Tag Archives: Animals

My Friend Rabbit

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Title: My Friend Rabbit

Author: Eric Rohmann

Illustrator: Eric Rohmann

Publishers and Year: First Scholastic Printing, 2003

Number of pages: 30

Genre: Fiction

My Friend Rabbit tells the story of a rabbit’s attempt to help her friend mouse. The rabbit means well and tries incredibly hard to help her friend mouse. She enlists the help of many other animals (mostly against their will). However, no matter what rabbit does, trouble never seems to be far behind.

I view this book as a door because it models for children some of the core values of friendship. The story models what it looks like to walk through a mess with someone and love them through it. This concept provides an opportunity for children to take hold of this value for themselves and incorporate that into their own relationships, even if in small ways at first.

Power is distributed in this book in a number of ways. On the first few pages, rabbit looks huge when compared to mouse. This shows the increased power rabbit has over mouse. However, mouse is always higher than rabbit on the page, which shows us how highly he is esteemed. As the story goes on, rabbit struggles more and more to help his friend. As this happens, rabbit’s character appears smaller and smaller. The other animals appear very large and powerful, sometimes taking up more than one page.

The author also used very little text in the book creating space for the pictures to tell a story of their own. The pictures agree with and add to the story. The pictures show the hard work and movement of rabbit. Throughout the text, rabbit is continually moving towards the left of the page. In every page he makes more and more progress left which signals gaining security. Throughout the process he goes from ground level to standing on top of all of the animals in power and security. Eventually, however, trouble follows and rabbit is left at the bottom once again. The visual process of progression and power is very obvious, however, and seems very intentional.

The visual progression of rabbit in power and stature speaks volumes of his goal of helping a friend. The text plays a less important role in the story, since the majority of the story is told through the illustrations. Overall, children can learn much about friendship from this book. The story of rabbit and mouse teaches us what it looks like to go out of our way to serve a friend and to see someone else’s need as greater than our own. This is an excellent lesson for children and adults alike.

Owl Moon

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Author: Jane Yolen

Illustrator: John Schoenherr

Publisher and Year: Philomel Books 1987

Number of pages: 29

Genre: Poetry

Analysis:

Owl Moon is a Caldecott winner that tells the story of a girl who goes owling with her father. The book delves into her family’s tradition of owling and how this instance is the first time she gets to accompany her father. Late at night, they go into the forest in search of an owl and trek through the snow and through the trees. Her father intermittently does owl calls and eventually they encounter one.

This story serves as a window or a door into the world of owling, the world of nature, and the importance of family traditions. The illustrations are done in a watercolor style full of a balance of rich, dark colors and the stark white of the snow described by the narrator. Although the story takes place at night, the characters and their surroundings are illuminated in the moonlight to create a serene aesthetic. The text itself is written in a poetic style with flow akin to that of a child forming thoughts. The words are eloquently strung together to reinforce the importance of the event in the young girl’s mind. While the flow of the text is broken up into small lines and stanzas, the word choice shows a more adept writer who is writing in a more carefree manner.

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Culturally, this book touches on the importance of family traditions and familial relationships. This one, seemingly simple, event had enough of an impact on the little girl that she retells the story. Overall, this book does not have much cultural value to it. While Owl Moon has beautiful, award winning illustrations, it does not have multicultural significance. The two main characters of the book are both white and there are no other people in the book. The text may have nice flow and beautiful word choice, but the story itself holds little cultural importance in a classroom. There are several activities that could be created from this book, but in order to ensure that a class does not exclude anyone, the activities would need to change from the inherent ideologies presented in the book. Instead of reinforcing the idea of a typical family being parents as being the primary caretaker, instead stress the importance of every family type. This may still exclude children who live with foster families so when discussing this book, be sure to specifically include them as well. Although problems may arise from teaching a lesson only with this book, Owl Moon could be paired with other more multicultural texts to discuss many family types and family traditions.

