Tag Archives: Fiction

The Secret to Freedom

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Title: The Secret to Freedom

Author: Marcia Vaughan

Illustrator: Larry Johnson

Publisher and Year: Lee & Low Books Inc. 2001

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Diversity, Emotion, Family, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Picture Book, 4-5, Evan White

Genre: Historical fiction; children’s; cultural; picture book

Descriptive Annotation: The Secret to Freedom is about Aunt Lucy sharing her story about her experiences in slavery to her grandniece.  Lucy’s parents were sold off and was left with her brother Albert.  Albert was part of the underground railroad movement and taught Lucy about quilts and how different designs tell the run-away slaves different information.  Albert and Lucy became agents to aid  slaves to freedom.  Albert was caught one night and was lashed in the back.  After that night they decided Albert needed to leave.  Once the two children were older and had their own families, Albert found Lucy again and reconnected.  Now Lucy’s grandniece knew their family history.  The students will need to know about Civil War era, about slavery, and why going up north meant freedom.  The back of the book has a brief history lesson and glossary for words the student may not understand.  The illustrations are unrefined paintings but are still very detailed and show sadness on the characters’ faces throughout the story.

Classroom Application: This text would reinforce history and specifically the Civil War era.  This text also meets Social and Emotional Learning Standards of handle challenging situations constructive and demonstrate caring and concern for others.  Lucy shows a lot of control in her emotions.  She identifies how depressed she is but is able to use her emotions to benefit runaway slaves.  This story can be used to stretch the students into using their emotions to make an impact for others even when their emotions are filled with fury or sadness.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book represents pride in sharing perseverance from slavery.  Aunt Lucy is proud of herself and Albert for assisting runaway slaves to freedom.  ““Now  I do declare, child, your eyes sparkle just like Albert’s did all those years ago” she said.  Then we sat in happy silence, shelling peas into the bowl while the curtains billowed in the breeze beside us” (31). This book shows the value of story telling and sharing family history and how history is imperative to understanding part of American and black culture.  The setting is also very explicit in showing Albert getting lashed and showing vivid images of it. For instance, the text reads, “Those men tied Albert to a tree and lashed him, lashed him hard till blood ran red down his back” (15).  The content of this story is very serious and illustrates how slaves were treated.  I would introduce the book by showing the students some images of common quilt patterns and what they meant.  This can help the students understand the importance of the secret code used in the book and in history.

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Ayobami and the names of animals

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Title: Ayobami and the names of animals

Author: Pilar López Ávila

Illustrator: Mar Azabal

Publisher and Year: Shanghai Chenxi Printing CO. 2018

Number of pages: 30

Tags/Themes: Animals, Culture, Fiction, K-5, Evan White

Genre: Africa; Animals; Education; children’s picture book

Descriptive Annotation:  Ayobami and the names of the animals is about a little African girl going back to school after a war.  Her father shows her a path to get to school, but she gets confused and lost.  She then asks for help from the animals in the jungle on how to get to school.  They only help her if she promises to write their name on a piece of paper and give it to them.  When she gets to school, she learns how to read a write, and she give a piece of paper with the animal’s name as she goes back home.  There is no vocab background knowledge to know, but the only back ground the students may need to know is why Ayobami is allowed to go back to school. It may be helpful to explain how having a war  takes away students’ opportunity for education.

Classroom Application: This text can be used to reinforce current events or recent events. This book shows how excited Ayobami is about going back to school because she want able to because of the war.  It is never stated what war occurred, but I think this book could be an introduction and talking about wars across the globe and the effect on students and their families.  I think I would introduce this book by having the kids display how they get to school.  Do they walk, drive, take a bus?  Who do they encounter on their way to school?  This will get them in the mindset to understand how Ayobami gets to school.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book represents a group of children in Africa who can’t go to school every day.  This generates conversations about what other places in the world is like, the difficulties people face but also how they have a goal to learn to read and write.  On each page, there are letters art of the scenery, emphasizing the need to learn letters.  “When the war finally came to an end, the teacher went from house to house, telling everyone that the children could go back to school the next day.  The children ran out into the street, shouting with joy.  They laughed and they hugged each other.  They were very, very happy” (1).  This quote shows how enthusiastic the students are for school and displays how much education means to them.  What is most important is the picture associated with this quote.  On the page, there are bullets on the ground, but cracked open.  Coming out of the bullets are letters and painted flowers, showing a new age of hope for the students, along with the students dancing.  “Ayobami’s father understood that she had learned to read and write at school.  He understood that she had made the animals dream about the sound of their names.  Clutching another piece of paper and another little stub of a pencil, the little girl set off to school again, along, the path that lead to the place where hope is born” (30).  This quote shows how proud Ayobami’s father is of her.  He expects greatness from and knows the value of learning reading and writing.  Ayobami also sparked dreams in animals too, which can lead to her being an influence to others on the future.  In the photo, Ayobami is dancing under a cloud that is raining letters.  She has immersed herself in language and is so happy about it.

