is to be sacrificed. She agrees to save him, and gather the materials necessary to face down the faery queen, winning him back to humn life. They marry and retake the manor, living happily ever after. Story Notes: Beautiful language, retains ancient feel of the ballad from which it is taken; at least, without knowing the ballad itself, I am convinced enough of that. It’s different to see a foolhardy female diving into a haunted situation against everyone’s wishes, as opposed to just a young man. Note on read-aloud that it uses “Hell”. Stronger conflict, higher stakes of death, longer text, needs to go to older children. Includes a nice research note at the end of the book, detailing where the story came from and even the fact that the tartans portrayed in the pictures are fictional. Illustration Notes: Detailed acrylic paintings, I think. Feel like stained glass windows or old tapestries, to go with the mood of ancient lore in the text. Pictures start in one corner of a page and sprawl outwards. Applications: Part of Scottish cultural unit, world fairy tales and customs Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: Tam Lin, Scotlan Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 49 Review #87 Citation: Oughton, Jerrie. How the Stars Fell Into the Sky. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Ill. by Lisa Desimini. # Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: First woman wants to write the laws in a public place so that all of the people of the world can read them and follow them. Her unhelpful mate First Man sarcastic suggests writing them in the sand or the water, then recommends using her “jewels”, or stars, to write the laws in the sky more permanently. She is working on this when Coyote offers to help. She accepts, but he grows impatient at hanging them one by one and flings the rest haphazardly into the sky, obscuring the laws and allowing people to be confused forever. Story Notes: Explains not just how the stars came to be into the sky, but comments on the damage done by impatience, and explains the confusion of all people, everywhere, in following the natural laws of the world. Illustration Notes: Dark night scenes but rich colors, expressionistic faces. Applications: Write pourqui tales. Study Navajo culture. Compare with other tales of how the stars arrived in the sky. Learn for storytelling. Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: Navajo, stars, coyote Review #88 Citation: Myers, Tim. Tanuki’s Gift. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2003. Ill. by R.G. Roth. # Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A tanuki, a trickster, appears at a priest’s door asking to come into the warm hut on a winter’s night. He consents, and the tanuki comes back every winter night and soon becomes his friend. When the tanuki asks how he can repay the priest’s kindness, the priest wants nothing except some gold for prayers to get into heaven. The tanuki disappears and secures te gold, but the priest realizes that all he really wants is for the tanuki to stay close by and be his friend. Story Notes: Offers a lot of bits of Japanese culture that are not explained, giving a chance to do research on cultural topics. Trickster takes the hard way to get the gold instead of easily stealing it, because he is so thankful to the priest and wants to respect his not liking stealing. Author admits that the story is not exactly authentic in its ending, but his point that folktales have to become the teller’s own is well taken. Illustration Notes: Great mixed media illustrations give tons of different colors, values, and textures. Fairly abstract style, but expressive, and refreshing in being different from many illustrations out there. Interesting choices, like the scene where the priest admits that he’d like to be able to pay for prayers, which shows him floating up to heaven, tossing his gold in the air, holding onto a parasol. Applications: Combine with other Japanese stories, like Allen Say, in a cultural unit. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: Japan Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 50 Review #89 Citation: Carney, Margaret. At Grandpa’s Sugar Bush. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1997. Ill. by Janet Wilson. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A boy spends his spring break at his grandparents’ maple farm, helping his grandfather gather sap to make syrup. Story Notes: Regional story from Canada; includes a lot of details about getting sap from trees, which is very foreign to southern American locals, especially those living in or around cities. Doesn’t explain those details, which means this story needs to be supplemented with activities for use down here. Illustration Notes: Nice texture in oil paintings. Shows outdoor winter scenes on spring break, different from Knoxville weather. Warm faces. Pictures show the unfamiliar actions the text describes. Applications: Learn about how children in other parts of the country or world spend their free time. Combine with Laura Ingalls’ Wilder’s Farmer Boy for comparison of tapping story. Eat maple syrup! Age Range: any Awards: Tags: maple syrup, sap, grandfather, farm, maple trees Review #90 Citation: Casanova, Mary. One-Dog Canoe. