Tag Archives: Fantasy

Elmer

Posted on by

IMG_9616 [405973]

Author/Illustrator: David McKee

Publisher and Year: McGraw-Hill, 1968

Number of Pages: 30

Genre: Fable/Fiction

IMG_9617 [405974]

Analysis: Elmer the elephant is beautifully different, but he doesn’t see it that way. He goes through some extreme measures to be “normal” until he realizes that it’s good to be different. This book can work as a mirror for children who feel that they are different in some way. Often times in society, being outside of the “norm” is frowned upon, and it shouldn’t be. People should feel comfortable with their differences because those are what make them unique. The jungle life is prevalent in this book, and even the non-elephants accept Elmer for who he is. Rarely did the animals express a face of disgust for Elmer’s appearance. As long as he plays his part in society, he is okay in their eyes.

Perceptually, this book has very plain text, and it clearly explains pictures and stays off to the side.

Structurally, Elmer walks to the right until he is like the rest of the elephants, which is when he feels normal. All of the animals appear to be the same size as Elmer, even though elephants are clearly bigger than pigs. There appears to be many bright colors at the end when Elmer feels free.

“Elmer” teaches that people should accept who they are because it is not the outside that matters.

The Red Tree

Posted on by

IMG_9618 [405975]

Author/Illustrator: Shaun Tan

Publisher and Year: Simply Read Books, 2001

Number of Pages: 24

Genre: Fable/Dystopia

IMG_9619 [405976]Analysis: “The Red Tree” is about a young girl who feels trapped in a world of—what seems to be—never-ending sadness. It is not until she realizes that she has to take the good with the bad that her “red tree” grows. This book works well as a mirror for a lot of young girls who feel that they are trapped in a bubble of sadness or sorrow. In the beginning, the young girl feels helpless and almost like she has no power over her life. By the end of the book, she is rejuvenated and hopeful. The images of darkness and confusion seem to be an accurate representation of what sadness would look like if it was tangible.

Perceptually, this book has very few, spaced words. Some images are framed for a limited view, and the images are dark until the girl “reaches the light.” Her name is never given, perhaps because this could be anyone’s story.

Structurally, she walks to the right until she sees her tree-which is when she walks left, to her happy place. The word “wait” shrinks with each page to show a time lapse. She is trapped in a bottle because she feels isolated, and everyone around her is dark and gloomy.

Ideologically, this book teaches that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

The Great Paper Caper

Posted on by

IMG_9622 [405979]Author/Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers

Publisher and Year: Philomel Books, 2008

Number of Pages: 40

Genre: Fantasy/Fable

IMG_9623 [405980]

Analysis: “The Great Paper Caper” is about an aspiring bear who dreams of winning a paper airplane competition finds himself in a pickle when he is exposed for cutting down a lot of trees. After he explains why he cut down the trees, the town takes interest in his ideas. This book works as a window into an imaginary world that most would otherwise never experience. Close to all of the power seems to be distributed throughout the jungle, as all of the animals come to the conclusion that someone must be held responsible for the missing trees. The jungle in this book seems somewhat like real life (with an interrogation process and “cops”) so some of the power also lies in their hands. Because the bear was interfering with the daily routines of the jungle (and ultimately the world), he was disliked and considered an enemy by the majority. The bear was ostracized because of his different ideas, which is typically how society deems what is normal and what is not.

Perceptually, this book has very little words and the words are spaced out, so the main focus was on the pictures. The bear never actually speaks in the book, we are only told what he is saying.

Structurally, this story is told with pictures and thought bubbles. The bear continuously walks to the right and appears lower on the page when he is confronted by everyone, but then appears on the top of the page when everyone applauds him for having such a great idea, perhaps to show a change in status.

