REVIEW: So Happy!

Henkes, K. (2005). So Happy! China: Greenwillow Books.

0060564830

So Happy! Shares the story of a magic seed, a little rabbit and a little boy and the day that their stories intertwine when the rain arrives. With a Southwestern setting, this story has no clear setting in time. The characters dress in traditional Mexican attire.

The illustrations are done by (the very successful) Anita Lobel. Her use of colors, shapes, and angles is impressive to capture desert setting.

My one complaint about this book is the title. While the idea of being "so happy" does enter into the text, I feel like Henkes and his editor could have thought of a better title for the book. As it is, I don't think the title captures the actual sentiment of the story.

Activities:

So Happy! Could be used to describe the way that animals, plants and the environment are dependent upon one another. A teacher could focus on gardening, weather patterns or the way that seeds grow into plants (which could then be paired with the long term assignment of trying to have each student grow their own plant in their own pot that they painted. (What? Did I have to do that assignment as a child? Yes, yes I did. And my friends and I competed to see who's plant grew the fastest.)

A teacher could enter a tentative discussion on the idea of magical realism, not so much as a genre, but in terms of seeing magic in nature and in the environment. The ability for a seed to grow is described as being a certain type of magic.

The boy featured in the story shows an interest in the architecture of bridges, so this book could hold special appeal to a child with similar interests.

Quotes of Note:

"Someone had planted a magic seed.

The sun shone down,

but there was no rain,

so the seed didn't grow."

"The seed was thirsty.

The rabbit was lost.

The boy was bored. Then..."

REVIEW: The Napping House

Wood, A. (1984). The Napping House. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc.

0152050809

A new edition of The Napping House has been published and I'm very excited about it. Because this is another one of those books that I think deserves classic status. I mean it's survived 25 years and still is often referenced as a wonderful example of picturebook-dom. Has this been declared a classic yet? Can I declare it to be classic? Do I have that magic power? Let's find out. Pssst! The Napping House is a classic pass it on! We'll see if that works.

In case you haven't heard, "there is a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping." The illustrations and narration then move into a house to describe a grandmother who is sleeping in the bed, and which child and animals join her there. The language is repetitive, growing on itself level by level, working an early reader up to reading almost a half-page of text. Of course, the peace cannot last, and everyone's ability to snooze depends on everyone else's and readers can see the tower of sleepers be undone, napper by napper.

The illustrations feature a lot of curves and soothing blues, all excellent for easing children to sleep. It's also fun to see the change in perspective as the bedroom is viewed from different angles.

Activities:

This simple book is wonderful as a read aloud before or after a nap or night's sleep. Since the language repeats, it can be a good book for children to memorize and play at pretending to read.

The second half of the picturebook features many synonyms of ways to disturb a sleeper that can aide children's language development.

On a less typical note, if a child is used to being able to have a bed to themselves, this book could be used to let them know that it could be fun to share a bed during a sleep over, or while a cousin visits, etc.

Quotes of Note:

"There is a house,

a napping house,

where everyone is sleeping."

"And in that house

there is a bed,

a cozy bed

in a napping house,

where everyone is sleeping."

"And on that bed

there is a snoring granny,

a snoring granny

on a cozy bed

in a napping house,

where everyone is sleeping."

"And on that mouse

there is a flea...."

REVIEW: The King's Chorus

Hayward, L. (2006). The King's Chorus. New York: Clarion.

0618516182

Kadoodle the rooster crows at all hours throughout the night, leaving all the people and other creatures on the farm exhausted. Despite the other animals trying to talk to him, Kadoodle still won't stop crowing through the night because he is the King of the Barnyard. So, Honketta decides to put Kadoodle in his place by telling him about the King of the World.

The King's Chorus takes on religious significance since it explores the reason roosters crow in relation to God.

Jennifer P. Goldfinger's artwork is beautifully done, with colorful brushstrokes that realistically capture the farm. Apparently Goldfinger grew up on a farm and her only research for this book involved "waking up early to watch the sun rise." That's my kind of research...except that it involves getting up early.

