Curtis, C.P. (1995). The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963. NY: Delacorte.
Schlitz, L.A. (2011). Good masters, sweet ladies. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.
Friday, November 21, 2014
HISTORICAL FICTION
Curtis, C.P. (1995). The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963. NY: Delacorte.
Schlitz, L.A. (2011). Good masters, sweet ladies. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.
CONTEMPORARY REALISTIC FICTION
Cleary, B. (1983). Dr. Mr. Henshaw. NY: Morrow.
Review:
Evaluation criteria met: Setting and Style
In this book, the character Leigh Botts has to do a class assignment which requires him to write and send a letter to his favorite author. Mr. Henshaw, the author, responds and suggests that Leigh keep a diary. Through a diary like format the author allows the reader to learn more about Leigh's life. The reader learns that Leigh is struggling with his parents' divorce and his relationship with his father while having to deal with being the new kid in town.
This story starts in a mobile home outside of Bakersfield, California. However, when Leigh's parents decide to get divorced, Leigh and his mother move to a home in Pacific Grove, California.
*Image of book cover from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go with this book:
Draper, S. (2013). Out of my mind. NY: Antheneum.
Review:
Evaluation criteria net: Setting and Theme
There are many settings in this book, but the main events take place at the following three locations: Melody's school, house, and Mrs. Vs house (babysitter). In Melody's classroom at school her mom confronts the teacher about how she is running the class. This particular part of the book and other parts show the theme of family (or family support). Throughout the book Melody's mother, father, and Mrs. V are watching out for her and want to make sure she is getting what she needs.
Another theme of this book is acceptance. Melody dreams of being picked first, taking gymnastics, square dancing, and talking on the phone with friends. However, she is unable to do all of these things due to her disability. She longs to be accepted by those who do not understand her disability.
*Image of book cover from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go with this book:
Lord, C. (2008). Rules. NY: Scholastic.
Review:
Evaluation criteria met: Characters, Setting, and Style
The main character, Catherine is a twelve year old girl with an autistic brother. In the beginning she wants a normal life, but what is normal? She feels that she can help her brother through introducing rules she came up with. For example, "Sometimes people don't answer because they didn't hear you. Other times it's because they don't want to hear you." Then she meets the new neighbor girl whom she and Jason go to the fundraiser dance with, but while at the dance Kristi finds out Jason is disabled and leaves. Catherine decides that it is okay not to have Kristi as her friend because of the way she acted towards Jason. However, in the end she realizes that she should be grateful for what she has and accept others' differences.
This story takes place in present day Maine during summer vacation.
The chapter headings add style through use of rules or lessons.
*Image of book cover from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go with this book:
Urban, L. (2009). A crooked kind of perfect. NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Review:
Evaluation criteria met: Characters and Plot
The main character, Zoe Elias, is easy to relate to. She is a ten year old who becomes interested in becoming a pianist after watching a documentary about Viadimir Horowitz. Her dream is to appear onstage at Carnegie Hall, but this is all changed when her father gets her a Perfectone D-60 organ. This isn't the only problem that Zoe has, she also has a mother who works all the time, father who's afraid to leave the house, and Wheeler Diggs following her home from school. However, in the end things turn around for her and she wins fourth place in the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition.
*Image of book cover from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go with this book:
Pastis, S. (2013). Timmy Failure: Mistakes were made. NY: Candlewick Press.
Review:
Evaluation criteria met: Characters and Style
The main character of the book is a boy named Timmy. He lives with his single mom and business partner Total, who is a very large polar bear. Timmy and his business partner, Total, run a detective agency where they spend their days solving crimes for his peers. This things that Timmy must overcome include: defeating his nemesis Corrina Corrina, stop getting grounded by his mom, deal with his mom's loser boyfriend, and keep Total out of the zoo.
This book can be placed into two genres, contemporary realistic fiction and graphic novel. The author/illustrator, Stephan Pastis has added a small black and white graphic to most of the pages in this book. These graphics enhance the experience the reader has while reading this book.