Hey, Little Ant

Posted on by

IMG_9611 [405969]Authors: Phillip and Hannah Hoose

Illustrator: Debbie Tilley

Publisher and Year: Tricycle Press, 1998

Number of Pages: 22

Genre: Fantasy/Poetry
IMG_9613 [405970]Analysis:“Hey, Little Ant” is a story about a child that contemplates whether or not he should spare an ant’s life. After putting himself in the ant’s shoes, the boy sees that maybe he shouldn’t squish the bug after all. This text could primarily work as a window. It is common in America to carelessly step on small bugs, such as ants. This book could give us a glimpse of the bug’s perspective. This book also allows children to step out of the egocentric world that they live in, where everything is “I view it this way, so that’s how it must be.” In the story, the power somewhat shifts from the big and mighty kid to the ant, who ultimately could’ve convinced the boy not to step on him. When the ant tells the kid to imagine that he was the ant and the ant the kid, the boy starts to feel for the ant.

Perceptually, the emphasis on the boy’s size compared to the ant really shows how superior we, as humans, feel to bugs and nature. This book is a very rhythmic book so that younger students can read it easier. Specific words bolded for emphasis, and bright colors are used as attention grabbers and positivity. The book also ends with a cliffhanger: Does the boy squish the ant?

Structurally, the child is enormous compared to the ant. The ant is always pictured very small, meaning he is weak. On the other hand, the child is very large, meaning he is the strong character. At one point, the ant and child switch sizes—perhaps a power swap.

Ideologically, this book teaches readers that empathy and kindness are great traits to have.

Trouble with Trolls

Posted on by

Title: Trouble with Trolls

Trolls1

Author: Jan Brett

Illustrator: Jan Brett

Publisher and Year: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992

Number of Pages: 30

Genre: Fantasy

Analysis: In Trouble with Trolls, a young girl Treva and her dog, Tuffi, like to go on hikes up the mountain and then to ski down the mountain. Whenever they go up the mountain they encounter trolls that try and take her dog. Each time Treva runs into a different troll, she uses manipulation in order to save her dog from the trolls.

This book can function as a window for an audience who does not know about mountains, hiking or dogs. This book gives an insight into what life is like in the mountains. However, another function could be a mirror because people who live near or in mountains and are used to hiking or other problems that may arise while hiking may see themselves throughout the book.

Perceptually, the words are easy to read and the length is just right per page. The images seem to stop or create their own framing around the words. Since this pattern within the text repeats itself, at first the images mirror the meaning of the text but as the pattern continues some of the images begin to add meaning to the text.

Structurally, each image is detailed and framed. The frame around each image is detailed as well. However, on some of the pages the images seem to be coming out of the frame. For example, the underground cave for the trolls comes out of the frame and allows the audience to feel part of the sneaky action with the trolls, while the framed pictures only allow the audience to see a glimpse into Treva’s world. The partially framed and unframed structure creates two different experiences, depending on what is first seen while looking at each page. The images that crawl out of the frame blend in which can go unnoticed while first reading the book. After re-reading the book, the reader picks up on the detail of the underground cave outside of the frame creating a more involved feeling with the book a second or third time reading it.

Trolls2

Ideologically, this book teaches a negative message and a positive lesson. First off, Treva is intelligent and creative. She uses problem solving skills and techniques that can be applicable and interesting for young children to read about. Students could learn how to use their creativity and problem solving skills to fix a situation. However, Treva’s intelligence and creativity is sneaky and she is manipulative of the trolls. Although teachers strive to teach problem solving skills to students, problem-solving skills should not be sneaky.

Papa Gave Me a Stick

Posted on by

Title: Papa Gave Me a Stick

unnamed-3

Author: Janice Levy

Illustrator/Photographer: Simone Shin

Publisher and Year: Star Bright Books and 2015

Number of pages: 28 pgs

Tags: Olivia Simkins, Fiction, 2-3, Culture, Picture Book, Fantasy, Animals, Adventure

Genre: Fiction

Analysis:

Antonio is a little boy who dreams of having a guitar. Throughout this story he meets animals and people who help him achieve owning his very own guitar. This story could act as a window for the audience. I feel that this story will not be one where the audience who read it will want to do exactly what Antonio did. This story will open up a window for everyone to view how Antonio handled the items he received and how they might have handled it differently. It also acts as a window into the Spanish culture. This book does an excellent job of incorporating the Spanish culture and language. Throughout the book it talks about mariachi bands and the different words/phrases in Spanish. As the readers read along, the text explains the words in English then tells the audience what the word for it is in Spanish. To go along with these words, it has a Glossary and the different instruments that are in a mariachi band. The illustrations do an excellent job of depicting the culture. This story also shows the little boy moving towards the right of the page as the story goes on. I believe that this shows that as the boy receives each item, he is moving forward, or closer to receiving the guitar that he has always wanting. However, this book bring up the ideological thinking that, the little boy was ungrateful of the gift he received from his father and by him not appreciating the different gifts that he was given long the way, it helped him get what he wanted.

