Week 4 readings

I believe The Dreamer was different from typical children’s novels because of its topics.  For example, the harsh words his father used to Neftali.  He called him dimwitted and hated his writing.  I feel as though he mentally and emotionally abused the kids.  There was even examples of physical abuse when he hit Rodolfo for not coming to the train when he blew the whistle in the forest.  There is a difference in discipline and abuse and I feel like he crossed the line.  I thought it was very extreme when his father made Neftali and his sister swim in the ocean.  The fact that a parent could see the amount of fear in their faces and hear their screams, and still forced them to swim everyday made me cringe.  It is not like he went out there with them to show it was ok, he stood on the bank and watched.  I also feel like the arguments between his father and Uncle Orlando of the Mapuche people would confuse students reading this book. It would be important to teach children about the government of Chile and the events of forcing the Mapuche people out of their area.  It would give students prior knowledge on the topic.  It confused me at first so I had to do some research while reading the book.

From the guidelines of evaluating children’s literature the author made this book believable by the negative words of his father.  I could see a parent being hateful to a child if that child’s strengths were not exactly what the parent had in mind.  While reading this book I learned about the time period in which the book was set.  Chile was governed by a dictator named Augusto Pinochet.  While he was in power, he killed people who were political opponents.  This was described accurately in the book with the secretive meetings in Uncle Orlando’s printing press.

The three books, The Dreamer, Frederick, and A River of Words are very different but also the same.  As soon as I began reading The Dreamer, I made the connection between Neftali and Frederick.  Both characters are dreamers and follow their own dreams.  Other characters in the story also mistake them as being worthless.  For example in Frederick, the other mice kept questioning what Frederick was doing.  While they were collecting food and straw for hibernation, Frederick said he was collecting words for when they had nothing else to say.  He also collected colors.  I’m sure the other mice thought he was just being lazy.  Neftali’s father thought he was a dreamer and lazy.  Instead of playing with other kids, Neftali loved to use his imagination with nature.  Both characters also wondered things and turned these wonders into poems.  The illustrations in A River of Words are very interesting.  Melissa Sweet, the illustrator, used watercolor, collage, and mixed media to create the pictures.  I do not think the text alone would hold my students attention.  I think if I read this book to students, they would probably pay more attention to the pictures than the text.  Only because there is so much detail in the illustrations.

Week 3 required readings

Ciardiello (2004) states on pg. 142 that educators should stress to students that no single version of an event tells the whole story, there are gaps as well as contradictions.  This showed me that when I am teaching a historical event, it is important to find different perspectives on the situation.  Many books only tell one side, when there are always two sides to an argument or a decision.  One issue that has been discussed recently through media is gay rights.  In our community children probably only hear one side, that their parents disagree with giving gay people rights.  The children may not know any openly gay people or be able to hear how they feel about the issue.  This one sided environment stems stereotypes and misconceptions.  A personal connection that I have with misconceptions is segregation.  When people hear desegregation they probably think black students being bused to white schools.  Both of my white parents were bused to black schools.  My Mom told me stories about how she was threatened and terrified to go to school.  It is important to show all aspects of a situation.

I loved the example on page 143 of reading Click Clack Moo to help students understand dominant voice of people or groups in society.  In the story Farmer Brown has the dominant voice and tries to silence the animals from sharing their opinions.  The animals then stand up for what they believe in.  I would have never thought to read this book to students to teach them a valuable lesson such as speaking up against the dominant voice.  There are dominant voices everywhere in our life and our country is fortunate enough right now to allow us to be able to speak out for what we believe.  If students are not showed or taught this, then they may never speak up to better something or someone.  Ciardiello also makes a good point about exclusion on page 143.  Even though I do not exclude children based on race, sex, or intelligence from activities in my classroom, it does happen in school and I know it bothers children.  For example my students who get pulled out of class to go to speech miss activities that are happening gin the classroom.  No one is making fun of them for leaving and we as teachers do not make a big deal of them leaving, but I’m sure he feels left out from reading groups.  Ciardiello (2004) powerfully states on page 145 that children can teach moral values to adults.  This was powerful to me because I have lived in this community my whole life.  Family values have changed drastically since I returned from college. The amount of families doing drugs and being on welfare has increased so much.  I am afraid that since values have changed, there is no one to teach them to children.  Being open minded and excepting of others, determined to succeed, and to accomplish goals are not instilled in children.  As an educator of my future, I feel like it is my job to teach these values to children.  By reading this article, my new hope is that the life lessons I teach to children can be taught to adults.

