Tag Archives: K-1

Miss Mingo Weathers the Storm

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Title: Miss Mingo Weathers the Storm

Author: Jamie Harper

Illustrator: Jamie Harper

Publisher and Year: Candlewick Press, 2012

Number of Pages: 31

Genre: Fiction

Analysis: Miss Mingo Weathers the Storm is about a flamingo teacher and all of her students who take a hike for their class field trip. Throughout the hike, each animal’s special talent is helpful in different scenarios, resulting in a successful field trip.

This book can function as a mirror for any teacher who takes students on a field trip. Although the characters throughout this book are all animals, the book is still relevant to teachers. Teachers also realize throughout the school year that each student in their class has a special talent or unique characteristic that adds to the classroom and helps fill the family vibe within the class. The book can also function as a window for all children wanting to learn about animals. The tidbits of scientific information that is provided throughout the entire book allow students to learn different facts about different types of animals.

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Perceptually, the book is colorful, warm and inviting for all kids. This book appears to be kid friendly and an interesting book about animals. While first looking at the front cover, one may assume that the book is a cute picture book. However, the picture book includes information about different animals.

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Structurally, the book includes facts about the animals’ skills and talents. These facts are put on display on different pages throughout the entire book. The facts throughout the book add to the text, while the images mirror the text of the story. The facts can also act as images throughout the book. One thing that every page has in common is that the images are not framed, which allows the readers to feel part of the story throughout the book.

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Ideologically, this book is a perfect example about how each student’s skills and talents add to the classroom environment. Every student is special in their own way, so this book can be used to allow students to see that their talents are special to the class as a whole. A class wide lesson that a teacher could teach from this book is that as a class we are better together then apart. Another lesson that could be taken away from the book is that the facts about each animal are scientific information, which could be teaching points that students would find interesting. Overall, this book is a fun and interesting book that students will love, but teachers can also find teachable moments throughout the book.

A Day’s Work

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Title: A Day’s Work

Author: Even Bunting

Illustrator: Ronald Himler

Publisher and Year: Clarion Books, 1994

Number of Pages: 32

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Analysis: A Day’s Work is a story about a young boy, Francisco and his grandfather, who go to look for work in America after Francisco’s grandfather moves in with Francisco and his mother. Francisco goes with his grandfather since he does not understand English yet. The two work hard but realize that they have to come back the next day to redo their day’s work.

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This book can function as a mirror for those just moving to America from another country. Many experiences that Francisco’s grandfather goes through could also be significant for other people as well. Not knowing English and having to learn English as a second language can be challenging for anyone. This book could also function as a window, for people who speak English to learn about the challenges that others experience when moving to the United States.

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Perceptually, the colors from the front cover appear dull, which is not very interesting or engaging for young children. They also appear to be pencil drawings looking like rough sketches, but very detailed. Although the colors are dull and not intriguing, the mysteriousness behind the front cover, invites the reader inside the book to continue reading the story.

Structurally, the images are not framed, which allows the audience to feel invited in and included throughout the book. The text per page with the images is just the correct amount of text so that the reader can understand the text before turning to the next page. The images leave the audience with a mysterious feeling because there is not a clarity in the images, especially the faces, which leaves the reader with an idea about what occurred on that page because of the text but does not provide many details. Since the reader is not able to clearly see the faces of the characters, facial expressions and emotions are hard to see in the images. The illustrator may be trying to make a point about these workers and that workers may not want to specifically have an identity because of frequent job changes or moves.

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Ideologically, this book is an excellent example of honesty, loyalty, and that hard work pays off. The grandfather and Francisco are loyal and honest with their employer. Since they completed the wrong job, they were not going to accept payment until the next day when they had completed the job correctly. This example teaches children to always be honest and loyal because these characteristics are valued among adults, parents, and teachers. The easy way out would have been from the grandfather and Francisco to simply accept the money and come out the next day to partially complete the job, but they took the harder route by waiting. Another lesson that this book teaches children is that hard work pays off. Since Francisco and his grandfather took the harder route, they were more valued by their employer, and it could be likely for them to be asked again by this same employer to work for him another time. A Day’s Work is a great book to teach children about morals and values.

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Ava and the Real Lucille

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Title: Ava and the Real Lucille

Author: Cari Best

Illustrator: Madeline Valentine

Publisher and Year: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2012

Number of Pages: 30

Genre: Fiction

Analysis: Ava and the Real Lucille is about two sisters, Ava and Arlie who enter a contest to win a pet. The girls are hoping to win a dog when entering the poem contest. The end result is not what they thought, but the prize ended up being perfect.

