The Wall Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís

Peter Sís – Author and illustrator. The wall: growing up behind the Iron Curtain. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-374-34701-7

Author website: http://www.petersis.com/noflash.html

Media: Multi-media, pencil, marker, crayon, colored pencil, pen and ink

Genre: biography, memoir, nonfiction, history, Juvenile literature, graphic novel, picture book

Annotation

Visual award-winning personal memoir of artist Peter Sís growing up on the oppressed Russian Communist totalitarian dictatorship side of the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War and his desire for freedom.

My thoughts

This is an award-winning book, Peter Sís brings the reader to his past in Communist controlled Prague during the Cold War. The information brought by the illustrations and prose brings this period vibrantly alive describing the struggles for freedom and expression under the harsh control of a totalitarian regime. For the beginning, Sís uses bright color and different symbols to show the contrast between his natural childhood desire to express his imagination against the repetitive and monotony of the symbols and colors associated with the Soviet Red Army.

His personal story is juxtaposed with a timeline of historical events. Sís adds first personal journal entries from his journal at that time and the reader can understand his perspective and move with him from the tacit acceptance during his childhood to his shift of awareness as he grows up and is exposed to the world.

The colors reflect the personal reactions to the time. During the most oppressive and difficult times, Sís restricts his color choice to black white and red. When he begins to express himself there are bursts of color. “Slowly he started to question. He painted what he wanted to- in secret.” A two page full-color vibrant spread shows the revolution of the 60’s leaking into Sís awareness. It concludes with the fall of the wall on November 9, 1989. This book contains lots of talking points.

Peter Sís provides an introduction, his chronological timeline journal entries, and an afterward to provide additional information to the already expressive illustrations.

Curricular connections

In classrooms, the rise and fall of Communism focuses on the political shifts and oppression in an impersonal manner. This book provides a very personal account that makes the effects of Communist very real and clear. It’s told in a way that is relatable.

Literary devices

Use of repetition: The word “COMPULSORY” is used like an unspoken brand after each description of Communist mandates or suggested activities. (Example: “Joining the Young Pioneers, the Communist youth movement- COMPULSORY. Collecting scrap metal- COMPULSORY. First of May parade celebrating the workers of the world- COMPULSORY. Public displays of loyalty- COMPULSORY. The practice of religion- DISCOURAGED.” This really hammers home the point.


Use of Symbol: Communist ideology and symbols are also repeated throughout the book. The hammer and sickle. 

Reading level/ Interest Age

Age 8 and up/ Grade 3 and up

Reviews and Awards

Caldecott Honor Book

Sibert Medal

Booklist Starred Review

School Library Journel Starred Review

Kirkus Starred Review

Horn Book Starred Review

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

Publishers Weekly Starred Review

And, many other positive reviews…

My secret camera: life in the Lodz ghetto by Mendel Grossman and Frank Smith

Grossman, Mendel (photographer), and Frank Smith (text). My secret camera: life in the Lodz ghetto. San Diego: Gulliver Books, 2000. ISBN: 978-1845078928.

Author website: No official website.

Photographer website: No official website.

Media: photography

Genre: nonfiction, World War II, Holocaust

Annotation

Mendel Grossman, a captive in the Lodz ghetto in Poland during World War II, secret photographs taken from inside his raincoat documenting the real stories of the captives and exposing the horrors of the Holocaust.

My thoughts

It’s hard to believe that these photos exist. These are photos taken of prisoners captive and systematically enslaved, mistreated, humiliated in a ghetto where thousands were shipped out never to be seen again. The fact that the photos made it through those 4 years during the war and years since 1945 is remarkable. However, very sad that there were 10,000 other photos that were destroyed. The bravery and courageousness of Mendel Grossman to take these pictures is astounding.

These photographs capture what books cannot describe in words. Demonstrating the power and the importance of picture books. In the photographs children are seen harnessed to a heavy load and are treated like herd animals. A woman scrubs the streets. A boy looks out of the page with fear in his eyes.  These are people struggling. Yet, there are photos that show that even in the worse of time, the captives found strength to be optimistic. One photo shows women laughing as bread is pulled out of an oven while baking for Passover. A crowd gathers around two entertainers who provide some of entertainment. The photographs show the suffering but also the strength of the human spirit.

These 17 photos are Mendel Grossman’s legacy. Unfortunately, he died in 1945 days before the Germans surrendered. The narrative text was created by Frank Smith as an attempt to add more to these already very powerful photographs.

As Frank Smith wrote in the introduction, “Yes, these studies break the heart. But they strengthen the heart, too…” These photos have timeless meaning.

