Monthly Archives: November 2018

My Chinatown: One Year in Poems

Title: My Chinatown: One Year in Poems

Author(s): Kam Mak

Illustrator/Photographer: Kam Mak

Publisher and Year: Harper Collins Publishers 2002

Number of pages: 30

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Culture, Diversity, Family, Fiction, Friendship, Holidays, Picture Book, Poetry, K-1, 2-3

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: My Chinatown is a book of poems that follows a boy through a year in a Chinatown in America. He laments about the differences between his new home and his old home in China. He talks about many different aspects of Chinese culture, and the differences and similarities between the versions in America and the versions in China. At the beginning, he is resentful of America, but begins to enjoy it as the book progresses. It is written in free verse style poetry and the illustrations appear to be done in acrylics. There are no special features and students should have a good grasp on figurative language before they read this book.

Classroom Application: This text connects to a social science unit on China. It talks about many things that are important in the Chinese culture. The author talks about Chinese food, games, holidays, and other activities. Students could use this book to compare Chinese culture with their own or to compare life in Chinatown to life in China. This book could also be used in a Writing Workshop as an example of free verse poetry and expressive language.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book talks about a lot of aspects of Chinese culture, both in China and in Chinatown, USA. Students can gain an appreciation for Chinese culture through reading this book. A discussion could be had about immigration and leaving your home behind for a new country, particularly one that has an area that is sort-of like your home country, but not exactly the same. In the book, it says, “But I don’t want to go to school, where the English words taste like metal in my mouth.” It also says, “When we left Hong Kong, we had to pack quick. So many things got left behind-a country, a language, a grandmother, and my animal chess game.”

Alma and How She Got Her Name

Title: Alma and How She Got Her Name

Author(s): Juana Martinez-Neal

Illustrator/Photographer: Juana Martinez-Neal

Publisher and Year: Candlewick Press 2018

Number of pages: 29

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Culture, Family, Fiction, Picture Book, K-5

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: Alma and How She Got Her Name is the story of Alma, a little girl with a long name. Alma complains to her dad and he tells her why he gave her all the names that he did. He tells her of Pura, her great-aunt who believed in the spirts of their ancestors, and of Jose, her grandfather who was an artist. Alma realizes that she is like each and every one of her namesakes and she begins to like her name. At the end of the book is an author’s note and students would need to know the terms for various familial relationships to understand this book. The illustrations are done in graphite and colored pencils.

Classroom Application: This text meets Social Emotional Learning Standard 2.B, “Recognize individual and group similarities and differences.” Alma recognizes the similarities between her and her ancestors. Once she realizes the similarities, she appreciates the similarities and wants to be more like her ancestors. This story could also be used in the classroom if there were instances of students that were being bullied for their names (i.e. a Latinx student comes to a predominantly white school and the white students are not kind to the Latinx student). This book could teach students appreciation for different names.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book is about a child with Spanish sounding names. Many of the illustrations include the Spanish words for the items in the picture. It teaches appreciation for the Spanish-speaking culture, as when Alma’s dad is explaining who Jose is, he says, “Your grandfather taught me to see and love our people.” It can lead students to wonder what the story of their name is.

The Dress and the Girl

Title: The Dress and the Girl

Author(s): Camille Andros

Illustrator/Photographer: Julie Morstad

Publisher and Year: Abrams Books for Young Readers 2018

Number of pages: 33

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Friendship, Picture Book, Social Science

Genre: Historical Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: The Dress and the Girl is the story of the adventures of a little girl and her dress. At the beginning of the story, they are at their home in Greece. But one day, the girl and the dress board a boat destined for America. When they arrive in America, the dress is folded up in a trunk. The dress searches the globe for the girl, and they are finally reunited in a store many years later. There are no special features in this book and students would need little background knowledge to understand the text.

