Spuds by Karen Hesse

Spuds, by Karen Hesse, is a story about three children, Maybelle, Eddie, and jack, who are very poor and hungry so they steal potatoes, also known as spuds, from their neighbor’s field.  However, the children end up collecting more rock than they do actual potatoes and their mother is upset with them for stealing.  There is a definite plot to this story but I felt like the climax and ending was little forced, almost like it happened too quickly.  There isn’t a lot of character development through the words but the reader does get a lot of information about them from the illustrations.  The pictures appear to be done in water colors and the pale colors created by this medium add to the dreary tone of the story.  I like this story, because despite the children’s desperate state, the story has somewhat of a happy ending.  This story has a lot to teach young children about poverty and the importance of being honest.
            I’m a little hesitant to say I will use this book in my classroom because it didn’t “wow” me.  If I were to use it, I would use it when discussing the tough issue of poverty.  I would address poverty by first asking children what they already know about it and writing this down somewhere.  I would then read a book such as Spuds , and potentially some other books as well, and ask children if they learned anything new.  I would open the book to different parts and ask the class to think about how the children were probably feeling at this part in the story.  I think this exercise teaches compassion and empathy, as well as the skill of identifying emotions in oneself and others.   I would want to end this discussion by talking about the strengths the family in the story has.  For instance, the children in Spuds care about each other very much and have a mother who wants them to know the difference between right and wrong.  I think it’s important for children to realize that even if things seem bad or scary, there is usually a bright light, in the form of love or a lesson to be learned.  On a lighter note, this book could be used to talk about farming, with children speculating as to where this story takes place based on what is growing in the fields.  I probably wouldn’t use it for this, other than talking about what “Spuds” are, but it is always an option.

Year Published: 2008        Illustrator: Wendy Watson

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson and Pictures by Beth Krommes

Being a Hawkeye, I naturally love black and gold but never before have I seen these colors make beautiful art like that found in The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson.  This book has a static plot that involves zooming into, and then out of, a house until we are eventually in a book.  This is all done using very few words and the last noun on the page is used as the first noun on the second page.  For example, “Here is the key to the house.  In the house burns a light.”  The pictures are very interesting and detailed and use black and gold exclusively.  I like this combination because it highlights certain things that "glow."  The illustrator, Beth Krommes, uses different patterns of lines to show texture and depth.   In my opinion, the illustrations are what makes the book.  Each page of the book only had about six words on it that were very simple to read.  Despite this simplicity, the book had a poetic rhythm to it that I thoroughly enjoyed. 
            Because the words are quite simple, I would only use this book with 1rst grade and under.  I think kids older than this might feel insulted by the easy vocabulary used.  I think younger children would have fun identifying the pattern in the book and speculating about what comes next.  I would have students write their own pattern book using a similar format.    All they would have to do is come up with one initial sentence and build off of that to make a story.  For instance, “I love hugs from my mom.  My mom goes for walks.  On these walks she picks up leave.”  I think this is a good activity for children because it shows them that creating a story doesn’t have to be overwhelming.  Rather, it starts with a single sentence. 
Year Published: 2008          Awards: Caldecott Award

Ahmed and the Feather Girl by Jane Ray

Interesting.  That was my first thought after reading Ahmed and the Feather Girl, by Jane Ray.  I’m still not sure if I like the book or not.  The words are not simplified for the reader or insulting by any means.  And, the story has a definite plot but it is very eccentric.  A young orphan boy who is a laborer for the circus, Ahmed, finds a golden egg and it hatches into a girl who is part bird.  The cruel circus leader keeps the girl in a cage until Ahmed sets her free.  The mood of the book is very dismal, and even though Ahmed and Aurelia become free in the end, the mood is still somewhat sad because it took magical intervention for them to get away.  There is not a lot of character development but we do get a sense of the characters from the sensational illustrations.   Ahhhhh…the illustrations…like a wonderful dream.  They were very colorful and energetic, and although somewhat surreal, it is obvious from the details that a great deal of care and work went into the pictures.  The illustrations compliment the story perfectly and almost tell the story more than the words do.  Every bit of the page is covered with something so this book would work well as a wordless book if the author had chosen that. What initially attracted me to this book was having a main character named Ahmed because I felt this story probably contained a multicultural perspective that would be great for classroom sue.  However, upon finishing the book, I decided that this book actually plays into a stereotype of Middle Easterners being vagrants and gypsies.  For this reason, I am still undecided as to if I like the book or not. 
            If I did decided to use the book, I would focus on the treatment of the orphan and the feather girl, Aurelia, and the feelings the characters must have had.  After reading the story, I would ask students how they felt about the way Ahmed was treated?  How do you think Ahmed felt upon finding the egg and when the circus leader took it away from him?  How do you think Aurelia felt being locked up in the cage?  My goal for these questions would be that the class would have a discussion about what human beings need to survive.  I would want students to grasp that we not only need food, water, and shelter, but we also need love, freedom, and friendship.  I think it is important that students understand these things because, as they are growing up and deciding what they value in life, they need to have information about what it takes to achieve a sense of well-being.  Without this information, they will be unable to make choices that help them obtain this. 
Year Published: 2010