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Grow

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Title: Grow

Author: Cynthia Platt

Illustrator: Olivia Holden

Publisher and Year Amicus Ink in 2018

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Fiction, K-1, Evan White

Genre: Nature, Fiction, children’s picture book

Descriptive Annotation:  A young black girl sees a plot of land in the city that was overgrown with dead grass.  The young girl decides to clear a little bit of the land to plant a flower seed.  Other people in the community notice and begin to help her and plant more flowers and regrow the grass. The plot of land brings the community together to revive the land into a beautiful park. 

Classroom Application: This text could be used to reinforce social sciences and science.  On one side it could be used to discuss urban areas and how nature is beneficial and can bring people together.  Working together in unison can result in accomplishing in beautiful creations.  On the other side, it can be used to reinforce science, but specifically with plants, and growing plants, showing the importance of growing and vitalizing a community.   The students can start a garden in school, or continue a preexisting one.  The students can garden in their homes or even create a garden in a dead space with family or friends.  They can live the book and experience how growing gardens creates community.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:  This book represents an urban community.  The book does not give detail on the community, but from the pictures, we know the plot of dead land is massive with buildings all around.  The garden becomes beautiful and the pictures show its beauty.  A young black girl also takes the initiative on her own to revitalize the land.  She takes initiative and uses her own resources to start the garden.  By her starting the garden, she is an inspiration to others.  A very subtle way to show black girls can be an inspiration for many.  I would introduce this book by showing the class similar community gardens in cities to show this book is realistic. “When you have one good seed of an idea, another one always seems to follow” (12).  This quote shows the simplicity of the book.  It encourages the students to stick to their ideas and they will start to snowball.  With time, the good idea becomes easier and easier as help will arise. “A little seed of an idea can turn into something quite big. If only you give it room to grow” (32).  This quote drives in the simplicity of the book.  It is meant for kindergartens or first graders to be straight forward and influence them their ideas matter and can make a beautiful difference in the world.  The last page in the book is the young black girl looking into the big healthy garden she started.  The girl is so proud of herself and the hard work paid off. 

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Same, Same, but Different

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Title: Same, Same, but Different

Author: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

Illustrator: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

Publisher and Year: Henry Holt and Company, 2011

Number of pages: 40

Tags/Themes: Award Book, Culture, Fiction, Picture Book, Social Science, K-5, Evan White

Genre: India; Children’s; cultural; picture book

Descriptive Annotation:  Same, Same, but Different is about two pen pals named Elliot and Kailash.  Elliot lives in America and Kailash lives in India. They write back and forth about their life.  As they write they discover there are a lot of similarities between the two, like climbing trees, taking a school bus, and how they live with their families.  With every similarity, there is a photo to show the cultural differences between the two cultures and a photo of the boys doing the same activity just in different ways. The students need no background knowledge.

Classroom Application: This text can be used to reinforce social science and cultures.  Possibly when learning about continents/countries, a teacher could use this text to learn a little about India.  It can be used to encourage students to think more in similarities with humans rather than finding differences, crafting a social bonding with people of diverse cultures/communities, regardless of where they live.  This book could also be used to introduce pen pals for the classroom, encouraging the students to learn about their new friends’ culture and how it relates to theirs.  This can build appreciation in their real life.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:  This book represents the Indian culture.  It shows beautiful drawings of Kailash living in a diverse yet similar way to Americans that highlights his value.  Kailash shows Elliot how his family, school, and city works outlining some basic cultural values and norms within India.  I think this book could be introduced by teaching the students what a pen pal is, then going into the story.  Ending the story with starting a pen pal assignment to put in practice what the story spoke about .  There is much to ask about a pen pal and learning differences and the value in those differences.  “That is my tree house where I play. I live in a red brick building with my mom, dad, and my baby sister.  I live with my family too-all twenty-three of us-my mom, dad, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, aunties, uncles, cousins…” (8).  This quote is awesome because it shows how what American culture sees extended family can be internal for other people.  In addition, this is common for families in America too.  “A great river flows through my village.  Peacocks dance under trees shaped like umbrellas” (13).  This quote shows how beautiful Kailash’s village is.  The page has bright colors with beautiful buildings with peacocks dancing.  It’s very elegant and shows so much value in their city Kailash loves.

