Savvy

Written by Ingrid Law

The Penguin Group 2008

368 pages

Fantasy

 

                                   This is a story about the Beaumont family. They receive a special "power" called a savvy when they turn thirteen years old. One of the brothers can cause hurricanes and the other can create electricity. Mibs was about to turn thirteen and finally find out her savvy when her father was in an accident. Finding her special savvy could not come fast enough when she thought it might be a power that could save his life.

                                    There are no illustrations in the book. The cover of the book appears to be done with water colors. Each color used to create the cover is bright and bold. The color choice is beautiful. This book received a Newberry Honor.

                                    A few classroom connections could be made with this book when teaching science lessons. The teacher could talk about and demonstrate how a hurricane works. The teacher could also go through the process of how electricity is formed as well. Students could also create their own word to replace a well known word or create a word for an action or object that is creative.

 



The Hunger Games

Written by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic 2008

384 pages

Fantasy

                                  The Hunger Games  is a story that takes place in what used to be North America. There are twelve outlying districts around the capitol in Panem. The districts once went to war with the capitol and were defeated. Because of that defeat each district must send a girl and a boy to represent their district and fight to the death on television.

                                   There are no illustrations in this book. This is a book for more advanced readers in about eighth or ninth grade. On some websites it says the book is appropriate for children 12 and up, but in my opinion this book should not be read before 13 or 14 years old.

                                    This book could be helpful in the classroom when talking about things such as government in our country and how a government could be. Students could also design a better alternative that fighting to the death every year and get them to draw a picture of it as well. The teacher could also work on students' vocabulary by pulling words from the text and doing activities with those.

Coraline

Written by Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Dave McKean

HarperCollins Publishers 2002

176 pages

Fantasy

 

                                I chose to blog about this book because it is one that I read in middle school. This story is very different and also a little scary. Coraline moves into a new house with her family. She finds a secret door that leads to a magic place that looks just like her house, but it is very different from her normal home. People in the other place have buttons for eyes and act strange.There are another set of parents almost exactly like her real parents that want Coraline to come stay with them forever. Coraline will have to fight to escape and make it back home.
                              The illustrations for this book appear to be done with pencils and ink. The illustrator gave the pictures that creepy, scary vibe. The pictures are dark and gloomy which is brought out well with the dark ink and pencil. This book has no awards.
                               This could be used in the classroom for students when they have extra time to read for pleasure. You could also get your class to imagine they had a magic door in their home that could take them to a secret place and get them to write about that place and to draw a picture with it. Another activity you could do would be to create a chart and write students names in the categories for who would go into a secret door/wouldn't go into a secret door if they ever found one.



Poetrees

Written and Illustrated by Douglas Florian

Beach Lane Books 2010

48 pages

Poetry

 

                               This book is not your regular book with poetry. Florian finds a very creative way to describe different types of trees while incorporating poetry. The reason I chose this book was because the title caught my attention and I wanted to see what the book was about. The author tells about several different types of trees such as oaks and coconut palms as well as the different parts of trees.

                         

      The illustrations in this story are very unique. Florian creates his illustrations collage style with  watercolors and gouache on primed paper bags. This makes the pages look very natural an earthy. The pictures are very beautiful and bring out the beautiful details of each tree.

                               This would be a good book to use during a science lesson on trees and the different elements of each different tree. This would also be a good example when showing your students different ways you can create poetry during writing. Students could also choose a creative word to describe a tree of their choice. This book has not received any awards.

The Flea's Sneeze

Written by Lynn Downey

Illustrated by Karla Firehammer

Henry Holt and Company LLC, New York 2000

32 pages

Poetry

 

 

                                This story uses poetry focused around rhyming and repetition. The author uses this to tell a story about eleven animals that are sleeping in a barn until a flea's sneezing wakes them up. This is a funny barnyard story that catches students' attention and keeps them entertained throughout the story. This book is for children from three to six years old. I chose this book because it was one suggested by my CT.

                                The illustrations in the story were created with acrylic paints done on Strathmore board. The first word that came to mind when looking at the illustrations in the book was "rustic". The pages contain colors that give you the feeling that a barn has. The illustrator seems to have a very vivid imagination with the way she brings the book to life.

                                 This book could be used when practicing reading more smoothly. It could also be used when discussing words that rhyme. Another thing that can be discussed from the story is the different kinds of animals that are in a barn. This book has not received any awards.

                                

                                  



Red Sings From Treetops-a Year in Colors

Written by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

Houghton Mifflin 2009

32 pages

Poetry

 

 

                                   This story takes the reader through all the different seasons throughout the year by connecting to all of your senses; taste, touch, sight, and smell. These poems also contain all the different colors for each season. These poems makes it less concrete and helps you to actually feel the seasons and all the different elements that makeup each season. "In winter, Green waits in the hearts of trees, feeling the Earth turn." I chose this book because of how beautifully the sentences are worded.

                                 Like the writing throughout the books, the illustrations do a good job of letting the reader feel each season instead of just simply reading about them. When a color is stated in a sentence, it is make bold so that it stands out from the rest of the sentence. The medium of the illustrations are mixed media paintings on wood and also computer illustrations. All of the colors make the poetry that much better. The colors are rich, warm, bright, and bold. The book received a Caldecott Medal in 2010.