Yours Truly, Golidlocks and Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest by Alma Flor Ada

I chose to blog about Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest and Yours Truly, Goldilocks, by Alma Flor Ada, because what makes them great is consistent between both of them.  Both of these books use characters from a plethora of fairy tales and tell their stories in a unique way.  Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest tells fairy tales through newspaper articles.  The lead story is “Mysterious Plant Causes Alarm,” with the mysterious plant being the beanstalk from the well-known fairy-tale “Jack in the Beanstalk.”   An example of another side story is “Italian Village Concerned About Fate of Beloved Toy Maker,” which is the story of Pinocchio.  The articles contain black and white illustrations to go along with the story and, in-between the different editions of the newspaper, are colorful illustrations depicting the newspaper being delivered to the townspeople and their reactions to the events.  What I loved most about this book is how the newspaper contained editorials that showed how the townspeople, particularly L. Feline and Hetty Heeny, had differing opinions on what action should be taken.  It was interesting to me because L. Feline’s and Hetty Heeny’s differing opinions seemed to mirror a conservative and liberal voice.  Thus, the newspaper was very realistic.  Yours Truly, Goldilocks tells a story through the letters the villagers of Hidden Forest are sending to each other.  Each letter is written in different penmanship and different paper and is accompanied by a colorful illustrations that shows either the character’s home or a scene that helps the story’s movement.  In the beginning of the book there is a map of Hidden Forest so readers can familiarize themselves with the area and identify where the action is taking place.   I loved this book and it was definitely my favorite of the two.  The character development is flawlessly amazing and what better way to present it then by telling the story from a variety of first person perspectives through letters.  We get to see the rising action from all sides, including the protagonist and antagonist, and this makes for a very suspenseful story! 

            These books are definitely high quality and could be read just for fun.  They put a new spin on a well known plot and don’t insult the readers by using simple vocabulary. These books would also be great to use when learning about proper letter writing format and newspapers.  The letters in Yours Truly, Goldilocks are written in correct format so students could identify the parts of the letters, such as the greeting and salutation.  I personally do not think letter writing is that exciting of a topic but students would have fun with it if they could write as if they were a character.  This is a great activity because students can really get to know the character whose perspective they are writing from and develop an emotional connection to the text.  Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest is also written in a format that is similar to mainstream newspapers.  I foresee myself reading the story to the class and then introducing the different parts of a newspaper.  I think a fun activity would be introducing a fairy tale dilemma and have students write editorials from a characters perspective about what should be done like they did in the book.  This is a worthwhile activity for children because it allows them to think about what motivates people and about the complexity of issues. 
Year Published: Extra! Extra! (2007) and Yours Truly, Goldilocks (1998)
Illustrator: Leslie Tryon

The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry Compiled by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson

The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry features 200 poems by Bill Martin Jr.’s favorite authors.  I loved reading the poems in this book!  First of all, a lot of the poems are extremely humorous and have great rhyme schemes.  Second, the illustrations, which are all done by well-known illustrators of children’s books, are phenomenal and make poetry very accessible to young children.  I know the beauty of poetry is the in the fact that people are allowed to create their own mental images from the words the author paints.  However, when children are just being introduced to poetry, the format and word positioning is often confusing and it helps to have illustrations that assist in grasping the full meaning of the poem.  For me, I think it is hard to get children excited about poetry unless they connect to it and I think well done illustrations are one way to establish this connection.  Another thing I liked about this book is how it is organized according to themes, such as animals, people and places, school time, me and my feelings, Mother Goose, and nonsense.  I think it really helps to show children that poetry can be about anything and this layout makes it easy to find a poem about a certain topic. 
            This is a book I most definitely will have in my classroom as a resource.  In fact, I plan on purchasing a copy in the near future.  Children will have fun saying the poems out loud and looking at the great illustrations.  My hope is to have a variety of poetry books in the classroom, and each day, have a different child read a poem to the class in the morning.  I think this is a good activity because children can practice speaking in front of an audience and, because many of the poems are humorous, it would give the class a chuckle which is a great way to start the day.  When it comes to a poetry unit, I think this book does a lot of the work for the teacher. It provides hundreds of high quality poems that can be used as poetry examples.  Many of the poetry styles in this book can be borrowed for the purpose of having the students create their own poems.  I think it is important that children write their own poems because it allows them to break from the traditional sentence.  It also helps build vocabulary by giving them opportunities to practice finding that perfect word.    

