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.

Verse Novel: Inside Out & Back Again

Title: Inside Out and Back Again
Author: Thanhha Lai
Publication: 2011

At first, I thought I wouldn't like reading the verse novel because sometimes I find it hard to grasp the literary elements of poetry and it's hidden meanings or symbolism. However, I actually found my book to be pretty easy and quick to read. I found it to be enjoyable and while it was poetry, the free verse was written in an easy way to understand. I think these books would be great for struggling or apprehensive readers. Verse novels would not be as intimidating to them because the pages don't have as much text as normal novels.

Lai writes in an easy, free-flowing way so that it's more like reading a story just in shorter form. So basically it's as if she wrote a story and then took out like half the words. It's like reading a shorter version of a full length novel. I found it quite enjoyable and actually not as difficult as I thought to read. She uses great diction in her verses to help portray certain scenarios like on page 31 when the author is describing how her mother would feel if her father returned. Her trick is to not just say she would be "happy," instead she shows what the mom would look like so the reader can infer and imagine for themselves how she would respond.

For example, "Mostly I wish father would appear in our doorway and make Mother's lips curl upward, lifting them from a permanent frown of worries" (Lai, 31). 

Throughout her book, Lai also weaves in history in a way that's easy to understand. She talks about the Vietnam War and how her family escaped it for safety in America. She describes the tough transition their family has adjusting to life in America, especially rural Alabama. The main character, Ha, based off the author real life journey, experiences many hardships while in America, especially with bullies. In reading this book, students would be able to gain a better sense of understanding for immigrants. Most are just trying to escape unsafe conditions of their homeland. We need to be accepting of immigrants who are coming for a better life and need to put ourselves in their shoes. What if America was in a state of emergency and we had to move to Europe, Vietnam, or Africa...would we want them to be accepting of us or bully us?

In my classroom, I would teach this book with a history lesson on the Vietnam War. I think it is a crucial part of history that students need to come to understand. I would also have them create their own family tree, journal or scrapbook, like the book recommends. Hopefully in reading this book, it would get them thinking about their family tree and background. Therefore, they would be interested in researching more about their own heritage. I would have them present these to the class so that we can all learn a little more about each other.

Controversial Picture Book: The Case for Loving

Title: The Case for Loving
Author: Selina Alko
Publication: 2015

My favorite part of historical fiction books is how the book presents a problem that the characters struggled with back in time and how we can compare it to today's society and how far we have come. We have made great strides in the realm of interracial marriage and this book portrays the fight beautifully. The book follows a white man and African-American/Cherokee woman and their fight for a legal marriage in Virginia. They eventually take the case to the Supreme Court and win the case. Because of their fight for their rights and their love, inter-racial marriage is no longer illegal in Virginia and other states. Their case set a strong precedent for many other people who wanted to have interracial marriages and subsequent racial/sexual marriage cases to come.

As I was reading this book, I knew the story sounded familiar. I had just recently seen a preview for the new movie, "Loving," which is based on the story of this book. I am so glad that they have chosen to make this into a movie, which definitely shows the progress we have made with racial equality. The fact that interracial marriage was banned, but now they are producing a movie about the story, shows how far we have come as a society and in the right for equal rights.

This book could be used in the classroom or at home to relate to problems in today's society, like same sex marriage. As author Alko writes in the back of her book, "When I first wrote this manuscript in 2011, only five states legalized same-sex marriage. As of today in early 2014, there are seventeen states wherein gay marriage is legal" (Alko). We still have great strides to make currently with it being 2016. We still need greater accepetance legally and socially for same-sex marriage. Hopefully twenty years from now we'll be reading books published in 2016 about gay rights acceptance and we will be able to think "oh, back in the day when it was illegal."

I enjoy books like these because they showcase to the reader the passage of time and how rights, constitutionality, fairness and freedom always win out!!

Controversial Picture Book: And Tango Makes Three

Title: And Tango Makes Three
Author: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Publication: 2005

So this book was really interesting in that it follows two penguins who are males and end up loving each other and raising a baby penguin together. I found it interesting that this book was actually based on a true story. So the fact that people or schools don't want a "true story" to be a part of students' lives makes it seem like they are keeping students from reality. Two males end up liking each other, instead of female and male. This is similar to homosexual (instead of heterosexual) humans who may end up liking the same sex. I think it is great to have a book that portrays homosexual relationships in a way that students can understand, through the use of animals instead of humans. This book will help them better understand why two people of the same sex might like each other.

I think it's a good idea for kids to be faced with reality. The reality of this book is not one that is harsh or depressing, it's just a factual part of our world. A lot of humans are homosexual, but people may not understand why. By having a student read about homosexual animals, they will be able to relate this to the human experience and maybe better be able to understand and accept another person's position on sexuality. Overall, I think this book would be good to have for students, so that they can be familiar with unconventional situations. It would also be good for students with same sex parents so that they can relate to the experience and characters in the story.

