Science Fiction

Summary of the book:

The book The Leaf Thief is about change in seasons. Squirrel was relaxing, counting his beautiful leaves, when he noticed one was missing. He frantically calls on his friend Bird to help find the missing leaf. He's convinced someone is stealing the leaves. Bird reminded Squirrel that this occurred last year. It happens every year, but Squirrel does not remember. When Squirrel woke up the following day, even more leaves were stolen by the leaf thief, he went to Bird again about needing help finding out who the leaf thief was. Bird showed Squirrel who the leaf thief was, the wind brought in by autumn. Bird reminded Squirrel that autumn leaves Fall every year, and the wind blows them away (Hemming & Slater, 2023). 

 Evaluate Genre/ Illustrations:

The book The Leaf Thief meets the quality criteria of fantastic literature. The story's characters and events are detailed and believable within the story's context. The occurrence of the forest animals talking is imaginatively but logical as they work to uncover the leaf thief. The writing is evident for the reader to understand, and the theme is meaningful. The bright and colorful illustrations add to the text's delivery. The character's emotions are visually seen through the pictures. Visually looking at the book's images, the colors of the pages represent the book's theme, which is changing seasons (Fall). The illustrator of the book is Nicola Slater. Slater grew up in the windy north of England; most of her family were cartoonists and painters, there's no surprise that she's become an illustrator (Good Illustrations, 2023). Slater's style is colorful and playful. Slater has illustrated several books such as Hello House, Jonathan the Magic Pony, That's My Flower, and many others (Good Illustrations, 2023). 

Motivational Activities:

After reading this book:

1. Have students draw a step-by-step picture of what happened to the leaves. Such as changed colors, started to fall, and the wind blew them away. 

2. Have each student present their narrative and drawing. And talk about Fall and other seasons and what occurs as the season changes. 

While reading the book: 

1.    Stop and have students pay close attention to descriptions given throughout the book.

2.   Before reading a page describing a setting or an item, have the students tell what they see and make a list on the board; once the book is read, compare the list to the changes that occur in Fall.

*This book can be paired with a science unit teaching seasons and seasonal changes. 

Personal comments/ Author background information:

I think The Leaf Thief is a wonderful book to have in a classroom library. The book can be used to teach the changing of the season to fall when it occurs. I also like that the author displayed squirrels' anxiety about the changes many students can relate to, as change is hard for many students. The illustrations do an outstanding job of visually showing what Fall looks like and what can be expected as the changes occur. This book is educational but also provides several laugh-out-loud moments. Alice Hemming is the author of the book. Hemming currently lives in the United Kingdom (Wikiyri, 2023). Hemming has written over 59 books; The Leaf Thief has been translated into 19 different languages, reached number 5 on the New York Times Best Sellers List for children, and won the Channel Island Children's Picture Book of the Year in 2021 (Wikiyri, 2023). Hemmings has written books such as That's My Flower, At the Zoo, Get Up, Tilly!, and others (Wikiyri, 2023). 

Reference

Hemming, A., & Slater, N. (2023). The leaf thief. Scholastic.

Nicola Slater. Children’s Illustrators. (2023). https://childrensillustrators.com/nslater/about

Wikiyri. (2023, July 21). Alice Hemming. WIKIYRI. https://wikiyrienglish.miraheze.org/wiki/Alice_Hemming 

Multiculture

Summary of the book 

The book Eyes That Kiss in the Corners is about a little girl who realizes that her eyes are different from her peers, who appear prominent, with long lashes. The little girls' eyes kiss in the corner and glow like warm tea, just like the women in her family's eyes, her momma's and Amah's. When the girl looks into the eyes of her momma and Amah, the stories of their culture from the past are seen. The girl recognizes her beauty and feels empowered (Ho, 2021). 

 

Evaluate Genre/ Illustrations

The illustrations in the book are very vibrant and appear realistic to the colors used in the Asian culture. The illustrator used every piece of the pages available to add as much visual detail to the book as possible. The illustrations give readers a text-to-visual experience when reading this book. The watercolors used to develop the images make the pictures stand out. At the beginning of the book, when the girl was describing her peers' eyes and how different they were, the illustrator did a great job providing various shapes, colors, and sizes of each person's eyes. The book relays a positive message to children about self-esteem and displays Asian heritage. The book's illustrator is Dungo Ho, a Vietnamese artist from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Dayton, 2022). Ho has illustrated several books such as Eyes That Speak to Stars, Me and Ms. Too, The Come Back, and many others (Dayton, 2022). 

 

Motivational Activities 

After reading this book, I would include an activity where the children draw their own eyes and have pictures of what they see in their families' eyes, as the girl did to describe their heritage. Set aside time for students to present their drawings and explain what they see and why they see it. 