Activities:

Sharing The King's Chorus with students could lead to a discussion on being considerate of others and how to negotiate difficult situations and conflicts with classmates and friends. It also touches on issues of power and authority, which will seem very familiar to kids who often try to verbally one-up each other.

It can also give fun insights into farm life or trigger research on the various animals mentioned (or students more familiar with farms could draw on knowledge they already have and dictate or co-create their own stories about animals in response.

Since the story also features a dream Kadoodle has, a teacher could lead children to discuss their dreams or turn them into stories.

If a teacher felt inclined to share this story's religious significance, after finishing it as a read aloud, he or she could discuss prayer as a way for God, I mean, the "King" to hear people.

Quotes of Note:

"Kadoodle was not like most roosters.

Most roosters crow at the break of day. Kadoodle crowed at the break of anything."

"Kadoodle paid no attention. He knew he was King of the Barnyard. And as king, he would do exactly what he wanted."

"I'm the King!" said Kadoodle proudly. "The King of the Barnyard," that's me!"

"Yes, but I was sent by the King of the World," explained Honketta. "He lives in the sky."

REVIEW: Harvesting Hope: The story of Cesar Chavez

Krull, K.  (2003).  Harvesting Hope:  The story of Cesar Chavez.  New York:  Harcourt, Inc.

0152014373

Interest Rating:  !!!

Today marks the beginning of Latino History Month.  I would have made an effort of emphasizing Latino and Chicano children's literature, but let me be honest here...I didn't plan ahead enough.  So, I'm only doing this book review...but it's about Cesar Chavez, who was full of awesomeness!!!!!!!!  And Harvesting Hope was a Belpre honor book (the ALA's narrative and illustrator awards for Latino writers and illustrators).

Harvesting Hope is a picturebook biography of Cesar Chavez, the founded of the Nation Farm Workers Association, worked tirelessly to obtain rights for migrant farm workers and helped trigger  the Chicano rights movement.  This story follows his life from childhood to late in his life, emphasizing his peaceful protests.

The illustrations are bright and colorful with many wavy lines that reflect traditional latino culture.  But what I really like about this picturebook biography is how much Chavez's childhood is emphasized.  Krull makes a point of mentioning that little Cesar was nervous for school to start and the discrimination he faced in American schools.

This picturebook is on the text-heavy side, so I do recommend using it with middle grade readers or as a shared read aloud.


Activities:

Harvesting Hope can be used in social studies classes in lessons on civil rights movements and peaceful protesting (His philosophies could be emphasized, since they parallel the ideas of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.).

This book could also trigger discussion on discrimination, outside the classroom and within.  If appropriate, a teacher could also encourage a discussion on how it feels to have multiple language in one classroom or learning English as a second language.  It could be an opportunity for students to give voice to their worries or problems.


Quotes of Note:

"Until Cesar Chavez was ten, every summer night was like a fiesta."

"Cesar was stubborn, but he was not a fighter.  His mother cautioned her children against fighting, urging them to use their minds and mouths to work out conflicts."

"Cesar's old life had vanished.  Now he and his family were migrants--working on other people's farms, crisscrossing California, picking whatever fruits and vegetables were in season."

"Nonviolence," he said, "takes more guts."  It meant using imagination to find ways to overcome powerlessness."

REVIEW: The Last Days

Westerfeld, S.  (2007).  The Last Days.  New York:  Razorbill.

9781595141286

So, with the conclusion of Peeps, this book's prequel, an ancient version of the plague was on the rise in New York City and other parts of the world.  The Last Days follows a different group of teens experiences as the plague continues to spread.  And it actually jumps back and forth among the perspectives of all of the band-mates.

The Last Days opens with a crazed woman throwing possessions out of her third-floor apartment.  When Moz sees her send a mid-seventies Fender Stratocaster flying, he and another bystander act quickly to save the valuable electric guitar.  And that is how Moz met Pearl.  Moz has been in a band with his best friend, Zahler, for years, but when Pearl joins the mix, the internal power struggles begin.  As more people are chosen to complete the band, Pearl invites her old friend, Minerva, a struggling peep (vampire), to sing for them, which provides some complications, both in terms of the emotions their music provokes and how the band members feel about one another.