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Fly Away Home

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Title: Fly Away Home

Author: Eve Bunting

Illustrator: Ronald Himler

Publisher and Year Clarion Books, 1991

Number of pages: 32

Tags/Themes: Emotion, Family, Fiction, Picture Book, 2-3, Evan White

Genre: Realistic Fiction; Family, Children’s Book

Descriptive Annotation:  Fly Away Home is about a father and son living in an airport.  There are special rules on how to live in the airport so they don’t get caught like to always be moving and not talking to people.  The son observes how his dad is always trying to find a job so they can find a real home for them, but often falls short.  The boy is still optimistic and works to help his dad.  He returns bags for 50 cents and believes he will find a permanent home one day.

Classroom Application: I can use this book to reinforce social sciences/culture to show different areas of living.  A unit like urbanism, suburbs, rural and going deeper into types of places people live in and discuss different homeless areas.  This text also demonstrates Social and Emotional Learning Standards  about demonstrating caring and concern for others.  Teaching the students how anyone can be affected by a situation and their bad situation does not necessarily mean it’s the induvial fault to create empathy.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book represents the poor/homeless culture.  Teaching kids’ different people can be homeless, the young, old, families.  Also teaching being poor does not mean you’re stupid or deserving of it like media can display.  The young boy is responsible and saves his money, the father works endlessly to provide for his son.  The Father and son are very smart and know how not to get caught, and they are very friendly with the other homeless residents.  I might introduce this book giving each student or group of students a setting and they can brainstorm how they might survive or be able to live in the setting.  “He and I collect rented luggage cars that people have left outside and return them for fifty cents each.  If the crowds are big and safe, we offer to carry bags” (22).  This quote would connect to the students before text activity.  The young boy uses his head to find a way to make money.  I think this quote also shoes how the boy are maturing faster than other children.  The tone is serious and very straightforward.  The son needs to be quick and fast in his days’ work to make the most money and his language shows he needs to be straight to the point.  Even though the boy is maturing faster he still does not know how to handle his emotions. “Sometimes I get mad and I want to run at them and push them and shout, ‘Why do you have homes when we don’t? What makes you so special?’ that would get us noticed all right” (30).  This quote shows the difficulty of being homeless and the toll is does to your emotions.  The text shows how the boy is struggling to control his emotions.  He wants to release his emotions in an outburst , but the boy still knows what consequences could be for out bursting.  It shows the students there are consequences for actions they can do on impulse, especially impulse actions the homeless could do in an airport.

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Audrey’s Magic Nine

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Title: Audrey’s Magic Nine

Author: Michelle Wright

Illustrator: Courtney Huddleston

Publisher and year: Penny-Farthing Productions Inc. 2018

Number of pages: 144.

Tags/Themes: Adventure, Diversity, Family, Fantasy, Fiction, Friendship, Graphic Novel, 2-3,e

Genre: fantasy, sequential art, graphic novel, adoption

Descriptive Annotation:  Audrey is a 10-year-old black girl who has been in the foster care her whole life.  Her foster parents neglected her and her foster siblings giving her little food, and when the news station reported it, Tabitha saw Audrey and wanted to adopt her.  Tabitha and her husband overworked Audrey with piano, violin, ballet, and school work when all Audrey wanted to do was draw in her notebook.  One night she finds a magic puppet from another world who was kicked out of his world from an evil magic queen.  Audrey and her new friend Asa try to find his new friends while Audrey is learning how to live with her new parents.

The graphic novel does a good job showing Audrey’s drawings as a central piece to storytelling in the book .

Classroom Application:  Audrey draws to help her cope and deal with any stress she has.  The book can be used to encourage the children to use the arts as a way to express themselves.  Children learning how to express and explain their thoughts or emotions will be very helpful as they grow up.  Methods can be comic making, drawing, paintings, creative writing, acting and script writing, or sculpting.  Students can do a writing piece filled with their emotion and do a companion piece of art to complement their writing.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book has a representation of the foster care system and highlights issues like child neglect, overcoming personal problems, and using art as a coping mechanism.  It gives a sense that families come in different forms (step-parents, multi-racial families) teaching children not to make assumptions about others’ family structures.  When in new or stressful family situations, the book teaches how to use expressive skills so family issues do not get bottled up causing any future emotional harm.  The story also shows a strong female character who is brave and wants to help her friends.  I might introduce this graphic novel by having the students describe their favorite super powers, what they admire in heroes, and what they don’t like about super villains.  This can set up their interests with the super  powered puppets, creating future empathy with the characters and a greater admiration for Audrey being brave throughout the story.  “There were several young girls in the Mercer fosters home, ranging in ages 5-16 and allegedly subjected to such punishments as hours spent in a small, locked closet ” (12).  This sets up the tone right away.  This graphic novel is serious and straight to the point.  It is not afraid to state the facts what life is like for some children.  “But those people have put that poor woman in danger, just for taking pizza out of the trash ” (73).  This shows the empathy Audrey has the for the world.  Even though she has been is foster care where she can’t express her emotions, she is still seeing the beauty in people and wants everyone to be valued.

