Friday, June 15, 2007
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by Alexis Manson
A few weeks ago I finished reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S Lewis. It's an adventurous story of three kids and a prince going on a voyage to the world's end. They are looking for Asland's land. Nobody is sure that there is land beyond the world's end, but they are ready for an adventure! When I opened this book I felt magic in the air. So all you J.K Rowling fans, get ready for another great adventure! This book is filled with water that makes you stronger, mysterious lands, seasick people, and magic. If you liked the other books in this series you will love this one.
The Class Election from the Black Lagoon, by Garris Weaver
My fabulous book that I just read is about a boy named Hubie. His teacher told the class that they had to run for something. Hubie said he's going to run for president against Doris. Doris is a girl and Hubie doesn't want to lose to a girl for president. Then they tried to make a campaighn slogan. They thought of don't vote for Doris. But then they thought of a better campaighn slogan. It was Don't be a booby vote for Hubie. Doris is going to give everybody an ice cream bar if they voted for her. Hubie even put posters in the girls bathroom that said Don't be a booby vote for Hubie. If he wins the election he will let people bring pets to school and have recess all day. Also everybody will be on honor roll lists.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Other Side, by Alexis Terrell
Hi my name is Alexis Terrell and I have just finished reading The Other Side. It is about a girl named Clover and she is an Afican American girl and another girl named Annie and she is white. One day Annie came to the fence to watch Clover and her friends jump rope so Annie asked them could she play and Aondra said NO!!! without the other girls catching their breath. So all the friends went home to go to sleep. The next morning when Clover was trying to look for Annie, Annie was in a puddle of water jumping and laughing with joy! Until one day Clover's mom and her were heading for the grocery store when Clover saw Annie and her mom walking by and Clover was looking at Annie but Clover's mom said "Child don't stare at her. Its not pollite and that day on they were friends forever. It kind of makes me sad because now we can play with any kind of colored people but our great, great grandmas and pappa's couldn't.
26 Fairmont Ave., by Drew Pack
I just read 26 Fairmont Avenue, by Tomie de Paola. This book is about a little boy and his life and here is what I think about it. Tomie is a little boy that I think is so funny. My favorite part is when Tomie ties himself to the chair, gets into the medicine cabnit and eats all of the chocolate laxatives. What a mess! I am glad she won't forget the lifesavers again!!!! I am so glad that he wrote this book or I would not have written this blog! HAVE FUN READING!!!!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Charlotte's Web, by Zachary Thacker
I have just finished Charlotte's Web by E.B White. It is a wonderful book I would just love to meet Wilbur. He is so funny and is almost always happy. It would be so sweet to meet Charlotte. She is so wise. Some people hate spiders and think they are bloodthirsty like Wilbur when he first met Charlottte, but spiders have to drink blood to survive. My teacher, Mrs.Lipp said " You eat the bad pigs but not Wilbur." I DO NOT like Templeton. He is a rat and almost everybody hates them. I hate it when Templeton gets so fat because Wilbur doesn't get alot of food. My favorite part is when Temleton saves Charlotte's babies so they can live with Wilbur like Charlotte did. But only three of Charlotte's babies stayed with Wilbur. I think what happened in the book will keep happening on and on again. It is so sad that Charlotte dies, but you can't always live forever. I've read this book five times because I love it and I want to read it again and again.