Of course, a plague that threatens all of New York City slowly bubbling up into the street forms the background as the band's struggles to get along and to finally pick the band's name.  Among the group's efforts to get a record deal, they wonder about the state of civilization.  What is the future of New York City when sanitation conditions are worsening and people are fleeing the city?  Underlying this is the way that technology  have helped to allow viruses to spread quickly throughout the world (Was Westerfeld predicting a medical scare over a virus such as swine flu?  Yes, yes, more that a little.)

While this wasn't exactly what I would have expected from the sequel to Peeps, the story of the 'everyteen' dealing with ordinary life and a potential apocalypse does entertain.  And of course, the band may have a surprising role in being able to avoid said apocalypse.

A couple of the featured characters from Peeps do reappear, but readers will have to wait almost 200 pages to meet them again.

The Last Days could work either after reading Peeps or as a stand alone read (in which case the tensions are a little different and the notes from the Night Mayor a little confusing for a while).  There are of course, references to Peeps, so it would provide more insights if a reader took on Peeps first.

Overall, I had more trouble getting into The Last Days than I did Peeps.  I think I had trouble finding the drama and tension in the story.  While I cared about one or two of the characters in the band, others annoyed me (Minerva!  Hiss!).  It got to the point where I only had 20 or 30 pages left in the book, and the only reason I finished reading them was out of obligation, not because I really cared what happened anymore.


Activities:

The Last Days is a good book to discuss disaster and influenza from the safety of fiction.  A teacher could bring in recent articles over the Swine Flu panic.  The book also lends itself to discussions of the history of diseases, vampire lore, and considerations of power struggles (on various levels) and discussions over class.

This is a good book to recommend to a music aficionado or actual teen musician, since each of the chapters is named for a different band.


Quotes of Note:

"I think New York was leaking.
It was past midnight and still a hundred degrees.  Some kind of city sweat was oozing up through the sidewalk cracks, shimmering with oily rainbows in the streetlights.  The garbage piled up outside the restaurants on Indian Row was seeping, leftover curry turning into slurry.  The glistening plastic bags would smell jaw-droppingly foul the next morning, but as I walked past that night, they still gave off the perfumes of saffron and freshly thrown-out rice" (p. 3).

"Why bother with riffs and solos and lyrics when all the crowd wanted was an avalanche of screams and smashed Ikea furniture?" (p. 5).

"Pearl thought that "fate" had brought us together, but that was the wrong word for it.  Fate hadn't made the woman go insane.  People had been edgy this whole weird summer, what with the crime wave, the rat wave, and the crazy-making heat.  That was bigger than Pearl and Zahler and me" (p. 23).

"I saw the pules in her throat, and the beast inside me growled.
Mustn't eat Pearl, I reminded myself" (pp. 47-48).

REVIEW: Chato Goes Cruisin'

Soto, G.  (2005).  Chato Goes Cruisin'.  New York:  G.P. Putnam's Sons.

039923974x

Chato the cat enters into a competition to win a cruise for two and wins!  His good look turns bad though when he and Novio Boy discover that they will be trapped on the ship with a bunch of dogs!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Oh noes!  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too many exclamation points?

Despite the set back of being surrounded by their natural enemies, Chato and Novio Boy still manage to have a lot of fun.  That is until all the dogs aboard the ship get sick and it falls to the two cats to find help.

This picturebook includes a lot of Spanish vocabulary perfect for Spanish students and empowering for students from a Hispanic background.

The illustrations are interesting, with segments that are in a black and white comic style juxtaposed with the painted, curving more colorful artwork.  

Activities:

A fun and humorous read, Chato Goes Cruisin' would be a great one-on-one read with a child, so that an adult could point out the details in the juxtaposed sections to the young reader.

Since the cats fear that the dogs will be prejudiced against them, this story could be used as an allegory to discuss issues of stereotyping and prejudging.

This book could be incorporated into a Spanish classroom for any age as a read aloud to assist students with new vocabulary.  Older students could also take into account the way the cats' masculinity is presented.

Quotes of Note:

"Win a Cruise for Two!" Chato read while popping crunchies into his mouth.  Feeling lucky, he clawed the entry for from the bag."