Curricular connections

World War II, world history, Holocaust
Grade 4-6

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 3-6/ Ages 7 and up.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan- author and illustrator. The arrival. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-439-895293

Author website: http://www.shauntan.net/

Media: pencil on paper

Genre: graphic novel, steampunk, wordless graphic novel

Annotation

The Arrival, a wordless graphic novel, is the story of a man leaving his home and family to establish a new life in a new unseen land and the process of becoming familiarized with this strange and unfamiliar new land.

My thoughts

The Arrival is an award winning tale that provides an allegorical depiction of the emigrant experience. The protagonist of the story represents the universal emigrant travelling to a strange and unfamiliar land and experiencing new people, things, and places all at the same time. The man is willing to lose everything to move to a land far away to find a new life for his family.

By creating a fictional imaginary world, one that is unfamiliar with all readers of all different backgrounds, Shaun Tan lets the reader experience what it is like to travel to a new country. Even the most basic details are strange. The protagonist has to relearn and assimilate in order to make this his new home. Even the most basic aspects of his life seem confusing at first. He attempts to pour a glass of water from some odd highly complex mechanism and ends up squirting water all over. He goes to the market and discovers that none of the fruit is recognizable. These are all new species. The fruit sellers pantomime that the fruit tastes good. He is in a predicament where he must trust people. Light switches, running water, refrigeration, clothing, the weather, the creatures, pets and wildlife … everything is different.

The protagonist is wordless in this new world. He cannot speak because he doesn’t know the language. Shaun Tan decision to make this a wordless graphic novel heightens this experience of not being able to communicate. The reader is limited to looking and experiencing all of these strange beings, symbols, and invented alphabet with the same level of knowledge as the protagonist. The reader is required to really look at the images to see that there is a lot of communication happening without words. The lack of words really slows the reader down so that they have to focus on the visual details and think about each small object or action.

Gestures and facial expressions effectively carry communication. The emigrants are from all different lands but manage to communicate even through huge cultural and linguistic differences. The lack of words and dependence on the visual is mystifying experience and a very apt way to express this feeling of being in a new land. This really catapults the reader into the immigrant’s shoes.

In addition, because he uses images to tell the story it is interpreted differently depending on where each person is coming from. Some people might focus on the experience of the immigrant, while some people might focus more on the imaginative realm that Tan has created, and others might see it as a bizarre science fiction graphic novel. For me,  

About multiculturalism, this new land is full of people like the main character. The people are new and are also immigrants to this new land. They are all on the same journey and all are trying to find their bearings.

The society is built on ideas of pluralism with multiculturalism in its roots. There are so many different types of people in this society leaving harmoniously together. (They are recognizable by things like different hats). It is something that really can and should be appreciated.

This imaginative and magical realm is quite an experience and the illustrations are amazing and fantastical. The sepia-toned illustrations give the impression of an old photo album that can serve as reminders of the broader context of migration that many share in their family histories. It adds a bit of nostalgia.

At first, I paid more attention to the surreal illustrations and did not think about the book as an experience. Now, after living in Taiwan for a while, it is clear and the book has taken on new meaning for me. Shaun Tan definitely accomplished something very interesting and special with this book.

Curricular connections

Social Studies- Grade 7 and 8. Provides a good impetus for discussions about multiculturalism, pluralism, and diversity in addition to developing interpretation skills. The text offers opportunities to apply multiple critical perspectives to a single text and engaging student discussions.

In addition, The Arrival can be used for high school creative writing and senior English classes.  The graphic novel can help teach students how to identify formal literary devices, perspectives (feminist, cultural, historical, Marxist, etc), analyzing themes, et cetera .

Simulates visual literacy. From Shaun Tan’s Essay “PICTURE BOOKS: Who Are They For?”- “This is perhaps what reading and visual literacy are all about - and what picture books are good for - continuing that playful inquiry we began in childhood, of using imagination to find significance and meaning in those ordinary, day-to-day experiences that might otherwise remain unnoticed. The lessons we learn from studying pictures and stories are best applied to a similar study of life in general - people, places, objects, emotions, ideas and the relationships between them all. At it’s most successful, fiction offers us devices for interpreting reality, and imagining how many such interpretations might be possible.”

Lesson Plan
See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Symbolism: Shaun Tan uses symbolism throughout the novel. Nonsensical symbols and an invented alphabet is used to represent a foreign language. Being unable to understand the meaning of these symbols, Tan places the reader in the same frustrating shoes as the emigrant.

Symbolism also includes all of the archetypal imagery of the universal migrants’ experience. Also the shadow of the dragon’s tail wrapping through the migrant’s original city is a symbol/metaphor for oppression of some sort. The impression is that the migrant is leaving a fascist or oppressed city to find a new land for his family.