Charlotte's Web, by Rachel Taylor
I have just finshed Charlotte's Web by E.B White. It is a great and wonderful book I can just read over and over again! My favorite character is Wibur. He is a cute and funny little pig. I wish I could meet Charlotte also. She is a wise one. Some people hate spiders and think they are UGLY but I don't. I think spiders are lovely creatures. My teacher, Mrs. Lipp, made a saying that goes ''You eat the bad pigs, but not Wilbur.'' I DO NOT like Templeton. He is a PACK RAT and I hate pack rats and I hate when Templeton gets fat. I hink Fern is a nice young lady and REALLY cares for Wilbur. My favorite part is when Charlotte has her egg sack. I predict if there's going to be another book, Charlotte's girls that stayed with Wilbur will grow up with Wilbur and have their babies and Wilbur will always have a friend. Charlotte's Web is a book that a person who likes barn animals and spiders should read. I think Wilbur will always remember Charlotte. I'm so glad Mrs. Lipp read this book to me and if she didn't I would never understand the true meaning of a good and long friendship. I think the best part of friendship is having someone who really cares about you and who will always be nice and friendly to you and that's the true meaning of Charlotte's Web.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Who Was Ben Franklin?, by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Illustrations by John O'Brien - Biography
I’m a teacher who loves to read and one of my favorite places in the world is the public library, so that certainly ranks my liking of Ben Franklin pretty high! I decided to read this nonfiction book, Who Was Ben Franklin, after I purchased it in Phil., PA a little over a year ago. After learning just a little bit about this famous man, I wanted to go to the library that he actually constructed and the city that he made such an impact on. I picked this book up because it looked like a quick read with penciled sketches that were easy to understand and text that looked easy to read and enjoy, not laborious at all. I was right. This is one of those nonfiction books that is a biography of the person’s life and superbly done to capture young readers’, and teachers’ like me, attention and truly teach about the person. The author has created other “Who was…” books, one of which is about Thomas Jefferson that I have also read, and I plan on buying more. This is a great way for students to learn about famous people in history without having to be labored down with unlearned words and boring details that most past nonfiction text are constructed of. The author, Dennis Brindell Fradin, has done a wonderful thing with this idea for nonfiction and biographies!
Ben Franklin was a man who had knowledge far before his time. He understood the importance of experimenting with nature to discover the root cause of all his questions. Most know about his kite and key experiment, but by this experiment he was able to create the lightening rod to make storms and electricity less frightening and deadly for the common person. He was also knew a lot more about health and wellness than most people gave him credit for and bathed often. On a humorous note – no wonder he had no problem finding lady friends a plenty when he moved to France to act at the United States representative to convince France to help in the American Revolutionary War. Interesting that not to long after, France went into a Revolutionary War! Most would say that overtaxing its citizens and a weak monarchy caused this war. I wonder what Franklin’s views of the French monarchy were?
I think that one of the most influential things about Franklin is that he loved to read. As a teenager he became a vegetarian in order to save money and buy books with. He never stopped reading and learning and would certainly be considered an Academically Gifted Genius in today’s day and age. I wonder what he would have discovered if he were around now?
Ben Franklin was a man who had knowledge far before his time. He understood the importance of experimenting with nature to discover the root cause of all his questions. Most know about his kite and key experiment, but by this experiment he was able to create the lightening rod to make storms and electricity less frightening and deadly for the common person. He was also knew a lot more about health and wellness than most people gave him credit for and bathed often. On a humorous note – no wonder he had no problem finding lady friends a plenty when he moved to France to act at the United States representative to convince France to help in the American Revolutionary War. Interesting that not to long after, France went into a Revolutionary War! Most would say that overtaxing its citizens and a weak monarchy caused this war. I wonder what Franklin’s views of the French monarchy were?
I think that one of the most influential things about Franklin is that he loved to read. As a teenager he became a vegetarian in order to save money and buy books with. He never stopped reading and learning and would certainly be considered an Academically Gifted Genius in today’s day and age. I wonder what he would have discovered if he were around now?
Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo - Realistic Fiction
It took me a while to jump upon the Because of Winn-Dixie band-wagon, mainly because everyone seemed to be telling me that I must read it. However, I have finally read the novel and was truly delighted in it! Yes, I was stubborn, but at least I can admit that fought. I think that part of me was also afraid that the dog, Winn-Dixie, was going to die (I don’t like even knowing about books that have dying pets in them because I love my own dogs so much) so I just put off reading it. Thankfully, no death occurred to our shaggy, smiling mutt, but that thunderstorm had me worried just as much as it had Opal and the Preacher worried. I felt like I was right out there with them in the rain, thunder, and lighting looking for a pathologically afraid dog!
I believe that an animal can make a difference in a life, just as Winn-Dixie did in Opal’s. She needed a companion, and just by a simple trip to a supermarket to buy some macaroni-and-cheese, a box of white rice, and two tomatoes (makes you wonder what the Preacher was concocting) a beautiful friendship was born. Now, I realize that this is fiction, but I do think that things like this happen in the real world, every day. I discovered my dog, Socks, when he was a puppy, walking along in the great outdoors one morning, and just like Opal, I don’t think that this was a mere coincidence! I think that we were meant to meet and form a bond! Now he is beside me, protecting me from all unseen things that only dogs seem to know about and need to “growl and bark” at.
