Tag Archives: Picture Book

Cece Loves Science

Posted on December 6, 2018 by | Comments Off on Cece Loves Science

Title: Cece Loves Science

Author(s): Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes

Illustrator/Photographer: Vashti Harrison

Publisher and Year: Greenwillow Books, 2018

Number of Pages: 30

Tags: Diversity, Family, Fiction, Picture Book, Science, K-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Cece Loves Science contains a list of “science facts” in the back of the book that define terms from the story. Cece is a very curious child who creates a science experiment testing whether or not dogs will eat vegetables. After coming across an answer and not being satisfied, Cece and her partner edited the question they were testing and recreated the experiment to get a better result. Students would benefit from knowing a little bit about the scientific method.

Classroom Application:

This text could be used to reinforce science content that is taught in the classroom, especially if students are learning about the scientific method. Cece follows the scientific method by observing the dog and then creating an experiment from the observations. Students could discuss how closely Cece and her partner follow the scientific method.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

Cece Loves Science portrays a biracial family as some of the main characters. The main character, Cece, is also another type of minority because she is a girl who is interested in science. Both of these facts play into different cultures that are represented in the book. Cece even takes the lead in the experiment, saying, “‘Let’s observe our subject’” (page 13). She and her partner take their experiment and tweak it, after Cece “remembered something Ms. Curie always said – scientists think outside the box” (page 22). I would ask the students how many of them like science and what their favorite part of the subject is.

Illustrations:

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We Are Brothers

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on We Are Brothers

Title: We Are Brothers

Author(s): Yves Nadon

Illustrator/Photographer: Jean Claverie

Publisher and Year: Creative Editions; 2018

Number of Pages: 29

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

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

We Are Brothers tells the story of two brothers and their adventures of cliff diving. The younger brother is scared to jump into the water for the first time but his brother encourages him to try it. Eventually he tries and succeeds and then the brothers have fun jumping into the water together. Throughout the story, the brothers are compared to cats, birds, and fish multiple times as they climb, jump, and swim. Students need to have a good concept of metaphors to fully understand the book.

Classroom Application:

This text could be used to teach the concept of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. The younger brother begins the story with a fixed mindset, saying that he has always been too scared to try. However, as the story progresses, the brother gains confidence in himself and achieves a growth mindset when he takes the leap and jumps into the water.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This story features two brothers who are African-American. The book portrays them as children enjoying themselves and having fun, but also, in a larger sense, as people who are trying to see what they can do and who they can become. The author even uses the setting to further the idea that they can do anything, saying, “The tree branch feels warm and rugged, familiar and encouraging, even” (page 8). The story and language used is empowering, with the siblings helping one another out. The younger brother notices that his brother is there to support him, saying, “I can see my brother’s eyes, just above the water, believing in me” (page 14). I would introduce this book by asking students if they have ever overcome a fear of theirs, sharing that we are going to read a book that tells the story of when a little boy overcame his fear.

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Wagon Train: A Family Goes West in 1865

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on Wagon Train: A Family Goes West in 1865

Title: Wagon Train: A Family Goes West in 1865

Author(s): Courtni C. Wrights

Illustrator/Photographer: Gershom Griffith

Publisher and Year: Holiday House; 1995

Number of Pages: 30

Tags: Adventure, Culture, Family, Historical Fiction, Picture Book, 2-3, 4-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Historical Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Wagon Train is about an African American family that travels west in a wagon train after being freed from slavery. Along the way, they encounter dangerous animals, brutal weather, and Native Americans. The story ends with the hope that the family will safely make it to California. There is an Author’s Note on the first page talking about the treatment of African Americans and how they too travelled west, despite the lack of records of their experiences. Students would find it helpful to know about the Oregon Trail and the Westward Expansion.

Classroom Application:

This text would be perfect for reinforcing material taught about the Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion. It could be used in the middle of a unit to give students a window into the hardships and experiences these settlers faced. It is also a good text to use to reinforce that not just White people went west, but so did many African Americans after the Civil War.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

Wagon Train not only represents the culture of westward settlers and those living in covered wagons as they travelled, but also the culture of African Americans who set out on the same journey. These people had an even worse expedition, because they could not “join one of the big trains leaving Independence, Missouri” (page 8). Being in a smaller train meant less support from others and more danger. Because “few could write diaries to record their experiences,” this book is important in showing students what the journey west was potentially like for African Americans (page 1). If I used this story in the middle of an Oregon Trail unit, I would introduce it as a story about a group of people who were not well documented, but were an important part of the movement nonetheless.

