Children's Literature Summer 2018

Tales from Shakespeare, edited and illustrated by Marcia Williams provides a fun and exciting new approach to Shakespeare that makes it more accessible to students while keeping much of the original language. Williams has adapted and abridged 7 different classic Shakespeare plays (Julius Cesar, MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winer's Tale, Hamlet, and the Tempest) into a graphic novel. She kept all of the original dialogue in Old English on the comics themselves while adding in descriptions of the actions in modern English under each frame to help readers follow along with the story. Additionally, the borders of each page contain commentary from minor characters expressing their concerns and disbelief at the events happening on each page. This book can be a great way to help introduce reluctant readers to Shakespeare as it presents it in a more friendly and comical way, providing scaffolding through narration and illustration, while still present...

The book I chose for the Drama genre is, The Polar Express, written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. This book tells of a boy who believes in Santa Claus and Christmas and gets on aboard a train that takes him and many other children to the North Pole. On the train, he goes on a journey that leads him to meeting Santa Claus and receive a very special gift. The meaning of the book is to emphasize that believing is seeing not seeing is believing. When evaluating the components of Drama and this book, this book can be converted into a drama. The book contains several characters with dialogue and a narrative background alongside the characters. The book contains illustrations that emphasize a lot of action in the background and storyline. When evaluating the elements of Social Justice, this book does not effectively address issues of Social Justice but can fit into the criteria for Element 1 of Self-Love and Knowledge. The storyline talks about the boy having a strong belief i...

The book I chose for the Poetry genre is called "Haiti, My Country" This book consists of 15 different poems written by 15 Haitian schoolchildren. The poems were written before the Haiti 2010 earthquake and it is also emphasized in the book that those children live in a remote area of Haiti far away from all the calamities of Haiti prior to the earthquake. The poems showcase their view of Haiti and we can see the beauty in how they see life. As I evaluated the book and the poems written in the book, this book fits into the Poetry genre effectively for their great use of portrait illustration of each schoolchildren alongside the poem. The poems contains content that speaks to readers and provides imagery. The children also use language that enhances meaning of the poem. When evaluating the book using the criteria for Elements of Social Justice, this book fits into the criteria of elements 1 and 2. The poems reflects the children's self-love, compassion, and respec...

The drama book I selected is titled I Really Like Slop! written and illustrated by Mo Willems. This book is one of many ‘Elephant and Piggie Books’ where these friends go on many different adventures together! In I Really Like Slop! Piggie is trying to convince Gerald (the elephant) to try their favorite food: slop. Gerald is hesitate because of how the slop looks and the smell. At first Gerald refuses to try the slop, but once he sees that Piggie’s feeling are hurt, he changes his mind and tries a very small taste. When Piggie asks if he liked it, Gerald answers honestly by saying, “No, but I am glad I tried it. Because I really like you.” I Really Like Slop! is a great mini-drama that young readers will love. The story is told completely told through the dialogue between both characters. On each page Gerald and Piggie have dialogue bubbles that are also color coded (i.e. Piggies’ dialogue bubbles are pink and Gerald’s are grey) so readers are able to easily recognize wh...

The title of the book that I chose for poetry was "Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars" written and illustrated by Douglas Florian.  This book includes a variety of 20 poems that focus on various parts of our solar system.  Each poem uniquely describes the solar system with vivid words and imagery. After evaluating the book itself, it fits all of the criteria for effective poetry.  Each poem is written clearly to provide understanding from the reader without confusion.  In addition, there is vivid imagery aside from the pictures that allow the reader to make the words in the poems come to life.  There are also many smilies that compare planets to real life objects that allow the reader to gain an understanding of what it really is like on a planet or in outer space.  Last but not least, rhythm and rhymes are consistently seen throughout the book as the author includes rhymes in each line of his poems.  Therefore, this book is a great selection as it ...

The title of the book I chose for fiction was "Mars Needs Moms."  This book was written and illustrated by Berkeley Breathed.  The story focuses on a child who sees his mother as a burden in his life.  Aliens come to Earth and abduct his mother, but he quickly realizes that he needs his mother in his life.  The story continues with the boy journeying to outer space in search of his mom.  A lesson that can be learned from this story is that although mothers can be dreadful, they are always important in children's lives. After reviewing the genre evaluation criteria for fiction stories, this book fits more in the fantasy subgenre.  This story does an excellent job of narrating events throughout the story.  Aliens could very well be alive in the universe today, and although very slim chances, aliens could abduct people. (I hope not)  The author paints a clear picture of an alternative world if aliens did exist.  All events in the story are i...

My book for Poetry is Who wants a cheap Rhinoceros?  written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. The book is a humorous attempt of one child to sell his pet Rhinoceros by pointing out all of the ways it can be useful to have one around the home. His list includes a rhino's ability to help with knitting and opening soda cans to eating report cards and cuddling during the cold winters. The book starts out with one page of rhyming and then moves towards simple, free verse poetry for the remainder. Using the checklist for quality in individual poems, this book does a great job of introducing content that is accessible and interesting to all ages of readers. The text itself, especially complimented with the hilarious drawings, do a great job of engaging all readers and make it easy to follow along with, regardless of reading level. The majority of the poem falls outside of what children often associated with poetry (only the first page rhymes), so it could also be used for startin...

I am Jane Goodall Vlog