Africa is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight and Mark Melnicove
Artistic Media:  The illustrations in the book are very realistic which helps support the text.  It shows the differences in the environment of countries in Africa.  Its realistic illustrations also show how different the people are in Africa.  A misconception of African people is that they have very black skin, have braided or no hair, and live in tribes.  The pictures show people living in Africa with dark and light skin.  The illustrations are also bright and colorful which would help keep my students’ attention.
Interplay of Textual and Visual Images: The text alone would not hold my students’ attention.  The words in different languages would confuse my children and I don’t believe they could visualize in their mind what the text describes.  The illustrations match the text and helps children understand the text better.  Each page describes a different African country.  It does not have page turns like the other books we have read.  This book does not tell an actual story like others so it does not have a problem and solution.
Theme:  The theme the authors want to instill in readers is that Africa is not a country it is a continent.  It is a huge piece of land that holds many different landforms and people.  Each country’s language is different.  People in the countries also eat different food and live in different houses.  From the illustrations, people living in Algeria are surrounded by a city atmosphere; while people in Sudan live in grass houses.  There are countries where people travel in cars.  People in other countries walk to places.  The theme is to clear up misconceptions about Africa.
Experience of Authors and Illustrators:  The author, Margy Burns Knight, is also a teacher.  I think this is interesting because as a teacher you see misconceptions that students have on a topic.  She has probably taught children who thought Africa was a country.  These experiences probably gave her the idea to write this book for educators to use.
Classroom connections:  I personally loved this book!  A big unit in first grade is Africa.  Before I teach this unit, I always ask my kids if they think Africa is a country or continent.  Then my next question is if they think the small boxes inside of Africa (on the map) are countries or states.  They usually say Africa is a country and the small boxes are states.  It is hard for them to understand that they are actually countries like the United States and Mexico.  Part of the problem is how Africa is drawn on maps.  It looks the same size as the United States.  I loved where the author writes on page 1, “if you took the land of the United States and added it to the lands of China, Japan, and Europe, Africa would still be bigger.”  This explains to students just how big it is.  I also liked how they described the landforms on the continent by comparing it to a pie chart.  If we divided it into 10 circles, one piece would contain all the rain forests.  As I read this part of the book I would draw the circle and divide the pieces out.  This visual would also help students understand Africa’s landforms.   The author of the multi-cultural reading states on page 195 that “cultural details need to be represented accurately in literature.  These may include the use of dialects or idioms, descriptions of ethnic foods, customs and clothing.”  All of these examples are shown in the book Africa is Not a Country. 

Hands Around the Library by Susan L. Roth
Artistic Media:  Susan L. Roth uses her recognizable collage as the illustrations for the book.  I believe the illustrations make this topic of protest and violence child friendly.  The picture of the car and police station on fire does not look as scary as I’m sure it did in real life.  The illustrations in this book remind me of a scrapbook.  The text on some of the pages are typed on white paper and then glued on top of the collage background.  I like the scrapbook similarities because the book is about a librarian telling a story of her past which is what scrapbooks do.  In the back of the book Roth tells that the end papers, backgrounds of the book flaps were inspired by the graphics on a granite wall on the face of the library.  She also tells that pattern of the librarian’s head covering were inspired by the tents often found on the streets of Egypt.  There is a purpose to all of her illustrations.  All of the illustrations are on double page spreads.  This is important because there is room for more detail on the pictures.
Interplay of Textual and Visual Images:  The text alone would not hold the reader’s attention.  Roth’s collage illustrations are what hold their attention due to all of the detail that is put in them.  There is tension in the story when they ask “what if they tried to burn it down?”  The reader turns the page wondering if that is what will happen next.  There is also tension throughout the book by wondering if the library is going to be saved or if it will be destroyed.  I always wondered if they were going to destroy the library and hurt the people trying to protect it.
Theme:  The reoccurring theme in this book is standing up for what you believe in.  The librarian and protestors loved the library because it gave them a sense of freedom.  They believed in protecting it so they joined hands and used their own bodies as a shield.  There are also examples of standing up for your beliefs when the people began protesting against their rights being taken away.  They were not allowed to speak freely or vote as they wished.
Connections to readings:  This book teaches students about the concept of voice.  Ciardiello states on page 142 that the concept of voice refers to the opportunity to express oneself in freedom without regard to power or position.  The people of Egypt had lost their voice because of the government.  They found it again through protest.  Hands Around the Library is similar to Click, Click, Moo because of the examples of protest and speaking your voice even when the higher power wants you to stay quiet.