DiCamillo seems to have her hand on the heart of many American children and adults. She writes about relationships and situations that are very real and easy to ignore in real life, but we are faced with dealing with these situations and people in her books. The reader will leave the book with a new understanding of people who seem different, even dangerous, and force a self-reflection. She forces a reader to reassess their sterotypes and criticisms. Otis is a prime example. He is a person who most think are dangerous because he was in jail and now seems to be more of a loner than a person ready to “turn his life around”. When the reader discovers that our pet-store worker was incarcerated, they are a bit skeptical about his character, just as Opal is. However, when we learn of the senselessness of his incarceration, we have to step back and reflect about our feelings on him, now. He was arrested for playing his guitar on the street! Wow! What a criminal (and I say that weth the utmost sarcasm in my voice)! I like how, now, he recognizes and respects the lives of the animals in the pet shop and decides to play for them to calm them down. He has a sweet and kind heart.
When the preacher tells Opal to apologize for calling Stevie a name, I am a bit outraged, just as much as Opal. Then the Preacher follows with, “Some people have a strange way of going about making friends” (pg. 124, DiCamillo, 2000). How very true that simple statement is. I know that the preacher has experienced a lot in his life to be able to say that statement, with so much simplicity, and make it mean something. Sure, Opal doesn’t bite onto that bait for a little while, but the Preacher is right, in the book and about people in general. I have often wondered how children learn to make friends. Sometimes we teachers model for them, throughout Kindergarten especially, how to treat friends, but how do we teach them to make friends? That is a very interesting question. I applaud the Preacher for living by his own advice, also, in letting Opal make many new friends, even some that seem not so favorable in the eyes of the public, and never detouring her.
Because of Winn-Dixie is heart-warming, but I left the book with so much more than a good reading book read. I left reflecting on my own relationships in life, analyzing people that I don’t always get along with, and trying to figure out what I can do to make a difference in someone else’s life, like Opal did. Honestly, I think that is what a good Realistic Fiction book should do anyway!
I believe that an animal can make a difference in a life, just as Winn-Dixie did in Opal’s. She needed a companion, and just by a simple trip to a supermarket to buy some macaroni-and-cheese, a box of white rice, and two tomatoes (makes you wonder what the Preacher was concocting) a beautiful friendship was born. Now, I realize that this is fiction, but I do think that things like this happen in the real world, every day. I discovered my dog, Socks, when he was a puppy, walking along in the great outdoors one morning, and just like Opal, I don’t think that this was a mere coincidence! I think that we were meant to meet and form a bond! Now he is beside me, protecting me from all unseen things that only dogs seem to know about and need to “growl and bark” at.
DiCamillo seems to have her hand on the heart of many American children and adults. She writes about relationships and situations that are very real and easy to ignore in real life, but we are faced with dealing with these situations and people in her books. The reader will leave the book with a new understanding of people who seem different, even dangerous, and force a self-reflection. She forces a reader to reassess their sterotypes and criticisms. Otis is a prime example. He is a person who most think are dangerous because he was in jail and now seems to be more of a loner than a person ready to “turn his life around”. When the reader discovers that our pet-store worker was incarcerated, they are a bit skeptical about his character, just as Opal is. However, when we learn of the senselessness of his incarceration, we have to step back and reflect about our feelings on him, now. He was arrested for playing his guitar on the street! Wow! What a criminal (and I say that weth the utmost sarcasm in my voice)! I like how, now, he recognizes and respects the lives of the animals in the pet shop and decides to play for them to calm them down. He has a sweet and kind heart.
When the preacher tells Opal to apologize for calling Stevie a name, I am a bit outraged, just as much as Opal. Then the Preacher follows with, “Some people have a strange way of going about making friends” (pg. 124, DiCamillo, 2000). How very true that simple statement is. I know that the preacher has experienced a lot in his life to be able to say that statement, with so much simplicity, and make it mean something. Sure, Opal doesn’t bite onto that bait for a little while, but the Preacher is right, in the book and about people in general. I have often wondered how children learn to make friends. Sometimes we teachers model for them, throughout Kindergarten especially, how to treat friends, but how do we teach them to make friends? That is a very interesting question. I applaud the Preacher for living by his own advice, also, in letting Opal make many new friends, even some that seem not so favorable in the eyes of the public, and never detouring her.