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Scarlet Ibis

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Title: Scarlet Ibis

Author: Gill Lewis

Illustrator: Susan Meyer

Publisher and Year: Oxford University Press, 2014

Number of pages: 273

Tags/Themes: Animals; Chapter Book; Emotion; Family; Fiction; 4-5; 6-8 E

Genre: fiction, family.

Descriptive Annotation:  Scarlet is a young black girl who lives with her mum  and her brother “Red” who both are white.  Scarlet spends all her time taking care of Red who is a young boy with autism, who loves birds. Scarlet often takes care of her mum who has anger problems.  After an incident with Scarlet’s mum falling asleep with a cigarette in her mouth and almost burning down their apartment, Scarlet’s family was taken away from her.  Her mum stayed in a hospital, Red went to a foster home, and Scarlet went to a different foster home with her caretaker, Avril.  Scarlet desperately wants to find Red but is unable to contact with him.  She struggles with living with a new family in a new home coping with her emotions with her frustrations with social workers refusing to let her see her mum and brother.

Students might need to know the variation of “mum” to understand it means mom, but a different spelling.

Classroom Application: This text can be used to reinforce health/physical education area.  The major plot point is after Scarlet’s mum burns down their apartment.  After reading that chapter, it would be important to discuss with the class and practice fire safety and ways to prevent fires in their home.

This text meets the SELS of students experiencing family emotional stress.  It can also be used to stretch how the students think of the definition of family.  A foster family can be just as tight or close to other types of families.

 

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis :

This book represents the culture of children in foster care/families.  It would be used to generate discussion on how foster care works, why it happens, teaching the students to not bully students with different families.  It also represents the culture of children with autism.  Generating discussion on how children/people with autism or special needs require a lot of love, and give a lot of love, just like how the students require love from their family and give a lot to their family.  Growing a culture of respect and value for students with autism/special needs is another classroom application from this book.  I might introduce this book to my students by having them draw a memory or activity they value about their family to get them in the mindset of valuing family with the content of this text. “Red cradles Little Red in his lap.  I watch him run is hand from the pigeon’s head to his tail feathers.  Little red becomes calm and turns his head to look at Red.  Red touches the soft down of his chest.  Red relaxes and I see his shoulders drop.  He’s happy just stroking the bird.  I slump into the armchair.  My head feels heavy.  My whole body feels tired.  All I want to do is to curl up and sleep, and sleep, and sleep” (213).  This quote shows how much Scarlet values her brother, but at the same time how drained she is.  The tone is serious, Scarlet feeling tired with her words and imagery.  It paints a picture how she needs help taking care of Red, and how students need to no place everything on their shoulders. “I take a step toward them. “It’s all right for you,” I say. “You can go back to your nice homes with your nice families.  You can have your meals cooked every night.  Your mums and dads look after you.  They’re not crazy.  They don’t swear at you or call you names.  But Red and I don’t have that.  We don’t have anything like that.  All we’ve got is each other.  And if you tell on us, we’ll be split up, and then we won’t have anything as all ”” (228).   This quote really shows the conversation tone in this book.  Scarlet frustration built up and she is exploding to her friends.  You can hear her anger and frustration in the sentences.  The beautiful thing about this quote is her friends listen to her afterwards and give her the space to vent and be vulnerable to them.  Teaching the students friends allow each other to be vulnerable to each other.

