A Gift From Abuela

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Title: A Gift from Abuela

Author(s): Cecelia Ruiz

Illustrator/Photographer: Cecelia Ruiz

Publisher and Year: Candlewick Press, 2018

Number of Pages: 30

Tags: Culture, Diversity, Family, Fiction, Picture Book, K-1, 2-3, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

This book is written mainly in English but it has some Spanish vocabulary throughout the story. A Gift from Abuela is about a grandmother and granddaughter who spent a lot of time together when Niña was a little girl. As she got older, they grew apart and Abuela wanted to get Niña a present, so she tried to save a little money each week but eventually she fell on hard times, did not have any extra money to save, and forgot where she had hidden her saved money. The currency in Mexico changed, and the money Abuela had saved became worthless. One day, Niña found the worthless money and she and Abuela used it to make a craft they used to make when Niña was a young girl.

Classroom Application:

This text could be used in the classroom to reinforce a lesson on Mexico or a lesson on basic Spanish vocabulary. At younger ages, many students may have never left the country, so this story could give them a glimpse into Mexican culture. It could also give an insight into Mexican history, as the book mentions life in Mexico becoming increasingly difficult and the government changing the currency.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This book clearly represents the culture of Mexico and the people who live there. The illustrations show a Spanish town with shops that have Spanish names, while the story tells of favorite things to do and eat in Mexico. Abuela “liked teaching Niña how to make papel picado banners” (page 5) and at the end, “with the old bills, Niña and Abuela made the most beautiful papel picado banners” (page 27). I would ask the students if anyone had ever been to Mexico or knew someone from Mexico, or ask if anyone could speak Spanish or knew a few words of it. I could also simply just ask the class what prior knowledge anyone has about Mexico.

Illustrations:

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Ida, Always

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Title: Ida, Always

Author(s): Caron Levis

Illustrator/Photographer: Charles Santoso

Publisher and Year: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016

Number of Pages: 37

Tags: Animals, Emotion, Fiction, Friendship, Picture Book, K-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Ida, Always is based off a true story of two polar bears in the Central Park Zoo. The story introduces the reader to Ida and Gus, two polar bears who played together, ran together, and dreamed about New York City together. Ida taught Gus about the city’s heartbeat, and how it was always around them and with them. One day, Ida got sick, and the zookeeper told Gus that Ida would die soon. Gus and Ida spent all of Ida’s remaining days together, working through their feelings; some days growling, other days laughing. Eventually, Ida died, and Gus learned how to accept her being gone, while still remembering her and feeling her heart beat there with his.

Classroom Application:

This text would likely be used best with teaching children about death, loss, and grief. While heavy topics that may not necessarily come up in curriculum and standards, they could be important to discuss depending on student experiences or situations within the classroom. Many students encounter the death of a loved one or classmate at an early age, and a book like Ida, Always could be a good tool.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This book is set in the Central Park Zoo in New York City. Many students may have never been to a big city, so the illustrations and some of the text may give students an opportunity to experience the culture of a big city. Most suburban and rural areas have a lot of land that is green and natural, but many cities do not have landscapes like this. The illustrations in Ida, Always portray the landscape of big cities, where there are lots of buildings and skyscrapers surrounding the relatively small area of natural land. The polar bears also talk about the noise of the city as “the city’s heartbeat” and how “they added their snores to the sounds of their city”. I could introduce the book by asking students if they have ever been to a big city and what they noticed about the landscape there. I could also ask the students if they have ever been to a zoo and/or if they have ever seen polar bears.

Illustration:

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Eraser

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Title: Eraser

Author(s): Anna Kang

Illustrator/Photographer: Christopher Weyant

Publisher and Year: Two Lions, 2018

Number of Pages: 38

Tags: Fiction, Fine Arts, Friendship, Picture Book, K-1, 1-2, 2-3, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Eraser is a story about school supplies that all work together to create projects and complete homework, but Eraser feels left out and unimportant. Many of the other utensils exclude Eraser from meetings and activities so she eventually decides to run away. She meets the Rough Drafts and they all admire her and show Eraser her worth and how useful she is. The rest of the school supplies also realize their need for Eraser and she comes back to the desk and is included into the group. Students reading this book will enjoy it more if they have a grasp of puns and word play.