Classroom Application: This book could be used in a social science lesson on immigration, specifically immigration to the United States. This cute story about a girl and her dress could be used to show students how immigrants to the united states had to give up their home culture (the dress) when they got to the new country, in order to fit in better. Students could look into the immigration process of America. They could also choose a different country and compare and contrast it with America.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book is about a Greek girl and her dress immigrating to America. The story shows similarities between Greece and America, but it also shows the differences. It shows the hope that immigrants have when they leave their home for a better life. In the beginning of the story, it says, “But they longed for the extraordinary. Something singular, stunning, or sensational.” When they arrived at America, it says, “They wondered if now was the time for something singular, stunning, or sensational. For something extraordinary.”

The Journey

Title: The Journey

Author(s): Sarah Stewart

Illustrator/Photographer: David Small

Publisher and Year: Farrar Straus Giroux 2001

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Adventure, Culture, Family, Fiction, Picture Book, K-1, 2-3

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:  The Journey is the story of a little Amish girl’s trip to Chicago. It is written in diary format and she tells about her adventures eating hot dogs, going into department stores, and riding on a boat. There are large illustrations on every set of pages. On every other set of pages, there is a diary entry from Hannah, describing her day in Chicago, and the illustrations reflect what they did. On the sets of pages without the diary entries, the illustrations depict life at home, specifically the instances that she compares Chicago to in her entries. For example, when they were walking in the park and a horse got spooked, Hannah writes, “I grabbed the bridle and said, “Whoa, boy, Whoa”-like Aunt Clara used to do for me.” When the page is flipped, the illustration shows Aunt Clara calming down Hannah’s horse. There are no special features in this book and students would need some background knowledge of the Amish culture.

Classroom Application: This text could be used in a social science unit on different religions or cultures. It could be an introduction to the Amish community. This book could also be used in a writing lesson, as a different way to structure a text. It is written in an epistolary format, and prominently features illustrations. The students could take this style and use it in their own writing.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book is about an Amish girl, and many students have little to no experience with anyone from the Amish community. It could be used as an introduction to the culture, with students researching or creating research questions based on the information they learned in the text. In the story, the little girl goes to Chicago, which is something that many students in Illinois know of. They could compare and contrast their trips to Chicago (or their dream trip if they’ve never been) to Hannah’s.

Hey, Wall: A Story of Art and Community

Title: Hey, Wall: A Story of Art and Community

Author(s): Susan Verde

Illustrator/Photographer: John Parra

Publisher and Year: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 2018

Number of pages: 28

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Diversity, Fiction, Picture Book, K-1,

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: Hey, Wall is the story of a community coming together to beautify their neighborhood by painting the large wall. One young boy notices that the wall is ignored by most everyone in the town and decides to paint the wall. He recruits all his friends, family, and neighbors to paint the wall. They paint the wall to be a reflection of the members of the community. Students would need little background knowledge, besides the knowledge of the words used, to understand this book. At the end of the book is both an author’s note and an illustrator’s note. The illustrations are very colorful and cover the entire page. They are done in acrylics.

Classroom Application: This book could be used in a fine arts lesson in the classroom. A teacher could use this story to introduce a school beautification project to their students. It also connects to Social Emotional Learning Standard 2.C, “Use communication and social skills to interact effectively with others.” The narrator of the story must work convince the people around him to work together to accomplish the goal of making the wall beautiful again.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: The illustrations in this text feature people of every race. The author makes mentions to different cultures when the narrator is talking to the wall. It says, “Can you hear our music? We are salsa dancing [Latinx]. We are hip-hopping [African American]. We are dizzy from spinning.” When they are planning how to paint the wall, everyone contributes their own ideas and experiences to the mural, “We’ve all brought our ideas and imagination.”

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

Title: Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

Author(s): John Steptoe

Illustrator/Photographer: John Steptoe

Publisher and Year: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books 1987

Number of pages: 28

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Award Book, Family, Culture, Picture Book, Fiction, 2-3, 4-5

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:  Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters is the story of Nyasha, the nice sister, and Manyara, the mean sister. One day, the King sends out a proclamation that he is looking for a wife and all eligible women need to report to the palace. Manyara sneaks out of her home at night to be the first woman to meet the King and on her journey, she is rude to many people. Nyasha follows the next morning with her father, Mufaro, and is kind to everyone. When she arrives at the palace, the King reveals that he was all of the people that she was kind to on the journey and takes her as his wife. Students would benefit from knowing how to pronounce the various African words in the text. The illustrations in the book are incredibly detailed and take up the entire set of pages. They appear to be done in colored pencil. This book is a Caldecott Honor Book.

