Jumanji

Title: Jumanji

Author and Illustartor: Chris Van Allsburg

Summary: The story starts with a mother and father leaving their two children alone for the night. The children go outside to play and they find a game called Jumanji. They decide to go back inside and play the game. The kids read the instructions and find out that the game will not be over untill one of the players reaches Jumanji. Peter is not entertained by the cautious directions and decides to start. the children experience a lion, raiding monkeys, a monsoon, rhino stampede, a lost guide, a sleeping virus, a snake, and a valcanoe. Finally Judy reaches the end of the game and after shouting Jumanji all of the jungle madness disappears and the house goes back to normal. The children take the game back outside for someone else to find. The children's parents come home with some friends. While the children are looking outside they see two boys find the game and run off to play it.

     As a kid who really loved the movie Jumanji, it was hard for me to really get into the book. although I know that this book was the original story,there were so many details that were added in the movie.  I was almost unsatisfied with just reading the story, I feel as if i want to go rent the movie. The story did not have very much characterization. Although we see that Peter is the bored and unenthusiastic brother and Judy is the more adventureous sister, we don't really get to know these two characters. The illustartions that Allsburgs creates are beautiful. The give the reader a sense of reality. It almost feels like the children are showing us snap shots from the actual game. The borders around the lifelike pictures make us feel like we are seeing something that actually happened. I think this is a quality book for children to read, and I would love to have it in my classroom available for children to use during free time, but I do not think I would use this as a major lesson.

Golem

Title: Golem

Author and Illustrator: David Wisniewski

Summary: Golem is a story about the cheif rabbi or Prague and his experience making a protector named Golem for the Jews. At the beginning of the story, all of the religions in Prague are fighting. the rabbi is scared for his Jews and has had a vision showing him the word Golem. He decided that he must make a man who would serve as the protector for the Jews named Golem. The rabbi went out with his son in law Itzak Kohen and his student Yakov Sassoon. The rabbi made Golem from clay and wrote truth on his head. Golem protected the jews untill there were too many people in the prison. Prague revolted and formed a rally. Golem attack all of the people and killed many. The emporer demanded that the Jews would stay protected as long as Golem was put to rest. The rabbi agreed and Golem went back into the Earth.

     I was really surprised when I started reading this story. I did not know it was going to be so dark and almost scary. I absolutely love the illustartions. They are made from paper cut outs formed on top of one another. The detail and dark colors really add too the story. After reading the "note" in the back of the book, I learned that this story was a legand. I really liked how the "note" relates the making of Golem to the advances of our technology. I think its important to realize that we can not create life, and if we do it might turn out a little scary, like Golem. I'm not sure if I would ever attempt to use this story in a classroom. There are so many religious connections. It would be hard to shed this book in a light where the students weren't focusing on a religious aspect.

The Hello, Goodbye Window

Title: The Hello, Goodbye Window

Author: Norton Juster

Illustrator: Chris Raschka

Summary: The Hello, Goodbye Window is a story written about a little girl and her visits to her grandparents house. Throughout the story the girl tells us all about a special window located in the front of her grandparent's house. This window can be used for many things such as greetings, scaring people, and observing passer by's such as a T-Rex.

     The Hello, Goodbye Window is written from the point of view of a little girl. Its really fun to read because the way the girl talks and thinks is just like that of a 5 or 6 year old girl. I love the way the girl talks about her grandfather. She gives us a great picture of his fun and ridiculous antics. I especially enjoyed reading about her grandfather playing the harmonica. This was fun for me to read becuase I can also play the harmonica, but just like the grandfather, I can only play one song: Old Susanna. This story made me remember when my mom taught me how to play old susanna and she would play it quickly and slowely or just in a different rhythm and I was so excited to learn how to do it just like her. The art by CHris Raschka gives the book and amazing feel. Its almost as if the little girl herself was painting the pictures with the help of her grandparents. My favorite picture in the story is of the house and the window during the night time. You really feel a sense of peace as you see the grandparents gazing out at you from the Hello, Goodbye window. This would be a great story to use for Point of View. The students could investigate how the little girls explains her stories.

The Little House

Title: The Little House

Author: Virginia Lee Burton

Illustrator: Garth Williams

Summary: THe little house is a story about a house who lived in the country. She had always wondered what it would be like to live in a city. Slowly but surely the city came to her and because of over population and the growth of the city, the little house found herself right in the middle of the big city. After becoming depressed the little house is found by her builders great great grandchild, and she is moved back to the country side.