 

While reading this book, I would ask why the student thinks the girls see the things listed in the book from her family's eyes. I would also ask how seeing these things makes the girl feel. At the end of the reading, I would have a class discussion about the moral teaching in the book and discuss how everyone is different based on their heritage and cultural background. 

 

Personal comments/ Author background information

This book is a book that I would read in my classroom. It's a story about diversity, presenting how an Asian girl accepts her appearance as she appears differently from her peers. However, this book is related to many students and can be used to build the self-esteem and self-confidence of anyone who reads the book. I also like how the author shows that the girl feels empowered by her appearance and embraces her appearance, recognizing her beauty. The author of the book Eyes That Kiss in the Corners is Joanna Ho (Dayton, 2022). Ho is the author of many children's books awarded New York Times bestselling awards. Ho has been honored with the Golden Kite Award, Ezra Jack Keats Award, and the Golden Poppy Award. Ho currently works as a local high school's vice principal in San Francisco Bay (Dayton, 2022). Ho has written numerous books such as Eyes That Speak to the Stars, One Day, The Silence That Binds Us, and several others (Dayton, 2022). 
 

 

References

Dayton, S. (2022, November 27). Eyes that kiss in the corners. Tales in Time. https://talesintime.com/eyes-that-kiss-in-the-corners-summary-by-joanna-ho/

Dayton, S. (2022, November 27). Eyes that kiss in the corners. Tales in Time. https://talesintime.com/eyes-that-kiss-in-the-corners-summary-by-joanna-ho/ 

 

Biography Informational

 

Summary of the book:

"All About Weather: A First Weather Book for Kids" is an informational book about weather. The book describes how the weather changes, giving facts about the four seasons. The book provides facts about what temperature water freezes, why it rains, and what causes rainbows and storms (Harajli & Sanders, 2021). The book also talks about the different forms of clouds and so much more (Harajli & Sanders, 2021). 

 

Evaluate Genre/ Illustrations

When comparing the book to the quality of nonfiction books, the book meets all of the criteria to be a quality nonfiction book. The book presents factual information for the reader to learn about the subject (Harajli & Sanders, 2021). The illustrations support the book's text and offer a visual picture of what is being presented in the text. The Illustrations in the book were watercolor pictures, very colorful and blended. The book gives factual information about the weather, including the four seasons children can learn from (Harajli & Sanders, 2021). The illustrator of the book is Jane Sanders. Sanders is the illustrator for several books such as "Woodland Walk: A Whispering Words Book," "I'll Walk with You," and many more (Good Reads, 2023).

 

Motivational Activities 

After reading "All About Weather: A First Weather Book for Kids," a small group drawing activity could be done. Each group would be given a season or an element about the weather, such as clouds, rainbows, etc., and the students would have to explain their drawings in a group to the class. 

Another activity could be a question and response with the class as the book is being read. There is much information on each page; stopping to answer questions about each page is an excellent way to get the students involved and think about the text being read aloud. Questions could be: What temperature does water freeze? Or how many sides does each snowflake have? And so on. They also show the students the pictures throughout the book as the text is being read so they can connect visually with the text.  

  

Personal comments/ Author background information:

The Book "All About Weather: A First Weather Book for Kids" is a great book to introduce to a classroom as learning material about seasons and weather experienced during the different seasons. The colorful illustration will draw the children's attention to the images and help connect the text with visuals to understand what is being presented. The Author of the book is Huda Harajli (Stacie, 2020). Harajli is an author and elementary school teacher who loves teaching about the weather (Stacie, 2020). Harajli has written several other books, such as "Green on Green," " Freddy the Frogcaster, " " The flash flood," and several others (Stacie, 2020). 

References 

Goodreads. (2023). Books by Jane Sanders (author of Hiit Made Easy - burn fat and lose weight fast). Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/226138.Jane_Sanders 

Harajli, H., & Sanders, J. (2021). All about weather: A first weather book for kids. Rockridge Press. 

Stacie. (2020, April 21). Children’s book review: All about the weather by Huda Harajli, MA. Sincerely Stacie. https://www.sincerelystacie.com/2020/04/childrens-book-review-all-about-the-weather-by-huda-harajli-ma/

 

Biography Blog post "The Girl Who Thought in Pictures."

 

Summary of the book:

“The Girl Who Thought in Pictures.” This story is about Temple Grandin, who was diagnosed with autism and went on to become a scientist and inventor. Many people did not believe Temple would learn to talk or become a person to make a difference in the world. When Temple started school, the children would pick on her and laugh at her; Temple had enough, fought back against the bullying, and was kicked out of school. Temple's mother sent Temple to live with her aunt on a ranch. Temple had determined that she was a visual thinker. With her visual thinking abilities, Temple's mind allowed her to connect with animals in a way no one else had. This connection led to Temple inventing improvements for farms around the globe, especially with cattle. Temple went to college, obtained three degrees, and is a well-known scientist (Mosca & Rieley, 2018).

