Marvelous Mystery and Adventure

Everest is an action-packed and tension-filled story that inspires the reader to keep reading to find out if the summit has been reached. Choose your own adventure books like this one are so fun and quick to read in less than an hour. The reader is completely immersed in the story from the start because of the exciting language and second-person point of view. "You can't see Everest yet, but just the thrill of being so close makes you excited to get going" (Doyle p. 16). Both the introduction and expedition file help to engage the reader right away as well. The introduction sets up the plot line and setting, gives instructions on navigating the book, and provides background on each of the six main characters in the book. "YOU are about to join the youngest team ever to climb the tallest mountain on the planet. But will you reach the summit and set a new world record?" (Doyle p. 7). The character descriptions were helpful references that I referred back to throughout the story. The expedition file provides information about the people and culture of Nepal and a climbing guidebook. Highly recommend it for 8-11 year-olds and especially reluctant readers. 

Doyle, B., & Borgenicht, D. (2016). Everest. Smart Apple Media.

Edie's Native American mom was adopted by a white couple, and she wants to learn more about her family's Native heritage. She stumbles upon a box with letters signed by someone named Edith and headshots that look strikingly similar to her own visage. Edie later discovers that the letters were written by her biological grandmother. Christine Day weaves a plot line that entices the audience to keep reading to learn about the secrets surrounding Edie's family's past. Who was the woman in the photos? Why was Edie's mom adopted by a white couple? 

The reader figures out by the end of the story that Edie's mom was ripped from her mother in the hospital because she was seen as an unfit mother. We learn from the author's note that the U.S. government routinely separated Native American families from the 1940s to the 1970s until the Indian Child Welfare Act was implemented in 1978. I Can Make This Promise should be required reading in all elementary schools in the United States. All Americans need to be aware of this reprehensible act so that it is prevented from happening again in the future. 

Day, C. (2019). I Can Make This Promise. Harper Collins.

Fabulous Fantasy and Science Fiction

 

In Maya and the Robot, Maya finds a robot named Ralph in the back of Mr.Mac's convenience store closet. She uses the scientific method to repair Ralph and get him running smoothly again for her science fair project. Maya has found her scientific superpower as Ralph becomes a member of her family and connects Maya to a new circle of friends. One of the themes of this book is using your skills to make the world a better place. Mr. Mac thanks Maya for keeping his son, Christopher's spirit alive through her work with Ralph. "As long as a young person stays true to their spirit, as long as they use their gifts from others, his light will shine on. His light will shine on" (p. 176). 

As the protagonist in this book, Maya is a mirror for young Black girls interested in STEM. It is important that more books like Maya are written because we need more people of color in science careers. It is essential that everyone has role models to aspire to and know that they can accomplish what they set their minds to. In addition, the expressive and action-packed illustrations are appropriate for the middle-grade reader and provide a glimpse into Maya's community.

Ewing, E. L. (2022). Maya and the Robot. Kokila.

Sisters of the Neversea is a book based on the fantasy fairy tale Peter Pan. Wendy Darling and Lily Roberts are stepsisters and their baby brother, Michael, is added to the family. Peter Pan lures Wendy to Neverland with Michael because he wants a storyteller (Wendy) for the island. Looking for some excitement beyond the Tulsa suburbs, Wendy flies with Peter and Michael to Neverland. Eventually, Lily flies after her step-sister and brother although she thinks it is dangerous to leave home. On the island, the Darling-Roberts children must defend themselves against pirates, fairies, a crocodile, and other wild animals to find their way back home. 

The importance of familial love and having a family to belong to is a clear theme of this story. Peter Pan was abducted from his family as a young child, and therefore, stole children himself to create his own family. "Wendy was growing to understand Peter. Like her, he had been taken from a loving home. Like her, he was longing for a family" (p. 288). Lily and Wendy then explained to Peter Pan that families take different forms and change over time. "All families change. People come and go. Sometimes they live in your heart" (p. 290). At the end of the story, Captain Smee informs Peter Pan that he can join her family, and she will be his safe harbor that he had been hoping for forever. 

Smith, C. L. (2021). Sisters of the Neversea. Harper Collins.

Contemporary Realism

Roll with It by Jamie Sumner is about Ellie Cowan a middle school girl with cerebral palsy and her journey moving to a new town. Sumner develops Ellie's character so that she is relatable to the intended audience of nine to twelve year-olds. She loves to play miniature golf and baking. Ellie uses a wheelchair causing her to see herself as different from the other students at school, and therefore, struggles with feeling like she belongs with her peers. Everyone has felt "othered" or like they don't belong to the group, therefore, readers will empathize with Ellie and her friends Coralee and Bert who all live in the trailer park. 