     I think this story is a lovely story that can be shared with children of all ages. The illustations are what makes the story for me. My favorite part of the story is the picture of the house. If you look at each picture carefully you can notice that in the beginning of the story, the houses stairs look a little bit like a smile, with her windows being the eyes and her door as her nose. As the story progresses you can feel and see the house becoming upset about her new found home in the city. I love the caracters in this story especially the city. The city becomes its own character as all of the subways, trains, cars, roads and skyscrapers are added to it. There is an amazing emotional connection that one feels when reading the story. I think my emotional attachment was to the house itself, but I was also attached to the original builder of the house. The builder was so adamant on his house staying in the family, and never being sold. When the house ends up in the city broken down and forgoten, I am not only sad for the house, but for the legand that the house was supposed to become. The end of the story gives the reader a sense of satisfaction. We can finally see the house back in its proper location with a loving family living inside.  

The Butter Battle Book

 

Title: The Butter Battle Book

Age Group: Early to Intermediate

Summary: The butter battle book is a story about the Yooks and the Zooks who are battling on two sides of a wall. They are battling over which side of the bread to butter: underneath or on top.  Throughout the story a boy is hearing from his grandpa about the different weapons that each side has invented in order to out do the other side. The Yooks come up with several new weapons however each weapon is recipricated by the Zooks. In the end both the Yooks and the Zooks have a bomb weapon that they could drop at any time. We are left with the question who will act first.

    Dr. Seuss has always been one of my favorite authors to read because of the pure joy you get from hearing his stories out loud. The way Dr. Seuss formulates his stories with such flow make them the ultimate treat for young readers. I also love the way Seuss makes up characters and words to animate his stories.
    After reading a bit about the story I have discovered that this was writen during the era of the Cold War. The wall that this present in the story is simulating the Berlin Wall which was located in Germany. I love this fact becuase Dr. Seuss makes the Yooks and the Zooks fight about something as silly as which end to butter their toast. This story has a cliff hanger ending which I love. The reader is left in suspense as to what is going to happen to the Yooks and the Zooks whom we have fallen in love with throughout the story. I think this story does a wonderful job of setting up a scene for the reader. We are given so much of the background information before the present time of the grandfather holding the "bitsty big boy boomeroo". This story is a great way to introduce this war and fighting to small chidren. I also thinks its a great tool to use for further discussion about war are the effects.

Focus Question: How does knowing about literary elements impact understanding of a story?

     I really enjoyed reading the novel "The Higher Power of Lucky". Because I had been exposed to the Literary Elements before reading the novel, I feel I was able to find a higer respect for the story. Throughout the article writen by Peterson and Eds, I felt as if they were giving deeper meaning to every story I had ever read. I believe that once a student is exposed to these "literary elements" he or she is going to find a different sense of understanding within the stories that they read. By discussing what different elements such as: character, setting, mood, plot, etc..., bring before actually reading the story, the reader can mentally prepare for what he or she is going to experience. If a reader knows that the mood of the story can change based on the presencse of something as simple as a cookie, the reader can be more aware and detailed when reading. I also believe that discussion of these literary elements are key when reading novels. The literary elements give students something to start their discussion with. Once they start the discussion on something like setting as a character, who knows where their conversations and discoveries will end.
     It seems that most students are going to focus on plot and characters. These are the two outer layers of the book. Without explaining and discussing the different elements such as point of view, colors, etc... our students will not know how to look for them. I can remeber always summarizing a story. We would have to write out the main idea and then give supporting details for the story. Although this can be a great tool for students to use when beginning their literary journey, I think we as teachers need to provide the resrouces for students to delve deeper, into the themes and controversies that the authors want us to reveal.

Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Alexander

 January 30, 1924 - May 17, 2007

    

Lloyd Alexander became one of the great modern American writers with his beautifully written children's novels. Lloyd was born in Drexel Hill, Philadelphia. He lived in Drexel Hill for most of his childhood and adult life, taking small pauses in Paris and traveling with the army. Alexander Lloyd passed away in Drexel Hill when he was 83 years old from cancer.  Lloyd was not always a children’s novelist he started off writing non-fiction for adults. He took many experiences from his own and gave them to the characters in his books. After researching Lloyd I have come to find a fascination in him. It seems like he has a sort of magic surrounding him. He was so full of curiosity and imagination that his books just seem to come alive.  I have scanned many of his novels and it seems as though a lot of them have a similar theme. There seems to be a boy main character that is searching for something greater that what he has become. The boy usually has to fight evil in order to become that something greater. What I like about Alexander is how his stories can be similarly, but still have such character intimacy that they seem different.

