Fictional Picture Book: Imagine A...Day, Night, and Place

 

Title: Imagine A Night; Imagine a Place
Author: Sarah Thomson
Illustrator: Rob Gonsalves
Publication: 2003; 2008

Even after being out of my Children's Literature class, I have found that blogging about children's books has been very helpful as a resource to look back on while building my classroom library. I want to continue to blog about some of the books that I like so that I can refer back to them when needed.

One of my favorite series of books comes from author Sarah Thomson who wrote Imagine A Night and Imagine A Place. Both of these books are spectacular and really make the reader think outside of the box. Each page has these optical illusion type photos that are fun to look at and decipher. First you see one thing, but then as you continue to look at the photo - it turns into something else. The writing and illustrations take you to a whole different world. Here is an example of a page from her book...

"Imagine a place...where the tang of pine meets the salt of the sea, were adventure finds a waiting heart," or "Imagine a place...where the sigh of surf and the whisper of waves spill from your suitcase and drift into your dreams. Imagine...here."

 

These are just a few examples of the beautiful creativity Thomson uses throughout her book. The illustrations and beautiful and represent the imagination of artist, Rob Gonsalves from Ontario, Canada. His images beautifully portray the imagination we can have and dream up what ever our mind desires. 

Another one of my favorites is Imagine a Day, which was the first book I read in the series. I already read this book last semester and therefore choose not to blog about it. But I want to make sure to remember to add it to my classroom library, so therefore I will add a photo below!!

Poetry Picture Book: Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents

Title: Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents
Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator: John Hendrix
Publication: 2013

This book was super cool!! There is a poem about each president, so that readers can learn about each one a little more. I know for me, it was very helpful having the presidents listed in chronological order, so I could see the progression of time. The poems were short and sweet, cute and to the point, memorable but also easy to read. I think this book would be great for a fourth or fifth grade classroom as they learn about presidents and famous figures.

The best part about the book is that Singer provided a "Presidential Biographies" section at the back of the book, giving more detailed information about each president. Matching the poems to their biographies was very helpful because the biographies better explained some of the things they did, were known for, etc. The poems were more brief explanations about the more well-known facts of their presidency, whereas the biographies in the back gave a more detailed description of what they actually did while holding office.

I believe this book is a great resource to students because one, Singer, makes it easy to put a face to the name and remember the presidents through the fun poems. The poems are catchy and usually bring up something unusual or unique about the president to make him stand out. One of my favorites was Calvin Coolidge's poem. He was president during the roaring 20's and part of his poem reads like this: "More autos on the highways, more airplanes on the flyways, with radio and movies, who was bored? They kept cool with Mr. Coolidge, while the twenties roared" (Singer). Through this stanza, the reader can really get a feel for what it might have felt like to live in the twenties. With the onset of cars, planes, radios, and movies, how could the 20s not be roaring??

Overall, I absolutely loved this book!! I'm really into learning about history because I think being informed about the past makes us better able to make decisions for the future. This book makes learning about the presidents fun, easy and entertaining!! Singer makes history interesting with her catchy poems and loud illustrations. The short bios in the back help to summarize presidencies for students as well. The best part is this book is very relevant and modern because it was published in 2013, with Obama being the last president in her chronological history.

Poetry Picture Book: There's No Place Like School

Title: There's No Place Like School
Author: Jack Prelutsky
Publication: 2010

This book of poetry is very unique and thoughtfully complied. Prelutsky took poems about school and compiled them into a youthful, fun poetry book for kids. He opens up the book with a poem on school buses, then talks about recess, music class, cafeteria lunch, etc. - anything that involves a normal day at school. Reading this book brought back memories of my youth and the great times I had at school. He chose poems about some of my favorite times of school, and I can imagine for other students too. He also included poems about things students question or don't like about school, for example, hating math and liking spelling, or why one has to do homework, etc.

Overall, I think this book would be great to use on the first day of school. It would help students get the jitters out about school and that school can be a combination of fun, excitement and nervousness. I think this book would be a great addition to a classroom library because it could be read during any time of the year and could relate to a student's situation at school. It is also very useful because the book takes ordinary experiences and shows poems about them. This could help students involved in writing workshops better understand how to write poetry about day to day situations or normal occurrences.

Lastly, this book is an easy read and would be good for students who are just being introduced to poetry. The poems aren't super intense like some of the other books I've read. The best part about them, too, is that they are fun to read. For example, "My work's all done. I gotta run. Two minutes until recess. Clock, hurry! Hands, scurry! One minute until recess. Brrrrrrring! Dash! Gone in a flash!" (Dakos, 12). This is something we all experienced waiting for the bell to ring for recess. This poem helps show students how to take one's feelings and put them into an interesting, lively, and fun poem!!

Digital Picture Book App: Speakaboos Reading App

Title: Speakaboos Reading App: Stories and Songs for Kids
Publisher: Conscious Content Media LLC, 2016

This application was called "Speakaboos" which has over 200 stories and songs available to children to read electronically. This app allows children to have access to this many stories to choose from - literally it's like a library in their own two hands. I had so much fun flipping through the variety of stories, topics, and themes available to me. The application includes everything from fairy tales, fables, nursery rhymes, Thomas the Train, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street songs, stories organized by topic like soccer, science, music, etc. Overall I loved this application and would definitely use it in the classroom. The age range is 2-6 and I would prefer to be in a higher aged classroom, so I do hope they have one like this available for older students. It is such a neat concept and the best part is you can do a free trail to try!!