This Is Not My Hat

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Title: This Is Not My Hat

Author: Jon Klassen

Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Publishers and Year: Candlewick, 2012

Number of pages: 32

Genre: Fiction

This Is Not My Hat tells the story of a fish’s attempt to steal another fish’s hat. The thief fish hides with the assumption that the victim fish will not be able to find him. However, in the end the victim fish finds the thief and takes back his hat.

This book is an excellent example of literature functioning as both a mirror and as a window. It is an example of a mirror because it gives the reader an opportunity to see their own thought process/perspectives in the thief fish. Any reader can relate to the thief fish because people, in general, are often naive in thinking that things done in secret will remain hidden. The text of this book takes us through that perspective and allows us to connect with that thought process. The illustrations, however, provide a window for the reader to look through. The illustrations reveal the thought process and perspective of the victim fish. This perspective completely contradicts the text and leaves us with pictures that tell an entirely different story. This contradiction provides the window that allows the reader to understand an outside perspective.

Another method used to depict this was the intentionality of the illustrations. Although one might think that the thief would carry more power, the readers see the opposite portrayed in the illustrations. Rather, the readers notice that the victim is drawn significantly larger than the thief. I believe this was intentionally done to show that the power actually lies in honesty. The small fish felt and acted powerful in his attempts. However, he was continually swimming towards confinement (the place where leaves are close together) where the truly powerful fish would find him before swimming back into the ocean. Overall, the author did a phenomenal job of using contradictory text and illustrations to speak into the turmoil children might experience when deciding between right and wrong. Allowing children to see their own emotions and thought process as well as the outside perspective connects them to the world around them in a new way. It helps to erase the naivety and smallness of thinking people can get into.

The contradicting text and illustrations speak loudly in this text. The author/illustrator did a phenomenal job balancing the two. Despite the two contradicting themes, the story follows the normal thought patterns well. The way the text is displayed and even the diction used directly influences our understanding of the story. Overall, the author conveys that the things that are hidden will always come to the light so people might as well be honest with them in the first place.

Pool

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Illustrator: JiHyeon Lee

Publisher and Year: Chronicle Books 2015

Number of pages: 48

Genre: Picture Narrative

Analysis

Pool is a Picture Narrative book which shows the story of a young boy and his friend at the pool. The pool is crowded so him and his friend swim underneath everyone else and discover a fantastical world of sea creatures. They interact with many sea creatures, have a great adventure, and then leave when the pool is closing.

This text could be both a window and a mirror because of the depictions of the children. Although the two main children appear to be Asian, there is no culture directly addressed in this book because there are no words to tell exactly what their ethnicity is. Because this is a picture narrative, it initially seems difficult to draw meaning from the plot or anything that happens in this book however, the back of the book dedicates it to “Those who want to swim freely in the world.” With this quote in mind, the book becomes one that depicts the imaginative escape of a crowded world.

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The colors in the book speak to this idea particularly well. In the beginning, the boy arrives at the pool and before he can get in everyone else rushes in before him. Around 40 people fill up the pool and yet the only color in the entire scene is from the water. As the boy swims below the surface and underneath all the other patrons at the pool, his shorts go from grey to blue, his skin becomes colored as opposed to stark white and his white swim cap has tones of yellow in it. As the book progresses, the pictures get more colors in the sea creatures they encounter and the habitats they discover. The pages become filled with lively yet serene images of imaginative sea creatures that are depicted in a childlike manner, with smiley faces and humanoid mouths.

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This book truly captures the imagination and childlike wonder and in the end when the two friends leave they are in color while the rest of the pool goers are still in greyscale. This book speaks to the importance of imagination and creativity as a tool for innovation and personal gain. The two friends get to experience an adventure and after it is completed, they take it with them and learn from the experiences they shared.

