Goodnight, Blog

This blog and I have been through a lot together. We have traveled - been to Florida and back and suffered through the accompanying second-degree sunburns that were left from the trip. We have been through many moods, angry, happy, and sad. We have spent numerous hours together in various computer labs and desktops and listened to many songs - mostly rap, because that's what we like.

Writing this blog has really helped me explore children's literature in a way that is personal to me. I tried to make all of the entries interesting and relevant to my life, so I would view the book looking for things that really made sense to me. I never knew reading picture books could open up these avenues for me. I ended up getting pretty deep occasionally. I talked about divorce and my precious grandpa. Other times were noticeably more lighthearted, revealing my more flaky side. ha. I ranted and raved about pickles and pancakes. Some may think I'm a little crazy. They might be right.

The thing is, I was having fun. I'm glad I was able to open up in this venue. I definitely had my reservations at first. It is such an open, public forum that my name is attached to. I didn't want to really say my true feelings, and I wanted this blog to be academic. While it certainly was academic in its very nature, I think I was able to transcend the academic standpoint a bit and let my real feelings come through. I talked about real connections I made, real situations and characters and things that had very real effects on me.

I have learned that it is possible to give my students these same kinds of responses through these books. They are all going to have their own very personal readings of books. Some may stick out to them, some may not. And just because I liked a book absolutely does not mean they are going to. What is important is allowing each child the opportunity to find those books that really make a connection to them. I want to find those books that elicit responses about their parents' divorces and a grandparent they love - even those books that make them talk about pickles and pancakes.

So, while the formal relationship between this blog and I might be coming to an end, I could definitely see my blog and I spending more time listening to rap together. Hopefully we can even endure a few more sunburns.

Too Much by Dorothy Stott

This book is literally a little book for little kids. It is a tiny tiny square book about Little Duck. Little Duck can't find anywhere he can swim, so he tries to swim in the sink, the fishbowl, a paintcan, and my favorite, in a pickle jar. It is so so cute for young kids.

I read it to my roommate, who is kind of like a little kid. The following is what happened after the book was over.

Kyle: You have to blog about that?
Me: Yeah.
Kyle: What are you going to say?
Me: Maybe that I like pickles and that if I were a duck I would try to live in a pickle jar.
Kyle: No.

So, of course that's what I'm going to blog about. If I were Little Duck and I dove into a jar of pickles, I don't think I would ever leave. Yum, pickles are so delicious. And think about it. You would never have to leave to find food. (At least until you eat all of the pickles in the jar.) Your meals are right there for you. And a delicious drink. What a great home. Well, it'd be great if they were dill pickles, anyway. Sweet pickles, no thank you.

Oh my gosh, the picture of Little Duck's reaction to the sour pickles is the sweetest thing I've ever seen, too. This is a really fun book to read with young kids - maybe preschool to kindergarten age. Or I guess college kids. Ha, Kyle.

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

Littlest is the newest dream giver in her community, the Heap. Supervised by Thin Elderly, the two visit a woman's house every night, collecting thoughts, feelings, and memories form the woman's various personal artifacts. She finds memories and feelings in buttons on the woman's clothing and a blanket strewn over a worn couch. The book is heartfelt and sentimental. The characters are lovable right from the very beginning, right when you hear their names. There is an innocent curiosity that overarches the book.

I couldn't put this book down. It was such a good read. I would love to have this on my classroom bookshelf when I'm a teacher. It is something you can use as a demonstration book, too. Dreaming is something Lois Lowry always wondered about, and she used this curiosity as her muse. Students can do the same thing. They can take something they have always wondered about and put their perspective on the answer. It is like an inquiry project, but the kids use their imagination to find the answers.

