It's a Book by Lane Smith

Smith, L.  (2010).  It’s a Book.  New York City, NY: Roaring Book Press.  ISBN: 978-1-59643-606-0.

Annotation

In this digital age, a Monkey, Jackass, and a mouse make a bold message about technology and books.

My thoughts

I thought that this book would be too simplistic, but after reading it I’ve decided that it is a good way to promote books to younger tech happy generations. This story pokes fun at the tragic outcome of the technological era as the jackass is unable to grasp the simplistic beauty of books. This book, however, might not be appropriate for classroom settings since ‘jackass’ might be offensive to some people. This would be a good book for library displays for Banned Books Month or humorous picture books.

Literary devices

Use of Repetition: “It’s a book.” Is repeated numerous times.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Ages 6-10 (older readers will find this story humorous).

Reviews and Awards

IRA Children’s Choices, 2011

NY Times Notable Children’s Books, 2010

Goodreads Choice Award for Picture Book, 2010

Author website: http://www.lanesmithbooks.com

Media: Oil paint and ink

Genre: Juvenile picture book

The Buffalo Are Back by Jean Craighead George and Wendell Minor

George, J. C., & Minor, W. (2010). The Buffalo Are Back. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN: 978-1430109785.

Annotation

Jean Craighead George’s picture book that details the almost eradication of the buffalo and how that effected the plains Indians and the near destruction of the Great Plains environment.

My thoughts

"In the mid-1800s seventy five million buffalo roamed in North America. In little more than fifty years, there would be almost none." “What happened? The answer is a story of the American Indians, the buffalo, and the grass.”

In The Buffalo Are Back, Jean Craighead George (Julie of the Wolves and The Wolves Are Back) explains in detail the historical events that lead these majestic animals to the edge of extinction. In a very clear narration, the reader is taken back through an eco-history of the Great Plains. The journey begins in the 1800s with the birth of a single orange buffalo then tells the story of the Native Americans/Plains Indians, the white fur hunters, and westward expansion. In a mere fifty years, the Great Plains was an environmental disaster. 

This is a great book to use for discussing the environment and ecology. This is the story of not only the rescue of the buffalo and Great Plains but also the history of American Conservationism with a very important message.

Curricular connections

Subjects: History, Science/Ecology, Biology/Life Sciences, Science/ endangered species, History/environmental history, Biology/environmental issues.

Grade: 5-12

Literary devices

Use of Simile:

"A lark flew to the top of a six-foot blade of grass and sang as sweetly as a panpipe".

"The green-gold grasses of the plains rippled like waves from horizon to horizon.

Use of Repetition:

"A lark flew to the top of a six-foot blade of grass and sang as sweetly as a panpipe"(2). “A lark flew to a blade of grass and and as sweetly as a panpipe.” (17) "A lark flew to the top of a six-foot blade of grass and sang as sweetly as a panpipe." (27)

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 3 and up.

Reviews and Awards

Junior Library Guild Selection

Teacher’s Choice Award / Intermediate Readers, 2011

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 2011 (Books published in 2010) Life Science division

Author website: http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com/

Illustrator website: www.minorart.com/

Media: Watercolors (based on photographs taken by Charlie Craighead and Thomas D. Mangelsen).

Genre: Nonfiction

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham

Kerley, Barbara, & Fotheringham, Edwin. (2010). The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy). New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN: 978-0-545-125086.

Annotation

Based on thirteen year-old Susy Clemens’ secret biography of her famous writer father Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain).

My thoughts

Barbara Kerley shows a side of Mark Twain by using quotes from Susy Clemens’ journal. The book tells about Twain’s family and personal life and interspersed are Susy’s comments about her father. It starts off with Susy stating that most people don’t really know Mark Twain and that he was so much more than a humorist. Susy proceeds to describe her father. She writes about his flaws (smoking too much), his likes (billards), makes observations about his temperament, and describes his physical appearance. Susy gives the reader an honest account of one of America’s greatest writers.

Edwin Fotheringham’s bright glossy digital illustrations add humor and details that bring the reader back to Twain’s time. The illustrations support the text without distracting the reader. The journal “mini-book” pages inserted between the pages written with cursive with the misspelling of youth give insight and make this a good example of primary and secondary sources.