Lloyd writes in a way that took a while for me to get used too. The names of people and places that he uses are different than any names I have heard of before. This would make it difficult for me as a teacher to use the book in class. I would have a hard time referring to the characters, because I would not know how to properly say them. I think this could raise an interesting topic in my class. If I were to use these stories in my curriculum I could have a discussion with my students about how they read names that they have not seen before. We could, as a class, decide on how we were going to pronounce them so that the students would have an easier time when reading on their own.

The Black Cauldron, a Disney movie made in 1985, was based on two of the books from the Chronicles of Prydain. I think this is a great supplement to the series.  If I were to use Alexander’s books in my class I could have them read one of the Black Cauldron books, and then watch the Disney movie. We could hold a class comparison and the students could do some work researching the similarities and differences between Alexander’s books and the Disney movie.

Jack and the Night Visitors

Title: Jack and the Night Visitors

Author: Pat Schories

Age: Primary

Summary: This is a wordless book about a boy named jack and his alien encounter. We see the boy, jack who is in bed at night is visited by little alien robots. The robots come in through the window and Jack is extremely fascinated by the creatures. The creatures all escape however Jack captures one and keeps him in a jar. In the end the robot escapes and Jack is left looking out his window once again.

I love this story becuase it is wordless and I have never really experienced a book like this before. The illistrations are so captivating. The reader cannot help but study each individual scene as if they are reading the pictures. The story and the pictures capture so much suspense that even a young reader could understand. Along with Jack as one of the main characters is Jack's dog. I love this addition to the story becuase we watch as not only Jack is intrigued by these small invaders, but his trusty companion is also. This story would be great in a classroom where the teaching is working on writing stories. This would be a great class activity. The teacher could set up the premis by showing the kids the book in absolute silence. The teacher could then have the students do a quick write for about 5 minuets on the setting, characters, and plotline of the story. After this the teacher could have the students work on a project where they write a detailed story. This assignment could become interesting. The teacher could use it to teacher different lessons such as: perspective (have the students write from Jack's point of view, the dog's point of view, the captured robots point of view) dialogue (the students must use only dialogue in their story), or a focus on beginning middle and end (the teacher could have the students write out an introduction first then a conclusion and finally write the core, the middle, of the story. I love this book becuase of the vast uses it could have in a classroom, not to mention the pure fun the book has to offer.

Grandfather's Journey

Title: Grandfather's Journey

Author / Illistrator: Allen Say

Age Group: 3/4/5

Summary: This story is from the perspective of a boy who grandfather came to america from Japan. The story talks about the gradfathers departure from Japan, what he saw in America, His return to Japan, and then his longing to go back to America. The story ends with the boy discussing how he longed to move to America to see what his grandfather saw. Although he loved America,  the moment he got there he longed to go back to Japan.

     Grandfather's Journey is a lovely story about Japanese immigrants. The illistrations are breathtaking portralyls of what look like snapshots from a camera. The pictures give the story a feel of a scrap book that the boy is looking through while he is telling his grandfather's story. The illistrations, along with the text, give us a feeling of longing for something. We begin to feel that same way the grandfather feels. We want to go back to our childhood homes and visit our old friends once again. The story introduces the War which is a great thing to transition to in the class. I think I would use this story to start a conversation about immigration. We could talk about not only Japanese immigration, but all other types as well. This story could start discussion about why and how people immigrate from other countries and how we react to them.

Tadpole's Promise

Title: Tadpole's Promise

Author: Jenna Willis

Illistrator: Tony Ross

Age Group: 4th grade

Summary: This is a delightful story about a tadpole and a caterpillar that meet by the water. They fall in love, however the caterpillar begs the tadpole to never change. The first time they meet the tadpole has grown legs, which the caterpillar does not like. the second time they meet the frog has grown arms, which the caterpillar does not like. The caterpillar gives the tadpole one more chance to stay the same: her "shiny black pearl", however when they meet a third time, the tadpole has lost his tale. The caterpillar gets upset and cries herself to slee. The next time they meet the caterpillar is a butterfly and the tadpole is a frog. When the butterfly tries to find the tadpole to forgive him, the frog ends up eating the butterfly, and waiting for his "beautiful rainbow" (caterpillar) to come back.

       I really enjoyed reading this story. The illistrations are wonderful. The book is illistrated in a way that the top page is the earth and sky and the bottom page is the pond. There is even a little story about more tadpoles being chased by a fish at the bottom of the pond illistration that is never talked about in the text. I think the twist at the end of the story, with the frog eating the butterfly, is perfect. We are so caught up in this beautiful love story of a caterpillar and tadpole that we think they are going to end up together forever, but they don't, and it's almost grousum what happens.