"A few weeks later, Chato shouted, "Chihuahua!  We won!"

Won what, homecat?" Novio Boy asked.

"The Cruise for two!" Chato became dreamy."

"But wait!  I don't like the ocean.  It's got too much agua in it."

"When they arrived at the dock, they were surprised to find it full of dogs."

Special Edition of Random Thoughts: VAMPIRES!

Let's talk vampires for a moment.

With the popularity of the second season of True Blood, Stephenie
Meyer's Twilight series has come under a bit of fire as of late.  Now, Meyer certainly doesn't need me to defend her (nor would I really want to...unless she paid me...Stephenie?  Money?  For me?), but I do want to consider the state of the vampire in popular culture for a few moments.

At one point Stephen Moyer (Vampire Bill on True Blood) charged that the Meyer's vampire, Edward Cullen was a "pussy."  (I'm no liar!  Here's proof!)

I don't particularly disagree.  It's hard to take seriously a boy who turns all sparkly in the sunlight.  (To be fair, I will admit to owning a "I *heart* sparkly vampires* T-shirt.  But I wear it with irony people!  Irony!)

Okay, fine whatever.

Then, Alan Ball, the creator of the show True Blood claimed to have not read Meyer's series, but expressed confusion over having a story about teen abstinence with vampires, since , in his view, vampires represent sex.

Okay again.  Whatever.

But then I started thinking (bound to happen at some point).  While vampires are often associated with sex, I do think their representation in culture is more complicated than that.  Thomas C. Foster, who wrote the very accessible How to Read Literature Like a Professor (2003) considers vampires:

"The essentials of the vampire story, as we discussed earlier:  an older figure representing corrupt, outworn values; a young, preferably virginal female; a stripping away of her youth, energy, virtue; a continuance of the life force of the old male; the death or destruction of the young woman" (p. 19).

Let's see, applying these criteria to the Twilight series *Spoiler* check to all of the above in one sense or another.

Hmmm, interesting.

I then thought about Jink's The Reformed Vampire Support Group, a young adult novel that deconstructs the idea of a powerful, sexy vampire.  There's the implication that all of Foster's checklist occurred to turn the protagonist Nina into a vampire.  But, at the start of the story she's already been stripped of her youth, energy, etc. etc.  So what do we do with that.  Is it than not a vampire story?

Hmm.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group is about people.  People just trying to live.  True Blood/The Southern Vampire Series is also about people just trying to live.  And I suppose the same could be said for Twilight (although Bella's annoying depressive nature could provide a counter argument).

So, you may be wondering, what's my point?

Don't know.  Didn't have one.  These are random thoughts.  Look at the tag below.  "Random Thoughts"  right there.  And now I've decided I'm done being random for the day.  (Also may be done thinking, that remains to be seen)

What are your random thoughts?

Certified Resolution Writing Endeavor Review Report: Week Thirty-Seven

Not much going on here.

This blog is officially also available at thehungryreaders.com.  So, if you ever feel you need to escape blogger, you can find Monica and my literary thoughts there.

It's strange, but I've finally grown accustomed to having to send out queries regularly.  Instead of needing to set aside a certain amount of time each week, I find myself just randomly and reliably doing so throughout the week.

Some days, trying to get published is much more of a painful-frustrating-I-want-to-scream-or-sink-deep-down-into-an-oceany-abyss process than others.  Right now, I'm catching up on the episodes of Hung that I missed over the past several weeks (and let me tell you, I felt awkward googling the show title to create the link in that last sentence).  On the plus side, in ten years, if I'm still totally unpublished, I could TOTALLY be a better pimp than the struggling poet, Tanya, is on that show.  That's something.

REVIEW: The Dog Who Belonged to No One

Hest, A.  (2008).  The Dog Who Belonged to No One.  New York:  Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

9780810994836

The Dog Who Belonged to No One not only tells the tale of a lonely dog, but also of a lonely girl named Lia who must make bread deliveries alone on her bike as the other children play.  When a storm begins suddenly in town, the dog must run for shelter and the Lia must pedal.