This book can function as a mirror for young kids wanting a pet, which is common for most children. Not only will this book function as a mirror for children but can work as a mirror for parents as well. Children who want a pet are constantly talking about their pet and bugging their parents. Both children and parents can relate to this book because the real life experiences are understandable from the audiences perspective.

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Perceptually, the front cover of the book is colorful and appears to be about a little girl Ava and a pet dog named Lucille. The book looks to be a fun and entertaining book for children. The cover catches the reader’s attention, who is then interested in reading about Ava and her pet Lucille.

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Structurally, many pictures throughout the book have round frames, implying that the characters are content and secure. The illustrator could have created these round frames for the audience to think that the two little girls were content with the fact that they could win a poem contest and receive a pet dog. The round frames throw the reader off a bit, thinking that the girls will win a pet dog, when they actually win a pet bird. At the end of the book when Ava and Arlie love their pet bird, there are also round frames, showing the girls are content with having a pet bird named Lucille. The images both give more details as well as mirror the text throughout the book.

Ideologically, this book portrays a positive message but also conveys a negative message for children as well.   Positively, the book teaches children about the responsibility that is associated with having a pet. Children learn to love and care for the pet, regardless if it is a pet that they had wished for. The book teaches children that they must feed, love, help, and play with their pet. All of these actions are important lessons for children to read about prior to actually buying a pet. However, when first receiving the pet, Ava was ungrateful for the pet bird that they won, because she wanted a dog. She would yell and stomp so loud that her actions would upset Lucille the bird. Ungratefulness, disrespect and impatience are all lessons that teachers and adults do not want children reading about and learning to behave in such a way. After Ava’s poor actions, she came around and really cared for Lucille the bird, however, her prior actions were poor lessons for children to learn.

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The Deaf Musicians

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Title: The Deaf Musicians

Authors: Pete Seeger and Paul Dubois Jacobs

Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie

Publisher and Year: The Penguin Group, 2006

Number of Pages: 28

Analysis: The Deaf Musicians is about a man who loves music but is deaf. Initially, he is kicked out of his first band, but he meets other deaf musicians who create a quartet and they are successful musicians on the subway.

This book could function as a mirror for deaf people who love music. Deaf musicians are not typically seen throughout society, so having a book that is relatable to deaf musicians is important. A window could be another function for this book because other people may not think that people who are deaf can be musicians as well, but that is obviously not the case in this book. Deaf musicians are able to achieve and be successful in their own way.

Perceptually, the front cover had colorful and unique images, but the images were also diverse in skin color, characteristics, hairstyle and personality. The reader may also not be able to tell who the deaf characters are in the book, simply by looking at the front cover. That crucial aspect sends the message that not all disabilities change the outward appearance of the person. A person who is deaf can be just as successful as any other person.

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Structurally, the main character, Lee, was typically on the right side of the page or faced towards the right of the page until his quartet of deaf musicians were successful on the subway. Being on the right side of the page or facing towards the right is a way to portray that the character is less secure and stable. Lee’s security with himself could’ve been lost when being kicked out of his first band before finding the quartet of other deaf musicians. Bright colors in each image helps show freedom that Lee and the other musicians feel while creating their own music on the subway throughout the book.

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Ideologically, a crucial lesson that can be taken away from this book is that disabilities do not change the success a person can have. A disability may challenge the person, but having a disability does not mean that one cannot be successful. This book also teaches children that individuality and uniqueness is important and that all students should accept their differences because those characteristics are what make them special. Throughout the entire book Lee persevered and believed in his talents and abilities, which eventually lead to his success on the subway. Teachers strive to have all students accept and include any students with disabilities.

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Dancing in the Wings

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Dancing1 Title: Dancing in the Wings

Author: Debbie Allen

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Publisher and Year: The Penguin Group, 2000

Number of Pages: 29

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Analysis: Dancing in the Wings is about a young girl, Sassy, who loves ballet but is taller than all of her peers. Throughout the book, Sassy learns to embrace her difference leading to her success near the end of the book.

This book could function as a mirror for all young girls who love dancing but do not always feel that their appearance is the same as their classmates. Girls typically struggle more with self-image compared to boys, so this book helps young girls embrace their characteristics. I think that this book could also function as a mirror for African American girls. They could see themselves through Sassy and her family. Having a book that is applicable to African American girls can make these girls feel included and understood. A window is another function of this book because people can learn about some aspects of a different culture from this book.

Perceptually, this book portrays a musical, beautiful and elegant cover that makes one believe that the same types of images will continue throughout the book. However, that is not the case at all. Within the images, Sassy appears to have two different sides to her personality. One aspect of her personality portrays elegance through the dancing images. Another aspect of Sassy’s character that is portrayed in the images is her athletic and tomboy characteristics, as seen in the images below. However, all of the images are beautifully drawn throughout the entire book.