Because of Winn-Dixie is heart-warming, but I left the book with so much more than a good reading book read. I left reflecting on my own relationships in life, analyzing people that I don’t always get along with, and trying to figure out what I can do to make a difference in someone else’s life, like Opal did. Honestly, I think that is what a good Realistic Fiction book should do anyway!
Sunday, May 6, 2007
My Father's Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannet and Illustrations by Ruth Chrisman Gannet - Fantasy
I haven’t met a child yet that does not like to fantasize and travel to distant lands of magic and talking animals by vehicle of a book. Elmer Elevator is no different of a child, and together with him and his friend the cat, Elmer decides to run away from home for awhile (only long enough to make his parents miss him and appreciate him more) to help rescue a baby dragon that is being held prisoner on Wild Island, by the ill-tempered wild beasts that live there. Through a series of hilarious events that involve Elmer meeting and outsmarting the wild beasts, Elmer is able to save the dragon (who later in the series we learn is named Boris) and fly away from Wild Island forever.
I find Elmer a very interesting character who embodies the thought of many a little boy that I know. He takes with him on his journey to Wild Island apples and peanut butter sandwiches, along with gum, lollipops, rubber bands, ribbons, combs, and a backpack (all suggested as tools of necessity by the cat that Elmer has befriended and learns about the baby dragon from). Elmer has eaten the sandwiches and apples by the time he lands in Tangerina (another Island) and is forced throughout the rest of the book, and the one that follows, to eat only tangerines. Still, he is happy with this and seldom complains. I’m not sure that I would love to eat nothing buy tangerines for days on end!
Elmer and his cat friend must obviously think alike, as well, because he manages to use all the odd things that he brought with him on his journey, to save both himself and the baby dragon. Elmer is a very selfless character, always thinking of someone else’s needs before his own. Sure, he wants to ride on a dragon, but he really goes to Wild Island to rescue the dragon from the wild beasts. He is also a very brave little boy, traveling all that way on his own and braving the walk across the stony path (and sleeping whale) to get to the island that even the fishermen at Tangerina Island refuse to go to. He is a smart little boy, also, understanding each wild beast’s inner most weakness and desire and playing that to his benefit. In just a few pages, Elmer’s character has been developed so much so that you wonder if he is really a young boy or an experienced adventurer well acquainted with the wild beasts and set backs of this world. He seems to be able to solve all problems with ease and without getting worried. In fact he manages to stay calm throughout the entire book, even when threatened to be eaten time and time again by various different wild beasts.
I think that my favorite wild beasts were the tigers who loved to chew gum and the alligators who loved to suck on lollipops. The wild beasts were given human qualities and characteristics that the reader could even imagine in their minds certain people that they may know that would have some of their disdainful qualities. However, Elmer plunges forward, never being stopped, and proves that goodness can and will prevail and that friendship between a baby dragon and a boy is well worth fighting for.
I find Elmer a very interesting character who embodies the thought of many a little boy that I know. He takes with him on his journey to Wild Island apples and peanut butter sandwiches, along with gum, lollipops, rubber bands, ribbons, combs, and a backpack (all suggested as tools of necessity by the cat that Elmer has befriended and learns about the baby dragon from). Elmer has eaten the sandwiches and apples by the time he lands in Tangerina (another Island) and is forced throughout the rest of the book, and the one that follows, to eat only tangerines. Still, he is happy with this and seldom complains. I’m not sure that I would love to eat nothing buy tangerines for days on end!
Elmer and his cat friend must obviously think alike, as well, because he manages to use all the odd things that he brought with him on his journey, to save both himself and the baby dragon. Elmer is a very selfless character, always thinking of someone else’s needs before his own. Sure, he wants to ride on a dragon, but he really goes to Wild Island to rescue the dragon from the wild beasts. He is also a very brave little boy, traveling all that way on his own and braving the walk across the stony path (and sleeping whale) to get to the island that even the fishermen at Tangerina Island refuse to go to. He is a smart little boy, also, understanding each wild beast’s inner most weakness and desire and playing that to his benefit. In just a few pages, Elmer’s character has been developed so much so that you wonder if he is really a young boy or an experienced adventurer well acquainted with the wild beasts and set backs of this world. He seems to be able to solve all problems with ease and without getting worried. In fact he manages to stay calm throughout the entire book, even when threatened to be eaten time and time again by various different wild beasts.
