Blog Entry #10 Stalling

Stalling

Written by Alan Katz
Illustrated by Elwood H. Smith
Margaret K. McElderry Books
2010

30 pages

Realistic Fiction

      I chose this book because of the rhyme scheme in the verses. In this book, a little boy Dan is avoiding going to sleep by doing any and everything around the house and also imagining that he is doing crazy things around the world. He checks his height on the wall to see if he’s grown, eats a snack, draws, and everything else he can think of. He pretends he tames crocodiles, rides camels in the desert, and even hunts dinosaurs. After Dan has finally warn himself out, he finds that his parents went to bed a long time ago so he decides he will stall some more.

      The illustrations in this book are a mixture of cartoon-like characters and multimedia background objects. The randomness and mixture of illustrations demonstrates the scattered mix-match of Dan’s mind. The organization of the words and illustrations on the page are just as random as Dan’s choices in activities before going to bed.

      This book is also a great book for teaching rhyming words. Every page rhymes. This is also a great jumping off point for a writing activity. Several prompts may include “If you could do anything Dan did while stalling for bed, what would you choose and why” or “What do you do before bed to keep from going to sleep?”Teachers could also have students write 3-5 more activities for Dan to do before going to bed, and their verses have to rhyme. I think this book is most appropriate for ages 1^st -3^rd due to the vocabulary. Overall, I think this is a great selection for the classroom because children would love it, especially boys.

To read about getting Alan Katz to visit your school click on his name. 

Blog Entry #9 My Friend Rabbit

My Friend Rabbit

Written and Illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Scholastic Incorporated
2002
30 pages

Fantasy

            I chose this book because my parents gave it to me when I was 12 years old for Christmas. My mom has a tradition of buying my sister and me the Caldecot winners every year for Christmas. This book is about Mouse who has a friend Rabbit. Rabbit means well but always seems to get Mouse in a pickle. Rabbit just wants to help people but more often than not he just gets the people he tries to help into an even stickier situation. Mouse’s airplane gets stuck in a tree, and Rabbit hatches a plan to get it out of the tree. He gathers all of the animals to help him in his plan. One by one Rabbit gets the animals to climb onto one another until at last they stretch far enough for Mouse to climb to the very top and reach the airplane. However, before Mouse can get his airplane, the towering pile of animals crashes to the ground. All of the animals are furious at Rabbit. Before the animals get the chance to show Rabbit how mad, Mouse swoops down and saves Rabbit on his airplane. He is, after all, his friend, and he means well.

            This book’s illustrations look like a mixture between computer-generated patterns and acrylic paint. The characters and objects have thick black outlines and deep, rich colors. More than half of the book is pictures of Rabbit pulling various animals into the “shot” of the page. Emphasis is put on the towering pile of animals by using two pages to fill up the visual space so that readers must turn the book sideways to view the picture. The deliberate lines, color distinction, and contrast between foreground and background reflect the determination and steadfastness of Rabbit.

            This book is a great character education book about thoughtfulness. It teaches students to stand by their friends and help them in times of need. Even though Rabbit tried to help his friend Mouse in his time of need his stubbornness and insistence ended up not helping Mouse. Instead, Mouse’s behavior acts as a model for students to be true to their friends even when no one else is. This could also be used in younger grades for math lessons for counting and science lessons for identifying different animals. Students could also use cut-out manipulatives to order the animals from largest to smallest.

This book was the winner of the Caldecot Medal.

For fun interactive games and more information about My Friend Rabbit click on the title in this sentence.

Blog Entry #8 Tickle Monster

Tickle Monster

Written by Josie Bissett
Illustrated by Kevan J. Atteberry
Compendium Incorporated
2010
33 pages

Fantasy

                 I chose this book because everyone has heard of the tickle monster! I was curious to see what a book about this illusive creature would say. This book is about a monster from planet Tickle. He has been all over the world tickling and has come to earth to prove his great talent of tickling. He goes on to say how good he is at tickling and all the spots that are the most ticklish. Sadly, at the end of the book he is so exhausted from all the tickling that he must travel back to planet Tickle in his spaceship.

                The illustrations in this book look to be either crayon pastels or markers; they are very circular and curved in form and have a child-like quality in the limited use of shading and depth. The color palette is soft and friendly with many different colors used at once. The overall feel of the book is light and fun, and the illustrations definitely reflect that tone. The whimsical line patterns of the illustrations also exhibit this carefree feeling.

                This book has an excellent rhythm and rhyming pattern. This would be an excellent book for K-3^rd graders depending on the aspects of poetry the teacher chooses to introduce with this book. For upper grades, it would be an excellent tool for presenting the concept of iambs in poetry and the use of stressed and unstressed syllables. For younger grades, this book could be used to introduce rhyme, alliteration, and in some parts assonance. The rhythm and flow of the verses made this book fun and enjoyable to read. Overall, I would highly recommend this in the classroom for its excellent use of various literary features.


To learn more about Josie Bissett and her other books visit her blog by clicking on her name.

Blog Entry #7 Market Day

Market Day

Written and Designed by Lois Ehlert
Harcourt Books Inc.
2000
34 pages

Realistic Fiction

I chose this book because it was the Best Illustrated Children’s Book by The New York Times Book Review. This book is about a Mexican family who are farmers. It depicts a day in the life of the family as they prepare to go to the market. They pack up all of their goods and begin the journey to the market. When they finally arrive, the family unloads all of their goods and stays at the market all day selling what they can. Finally, the market shuts down, and the family packs up all of their remaining items, and travels home. When they arrive at their house, it is time to eat! 