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Structurally, Sassy is taller and larger than her classmates, showing that she is stronger than her classmates as well. This is symbolic to the ending of the book, when Sassy outlasts all of her classmates in a tryout. The unframed images allow the audience to feel included in the story and allow the audience to connect with Sassy and her challenges that she faces throughout the book. Throughout most of the book, Sassy is facing left. This is a way for viewers to see that Sassy is less secure with herself. After Sassy wins the dance contest between other girls she still continues to face towards the left, which can be a sign of the lack of confidence that Sassy has with herself. For the longest time Sassy has been bullied about her height, so her struggle to believe in herself is something that she has learned over time from her peers and teachers.Dancing2

Ideologically, this book expresses the message that one should embrace his or her individuality because what makes him or her unique may be what leads to success. Sassy was successful and won the dance contest because of her height and long legs. What was once a deficit in her mind, became one of her biggest assets. Sassy always worked hard even when her peers would discourage or upset Sassy and in the end all of her hard work paid off. Throughout the book, there were a couple girls who were mean and would upset Sassy. This is a lesson that children should not be taught. Even though this lesson was an essential part of the story plot, children could learn this from the book.

Let’s Play As A Team

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Author(s): K. Hallinan

Illustrator/Photographer: K. Hallinan

Publisher and Year: Ideals Children’s Books in 1996

Number of Pages: 22

Genre: Fiction

Analysis:

This book was about a group of friends who all have different talents and enjoy playing different sports, and they are trying to decide what game they should all play together. In the end, they decide to play a sport that nobody is particularly good at, but by creating teams fairly, all their talents will shine through.

I believe that this story could function as a door for some children to realize that everybody has different talents and interests, and this is a good thing, especially when working together as a team. This could also function as a mirror for children to recognize situations where they have been in a team and how much fun it was when everyone had the chance to be included. Also, the illustrations for this book include children of many different races, genders, and abilities, to enforce the idea that everyone is different and has different talents. All the illustrations are unframed and take up the entire page, which allows the reader to really feel like they are a part of the action and decision making as well, thus emphasizing the theme of teamwork and togetherness.

Although this story’s main intent may be to teach children the importance of teamwork, I think that there are a few issues with the way it was presented. This book seems to give white people the power, or explain why the American culture is the best. For example, all the children seem to have very white names such as Sue, Henry, Ben, Jay, Jeannie, and P.K. (the author’s name), but these children are portrayed as coming from different races or ethnicities. Also, the American flag is continuously shown throughout the text, from the title page of book where all the children are shown paying their respects to it, to the ending of the end of the book where the little white boy is holding it. There are also references to the way that the American people vote for their government, the children all vote and they state that it is “democratic and just” (Hallinan 22). However, I believe that this story is not an accurate representation of the American culture, because it does not reveal the injustice and corruption that is within our country and specifically the government. This book may reinforce the idea that the American way of life is better than other countries because there are no flaws and everyone is included, without discrimination.

A Day with No Crayons

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Author: Elizabeth Rusch

Illustrator: Chad Cameron

Publisher/Year: Rising Moon, 2007

Pages: 27

Genre: Realistic Fiction

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Analysis:

In A Day with No Crayons, a young Hispanic girl named Liza has her beloved crayons taken away for a day when she colors the walls of her room. Although sad at first, Liza quickly realizes that she does not need crayons to make art; art is all around her just waiting to be uncovered. Slowly, Liza’s world turns less and less gray as she colors her world using grass, flowers, mud, berries, leaves, and bricks.

 On a very basic level, many young readers can relate to Liza’s challenge of having to find alternate means of fun after getting in trouble and having things taken away. A Day with No Crayons does not really provide a window to the lives of others but it does, however, provide a window to the unexplored world we live in. Liza is surprised to find all of the beautiful and exotic colors around her, just waiting to be discovered, named, and transformed. Liza even concludes that a day apart from her crayons was actually quite liberating. Liza also models good problem solving skills, such as how to create something out of seemingly nothing.

 Although initially power rests with the mother and her ability to take away or give back Liza’s crayons, creative power ultimately rests with Liza, for she can choose to find and work with the color and art around her. The absence of crayons does not create a power struggle between Liza and her mother, nor does it represent an unconquerable obstacle for Liza. The mother is the only parent involved in the story and is rather stereotypically shown to be the rule-enforcing, punishment-giving parent. Although this instance of taking the crayons away helps Liza to grow (as an artist), it may still enforce in young readers’ minds the notion of a father as a buddy and only-around-for-the-fun sort of guy, rather than as an involved or active parent.