The book includes a timeless of Mark Twain’s life in the back along with instructions about how to write a biography.

Curricular connections

Elementary school 5^th grade- Middle school: Humanities/English: biographies

Using the page in the book, Writing an Extraordinary Biography (According to Barbara Kerley*), as a guide for students to learn how to write a biography. Then have them write a biography on someone who they know well utilizing observation, research, examples and quotations, and specific details. Students can use the mini-diary for inspiration.

Lesson Plan

See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Alliteration:

“the busiest bee in the household hive”

Use of Repetition

The cursive line work in the background of the illustrations which seem to represent Mark Twain's verbose nature and remind the reader that this is a story told from a young perspective. 

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 3-6

Reviews and Awards

2010 CYBILS Nonfiction Picture Book Award

NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended Book

Best Children’s Books 2010 -- Publishers Weekly

Best Books 2010 -- School Library Journal

Best Books for Children and Teens 2010 -- Kirkus Reviews

Best of 2010: Books for Young Readers -- Washington Post

Oregon Book Award Finalist

Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee

Author website: www.barbarakerley.com/

Illustrator website: www.edfotheringham.com/

Media: digital media

Genre: Juvenile fiction, biography

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down.

Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, illustrator (2010).  Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down.  New York City, NY: Little, Brown and Company.  ISBN: 978-0-316-07016-4

Author website: No website found.

Ilustrator website: http://www.brianpinkney.net/

Media: watercolor and india ink

Genre: biography, non-fiction, juvenile literature, civil rights movement, history

Annotation

Four African American students in Greensboro (NC) peacefully refuse to leave Woolworth’s lunch counter that only served white people. Their peaceful nonviolent act would inspire others to follow and led to more sit-ins and the end of segregation.

My thoughts

Many have said ‘this is a powerful book’ and it really is. Based on true events that happened in Greensboro in 1960, this book serves as a pictorial representation of a pivotal turning point in our country’s social history. Sit-in: How Four Friends Stood up by Sitting Down is also is a good representative for the power of a good picture book. The storyline, quotes, comments, and illustrates all combine to make this a great multicultural picture book that showcases the Civil Rights and the struggle for equality of the 1960s.

Andrea Davis Pinkney takes this great event and through the personal perspectives of the teenagers and storyline she makes it come alive and become more relatable for children and teens. The book effectively demonstrates the power of people when they work together for a cause that is right inspired by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Actual quotes from Dr. King's speeches within the text to help explain the protesters motivation to keep peaceful. These teenagers sat at a counter and asked for a simple doughnut and coffee. This was a peaceful sit-in for justice and equality not a complex revolution or a political scheme.

The watercolors by Brian Pinkney come across as modern and classic. They added to the story and did not distract from the powerful words and storyline.

The food metaphor and the story really hits you in the gut. Typically, the Civil Rights Movement is one that young people have trouble relating to because of its complexity, but stories such as this really help bring it to life. I also really enjoyed the back of the book's Civil Rights Timeline (in paragraph form from 1954 to 1964), the photograph of the "Greensboro Four" in Woolworth's, the more in depth look at the incident and the times, and additional recommended book and website resources. These 40 pages are really packed with information!

Memorable Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quotes.

“We must meed violence with nonviolence.”

“Demonstrate… calm dignity.”

“We are all leaders.”

“We must… must meet hate with love.”

“Be loving enough to absorb evil.”

Other memorable quotes:

“They sat straight and proud. And waited. And wanted. A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.”

“Practicing peace while other showed hatred was tougher than any school test.”

“… it’s not about food – it’s about pride.”

Curricular connections

This material can be added into a Civil Rights Lesson plan for History and Social Studies (grade 4-6). Both the words and art can be added to a discussion.

Literary devices

Use of Metaphor: The recipe for equality and integration throughout the book.

Use of Repetition: “They did not need menus. Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.”

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grades 4-6

Reviews and Awards

Jane Addams Honor Book (Awards)

Booklist Starred Review

School Library Journal Starred Review

How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland

Hartland, Jessie. How the Sphinx got to the Museum. Maplewood, NJ: Blue Apple Books, 2010. Print. ISBN: 978-1609050320.