I read a couple different stores, but one of the ones I liked the best was "The Very Fairy Princess." It was super neat because it was almost as if you were watching a movie with subtitles. I would just need to make sure the children are actually looking at the words while they are watching the pictures move around. However, it is done well because they show the words at the bottom of the screen and they highlight the word that is being spoken. I love movies, so for me, this would have been a great way to get me more involved with reading. Reading is really fun when done this way, and I think children/students would agree!!

The downside to this app is you do have to pay a fee per month to use it. The plus side is you have access to over 200 stories that the children can use and read. The only problem I had while watching and reading some of the stories was that they were super slow to load. This could cause children to get distracted from the story and not want to finish reading. When reading a book in hand, you can go at your own pace, so page loading is not an issue. I don't know if it's because I was doing the free trial that it was slow, but they definitely need to fix this aspect of the app if I were to actually buy it.

Digital Picture Book: The Artifacts

Title: The Artifacts
Story and Illustration: Lynley Stace
Publication: Slap Happy Larry

The Artifacts is a story about a boy and his imagination. Even when his parents tell him to stop collecting weird things and moves him away to a new place, he still is able to conjure up creative ideas in his head. His room become a castle, a boat, etc. He imagines creative scenarios, which shows that sometimes are imagination can fit inside a box and we should use it and our creativity to make us happy.

Particularly, I love the sound features of this book. The music playing behind the words makes the book come alive. The book is eerie looking through the illustrations, however with the addition of the mystical music playing in the background, the book is further enhanced. The touch-feature elements are also very well articulated. On each page, you can touch the screen multiple times to add words, icons, etc. This makes the reader feel as if he or she is directly involved in the story. It almost feels as if you are there and through your actions, you are affecting the story. It's a very neat concept that you can't otherwise get from reading a non-electronic book.

Additionally, the narrations of the text help readers to identify words they might not know. By having someone narrate the story, it helps those (like me) who may have trouble pronouncing words learn how to say unfamiliar ones. It could help those who are struggling in areas like phonics or who are learning English as a second language, as well. They will be able to see the words with the sound of the narration, therefore helping them learn how to read and pronounce the English language. Overall, I would definitely use this book in my classroom. I think it would be really entertaining and interactive for students. They would have a fun time reading it, and just like the last app, they will most likely (and hopefully) left wanting to read more.

Digital Picture Book: Dragon Brush

Digital Picture Book: Dragon Brush
Illustrator and Designer: John Solimine
Publisher: Small Planet, 2012

Dragon Brush was one of the e-books that Cahill and McGill-Franzen mentioned in their article on selecting appropriate "apps." I definitely understand why they added this app to the list, because wowwww was it amazing!!! I honestly didn't know that interactive books like these were out there for children. I am so glad our professor gave us this topic as a blog post because I was able to study and look at different e-book applications. I grew up with a younger sister (6 years younger than me) and therefore thought I was up-to-date on all the cool things out there for children. However, since the advancement of technology, companies have developed such interesting and interactive applications for children. I am excited to get to blog about these apps and was so excited to experience them for myself. I can't wait to see the reaction of children and to see how they use them in and out of the classroom.

Overall, Dragon Brush, was particularly entertaining. I felt like I was watching a movie and playing a game all in one. It was super interactive because on each page you were able to draw with a paintbrush, click different characters to see their reactions, and find hidden treasures. Overall, I was entertained, so I am sure a child will be! The illustrations were superb and the overall design of the app was excellent. I know if must have taken a long time to develop the app and wow can you tell they put a lot of thought into it.

The only negative complaint I would have is that I almost wish the book had a multi-part series. So maybe after you read the first story, there is a second, third, fourth, etc. I think that is a good way to get children hooked on certain books and reading in general. I know I would love to continue the story, and students would as well. So that would be my only suggestion for the app to improve. In having more stories available, I think it will prevent students from getting bored or having to read the same story over and over again.   

Poetry Picture Book: At Christmas Time

Title: At Christmas Time
Author: Valerie Worth
Publication: 1992

This poetry book was particularly fitting because it is about the onset of the Christmas season to the end. The book takes you through different poems about Christmas time, like the day's becoming shorter, Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, Wise Men, Angels, Santa Clause, etc. The book ends with a Spring poem, showing the change of season and the wait for the holiday season the next year. Each poem is super cute and short, giving the reader a good idea of the Western traditions of Christmas. This book definitely gets you in the Christmas spirit and is a great one to read around the holiday season.

This book is written to a Western audience and therefore, as a teacher I must be careful to present a book that only shows Christianity. I think this is a good book to have so that whether or not a student is a practicing Christian, he or she can read this book to understand what the Christmas holiday in America is like. This book gives a great overview of the different elements that make up the holiday season and therefore is educational for those who may not practice Christianity. This book is also go for students who celebrate Christmas because they are able to see some of the elements of the Christmas season wrapped up into pretty poems. This will help them to see familiar things like presents, angels, or trees and be able to see how one can write poems about them. Reading this book will hopefully give them a better sense of poetry as a genre and broaden their horizons on how poetry can be written.