To help create sympathy for the dog (which wouldn't be difficult to begin with), he is anthropomorphized in terms of its emotions more than is strictly necessary to create the parallels within Lia and the dog's stories.

I liked the theory of this book and the way it was constructed (especially when the dog's narrative was side-by-side with Lia's).  I felt like there was too much effort put forth to make the reader pity the dog.  The title alone was enough to make me go "awww, poor little guy.  I hope someone adopts you."  All that was missing from the text was some truly vile character kicking the dog as he passed by it.  

The setting of the book is historical, but neither the text nor the illustrations give explicit information about the time period or location, which would be useful to a social studies teacher.

Activities:

A teacher could have students focus on the language used with the dog and with Lia, how there are parallels in the vocabulary.  This simple and gentle story lends itself to having students predict what will happen.

A teacher can also take on the obvious lesson of adopting dogs or other animals from a shelter.

With older students, this book could be brought in to show as an example of a foil or interweaving of different stories.

Quotes of Note:

"Once there was a small dog with crooked ears.

He belonged to no one."

"And once there was a wisp of a girl named Lia."

"The dog who belonged to no one spent his days quite alone, exploring the narrow streets and wide boulevards of town after town...all through the changing seasons.  He longed for a friend."

Review: The Other Book

Womack, Philip (2008). The Other Book

272 pages, 159990201X

Three second summary: Twelve-year-old Edward Pollock, attending boarding school at the ancient and slightly creepy Oldstone Manor, finds himself caught up in an ancient battle over the possession of The Other Book, a “magical tome” that contains immense and terrible powers.

The Other Book has the kind of introduction that grabs you and shakes you until your teeth rattle, and then drops you into the main plot so suddenly that you sort of have to pause and take stock of where you are before continuing on with the rest of the book – the kind of introduction where, should my mother have happened upon it, she almost certainly would have asked me why I was reading something containing descriptions of murdered knights whose “long, curled hair had fallen dead around their shoulders.” Honestly, just listen to this:

…he would have to run past the thing that had once been his father, which now stood in the centre of Great Hall, so drenched in blood that his clothes stuck to his body, grinning, revealing his decaying teeth, his sword ready for the kill…

As an aside, Daddy, I am so, so terribly glad I’ve never had to worry about running past your decaying teeth and kill-ready sword….

And the craziness just keeps coming. We’re talking power-mad ghosts, evil religious figures, omens and portents, prophetic dreams, books that possess their reader, curses, bullies with hearts of gold anger mixed with awesome, a little bit of Sylvia Plath -- not one of my favorite poems, but you can’t have everything -- and, of course, inevitably, Merlin.

(Nothing I love more than Arthurian references. Galahad! Call me!)

To be honest, my biggest complaint with the book was that, for some reason, I had consistent difficulty keeping track of what time period the darn thing took place in. Every time one of the boys would swear, I’d immediately think, “Wait, did they say that a hundred years ago? Wait… is this taking place a hundred years ago? Wait. We’re in modern times.” Perhaps it had something to do with the location – Edward sticks closely to Oldstone Manor, when he’s not being carted off to psychiatric hospitals to have Incorporeal Tomes wrenched from his psyche (Read the book.), and Oldstone Manor is so thoroughly enmeshed with the past that keeping track of specific time periods is fairly irrelevant.

The book is obviously the first in a series – although I enjoyed most of the characters, several of them were definitely not developed as well as one would hope. I assume they will be fleshed out more as the series progresses. And just in case we were worried that no future books were forthcoming, the last five pages see the delivery of “The Jewel of the Scryer” to Edward. His ghostly knight companion explains that “Its uses you shall come to know soon enough.” I’ll take that as a promise, Ghostly Knight.

The Other Book is occasionally stilted and slightly ponderous -- characteristics I have come to expect from an author's debut book. Overall, though, it's deliciously dark and haunted. I may not be waiting for the sequel with bated breath, but I’ll definitely pick up a copy from my local library once it comes out. I’m terribly curious to see if evil can be defeated once and for all – but with a first novel as twisted as this one, I’m not going to bet on it.