Dear Primo by Duncan Tonatiuh
Artistic Media:  The illustrations for this book were hand drawn, then colored and collaged digitally.  The digital collage looks different than the collages done by Susan L. Roth.  I like how the table on the first page is real wood and the basketball has real texture.  The realness of it made me touch it to see if it felt bumpy like a real basketball.   I think my students would enjoy these illustrations because of the cartoonish pictures.  The illustrations are bright and colorful which would hold their attention.
Interplay of Textual and Visual Images:  The author has not created tension in this book.  It is a friendly letter comparing the lives of two cousins.  When people read the Mexican child’s life it makes them think about how it compares to our life in America.  .  The author and illustrator labels the pictures in Spanish.  This helps non-Spanish speaking readers understand the meaning of the words.   The differences in the fonts are interesting and helpful to the reader.  The font for Charlie who lives in America looks like a typewriter.  A typewriter or computer is more accessible to him living in America.  The font for Carlitos who lives in Mexico looks more like handwriting.  The back of the book features a glossary of Spanish words.  This is very helpful to readers and educators reading this book to children.
Theme:  The theme for this book is comparing cultures.  The author chose two cultures and picked activities that children can relate to such as favorite foods, how they get to school, favorite games they play.  He shows us that two cultures are different yet the same.
Examine the Experience of the Author and Illustrator:  The author and illustrator, Duncan Tonatiuh, was born in Mexico City and grew up in a small city in the middle of Mexico.  When he was sixteen, he moved to Massachusetts to attend school.  He is both Mexican and American.  The author’s own experiences with having family in a Mexico and America inspired his writing of this book.
Classroom Connections and connections to readings:  I would definitely use this book in my own classroom.  About half of my first graders are Hispanic and have family living in Mexico.  Some of my students have never met their family members living in Mexico.  My class could do a holding hands type of activity with these family members.  If we had an address, students could write letters back and forth to their family.  The ESL teacher at my school said there is an internet café in Mexico where people can Skype.  It would be awesome to Skype the family members in Mexico.  For some of my children, it would be the first time they ever saw their grandparents or aunts and uncles.  After reading this book it made me think about the reading by Ciardiello on page 143.  Ciardiello states that “it is important for young students to learn about dominant systems involved social relationships position people as members or outsiders.”  The United States has grouped people who have lived here their whole life as members and immigrants as outsiders.  My Hispanic students probably see themselves as outsiders because many struggle speaking and reading our language.  Americans talk about visits to their grandparents’ house for holidays and spending time with their aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Some of my Hispanic children do not have any family members in America except for their parents and siblings.  They cannot relate to the celebrations and holidays that we participate in. Even though I have never excluded these students from participating in an activity in the classroom, they internally feel excluded because they cannot relate to the other children in their classroom.

Connections to Susan L. Roth powerpoint: Wow!! Is the first thing that comes to mind about Susan L. Roth.  I love her illustrations because everything has a purpose.  For example when she used photographs of the skyline to create negative space.  I was very impressed that she doesn’t use any paint or ink and that she tears everything.  Collage illustrations looks like it would be a lot of fun to try.