I think that my favorite wild beasts were the tigers who loved to chew gum and the alligators who loved to suck on lollipops. The wild beasts were given human qualities and characteristics that the reader could even imagine in their minds certain people that they may know that would have some of their disdainful qualities. However, Elmer plunges forward, never being stopped, and proves that goodness can and will prevail and that friendship between a baby dragon and a boy is well worth fighting for.
The Dragons of Blueland, by Ruth Stiles Gannett and Illustrations by Ruth Chrisman Gannett - Fantasy
My school decided to read the “Dragon Series”, by Ruth Stiles Gannett, with the final one being The Dragons of Blueland. In this final book in the series, Boris the baby dragon that Elmer Elevator saved from the mean animals of Wild Island is now trying to save his own family from cruel dragon hunters who want to capture his family and sell them to zoos. Boris, having fallen from a cloud when he was a baby, was trapped by the animals of Wild Island and made to carry them across the river all the time, or they would treat him badly and twist his wings. Boris and Elmer are successful in their rescue of the dragon family by playing off of the men’s fear that dragons are very dangerous creatures (which, in this story, they are not) and scaring them away. Then, Boris takes Elmer home to his family (as normal) and goes back to live with his unique dragon family.
I like the series, but I must say that after you do one good book, sometimes the second and third books are a bit of a let down. My Father’s Dragon, the first in the series, was very humorous and fun to track, where as The Dragons of Blueland lacks in that humor and tracking ability. The story line is there, and the readers still love cute Boris and helpful Elmer, but they bore easily with the flying back and forth to and from Blueland and Elmer’s home.
Despite my own qualms about the story, my third graders loved the series. They are very much into the Eragon books and Harry Potter, so they naturally took to these with the mere mention of dragons. Maybe I am being desensitized with all the “magic” that the new books bring, and don’t even know it!
On a more positive note, this book has been around for a while, being published in 1951 and renewed in 1979. Fantasy, back in those days, was lacking a bit, so I am sure that this “Dragon” Series was met with applaud and appreciation of young children everywhere. The themes that ring throughout the book are very applicable for today’s readers, helping friends when they are in need and loving your family. Boris and Elmer, even though very different creatures, accept each other and constantly treat each other with respect and kindness. Boris always knows that Elmer will help him with whatever problem he has, without much question. I like the theme that different people (or in this case, different creatures) can be sound friends. I wonder if the author was trying to make this point again racism and for diverse friendships when she wrote this book, whose illustrations were done by her mother-in-law? Now isn’t that an interesting duo!
I like the series, but I must say that after you do one good book, sometimes the second and third books are a bit of a let down. My Father’s Dragon, the first in the series, was very humorous and fun to track, where as The Dragons of Blueland lacks in that humor and tracking ability. The story line is there, and the readers still love cute Boris and helpful Elmer, but they bore easily with the flying back and forth to and from Blueland and Elmer’s home.
Despite my own qualms about the story, my third graders loved the series. They are very much into the Eragon books and Harry Potter, so they naturally took to these with the mere mention of dragons. Maybe I am being desensitized with all the “magic” that the new books bring, and don’t even know it!
On a more positive note, this book has been around for a while, being published in 1951 and renewed in 1979. Fantasy, back in those days, was lacking a bit, so I am sure that this “Dragon” Series was met with applaud and appreciation of young children everywhere. The themes that ring throughout the book are very applicable for today’s readers, helping friends when they are in need and loving your family. Boris and Elmer, even though very different creatures, accept each other and constantly treat each other with respect and kindness. Boris always knows that Elmer will help him with whatever problem he has, without much question. I like the theme that different people (or in this case, different creatures) can be sound friends. I wonder if the author was trying to make this point again racism and for diverse friendships when she wrote this book, whose illustrations were done by her mother-in-law? Now isn’t that an interesting duo!
The Silent Boy, by Lois Lowry - Historical Fiction
I decided to read The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry because she fascinated me with her craft in The Giver and Number the Stars. She works so well with foreshadowing and character manipulation that before you know it, you are at the end of the book and are amazed at something that occurred that you really had no idea was coming. It is almost like watching a detective show and waiting until the very last minute of the show to realize who the bad guy really is. Well, Lois Lowry once again did not disappoint me with The Silent Boy.