                                This book could be used in the classroom when discussing the different elements that make up each season. The class could also discuss using imagery in their writing to make the reader really feel whatever it is that you are describing in their writing. Another activity that could be practiced using the story as a guide would be getting your class to practice using colors to describe different feelings, such as blues for calmness or greens and browns for that natural feel.



Button Up!: Wrinled Rhymes

Written by Alice Schertle

Illustrated by Petra Mathers

HMH Books for young readers 2009

40 pages

Poetry

 

 

                                   This book is a collection of poems describing different animal characters' articles of clothing. The poems vary from Violet's Hiking Hat to Clyde's costume. The lines rhyme at the end of every other sentence. An example of one of the poems is from Bertie's Shoelaces, "Good old Bertie, he let's us hang around. It doesn't bother Bertie when we drag along the ground. We're not uptight, as our Bertie buddy knows. We're hang loose laces, and we don't do bows!" The reason I chose this book was because the illustrations are very bright and pretty.

                                   The illustrations negative space on the page is white, which really makes each illustration pop. Some illustrations in the story have text on one page and an illustration on the opposite while other pages contain both on the same page. The medium is crayons and watercolors. All of the critters and their different types of clothing are created with very bright, deep colors.

                                  This collection of poetry could be incorporated when talking about words that rhyme. It could also be used when discussing adjectives and what the job of an adjective is. Your students could pick out good adjectives that describe a word well and put a sticky note of that word on a poster. It could also be a good example of showing your class how to make your writing more interesting and how writing can be created in many different ways. This book has not received any honors.



Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Retold and Illustrated by Jan Brett

Puffin 1987

32 pages

Traditional Literature

 

                                  I chose this book because it is one of the most popular and well known stories. It has been around for a very long time and there are several different versions and re makes of the story. Jan Brett's version is a little different, but still follows pretty close to the original version of the story. The story of a curious little girl that wanders into the house of three bears and makes herself at home eating their, porridge, sitting in their chairs, and even sleeping in their beds. The bears come home finding Goldilocks in baby bear's bed and she runs away frightened.

                                 I believe the illustrations are done with watercolor. In my opinion, Jan Brett's illustrations have that classic look. They are very beautiful and bring life to the pages. She uses many details which is what makes her illustrations come to life. Both the illustrations and the text are on a page. This book has received no awards.

                                This book could be used when reading classic pieces of literature to your class. You could also use this book when teaching your class about different elements of a story such as characters, setting, problem, and solution. This could also be used when trying to teach your students about the different times events took place in the story and the importance of time in a story. An example of this would be getting students to act out the story and then tell what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 

Strega Nona

Written and Illustrated by Tomie de Paola

Aladdin Picture Books 1979

32 pages

Traditional Literature

 

                               Strega Nona is a story that is retold by Tomie de Paola. The name Strega Nona actually means "Grandma Witch" in Italian. This is what some supposed witch doctors used to be referred to years ago. This story is about her and her helper named Big Anthony. This lady hires Anthony to take care of things around her house for her and gives him food and a place to stay in return. Strega Nona has a pot that has special powers. Anthony overhears Strega Nona using this pot and tries to perform a little magic himself when the old lady leaves for a day. He makes a big mistake and pasta starts taking over the whole town. Luckily, the old lady returns just in time to save the town and makes Anthony take care of the mess by eating all of the pasta. I chose this book because the interesting title caught my attention.
                             The illustrations for this book is done with watercolors as the medium. The illustrations and the text are on the same page throughout the book. The text is above the pictures, and also between and below pictures. The illustrations give that feeling of that old retold story. The negative space is white which makes the pictures look bright and the illustrations especially stand out. This book received a Caldecott Medal.
                              This book could be used when learning during social studies time. The teacher could use this as a reference to how people used to believe that some people were witches and possessed magic powers. You could also do an activity with your class and make a chart with two separate categories: Things from the story that could not really happen/Things from the story that could happen to give your class examples of things that cannot really happen in real life. The class could also write or draw about the difference in witches back years ago and witches today.

                               

 

 

 

 

 



Fables

Written and Illustrated by: Arnold Lobel

Harper & Row, Mexico 1980

48 pages

Traditional Literature

 

                            I chose this book because fables are something that have been around for years and years and they are very interesting to read. This book contains 20 short fables each taking up a whole page. All of the characters in the story are animals. A few of these tales include stories such as The Pelican and the Crane and The Cat and his Visions. Each fable teaches a lesson or moral at the end, such as, "there is such thing as too much order".

                            I think the illustrations are done with water colors and pencil. I was not able to find what the artist used, but I believe that is what he used. Each illustration takes up a whole page and the text also covers the whole opposite page. The colors are mostly dim, dreary colors that make the pictures seem sad. The illustrations show the characters involved in the story and sometimes a scene from the story.

                            One connection that could be used in the classroom could be when teaching you class about morals. This could also be a good book that could be used by the school counselor. These fables could also be used when discussing traditional literature in the classroom and how stories were years ago. A good activity that could be done is getting your class to make up their own story that teaches a specific lesson. This book received a Caldecott Medal.