Where I’m From Poem

I am from beautiful days in the backyard, from Oreos, and Herbal Essence shampoo

I am from the gray house with a red door, the haunted hallway, and the smell of apple cinnamon potpourri

I am from the Azaleas, Crepe Myrtles, and huge Red Tip that’s as big as our house and smells terrible when it blooms.

I am from birthday cook outs and the Iller eye, both grandmothers’ named Edith, Steelman and Hudspeth.

I am from hunkering with my Mom and learning everything about football with my Dad.

From you look just like your Mom and because I said so, which now I realize means because I know what’s best.

I am from sleeping in and having a home cooked breakfast on Sunday morning instead of church, but having faith in God and trying to live my best for him.

I’m from a small country town, creamy mashed potatoes and delivery pizza on Fridays.

From the tough exterior and tell you like it is attitude but most loving soul of my Pawpaw, the better not mess with me attitude of my mother, and the goofy “cheese and crackers” words of my father.

I am from stacks of pictures in my old dress-up trunk, undeveloped pictures in a black film container with a gray lid, and fuzzy VHS home videos.

My people would be people that have a strong family bond.  As I wrote the poem, I noticed that all of my favorite memories are with my family.  Being an only child in a family without many other children meant that I was left to play with adults.  I remember having tea parties with my Pawpaw.  This man was the most amazing man in my life.  He was 6 foot something tall and had a tough exterior.  He had experienced many things in the Korean War and lived in California with my Mawmaw.  But when he looked at me, he melted.  I was always his baby.  When I was a teenager and tanned in the sun at his house, he came outside and sat with me, no matter how hot it was.  I never went to daycare.  My Mawmaw had already retired when I started school so she would pick me up.  We would go back to her house and watch soap operas.  Then go pick up my Pawpaw from work.  Every day that we picked him up, he brought me a honey bun for snack.  My favorite saying as a child was “let’s pretend….” and my parents never complained about playing.   They never sat me in front of the TV to keep me quiet, or play video games.  My people are also small town, working class people.  Everything my family and I have gotten came from hard work.  Nothing has ever been given to us.  These are the kind of people that I am comfortable to be around because I have things in common with them.

As I am rambling about special moments with my family I agree with something else George Ella Lyon says on her website.  She suggests that the Where I Am From poem can be a springboard into other writing.  She says that an important event could open into free writing all the memories of the experience, then writing it as a scene and turn it into a play.  I think the memories can lead me and my students into writing personal narratives.  It is easy to pick a small moment from this poem and write about it. Writing this poem stimulates sights, sounds, smells and tastes of someone’s past and makes people want to keep telling stories about their life.

If you don’t know where you’re from, then it’s difficult to know where you’re going?  I understand this quote as saying you have to look at your past to see how you have gotten this far. People and events in your life have affected you in some way and have helped get you to this point in your life.  Now that you have realized this, you have to see where you want to go in the future.  For example, by remembering moments from my past I realized the loving structure I had from my family got me to this point.  Their rules that I did not understand at the time kept me safe.  My family’s high expectations of me were motivation to work hard and go to college.  Now at this point in my life I see that I have set high expectations for myself.  I chose to continue and get my Master’s Degree.  I strive to be the best teacher I can be and I am always trying to find better ways to teach my students.  Even further in the future I see that I want to have the same family values that I grew up with.  I want to have a loving relationship with my husband and have furry dog children.

Trying padlet with my students

Today I read An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni with my students.  I asked students to pay attention to the illustrations and see if they could guess what type of media he used.  They guessed crayons and paint.  Then I picked out a picture in the book that I thought the students would be able to draw.  First we used pencil and I guided students as they drew.  Then they used crayons to trace over the pencil and color.  After this the students used watercolor to paint on top of the crayon.  They loved it!!  We let the paint dry and I showed students how to make a collage frog.  They glued the frog onto their picture.  Next year as part of the publishing step, I want to show students how illustrators use different mediums to make their pictures.  I also want to give my students a chance to try out that type of work.  When they choose a really good book they want to publish, I will give them the chance to use watercolors, or collage for their illustrations.  Instead of just using crayons or colored pencils.