Annotation

Chorus like description of how the Sphinx of Hatshepsut got to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

My thoughts

The San Francisco De Young had a Hatshepsut exhibit some time ago and learned about the infamous Stepson. When I saw this book, I was immediately interested even without knowing what the book was about. It had mention of Hatshepsut and that was enough for me. It did end up as an interesting story about how the Sphinx of Hatshepsut got to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. I found it to not be what I expected, but it was an educational cumulative piece that answers the questions that many museum goer’s ask. “How did it get here?” A bonus to the educational function of this book is that it is a great nonfiction read-aloud with its fun chorus and chant like text. Children will enjoy participation with the text and the repetition will help children learn and memorize the who’s and what’s of this piece and museum procurement. Jessie Hartland includes a page of “More History” and a page of “Additional Facts and Figures” to add more information and background to the story of the Sphinx.

Focus on Artwork

Jessie Hartland’s consistent style is childlike and cheerful. The simple pictures allow the readers/listeners to focus on the text. The titles of the people are all uniquely collaged with different font types that add a bit of fun to the repetition. The illustrations look like they have been colored with marker in an expressive manner without focuses on line clarity. The people are illustrated in vague cartoonlike ways and are identifiable by clothing and geographic location.

Literary devices

Use of Repetition: The docent retells the many steps and people who contributed to the sphinx's story each time a new part is introduced in a kind of chorus. “Hatshepsut commissioned, the sculptors sculpted, the priests admired it, and the stepson had it destroyed.” The story continues with it being rediscovered centuries later in a pit by an archaeologist, brought to America, and restored. Each time ending with the start of the sphinx’s story and how it was “ordered by the pharaoh.”

 Use of Rhythm: The chorus of people who helped bring the sphinx is rhythmic like “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.”

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 1 and up.

Reviews and Awards

Starred reviews.

Author website: www.jessiehartland.com/

Media: collage and markers

Genre: Juvenile picture book

Mimi's Dada Catifesto by Shelley Jackson

Jackson, Shelley. Mimi's Dada Catifesto. New York: Clarion Books, 2009. Print. ISBN: 978-0547126814.

Annotation

This is a picture book about Mimi, an artistic poor alley cat, who has had enough of the street and decides to seek out an artistic human. While doing so, Mimi deconstructs Dadaism and the Dadaists.

The art is one of the things that attracted me to this book. One the cover is a cute orange cat with a moustache bearing a smile close to Mona Lisa’s. The title read Mimi’s Dada Manifest, only with the ‘man’ crossed out of manifesto and replaced with ‘cat’ifesto. The background looks like torn newspaper pieces collaged together and all of the titles letters look like they have been cut from different publications. On the bottom of the cover, two cockroaches dressed to the nines present the author’s name. This is an eye-catching cover.

Introducing the Dadaists to grade school children can be inspiring and fun. In the author’s note, Shelley Jackson writes, “The Dadaists thought it was time to make art just as silly as the real world. They performed nonsense poems. They wore funny costumes. They put ordinary things like neckties and toilets in museums as if they were pieces of art.” These were the artists that colored outside of the lines and really can stimulate young minds to find ways for creative self-expression. I think that many children can resonate with Dadaist art and there are so many art projects that can be done with this book as inspiration (like collage). Along with the author’s note is a list of recommended books and websites and audio CDs that is also useful.

My thoughts

Dadaism was an art movement that is difficult to explain; yet this picture book does a pretty good job of explaining the Dada art movement.

Quotes

“The world was full of silly things in 1915, just like now (umbrellas! bow ties! false teeth!), but most art ignored the silliness. To the Dadaists, that was the silliest thing of all.”

Inside cover “I am not writing this book to get famous/ but to give you some tips on living./ Listen, kiddo: sometimes you stare at a black dot for an hour/ and nothing happens./ But sometimes it gets up and walks across the floor./ I like bugs./ What I’m trying to say is-> Pay attention/ and expect the best.”

Curricular connections

Grades 1-4: Art

Lesson Plan

See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Sophisticated language: nuisance, industrial-strength, primitive, Dadaist.

Repetition: “That cat… is a stupendous nuisance. A primitive force of destruction! A steam-powered, industrial-strength…” (Repeated twice).

Simile: “Make like a pet.”

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 1-4/ Age 6 and up

Author website: ineradicablestain.com/

Media: Mixed media

Genre: Juvenile picture book