The plot is chronological, engaging, and logical so that kids can easily follow the storyline. Readers will stay engaged with the book because they will want to find out if Ellie and her friends will convince Alice (Ellie's mom) to stay in Oklahoma. The chapters are interspersed with letters Ellie writes to famous bakers and her uninvolved father, which gives the book a conversational style that is easy to read. Overall, the story is a typical middle school story of belonging, but the author puts a fresh spin on the story by giving the protagonist a disability. 

Sumner, J. (2019). Roll with It. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Jude is a middle school girl who is forced to flee her volatile homeland of Syria with her mother. Jude and her mother leave behind Issa (Jude's brother) and Baba for a new home with family in Cincinnati. She feels very sad to leave her family and friends behind for the strange land called America. However, Jude learns English, meets new friends, and even lands a role in the school musical. "The next scenes go by and it is almost my moment, almost my time to step out on stage to be seen" (p. 332). She wants to be seen by others for who she is as a human being not as a Middle Easterner.

Jude encounters racism while walking home from school one day and wearing a hijab. A random stranger follower hers and shouts, "Go back to where you came from. We don't want you here" (p. 263). She calmly walks away and wishes the man would not fear or hate her. Despite some of this ugliness, overall the tone of the book is positive and light. Part of the lightness comes from Warga's decision to write the book in verse including the following: "We are okay with still learning our lines because we are liking the script--maybe, just maybe, we have both finally found roles that make sense to us. Roles were we feel seen as we truly are" (p. 324). Jude and her brother have found things they are passionate about and are happy to be on the paths that they are on in their lives which makes for a refreshing conclusion to the book.

Warga, J. (2019). Other Words for Home. Harper Collins.

 

Hopeful Historical Fiction

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanna Lai is written cleverly in verse and has four parts titled "Saigon," "At Sea," "Alabama," and "From Now On." The main character is Ha who is a ten year-old girl who is forced to flee to Alabama from her home in Saigon with her mom and brothers because of the Vietnam War. The story is inspired by the author's refugee experience fleeing to the United States after the Fall of Saigon as explained in the author's note. It is sad to note that this book is considered historical fiction because it takes place during the 1970s when I was born. LOL.

One funny scene is when Ha describes being baptized at the Baptist church, and she really has no idea what is happening. Before being baptized, the neighbors mostly ignored Ha's family. Once they were baptized, the neighbors were much more accepting of Ha's family. The scene demonstrated the absolute close-mindedness of Ha's community members. Ha faced harassment and racism at school when kids called her "pancake face" (p. 196) and pulled her hair. One theme of the book is that immigrants have to be resilient to survive. Ha and her family lost their father/husband, friends, and their beloved homeland to escape to safety. Inside Out & Back Again is a quick read that will be enjoyed by the intended audience of 9 to 12 year-olds.

Lai, T. (2013). Inside Out & Back Again. Harper Collins.

My Heart is on the Ground was a tough book to read because the Native American's traditions, languages, and customs were ripped away from them. It is unthinkable that one group of people thinks that it is okay to take away another group's identity and beautiful way of life. Nannie Little Rose and the other native children were forcibly taken from their families and moved to government residential schools where many endured abuse and neglect. 

The book is written in diary format from Nannie's perspective about her experience at the Carlisle residential school. Ms. Campbell, Nannie's teacher, is the one who forced her to write in the diary. Nannie writes in her diary in her new language and includes descriptions of things like a translator using hyphenated phrases that she would use in her native language. At the end of the book, there is a historical note about life in the U.S. in 1880, photographs at Carlisle School, two U.S. maps, the school song lyrics, and an about the author page. The historical note states: "There was much sickness at Carlisle those first years, and many students died" (p. 179). Reading My Heart is on the Ground literally made my heart fall to the ground for these native children and the way Rinaldi portrayed the residential schools as positive rather than negative forces in their lives.

Rinaldi, A. (1999). My Heart is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl. Scholastic.

Soul Lanterns is a sad but hopeful story about victims and survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. The book starts with a prologue in the present time with Nozomi and her family at the annual lantern floating ceremony. The lantern floating ceremony is a beautiful ceremony where family and friends place glowing lanterns in the river to remember their loved ones who have passed. At the end of the book, there is a brief history of the lantern ceremony, and the note explains that the ceremony has become not only a memorial but also a message of peace. In two chapters, the font changes and the point of view transitions to Mr. Yoshioka's and Mrs. Sudo's experiences from the war and bombing. Lastly, the book ends with a letter from Mrs. Michiko Hotta to Nozomi and an epilogue describing the out-of-season lantern ceremony. 