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Ill. by Ard Hoyt. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A girl and her dog go on a canoe trip, paddling down a river together. Other animals of increasing size keep asking to join, and though she politely tries to tell them there is not room, they keep jumping aboard anyway. The canoe survives such guests as a bear and a moose, but when one more frog jumps in, the vessel tips them all into the river. The animals admit that they should have listened, help the girl get her canoe upright and afloat again, and the girl and her dog row home happily. Story Notes: Repetitive motif with the animals asking to join in, invites the question of what student think will happen next. Cumulative response in naming off all the animals that fit in the canoe. Onomatopoeia for fun read-aloud. Illustration Notes: Watercolors and pencil, fairly transparent colors for light, airy pictures. Lots of joy on animals’ faces and consternation on the girl’s and dog’s faces. Perspective in pictures shows each of the animals getting bigger and bigger. Great close-up of terror in the girl’s face when the moose tries to join. Applications: Take a field trip canoeing. See all of the animals in person to understand how big thery are and why they wouldn’t fit in a canoe. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: canoe, animals Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 51 Review #91 Citation: Shepard, Aaron. Master Man. HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Ill. by David Wisniewski. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Shadusa thinks so much of his strength that he decides to call himself Master Man. When his wife recalls to Shadusa a child she saw pulling a heavy bucket of water from a well—the child’s mother says he’s strong because his father is Master Man—Shadusa is boastful and jealous and decides to seek out this man to teach him who is really Master Man. The Master Man he finds turns out to be a giant, though, and he runs but the giant chases him. He is saved only after running into yet another giant who claims to be Master Man; the two fight, finally jumping into the sky and never returning. Story Notes: Laid out as a graphic novel, with pictures in panels and narration in boxes within pictures, speech given in bubbles. Woman hiding man in pot while her giant husband smells him and thinks of eating him, reminiscent of a Jack tale. Nice historical note in the end. Illustration Notes: Terrific cut-paper illustrations Wisniewski is famous for, gives a lot of dimension to the flat pictures. Bright colors, seems like an “African” theme, though I don’t know how authentic that might be. Exaggeration of facial expressions seems very appropriate for cartoon-like layout. Colors are bright, text sizes are big and bold, for an altogether sensationalistic look. Pictures sometimes reach outside their cartoon panel frames. Perspective makes Shadusa look smaller and smaller compared to Master Man and the stranger. Applications: Write comics, compare to Jack tales, Nigerian culture unit Age Range: any Awards: Tags: boasting, ego, giants, Nigeria Review #92 Citation: Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2003. Ill. by N.C. Wyeth. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A young man itches to see the world and leaves England, despite his father’s wishes that he not do so. He spends some time traveling and learning to sail going from one scheme to another, and eventually is the sole survivor of a shipwreck which leaves him stranded alone on an island. He is able to salvage enough supplies from his ship to build a fairly nice life for himself there, and he remains for over twenty eight years. Several other men arrive during that time, and he is eventually rescued by another English ship. Story Notes: Abridgement of the original tale, but not as abridged as I’d expected. Too long to be classified as a picture book. Illustration Notes: Oil paintings published as plates, but only a few scenes from the text; this is really more of a chapter book than I’d expected. Beautiful colors for island landscape. Applications: Pirate activities of any kind, pop culture derivatives of this work Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: shipwreck, island, survival Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 52 Review #93 Citation: Ogburn, Jacqueline K. The Magic Nesting Doll. New York: Dial Books, 2000. Ill. by Laurel Long. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Katya’s grandmother gives her a magic matryoshka nesting doll right before she dies, which can be opened only three times in case of dire need. Katya sets off into the world with it and learns of a tsarevitch, or prince, who has fallen under a spell which turned him into ice and made the kingdom dark and gloomy. Katya opens the doll three times for help in breaking this spell, and each time an animal leaps from one of the inner dolls and does magic to weaken the spell. She breaks the final step of the spell by kissing the prince to wake him, and they are married. Story Notes: According to the author’s note, the motifs are Russian but the story is original, so this is not a Russian cultural item. Nice imagery in descriptions, with rich vocabulary. Does not make the Vizier’s evil