*Image of book cover from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go with this book:
Paterson, K. (1972). Bridge to Terabithia. NY: Crown.
Review:
In this book a boy by the name of Jesse Aarons spends his summer waking up early to practice running. He is working to become the fastest runner in the fifth grade. When practicing running one day he heard someone talking to him and stops to see who it is. This is the day that he meets his new neighbor child, Leslie Burke. Upon the first day of class he feels badly for Leslie because of the clothing she wore and how others made fun of her. However, he tries to ignore her himself. One day during recess the races were going on and Leslie came over to check it out. In just a few minutes she ended up being in the races and winning. She continued to be in the races and win, so eventually the races ended. After some time Jess and Leslie became friends. Eventually, they set up a place in the woods that they call Terabithia, where they built a castle. In Terabithia the two of them imagined that they were King and Queen and that battles were fought. One battle they discuss is how to get Janice Avery back for stealing May Belle’s (Jesse Aarons little sister) Twinkies. They decided to make Janice Avery look stupid by writing her a letter from a boy that she likes saying that he likes her and wants to meet with her after school. This plan works and Janice stays after school. Janice never found out that they did this. Later, in the story it is Christmas time and Jesse wants to give Leslie just the right gift. He eventually finds what he wants to get her, a brown and black puppy. She loves the gift and names her puppy Prince Tertian (referred to as PT later in the story). In return she gives him art supplies. One day Leslie tells Jesse that she heard Janice Avery crying in the girl’s restroom and they decided that Leslie should try to help Janice. Janice informs Leslie that she told her best friends that her father beats her and they told lots of other children at the school. Leslie tells Janice to act like she doesn’t know what her friends had been talking about and it will go away. Finally, May Belle tells Jesse that she knows about Terabithia and he makes her swear on the Bible that she will not tell anyone else about it. Towards the end of the book Jesse’s teacher Miss Edmunds calls and takes him to Washington. When he returns from being out with her, he is informed that Leslie is dead. He is in disbelief. That night he awakes from what he thinks was a nightmare. The next morning he plans to go see Leslie because he thought that she only dies in his nightmare. However, he was quickly informed that this was not so. Eventually, the Burke’s move away and let him have some wood. Jesse uses this wood to make a bridge to Terabithia. Then he brings the new Queen, May Belle to Terabithia.
Evaluation criteria met: Plot and Theme
Jesse Aaron is good at running and wants to become the fastest runner in fifth grade. However, this becomes a problem when Leslie Burke comes to town and becomes the fastest runner. Then Jesse ends up becoming best friends with her. Jesse and Leslie sometimes would have issues with Janice Avery and try to figure out what to do. Jesse and Leslie's friendship and imaginary world is going well until Jesse returns home from a day off with Miss Edmund to discover that Leslie has died. The death hit Jesse and Leslie's family hard and the grieve. Before Leslie's parents move away they gave Jesse some wood that he used to build a bridge to his and Leslie's imaginary world.
This story was filled with both conflict and resolution while also including the themes of friendship and grief.
*Image from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
INFORMATIONAL BOOKS
Bishop, N. (2007). Spiders. NY: Scholastic.
Review:
In this short book, Nic Bishop gives the reader facts about spiders. Facts about prey, food digestion, web spinning or silk spinning, molting, mating, and baby spiders. There is also a glossary included which contains six words that are included in the book. Though much information is not included, the author is still able to give the reader a closer look at spiders. At the end of the book, Nic Bishop added a page that talks about his journey into the world of spiders. On this page he explains how he raised, observed, and photographed the spiders.
Evaluation criteria:
Accuracy and Organization
In this short book, Nic Bishop gives the reader facts about spiders. Facts about prey, food digestion, web spinning or silk spinning, molting, mating, and baby spiders. There is also a glossary included which contains six words that are included in the book. Though much information is not included, the author is still able to give the reader a closer look at spiders. At the end of the book, Nic Bishop added a page that talks about his journey into the world of spiders. On this page he explains how he raised, observed, and photographed the spiders.