The coolest part to me about this book is that there is an ongoing debate about how a person can "change" their sexuality or be coached out of it. This book shows that sexuality can be inherent within a person. The two male penguins came to love each other just like two male people can. It is his or her choice of which sex he or she prefers to be with. This book helps support that argument and shows that sometimes our sexual preference is out of our hands - it may be just how we were meant to be.

Controversial Picture Book: Woolvs in the Satee (Wolves in the City)

Title: Woolvs in the Satee
Author: Margaret Wild
Publication: 2006

Wow, well this book is definitely different. In some ways good and in other ways... I can quite figure out. From the front cover of the book, one can tell that it is going to be dark and dismal. When flipping through the book, your inclinations are further supported. The pages are filled with dark, black almost demonic illustrtaions with what looks to be messy, charcoal drawings. I can tell the author is purposeful in her choice of illustrations, words, and the mode of the book. One that makes you feel a little depressed.

Furthermore, the story is very dark and depressing as well. I honestly wasn't even sure what was going on by the end of it and had to look up a couple summaries to be sure. It looks like there is no "specific" answer. A lot of people have very diverse ideas of what happens in the book. Basically the boy is scared of these "woolvs" but he is talking about wolves as if they are in his home. He is stuck inside someplace and seems as if he doesn't have access to food, the outside world, etc. He is burning furniture to keep him warm. The only connection he has with the outside world is with Mrs. Radinski. She brings him food and water and tells him "there are no wolves." The name "Radinski" makes me think this book could take place in the Slovak area of Europe because "ski" is popular in last names from those areas. So maybe this book has something to do about the Holocaust or Communism, etc. Still not sure, but definitely a good book to allow students to infer or decide for themselves what may happen. Overall, I'm still not sure what the plot of the story actually is, but I think that is the purpose of Wild's writing. I think she wants to leave you thinking about the book and therefore researching or talking about it with others.

In addition to its depressing storyline, this book could have been ban because of the writing in the book. Author Wild spells things phonetically and purposely misspells words to fit in with the feel of the book. Potentially because the main character may be illiterate or maybe because she wants to reach those students who may not spell well. It could connect with students and show them that they aren't alone is spelling things wrong.

Overall, this book is definitely very different and I can understand why it might be banned from class or schools, etc. However, I do think it provides a different point of view for young readers. It is an example of a book that should be presented to students to help them realize that this world is not perfect. We all have depressing thing that happen in our life and affect us in potentially negative ways.

Book of Choice: Finding Winnie

Title: Finding Winnie
Author: Lindsay Mattick
Illustrator: Sophie Blackall
Publication: 2015

Findig Winnie was a Caldecott award winner and therefore a must read for me!! I found out in the "about this book section" that the illustrations are "done in Chinese ink and watercolor on hot-press paper" (Mattick). How cool right?!? The illustrations are presented so intricately with small details on anything from the wheels of the train to the fur on Winnie the bear. Sophie Blackall's illustrations are also in the Ivy and Bean series, which I love!!

Now on to the text of the book, overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought the storyline was the cutest and so heart-warming. It's about a bear that is adopted by a veterinarian that is going off to war. He names the bear Winnie and she comes to be the soldiers mascot during the tough times of war. It just so happens that this very same bear is the bear that Winnie the Pooh was inspired by. Harry, who adopted Winnie, decides to give him away to the London zoo. There Winnie, becomes friends with a boy named Christopher. Christopher's dad is the one who writes the Winnie the Pooh stories based off her son and his friend bear, Winnie.

Complicating, am I right?!? .... This end part of the story threw me for a loop and even made the story a tad confusing. I had to go back and re-read to make sure I didn't miss something. It was a little confusing because it's almost as if they are blending two stories together, one of Harry and one of Christopher. This confusion in the storyline is the only reason I would be apprehensive to use it in the classroom. However, I love the overall story so much, it's worth a little confusion to get to the main point of the story. I would just need to make sure I allow for questions and concerns regarding the comprehension of the storyline. Having read the book myself, I know my students may be a tad confused, but I could help them work out the bumps along the road in order to understand the bigger take-aways from the story as a whole.

From this book, one can understand the true meaning of friendship, why one must follow his or her heart at times and not one's head, and the beauty behind little stories that make a grim time like war, one worth remembering. A $20 purchase at a train station, lead to the lifelong friendship between a bear and his owner. How would he know, one day that bear would be the story behind the infamous "Winnie the Pooh" .... he had no idea, but he sure did listen to his heart, that hunch, that told him to do it. And because of that purchase we have stories that live on about Pooh and his friends that we can all relate to in today's world.

Graphic Novel: Bink & Gollie

Title: Bink & Gollie
Author: Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
Publication: 2010

I really enjoyed reading my graphic novel and could definitely see myself reading more of these type of books. I think it's a great bridge between wordless books and regular novels because graphic novels offer both pictures and text. I found them easier to read than wordless books but more interesting than just regular books. Since I'm a photographer in my spare time, and very much a visual learner, these type of books definitely speak to me. I will definitely use these to teach in my classroom because I can see a wide variety of students liking this type of literature: those who may be struggling to learn to read, those who like comic books, and those like me, who love photos. I believe graphic novels will appeal to a large variety of students and therefore am super excited to use them in my classroom!!