      I think this would be a great story to use to lead into a 4th grade science unit on metamorphis. In all science classes they talk about tadpoles changing into frogs and caterpillars changing into butterflies. I think this would be a perfect attention getter to get the students engaged in this topic.

The Friend

Title: The Friend

Author: Sarah Stewart

Illistrator: David Small

Age Group: k-5

Summary: This story follows a little girl, Belle, and her housekeeper, Bea, on their everyday adventures. During the climax of the story Belle ends up getting taken out to sea by a big wave. Bea, sensing the danger, runs out to find Belle drowning in the water. Bea saves the littler girl, and the two continue on together. At the end of the story we see a grown up Belle reminiscing about her missed friend, Bea.

     This was a wonderful and emotional story. The pictures really compliment the text. It looks liek the pictures are drawn with water color. The story begins before the words even start on the end pages. You see a little girl sitting in a giant lavishly decorated room, all alone, with only her teddy bear on the ground. On the next two pages, even before the title page, we see the little girl wake up, put on her glasses, pick up her teddy, and venture down the stairs. The next two pages are the title pages where we see the dressed up parents rushing out of the house with luggage. There is real emotion on these pages because it looks as if the parents do not really care that they are leaving their little girl behind. We see a woman dressed as a maid putting the luggage into the trunk of the car. On the first page we are greeted by the text that is written in rhyming style. We are introduced to Anabelle Bernadette Clemntine Dodd and her friend Beatrice Smith. The beauty of this story is that the text never tells us that Bea is Belle's housekeeper and maid, however we can infer this from the pictures. We see Bea constantly watching over Belle in the illustrations. Throughout the text and the pictures we become instantly attached to these two characters, and the strong bond between them. The reader almost gets sucked in as if they actually know the characters. From the very beginning the story ends each little chapter with the two characters going hand in hand to the sea. This almost gives us a preminition as to what is going to happen in the story. Sure enough the sea becomes an even bigger character when Belle, trying to be independent, gets taken out by a wave. I love the way the story brings us into Bea's room. The text tells us that it is full of "birds and blooms" and before moving on to the next page I was a little confused as to what this meant. After turning the page you understand becuase you are given a visual picture of what Bea's room looks like. My favorite part of this story is the last page. I love the illistration of the girl, who we infer is Belle looking out the window thinking about her friend bea. When looking around the room that Belle is in, we see that she has all the things that she had when she was with Bea: sea shells, flowers, birds, and her teddy. There is almost an emotion sigh when the book ends becuase we feel the thanks that Belle feels for Bea. I also loved the fact that we are given an actual picture of who I'd like to think is the author Sarah Stewart and her real life Bea. The picture is disguised in an illistration of a locket.

      I would like to use this in a classroom to talk about the emotional weight that pictures and text can have. I'd like to disgus with my students why a piece of writing can make us feel a certain way and how pictures can help either compliment or change a mood.

Walter Was Worried

Title: Walter Was Worried
Author: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Age Group: Early Readers

Summary: This story involves many characters that are all experiencing different emotions due to the weather. At the beginning of the story the characters are experiencing negative emotions to the weather, but at the end of the story the negative emotions turn positive and they are all happy as the clouds clear and the sun finally comes out. The story has great text along with extremely powerful illistrations.

       Walk Was Worried is extremely beautiful story where the pictures are absolutely necessary. The wonderful part about the pictures is that the adjective that describes the character is written out on their face. I love the way the story has no title on the front cover it just has a picture of walter's face. If you look closely you can see the word "worried" written in Walter's facial features. Another great feature is found in the text. The adjective that describes the character has the same font and coloring of the letters that are found in the facial features of the character. This makes it easier for the reader to see where the letters are in the face. The story also deals with alliteration. The character's names have the same first letter as the adjective that describes them such as worried Walter, puzzled Priscilla, etc. This brings up a great lesson for the students in alliteration. The students could play with alliteration with their own names, and they could draw pictures with the adjective written in their facial features.
      I think this is a great way to get students involved in the pictures. If I were to use this story in a class I would like to read the story through the first time without giving any hints away. Maybe I would show the class the cover and ask them to come up with a possible title, before actually revealing it to them. After I read the story the first time, I could ask my students if they noticed anything when they were looking at the pictures. We could then use this time to look at the alliteration found in the text. I think a great way to get the class involved would be to make a story like this throughout our own classroom. The students could draw their own pictures with adjectives in their facial features and we could hang them up throughout the classroom.