One quote that I found particularly meaningful in this story and supported the theme was: "But actually, pictures and songs, things like that . . . are what save us the most" (p. 142). A theme in the book is that the arts provide an outlet for people to express themselves in times of crisis and they provide hope for a better future. The paintings, drawings, and sculptures created for the cultural festival by the Art Club kids provided healing and hope for those affected by the war like Mr. Yoshioka. Another example of art providing hope and healing are all of the stories, paintings, poems, and murals created by people around the world who suffered through the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Soul Lanterns was translated from Japanese and is a memorable way to learn more about the Japanese perspective of WWII.

 Kuzki, S. (2021). Soul lanterns. Delacorte Press.

Gorgeous Graphic Novels

Fox and Rabbit is the first book in a three-book series, and the intended audience of emerging readers (kids ages 5-8) will love this book. The illustrations created with graphite and ink and colored digitally are absolutely perfect for this story. The pictures are a mix of close-up and far-away shots of the characters. On the first page, the illustration shows Fox and Rabbit from a far away angle, lying down on their backs gazing at the images in the clouds. The illustrator included 3 closeup inset images of Fox and Rabbit with the speech bubbles as they discuss what they see in the clouds. These insets pull the reader into the story right away and make us feel like we are intimately involved in Fox and Rabbit's conversation. 

Ferry uses repetition in her text such as using the letter F throughout the story. In chapter one, Fair, Fireworks, & Fred, Rabbit chooses the letter F in the Wheel of Fortune game. He chooses F because Fox is his friend and the word "friend" starts with F. In each chapter, there is a carry-over from the previous chapter. For example, Rabbit wins a beach ball at the Wheel of Fortune game in chapter one, and then Rabbit and Fox take the ball to the beach the next day in chapter two. A reader must closely read the pictures and the text to understand the nuances of this story. For instance, one image in chapter one shows a sign that says, "3 tickets = 1 prize," three tickets are lying next to the wall of stuffed animals, and Fox is holding a stuffed lion. The reader has to infer that Fox gave the carnival worker 3 tickets for the stuffed lion and comprehend the layered meaning in the story. 

Ferry, B., & Dudás, G. (2021). Fox & Rabbit. Amulet Books. 

Jop and Blip Wanna Know: Can you Hear a Penguin Fart on Mars? by Jim Benton is his first nonfiction graphic novel and won the Excellence in Graphic Literature Award. This graphic novel is perfect for the intended audience (ages 6-10) and reluctant readers would really enjoy the farting humor in this book. The illustrations were "drawn with a flair pen on cheap paper and colored in Photoshop" according to the notes on the copyright page, and the silly illustrations skillfully complement the funny text. Benton uses a pastel color palette in his illustrations that appeals to a broad audience. In the first panel on page 23 of the book, the author states that 4 of the 18 species of penguins live in warm environments. In the second panel of the same page, Benton drew a funny Galapagos penguin sipping lemonade on the beach to go along with the text: “And the Galapagos penguin lives at the equator” (p. 23). Children will understand the plot as Jop and Blip ask three questions in the book, and the two robots determine the answers. While figuring out the answers, readers learn about penguins, dragons, and the senses of hearing and vision.

Benton, J. (2021). Jop and Blip Wanna Know. Harper Collins.

Minecraft Volume 1 by Sfe R. Monster is the first book in a three-book series, and the intended audience is children ages 7 through 10 years old. The majority of kids will understand the plot which is a typical story where the characters travel on a quest; the main character Tyler and his crew go on a quest to the End and battle the Ender Dragon. Many children in this age group have played the video game, Minecraft, so they will be familiar with the terminology used in the book. However, kids don’t need to have played Minecraft to understand the story.

In the afterword, the illustrator, Sarah Graley, explains how the characters were designed and how the cover art and page illustrations were created. Graley sketches the illustrations with pencils and ink, her assistant adds color to the pictures, and Graley adds the final details and shading. According to my kids, the illustrations are mostly accurate and match the items (i.e. Creepers, chests, Ender Dragon) in the actual Minecraft video game. Graley uses a muted color palette with pinks, purples, greens, blues, and browns, and the images complement the text. For example, on page 71, when Candace expresses her admiration for Grace and accepts a date with her, the background has a deep pink color with stars and sparkles. The glittery background and the characters’ smiles evoke the feeling that a romantic relationship is developing between the two characters.

