Tag Archives: Fiction

Coming on Home Soon

Posted on December 4, 2018 by | Comments Off on Coming on Home Soon

Title – Coming on Home Soon

Author(s) – Jacqueline Woodson

Illustrator/Photographer – E.B. Lewis

Publisher and Year – G.P. Putnam’s Sons 2004

Number of pages – 28 pages

Tags/Themes – Rylie Loux, Fiction, Emotion, Diversity, 2-3, Historical Fiction,

Genre – Historical Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: Ada Ruth’s mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and her Grandma behind. Ada Ruth misses her mama more and more but Grandma reassures her that Mama with be coming on home soon and to just keep writing to her. It’s war time, and women are needed to fill the men’s jobs. Grandma and Ada Ruth find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company. Ada describes the feeling of the cat when she states “It’s a slip of a thing. But its softness is big. And warm as ten quilts on my lap. Warm as Mama’s hands” but nothing can fill the hole Mama left.

Classroom Application: This is a perfect resource for engaging students on a Social Studies lesson. This story gives an understanding of what life was like during WWII. This also gives students an insight of how communication worked in the past. Ada Ruth had no way to contact her mama other than writing to her. This is an important concept of this lesson because in today’s world it is so different due to technology. Also this story consists of three powerful female roles. This is valuable for students to understand the importance of all gender roles.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: In this powerful story Jacqueline Woodson has captured the fear, the worry and the loneliness of a young girl left behind when her mother must leave home for a job, a not uncommon occurrence in WWII. This story gives the students a glimpse of one of the ways that the war affected the lives of African American woman and children on the home front. This connects with great cultural and racial diversity.

 

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My Chinatown: One Year in Poems

Posted on November 30, 2018 by | Comments Off on 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.”

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Alma and How She Got Her Name

Posted on November 30, 2018 by | Comments Off on 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.

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The Journey

Posted on November 30, 2018 by | Comments Off on 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.

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Hey, Wall: A Story of Art and Community

Posted on November 30, 2018 by | Comments Off on 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.”

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Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

Posted on November 30, 2018 by | Comments Off on 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.

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The Dot

Posted on November 29, 2018 by | Comments Off on 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.

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Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors

Posted on November 29, 2018 by | Comments Off on 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.”

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My Family, Your Family

Posted on November 29, 2018 by | Comments Off on My Family, Your Family

Title: My Family, Your Family

Author(s): Lisa Bullard

Illustrator/Photographer: Renee Kurilla

Publisher and Year: Lerner Publishing 2015

Number of pages: 21

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

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: My Family, Your Family is a story that also has little bubbles with facts on each page. The story part follows Makayla as she travels around her neighborhood spending time with the various families that she knows. Makayla is about to have a little brother and she is very concerned that it will change their family. She sees, through the different families in town, that every family is great, and her new baby brother will make her family better. The fact bubbles include information about languages spoke at home, divorce, step-parents/siblings, and adoption. Young readers would be able to read and understand this book, and there is a glossary at the end that lists words mentioned in the story that relate to families. In addition to the glossary, there is a section titled “Make a ‘”One Great Thing”’ Poster” that provides step-by-step instructions for students to make a poster that shows one thing that makes their family great.

Classroom Application: My Family, Your Family can be used to show students that different types of families exist, and that they are all valid. It can be used to help teach Social and Emotional Learning Standard 2, by showing relationships different from the students. It also shows various ways that families maintain those relationships, such as communication and cooperation. This text could be used in an early education classroom to introduce the idea of differences in families.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book represents many different family types. Makayla herself is part of a mixed-race family. She meets a family that speaks Spanish, a lesbian couple, a girl and her divorced dad who are Asian, a boy who lives with his grandparents, a gay couple and their adopted son (also a mixed-race family) and has dinner with her single aunt and three cousins. Every one of these families is spoken of positively and the focus is on the family dynamic, not necessarily who is part of the family. When meeting Parker, the adopted boy with two dads, Makayla says, “And Parker’s two dads knew he was meant to be their little boy.” The emphasis is that the dads love Parker, not that they are gay. In the bubble on that page it says, “Some children who are adopted were born in the United States. Some were born in other countries. Either way, their adoptive families fell like they were meant to be together.” This is validating the families, showing that no matter how they came to be a family, they still love each other.

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El Deafo

Posted on November 29, 2018 by | Comments Off on El Deafo

Title: El Deafo

Author(s ): Cece Bell

Illustrator/Photographer: Cece Bell

Publisher and Year: Amulet Books, 2014

Number of pages: 233

Tags/Themes: Allison Henry, Animals, Award Book, Fiction, 4-5, 6-8, Family, Graphic Novel

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation: El Deafo is the story of a young girl, Cece, navigating elementary school and all that entails, while deaf. After contracting meningitis at age 4, Cece loses all ability to hear. She receives hearing aids and a Phonic Ear to use in school. In order to cope with being different, Cece creates an alter-ego, El Deafo. This book is a graphic novel, therefore there are many illustrations in the text. Students would need to have background knowledge in basic school situations, a middle to upper elementary level vocabulary, and the knowledge of how to read a graphic novel.

Classroom Application: I would use this text to address the Social Emotional Learning Standards for late elementary. This book could be used for Learning Standards 1.A., 2.A., 2.B.2.b., 2.C., and 2.D. These standards refer to explaining emotions, identifying social clues and describing them, identifying differences and overcoming them, and cooperating with friends and other groups. All of these topics are addressed in El Deafo, where the situations are presented, Cece chooses a course of action, and then the consequences are shown.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis: This book is about a child that is deaf. This story presents many situations that students that are deaf and their classmates could find themselves in. This book could be used to start a discussion about treatment of peers that may be different from themselves. This book was published in 2014, therefore it is up to date in the vocabulary that it uses to describe the situations and the treatments used to assist the student that is deaf. This book could be introduced by explaining to the students that sometimes, people have different abilities. It could also be explained that, just because someone may have different abilities, does not mean that they are in need of assistance. It can be used to start a discussion on appropriate treatment of peers, addressing both bullying and trying to be too helpful. On page 34, Cece is teased by a friend for mishearing a question. Her friend, Emma, says, “No-not supper-summer! Summmmmm-mmmmmer! Supper! HEE HEE!” This part of the story focuses on Cece being teased by her peers and how see feels when this happens. Later in the story, Cece makes a friend that is too helpful. In response to Ginny, her friend, saying, “CEE-CEE. DOO YOO WANT MYYY PEEA-NUT BUTT-ER SAND-WICH?”, Cece thinks, “I really, really like Ginny. She’s funny. She’s weird. We love all the same things. So what’s the problem? It’s the wat she talks to me… “(67).

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