The storyline of Bink and Gollie was so cute it just made you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Bink and Gollie go on adventures together and encounter difficulties with each other. They must compromise in order to reach both of their goals. By the end, they both learn the true meaning of friendship and what it means to have someone stick by your side. By the end of the book, I felt like I was cozied up by the fire place, hot chocolate in hand, watching my favorite Christmas movie with my family. It definitely was one of those feel good books.

Bink & Gollie was an easy read overall and a good book for children to be introduced to the genre of graphic novels. One could easily follow the flow of the book with each page having a limited number of photos and text. For students who are struggling to learn to read, this book could be very helpful. They could look at the photos for context clues on what the text says. Not only are these books helpful to the learning process, they are also fun to read!! Because of the graphic features, it could ease apprehensive readers into loving reading.

Author Study Book: Dona Flor

Title: Dona Flor
Author: Pat Mora
Publication: 2005

Dona Flor is a tall tale about a woman saving her town, a Spanish village. The giant woman has a kind heart and saves her town from what the people thing is a large mountain lion. It turns out the cat is just stuck and needs help from the giant woman. She can speak to all the animals and helped the cat  return to its home. You can see the Spanish influence throughout the book through different elements. For example, the main character has Latino features, the setting takes place in a Spanish town and there are elements like tortillas and a focus on family that tie in the Latino aspects to the book.

Pat Mora went out on a limb in creating a Latino inspired tall tale with a female as the main character.  This exemplifies her literary activism in wanting to give both women and Latinos a space in literature. She definitely is a role model to me, because I am very much for women's rights and multi-culrualism. Both of these aspects greatly influence her writing and has thus lead to an increased awareness of Latino culture and women in books.

If I were to use this book in the classroom, I would present it with a lesson plan on tall tales. I would then present other tall tales like Paul Bunyan and compare/contrast to Mora's version. We would discuss how the main characters differ like Paul being male and strong, while Dona Flor is female, strong, kind and all-knowing. Lastly, I would have my students find other tales that represent other cultures. In conclusion, I would teach them that while these stories may differ, they are all just as important. We should study all different types of cultural literature, so we can come to understand different heritages and ways of life.

Author Study Book: Marimba! Animales from A to Z

Title: Marimba! Animales from A to Z

Author: Pat Mora 

Publication: 2006

In this book Pat Mora takes cognates, which are Spanish words that sound like English words, and uses them in an animal ABC book. She uses different animals for each letter of the alphabet. She writes the word standing for a letter in Spanish and then the rest of the sentence following it in English. For example, "Hipopotamos practice the hula, in a happy hullabaloo" (Mora, 12). Hippo is written in Spanish but since it sounds and looks like English, it is easy for the reader to pick up. The picture of the animal on each page also helps the reader identify the Spanish word with the English animal. 

I really like the way she uses cognates in this book, because it helps reader not be so intimidated when trying to learn a new language. English or Spanish speakers can realize that they already know 26 words from either language simply because they sound a look like each other. One may not know how to spell the words but at least they would look familiar and they would be able to know what the word means. 

I would definitely enjoy using this book in my classroom, because I think it helps students realize the bridge between the two languages. There are actually a lot of similarities, and if they can pick up on those then they will be less apprehensive to learn the new language. I always remembered learning animals in Spanish as a kid because my teacher made it fun and would pair a picture of the animal to the word. This book uses the same concept. If I present the book with the picture of the animals, it will help the picture and word stick in the children's mind, especially for visual learners. I believe this book is very effective for beginners in Spanish or English to help them learn another language and to realize the connection between the two languages. 

Author Study Book: Book Fiesta!

Title: Book Fiesta
Author: Pat Mora
Publication: 2009

This is by far one of my favorite books by my author study, Pat Mora. This book has an interesting concept in that it promotes Mora's idea behind her "Children's Day/Book Day" on April 30th every year. She coined the word "bookjoy," which describes the joy one gets from reading, and uses this day to celebrate. I would love to use this concept in my classroom and celebrate reading and children on this day. In the back of her book, she describes how teachers, schools and communities can celebrate this day.

The book itself celebrates the joy of reading and how reading can become part of a person's daily life. She gives scenarios of different ways and places children can read, to celebrate the great gift of books  and reading. I love that she uses diverse characters, in that they range in race and gender. This allows more kids to be able to identify with the characters in the book. The drawings are marvelous and really draw the reader in. They are all super colorful and almost look like the images have been cut out by hand and put onto the page. They have a magical, surrealism effect to them as well that takes the reader to a whole other planet - or magical world - when reading.

My most favorite part of the book is how Mora incorporates the Spanish language into her writing. On each page, she presents the English version of the text, followed by the Spanish version. I think this is a great idea because if students are either learning Spanish or English, presenting both languages allows all readers to better connect the two languages together. I don't think it's all about pronouncing or reading it perfectly in both languages. I believe it is great to simply expose the students to both languages, so they are more familiar with the words. Through Mora's brilliant use of two languages, students will be able to better match Spanish and English words together because both texts are seen side by side.