 

Evaluate Genre/ Illustrations:

When comparing the materials to the quality in the biography checklist, the book "The Girl Who Thought in Pictures," all of the qualities listed are addressed in the book. The book is grounded in facts; it provides a timeline of events in Temples's life, and the information came from Temple herself. The facts and storyline are seamlessly integrated. The story is detailed and accurate accomplishments of Temple Grandin. The book's character Temple is well-developed and multidimensional; it relates to Temple having autism and how it's not stopped her from her accomplishments in life, avoiding stereotypes in the book's story. The illustrator of the book is Daniel Rieley (BookRoo, 2023). Rieley is an illustrator based out of London (BookRoo, 2023). Rieley has illustrated several books "Green Sea Turtle," The Tale of a Toothbrush", "Me and Mister P: Maya's Storm", and "This Is a Serious Book", along with several other books (BookRoo, 2023). The illustrations give visuals of what is taking place in the story. The picture shows Temple as a baby, at school, at the ranch, and creating her inventions; the illustrations provide several images of how Temple's brain sees things in visual form in her mind. The colorful and blended illustrations draw the reader's attention to the different details highlighted in the pictures.

 

Motivational Activities:

The book "The Girl Who Thought in Pictures" is a book that can challenge the students in ways of how they think about themselves or how they think others feel about them. This book can teach the different perspectives and ways things are processed differently by each individual. When a student thinks of an inventor or scientist, they most likely do not think of a person with autism; this book shows the diversity in the world and how people of all kind shape the world. An activity that could be used is having students assigned to different parts of the timeline and have the students act out the different parts and, as they do so, develop the timeline on the whiteboard so that in the end, a discussion about Temples struggles and accomplishments can occur with the entire class.

Another activity would be to have the students put the timeline of Temples' life in order. Have students break up into small groups and put the timeline pieces in order according to how the events occurred.

 

Personal comments/ Author background information:

"The Girl Who Thought in Pictures" will be added to my favorites. The author does a great job explaining how Temple was miss judged as a child, and she's never allowed autism to stop her from achieving her goals in life. This book is excellent for learning about Temple Grandin, how she became a scientist, and her accomplishments throughout her life. The author of "The girl who Thought in Pictures" is Julia Finley Mosca (Bookroo, 2023). Mosca also wrote, "The Girl with A Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague," "The Doctor with An Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath," and "The Astronaut with A Song for The Stars: The Story of Dr. Ellen Ochoa" (Bookroo, 2023).

 

References

Daniel Rieley. Children’s Book Illustrator. (n.d.). https://bookroo.com/creatives/daniel-rieley

Julia Finley Mosca. Children’s Book Author. (2023). https://bookroo.com/creatives/julia-finley-mosca

Mosca, J. F., & Rieley, D. (2018). The girl who thought in pictures: The story of dr. temple grandin. Scholastic Inc. 

Historical Fiction

 Summary of the book 

The storybook "I Know Here" is about a young girl living in a remote area in Saskatchewan, Canada. The girl lives in a trailer with her family; her dad is a dam builder, and she has found out the dam is almost built, and her family will be moving to the city of Toronto in the summer. The girl states that she knows the road she lives on, the woods she plays in, and the pond she catches frogs. She does not know the city of Toronto. When the girl and her classmates go to school, they talk about the families of the dam workers moving to Toronto; the teacher shows the kids on the map where Toronto is. The girl states she does not know Toronto, only as the red star on the map. The teacher suggests that the kids draw a picture to take to Toronto. The girl decides to draw what she knows, the road she lives on, the hills, the woods, and the pond she catches frogs in; she decides to take the memories she made to Toronto by drawing what she knows (Croza & James, 2013).  

 

Evaluate Genre/ Illustrations:

The book "I Know Here" is based on the life of the author Laurel Croza. As a child, she moved from place to place, and most places were like remote areas of Saskatchewan. Knowing this information, the story is historical fiction because it occurred in the author's childhood when living cultures differed from today. The illustrations in the book were bright and vibrant. The pictures represented the words narrated in the story by the girl, showed the memories of the street where the girl lived, her dad in the truck coming home to have lunch with the family, and many more as she thought about being faced with moving to another city. Matt James did the illustrations. James is a painter, author, illustrator, and musician (BookRoo, 2023). James' work has won many awards, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, New Mexico Book Award, and Governor General's Award for Illustration. James won the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award based on his illustrations in "I Know Here" (BookRoo, 2023). James wrote The Funeral and is illustrated for many books such as "When Comes The Moon," "The Stone Thrower," and "The Northwest Passage," along with several others (BookRoo, 2023).