Classroom Application:

This text could easily be used to reinforce inclusion within the classroom. Nearly all students are aware of the importance of erasers and they understand that all their school supplies have individual uses. That can be a great way to show that just like school supplies, all students are unique and bring different talents and valuable experiences to the classroom.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This book represents a culture and an atmosphere of inclusion. I could easily open with an activity, asking students to use a pencil with no eraser to do something where they would need to erase. After reading the book, I would also focus on the idea that all students can be included because they all bring something useful to the classroom, just like Eraser says, “I DO create. I create second chances” (page 24). The setting and characters allow the book to be easily related to, as most, if not all, students have experience using school supplies. The story is also funny, holding students’ attention, like when Scissors says, “I don’t run. EVER” (page 7).

Illustration:

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Roxaboxen

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Title: Roxaboxen

Author(s): Alice McLerran

Illustrator/Photographer: Barbara Cooney

Publisher and Year: Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard Books, 1991

Number of Pages: 27

Tags: Adventure, Emotion, Family, Fiction, Friendship, Picture Book, K-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Roxaboxen is a story based on the childhood experiences of the author’s mother growing up in Arizona. It is about young kids who would play in the desert across the street from their homes as they created a town and their own little society. They made houses, streets, and businesses, had cars and horses, and even had a mayor and policeman. As the children grew into adults, they still carried their memories of Roxaboxen with them, and it was still there years later, physically and in spirit. There is an author’s note at the end, commenting on the origins of the story and how her mother’s memories helped the author and illustrator create the book.

Classroom Application:

This book could be used in classrooms to reinforce lessons about desert areas, such as Arizona, where this story originated. The illustrations depict the landscape and flora quite accurately. The book could also be used as an example to show students how to work well together in creating something. Like the children in the book played together and created a town, so could students learn to work together on things like projects and tasks in the classroom.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

Depending on where one lives, this book could give a class insight into what it is like to live in a desert area. It looks much different than living in the Midwest, and there are lots of different cultures in the Western United States that are not as common in places like Illinois. It could also be used to show the culture of times in the past. In today’s society, children have many things that keep them occupied inside, like phones and tablets and television. Back in 1991 when this book was written, children entertained themselves a lot by playing outside and using imagination. This book gives insight to children who grew up being creative and inventive with what they could find outside, like “a tin box filled with round black pebbles… [that] were the money of Roxaboxen” (page 6) or creating cars out of “something round for a steering wheel” (page 15). I might introduce this book by asking my students to imagine living before a lot of technology and I might ask them what things they could do to have fun without tablets and televisions.

Illustration:

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This One Summer

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Title: This One Summer

Author(s): Mariko Tamaki

Illustrator/Photographer: Jillian Tamaki

Publisher and Year: First Second Books, 2014

Number of Pages: 319

Tags: Emotion, Family, Fiction, Friendship, Graphic Novel, 6-8, 8-12, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fictional Graphic Novel

Descriptive Annotation:

This graphic novel is about a young teenage girl and her family who go up to their cottage on a lake every summer. The story follows the girl, Rose, and her friend, Windy, as they spend their days at the beach and their nights watching horror movies from the local store. The girls are exposed to many adult things as they hang around the store where the older kids hang out. Rose’s family is also going through a rough patch that summer and Rose learns of the secret behind her mother’s new negative attitude towards the lake. This book has a lot of crude language and mature themes that are not acceptable for students younger than high school age, if not older.

Classroom Application:

This book could be used to discuss life issues in a high school setting. Some students who read this book might be introduced to topics they have had little experience with, if any at all.  It is important to use this book as a discussion starter, instead of simply a “free reading” book, as it could stir up strong feelings within students.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This One Summer represents the teenage culture around the “coming of age” period in adolescents’ lives. It was published in 2014, so the portrayal is similar to today’s experience. The story is a graphic novel, so most of the dialogue is through speech bubbles and a lot of the plot is carried through the illustrations. In one scene, the young girls are talking about the older kids they ran into at the store, and it is clear they are impacted by the teenagers’ actions. Rose and Windy start talking about them once they get home saying, “‘Oh my god those girls are sooo loud. I bet you they were drunk. They’re like, DRUNKS’” (page 40). I would introduce this story to my class with a warning of the maturity of its content and language. The story not only deals with intense topics, but also situations where families are apart, like when Rose’s mom says to Rose, “‘I know you’re angry. Rose. I didn’t send your dad away’” (page 224). It gives students an insight into what life is like for families that may be different than their own.