Mousetronaut Goes to Mars

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Author: Astronaut Mark Kelly

Illustrator: C.F. Payne

Publisher and Year: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Number of pages: 30

Genre: Science Fiction

Analysis

Mousetronaut Goes to Mars is the story of the mouse Meteor who is training to be an astronaut. After preparation, the astronauts are ready to leave but Meteor’s name was not on the list. Instead of just staying behind, Meteor sneaks onto the ship and goes to Mars with the rest of the humans. Meteor stays hidden until there is something wrong and the other astronauts a not able to descend to the planet’s surface. Because Meteor is so small, he comes out of hiding and tells the other astronauts that he is small enough to get to the planet with just one rocket. After Meteor is the first Mousetronaut on Mars, the ship heads home and Meteor becomes a hero for saving the mission.

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The story itself is very engaging and has colorful pictures that take up the entire page. This text functions as a mirror into the fantastical world of space travel. Since this is a children’s book, I believe it is safe to assume that no children are actually astronauts and thus this book would be a starting off point for children to get interested in space and space travel. Because the main character of the story is a mouse, it seems the illustrator crammed all of the diversity for the book into one astronaut. There are four astronauts usually shown, 3 white males and one black female. While this does have some diversity and is slightly better than all white males, it still enforces the idea that females and non-white people are not welcome in sciences and space travel. However, the text discusses how Meteor trains with three different people, Claudia, Claire, and Charlotte, which are typically female names.

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Although the text has these characters, the images are just of Meteor doing the exercise himself. The ideology of the story also leaves something to be desired. While the protagonist is a spunky mouse, he wrongfully goes onto the spaceship and does not get reprimanded. Instead of facing consequences for this, Meteor ends up saving the mission and being praised as a hero. This enforces the idea that children can question authority, which in itself is not necessarily a bad trait, and go against the rules if it is something they feel driven to do. If all children prescribed to this ideology, it could create chaos in a more structured school setting. Overall, I think this book does a good job of getting children interested in science and space travel, but lacks in diversity and a fully positive ideology.

This Is A Moose

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Title: This is A Moose

Author: Richard T. Morris

Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

Publishers and Year: Little Brown and Company, 2014

Number of pages: 39

Genre: Fiction

This book is takes the reader on the set of a movie about a Moose with a wild heart and big dreams. On the set the Moose reveals his big dreams of becoming an astronaut, much to the horror of the director. Even though Moose is continually put down for his dreams, he never gives up.

I believe that this text operates as a mirror for the intended audience. I believe this book acts as a mirror because it could possibly reflect the reader’s own feelings. Children have wild and crazy dreams at times. However, adults tend to snuff out the hope for such dreams with our words or our actions if not careful. The author presents the thought that children can achieve their dreams despite what others think they should be or should do. This opens a door for them to believe it for themselves and continue pursing dreams that might otherwise seem impossible.

Throughout the book, power is given largely to the negative and discouraging words being spoken over the animals. The pictures often conflict with the discouraging words in that the animals continue to pursue their dreams despite repeated warnings that “a moose can’t do that” or “a giraffe can’t be this.” The contradiction seen between the text and image is a powerful statement to children to push through persecution and reach for the stars.

The illustrator’s use of vibrant colors and attention-grabbing text draws in the reader. The pictures are comical enough to engage the reader from the first page. However, the progression of the story is clearly shown in a very memorable way. The text in this story plays just as an important role as the illustrations, however. The text is extremely large, very vibrant, and often uses an odd, attention-grabbing font. Word bubbles are used to express dialogue in a fun way that also alerts the reader to the urgency of tone. This heightens the emotion behind the words being spoken and makes Moose’s victory that much greater. In addition to this, the readers see the progression between Moose’s hopes being openly spoken, verbally torn apart, and the perseverance it took to see him succeed. Overall, this book helps us to realize that dreams, like people, come in all shapes and sizes and that people should never allow our perception of a person to limit their potential. Believe /encourage people to pursue their dreams, and don’t let the world put anyone’s potential in a box.

