Martin's Big Words

This book is amazing. It is simple, yet takes your breath away. The pages hold no names, no dates, no data to obscure the main point of the book. Martin Luther King Jr. passes from child to man in course of two pages. The text is light enough for younger students to read, or be read to, but the content is so deep that even fifth and sixth graders would be intrigued by it. You can see the simplicity by the cover, which offers no title, nor the name of the author or illustrator. His character is so renowned, his face is so unforgettable, that there is no need. 

The author Doreen Rappaport intertwines her narrative with the words of Martin Luther Kings Jr's so that his words pervade the pages. She even sacrifices her text to be smaller and black, while his are larger, bolded, and in a new color on every page. She describes his words in simplistic terms, she writes: "Martin said "Love" when others said "Hate." Then reinforces this statement with a quote " Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." 

The illustrator Brian Collier used collage to illustrate the pages of this book. Rich colors fill the pages in a full bleed, while the character are strong and lifelike. The first page offers a paragraph describing the reasoning behind the illustrators motives. Many of the pictures have text that appears randomly placed, but can be analyzed for deeper meaning. For example, the windows on the bus on one page say only... life.... and ...rules. Although not a complete sentence in their isolation, the meaning leads to the fact that although white ministers, mayors, governors, police chiefs and judges told African Americans to end their peaceful protests, that all those officials really had no authority over the protesters actions. Many of the other words could be analyzed by older students as part of an activity after reading this book. 

Although the story itself lacks significant detail for fluidity, it does offer a timeline of the major events in  MLK Jr's life. It begins with his birth and marks laws that were passed and eradicated, as well as extending after his death to mark accomplishments that occurred in the wake of his influence on the civil rights movement. This book is wonderful, but I suggest you read it several times before presenting it to a class, I had to have a good cry after my first read!

This book won the Caldecott Honor, as well as the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Best illustrated Children's Book Award from the NY Times Book Review in 2001.       

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

This was by far one of my favorite books as a kid. In rereading it I was able to fall in love with the characters all over again. In this story, Winnie Foster (a ten year old girl in the 1880's) sneaks off to the forest one day and accidentally stumbles onto boy drinking from an underground spring.  The boy, Jesse Tuck, is actually 104 years old. The Tuck family had discovered this secret spring in the Foster families' woods almost a century ago, and it made them all immortal. When Winnie meets Jesse however he must convince her to keep the spring a secret, and in doing so must kidnap her for a short while. The members of the Tuck family all have different views on their immortality, most think of it as a curse, by Jesse thinks of it as a blessing, . Over the course of about 36 hours, the reader watches Winnie form an unbreakable bond with the Tuck family, which will cause Winnie to question the issue of what she has been taught of wrong and right. While abusing her parents trust, she must maintain the secret, and do things for the good of society, as well as her new friends.

Surprisingly, the "bad guys" in this story that seemed so horrible to me long ago, and to the main character Winnie Foster, seemed completely different to a me as an adult. The actions of Winnie's mother and grandmother seem no different to me now than mine views as a parent today. The man in the Yellow suit who wants to "help" return Winnie from her captors, almost seems justified in his actions. Although I would like to think his actions are awful, they seem no different then the way most people would behave in his situation. The same can be said for the Treegap Constable. He was forced to behave in the manner he did by the laws set up by society. In this book we can see how a little girl can think in a higher order than adults in her society.

This book is a definite must read for both young readers (10+) and adults.

Meet Kaya, an American Girl

This girl is the first of a series about a girl named Kaya'aton'my', or Kaya for short. The story takes place in 1764, forty years before the Lewis and Clark Expedition. She is a member of the Nez Perce tribe, the story reflects many of its traditions. From smoking fish, to seasonal migrations and religious beliefs, this book is packed with accurate historical information, and offers the reader the opportunity to explore Pre-European American life through a first person perspective.

Kaya is an adventurous little girl who lets her bragging get her into trouble. She gains the nickname "magpie" because she is viewed by others as only caring for herself. She tries many different ways to lose this nickname, and in the process, almost every page of the book has an important life lesson. For example, as Kaya learns of the mysterious disease (smallpox) that has been affecting many other villages, and killing many and scarring others, the book states "Kaya was ashamed to be worrying about an unpleasant nickname when so much suffering had come to others". Another example is when Kaya has difficulty learning how to ride her her horse, while training it to trust her. After much frustration, her father explains to that "...no one is born knowing how to ride...you have to respect the horse...it takes a lot of work to learn what we need to know in this life". These are lessons that many adults have yet to learn, and as the reader gains historical insight on an often ignored side of American history, they can benefit from personal growth. 

The final chapter of this book is non-fiction introduction to the Nez Perce culture of both past and present. One major aspect of this chapter is that Native Americans are not locked in the past. We typically learn that Native Americans were the weaker group that was run out and lost to history long ago, and this chapter directly address that issue. It describes their lives before Westward Expansion, and continues to flourish long after. My favorite sentence is "Nez Perce Indians still live on reservations in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Canada, and other places within their traditional homeland, while others live throughout the country and around the world". This information is so important for children who think that native Americans are no longer around, and it is amazing to see how many kids who harbor this misconception!  

    

The Author, Janet Shaw, is a wonderful writer who was advised by Nez Perce Tribal Elders and other members to create her story. Kidsread.com describes Ms. Shaw in an article at  http://www.kidsreads.com/series/series-american-girl-author.asp.

I really liked this book, and as stated before, it is one of five others in the series. This would be a great advantage to students if it was paired with a Social Studies unit on the same topic.