unnamed-4

Grandpa’s Soup

Posted on by

Title: Grandpa’s Soup

unnamed-1

Author: Eiko Kadono

Illustrator/Photographer: Satomi Ichikawa

Publisher and Year: Kaisei-Sha Publishing Co. and 1997

Number of pages: 31 pgs

Tags: Olivia Simkins, Fantasy, Fiction, 2-3, Culture, Picture Book, Fable

Genre: Fable

Analysis:

This book is about an old man whose wife passes away. He wakes up one day and decides to make the soup his wife used to make for him. As he makes the soup he realizes that he forgets a step and day by day and makes the soup over and over again until it is just right. Along the way he shares his soup with 3 mice, a cat, a dog and 9 children.

This story could function as a window because this book was originally published in Japanese and later was translated to English. With that being said, the audience can look into a different culture. The audience can see that in this man’s culture, his wife used to make him this special soup. In having him recreate this soup, the soup brings back memories of his wife and it shows how important it is to the old man to get the soup just right. It could also serve as a mirror from some readers. Some may read this story and relate their own lives to the old man’s. The text may remind them of a special dish one of their family members or friends make for them. This text does a good job of including different races and cultures throughout the book. Even though the words don’t ever really specify a certain culture the illustrations do.

The text in this book always appears to be on the opposite side of the picture until the second to last image when the children are sharing the soup with the cat, dog, mice and the man. This invites the audience to be a part of the story, as if the audience were sharing the soup along with the characters in the story. Also, in the very beginning of the story, the colors are very symbolic of the emotions conveyed in the story. The colors started out dark to show that the grandpa is very lonely and sad. As the story goes on the color get brighter and brighter to show his mood improving as he makes the soup better and better. This story could evoke the belief that the grandpa must share his soup with everyone else, leaving him to have a little portion of what he has made. Some may view this as a socialist view. Socialism is where the wealth or good is distributed between the community and every gets a “fair” share of anything and everything.

unnamed-2

Jennie’s Hat

Posted on by

Title: Jennie’s Hat

Screen Shot 2016-05-18 at 10.39.33 AM

Author: Ezra Jack Keats

Illustrator/Photographer: Ezra Jack Keats

Publisher and Year: The Penguin Group, 1966

Number of pages: 30 pgs

Tags: Olivia Simkins, Family, Fiction, 2-3, Fantasy, Picture Book

Genre: Fantasy

Analysis:

Jennie’s Hat is about a little girl named Jennie who is receiving a hat from her Aunt. When Jennie receives the hat, it isn’t what she expected. Jennie then sets out to find the perfect hat. This text could serve as a mirror for children. They can read this book and apply their own schema to the text. The book may have them think about the time they once received a gift from a family member and it turned out to be something they were not expecting. By having this text serve as a mirror it can also have the audience more intrigued as to what Jennie is going to do to make this present more appealing to her. The text may also give the students a chance to reflect on how Jennie reacted to the gift and whether she handled the situation correctly. The text can also give the readers time to reflect on how they might have responded themselves, if they were to receive the hat as a gift. This text also depicts different cultures through out the text. The words do not go in depth about different cultures. However, the illustrations do present other cultures through the people in Jennie’s everyday life. This story could give the readers the ideological thinking that Jennie’s response was not a nice one and she should have been happy and content with the gift she has received. It also could evoke a different kind of response. The audience could see the way Jennie changed the gift she received to fit something that served a better purpose to her, and agree that they believe she did the right thing. When looking deeper into the illustrations the readers can see that they have no frame around them allowing the audience to be a part of the story. It also allows us to see that different cultures have been featured in the book even though the text does not specifically state that the characters are of different races and cultures.

unnamed