The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howlitt and Tony DiTerlizzi

Howitt, M. and T. DiTerlizzi, illustrator (2002).  The Spider and the Fly.  New York City, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.  ISBN: 0-689-85289-4

Annotation

This picturebook combines illustrations based on classic Hollywood horror movies of the 1920s and 1930s with a Victorian cautionary poem written by Mary Howitt in 1829.

My thoughts

This Caldecott Honors book is a hauntingly beautiful tale. A sinister looking spider tries to convince an innocent looking fly to enter his parlor.  In one of the earlier publications of the original poem, William Bennett wrote, “Unfortunately, as long as there’s dishonesty in the world, there will be people ready to lay trap for us. We must learn to recognize them and guard against their wiles. Not everyone who talk sweetly offers sweets.” The book explains the consequences for believing flattering words of strangers. Knowing to be skeptical is a difficult issue to approach with young children. This book makes this complicated conversion easier with the personified Spider and Fly. I enjoyed this book.  I loved how it has recycled a classic piece of literature and I especially love the illustrations.

Focus on artwork:

The illustrations are fantastic. Inspired by 1920s and 1930 dark Hollywood, the cinematic effect that accentuate the details of the story. In the author’s information he credits his inspiration to come from Hollywood film noir as well as illustrations from Edward Gorey, Chaz Addams, and Arthur Rackham. The influence of these artists is evident and this book is recommended for fans of these classic illustrators.

There were many things that I liked about the illustrations. One is the way that DiTerlizzi illustrates the spider and fly. Another nice detail is the spider’s web. Throughout the story, the spider’s web is included from a few strands in the beginning to the final web. The web is finished with the story making it a nice marker. The ghosts that are seen as cautionary figures throughout the story also stand out. For the ghosts, Tony DiTerlizzi used Adobe Photoshop to add the graphic drawn ghosts as a transparent layer which gives them a luminous effect.

Lesson Plan

See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Rhyme: “So he wove a subtle web in a little corner sly,/ And set his table ready, to dine upon the fly.”

Use of Rhythm: “Oh no, no,” said the little Fly. “to ask me is in vain,/ For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.” There is a sense of rhythm and beats in the couplets of this poem.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Age 6-10

Reviews and Awards

Caldecott Honors, 2003

ALA Notable Children’s Books, 2003

Author website: No author website.

Illustrator website: http://diterlizzi.com

Media: Lamp Black and Titanium White Holbein Acryla Gouache and Berol Prismacolor Pencil on Thrathmore 5-Ply, Plate Bristol board and reproduced in silver and black duotone.  Ghosts were created using graphite and then added as a transparent layer using Adobe Photoshop.   (Information retrieved from the copyright page.)

Genre: Juvenile picture book

Drawing From Memory by Allen Say

Allen Say – author and illustrator. Drawing from memory. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-545-17686-6

Author website: No author website found.

Media: watercolors, pen and ink, pencils, and photographs.

Genre: autobiographical, biography, memoir, nonfiction

Annotation

Caldecott Medalist Allen Say’s autobiography chronicling his pathway into the arts and his apprenticeship with Noro Shinpei, Japan’s premier cartoonist, while growing up in Japan during and post WWII.

My thoughts

I was captivated while reading Allen Say’s memoir, Drawing From Memory. The combinations of Say’s prose and choice of illustrations made it very easy to get a mental movie while experiencing his life’s story. The flow of it really makes it hard to put down and can easily be read in one sitting. The tone of his prose was very candid and down to earth which made this an enjoyable and somewhat uplifting experience.

This book is an exception to the norm, but was quite an experience. At twelve years old, he moved out to attend school and lived in his own apartment. He worked hard, maintained clear goals, and worked toward actualizing his dreams. He sort of made a lesson plan layout for his life; this is a good life example for children.

It seems necessary to mention the art. He studied with one of Japan’s key political cartoonists and clearly found his own style. The sketches provide a realistic look into an artists’ life. A person does not become a Caldecott Medalist for their illustrative abilities overnight; oil paintings do not start with perfect glossy strokes. He worked at his craft, was born with talent, and found teachers to guide him. Say serves as a really good example of an artist. Many children become discouraged from the arts early because they can’t achieve realism right away. He provides hope. Similarly, too many artists expect to make it big right away. He provides reality.

On a side note, I think that Allen Say was verrrry lucky. Japan during this time period was scary and very tragic, as the war racked the lives away from many people. Young, middle aged, old; talented, genius, average; in areas there was no discrimination and way to determine who would become successful or not. Allen Say did become successful and from his writing he was able to maintain a healthy psychology. (Many of that generation are not that way. Americans travelling in Japan might pick this energy up from older generations. It is a sad part of history).

Allen Say-San focuses on his plight, relationship, teachers, and experiences as an artist. He turns the story away from a boy growing up during war and postwar Japan. (Maybe this is the naivate of youth and during the postwar period he was not as affected personally). In any case, the context does add a lot to his story. Librarians can/should suggest books to assist in providing the conjunction of postwar Japan to this story. Then Allen Say’s memoir is really inspiring and different than the norm of the time. I think… in any case, it would be interesting to read more.

Curricular connections

Most students are required to read an autobiography/memoir at some point this one can go into the librarian’s mental toolbox for that books and artists in that category.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 5 and up/Ages 10 and up

Reviews and Awards

Sibert Winner
Discussion of awards and are still pending.

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

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN: 978-0375714573.

Annotation

Autobiographical graphic novel depicting Marjane Satrapi’s childhood to teenage years in Iran during the Islamic revolution.

My thoughts

Persepolis is a compelling story of one young girl’s experience growing up during the Islamic Revolution and the following political and cultural changes. During this time, Satrapi’s family suffered under the Shah and the Islamic Regime. Satrapi describes having family members imprisoned, tortured, and executed, being forced to wear a veil and the fear of living in a city being bombed. Satrapi also chronicles what it’s like to try to be a typical teen living in this situation. As a teenager, she loves rock music and American fashion (i.e. jeans, sneakers, and punk fashion during a time).

Black and white illustrations accentuate the seriousness of the story and transport the reader to Tehran, Iran and Satrapi’s adolescence.  There are some very moving parts to this story. The struggle for intellectual freedom and free expression will resonate with teens and will also make readers appreciate their rights in America. In addition, Satrapi serves as a good role model for teenagers. She is strong, smart, independent, and tries to ask questions while seeking answers for herself.

This is a great book for many reasons. Aside from the strength of the character the book gives a little insight to Iranian culture from a teenagers perspective. For teenagers, reading a perspective of another teenager makes it easier to understand a culture that is different. It is through seeing human similarities and struggles that prejudices can be breeched.

Reading level/ Interest Age

High school/ Adult

Reviews and Awards

2001: Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award for Persepolis

2002: Angoulême Prize for Scenario for Persepolis: Tome

2007: Jury Prize for Persepolis (tied with Silent Light), Cannes Film Festival

Alex Award Winner 2004

Amelia Bloomer List 2004

Booklist Editors Choice: Adult Books for Young Adults 2003

Capitol Choices 2004

School Library Journal Best Adult Books for High School Students 2003

School Library Journal Best Adult Books for High School Students 2004

School Library Journal Best Books 2003

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2003

Author website: No official website found.

Media: ink

Genre: Graphic Novel, autobiography