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.

Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins

Rosie's Walk is a book about a cute little hen who goes on a walk across the farm she lives on. It is such a simple story - the entire book is just one long sentence. Reading the story, there seems to be just one character, so the book is very easy to follow. However, what is fun about this book is the story that is being told in the illustrations. Though he is never mentioned in the story, the pictures introduce a new character to the book: a sly fox who wants to eat little Rosie for lunch. He follows Rosie as she walks across the yard, around the pond, over the haystack, past the mill, through the fence, under the beehives, and finally back home for dinner. Teachers can use this book to show young learners that they have to not only use their ears but also their eyes to understand the full story.

Teachers can also use this book to begin talking to young kids about direction words.

It is a short, sweet story that young kids would love to read and feel proud about their reading.

Trainstop by Barbara Lehman

I would pick out a wordless book by accident. I knew when I saw the cover of Trainstop that something looked familiar. The second I opened the book, I realized that it was illustrated by the same woman who illustrated the wordless picture book, The Red Book. The main character looked so similar to the girl from The Red Book that I imagined it being the same young girl. She has just found herself in a new adventure in this story.

The young girl gets on a train and, when all of the other passengers are asleep, she sneaks off the train into a new world. My favorite part of the book, though, was when the girl was sitting on the train watching the landscape pass by outside her window. It brought me back to one train ride I went on with my best friend. We rode the train from his house in Wheaton, Illinois, to downtown Chicago. It was the first train I had ever been on, probably a fifty minute ride. I remember sitting by the window watching the cities pass by. We went downtown to see the musical, Wicked, which was absolutely amazing. Afterward, we knew we were cutting it close to the last train's departure. Of course, we were about five blocks away from the trainstation and the train was leaving in two minutes, so we ran as fast as we could across downtown Chicago to catch our train. It was so fun and definitely the first thing I think about when I think of trains. This book brought me back to that memory.

Daley B. by Jon Blake

Aw! This book was so cute. Ha, I loved it. It's about a rabbit, Daley B, who is very confused. He does not know what kind of animal he is, or especially why he has such big feet. He finally decides that he is a squirrel, and he sits in the trees eating acorns with them. Honestly, it reminds me of a couple very confused people I know. But we won't get into that.

It's hard to read too deeply into this one. It is definitely a book that is intended for kids to have fun reading. They can get inside Daley B's crazy, confused imagination as he wonders what kind of animal he is. The illustrations are simple and colorful, as is the rest of the book. Ya know what it reminded me of? Tacky the Penguin! No wonder I liked the book. And there's a text-to-text connection for ya - take that, Block A. :)

I would love to have this book in my classroom library. I think it is something that kids would read over and over again because it is so simple and fun.

George Washington's Teeth by Deborah Chandra & Madeleine Comora

Back to the historical fiction books apparently. I'm not quite sure what led me to selecting this book off the shelf. I felt like I had either read it before in one of my classes or that someone had recommended it to me. Either way, I had heard of the title, and maybe it was in search of where I had heard it that I picked this one up.

I thought it was a fun book. It depicts George Washington, a very serious character in American history, from a playful angle. We get to learn all about his teeth, which apparently were the cause of great pain for him. We see him in a vulnerable state that we never really hear about in school. And the book is all about teeth, which young elementary students have lots of experience with.

The book was simple, with an ABCB rhyme scheme that can really help beginning readers learn to decode words. They realize that the second and last lines have to rhyme, and they can use this clue to help them read words that would otherwise be somewhat advanced for them. This book also includes a real timeline in the back where students can learn about some of the great accomplishments of George Washington as well as some of the real dates in which his teeth were causing him trouble. This one would be kinda fun for kids in history class.

Never Poke a Squid by Denys Cazet

I have to admit I was kind of intrigued by the title to this one. It sounded like it would be an amusing book, and for the most part, it really was. The best part of this book to me is that it takes place on Halloween. In an elementary school, Halloween is one of the most fun and crazy days of the entire school year. The kids wait all morning to finally put on their costumes and walk around the school yard in a celebratory parade. Then they go back to their classroom and eat sweets until we send them home with their parents who know the sugar high is just beginning. It is seriously my favorite day ever.

This book is formatted so that there is one main story that runs throughout the book. However, there are also little side stories taking place on each page, where the kids are bantering back and forth and getting into all sorts of mischief, usually while the teacher is talking or doing a lesson. The side conversations were fun because it was a very realistic depiction of the craziness that goes on at school, especially on Halloween.