 

Motivational Activities:

 After reading this book, an activity could be included where students draw or create their own place they know and the important memories they would want to take with them. This activity is a great way to show how each person's lifestyle may vary. Have students present their drawings to the class and discuss what they consider the "I know here" place in their life. 

 

After reading the book, students could use a map to find Toronto City and Saskatchewan, Canada. The students visually could see how far Saskatchewan is from Toronto City. Students could also find their state and see how far they are from Toronto City. Questions to ask students after reading the book could be, What places are important to the girl? The teacher can discuss who is telling the story of "I Know Here"? What are some things that happen in the girl's life that are different in our lives? 

 

Personal comments/ Author background information

I liked the view of the story; many families experience moving from location to location depending on available employment. I like that the story shows the emotion of what one feels when moving to a new area. The illustrations showed in detail the things that the girl recalls from memory. The pictures show outdated trailers, TVs, and trucks, representing a time in the past when traveling as dam workers were needed for areas such as Saskatchewan to obtain electricity. The book's author is Laurel Croza; she lives in Toronto, which was interesting; she experienced much moving during her childhood. The story "I Know Here" is based on her childhood experience (Laurel Croza, 2018). The book "I Know Here" has won several awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. Croza also wrote the sequel "From There to Here" and "The Whirlpool" (Laurel Croza, 2018). 

 

References

Matt James. Children’s Book Author & Illustrator. (n.d.). https://bookroo.com/creatives/matt-james

Croza, L., & James, M. (2013). I know here. Groundwood Books.

News. Laurel Croza. (2018). https://www.laurelcroza.com/news 

Contemporary Realistic Fiction

 Summary of the book: 

"The Twins' Blanket" is a story about identical twins who have shared everything in life since birth, including their bed and blanket. The twins are girls, and they are now five years old. The girls have outgrown their blanket, and both express their desire to keep the blanket for themselves, which results in several emotions being expressed between them. Their mother allows both girls to pick out the fabric for their blanket to be made with; each girl picks out their favorite color and style. Even though the girls are identical twins, they learn that they have differences in what they like and need their own space. Once the blankets are made, the girls are introduced to two twin beds dressed with their blankets. When the girls lay down for bed, they quickly discover how much they miss each other and bond by holding hands from their beds. 

 

Evaluate Genre/ Illustrations:

When comparing the book "the twins' Blanket" to the checklist for quality contemporary realistic fiction, the book meets all of the qualities. The story's problem is believable and solved realistically; the mother included the old outgrown blanket into each girl’s new blanket. Identical twins may experience sharing many things when at a young age, and as they get older, they develop into their personalities resulting in each twin identifying their style. The setting supporting the story is realistic, and the characters are credible. The illustrations in the book support the text by displaying how the twins have physically outgrown the blanket. The emotion expressed by the twins is shown in the images, which brings the story together for the reader of how they felt about growing up and developing into their selves. The illustration also shows that even though the girls no longer share identical things in their lives, they still need the love and support of each other.

 

Motivational Activities: 

After reading this book, conduct an activity where the children draw or create their own blankets. It is an excellent way for the children to show everyone how different their personalities are, resulting in no two blankets looking exactly alike. 

 

Questions that could be asked during the book are, what does it mean by identical twins? What steps did it take to make the blankets? Also, after reading the book, the children could be asked, how was the problem of the twins growing their blanket solved? In the end, were the twins happy with each other? What emotions did the twins experience during the story? Question and response is a great way to get the student's minds working, make them reflect on the text and story, and build an understanding of what order all the events occurred. 

 

Personal comments/ Author background information:

The book "the twins' Blanket" shows how identical twins' desire to have their different styles and personalities shine through. The story is realistic, any identical twins may experience this adjustment in real life, and this story helps showcase how it's okay not to be the same and to create your own style even if you have an identical twin. However, I like that it shows that despite the twins developing their personalities, they still love one another. The author of the book Hyewon Yum is also the Illustrator. Yum was awarded the 2012 Best Children's Books for Family Literacy, the 2011 School Library Journals Best Picture Book, and the 2012 Best Children's Book of the Year for the book "the twins' Blanket" (Wikimedia Foundation, 2023). Yum also was awarded several other awards, such as Golden Kit Award and Fiction Honorable Mention for the Bologna Ragazzi award along with several other awards (Wikimedia Foundation, 2023). Yum wrote many books, and several of her books have editions in English, French, Brazilian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. Yum wrote several books during her career Pubble, Saturday is Swimming Day, Last Night, and many others (Wikimedia Foundation, 2023). 

References

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, July 29). Hyewon Yum. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyewon_Yum

YUM, H. (2021). Twins’ blanket. FABER AND FABER.