Alex the Parrot: No ordinary bird

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Author: Stephanie Spinner

Illustrator: Meilo So

Publisher and Year: Alfred A. Knopf 2012

Number of pages: 38

Genre: Non-fiction

Analysis

Alex the Parrot is a short chapter book with pictures that describes the life of the African Grey Macaw Alex and his handler Irene Pepperberg. It tells of Irene’s experiments with Alex in order to prove that birds are smart creatures capable of understanding human concepts such as colors, numbers, and shapes.

This book functions as a window or door into the scientific community. The main culture addressed and discussed in the book is that of Irene and her experiences and observations in the scientific field. At many points in the book, it is discussed that Irene has to do certain things in order to ensure that her research will be respected. The book displays scientific culture as something that is easily understandable to children and explains processes Irene follows in a way that is easier for students to understand. The pictures themselves do little to add to the story itself but enhance the overall experience of the book.

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The text is broken into smaller three to five sentence paragraphs and each page typically has two to five small paragraphs on it. Having the text broken up in such a way is conducive for a children’s literature book because it allows children to digest the harder information in smaller doses. The pictures are done in a sort of watercolor style and while the humans seem more cartoonish, Alex and any other animals look very realistic. This adds to the readers understanding and visualization that all the events discussed in the books actually occurred. The illustrator uses large pictures and bright colors to capture attention of the reader. The illustrator also uses humor in some instances to break up larger portions of text and keep the reader interested.

The book itself is a truthful retelling of Irene’s experiment and discusses Alex’s death and his death’s impact on the future the experiment. This book is a good tool to use and have in a classroom and is suitable for many ages. This book can function as a stepping stone into discussion of many different aspects of the scientific field. Some examples include experimentation hypothesis process, validity of an experiment, or the general topic of animal brain function. Overall, this book can serve a way to get children interested in scientific topics.

One Hundred Hungry Ants

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Author: Elinor J Pinczes

Illustrator: Bonnie Mackain

Publisher and Year: Houghton Mifflin Company 1993

Number of pages: 28

Genre: Fiction

Analysis:

One Hundred Hungry Ants is a sort of retelling of the song “the ants go marching” children’s nursery rhyme. In the book, 100 ants are marching to a picnic and do not want to be late otherwise they will miss the food. The smallest ant brings up the idea that they should form shorter lines so they can all get there faster. Unfortunately, every time they rearrange it is a mess and the ants waste time. By the time they reach the picnic, all the food is gone and the 99 ants are upset with the smallest ant for making them late.

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Overall, this book does not have much cultural context to it. It could be argued that the idea of a picnic is one of a certain set of values and may have specific cultural context, but because it is not from a human’s perspective but rather an insect’s perspective, it doesn’t fit into a window, mirror, or door category. While it could be a good tool to use when discussing multiplication, it is mainly an ideologically superficial book with not much deeper meaning. Because One Hundred Hungry Ants only has a superficial ideology, this makes it a helpful book to have in one’s classroom.

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Not all the books used in a classroom need to have a deeper meaning, and the fact that this has little meaning besides being a fun story allows your students to learn from just the events that take place, rather than paying attention to cultural values that take place in the book. Because of the repetitive nature of the text it would be simple to use it in the context of multiplication. Every time the ants change positions is an example of different multiplications. Because the ants change position into different lines, these lines can be used to show multiplication and factors such as: 1 times 100 is 100, 2 times 50 is 100, 4 times 25 is 100 and 5 times 20 is 100.  Overall, this book does not have much cultural significance of cultural depth but could be used as a helpful math resource in a classroom.

I Am The Dog

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Title: I am the Dog

Author: Daniel Pinkwater

Illustrator: Jack E. Davis

Publishers and Year: Harper Collins Publisher, 2010

Number of pages: 30

Genre: Fiction

This book tells the story of a boy who switches places with his dog for the day.  It goes through the day’s events with the roles reversed, and the readers enter the mind of the dog through the boy.  The story culminates with the conclusion that being a dog is better than being a boy.