Just thinking about this book brings me back to Sanibel Island, Florida. That's where the reading for this book took place. Just another reason to love this read :)

Art by Patrick McDonnell

This book is definitely appropriate for young elementary students. Of course, I really liked it too. Each page has only a few words, all coming together across the pages to tell the story. The words that are on the page, though, are very descriptive: "the curliest cue." All of the words are accompanied by a drawing. The drawings are also very simple, done in either black and white or reds, blues, and yellows.

And the story is about art. Well, art and Art. Art, the visual representations and Art, the boy who is creating art. The double use of art was fun to work through. I feel like it might get a little lost on young kids, but it would be fun for them nonetheless.

And at the end of the book, Art's art is hung on the fridge, where all good art deserves to go.

The Night It Rained Pancakes by Mirra Ginsburg

At first when I was reading this book, I kept catching myself thinking about a biblical story - the one about the two brothers, one who is good and obedient, and one who leaves home and wastes all of his father's money. There was a similar kind of good brother/bad brother dichotomy at play in this book. However, the good brother in this book was genuine as well as gullible, something that is missing from the good brother in the biblical tale. The gullibility, though, is something that is fun for kids and makes it reachable to younger children.

This story is based on a Russian folklore, and I have to say I was a little confused about where this tale was going at the beginning. The "bad" brother, Ivan, put pancakes in a tree, a bunny in a fish net, and a fish in a bunny trap - all of which were done with no explanation. I was beginning to question Russia's ability to come up with a good tale. (No offense.) But I was biting my tongue a few pages later. Everything came together, everything had a purpose. It was a total "aha!" moment, and I must admit that Russia came up with a pretty smart folktale in this one.

And now for the real reason I picked this book off the shelf. I totally have to share this because it's been an obsession as of late. I LOVE pancakes. Seriously. LOVE. Not lying, I've been eating pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past week. I don't know what's come over me - but it's a serious problem. And my boyfriend and I have been having a competition to see who can make the best pancakes. I'm totally winning, by the way. Yum, I made the BEST pancakes the other day - so fluffy! Ha, don't know why I thought it was important for you to know that - but it is. :)

The Moon Came Down on Milk Street by Jean Gralley

What really stood out to me about this book was the AMAZING illustrations. Each page is so bright and colorful. The use of light is especially amazing. The moon literally radiates on the pages, sending the kids looking out the window into shadow. Even when you can't see it, you know the moon is always there because of the yellows and blues on the page. The story is in a bright, peaceful dream world where the moon is the center of the night. In this world, the moon has fallen down on the street and people run out of their homes to push it back up into the sky. It is magical and colorful and imaginative.

The format of this book is also very intriguing. The book itself is a tall, skinny rectangle, an unusual shape for a book. The text is different sizes and colors on each page, playing again with the light of the moon. The dedication page is on the very last page of the book, which seemed to make the dedication even more meaningful - as though, after the story was written, the final thing the author thought about was Tony and how this story reflects what he means to her. It was very powerful.

The whole book was powerful. Dreamlike.

If Kisses Were Colors by Janet Lawler

This book was beautifully written - something that people of all ages would appreciate. I found myself reading this book as though it were being read to a young child before bedtime - the child snuggled tight in linens of bright blues and yellows, head on pillows of down, the Lion King nightlight aglow beside the bed. The child's mother sits next to the bed on a wooden rocking chair with a red cushion, rocking quietly back and forth as her tongue glides over the cheerful words, her voice a quiet hum. The chair was once the child's grandfather's - his favorite chair. I can see this book being the pair's favorite bedtime book, the pages dog-eared and worn to the point of separating from the spine.

This book was very much like Love You Forever by Robert Munsch to me. It is something I imagine children and parents finding really endearing and meaningful. It is something I can see very young kids memorizing, reciting it to their parents before they can read the words, flipping the pages as they go along in time with the words that are still foreign. The words are accessible for young kids because they follow a very simple rhyme scheme and the pictures match each page precisely. Young readers would really enjoy reading this book.

And so would families right before the go to bed. The Lion King nightlights aglow.