Monster, S. R. (2019). Minecraft Volume 1. Dark Horse Books.

Stargazing by Jen Wang is a delightful middle grade book with sweet illustrations that harmonize with the text. One example is the two page spread on pages 210-211 where Madison’s dance crew and the Laz-E Boyzzz are performing at the talent show. The light pink, yellow, and blue colors, yellow streamers with the lyrics, and smiles capture the happy emotions of the whole group. The images were created using a mechanical #2 pencil and inked with a Uni Jetstream ballpoint pen. The pictures were then colored with Photoshop using muted blues, greens, pinks, and browns. 

Wang uses close up, medium, and far away shots in her panels to create an emotional impact. The panels also include Moon Lin’s drawings she sketches in her journal and song lyrics for the girls’ dances. In the afterword, Jen Wang explains that she was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age six and the surgery she had to remove the tumor. The events in Stargazing and Moon Lin’s hospitalization are based on Wang’s real life experiences. Wang includes photos of her six year old self in a hospital bed with her little sister and states in the afterword that it took her 33 years to be comfortable sharing her story.

Wang, J. (2019). Stargazing. First Second.

Beginning & Transitional Books

 

The Book Hog by Greg Pizzoli is a beginning book meeting Horning's criteria of both levels one and two. 

• Level 1 - 17-20 point font. An average of 2-7 lines per page. An average of 5 words per line, illustrations cover about 85% of the pages and the text covering about 15% of the pages.
• Level 2 - The sentences are more complex with 20 commas in the book as well as ellipses, multisyllabic words like especially, storytime, librarian, and surrounded.

Pizzoli, G., & Bellantoni, P. (2021). The book hog. Findaway World, LLC.

Transitional Book - Captain Underpants has the smallest font of the four books I read. Although there are still plenty of illustrations, there is a lot more text with no more than 18 lines per page and no more than 8 pages per chapter. This book has a ton of action to keep readers engaged including the interactive Flip-O-Ramas (so fun). The vocabulary has expanded beyond level 3 books and the words are left justified on the pages. 

Pilkey, D. (2015). Captain underpants and The Sensational Saga of sir stinks-A-lot - book 12 - captain underpants. Scholastic Inc.

Level  3 - Smaller font and fewer illustrations on alternating pages. All pages had 14 or fewer lines per page. Most lines had 6 or 7 words with an expanded vocabulary beyond just sight words. The book has more compound and complex words that makes the tone more conversational. This book has chapters that are no longer than 8 pages. 

Hale, S., Hale, D., & Pham, L. (2019). The princess in black and the mysterious playdate. Spotlight, a division of ABDO.

We Are Growing by Laurie Keller is a beginning book meeting Horning's criteria from both levels one and two. 

• Level 1 - 17-20 point font, averages 2-7 lines per page, an average of 4 words per sentence
• Level 2 - some multisyllabic words like dandelion, crunchiest, curliest, and silliest, and text is evenly balanced with illustrations, sentences are bit more complex with commas, question marks, ellipses, exclamation marks, and dashes

Keller, L., & Willems, M. (2016). We are growing! Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

Incredible Informational Books

Author Qualifications

The author of Choosing Brave is Angela Joy who is an award-winning children's book author. In the author's note, Joy explains that she visited the National Museum of African American History to do research for this book. The bibliography has ten solid resources such as PBS which indicates that Joy completed thoughtful research for the book.  

Intellectual Content

The intended audience for this book is upper elementary and middle school students. The depth and breadth of this content is appropriate for the intended audience. However, the subject matter of Emmett Till's murder is intense, so teachers will have to determine if this is the right book for their classes. Based on my research of Emmett Till, the information in Choosing Brave is accurate. 

Writing Style

Joy's writing style is lyrical with repeated phrases like "It was the harder thing," manageable vocabulary, and short lines written in verse. The author's writing style is direct and not patronizing in any way. For example, "the sheriff set out to dig a grave that day, to hide the crime in the mud of Mississippi" (p. 1). I like the fact that Joy included a list of innocent Black boys and men who were killed recently for no good reason such as George Floyd. 

Organizational Methods and Reference Aids

Joy uses a chronological organizational method with flashback in her narrative, which is easy to follow for the intended audience. The author included author's and illustrator's notes, a list of songs for the Choosing Brave soundtrack, a glossary, a timeline of the crime, and a bibliography. All of the reference aids are useful to learn more about Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley and how they sparked the Civil Rights Movement. 