Birds are also symbols used through the book. The migrant lifts his hat to show his family a paper origami crane on his head and then gives it to his daughter. When in the new magical land, birds are all around.

Use of Metaphor: provides readers an insightful metaphor for the immigrant experience.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 7 and up/ Ages 12 and up

(Some of the imagery might by too ‘scary’ or too abstract for younger ages.)

Reviews and Awards

Booklist Starred Review

School Library Journal Starred Review

2007 Parents’ Choice Gold Award

2007 Booklist Editor’s Choice

2007 School Library Journal Best Book Selection

2007 Amazon.com Best Teen Book

2008 ALA Top Ten Books for Young Adults

2008 ALA Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens

2008 Boston Globe / Horn Book Award

Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Related Book for The Arrival

Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Professional Artist (also in 2009 and 2010)

Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book for Là où vont nos pères, the French edition of The Arrival

World Fantasy Award for Best Artist

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Community Relations Commission Award for The Arrival

The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards: Picture Book of the Year for 'The Arrival'.2006

Premier's Prize and Children's Books category winner in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for 'The Arrival'

Peter Pan Award 2011 for the Swedish translation of The Arrival

Many other positive reviews for The Arrival…

Shaun Tan also won the Swedish Astrid Lindgren prize in 2011 (The World's richest children's literature award), Academy awards Oscar for best animated short film for The Lost Thing.

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

Boys of Steel by Marc Tyler Nobleman and Ross MacDonald

Marc Tyler Nobleman, - author. Ross MacDonald - illustrator. Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-375-8385-02-6.

Author website: http://noblemania.blogspot.tw/

Ilustrator website: http://www.ross-macdonald.com/pages/illusmain.html

Media: ink and watercolor

Genre: juvenile fiction, biography

Annotation

In 1934, during the economic despair of the Depression, two shy teenagers created the original social crusader- Superman. Tells the story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and the story behind Superman.

My thoughts

“It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Siegel and Shuster!” (quote from book jacket) Based on the true story of the comic book creators, this book disguises a biography book as pop lit but with classic comic illustrations. The author, Nobleman, weaves research seamlessly into the story and maintains an accurate biography. The illustrations mimic Joe Shuster’s original superman style and the general comic style of the 1930s. The choice to illustrate the biography similarly to the original is in this case important for the comic book biography and adds a bit of art history into the picture for juvenile readers.

Boys of Steel does a good job at providing a visual story driven biography for one of the most famous superheroes. The boys met in high school and sold their idea to DC Comics when they were 24 after years of visualization and trying to sell the character. One of the key points that hit me was the idea that Jerry Siegel came up with as his inspiration for Superman. “People wanted a hero they knew would always come home. Jerry and Joe gave them that- the world’s first superhero.”

Nobleman adds important social context that accelerated Superman’s popularity. This was after the decade of the economic despair of the Depression and the brewing war (WWII). “Everyday people were about to be called to duty, and many would prove to be real-life heroes. But if there was ever a time for a fantasy hero, particularly one with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, it was then.” People also needed escape.

The last three pages provide a more advanced look into Superman and the sad part of the story where Siegel and Shuster sell all rights to the character to DC Comics for $130. Nobleman gives a legal history and the rights controversy behind Superman including facts that while Superman made millions the author and illustrator often bordered on poverty.

Curricular connections

This book can be suggested to grade school students writing reports on events and biographies. This is a good book to suggest to children complaining about the typical biography book style (complaining about length, lack of interest, lack of pictures, lack of interest) or say that the reports are boring. Also recommended for comic book fans.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 5 and up (Booklist recommends this books for Grade 1-3)/ Ages 10 and up

Reviews and Awards

Booklist Starred Review

Kirkus Starred Review 2008- "The battle for truth and justice is truly never-ending."

Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review 2008- “Nobleman details this achievement with a zest amplified by MacDonalds -- punchy illustrations.”

Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange

Sidman, J., & Prange, B. (2010). Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors. Boston [Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN: 0618717196.

Annotation

Joyce Sidman combines poetry and science to examine some of the oldest living evolutionary survivors on Earth. Ubiquitous celebrates these survivors’ unique traits.

My thoughts

Ubiquitous means “somewhere that is (or seems to be) everywhere at the same time. Given that these species are prevalent and exist all over the world many of them are overlooked or assumed to be simple. This book reveals that these prevalent species are anything but simple. They are survivors for certain reasons and while this may seem mysterious, Joyce Sidman writes about some of the unique traits of these species that have made it easier for these species to survive.