This book is organized to be easy for younger readers. First, you will find interesting facts about spiders, such as how a spiders venom liquefies its preys insides to make is where the spider can just suck its meal down.
Or how the male jumping spider must do a little dance from hi mate to decrease his chance of her eating him. Second, the author includes a note on how he researched spider. Third, you will find a glossary to help explain a few of the words included in this book. Last, there is a photo index that includes each of the photos in this book and what page or pages each photo is located on.
*Image from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
Crab spider video:
Garden spiders video:
Largest spider video:
McDonnell, P. (2011). Me...jane. NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Review:
This book starts with Jane Goodall as a young girl. She has a stuffed animal chimpanzee named Jubilee that goes everywhere with her. Jane is very curious about animals. She enjoys watching the animals outside and keeps an animal journal. At on point in the book, she takes Jubilee into her Grandma's chicken coop to see where eggs come from. On this particular day, she had to sit very still and wait until one of the chickens laid an egg. Jane would often climb her favorite tree as if she was a chimpanzee (while Jubilee is attached to her back). In the end she dreams of living with and caring for wild animals. This dream comes true when she decides to go to Africa and live with and protect the chimpanzees.
Evaluation criteria: Design
This particular informational book was created for younger readers. The design is attractive, inviting, and readable. The illustrations are colorful, but do not fill the complete page. When the author mentions how Jane researches plants and animals, then an illustration of the research is included. Then at the end Jane is shown all grown up in a photo. The placement of the illustrations and photo are logical. As the book size is great for the intended reader’s age.
*Image from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
Read-a-loud:
60 Minutes: Jane Goodall and her chimps
Me...Jane activities:
About Jane Goodall:
Ottaviani, J. (2013). Primates. NY: FirstSecond.
Review:
This book includes three comic style stories about three women who played an important part in primatology and helped us to better understand what it means to be human. The first chapter talks about Jane Goodall from when she was a young girl to living with the chimpanzees in Africa to starting a family. Then in the second chapter, Jane Goodall meets Dian Fossey and her time studying and protecting mountain gorillas is talked about. Next, in the third chapter, Birute Galdikas' time in Indonesian with the orangutans. Then there is a chapter where all three of these ladies are older and see each other at the 1974 Wenner-Gren Conference on "The Behaviour of Great Apes."
Evaluation criteria:
Accuracy, Organization, and Style
The author, Jim Ottaviani, has included a bibliography in the back of the book to show where he got some (if not most) of his information for this book.
This book does not contain a table of contents or index, but when a new section (chapter) begins it is labels with part number and a title for that particular section. After the four sections there is a prologue section. There is also a Melayu definition for the word orangutan located on the bottom of page 104.
In this graphic novel you will find word captions, boxed thought captions, and word narrations.
*Image from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/books/review/primates-by-jim-ottaviani.html?_r=1&
Review:
This book starts out by introducing children into the idea of how babies are made. Then it moves into the difference in a female and male body, mentioning how the egg and sperm have a chance to meet. Moving on to discuss what happens if the egg and sperm meet or if they do not. This book also discusses love, pregnancy, multiple babies, birth, okay touches, and diseases.
Evaluation criteria: Organization
This book includes several facts about the human body and how babies are made. There is twenty-two small units included. However, the author helps the reader by including a simple table of contents with page numbers included and an index. The information included is in chronological order from why children are curious to what’s inside to what’s sex to becoming a family through birth or adoption. However, the way in which the author/illustrator organized each page varies throughout.
The element of talking animal characters from picture books is added to help make this book more children friendly.
*Image from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
5 minute mini documentary on author:
http://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=22&a=1
(Watch prior to showing.)
Author's website:
Giovanni, N. (2005). Rosa. NY: Holt.