Format of the Work and Illustrations

The text of the book is small and either black or white ink, it is placed appropriately on the pages among the illustrations, and it is complementary to the style of the book. The illustrations are magnificent because they reflect the somber tone of the story. It looks like the illustrations are actually screen prints or stencils with heavy use of black ink and white space. I think the use of black ink represents the courage and strength of Mamie Till and Black people in general.

Joy, A., & Washington, J. (2022). Choosing brave: Mamie till-mobley, Emmett Till, and the voice that sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Roaring Brook Press.

Author Qualifications and Intellectual Content

Kevin Noble Maillard is qualified to write Fry Bread because he is an experienced writer and member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. The author's lengthy bibliography shows that he completed thoughtful research for this book. The intended audience for this picture book is grades K-2 because the font size is large, the kids in the pictures are babies through early elementary students, and the story is told in verse with short sentences and chunks of text. The narrow focus on the connection between fry bread and the Native American family is perfect for a young audience. 

Writing Style and Organizational Methods

Maillard's writing style is very matter-of-fact in describing the fry bread and Native American families. He uses age level appropriate vocabulary that is easy to follow and is not condescending to children. The author does a good job of organizing the material by starting more generally by describing the fry bread's shape, color, and sound, and then describing the fry bread more abstractly and how it represents so many things like time, place, and tribe.

Reference Aids

Maillard included extensive author's notes about Native American history in the United States, which are organized by headings within the story. He included an extensive bibliography for anyone who wants to do further research on Native American history and food. Speaking of food, the author gives us his recipe for fry bread in the back of the book.  

Format of the Work and Use of Illustrations, Graphics, Special Techniques

Martinez-Neal's illustrations are sketches with a muted watercolor palette, and he does an good job of creating the  characters' expressions that show the love that goes into making fry bread. The illustrations are mostly close ups that dominate the two page spreads and show the importance of family in Native American culture. The book makes me want to makes some fry bread with my kids who would enjoy eating it.

(ILT), M., Kevin Noble/ Martinez-Neal, Juana, & Martinez-Neal, J. (2019). Fry Bread: A native american family story. Roaring Brook Press.

Author Qualifications and Intellectual Content

Colleen Paeff is an award winning children's book author and has joined a critique group and picture book group to improve her writing. Paeff's research, depicted in the extensive bibliography and acknowledgements, included working with several experts in waste management. The intended audience are kids ages four to eight years old, and the story is about engineer Joseph Bazalgette who fixes London's pollution problem. I think that an older audience (ages 8-12) would enjoy this book more than the intended audience. 

Writing Style and Organizational Methods

Bazalgette's story is easy to follow because the language is clear and the text is organized in chronological order with headings of important years in the process of fixing London's pollution problem. The vocabulary used in the text like cholera, embankment, and Parliament make the book more appropriate for upper elementary school students. In addition, the use of detail in the picture book (breadth of content) is best for older students who can focus for longer periods of time. 

Reference Aids and Format of the Work

Additional information in the back of the book discusses the importance of clean water to all living things on Earth and the challenge of keeping water clean with the increasing population and climate change. A timeline, author's note, further reading list, bibliography, and acknowledgments are provide great resources for more research on this topic. To be honest, the cover art would not be attractive to my elementary school self because it looks so old timey. 

Use of Illustrations, Graphics, Special Techniques

Many of the illustrations are relatable and funny with people pinching their noses from the stench of the Thames, flying poop, and even someone sitting in an outhouse. The vintage muted color palette used in the illustrations give the reader a feeling that they are going back in time. Nancy Carpenter's illustrations enhance the meaning of the text rather than distract from it. 

Paeff, C., & Carpenter, N. (2021). The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette solved London’s poop pollution problem. Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Author Qualifications and Intellectual Content

Jason Chin is a children's book author and illustrator and is qualified to write this book based on his extensive research about the Grand Canyon. Chin's writes about the assistance he had from four Grand Canyon experts in his acknowledgements. He includes the largest bibliography I have seen so far divided into books, websites, and papers as well as a list "for further reading." The intended audience is grades 3 through 5 because the pages have more advanced vocabulary and large chunks of text on a page with smaller font. 

Writing Style and Organizational Methods

Chin's writing style is clear and easy to follow. The story follows a girl and her father as they start at the bottom of the canyon and climb to the top. The vocabulary in the book is fairly advanced and includes vegetation, dominance, and conifers, so teacher-librarians may need to do some vocabulary pre-teaching or discuss the context clues to determine the meaning of words. 