Quotes of Note:

“And all that came out, from the massing rush of emotion, were two simple sounds that were to seal his fate for ever: ‘I will.’”

“And then Edward realized that things are not always closed; that there are gaps through which tragedy slides, that there will always be horror seeping in from somewhere.”

Hungry Readers Exclamatory Rating: !!!

REVIEW: Kitten's First Full Moon

Henkes, K.  (2004).  Kitten's First Full Moon.  Greenwillow Books.

0060588292

I love this book.  It is my hope that it becomes a classic (and I don't think I'm alone in that).  It captures a child's emotions, imagination and sense of wonder well.

A young kitten sees the full moon in the sky and believes it to be a bowl of milk.  She sets out farther and farther from home, trying to get a lick of the tasty milk.  Since children will have a better understanding of the moon, reflections in ponds, etc. most kids find humor in the Kitten's misunderstandings as she learns about the world.  They can also relate to the kitten's emotions of hunger and fear and the sense of security and comfort she finds in the end.

Shared in gray-scale, the illustrations are simple, but capture the kitten's emotions well--with round surprised eyes when surprise is called for.

Activities:

Kitten's First Full Moon may be used as a read aloud for fun, to familiarize students with cats, the moon, the fact that objects will reflect off of still water, the need to be careful when leaving home, the sense of safety at being welcomed back, the idea of setting lofty goals for yourself and not giving up.

Many younger students are prone to pretending to be cats after a teacher shares this story with them, so said teacher should be ready to give the cild some milk in a bowl instead of a glass.

Quotes of Note:

"It was Kitten's first full moon.

When she saw it, she thought,

there's a little bowl of milk in the sky.

And she wanted it."

"So she closed her eyes

and stretched her neck

and opened her mouth and licked."

"But Kitten only ended up

with a bug on her tongue.

Poor Kitten!"

"Still, there was a little bowl of milk, just waiting."

REVIEW: The Man with the Red Bag

Bunting, E. (2007). The Man with the Red Bag. New York: Joanna Cotler Books.

9780060818289

So, in the U.S. we're now raising a generation of kids who know something happened on September 11th, 2001 that changed the way we live in this country, but don't really know how or why.

As with many sensitive issues, literature can be an excellent way of starting a conversation. And The Man with the Red Bag will certainly provoke one.

Set in the summer of 2002, Kevin is about to begin a bus tour of many monuments throughout the central and western United States, when another tourist gets on the bus and attracts his attention. The man appears to be of Middle Eastern descent and is very protective of the red bag he carries with him.  Several of the tourists are immediately suspicious of the late addition to the tour.

Kevin, an aspiring mystery writer, decides to investigate the man in hopes of writing a mystery of his own.  He recruits the only other child, a girl named Geneva who is traveling and is emotionally distant from her dad, to help.

Activities:

Aside from talking about terrorism, September 11th and the influence it has had on our culture since the attacks, a teacher could also discuss issues of racial profiling, terrorism, divorce, fear and (on a lighter note) how to write a good mystery.

The Man with the Red Bag also lends itself to geography and history lessons as the tourists take in various monuments around the United States.

Quotes of Note:

"I held the bag tight against me. If there was a bomb in here, it wouldn't be too smart to jiggle it.

Running, running" (p. 1).

"Right from the beginning I was suspicious of the man. Right from the minute he got on the bus. Maybe it was because he acted so strangely about the bag. But mostly it was because of the way he looked" (pp. 1-2).

"Of course, at that time, at the beginning, my suspicions were just gut level. Well, it was June 20, 2002, not even a year after 9/11. That's a date no one will ever forget" (p. 2).

"So on day two of the tour, when the man got on the bus, things started looking up.  Suddenly I had a project.  I'd watch him, take notes, maybe get my whole book done, first draft, before we got home.  Well, at least the first few chapters.  And besides that, I'd be an anonymous, unpaid security guard for the tour.  I'd be a bodyguard for Grandma" (p. 6).

Drumroll, Monica!

Hello all!

I apologize for such a belated entrance, especially after the beautiful (and pink!) post Shel devoted to me on Tuesday. As she said, I'm a librarian in training and a lover of all things lit. And if said lit things happen to include unicorns, vampires, or urban elves... I'll love them a little bit more.