I also thought it was interesting how the author used exaggeration. It is no secret that kids are prone to exaggeration. In this book, though, the kids' tales of the stories that happened that day at school are very modest - short and to the point. The exaggeration lives in the illustrations, and it is through them that we see what really happened at school that day.

This was a pretty fun book. The kids would especially love reading the conversations on the side of the story - they make the book exciting. I also loved that there were Spanish words. Overall, I'd say this one was pretty good.

One Smart Cookie by John Nez

I'm pretty sure you could get any kid to like a book about a dog named Cookie who wears glasses and loves to read. Maybe some kids wouldn't jive as much about Cookie loving to read because, let's face it, a lot of kids don't enjoy reading themselves. That is really what this book is about. While Cookie reads everything he can get his furry paws on at home, the children in the family avoid reading at all costs. Cookie starts going to school with the little girl, Duffy, and enters the school spelling bee. Although he loses, Cookie alerts Duffy that there is a fire in the school and Duffy saves the day by reading the directions to pulling the fire alarm. Reading literally saves the day.

This story can really encourage young children to read and write. It presents these processes as though they are inherent in all of us, we just have to search for them deep down. This is an effective approach to reading for kids who think they cannot do it. We can show them that they can do it - reading and writing is somewhere within them; they just have to keep looking. The book also couples reading and writing into one process, which is also very important to notice. Reading and writing are highly intertwined - it is very difficult to do one effectively without being able to do the other. I have learned in my classes that it is most effective for students to work on both reading and writing at the same time, because as you are writing, you are reading what you are writing; the boundaries are gray.

As I was reading I was thinking of my second grade buddy with whom I am helping to read and write. At the beginning of our first session, I asked him if he was a reader. He immediately said no. However, he has shown me that he is an incredibly talented reader who is, in fact, reading at an advanced level for his age. He had just never thought about being labeled a "reader" before. I think it is important for teachers to teach their students about their literate identities in both reading and writing. It seems like that is all Duffy and Nash needed in this book - someone to show them that they, too, are readers and writers. This book is a good one to show emerging readers and writers that they are literate as well.

So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

This text is a complementary text to The Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Well, maybe "complementary" is the wrong word. The two books present the opposing sides of the same conflict between Korea and Japan. This text comes from the point of view of a Japanese family living in Korea at the time of the conflict. The family had to flee the country, disguising themselves and hiding in order to survive. Showing different perspectives of one issue is something that is very enlightening for students. They are often presented with one very American view of history. In fact, sometimes it is even hard for kids to recognize the fact that there is a different side of the story. Teachers should really work to show kids that there are multiple perspectives and interpretations of every event.

In class, we talked a bit about how knowing both sides of a story really changes things. Knowing all of the angles makes things less black and white, making it harder to label one side as "right" and one side as "wrong." I had that experience in reading these two books. It was hard for me to look at the Koreans as being right after reading So Far From the Bamboo Grove, even though that was my initial reaction after hearing how much they suffered from the Japanese imperialism presented in the first book. I would not have believed that I would feel sympathy for the Japanese after reading the second book. But I really did as I was reading about the tragic life of this Japanese family.

A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams

I loved this book. I liked it right away because of the very clear, calm voice. Even in a tough situation, the book read as though everything was eventually going to be okay. I really appreciated how reassuring it was, and how patient this family was even in hard times.

I also had an incredibly personal connection to this story. Last summer, my dad quit his job and moved across country to buy a restaurant that was going bankrupt. He had always wanted to own a restaurant, and was willing to do anything to turn this one around. However, he had to give up many of the few comforts he had had with his former job. He moved into his new home with barely anything, including couches and chairs. The only place in the house we had where we could sit was the kitchen table, and my dad would come home so exhausted from work that he really needed somewhere where he could relax. My family really struggled that summer. I've never seen my dad so tired, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I tried to convince him to save his money for a boat and forget the couch. He thought it was funny.

It took us the rest of the summer to save enough money to buy a couch. It seems like such a simple thing, something that every house automatically has. When you don't have it, it becomes something you can really appreciate. This story took me back to last summer and my family's financial troubles. Millions of kids around the country can also relate to a tale like this.

You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! by Shana Corey

I would read this book as a kind of prompt to talking about women's rights and their development in our country. It is another historical fiction book. Amelia Bloomer was a real person, as was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was one of the most prominent spokespeople for women's rights in the mid 1800s. Like "Mama Went to Jail for the Vote," this story shows a definite progression in character and in the culture of the time. Amelia Bloomer is such a strong woman that she does not care if she is defying what it meant to be a woman. She knew that she was uncomfortable and that she did not have to conform to be a woman. What a great message for young girls today.