Reference Aids and Format of the Work

Grand Canyon has so many reference aids, which would be helpful for researchers looking for more information. The inside of the front cover has a map of the Grand Canyon, and the inside of the back cover shows a cross section of the canyon with all the layers of rock. Additional information in the back of the book includes blurbs on human history, Grand Canyon geology, fossils, the Colorado River, and much more. 

Use of Illustrations, Graphics, Special Techniques

I found the illustrations on the border of the main illustrations to be distracting. In fact, the book has so much information, it could be made into two books. One book would be the story of the girl and her father, and the other book would be the history and geology of the Grand Canyon.

Chin, J. (2017). Grand canyon. Roaring Brook Press.

Phenomenal Poetry

Purpose

The purpose of this anthology clearly written in the editor's notes is to have gratitude on a daily basis, The editor intentionally selected 32 diverse poets to write the poems and each one is written in a different format. Thanku fulfills a need for gratitude and mindfulness in the general collection that could be used in a display for health and wellness or Thanksgiving. Miranda Paul, the editor, is qualified for compiling the collections because she is an award-winning children's writer, and co-founder of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books. 

Audience

Thanku is appropriate for the intended audience of children ages six and up because the poems are rather short and have age-appropriate vocabulary. The poems could be used as mentor texts for writing poems in a poetry unit in 3-5 classes, or they could be read aloud to children for exposure to the sound and rhyme of poetry in K-2 classes.  

Scope and Language

The collection includes 32 unfamiliar poems written by some familiar poets who are still alive today. All the poems are related by the theme of being grateful and thankful, and they are written in 32 different formats. The editor intentionally chose to showcase traditional and newly invented forms of poetry such as the McWhirtle created by Bruce Newling. The language, rhyme, and meter are quite varied as there are so many different types of poems such as a sonnet, ballad, pantoum and tricube just to name a few. In fact, each type of poem is defined in the end notes of the book, which would be helpful for students and teachers using this book. 

Organization and Illustrations

The poems are paired so that the illustrations cover two pages that are facing one another, for example, on p. 6-7 the black backgrounds are shared. The illustrations beautifully enhance the meaning of the poems, and in some cases like in the photo below, the poem and illustration are one in the same. The illustrator combined sketches with watercolor to create eye-catching images for each poem.

Bruchac, J., Nye, N. S., Blaeser, K. M., Shin, S. Y., DeCaria, E., Shillington, B., Venkatraman, P., Hooks, G., Yolen, J., Scully, J., Waters, C., Lindstrom, C., Liu, S., Flores, C. D., Naberhaus, S., Ruiz-Flores, L., Paul, B., Smith, C. L., Richards, P., … Paul, M. (2019). Thanku: Poems of gratitude. Millbrook Press.

Purpose and Audience

The purpose of Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems is to introduce children to poetry in short manageable chunks of text. Children will be exposed to famous poets such as Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Richard Wright, and more through seasonal poems. Poems like "Fog" by Carl Sandburg and "Water Lily" by Ralph Fletcher are short poems with strong imagery that children will love to hear. Paul B. Janeczko was a poet and anthologist, which makes his a highly qualified compiler of this collection. 

 

Language

Imaginative and appropriate similes, metaphors, imagery, and personification are found throughout the collection. The figurative language used in the poems would make them great mentor texts for teaching figurative language. The quatrain poems have end rhymes that would be fun to read aloud to young children to expose them to the rhyme and rhythm of poetry. 

Scope and Organization

The collection contains 36 poems by 20+ poets grouped according to the four seasons: spring, winter, summer and fall listed this way in the table of contents. The poems in the collection are both traditional and unfamiliar poems, and some of them are just two, three or lines in length. 

Illustrations

Melissa Sweet's illustrations are adorable hand sketched images colored with a muted vintage color palette. The illustrations and poems are perfectly placed on the pages, and the images often stretch across two pages to bring the poems to life. 

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems. (2018). Candlewick Press.

Purpose and Audience

Kam Mak writes about his experience growing up in two cultures in Chinatown, a city within a city, and his purpose is explained on the dust cover flaps. My Chinatown serves a need in the general collection for kids who may be immigrants or first generation U.S. citizens. My Chinatown is written for grades K through 3, and it is appropriate for this age group because of the large bright illustrations and elementary level vocabulary. This book would also be a great read aloud to celebrate the Chinese New Year or add to a display for AAPI month. 

Language

The poet uses figurative language including imagery to create a sad and nostalgic tone because he misses his life in China. The poems seem to be free verse that tell a story of the poet's life in one year. The poems easily flow from one event to the next, but they do not have a steady rhythm or rhyme scheme.