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The Hanukkah Trike

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on The Hanukkah Trike

Title: The Hanukkah Trike

Author(s): Michelle Edwards

Illustrator/Photographer: Kathryn Mitter

Publisher and Year: Albert Whitman & Company; 2010

Number of Pages: 21

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

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

The Hanukkah Trike is a story about a young girl and her family as they celebrate Hanukkah. They light the menorah, make traditional Hanukkah food, and retell the story of the Maccabees. Gabi, the daughter, receives a tricycle that she names Hanukkah, and she takes it out the next day to ride it. When she falls off, her father reminds her of the story of the Maccabees and how brave they were, and eventually Gabi learns how to ride her trike. This story doesn’t require much prior knowledge, since the story of the Maccabees and the origination of Hanukkah is explained in the story, although some familiarity with Jewish culture would be helpful.

Classroom Application:

This text could be used to reinforce lessons on Hanukkah, as part of a holiday unit and teaching about other cultures. This story also addresses the idea of being brave, which is something that classes could talk about as an SELS. This story could be used to introduce students to trying again after failing or picking yourself back up after something goes wrong.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

The Hanukkah Trike is all about Jewish culture and their holiday, Hanukkah. In areas where there is not a huge Jewish population, many students may not know about Hanukkah or how it is celebrated. This story addresses common traditions, like making latkes. The text shares how “Gabi helped Daddy grate the potatoes. Mama made the batter and fried the latkes golden and crisp” (page 5). The book also shares the story of the Maccabees, their victory, and “the miracle of the light that burned for eight nights” (page 9).

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St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on St. Patrick’s Day

Title: St. Patrick’s Day

Author(s): Anne Rockwell

Illustrator/Photographer: Lizzy Rockwell

Publisher and Year: Harper; 2010

Number of Pages: 32

Tags: Culture, Diversity, Family, Fiction, Friendship, Holidays, Picture Book, K-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

St. Patrick’s Day is about a boy who goes to school on St. Patrick’s Day and his class does all different projects about the holiday and where it originated. Some students write a book, while others make a play or perform a song and dance. When the boy goes home, he celebrates the holiday with his family, who is Irish, and his friends, whom he teaches about the holiday and the culture. There is not much prior knowledge that students must know to understand the book; most of the story is information about St. Patrick’s Day and its origins.

Classroom Application:

This text can be used to reinforce lessons about Ireland and its culture, as it gives a lot of information, like how the Irish celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It can also be used to help teach about holidays, or St. Patrick’s Day in particular. The information in the book is simple so young students can understand, but it is still valuable to teaching students things they may not already know.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This book easily represents Irish culture, which is a culture that is less commonly talked about. The young boy in the story tells all about his relation to the culture, saying, “I’m all Irish! My mom and dad were born in Ireland” (page 23). Because Irish culture is not commonly taught, this story would be a simple way to introduce a little bit of it into the classroom. Even something as simple as mentioning the mother “baking soda bread because that’s what her mother always did on St. Patrick’s Day” (page 26) gives students an idea of an authentic Irish tradition.

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Ruby’s Chinese New Year

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on Ruby’s Chinese New Year

Title: Ruby’s Chinese New Year

Author(s): Vickie Lee

Illustrator/Photographer: Joey Chou

Publisher and Year: Henry Holt and Company; 2018

Number of Pages: 35

Tags: Animals, Culture, Diversity, Family, Fiction, Holidays, Picture Book, K-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Ruby’s Chinese New Year tells the story of a girl who makes her way to her grandmother’s house to spend the Chinese New Year with her. Along the way, the young girl, Ruby, meets all the different animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Each animal that Ruby encounters has something that they bring to help celebrate, like lanterns and rice cakes. Before Ruby gets to Grandmother’s house, her gift for Grandmother gets ruined, but the animals comfort her and remind her that they have plenty of other ways to celebrate. Prior knowledge of the Chinese New Year is helpful but not required for this book, and the last few pages have information about the holiday, as well as instructions for how to make a paper lantern.

Classroom Application:

This text could be used to introduce students to the Chinese culture and to teach them about the Chinese New Year.  Other than the last page, there is not a lot of information about the holiday itself, but the book introduces the Chinese Zodiac as characters that Ruby meets on her adventure. It also shows different things that are used to celebrate the holiday, like flowers, foods, and candles.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

Ruby’s Chinese New Year represents Chinese culture and their traditions regarding the Chinese New Year. Because it doesn’t contain a lot of straightforward information, it would be best used as an introductory piece, but it could be used to teach or review the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. By page 24, all of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac (and cat), are listed in one place, “Monkey and Rooster, Horse and Goat, Dragon and Snake, Tiger and Rabbit, Ox, Cat and Rat, and…Dog and Pig.” It also highlights that a big part of the holiday celebration is being with family, as when Grandmother says, “seeing you and your friends today is the best gift of all” (page 28). I would introduce this to my students asking if they or anyone they know celebrates the Chinese New Year.