Classroom Application: This book could be used in a social sciences lesson on African cultures. In the front cover, the author mentions that the story is based off a folktale first published in 1895 by G. M. Theal in his collection of African folktales. The illustrations are based off of ancient ruins found near Zimbabwe. This book could also be used to teach Social Emotional Learning Standard 2, “Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.” The students could compare and contrast the two sisters and discuss their interactions, including ways to improve Manyara’s interactions with others.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: As mentioned above, this text is based off of an African folktale and the illustrations are based off of ancient ruins found near Zimbabwe. This text could be used in a unit on African cultures to enrich the students’ knowledge. It mentions some crops that are grown in Africa, “Nyasha kept a small plot of land, on which she grew millet, sunflowers, yams, and vegetables.” The illustrations are very detailed and show what the clothing looked like, how they traveled, what kinds of plants there are, and what animals live in the area.

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters

Title: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters

Author(s): Barack Obama

Illustrator/Photographer: Loren Long

Publisher and Year: Alfred A. Knopf 2010

Number of pages: 29

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Diversity, Family, Non-fiction, Picture Book, K-1, 2-3

Genre: Non-fiction

Descriptive Annotation:  Of Thee I Sing is a letter from former president Barack Obama to his daughters, Sasha and Malia. Throughout the story, Obama brings up many of the positive character traits that the girls have, and then introduces them to a historic American who also has that character trait. On the left side of each pair of pages is an illustration of Malia and Sasha looking to the right page at an image of a historically important American. Joining them on the page is a younger version of the individual being portrayed and the younger versions of each individual that has been featured in the book previously. Under the large illustration of each individual is a couple sentences explaining why that person was influential in American history. The last page shows all of the younger versions standing together facing the reader, with text that begins, “Have I told you that America is made up of people of every kind?” The illustrations are done in acrylic and at the end of the book is a page with brief bios on each of the individuals featured in the book. A knowledge of influential people in American history would be helpful for students to fully understand this book, but it is not necessary. Students should know what the various character traits mentioned in the book are, to understand why the individuals were influential.

Classroom Application: This text connects to many different academic areas and a Social Emotional Learning Standard. The individuals featured in the text’s occupational areas range from fine arts to science, math to social sciences and everything in between. This book could be used in early or late elementary to meet SELS 1.B, “Recognize personal qualities and external supports.” The character traits in this book are positive characteristics that students should develop throughout their lifetime. This book could be used to introduce a project where students pick someone influential from history that they have something in common with and then compare themselves to the historical figure.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book represents many cultures. Some of the historical figures featured in the book include: Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player; Sitting Bull, a Sioux leader; Maya Lin, a Chinese American who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for the civil rights of African Americans; and Cesar Chavez, a Mexican-American who fought for farm worker’s rights. This book shows that valuable contributions have been made to American history by people of all races and that America is great because it has such a diverse population. On the last page it says, “People of all races, religions, and beliefs. People from the coastlines and the mountains. People who have made bright lights shine by sharing their unique gifts and giving us the courage to lift one another up, to keep up the fight, to work and build upon all that is good in our nation.”

Drawn Together

Title: Drawn Together

Author(s): Minh Lê

Illustrator/Photographer: Dan Santat

Publisher and Year: Disney-Hyperion 2018

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Culture, Diversity, Family, Fantasy, Fine Arts, Graphic Novel, K-5

Genre: Fantasy

Descriptive Annotation: Drawn Together is the story of a little boy and his grandfather realizing that they don’t need to use words to connect to each other. In the beginning of the story the grandfather and the grandson struggle to understand each other, as the grandfather speaks Vietnamese and the grandson speaks English. One day, the boy is drawing at the table and the grandfather pulls out a sketchbook filled with amazing drawings. The grandson and grandfather begin creating stories together, using only their drawings, no words. There are not many words in the story, so a student reading this book needs a background knowledge of how to read graphic novels, or at least the critical thinking skills to figure out how to read graphic novels, to understand the story. According to the copyright information, the illustrations were done in a variety of materials and then rendered on a computer.