After we did this activity, I introduced padlet to my kids.  I had posted several ideas for them to think about.  Some answered my question while others just posted their favorite part of the book.  They loved this activity too!  I’m going to ask the technology teacher at our school if she can teach the home row keys to our students.

Here are several examples of their drawings and a link to our padlet!

http://padlet.com/wall/erj8yw8645

Picture book read aloud

I chose to read The Patchwork Quilt as my first read aloud. I asked students what a quilt was before I read.  I was surprised to see that many children did not know what a quilt was, how one was made, and why people think they are special.  I guess I took it for granted that my great Grandmother made quilts all her life and this was something I was surrounded by growing up.  One of my kids raised his hand and said, “I have one and it says Jamaica on it.  I think that means someone from Jamaica made it and sent over here.”  Then we started talking about the difference between quilts you buy in the store and ones that family members make.  When I noticed that many kids did not know much about quilting, I thought it would be a good idea to make a padlet on this book.  Then I could look for videos to show how quilts are made and let the students comment on it.

Also before I began reading, I reminded students how we had learned in a previous book about the artistic media (tools the illustrator used) to make the pictures.  I told students the media used for these pictures were pencils, graphite, and watercolor.  Then I invited students to see if they could find signs of this medium in the pictures while I read.  One student raised his hand and said, “I can see pencil lines!!”  He was so excited to find them.  As I read we talked about the feelings of the characters and the students made predictions like they always do during read alouds, but this time I included discussions about the pictures.  This is honestly something I have not done until this class.  I showed students how the illustrator used his pencil to shade in areas to look like a shadow of clothing.  On one page the little girl’s pigtails look like they are moving because the illustrator shaded and created that illusion.  We talked about being able to see background details on the double page spread.  Then we talked about how on the single page spread we saw more of the character’s facial expressions and how they must be feeling at that point in the story.  This was the first time I have pointed something out like that to my kids using the illustrations.  The advantage to reading these books aloud to kids is so that we CAN point these details out to the children.  They might not have noticed it when reading to themselves.  Also explaining details in picture books is a way to model certain drawing that they can try in their writings.  Analyzing these books have helped me get a deeper appretiation for literature which will teach me how to “marinate” my kids in great children’s literature.

Evaluating Picture Books

The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy, Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, Coretta Scott King Award
Artistic media: each picture consists of a pencil, graphite, and watercolor painting, which is camera-separated and reproduced in full color.  The illustrator uses thin, light lines.  In our reading it said these lines demonstrate elegance and fragility.  The illustrator also used circular, curved lines.  These lines do give readers a feeling of safety.  The blurry lines and shading makes the illustrations look like a memory.  As I read the book, it reminded me of my great-grandmother and her quilts.  I had forgotten about all the times I sat beside her watching her sew patches together to make a quilt, until I read this book.  The grandmother also sat beside a window and sewed just like my great-grandmother did, using the light from outside.  Most of the illustration backgrounds are a warm color instead of a harsh bright white.  I think this helps make readers remember an old memory.  The font looks as if it is Times New Romans.  It is a basic font.  I believe this is a great choice because the book would be too busy if the font was bold or decorative.

Interplay of Textual and Visual Images: There is a pattern in the writing and illustrations of the book.  There is double page spread on the first page.  When you turn the page there is a single page spread.  When you turn again, there is a double page spread.  This pattern is throughout the book.  The background is more of the focus on the double page spread.  For example, the reader’s eyes focus on the details of the kitchen.  There are pots, pans, cutting board, rolling pin, and a pan of biscuits.  When the reader turns the page to the single page spread, the focus is more on the characters and the small details.  The little girl is sitting in the chair with her Grandma.  You can see her sewing tools and how the scrap quilt scraps piece together.  The reader’s eyes also focus more on the facial expressions of the characters.