nature and motives secret, revealing them almost immediately, but does not seem stilted in the revelation. Nice story until the predictable ending; I’d hoped for something different. Illustration Notes: Beautiful oil paintings in dark values throughout the story, has the feel of ancient church iconography, stained glass, or tapestry. Looks like the dark values reflect the story’s motif of being under a magic spell which, among other things, means there is no daylight. Colors get warmer as the climate in the story warms. Mostly single-page illustrations next to long pages of text, but includes full spreads for each of the animals carrying Katya to the tsarevitch. Applications: Compare to versions of Sleeping Beauty Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: Sleeping Beauty, matryoshka doll Review #94 Citation: Ehrlich, H.M. Louie’s Goose. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Ill. by Emily Bolam. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Louie has a toy goose that he takes everywhere with him as he spends his summer on the beach with his parents. She experiences some wear and tear, but his parents are always able to fix her. When he accidentally lets her get swept out to sea, his mom says she has no simple fix and Louie might have to help. Louie lets Rosie dry in the sun, and she is good as new. Story Notes: Convincing portrayal of the use (and well-meant abuse) of pets by young children; it surprised me to realize halfway through that Rosie is a toy! Nice to see adults that the child runs to and trusts, and that they admit infallibility and use the opportunity to teach—like real parents. Illustration Notes: Simple acrylic paintings have very real-looking adults, who appear in the pictures even when they are not mentioned. This is a nice touch of reality, since little boys do not run around beaches alone. Great waves in the ocean, with big, bold brush strokes and different colors blended. Applications: Sponsor a stuffed animal day, make beach art, sew stuffed animals. Age Range: younger elementary Awards: Tags: beach, goose, stuffed animals Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 53 Review #95 Citation: Isadora, Rachel. Lili at Ballet. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1993. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Lili dreams of becoming a ballerina and attends classes. Many elements of learning ballet, such as the way classes are structured and what the different pieces of equipment are called, are described in introductory terms. Story Notes: Includes information about what it’s like to attend ballet classes and about the art itself, good for the aspiring dancer. Pays attention to boys in the sport. Illustration Notes: Delicate watercolor and pencil pictures, sometimes with light and sometimes rich, saturated colors. Pictures vary in scale from a collection of small items, almost like diagrams to show what things are, to a full spread of a dramatic scene in a theater. Includes a picture of a half-naked girl dressing for ballet lessons, not explicit but not for class use. Includes a boy or two in many pictures, which is a bit token but also a good reminder that this is not just a sport for girls. Applications: Suggest for anyone interested in dance. Use in conjunction with other introductory books to compare all the different arts and have students learn a little about each one. Add to a French culture unit. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: ballet, dance Review #96 Citation: Davis, Donald. The Pig Who Went Home on Sunday. Little Rock, Ark.: August House LittleFolk, 2004. Ill. by Jennifer Mazzucco. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Mama Pig sends each of her three sons out into the world, warning them to build their houses out of brick and to please come and visit her on Sunday. One their way out, a fox meets each pig in his path and tells them a reason they should build their houses out of something flimsy, like cornhusks. The first two fall for his tales, build flimsy houses, and get eaten. Third pig, however, is alert and clever, and when the wolf tries to get into his house (which he has built of bricks), he tricks the wolf and escapes safely. Then he goes home and visits his momma on Sunday. Story Notes: Variation on the three little pigs, from the inside point of view. Shows the fox as having set up the pigs to build houses out of poor materials from the start. Does not have the wolf blow down their houses, though. Has the third pig as proactive and alert. Cautionary tale. Illustration Notes: Starts illustrations on frontispiece and title page, with an ingratiating-looking pig. Bright-colored watercolors with colored pencil for texture on the wolf. Clever use of the fold between pages to be the two sides of the door when the wolf tries to get into the third pig’s house. Uses stars and other lines to show the pain the fox is feeling. Applications: Compare with other versions, use with other Appalachian tales as local culture unit. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: Appalachia, pigs Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! # Page 54 Review #97 Citation: Langton, Jane. The Queen’s Necklace. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1994. Ill. by Ilse Plume. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: A king, wicked in every way, desires a wife. He sends his nephew and heir into the countryide to find a woman as perfect as the necklace of pearls he intends his future wife to wear. The nephew returns with a woman, and the king demands that she wear the pearls with a death penalty if she turns up without them. She is kind and generous and keeps giving away the pearls to people who need them. When they are gone the king imprisons her for execution, but the birds she loves gather pearls for her and kill the king. She marries the nephew, who has loved her all along. Story Notes: Fairly long and complicated text. Dramatic in its consequences and the evil of the king, would translate into a movie. Willing sacrifice and being rewarded by nature for goodness are not usual themes in America stories; this one is Swedish. Illustration Notes: Bucolic colored pencil drawings, lots of details, with unlikely but symbolic scenes of birds fluttering near people with castles in the clouds of the background. Applications: Act out, tell from another point of view, write another ending. Age Range: older elementary Awards: Tags: pearls, Sweden Review #98 Citation: Nolen, Jerdine. In My Momma’s Kitchen. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1999. Ill. by Colin Bootman. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Snapshots of all the good things in life that happen in a little girl’s mother’s kitchen. Family gather to cook and tell stories, playtime happens with friends, and the cat gets into mischief. Story Notes: Family places importance on school, first-generation college student. Set up in a series of scenes of good things that happen in the kitchen. Very realistic stories (especially the antics of the cat, which hearken to my own life very strongly), may be at least partly autobiographical. Illustration Notes: Oil paintings have a curious degree of realism to them; they have great faces, look almost lifelike, but they seem frozen in terms of motion. Applications: Kids make books of snapshots from their own families, with pictures and stories of great memories. Bind and take home for presents. Age Range: any Awards: Tags: kitchen, family Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! Page 55 Review #99 Citation: Daly, Niki. Jamela’s Dress. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Jamela helps her mom buy and wash some expensive cloth for a dress to wear for a wedding. Jamela is left in charge of the cloth while it dries. She gets to daydreaming and walks off down the street wearing it, catching everyone’s attention and ruining the cloth in the process. A photographer takes a picture of her in her get-up with everyone following her. Jamela is in big trouble when her conduct is found out, but she is saved when it turns out the photo of her won a big prize. The prize money is enough to buy new cloth for her mom’s dress, with some left over for a dress for her. Story Notes: The story really seems grim there for a little while, when Momma has spent so much hard-earned money on something that is ruined and lost and now has nothing to wear for the wedding. Her forgiveness of her daughter is beautiful, though, when she plays with her daughter after washing the new cloth—keeping an eye on her daughter while it dries, this time. Looks like this is set in South Africa, apparent from fashion and vocabulary that it’s not the U.S., confirmed in author’s note. Illustration Notes: Tons of color and detail. Starts with outrageous scene on frontispiece and title page. Jamela proves to be a daydreamer and to be trying to be extra grown-up by wearing adult high heel shoes. Postures and expressions make it very apparent how much trouble she’s in after her romp. Applications: Write apology letters or stories. Write tall tales of explanation (dog ate my homework). Age Range: any Awards: Tags: South Africa, cloth Review #100 Citation: Van Allsburg, Chris. Jumanji. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981. Ill. by author. Source: Hodges Juvenile Collection Summary: Two children, left alone at home for an afternoon and bored with their toys, find a game that claims to be designed for bored, restless children. When they roll the dice and get clues related to the jungle premise of the game, they find that it is coming to life around them, with wild animals and natural disasters wrecking the house. When they finish the game, all returns to normal, and they set the game outside for other unfortunate children to come upon. Story Notes: Seems to be a cautionary tale about taking risks while bored and reading directions carefully. Not a very long text, but significant enough for advancing readers. Illustration Notes: Pencil drawings, beautiful details and shading as Van Allsburg always is. Shows not only the animals, etc. that disrupt the house, but also the damage that they cause in the background, with furniture falling, food raked out of cabinets, etc. Applications: Compare and contrast with movie. Draw pictures in pencil of jungle animals in house. Age Range: older elementary Awards: Caldecott Medal winner Tags: jungle, board games, boredom, following directions Personal Favorites-- Award Winner--$ Storytelling--# Reluctant Readers--@ Curricular Ties--& Library Skills--! $