            The illustrations in this book are particularly unique because they are comprised solely of folk art from around the world. Each page there is a scene comprised of pictures of varying 3-dimensional objects. This multimedia form of illustration is vibrant and visually interesting because it is something that isn’t seen every day. The use of folk art brings character and life to the story and really puts the reader into a state of mind in which they can envision themselves at the market and the items that may be sold there. 

            This is a wonderful book for a multicultural lesson. A great way to use this book could be for teachers to have students make their own 3-dimensional shadow box representing a day in their own lives. Elements included in their shadow boxes could represent how their culture affects the array of items and experiences in their lives. It is also an excellent book for introducing and teaching rhyming in lower grades (K-2^nd) because of the simple and predictable rhyme scheme throughout.

To check out activities for the classroom involving folk art click on the word folk art.

Blog Entry #6 Dream Dancer

Dream Dancer

Written by Jill Newsome
Illustrated by Claudio Munoz
Harper Collins
2001
30 pages

Realistic Fiction

            I chose this book because it was on display at the library. The front cover depicted a beautiful young girl dancing through the park, and I was drawn in by the exuberant use of color. This story is about a little girl who loved to dance. She danced everywhere. She danced until one day she had a bad fall and injured her leg. She could no longer dance and felt like she was trapped in a cage. Her grandmother noticed that every time they passed a store window on their walk Lily would stare at a dancing figurine. One day Lily’s grandmother bought her the doll, and the doll danced when and where Lily couldn’t. Eventually, Lily became able to dance again, but she was frightened that she had forgotten how. Luckily, her doll comforted her and gave her confidence to dance again. 

            The illustrations in this book look to be watercolor. Each scene is detailed to where the pictures tell a story all on their own. The use of long, swift brush strokes and horizontal lines on the page force the eye to dance across the pictures. When Lily was sad, she was in the background of the pictures, and the watercolor had a faded quality to it. As she began to dance again, the color became more concentrated and vibrant, just like Lily did in the story. 

            This book is appropriate for a wide range of ages. It could be used as a character education story of perseverance and commitment to dreams, and it could also be used as a jumping off tool for share-time in younger grades. The teacher could read this book and then have students write about and share a special talent they have or a time when they weren’t able to do something they desperately wanted to do. 

You can check out other dancing books and songs that go with them by clicking on the word dancing.

Blog Entry #5 Olivia

Olivia

Written and Illustrated by Ian Falconer
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
2000
31 pages

Fantasy

          I chose this book because it is a Caldecot Honor Book and because a friend of mine in high school read it as an assignment we had senior year. I remember her speech on the book being really cute and decided to read the book again for this assignment. This book is about a little pig named Olivia who is rambunctious and energetic. She is good at most everything, and like most girls has trouble deciding what to wear. She has a little brother who likes to copy her and a mother who she wears out. I would say Olivia is like many young girls making this a very relatable book for them. 

          The illustrations in this book look to be ink and paper. They are mainly black and white with pops of red which emphasizes Olivia’s vivacious and outgoing personality. There are a few pages with actual paintings on them, one by Degas and one by Pollock. These paintings represent two sides of Olivia’s personality: on one side a pretty princess ballerina (every little girl’s dream) and on the other side a seemingly chaotic expression of energy and motion (the reality parents see in every little child). The depiction of mainly Olivia on almost every page gets across the ego-centric phase that most young children go through at Olivia’s age. 

          I love this book! It’s strong use of an accent color, the page of multiple pictures of Olivia in all her outfits, and the short precise sentences so perfectly depict the sassy princess that many young girls are. This book is appropriate for K-2nd grade students. It would be a great model book for students in the 2^nd grade to use as a guide to write a book about themselves. They could draw their own illustrations and choose one accent color to use throughout. It would also be a great book for introducing art into the classroom. Teachers could use the “Pollock” painting as a writing prompt asking students to describe what they think the painting is about. 

This book won the Caldecot Honor award in 2001. 

Learn more about Ian Falceonr and his other books about Olivia by clicking on his name.

Blog Entry #4 Llama Llama Red Pajama

Llama, Llama Red Pajama

Written and Illustrated by Anna Dewdney
Penguin Group
2005
29 pages

Fantasy

            I chose this book because of the quirky yet detailed illustration of a baby llama on the cover.  In the story, a mother llama puts her baby llama to bed. Baby Llama waits for his mom to come back upstairs, but she doesn’t come. Mama Llama is busy downstairs cleaning dishes and talking on the phone.  In the meantime, Baby Llama gets progressively more anxious and nervous for his mother to come back upstairs and finally pitches a fit because he’s afraid Mama Llama is no longer there. When Mama Llama comes upstairs because of Baby Llama’s tantrum, she tells Baby Llama that she was busy and he shouldn’t overreact. She tucks him into bed and tells him not to worry because she loves him very much. Finally, Baby Llama goes to sleep. 

            The illustrations in this book appear to be a mixture of acrylic and some type of crayon or pencil. They are simplistic in style, but there are detailed brush strokes on Baby Llama to give his character more importance. The scenes create unique perspectives and moods using colors and angles. Each page with Baby Llama is dark and focuses mainly on his face or his view of where his mother may appear. In contrast, the pages with Mama Llama have a bright color palette. 

            I thought this book was cute and used color and facial expressions well to emphasize the story. This would be most appropriate for K-1^st graders. I would suggest using this for a writing prompt such as “What do you think Baby Llama was scared of in the story?” You could have them draw a picture and explain in a couple of sentences. Another writing prompt might have students write about something they're afraid of. Also, this would be great for 1^st graders for a beginning rhyming lesson. A great feature of this book is that most of the rhyming words are bolded and colored. 

For more on Anna Dewdney click on her name to visit her website.