Illustration:

     

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Waiting for Normal

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Title:  Waiting for Normal

Author(s): Leslie Connor

Illustrator/Photographer: N/A

Publisher and Year: Harper Collins, 2008

Number of Pages: 290

Tags: Award Book, Chapter Book, Emotion, Family, Fiction, 2-3, 4-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

A young teenage girl, Addison, and her mother move into a trailer in a rundown area outside of the city after Mommers, Addison’s mother, divorces Addison’s stepfather. The story follows Addison for about a year as she navigates a new place, new school, and changes in her family dynamic. The story touches on things such as perceived mental illnesses, physical illness like cancer, and learning disabilities, giving students a glimpse into what life is like for people who deal with those things. It also has characters that are deep and are not featured much in literature, like families dealing with divorce and separation, as well as characters that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. Students reading this book may encounter bigger words they do not know (as the main character keeps a vocab notebook) but the words are often defined and explained as a part of the plot.

Classroom Application:

This book would be more useful in teaching life lessons to students, rather than academic lessons. It could teach inclusion of others, through looking at the inclusion of a character that is gay or the way Addison is accommodated and included in her Stage Orchestra class, given her dyslexia. It could also be used to discuss more deep things, such as the affect of cancer on a person, the pain of grief, or the impact of a family being split apart.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This story represents the culture of being poor in a rundown town in America. It gives the reader a look at what it is like to live check to check from Addison’s perspective, like when she says to her hamster, “‘Well, Pic, given the size of me and the size of you, if food is wealth, you’re the queen today’” (page 238). It also shows one perspective of what it is like to live with a person who potentially has a mental illness. I would have this as a book in my classroom library and explain it to students as a book that talks about real-world experiences that many people face in their lives, like cancer. Soula, one of Addison’s friends from the corner minimarket, tells her, “‘You’re seeing the worst of it, Cookie…This is cancer. And it stinks’” (page 65). This book was written relatively recently (2008) so it is more intentional about discussing big topics in today’s society, such as mental illness and inclusion.

Illustrations:

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Emmanuel’s Dream

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Title: Emmanuel’s Dream

Author: Laurie Ann Thompson

Illustrator: Sean Qualls

Publisher and Year: 2015 Schwartz & Wade

Number of pages: 40

Tags/Themes: Award Book, Culture, Diversity, Non-fiction, 2-3, 4-5, Evan White

Genre: Africa, Biography, Non-Fiction, Children’s, Cultural, Picture

Descriptive Annotation: Emmanuel’s Dream is about a young boy, Emmanuel, who was born with one good leg in Ghana, West Africa.  His father left the family, but his mother supported him.  Emmanuel would shine shoes for money and bought a soccer ball to play with the school children.  Through this, the school kids respected Emmanuel playing soccer with one leg.  When he became older, Emmanuel went to the city of Accra to work for money.  In the city, he would get discriminated against for having a disability.  He decided he would buy a bike, ride it across and share a message of how people with disabilities can achieve great things.  He rode his bike over 400 miles and became a national image.  Film crews followed him to share his message.

Classroom Application: This text reinforces geography and culture.  The book shows how the boy lives in West Africa, an area the students probably won’t know much about. The story demonstrates Social and Emotional Learning Standards by demonstrating skills related to achieving personal and academic goals.  Emmanuel didn’t let society tell him what he could and couldn’t do.  He created a personal goal of showing his country people with disabilities are strong, and he accomplished it using his skills and using external resources, like getting a film crew and a bike.  This stretches the students mind by showing them they can be strong by destroying harmful norms in their society in ways that are small and unique to the individual student.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book shows the society of Ghana.  It can foster inquiry of how students from across the globe have strong goals and can achieve them, even when their society is trying to dictate how they should act. “Shopkeepers and restaurant owners told him to go out and beg like other disabled people did.  Emanuel refused. Finally, a food stand owner offered him a job and a place to live” (17).  With a little support, he was able to achieve his goal. “The farther Emmanuel rode, the more attention he got. Children cheered.  Able-bodied adults ran or rode along with him.  People with disabilities left their homes and came outside, some for the very first time.  The young man once thought of as a cursed was becoming a national hero” (30).  Emmanuel was changing the norms and culture in Ghana for how to view people with disabilities, and was met with enthusiasm for his actions.  In Ghana, the book shows the citizens view people with disabilities harshly, telling them to beg, or even abandoning them.  Emmanuel was changing that culture climate.  I might introduce this book by showing the students what Ghana is like, showing the students the landscape, grasslands, narrow highways, and the rain forest.  I think seeing the landscape will have the students think the bike riding is more impressive than the book depicts .  The book mostly shows Emmanuel talking to people, but I also want to the students to see how tough riding a bike would be to appreciate the work while reading or listening.