Classroom Application: This story has connections to fine arts and the Social and Emotional Learning Standards. This story shows that art can cross many barriers in communication. One page says, “Right when I gave up on talking, my grandfather surprised me by revealing a world beyond words.” A few pages later it says, “All the things we could never say come pouring out” in response to the newly-discovered shared love of drawing. It can also be used to show the art styles of the Vietnamese culture, and begin an inquiry into different styles of art in different cultures. Social and Emotional Learning Standard 2 talks about building positive relationships and this story is an example of building positive relationships without being able to talk to one another.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: Both characters in the story are Vietnamese Americans. The grandfather is more Vietnamese, and the boy is more American. It can generate discussion on many aspects of different cultures (i.e. language, food, art) and ancestry. There are many panels in the beginning of the story that show both American and Vietnamese items for comparison. Many of the grandfather’s drawings are done in what appears to be traditional Vietnamese style.

The Dot

Title: The Dot

Author(s): Peter H. Reynolds

Illustrator/Photographer: Peter H. Reynolds

Publisher and Year: Candlewick Press 2003

Number of pages: 28

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Fiction, Fine Arts, Picture Book, K-1

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: In The Dot, Vashti, a young girl is frustrated during art class because she believes that she can’t draw. Her art teacher challenges her to “just make a mark” and Vashti angerly makes a single dot on the page. The teacher has her sign the page and hangs it in the classroom. Seeing her art on the wall sparks something in Vashti and she begins to paint many different types of dots, eventually passing her love of art onto a young boy. A knowledge of art related words (i.e. colors, line types) would be beneficial to a read, but the images provide support to figuring out these words. The illustrations are done in tea, ink, and watercolor.

Classroom Application: This story is connected to fine arts and to the Social and Emotional Learning Standards. The entire story is about a girl developing a love of art. She paints many different colored and sized dots. Her artwork hangs on the wall in the school’s art show that “made quite a splash.” It also connects to the 3rd Social and Emotional Learning Standard. Vashti contributes to the school community by showing her art in the art show. She also helped the young boy to discover his love of art.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: The cultural diversity in this story lies in the main characters name. According to names.org, Vashti is a Persian name meaning “beautiful.” One of the Queens of Persia was named Vashti. This story could apply to many different cultures, as many different cultures value art. This book could be used to begin a student’s inquiry into different art forms and the ways that different cultures create and view art. In the illustrations, the characters are simply shaded, they are not shown as being any specific race. This allows all students to see themselves as Vashti, and see that they are capable of creating beautiful art.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors

Title: Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors

Author(s): Hena Khan

Illustrator/Photographer: Mehrdokht Amini

Publisher and Year: Scholastic Inc. 2012

Number of pages: 21

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Culture, Family, Fiction, Holidays, Picture Book, Poetry, K-1, 2-3, Social Science

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns follows a young girl as she explains the what the colors in her world are. Each page talks about a color and what object in the young girl’s religion are that color. A background knowledge of Muslim terms would be helpful, but there is a glossary in the back that defines many of the words. Each page is two sentences long and the sentences have end rhyme.

Classroom Application: This text can be used in the social sciences when talking about different religions. It could also be used to explain part of the culture of a student that is Muslim. This book could be used to introduce a unit on different religions and/or holidays, because it does talk a little about both Ramadan and Eid.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: As stated in the classroom application section, this text can be used to teach students about the Muslim religion. It is a brief introduction, so it could prompt students to look deeper into this religion or prompt them to ask questions and potentially research other religions. It can also be used in a unit on holidays as it says, “Brown is a date, plump and sweet. During Ramadan, it’s my favorite treat.” It also talks about Eid, “Purple is an Eid gift just for me. I open it up and love what I see.”