Organization and Illustrations

The poems in this collection are organized by the seasons of one entire year. The author is reflecting on his experiences in the past when he had to quickly pack and move to New York from China. He also writes about his present experiences in Chinatown and compares them to his experiences back home. 

Mak, K. (2016). My chinatown: One year in Poems. Harpercollins Childrens B.

Purpose and Audience

Joyce Carol Thomas wrote the poems in this collection to celebrate all the shades of black skin. The Blacker the Berry is a wonderful addition to any library for the purpose of windows and mirrors. Black children will see themselves in this sweet anthology, and all children will have the opportunity to view others' experiences. The intended audience for this anthology is K through grade 3, and the simple concepts, straightforward vocabulary, and child-filled illustrations make grades K-3 an appropriate audience. 

Language

Thomas uses figurative language to compare skin color to objects in nature like snowberries and coffee. The figurative language and illustrations give the reader a visual image of the skin tones she is describing. One line that was particularly striking to me was: "It's the milk of kindness that makes us human." This message of being kind to everyone is a great lesson that could be taught using this poem. 

Organization and Illustrations

Each poem describes a different shade of black skin, and the illustrations perfectly show the skin tone described in that particular poem. The illustrations cover facing pages with the majority of the picture on one page and the text on the opposite page. All of the illustrations contain people in nature, which gives the book a relaxing, calm, and positive tone. Floyd Cooper used gold, purple, and light brown hues to create a radiant ambiance and to give the reader as sense of late summer or early autumn. 

Thomas, J. C., & Cooper, F. (2022). The blacker the berry. Amistad.

Fantastic Folktales

Purpose

I read two fantastic collections of folktales this week, and the first one was Trickster: Native American Tales edited by Matt Dembicki. According to the editor, a Native American anthology of trickster tales did not exist previously, and he wanted to learn about Native American culture, which he didn't know much about. Therefore, he created the first graphic anthology of 21 native trickster tales written by Native American storytellers. All of the tales are connected because they have trickster characters in the stories that are rabbits, coyotes, wolves, or other creatures. 

Authority

All of the folktale authors are Native Americans from various tribes hand picked by Matt Dembicki. The folktales were passed down orally from generation to generation based on the contributor notes. For example, John Active is one of the re-tellers who is a Yup'ik Eskimo based in Alaska, and his grandmother use to tell him traditional Yup'ik bedtime stories. 

Dembicki, M. (2021). Trickster: Native american tales: A graphic collection. Chicago Review Press.

Style

The narrative style is preserved in these folktales as the stories are told in the first person point of view. In The Bear Who Stole the Chinook, the narrator states, "The snow came early and lay deep. The cold blown bitter made the women weep. Our men tracked hard but could find no game. In our children's bellies were crying' pains." In addition to the first person narrator, the language used demonstrates that these stories are being told rather than written. The phrase "cryin' pains" is used in of hunger pains. 

Audience and Organization

As a former middle school language arts teacher, I think the most appropriate audience for this collection is sixth grade and above. The middle school age group appreciates the comic book panel style of the stories. I would use these folktales in a read aloud and projected on a whiteboard for the entire group to follow along with the illustrations. Each story can be read independently as they do not depend on one another for meaning.  

Illustrations

Each of the stories has a different illustrator and many of the illustrators are Native American. The illustrations are integral to the stories as in Raven the Trickster, which bring the tale to life. Some of the images are traditional as in When Coyote Decided to Get Married and others are much more of a cartoon style like in Mai and the Cliff-Dwelling Birds. 

Purpose

I also read Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection by F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada. The 12 tales in this collections were shared with the authors as children by their grandmothers, and some of the tales were discovered while researching for this book. The author's purpose for sharing these folktales is to celebrate Latino culture, maintain a written record of these traditional tales, and provide entertainment for the audience.

 

Ada, A. F., Campoy, F. I., Davalos, F., Guevara, S., Torres, L., & Escriva, V. (2006). Tales our abuelitas told: A hispanic folktale collection. Atheneum.A

Authority and Style

It is clear to me that the folktales are authentic stories and originated from Latinos. In fact, in the source notes for The Bird of One Thousand Colors, Alma Flor Ada explains that she credits her grandmother, a storyteller, as the oral informant of this folktale. The authors make it very clear that these tales were passed to them orally, and they do sound like they are being told. For instance, in The Castle of Churchurumbe, the verse begins with "This is the key, large and strong, that opens the door of the castle of Churchurumbe." This free verse recreation of the folktale sounds very much like the nursery rhyme The House That Jack Built, which would be said out loud.