Themes: A reoccurring theme throughout the book is that Tanya admires her Grandmother’s ability to quilt.  Each picture shows Tanya helping her Grandmother with the quilt.  The Grandma also takes scraps of something special from each family member.  She takes a piece from her brother’s jeans, Tanya’s Halloween costume, gold material from her Mother’s dress, and a piece of Grandma’s quilt. At the end of the story the Grandma gets well and the masterpiece is a family quilt.

Experience of the Author and Illustrator:  The African American culture is represented in this book because of its illustrations of African American characters.  The author, Valerie Flourney, and illustrator, Jerry Pinkney, are both African American.  It is interesting that it is an African American family because the love and family ties evident in this book would fit any race and culture.  If I read the story aloud to children and did not show the illustrations, they would probably not be able to predict was race this family was.  Many of them would probably visualize their own family, Caucasian, Hispanic or African American.

I would use this book to go along with a personal narrative mini lesson.  I automatically thought about my great Grandma when reading this book and was able to make a personal connection.  As a result, I could model to students how a book makes you remember something or someone in your life that you can write about.  Then I could model my own writing in front of the kids.  This might help students learn how to pick out a topic.  They can think of a book we have read and then think about what it reminds them of.

Officer Buckle and Gloria Written and Illustrated by Peggy Rathmann  Caldecott Award Winner
Artistic Media:  She used watercolor and ink to create the cartoon style illustrations.  She uses thick bold lines to outline objects and as a frame for most of the illustrations and a white background.   She also uses many diagonal lines to show movement.  The first page is a double page spread.  The swivel chair contains diagonal lines to show that the chair fell.  Officer Buckle is also drawn with diagonal lines in the same direction to show how the motion of him falling.  The post it notes have diagonal line to show them blowing. The author and illustrator also used bright colors that would catch and hold the attention of younger readers.  She also uses page turns to capture suspense.  In the first page Office Buckle is flying in the air after he fell out of the chair.  This makes the reader want to turn the page to see if he falls on the ground or what is going to happen next.  In another picture, Mrs. Toppel is standing in a swivel chair.  Again this makes readers turn the page to see what will happen next.

Interplay of Textual and Visual Images: The illustrations capture the humor in the story and without them, the text would be bland.  The text alone would not hold the readers’ attention.  The illustrations make the classroom roar with laughter.  On one page, Officer Buckle is shocked at how the kids are clapping and cheering during his speech. The picture shows Gloria acting like she is dead and flopping around while he talks.  The reader can infer that the kids are clapping and cheering for Gloria, not Officer Buckle.

Themes:  The first reoccurring theme in this book is safety.  The bright yellow end papers contain stars with safety rules on them.  Some are rules that we usually reinforce to children such as do not play with matches, wash your hands after you use the toilet.  Others are rules that some children might not have heard of before such as never eat mayonnaise that’s been sitting in the sun or never bother a big dog while it’s eating.  At the end of the story, readers learn the other theme in this book.  If you are working with a partner or group, it is better to work together.  When Office Buckle gave speeches by himself, children fell asleep and thought it was boring.  When Gloria stood at the front by herself, the children and Gloria fell asleep.  But when the two worked together, their speech was effective and exciting!

Experience of the Author and Illustrator: I searched for information about the author and illustrator, Peggy Rathmann.  On her personal website, Rathmann stated that the idea of the book came from a home video of her mother and dog.  Her mother was talking in the dining room while the dog licked every poached egg on the buffet.  The next scene shows the whole family at the table telling her mother how delicious the eggs were.  She has studied commercial and fine art.  She has also studied children’s book writing and illustrating.

I would read this book to students towards the beginning of the year when we are establishing a classroom environmen and learning about community helpers.  In the past I have read this to tie in community helpers but after deeply reading the story and analyzing it, it would fit better with why it is important to work together in a group.  They were able to work more effectively when they worked together, instead of one person doing it alone.