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A Different Pond

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Title: A Different Pond

Author: Bao Phi

Illustrator: Thi Bui

Publisher and Year: 2017 Capstone Young Readers

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Award Book, Culture, Diversity, Family, Historical Fiction, Picture Book, K-5, Evan White

Genre: Family, Picture Book, Children’s, Cultural

Descriptive Annotation: A young Vietnamese boy and his father wake up very early one day to go fishing.  The two go to a shop to buy some bait fish.  At the shop, the shop owner asked why they came so early, and the father explained how he got another job, so they needed to fish earlier for food.  Once at the fishing pond, the boy’s father shares a story how the pond reminds him of a pond in his old home in Vietnam before the “War” (implied Vietnam War).  The father shares how he would go fishing for food with his brother, how they would fight side by side.  After his brother died, the father went to America.  The young boy feels proud of himself for catching a big fish to eat later that day with his family.  When they arrive home, the mother starts cooking the fish, while the father goes to work. The authors note explains how the author’s parents were refuges from the Vietnam War, and wanted to write a book similar to his experiences.  From the story, it is not clear the family are refugees until the reader reads the author’s note.  It might be helpful for students to know there was war in Vietnam, and possibly what a refuge is to explain why the father needed multiple jobs.

Classroom Application: This book can be used to reinforce content from history or social sciences.  The book can be used to demonstrate how families have had to leave their home country because of war, but also how those families can still keep their family tradition, in this case, fishing.  This book can stretch students’ thinking about reasons why people need to work multiple jobs.  Thereir can be numerous reasons, and the students can be open to different reasons people need to work multiple jobs and fund ways to save money to make a living.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book represents Vietnamese American culture, especially those who are refugees. It teaches how refugees work very hard to survive in America. “ “You’re here early today,” the bait man says.  “I got a second job,” my dad explains. “I have to work this morning.” “On a Saturday?” the bait man asks. My dad nods.” (7).  From the bait, they caught a few fish. “Dad smiles, his teeth broken and white in the dark, because we have a few fish and he knows we will eat tonight.” (18).  This quote shows how this family have to be creative to get food showing the creativity and hard work of refuges to make a living.  I might introduce this book by having the students discuss a specific location the students spend time with their family or guardians. The pond is a place of recurring fishing for the father and boy, and the students might have a location where they spend a lot of time with their family.

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Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey To The Ballot Box

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Title: Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey To The Ballot Box

Author: Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein

Illustrator: James E. Ransome

Publisher and Year: Candlewick Press 2015

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Diversity, Emotion, Family, Historical Fiction

Genre: Historical fiction, Children’s, Culutral, Picture Books, African American, historical, Family

Descriptive Annotation: Michael remembers the time his granddaddy took him to the voting polls.  Michael was only a child and would work on a farm with his granddaddy.  They both dressed up and the voting polls had huge lines and they kept on getting cut by white voters.  His granddaddy kept telling Michael to be patient and saying their time will come.  Once granddaddy got his ballot, he expressed to Michael how it was the happiest day of his life.  Shortly after, a police officer asked granddaddy if he could read, which granddaddy couldn’t.  The police officer then ripped up his ballot, and the two walked away defeated and granddaddy crying.  The book then goes to Michael as an adult voting for the first time.  Michael votes on behalf of his granddaddy and votes for everyone else who wasn’t able to.  The students will need basic background on what voting is, how it works, and the importance of voting, as well as background as to why black people couldn’t vote in the 1950s and 1960s (when the book took place).  The book does have a brief history lesson in the back.