Review:
Evaluation criteria: Style
This book contains enough information for the reader to learn about the role that Rosa Parks played in the civil rights movement. However, it still encourages the reader to use critical thinking at times. For instance, when the policeman calls Rosa “Auntie”, what does this word mean in the context in which he is using it? Then the book jumps from Rosa refusing to get out of the neutral seating area to a few ladies in town talking about Rosa’s arrest. This leaves the reader to put the information together to realize that the policeman had arrested Rosa.
*Image from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
Video about slavery, Civil War, segregation, boycott, and Rosa Parks.
Lesson:
Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's parade. NY: Houghton.
Review:
Evaluation criteria:
Design
This book’s illustrations were done through
use of a variety of techniques and formats. When the author is talking about
how Tony’s father wanted him to feed the chickens daily, there is an
illustration of a diagram of Tony’s plans and a colorful comic like
illustration on the same page. Then when Tony was in New York, he was asked to
make puppets for the front window of R.H. Macy’s department store. On this
particular page Melissa Sweet uses colored illustrations and a scrape book like
technique. Whereas, on the page were Tony was trying to figure out how to make
his puppets larger and stronger, the author/illustrator used black and white
images , a cut out paper figure, and real objects. Next, the book illustrations
cause the reader to turn the book vertically instead of horizontally
to read about how the first Macy’s balloon
parade looked. The illustrations fill most of the page while still leaving
enough room for a 14+ size font.
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
Bragg, G. (2011). How the croaked: The awful ends of the awfully famous. NY: Walker.
Review:
Evaluation
criteria:
Accuracy
The author, Georgia Bragg, researched 19
different dead famous people. She used two or more sources per person that she
wrote about in this book. These sources are documented in the back of this book
(before the other books to read list).
Nine sources were used to find out that Pocahontas was kidnapped by
Captain Samuel Argall because her father would not return the settlers guns he
had taken from them and to make money for the colony. After being paraded
around, Pocahontas became ill from the bad (polluted) air and later died at the
age of twenty-one.
Eight sources were used to find out that became ill because of the tight
living quarters and bad living conditions on a ship.
Eleven sources were used to find out that King Henry VIII had six wives.
That due to his size he had leg trouble and eventually his legs go infected.
When King Henry VIII died he was left dead in his bed for 2 days and then not
placed properly in a coffin.
*Image from Amazon.com
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
Nelson, K. (2008). We are the ship. NY: Hyperion.
Review:
Evaluation
criteria:
Accuracy
and Organization
The author did some research and shows
this to the readers by adding a bibliography and filmography in the back of the
book.
This book is organized by innings instead of chapters. There is nine
innings (chapters) plus an extra inning (chapter). The 1st inning is titled Beginnings and is about
how African American baseball players were treated. Then the author tells the
reader about how Andrew Rube Foster successfully organized a African American
baseball league. While the 5th
inning tells the reader about some of the great African American baseball
players, such as Satchel Paige, George Suttles, and Buck Leonard.
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
Bartoletti, S. (2005). Hitler youth. NY: Scholastic.
Review:
Evaluation criteria:
Accuracy, Organization, and Style
Accuracy of the content is shown by the bibliography that is located in
the back of the book. This shows that the author took the time to research the
topic.
This book is easy to navigate through due to the amount of organization.
Not only is there a table of contents, but each chapter contains a chapter
number, title, and subtitle. The bottom of each page in this book contains the
topic being discussed. While all of the photographs included have captions
explaining them. At the end, there is a epilogue that tells the reader what
happened to the youth that are discussed throughout the book. Several of the
youth in this book grew up and wrote a book about their experiences. However,
some like Helmuth Hubener were executed. After the epilogue, the reader will
find a timeline, note about the photographs, and list of sources for the quotes
included in each chapter. To make it even easier there is a index located at
the back of the book.
The vocabulary is at an appropriate level
for the intended readers age. However, there is a large amount of information
included.
Other lessons and videos to go along with this book:
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