Audience and Organization

The intended audience for this collection are children ages 5 through 11 based on the animal illustrations and larger font in the book. The collection would be fun to read aloud to young children, and I am sure that they would be entranced by the animal characters and enjoy the short length of the stories as younger children have shorter attention spans. The authors included "To Begin a Story" and "To End a Story" sections in the book to explain how these folktales traditionally begin and end in Spanish with English translations. All of the tales can be read independently and don't rely on one another to make sense. 

Illustrations

Finally, the illustrations in the book definitely enhance the stories, and I think that stories without illustrations allow children to imagine in their own minds what the characters look like, the settings, and the action taking place in each story. The images in this book are more decorative and are not integral to the tales like they were in Trickster. However, the pictures are reflective of the Latino culture as shown on this page with the traditional hats, scarves, and woman's dress. 

Powerful Picture Books

I had fun analyzing some powerful picture books this week from my public library. The first book that I reviewed was My Two Border Towns by David Bowles. Ericka Menza’s illustrations are watercolors with bright hues of blue, pink, red, yellow, and green, which accurately reflects the setting of the book, the Mexican-U.S. border. The color scheme of the book reminds me of Mexican blankets, papel picados (banners), and traditional Mexican women’s dresses. The illustrator’s use of dividing lines such as the Rio Grande River reinforce the theme of the challenges of life at the Mexican-U.S. border. I would share this book with 4th graders or older children because of the book’s complex topic of immigration.

Bowles, D., Fabela, O. E., & Meza, E. (2022). My Two border towns. Findaway World, LLC.

In Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai the illustrations with their muted colors reflect the nostalgic mood of this book. Almost all of the pages have winding gac vines that tie the whole book together through the theme of gardening and cooking with family. For example, in the middle of the book, An and Ong (An’s grandfather) pollinate gac flowers, and they will use the gac fruit to make sticky rice for Ba, An’s grandmother. The curvy lines in the book represent the connections between generations and the circle of life. I would share this book with 3rd graders and above as a hook for a unit on family or identity. In the author’s note, Lai includes a family recipe for gac sticky rice. 

Lại, T., Quang, N., Liên, K., & Dinh, E. (2022). Hundred years of happiness. Library Ideas, LLC.

In the innovative picture book, Out of a Jar, some pages have text with illustrations and other pages have comic book panels and text. Marcero uses watercolors and pencil to create the illustrations, which perfectly reflect the theme of the story. The theme is the importance of feeling your feelings rather than stuffing them. The colors within the book reflect the main character's emotions throughout the story. The first pages discuss the adorable bunny Llewellyn’s fears, which are represented by black trees. Llewellyn’s other emotions are represented by color: red is anger, blue is sadness, green is disappointment and so on. Marcero uses hatch marks and lines to create shadows, depth and dimension across most of the pages. I would share this book with all ages because we all have emotions that we must learn to handle. I absolutely love how all of the colors (emotions) merge together at the end to create a flowery landscape and sunset.

Marcero, D. (2022). Out of a jar. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Charly Palmer uses deep, dark hues and layers of paint to create textured illustrations that remind me of impressionist paintings. In Palmer’s illustrations, the lines from the bristles of his paintbrush are apparent, and he uses the paint to create impressions of figures and objects. Palmer’s brushstrokes create quite a bit of movement and strong emotion in his illustrations. D. is feeling “scrunchy” throughout the story, and there is a dark cloud over his head, representing his negative mood. I would use this picture book with kids ages eight and up to start a discussion about dealing with strong feelings, bad days, and keeping your head up despite life’s challenges.

Neil, K. A., Palmer, C., Butler, P., & Neil, K. A. (2021). Keep your head up. Library Ideas, LLC.

Madelyn Goodnight uses gouache painting to create the opaque illustrations in Powwow Day. In the story, the young girl, River, is afflicted by an illness and attends her tribe's powwow. The bright, bold color palette of Goodnight’s illustrations highlight the bright colors of the traditional tribal clothing and the strength of the ties between the members of River’s tribal community. The illustrations of the character’s actions and facial expressions depict the care and concern they have for River, and they enhance the theme of the book which is the power of community for healing. Goodnight effectively uses lines and patterns to express movement throughout the book, especially in the powwow and dancing scenes. I would use this picture book with second graders and above to discuss topics such as community, family, and identity. As an added bonus, the back matter contains information about powwows and the healing Jingle Dress Dance.

Sorell, T., Flyte, C., & Goodnight, M. (2022). Powwow day. Findaway World, LLC.