Source: http://www.peggyrathmann.com/peggyrathmann.html

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Artistic Technique/Media: The illustrations were created by oil paintings.  The paintings show the intensity in the characters’ emotions.  The illustrations automatically make the reader feel as if they were escaping along with Harriet.  The colors used in the paintings are mostly dark ,bold, and rich.  Most of the illustrations are dark and it is very hard to see the parts of the painting.  This aligns with the fact that slaves had to escape during the night so they would not be seen.  The illustrations are on double pages and the text fits perfectly on the page.  Without the illustrations, readers would not experience the intensity of the story and its meanings. Along with intense and beautiful illustrations, this book is interesting because there are three different sets of text.  The first text seems to be typed in Times New Roman font.  This represents the narrator of the story.  The next text is typed in italics and represents Harriet’s thoughts and her conversations with God.  The third text is written in all capital letters in more of a faint color than the rest of the text.  I love how the text in this book is written.  It easily shows the readers that there are three main speakers in this book with God being the most important.  This text is usually written in a flowing manner to show he is all around us.  It is also written in a circle surrounding her, signifying he has wrapped himself around her in protection.

Interplay of Textual and Visual Images:  The text alone tells a story and would hold the reader’s attention; the illustrations enhance the beauty of this book.  The author creates tension by describing how Harriet hears hoof beats and she goes to sleep praying God will help her.  The reader learns that the horses passed so they turn the page to find out what will happen next on her journey.

Themes: Throughout the book the author depicts devotion to God.  Harriet put all of her worries about escaping and being caught to God and he helped her.  There were times she questioned whether or not he was still there to protect her, but he was.

Examine the Experience of the Author and Illustrator:  The author, Carole Boston Weatherford has written many books dealing with rights issues such as: Birmingham, 1963 and Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins.  She has received numerous awards for her books and poetry; including the North Carolina Award for Literature, the state’s highest civilian honor.   She also lived in the same county where Harriet Tubman was born.  The illustrator, Kadir Nelson is an African American whose paintings are mostly of influential African Americans. His oil paintings are very intense and show details of emotions.

I would probably read this particular book when teaching about Black History Month.  I do not know how well my first grade students would follow the three speaking text in this book.  I also do not think they would fully appreciate the meaning of this book because they do not understand the struggles and fear of slavery and the escape.
Sources: http://cbweatherford.com/about/   http://www.kadirnelson.com/Artist-Biography.html 

The One and Only Ivan

The first word to describe The One and Only Ivan is emotion.   I believe the author made this book believable in many different ways.  The first way is by giving the animals such strong humanistic emotions and feelings.  It was easy for me to relate to these animals because I have felt the exact same feelings they did.  The animals felt sadness and heartache when they experienced the loss of Stella.  It brought back the sad feelings I felt when I lost my grandfather.  There were feelings of worry when Ivan, Bob, and Ruby stayed concerned about Stella’s foot.  I use to worry about my mother’s hip before she had surgery.  I could tell she was in tremendous pain but she still pushed on and did the things she had to, just like Stella.  There was a family love between Stella and Ruby.  My favorite example of this is, “sometimes they just lean into each other, their trunks twirled together like jungle vines.  Stella looks so happy.” (pg. 82)  I was able to connect to this by thinking about the bond between me and my mother.  My whole life I have felt safe and comforted when she holds me.

The next way the author makes the story believable is by choosing a setting that most people can relate to.  I have been to small zoos where the animals’ cages are tiny and the animals look so sad.  I could use my own personal experiences to visualize what the animals in the story looked like in their domains.  Stella said the elephants in circuses look far off into the distance so they won’t see the humans who want to see them (pg.12).  Then Ivan describes his life as “flashing lights and pointing fingers and uninvited visitors” (pg. 14).  As soon as I read this I remembered my own trips to the zoo.  I thought about what the animals looked like in their habitat.  Most of them looked away from the people.  I always tried to take pictures and waited for the animals to turn their heads to look at me, but they rarely ever did.  The lions lie with their backs to visitors and the gorillas sat with their backs to us.  This part of the book made me consider what it would feel like to live in place where people stared at me every day, with nowhere to hide.  The setting was very essential to the story.  I do not believe readers could connect as well to the story if it were not for the setting.  Most people who do visit circuses or zoos feel sympathetic towards the animals living there.