This book highlights these special adaptive species and celebrates their unique traits for informational blocks, poetry, and detailed illustrations. Key pieces of information make this book interesting for children for example“…it is said that industrious squirrels plant more trees than humans do.” Crows have been “observed dropping large nuts at highway intersections so that passing cars will crack them open!” “Geckos can literally break their tail in two to escape from predators.”

The timeline in the beginning of the book is probably one of the better Earth timelines that I’ve seen for awhile. It really puts time into perspective. A mass of lines wind around each other like a giant fingerprint and spread across the inside cover and title page. For the scale, each centimeter represents one million years. It begins with Earth’s birth at 4.6 billion years. Humans, only come into the picture at the end of the timeline.

The prints are also creative and appropriate. Everything blends seamlessly.

 These are an impressive set of poems that tribute our planet’s survivors.

Curricular connections

Elementary school science- Biology

Students can reenact this timeline and bring their own timeline into the class using a 46 meters long string and cards to label the key events. Different colored string can be tied together to represent the different geologic periods.

Lesson Plan
See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Rhythm

First Life

(a diamante)

Bacteria

Ancient, tiny

Teeming, mixing, melding

Strands curled like ghostly hands

Winking, waving, waking

First, miraculous life

Use of Allusion

“… I am Sheath-wing, beloved of ancients. You have never seen armor like mine. As the sun-god rolls his blazing disk overheard, so I roll my perfect sphere of dung across the sands.” – Alluding to the Egyptians and the Sun-God Ra.

“Who swirled your whorls and ridges? Was it the shy gray wizard shuttered inside you? I hear he walks on one foot and wears a magic mantle, trailing stars. O shell, if only I could shrink! I’d climb your bristled back, slide down the spiral of your heart. I’d knock on your tiny door and ask to meet the mollusk that made you.”

Use of Sophisticated language

Adaptability, diamante, diverse, mutate, photosynthesis, prolific, organism, ubiquitous.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Age 6 and up.

Reviews and Awards

Awards and Honors: Starred reviews in Booklist, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus, Horn Book; Junior Library Guild Selection; Publisher's Weekly, Best Books of the Year; Washington Post, Best Books of the Year; Kirkus, Best Books of the Year; School Library Journal, Best Books of the Year; National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council, Outstanding Science Trade Books, K-12, 2011; Boston Globe, Top Ten Children's Books of 2010; New York Public Library's "100 Best Books"; Booklist, Top 10 Sci-Tech for Youth; Book Links, Lasting Connections for 2010; Finalist for the 2011 CYBILS Poetry Award; Association for Library Service to Children Notable Children's Book; The John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers

Author website: www.joycesidman.com/

Illustrator website: http://www.beckieprange.com/

Media: linocuts, hand-colored with watercolor

Genre: nonfiction, poetry

Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story by Thomas F. Yezerski

Yezerski, T. (2011). Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. ISBN. 978-0374349134.

Annotation

Nonfiction picture book that is an environmental education and exploration of the wetlands known as the Meadowlands outside of New Jersey.

My thoughts

This nonfiction ecological picture book looks back at the history of the Meadowlands and examines the biological diversity of the wetlands. Overall, I found it to be a very thorough and impressive book. The book provides a rich ecological history through prehistory to contemporary efforts of preservation and conservation of the Meadowlands.

Yezerski looks at how the wetlands were used as a garbage dump and filled with trash until the mid-80s. The effect that the pollution had on the environment became evident through the declining species and overall quality of the wetlands. Shifts of public awareness in the mid80s helped recover the wetlands and the waning biodiversity.

The truthful look at the effects that civilization has had on the region is eye opening while the account of preservationists is hopeful. The balance is perfect and leaves the reader with a sense of hope for not only the Meadowlands but also for other affected areas. It also gives the message that urbanization effects the environment but we can do our part to also save the animals and rich diversity of these regions.

Even though this book is about a specific region, it is a perfect book for learning more about the environment and ecology. Its detailed framework can really be applied to most natural environments near urbanized areas. Hopefully, the last pages will inspire people to look for there own ‘Meadowlands’ to preserve.

Beautifully detailed watercolor illustrations frame each double spread picture make reading this book a field study experience within itself. Children can seek out objects so this book can also be used as an activity search for the objects book and vocabulary/concept builder.

Curricular connections

Grade 4 or 5- Science- Yezerski provides the perfect amount of information for an elementary school audience.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Ages 7-10

Reviews and Awards

A New York Times Notable Children's Book for 2011

One of Horn Book’s Best Nonfiction Books of 2011

Author website: www.thomasfyezerski.com/

Media: ink and watercolor

Genre: nonfiction, environment