 The beauty and uniqueness of the world is conveyed by the use of creative and descriptive color names, such as cornflower, laser lemon, meadow green, and wondermelon. These words help communicate Liza’s excitement about the rainbow of colors around her. To help Liza’s world come alive in color, actual photographs of nature are skillfully blended with painted illustrations. Cameron’s changing color scheme is symbolic. When first deprived of her crayons, Liza feels blue and everything around her is illustrated in grayscale. However, bright colored illustrations gradually consume more and more of the page as Liza realizes the freedom of not being tied to her crayons and coloring books. The illustrations are also diverse in style, ranging from a two page spreads, to multiple unframed images per page, and to paintings that seem to crawl up the edge of the page. Liza is similarly drawn at different perspectives and with changing expressions. These dynamic illustrations captivate the book’s creative energy and show Liza to be a lively individual with spunk. With Rusch’s decision to have a female main character, A Day with No Crayons advertises, to a degree, that art and coloring are feminine hobbies. However, Rusch’s book nonetheless embodies a positive sky-is-the-limit attitude, and makes an interesting claim about art: that nature is more inspiring than material objects, such as crayons and coloring books.

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.

Will Princess Isabel Ever Say Please?

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Author: Steve Metzger

Illustrator: Amanda Haley

Publishing Information: Holiday House, 2012

Number of Pages: 30

Genre: Fantasy

 

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            Isabel is a beautiful princess who is seemingly perfect, except for her bad manners and refusal to ever say “please.” Although she has many suitors that initially wish to marry her, each one changes his mind as soon as he realizes how rude she is and marries a kinder princess. It is not until the end of the story that she learns the importance of saying “please” and having good manners, which helps her find a prince who will love her.             I think this story sends a good message to children that contrasts the typical theme of princess stories. In most stories of a princess, she is praised for her beauty and marries a prince because she is a beautiful princess. However, in the case of Princess Isabel, her beauty is not enough for the princes to marry her, as they are turned off by her rudeness. It is not until the very end of the story, when Isabel finally says “please” that she is able to woo one of the princes. The author notes, “When the prince heard Isabel say ‘please,’ he was so impressed by her humility and fine manners that he fell in love with her on the spot” (pg. 28). Although the “love at first sight” critique is apparent, this sends a much better message to children as it explicitly states that it was the humility and fine manners that led the prince to fall in love with Princess Isabel. As a result, children are able to see that inner beauty and being a good person is more important than outer beauty. Furthermore, it teaches them the value of manners, and that a lack of manners will yield consequences even for a beautiful princess who seems to have it all.

The illustrations are done in bright watercolors, and remain unframed to allow readers to really experience this story from within. However, more detail and brighter colors are given to the illustrations of Isabel, symbolizing her central importance to the story. Despite the nicely done illustrations, the text could exist alone and still convey all of the messages to readers that it is intended to.

As a whole, I believe the ideologies of manners and the importance of inner beauty make this a refreshing change of pace from the typical princess fairytales children see more often.

Tom’s Tree

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Author: Gillian Shields

Illustrator: Gemma Raynor

Publishing Information: Good Books, 2009

Number of Pages: 24

Genre: Fantasy

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Analysis:

Tom’s Tree tells the story of a young boy named Tom who plants a tree and tells the reader all of the fantastical things he will be able to do in his tree when it grows. However, he becomes discouraged when the tree takes longer to grow than he had hoped, and his dreams are dashed. In the end, he finds that the tree will grow just as big and strong as he had hoped, and he is able to share this moment with his son when he is grown.

This is a very imaginative story, with illustrations that work well with the text to assist in the storytelling. Frankly, I found that the illustrations were additive, as the text alone would not have been able to tell the story as well. There are bright illustrations that cover both pages, and personify all the hopefulness Tom has for the future of his tree. Furthermore, we are able to see Tom’s changing facial expressions as time goes on and the process of the tree growing is taking longer than he had hoped. All of the illustrations are done without frames, letting us really dive into Tom’s fantasies with him. I found it interesting that readers were able to see the parallels between the size of Tom and the size of his tree as they changed over time; as Tom got older, the tree grew larger, showing the connection between the two rather than merely the passing of time.

The story can certainly serve to teach children to allow their imaginations to flourish, and that patience is a virtue. Although Tom’s tree did not grow as quickly as he had hoped it would, it still grew to just the size and splendor that he was hoping for as a boy. Furthermore, in my opinion, it was even more special because he got to share the tree and his ideas for it with his son when it had finally grown large enough. Therefore, I found that this was an imaginative story with valuable undertones that would be a fun read for young readers.