Classroom Application: This text can reinforce social sciences, but more so the importance of voting.  This text could meet Social Emotional Learning Standards of recognizing feelings and perspectives of others.  This text shows the pain granddaddy went through from not voting, and there could be students in the classroom who have family experiences that are similar.  It also will paint a picture for white students to recognize how a specific act of discrimination can affect someone and how important voting is for people of other races.  This can also stretch the students ’ thinking by starting a foundation of how important it is for them to vote as active citizens in America, and to take voting seriously, since it is a privilege to vote.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book represents the black community and shows the historical struggles of voting.  It teaches how there is a history of different groups of people not being able to vote.  For instance, in one scene, granddaddy faced the hatred of a voting official: “The deputy slammed the book shut, saying, “Well, Uncle, if you can’t read this, then you can’t vote.” He tore up my granddaddy’s ballot and threw it on the ground” (24).  There was a culture of discrimination people of color and those who can’t read.  This book acknowledges and teaches the history of the past culture.  When Michael voted, he held onto his family’s history and said, “When I went to vote for the first time, I remembered what my granddaddy always said: “Patience, son, patience.”  He was right.  The day finally came.  And I knew that – just like my granddaddy – I would never take it for granted” (30).  The end of the book demonstrates the seriousness of voting and how voting is still a recent privilege for black people.  It’s  important to take voting serious since many people fought for the right to vote.  I might introduce this book by asking the students if they have voted before.  Voting is also as simple as voting with your friends  what game to play.  If my class has done any type of voting before (like voting on what science video to watch) then I can bring up how they have all voted before.  This will activate their schema how they all had a voice when they voted and how important their voice was.

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Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher

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Title: Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher

Author: Becky Ray McCain

Illustrator: Stacey Schuett

Publisher and Year: Albert Whitman and Company, 1998

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Culture, Family, Fiction, 2-3, Evan White

Genre: Children’s, Cultural, Realistic Fiction, Picture Books, Native Americans, Family

Descriptive Annotation: A little Chippewa girl is dropped off at her grandmother’s house while her parents look for a new house.  While the girl stays over, she has night terrors.  Her Chippewa grandmother decides to teach her granddaughter how to make a dream catcher.  As they were crafting the dream catcher, the grandmother told a story about how the dream catcher came to be.  The “Great Spirit” sent a vision to a tribal member on a spider creating a giant web to catch all the bad dreams.  Once they made a dream catcher, the little Chippewa girl stopped having night terrors and made two more dream catchers for her parents.  At the back of the book, there are instructions on how to make a dream catcher.

Classroom Application: I would use this text to reinforce art and culture of Native Americans.  I think this book tells a feel-good family story that teaches about the significance of dream catchers.  In the story, the grandma explains how the dream catcher is important to their family and cultural roots.  Then I would teach the students the differences between Native American dream catchers and American dream catchers.  Typically, American dream catchers are more complex and flashier, while Native American dream catchers have beads and feathers, nothing flashy or anything for aesthetic purposes.  This could be a good time to talk about respecting Native American culture and how making dream catchers more ascetically complex is disrespecting their culture.   I also think this story would be really good with compare and contrast.  There are different origin stories for the dreamcatcher, and it could be a fun compare and contract unit to read different stories on how the dreamcatcher was created.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This story represents Native American culture but more specifically the Chippewa story of the dream catcher’s origin story.  This story fosters a respect for Native Americans and respect to their values and little aspects of their culture. The students would learn a little history of the origin of dream catchers . “So her grandmother did what our people still do.  She asked the Great Spirit for help, and she was given a vision of a dreamcatcher circle.  It had feathers on it just like yours and mine, but inside was empty.  When this grandmother hung the dreamcatcher above the grandchild’s head, a spider came down and made the web inside.  All the child’s dreams were then caught in that web to go to the Great Spirit.  Only the sweet dreams were permitted to go back to the girl” (16).  I think you can have a discussion on how values and cultural ideas get passed down to continue and how individuals can support cultural values, like how the grandma taught her granddaughter .  Then in the story, the little girl makes a dreamcatcher for her parents to continue their cultural values. “Each day, Grandmother and I are busy with our work.  We sew beads on leather to make hair ties for Mama.  Grandmother takes me fishing, and I find a special feather just for Daddy.  We make a dreamcatcher for mama and Daddy” (27). To introduce this book, I would ask the students what they know about dream catchers and their origins and how they imagine them.  They could draw or describe what they have seen in their lives.  The drawings or description can be used to compare after the book and looking at traditional dream catchers.

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