For the book to be written in first person point of view with Ivan telling the story helps readers feel the gloomy and emotional aspects of the book.  By reading the words I, me and my made me connect with Ivan more and feel the emotions. I would not have gotten the same feeling if it was not written in first person.  The main character that pulled at my heart strings the most was Stella.  I felt so bad for her when the author described her scars on her legs and how her foot gets infected when she stands too long.  One of my favorite quotes that Stella said was that Mack thought she was too old to cause trouble and that old age is a powerful disguise.  I felt like this was an example of foreshadowing.  Stella put the idea in Ivan’s head to do something to protect Ruby.  Ivan’s actions took the power away from Mack and put it in the hands of the animals and protestors.

From the powerpoint, Dr. Frye wrote, “If children never read about others in difficult situations, how do we teach children to become more empathic people?” This is very interesting because most educators only want to read happy books to children. There is always a problem in stories but the problems are not usually about touchy subjects like death, abuse, and sadness.  Even if we do not want to admit it, these are real issues that children deal with.  In my opinion one of the issues that are addressed in the book is feeling sympathy for these animals.  Children who read this will learn what animals feel like when they are taken from their habitat and moved to a circus or a zoo.  The child can put themselves into the animals’ shoes and see how it would feel.  This book shows children that animals have feelings too which in turn shows children how to treat animals.  It might make them think before they do something mean to an animal.  It can be hard to explain these issues to children so using literature that deal with it can be easier to explain.

The message I received from reading this book is friendship.  There were strong examples of friendship throughout the whole book.  The first example of friendship that readers were introduced to was Ivan and Stella.  Ivan described how they would talk at night.  Another example is the friendship between Bob and Ivan.  Bob slept on Ivan’s belly every night and would lick his chin for leftovers.  Then there is the friendship between Julia and Ivan.  They are able to understand each other through art.  Then Ruby becomes part of the friendship.  With friendship there is the message of protecting your friends.  Ivan promises Stella that he will give Ruby a better life.  I think this message is very important for elementary children.  As teachers, we try to build friendships and trust in the classroom.  If I read this book with students, they might be able to make personal connections with their own friends.

The characters in the book model good behavior for children. This good behavior and good values was most evident in Ivan.  The billboard of an angry gorilla was an example of irony because it was the furthest thing from the truth that described him.  He was a gentle giant that was full of love, compassion, and determination.  He loved Bob and let him lie on his belly every night.  He worried about Stella’s foot and promised to take care of Ruby when Stella passed away.  At the end of the story he was able to become a leader to his group and love Kinyani.  Ivan had two choices of the animal that he could become.  He could have become bitter by watching his family die and then live life in a cage.  If this was his choice, he would have looked and acted like the angry gorilla on the billboard.  He was not trained to do anything, so he could have easily just sat in the cage and have been angry.  If this was his choice, he would not have made friends and would probably stay there for the rest of his life.  Or he could choose to be perceptive and loving.  This choice ultimately helped him make friends and eventually have a better life for himself and others.

I really enjoyed this book because it kept my interest and attention the whole time.   Personally I believe the author builds tension in the book right from the beginning.  The chapter titles are short, maybe one or two words that are all lowercase.  As I was reading it aloud, I noticed my expressions were somber.  She also wrote short sentences and did not use many exclamation marks.  With this type of short writing, readers can tell the gloom emotion of Ivan as he talking.   This was a pattern throughout the whole book.  The animals also tell sad stories that they can remember.  It begins with Ivan talking about the seal who ate too many pennies.  Then Stella tells a story about seeing a bull get hit with a claw stick and that she never saw the bull again.  Readers can infer that both animals died, even though Ivan does not come right out and say it.  It made me want to keep reading to find out if the animals would ever get out and experience happiness.

Reading this book made me aware of the things to look for in a good book.  The characters need to be realistic with real flaws to help children make connections to them.  Not every book I read needs to be about happy experiences.  I can read books that deal with real issues that teach children how to cope with them.  A good book also teaches lessons or values to children.

Resources
Applegate, K. (2012).  The One and Only Ivan.

Frye, B. What Is a Good Children’s Book