I believe that this book is being used as a window. Many children have pets in their homes or know someone who does. By Jacob pretending to be a dog for a day, the readers get an up close and personal look into the mind of a dog. While reading the book I found myself thinking like (the readers assume) a dog would think and focusing on things a dog would focus on. Since children do not always put themselves in someone else’s shoes easily, this book provides an excellent window into the mind of their pet. They are able to realize the things that are important and possibly build more compassion towards them. Not only does this give them a window into the mind of a dog, but it opens them up to being able to step into the perspectives of the people around them as well.

In this book, power is distributed evenly. I noticed from the first time reading it that the illustrator drew the boy and his dog to be equal in size. Throughout the entire book they stay this same size. This shows me the equality between the two. They are switching places but the power never shifts. They remain equally important throughout the book. This speaks of the importance of having as much value for someone else’s’ perspective as your own.

As far as cultures go, there is only one culture represented: white middle class. There is no diversity in the characters throughout the book. Even during the scene at the boy’s elementary school, every single child is white.

The visuals in this text help bridge the gap between the new mindset the readers are being introduced to and the common actions of dogs that the readers see on a daily basis. For example, the readers see the dog excited for food. The readers have all seen that at one point of another. However, seeing that while hearing the intense emotion of excitement from the dog’s perspective gives opportunity for children to connect the new information-to-information they already have. There is not much to be gained through the structure of the text, however. The text is not formatted in any particular way that brings special meaning to the story. However, the text itself does a fantastic job of incorporating sounds and stream of consciousness that a dog might have which helps the message come across in a very clear way. Overall, this book reminds us that it is important for people to view others with as much value as they would view themselves and to be able to view situations through the lens of another.

Diary of a Wombat

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Author: Jackie French

Illustrator: Bruce Whatley

Publisher/Year: Clarion Books, 2002 & 2003

Pages: 30

Genre: Fiction

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Analysis

The Diary of a Wombat follows the daily activities and spontaneous discoveries of a young wombat over the course of one week. For each day of the week, activities are categorized under morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The wombat’s daily movements, such as eating, sleeping, and scratching, are intermixed with more humorous adventures such as digging holes and attacking laundry.

The Diary of a Wombat indirectly functions as a mirror. Children can see that, although the wombat is an animal, his life is not so very different. The wombat sleeps and eats just like them, has likes and dislikes, gets into mischief, and shares similar needs and wants (i.e. shelter, attention, love). French’s book also functions as a window. By seeing that the daily life of a wombat, or any animal for that matter, is similar to their own lives, children may realize that their friends and neighbors, though different by race or religion, share similar habits as well. The Diary of a Wombat also provides a model for good behavior. The wombat is an active character: always doing, finding, or creating new things around him. The wombat also wants to be closer to others (human neighbors) because he finds their company helpful and enjoyable.

In The Diary of a Wombat, the power rests with the wombat because he trains his human neighbors to reward him with carrots and oats. Whatley depicts these neighbors as a nuclear and stereotypical white family of two parents and two children who live in a two story house. Although the family represents the white norm, it is not significant enough in the plot to influence a child’s understanding of families. What stands front and center is the similarity between wombats and children (humans).

The brief but spunky language of the wombat helps him appear like a playful and relatable character. The wombat, like humans, has a daily routine, incomplete without sleeping and eating. The multiple illustrations on each page and the occasional two page spread illustrate the sequence of activities that make up the wombat’s daily life. Unframed illustrations allow young readers to feel involved in the wombat’s shenanigans and make it easier for children to relate their own life to that of the wombat. Whatley’s illustrations of the wombat at all different angles show how he is a multi-faceted and spunky individual. Although the diary portrays the wombat as innocent and imperfect, French’s picture book conveys an underlying sense of exploitation. The wombat learns to demand food from neighbors and sometimes makes noise until fed. Not only does this mock how humans have similarly trained animals for their own means, but it may encourage children that persistent whining will get them what they want.