I'm ridiculously excited to be a part of Hungry Readers! Not only will it give me a solid excuse to read books that are tragically deemed to be "too young for someone [my] age," but I've been looking for a reason for years to team-blog, and couldn't pass up the chance when Shel suggested it.

Because of my schedule (oh, full-time employment and SLIS homework, how I love/hate thee) I regret that I won't be able to dominate the book reviews the way my partner in crime does -- and isn't she insanely good about updating? If only we could all be so fantastic.... Anyway, I'm going to aim for one or two books a week, to start off with. I will be focusing mainly on young adult fiction, although if a Diary of a Wombat-esque picture book drops into my lap, I'm not going to pass up the chance to rave about it.

Please let me know if there's anything you recommend I read, or if you'd like me to review any particular novel! I'm always open to suggestions... and eager for an excuse to increase the number of books piled all over my house.

There's a lot more I could babble on about, but you'll get plenty of that in my reviews, I promise. I look forward to getting to know all of you regulars -- and to meeting the hordes of new people that my arrival will inevitably precursor.

And now if you'll excuse me, I've got a dragon-laden novel to finish....

REVIEW: Otto Runs for President

Wells, R.  (2008).  Otto Runs for President.  New York:  Scholastic Press.

0545037220

Oh Rosemary Wells, it feels like you have been writing forever.  You and your anthropomorphized animals.  I can't help but recall you have a particular fondness for bunnies.

This time around, Dogs and political campaigns are the focus of Otto Runs for President.  The school is torn between voting for Tiffany, the prettiest poodle, and Charles, the sports team captain.  What follows is a very gendered and stereotypical campaign process (What can I say, I like my female dogs to campaign for more than eyebrow pencils to be added to the pencil kits) that quickly turns nasty.

Otto, who is actually concerned with what his fellow students want, decides to run as well.  Will Otto, who is not popular, be able to get his classmates votes running a clean and honest campaign?  

The fact that there's a disclaimer stating that any resemblance to actual candidates is coincidental does amuse me.  Despite this, this picturebook feels more like a critique of the American election process intended for actual politicians than a fun read intended for young readers.

Activities:

If their are local elections or school elections for class representatives a teacher could share Otto Runs for President to help show the process and pressures as well as the role popularity and cliques can play.

A teacher can emphasize the idea of running a clean and honest campaign and that the point of serving in office is to represent all of the students and to consider their needs, not your own.

Quotes of Note:

"It was election time at Barkadelphia School.

"Whoever collects fifty paw prints can run for president of the school," announced Miss Kibbler."

"Tiffany will win!" shouted all the popular kids.

"Tiffany's the cutest and the smartest!"

"I don't know why they are so popular," said Melanie.

"They don't care about anybody but themselves!"

"Suddenly, Otto had an idea.

"I'm going to run for president," he said.

He began by asking his classmates what they really

wanted at Barkadelphia School."

REVIEW: Mother Goose

Moses, W.  (2003).  Mother Goose.  New York:  Philomel Books.

0399237445

Moses begins this picturebook with several of the Mother Goose rhymes shared on one page.  Among the first poems shared are Little Bo-Peep and Humpty Dumpty.  From there the reader turns to discover a traditional European landscape that includes all of the rhymes from the previous page.  Mother Goose continues in that structure for the rest of the book:  Share six Mother Goose rhymes, show a landscape that depicts all six of the rhymes.  The picturebook turns into a high-end matching game, if you will, helping young readers to remember the rhymes they just read or heard and to create visuals for those rhymes.

Moses's illustrations are beautifully painted, capturing historical European life with brush strokes that ever so vaguely reminded me of Monet's.

Other rhymes included are:  There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater, Three Blind Mice, It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring, etc.  All the favorite classics, plus some less known ones!


Activities:

Aside from matching the rhymes to the right part of the picture page, students could also examine the illustrations closely and create their own stories about what could happen in the towns.

Since the seasons change among the illustrations, a teacher could also talk about time passing.

A teacher could also lead students to discuss the fact that there wasn't actually any one real Mother Goose.