This book does not have to be read from a historical standpoint, though. It can also be read to young girls who are very into fashion. They get to see the fashion development in our country and the way women were expected to dress a long time ago. It would be fun to have the girls design an outfit for themselves after reading this. This book would be good for one of my friends who is working one-on-one with a second grade girl who always wants her to bring in makeup and nail polish. I would recommend reading this book instead! The student's teacher would probably appreciate it more than the makeup and nail polish.

Mama Went to Jail For the Vote by Kathleen Karr

This is a historical fiction book about women's suffrage in the United States. Susan Elizabeth's Mama explains to her that women are "in chains." "'We are half the population of this great nation, yet we haven't any say in how it's run. That's why we want the vote!'" Mama is a great activist for the women's campaign, marching and protesting outside of the White House even though President Wilson refuses to acknowledge her. Susan Elizabeth at first does not understand the cause, thinking it is just women wearing pretty colors so they can smoke cigars at a voting precinct with the men. Susan Elizabeth's father doesn't understand either. "'Women were meant to be an ornametn to man, and to comfort him after his labors,'" he tells his daughter.

The campaign is such a long one that we get the chance to see Susan Elizabeth grow as a character. When her mother is arrested for protesting, the young girl takes action herself. She makes her own sign and goes to stand outside the White House where her mother left off. It was great to see her development thoughout the book, and it really drove home the idea that individual people can make a difference.

This is another book I could see reading in a social studies context. It is historically accurate, yet fictionalized so as to give students characters with whom they can develop a personal connection. It also zooms in a topic that is very broad: women getting the vote. The students would be able to see how impassioned one family became over the issue, which gives them the chance to become impassioned about it as well.

And the whole time the song "Votes for Women!" from Mary Poppins was playing in my head. I could see Mrs. Banks wearing her sash, her hands stuffed inside a muff, dancing around their living room singing a song I had never understood when I was younger. Aha.

The House Across the Street by Jules Feiffer

I just kind of picked this book off the shelf in our school library not knowing what it was about. It looked like a simple book that young kids would enjoy. I was definitely correct in that aspect. The voice in the book is clear and the ideas are simple. A boy dreams about the life that his neighbor lives across the street. The voice is something that I particularly enjoyed. The author did a great job making it sound authentic - like the thoughts were really streaming in the mind of a young boy. They were innocent and imaginative and humorous. From a child's perspective, the book is something that would be fun to read because the house across the street contains a lot of unusual, interesting things.

From a teacher's perspective, that aspect of the book is fun, too. It would be really fun for a first - second or third grade classroom to write stories or draw pictures about the way they imagine their neighbors' houses. However, what is really great about this book is that the teacher can also take it so much farther than that. The narrator in the story dreams so much about the house across the street because it is so much larger than his own house. The house across the street represents a wealth that the narrator has no experience with. His wild imaginations of what lies inside of the house are a testament of how he sees rich people living: everything is perfect and extravagant. A teacher can use this wealth disparity presented in the book to really talk to her students about similar issues. The teacher can really use this to connect her students with the book and to present the idea of class.

I really enjoyed this book. It was so versatile - it can be fun if all you are looking for is a fun read. Or, it can be deep, useful for talking about serious issues that would absolutely come up in a classroom - especially in schools with families from diverse financial backgrounds. Even at a young age, kids notice when they are different from their peers. This book really channeled that idea and put it in a lighthearted, fresh text.

A Picture Book of Lewis and Clark by David A. Adler

I initially picked up this book to use for a project in my elementary social studies class. My project was to transform a given social studies text to become a curriculum I would give to a class of fourth graders. Although fourth graders could be reading about Lewis and Clark from a social studies book or from chapter books, I think it is important to still give them the opportunity to look at picture books. Giving fourth graders the chance to go back to picture books is kind of like a break for them. They get to transform back to when they were second graders again for the story.

And this is a really great picture book. It is nonfiction, so it contains a great deal of facts. However, it is still very interesting. There are still characters that are developed; we are introduced to Lewis and Clark's lives before they are on the trip west. We get to read snippets from the journals they wrote on their journey. And we get to hear about events that would never be mentioned in a history books - things like Lewis getting shot by one of his team members. It was also very interesting to find out that the group had made decisions by taking a vote. Although voting was nothing new at the time, Lewis and Clark allowed all of their team members to vote - including African Americans and women who were not allowed to vote at the time.