Year Published: 2008        
Notable Information: Foreword by Eric Carle and Afterword by Steven Kellogg

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Controversial?  I have a hard time seeing it.  To me, Fly Away Home, is a piece of realistic fiction that depicts, a very sad, yet very valid reality for some children in America.  I can see where some people might think that the sadness is too much for young children, but chances are that one or more students in a classroom have dealt with homelessness first hand.  I liked this book because it showed homelessness from the child’s perspective.  I felt like the author had really done her homework because the boy’s day-to-day life seems very believable.  Also, I liked how the sadness of the story was contrasted with the great love and dedication the father had to his son.  I think there are a lot of messages ringing through this book that make people slightly uncomfortable but accurate, such as hard work doesn’t necessarily guarantee the basic necessities of life.  I have difficulty understanding how someone would want to shelter children from the realistic sadness of this book.  I believe exposure to these issues teaches children compassion and understanding for their fellow human beings. 
            I will definitely be using this book in my classroom.  I think it would be great to use with a unit on family or homes.  Also, this would be a great book to tackle the issue of poverty in the classroom because it presents homeless in a way that is not horrific.  After reading this book, children will need ample time to discuss and process what happened in the story and what feelings were ignited within themselves.  Also, I would reread this book and focus on how the characters are coping and what each of the characters value.  I think this is important to do because children may have negative stereotypes in their minds about people without a home, such as being criminals or being dirty, and focusing on these positive aspects could foster compassion and dispel negative images.  For older children, it would be great to use this book as a lead in to a discussion on local poverty issues.  It is important that kids realize that homelessness is a real phenomenon that many people face in their own community.  Possibly as a class project, students could engage in activities that address homelessness, such as a food drive or a public awareness campaign. 
Year Published:  1993          Illustrator: Ronald Himler

King and King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland

King and King, by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland is, among many other things, a story about the power of love.  Prince Bertie has his pick of princesses but will settle for nothing less than true love.  He finds this true love in a prince.  First of all, this book had fabulous illustrations!  They were composed of a variety of medias and were energetic and eye catching.   These illustrations really complimented the overall positive mood of the book.  The plot of the book was a traditional fairy tale in which a royal heir must marry.  There are two slight variations in plot, though, that make this book phenomenal!  First, and most prominent, is the fact that the prince ends up with another prince.   The plot presents this ending in a very positive and matter-of-fact way that really leaves the reader with a warm and satisfying feeling associated with the story.  Second, the princesses that are offered to Prince Bertie as potential wives are very diverse and multicultural.  I loved this!  We get to see princesses from all over the world, including places as different as Mumbai and Texas.  Although we all love fairy tales, these traditional stories often contain characters and plots that are oppressive to certain cohorts.  It’s great to see authors challenging this aspect of fairy tales by recreating them in ways that give silenced individuals and groups a place in them and a voice. 
            Many of the books that I read that address LGBT topics I would want to have on hand as references in case the topic was brought up by a student in class, but I wouldn’t necessarily use them for a lesson.  However, I chose to write about this book because it is one that I would like to use as part of a lesson or read aloud to students.  I think this book touches on the topic in a really positive way that is not overwhelming to students who might not be as familiar with this issue because the plot is, for the most part, familiar.  Basically, this book presents the topic in such a way that I would feel comfortable as a teacher addressing it and tackling any questions.  I think this would be a great one to use with a lesson on fairy tales.  I would introduce this book, after having read a fairy tale with a similar plot line, by saying, “Now we are going to read a story that is very much like the one we just read but a little bit different.  After the story we are going to talk about what was different about the two stories and what is the same about the two stories.  Just like all other books we read, you might feel confused, happy, surprised, amused, sad, mad, excited, or you might feel nothing after I read this book.  Whatever you feel is ok and we can talk about it after wards.”  I would leave ample time to discuss how this book compared to other fairy tales they’ve heard and the feelings they had about the book.  Since this book is geared toward younger children, I think students may inquiry as to why the prince wanted to marry another prince instead of a princess.  I would open this question up for student hypotheses and would conclude the discussion by talking about how we are all different and we all like different things.  Some kids like the color green, while others like yellow.  Some kids like the mountains, while others like the sea.  Some kids love pizza, while others love cheese burgers.  Some princes wanted to marry a princess, while others prefer princes.  None of these preferences make someone better that someone else.  They just make us unique and special.      
Year Published:  2002         
Notable Information: Potential presidential candiates have been asked to give opinions on the book, has been on some banned book lists, some groups have requested a sequel about the couple adopting a child