 

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My Friend Has Down Syndrome

Posted on December 4, 2018 by | Comments Off on My Friend Has Down Syndrome

Title – My Friend Has Down Syndrome

Author(s) – Jennifer Moore-Mallinos

Illustrator/Photographer – Marta Fabrega

Publisher and Year – B.E.S Publishing, October 1, 2008

Number of pages – 31 pages

Tags/Themes – Rylie Loux, Emotion, Friendship, Diversity, Fiction, K-5

Genre – Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: This book is about a little girl at camp that shares her experience of meeting her best friend, Tammy. The little girl is asked to be her buddy, as Tammy will need extra help. The little girl reveals that Tammy has Down syndrome. Many of the children at the camp had many questions about Down Syndrome but after the counselors explained to them, they were ready and willing to help her feel included and happy at camp. In the end, the little girls shares that Tammy teachers her things too, and that they are a great team because they learn from each other.

Classroom Application:  This book explains to children what Down Syndrome is, in terms that they can understand. This would be a great book to read to children to teach them that it is all right to be different and the importance of being accepting of each of their classmates. “But last summer was the best camp ever, because that’s when I met Tammy.” This little girl explains how she and Tammy became best friends. This is an example of how to accept people for who they really are.  This shows students that everyone can become best friends with a student with Down Syndrome. No one else at the camp had Down Syndrome besides Tammy but she fit right in. This helps students learn that they are both good at different things and that by helping each other overcome their fears and difficulties they can accomplish anything together.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: The main ideology that is presented is that just because someone is different from you doesn’t mean they have to be judged or singled out.

The children reading this book will have lots of things to consider such as the feelings of others. “When Ms. Teresa asked me if I wanted to be Tammy’s buddy I got excited!” This quote is an example that teaches life lessons to not judge people because of a disability and that it does not define someone.One of the best things about this story is that it proves that children can help those who might have disabilities, but they can also learn a lot from them as well.

 

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Just A Dream

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Title – Just a Dream

Author(s) – Chris Van Allsburg

Illustrator/Photographer – Chris Van Allsburg

Publisher and Year – Houghton Mifflin, 1990

Number of pages – 48 pages

Tags/Themes – Rylie Loux, Adventure, Fiction, 2-3, 4-5, Emotion

Genre – Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:  Walter is a young boy who litters and refuses to sort trash for recycling. One night when he falls asleep, he dreams of a future that is overcrowded and polluted. He is taken on an adventure into his future based on his actions and careless mistakes of his past. When he wakes up from his dream, he changes his attitude towards the environment.

Classroom Application/Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This is a perfect resource for engaging students to get to know and understand the importance of our environment. The strong environmental message of the book helps children see how pollution affects their future. “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This is the focus of recycling and the importance of each and every student taking on the role of keeping their environment clean. This can be applied by asking the students how they are helping the environment each day. Throughout the story, Walter has his own opinion, learns from his mistakes, and then is able to correct his wrong doings. Walter is so preoccupied in his past time activities that he pays little attention to what the world has to offer. This is showing students that they are always able to change for the better and that how the choices they make today will affect them in the future. This story also includes a strong sense of independence and personal responsibility. Culture and diversity is applied because everyone comes from different backgrounds and this story is showing students that no matter where they came from, they all play a part in the bigger picture and everyone is accountable for something.

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A Bad Case of Stripes

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Title – A Bad Case of Stripes

Author(s) – David Shannon

Illustrator/Photographer – David Shannon

Publisher and Year – Blue Sky Press, 1998

Number of pages – 30 pages

Tags/Themes – Rylie Loux, Fiction, Friendship, Emotion, K-1, 2-3

Genre – Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: “Camilla Cream loved lima beans. But she never ate them. All of her friends hated lima beans, and she wanted to fit in. Camilla was always worried about what other people thought of her.” This book shows the story of the girl Camilla Cream who loved lima beans, but was too worried of what other people thought to eat them. She was scared of her first day of school, which led to her diagnosis of a bad case of stripes. This quote starts out the story and shows readers they shouldn’t worry about what others think. Many specialists and media networks were intrigued by this outrageous case, and Camilla’s case only got worse as her stripes turned to stars, roots, and even walls. Finally, the cure for Camilla was simply lima beans as she embraced her individuality.

Classroom Application: This is a perfect resource for engaging students to prompt discussion about why we worry about what others think, bullying, and learning to respect and accept differences in others. This discussion could also lead to what makes a student worry. By doing this, the students are able to think about what they worry about when they go back to school. This demonstrates that each student has their own fears and worries and that no one should ever bully another student because of this. Another ideology that is presented is learning what respectful behavior is and learning how to apply that in the classroom.

 

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: Individuality is the main idea that is expressed in this story. This story can deliver the message of individuality in many types of cultures. Each person has their own background and culture and the goal of this story is to share that each student should be able to express themselves without worrying what others think. There is some cultural diversity present in the illustrations in this book with many different races represented.

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