Tuesday



Title: Tuesday

Written by: David Wiesner

Summary: This is a basically wordless book that shows a crazy Tuesday night. On this particular Tuesday night mysterious frogs on Lilly pads are floating around the neighbor hood, through laundry, and messing with peoples living rooms.  When the town awakes in the morning all that’s left behind are the hundreds of lilly pads, which no one can explain. The story ends with next Tuesday promising to be just as interesting.

I really enjoyed looking through this book. David Wiesner has such a creative way of portraying his stories without actually giving us words to read. However, we do not need the words to read because his story is right there on the page. I love how he sets up some of his pages with a main picture in the background and then almost scene like slices of other things that are going on. The first page sucks us right in with an almost eerie feeling as we see a turtle minding his business on a log. I love how Weisner brings us closer and closer to the turtle as we realize that the turtle looks pretty worried. The main characters in the story would probably be the frogs, but I think this story is being told from the on lookers perspective. The reader does not know why the frogs are there, or what they are doing, or even when they will leave.  Weisner only gives us a couple of times throughout the story showing the progression of time. I think this is a very important literary element that Weisner wants us to notice. Its important to the story that we see how long these frogs are floating around outside. We see that all throughout the night the frogs are playing and causing mischief. We see that when the ligh starts to come up, again showing the passing of time, all of the frogs must hop down off their lilly pads, and return back to their normal lives. We are then shown that next Tuesday right around 8 o’clock again, it looks like pigs get to go for the ride. This book is a great way to model both how much pictures can show us, and how important the passing of time can be to a plot line. I would use this story in my classroom to introduce the point of view of the reader as well.



The Three Pigs

Title: The Three Pigs

Written by: David Wiesner

Summary: This story is a spoof of the classic Three Little Pigs. This version starts off the same, with the wolf coming to huff and puff and blows the house down, however he ends up blowing the pig right out of the page, where it is safe. The three pigs end up in between the pages of classic children’s stories meeting interesting characters as they explore.

Wowee! I really loved this story. It was so fun to read! There is a serious sense of magic that you get when reading this book, like you’re let in on a secret that no one else knows except for you and these three pigs. I love how at first the pigs look cartoonish when they are inside the pages of the classic story, however when they fall out of the pictures, they look more life like. They way the wolf is looking around while he is supposed to be eating up the pigs makes us feel like stories are always happening right as we read them. I always believed that my toys would wake up the second I left my room, this book gives me that same feeling. When the three pigs got away from the wolf I was wondering what was going to happen to the worlf and the rest of the story. I really like how Weisner brings us back to the original story, however there is a dragon and the cat with the fiddle. Setting takes a huge character throughout The Three Pigs. Without the setting placed outside of the pages of the story, we would not be able to see what the three pigs were doing. There are a couple pages where there is hardly any pictures or words on the page where the pigs are riding around on a page like an airplane. I love these two pages. I don’t know why but when they are on the airplane and one of them is saying “Wheeeeee” it reminds me of the commicial with the pig in the back seat screaming “Whee wheee wheee”  out the window while a mom drives him home. I love that commercial and it made me think of it. The Three Pigs is a great way to show kids that they can make up their own versions of fairy tales, and have them end however they want.

The Higher Power of Lucky

Title: The Higher Power of Lucky

Written by: Susan Patron

Summary: Lucky is a little girl who is living with a guardian named Bridgette who she is scared of losing. This story is the journey of lucky finding what she believes her “higher power”. With the help of her friends and family Lucky eventually finds what she is looking for.

The higher power of lucky was a quick and very enjoyable read. The characters in the book seemed to jump right off the page and into my life. Bridgette was an especially mesmerizing character for me. I never quite understood what she was doing with Lucky. Why she had agreed to take Lucky, and why she wanted to leave France in the first place. Adding my confusion to Lucky’s constant worry of Bridgette leaving made the book pretty suspenseful for me. I was always right there with Lucky wondering if Bridgette was going to pick up and leave. Some of my favorite parts of the book are parts that I may not have understood if I was an elementary aged student reading the book. I loved how the characters that we meet during the smokers anonymous and alcoholics anonyms almost become our friends. We want to learn more about them just the way that Lucky wants to learn more about them. I think its so fun that Patron lets us see into the world of picking up Cigarette butts and throwing away beer cans. I loved how even though it is never explicitly talked about, we can see that Lucky has a crush. The book deals with Lucky trying to find her higher power, which in the end I was a little confused about. I did not know exactly what her higher power was but after a bit of discussion I was able to figure it out. I feel that this is a great way to use the book in class: discussion. The Higher Power of Lucky has so many Literary Elements inside of it that I feel an in depth analysis would be necessary. I would like to have my students break up into groups and choose different literary elements to present to the class. This would be a great way to get the whole class involved in pieces of the book. I can definitely see myself using The Higher Power of Lucky in my elementary classroom some day.

Owl Moon



Title: Owl Moon

Written by: Jane Yolen

Illustrated by: John Schoenherr

Summary: Owl moon is a story about a child who goes searching for owls in the forest on a wintery night with his/her father.