The View From Saturday

This novel is excellent. It tastefully approaches many difficult subjects that children face on a daily basis. Topics such as divorce, bullying, physical impairments, racial differentiation, religious tolerance, extended familial relationships, and even endangered species! The author takes a unique approach to introduce each of the four main characters by creating a timeline of sorts. Each chapter is a window into the character's life, and is punctuated by portions of the culminating scene. The book begins where it ends, but the whole story is a spider's web of events that ties the characters lives together in many ways. Each character, unique in their own way, learns the importance of kindness through their "journeys". Many scenes made me laugh, many made me sad, some even made me blush! One instance in the book was when one character asked her aged husband how he could stand to play the same song over and over again on his violin. His response, which I believe was a little too grown up for a kids book, was "why don't you ask me how I can stand to make love to the same woman over and over"! Another grown up event in the book was when the school bully wrote the "A" word on one of the main character's back pack. He of course fixed it by changing the vulgar message to say "I am a passenger on spaceship earth". Many underlying proverb like messages underline the text, and the descriptions of people, events, and locations made me feel like part of the story itself. I think the lessons in this book are valuable, and the story itself is entertaining and well written, but perhaps the content is better for older students. As an adult though, I really enjoyed reading this one!

A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers

This book was a collection of poems that were adapted into a story, a "description [of] the curious menagerie of guests who arrive at William Blake's inn". The poems were originally composed by William Blake, a children's author from London who lived during the late18th and early19th centuries. His poems are magical, illustrative, and complex, showing that poetry does not have to be romantic or silly. His work inspires curiosity in ordinary objects, and adds moral reasoning to an almost fairytale spin on reality. For example, the poem Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way teaches two strong moral lessons, to be happy with what you have, and to enjoy life as it occurs. The walk, equated with age and emotions, leads an unfortunate rat to find out why you should heed such advice. 

Some poems are long, some are quite short. Some poems have complex language, some have rather simple rhyming and structure. I believe the the book's sub-title "Poems for the Innocent and Experienced Travelers" refers to this mixed variety. For this reason I believe it would appeal to all ages, but of course, the older you are, the more you can appreciate its subtleties.  

The illustrations of this book are exciting, and help pull details out of the poems. For example, Two sunflower guests to the hotel, who are weak and weary from travel, ask for a room. When they are planted "in the carpet [where] the topaz turtles run". What sounds silly at first is actually a quite sensible description, the flowers have been planted in a pot and placed on the carpet featuring a yellow pattern that resembles turtle shells.

I think the reason I like this book is because it uses so much imagination to capture everyday objects. Animals, people, and plants, are made into mythical creatures; but in children's eyes, everything is so. If by reading poetry, children could learn this ability to capture their imaginations in writing, I feel that adults would benefit from their words. We could some how recapture our childhood, like William Blake did so long ago. 

This book won both the John Newberry Award and the Caldecott Honor.

The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies

This book is a compilation of stories and poems about fairies, goblins, dwarves, elves, personified animals, and other mystical creatures. Fairies and Elves holds a place near and dear to my heart as my mother read it to me as a child, her mother read it to her, and I now read it to my children. Many of the main characters are easy to fall in love with, such as Cannery Bear, Dickey Bundle, and the sweet little Merbaby. The stories jumpstart the imagination of the reader while addressing such issues as being greatful for the things you have, not taking things that don't belong to you, and recycling items you don't need anymore to those who might use them.

Singeli saving the King

Elves and Fairies was written in 1951, with several of its stories borrowed from other country's folklore. One story, titled "Singeli's Silver Slippers" was translated from Swedish, and surprisingly (at least for 1951) has a female heroin. Singeli lives an honest and right life, as her silver shoes were a gift from the Fairies of fortune who forwarn "if you, dear child, go astray, silver slippers will vanish away". She grows up during the story, where she learned her fathers trade, worked to support herself, and even managed to save the young King on day. Her story is full of fairy tale creatures that help shape her life without her knowledge, but entertain the reader. This is just one of the many exciting stories that the reader is sure to enjoy reading time and again.

The stories tend to be long, several pages with heavy text, so it would probably be best enjoyed if read aloud to a young audience, or read independantly by older, more fluid readers. In addition, the stories in this book have excellent language usage, which can be used as examples to teach in the classroom. Lines such as music that"reached out into shadowy spots and drew more and still more dancing couples", or how bushes "spread in a web for miles" or how tiny carriages "bowl along into the shadows".  To see children's faces when you read the book to them, as they see the pictures of the characters, you will see for yourself how wonderful this book is. But don't take my word for it, check it out to see for yourself!



Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed, retold by Eileen Christelow

Anyone who has kids, or who has been a kid, knows what getting ready for bed is like. After the lights go out and the kisses have been distributed, its time to party! This book shows what happens when naughty little monkeys don't listen to their mama. For students, they can participate in the reading of this story as it is extremely repetitive. As the reader points to the words, students can start to recognize sight words, such as the, his, said, words kindergartners are just learning to recognize. It also helps children to learn to count backwards from five to one, and develop sight recognition skills for number sets. 

I enjoy the artistic medium that the illustrator chose. She used shading with color pencils to draw pictures that extend the meaning of the story. For example, the line "one fell off and bumped his head" doesn't give much information, but the pictures show the monkeys crying while mama monkey bandages them up, one by one. The last page is definitely a surprise, after all the monkey's are asleep in bed, mama has found her own entertainment. But, you'll have to read it to find out what it is!!!