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Pilar’s Worries

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on Pilar’s Worries

Title: Pilar’s Worries

Author(s): Victoria M. Sanchez

Illustrator/Photographer: Jess Golden

Publisher and Year: Albert Whitman & Company; 2018

Number of Pages: 30

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

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Pilar’s Worries is a story about a young girl who struggles with childhood anxiety but loves to dance. One day, she has a rough day at school because she messes up a few small things and begins to worry. However, when she gets to dance class, her anxiety goes away for the hour and she relaxes. There are dance auditions the next day, and Pilar wants to audition but is scared. With encouragement from her mother, Pilar decides to audition and makes it into the winter show. Students would need a basic knowledge of some dance terminology (like “plié” and “sashay”).

Classroom Application:

This book would be a good text to use when addressing mental illness, either specifically or generally. If talking to younger students, it can be simplified to be a lesson on how to deal with feeling nervous and “having butterflies.” For older students, if talking about anxiety specifically, this story shows it in a way students can understand, and there is a page in the back with an Author’s Note and Resources about anxiety.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

Pilar’s Worries represents a culture of people who have mental illnesses like childhood or social anxiety. It describes the symptoms of anxiety in a way that children can understand and relate back to themselves. It uses language like, “Her heart beats so fast it scares her” (page 8) to explain what children might be feeling in a way they can comprehend. The story also gives good advice on doing scary things anyway, when Pilar’s mother says, “But usually when you are doing what you love, the good feelings are so big that the bad feelings become small” (page 15). Depending on the age of the students I am teaching to, I might introduce the book as a story about a girl doing something, even though it makes her nervous.

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A Storm Called Katrina

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on A Storm Called Katrina

Title: A Storm Called Katrina

Author(s): Myron Uhlberg

Illustrator/Photographer: Colin Bootman

Publisher and Year: Peachtree Publishers; 2011

Number of Pages: 37

Tags: Animals, Culture, Diversity, Emotion, Family, Fiction, Picture Book, 2-3, 4-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

In A Storm Called Katrina, a young boy and his family try to survive Hurricane Katrina when it hits their home. They travel through the rising waters to get to the Superdome. When they get there, conditions worsen and Daddy can’t find Louis Daniel and Mama. Daddy eventually finds his family when Louis Daniel plays his cornet in the middle of the Superdome. Special features include information about Hurricane Katrina in the back of the book. Students might need background information about the hurricane to fully understand the story.

Classroom Application:

This story could be used to teach students about the detrimental effects of hurricanes in a science lesson. The story shows the effects the hurricane has on the main character’s home and town, and the statistics in the back of the book give students information about hurricane destruction as well. It could also be used to teach perseverance and bravery in the face of crisis. The family braves a massive, historical storm and still decides to return to their home to face the aftermath of the storm. 

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

A Storm Called Katrina represents the culture of the people of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. There were a lot of emotions surrounding this time and region and so it follows that there were many responses to the event. Some people were angry and worried about taking care of themselves, like the “men that started fighting over a water bottle” (page 23). There were also people who were helping as many as they could.  There were people who evacuated, but also people who never expected the storm to get so bad. One woman said, “I’ve lived around these parts for fifty years…and I ain’t ever seen nothin’ like this” (page18). I would introduce this book to students, asking who has ever heard of Hurricane Katrina or knows anyone who was affected by it.

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Ned the Knitting Pirate

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on Ned the Knitting Pirate

Title: Ned the Knitting Pirate

Author(s): Diana Murphy

Illustrator/Photographer: Leslie Lammle

Publisher and Year: Roaring Book Press, 2016

Number of Pages: 31

Tags: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Fine Arts, Picture Book, K-5, Sarah Luce

Genre: Fiction

Descriptive Annotation:

Ned the Knitting Pirate has a consistent rhyme to the story and it keeps the story rolling and moving along, much like the pirates the story is about. The story is about a group of pirates who do daily pirate activities, except Ned. Ned likes to knit and it makes some of the other pirates very angry. Ned is eventually banned from knitting, until his hobby saves the ship from an attack by a sea monster. After that, all of the pirates learn how to knit and it is an accepted pirate activity.

Classroom Application:

This text can easily be used to reinforce the idea of breaking gender roles. Boys are often laughed at when partaking in traditionally “female” activities, such as things like knitting. In actuality, there is nothing that says knitting should only be for girls, and this story shows boys that there is nothing wrong with being creative, a typical “girl” trait.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Analysis:

This book represents a culture of breaking gender roles. Ned is a boy that likes to knit and the lesson in this story is that that is okay. The captain of the ship at first tries to enforce these roles, saying, “‘A scurvy pirate doesn’t knit, nor wear a fuzzy hat’” (page 8). However, after Ned’s knitting saves the ship, the captain changes his mind. By the end of the story, all the pirates helped fix the sail with knitting “while wearing fuzzy hats and scarves, and knitted pirate booty” (page 30). I might introduce this book by showing the class pictures of my brother and the scarf he knit himself, showing them that boys actually do knit, and it isn’t just something in the story but something that is acceptable in life.

Illustrations:

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A Gift From Abuela

Posted on December 5, 2018 by | Comments Off on A Gift From Abuela

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.

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