    

Owl moon is a beautiful story. The story feels like a winter night. Beginning on the first page, Yolen sets up a scene that is so silent and so heavy that when I was reading it I felt like I needed to whisper in my head. We become the child along for a ride with our Pa, searching for an owl, but not quite sure if we are going to find one. We can feel the wonder that the child feels as we try to keep up with pa. I love how the Pa is almost a mysterious character. Because we only have the child’s point of view we do not get to hear what the Pa is thinking. We do not know where the child is going and the child doesn’t either. The setting plays a huge character in Owl Moon. The child stresses how important the silent of the wintery forest is. The forest is such a big place that we feel more mystery and wonder.  The pictures compliment this story very well. The trees are so big I the pictures that it feels like the forest goes on forever. Schoenherr uses the contrasting white of the snow and the black of the night to give the forest an almost eerie feeling, as if anything could happen while searching for the owl. I think my favorite picture is the picture of the owl staring at the child and the Pa. We feel like that owl is the only thing that matters in the whole entire world, as we read how it felt like they were staring at eachother for a hundred minutes.  I think this is a great story to use with students when we are trying to show how writing can evoke a feeling. Jane Yolen does such a great job of recreating that somber cold night.

 

Uncle What is it? Came to Visit

Title: Uncle What is it? Came to Visit

Written by: Michelle Willhoite



Summary: Two children are excited because their uncle is coming to visit. They find out that their uncle is gay, but they do not know what the word gay means. They ask a couple of boys in the town what the word gay means and they get some silly answers. First the boys tell the children that their uncle is going to be wearing women’s clothes and acting like a women. Then they tell the children that he will be wearing leather and chains. The children end up meeting their uncle who loves baseball and is great at cake decorating. In the end the children love their uncle for everything that he is.

            I think this is a great book. Although I could see how it could be deemed as a controversial book, I think it is a great way to start a conversation about the sensitive topic of homosexuality. The book uses some intense language such as “faggot” and “fruity”. These terms would need to be addressed. I was completely shocked when I came across the word “faggot” in this children’s book. Although it is hard to say out loud I think it is beneficial for a teacher to discuss in the class room. Students need to understand why we do not use words such like this. They need to be taught that it is not right, and it is hurtful. If we ignore these ideas in our classroom we are not doing our duty as a teacher. I thought it was interesting how the boys showed the children a picture from the newspaper. The title of the story read “Gay Pride Parade” and there was a picture of a man with fruit on his head wearing a skirt. This would be a great time to talk about how the newspaper is depicting the gay pride parade. Students could discuss this imagine and if they believe it is a correct depiction of what the parade is trying to represent.   I especially liked how at the end of the book when Uncle Brett comes to visit he says that someone who is gay can be who ever they want to be even if that includes chains and zippers.

The Stupids Die

Title: The Stupids Die

Written by: Harry Allard

Illustrations by: James Marshall

Summary:  The stupids are a family of dumb people. The story goes through their daily life ending in what they think is death. The lights end up going out, and they think that they have all died. When the lights come back on they think that they are in heaven but the continue to do their daily activities such as water the carpet, and eat with their feet.

This book was ironically really stupid. I think this story was a silly story for students to read and laugh at, but I would not have this story in my classroom library. I think that this story gives students the idea that it is ok to call someone stupid. Although the Stupids do things that are completely ridiculous such as hear the clock ring 11 times and believe that it is 12 oclock. I do not believe that many of the literary elements are met in this story. There is not much more than the explanations of the Stupid’s daily routine. I don’t have much more to say about this book, because I do not think it had much value.

Penguin and the Pea

Title: Penguin and the Pea

Author: Janet Pearlmen

Summary: Classic story of the princess and the pea however the characters are penguins.

I love the fact that Janet Pearlman made the characters penguins. It made a really cute twist to a common fairy tale. The illustrations were comical and fun to look at. I thought it was interesting how the story seemed to highlight the fact that the prince’s mother was old. She was the sense of evil in the story, acting as if she did not believe that the penguin could possibly be a princess because she was such a mess. The mother wanted to make sure that her son married a real princess and a real princess would be able to feel the slight pressure from a pea underneath a stack of mattresses. I think that it’s important that when we have our students read stories like this they understand that there is no truth to the story. Its important to give students the opportunity to critically challenge stories like this when they are young so that they will be able to continue to critically challenge any literature that they read as the get older. This fairy tale is fun to read for children because it is the classic story of romance. The prince is searching for his perfect princess even though she is sitting right in front of him. I like the Penguin and the Pea because throughout the story we get the sense that the prince really wants to like the penguin even though he is not sure that she is a princess. We get the sense that it is not the most important thing to the prince, he actually likes her.

Cinderella

Title: Cinderella

Retold by Cynthia Rylant

Illistrations by Mary Blair

Summary: Classic story of Cinderella. Cinderella is forced to live with her step mother and her evil step sisters. Cinderella ends up going to the ball where the prince is looking for his princess. She loses her slipper and the prince eventually finds out that the slipper belongs to her and they live happily ever after.

I have always loved the story of Cinderella, because it gives all little girls and boys a sense of romance. That people can be together no matter what their social class. That love is something that is magical and mysterious, something that people can’t define, but that they just know. In this story retold by Cynthia Rylant we feel a sense of sorrow for Cinderella. I have always enjoyed fairy tales, and I think they are a great way for children to stretch their imagination. In addition I think fair tales are a great way for everything to end up happy and sparkly in the end. One part in this fairy tale that made me a little uneasy was a whole page devoted to how a man finds his wife by walking into a room looking around seeing a girl touching her and knowing that they are going to be together. This is so unrealistic and it’s almost hard to read without laughing. Cinderella plays a very passive role throughout the story, waiting for her chance to go to the ball which comes when her fairy god mothers comes, and then waiting for the prince to come find her again, which he eventually does by using the glass slipper. Although I do not think that any fairy tale, especially Cinderella, should be used to teach about real life, I do not think there is any problem when children reading them. The drawings by Mary Blair were so exquisite, that the story felt like a dream. They were so fantastical, almost looking like they were going to drip right off of the page. I had a great time reading Cinderella and although it might not have been the most politically correct, I think it is a great fairy tale.