The Silent Boy is set back in American history when cars were first being invented, but in small towns, doctors still move around in horse and wagons. The main character, Katy, is telling the story from a memory in her mind that deeply imprinted itself on her in her childhood. In the beginning she is now an older woman, having become a doctor, been married to a kind man, and raised many a child and grandchild. Now, at the end of her life, she wants to tell the story of Jacob, who is a mentally handicapped boy (I would guess he had autism, but it is never said) who sends his time trying to care for animals, never talking, and making funny little sounds to himself. Katy, the local doctor’s daughter, decides to befriend him as much as she can, and takes his side when tragedy strikes. Jacob’s two sisters, Nell and Peggy work in town as hired out girls, and Peggy stays and works with Katy’s family. At the end of the book the reader discovers that Nell and another well-to-do boy have had an affair and Nell is pregnant. Nell doesn’t want the baby and the boy is now having nothing to do with her, so Jacob tries to care for the baby the best way that he knows how, but taking it to another mother (Katy’s mother). However, along the way the baby dies and everyone thinks that Jacob maliciously drowned the baby. Only Katy knows the truth, but being only an eight-year-old child, no one listens to her. The boy is sent to the local Asylum and never heard from again. This story has haunted Katy, now an older woman, all of her life.
Lowry created this book from old pictures that she discovered along the way of her life; old pictures of strangers that she had never met, but desired to make a book about. I have not read a lot of books set in the early 1900s (1911 in this book), set right before the depression and World War II, but this one was very interesting to some extent. I was not drawn into it like I was in The Giver and Number the Stars, but I did want to get to the bottom line of what had happened at the beginning of the story that the main character was remembering back about. Lowry does tend to write stories that deal with the underprivileged and unfortunate citizens in our society. I think that she tries to, with her words, make the wrongs of this world obvious to us and to allow us, the readers, to change our own lives to make the unfortunate citizen’s lives better. With Jacob, he is a person who is trapped in his own mind of solidarity, but he loves animals and being kind to other people. I hate the fact that whenever anything goes wrong in the town (the mill burning down, as an example) that they blame Jacob. When he tries to care for a human baby that is his sisters’, who doesn’t want to take care of it, the baby ends up dying. The boy who loved animals and roaming around in the great outdoors was sentenced to the rest of his life in the Asylum, where people scream and yell, because they are out of their minds. I am saddened to think how scared Jacob must have been in this place and how unhappy he was, as well. This is so sad and so true of ways that mentally handicapped people were treated back in those days. Jacob didn’t belong in the Asylum, he belonged with a family who loved him and were patient with him. He belonged in a place where he could care for small and pitiful animals and bring them back to the living. Yes, mental institutions are meant for some people with illnesses, but it was not meant for Jacob, who most likely struggled from autism. So sad, and yet so much of a mirror image of our own society. Have we gotten better at treating and caring for people with mental disabilities? I hope so. This reflection of our own society is also another way that Lowry weaves her writer’s craft.
The Silent Boy is set back in American history when cars were first being invented, but in small towns, doctors still move around in horse and wagons. The main character, Katy, is telling the story from a memory in her mind that deeply imprinted itself on her in her childhood. In the beginning she is now an older woman, having become a doctor, been married to a kind man, and raised many a child and grandchild. Now, at the end of her life, she wants to tell the story of Jacob, who is a mentally handicapped boy (I would guess he had autism, but it is never said) who sends his time trying to care for animals, never talking, and making funny little sounds to himself. Katy, the local doctor’s daughter, decides to befriend him as much as she can, and takes his side when tragedy strikes. Jacob’s two sisters, Nell and Peggy work in town as hired out girls, and Peggy stays and works with Katy’s family. At the end of the book the reader discovers that Nell and another well-to-do boy have had an affair and Nell is pregnant. Nell doesn’t want the baby and the boy is now having nothing to do with her, so Jacob tries to care for the baby the best way that he knows how, but taking it to another mother (Katy’s mother). However, along the way the baby dies and everyone thinks that Jacob maliciously drowned the baby. Only Katy knows the truth, but being only an eight-year-old child, no one listens to her. The boy is sent to the local Asylum and never heard from again. This story has haunted Katy, now an older woman, all of her life.
Lowry created this book from old pictures that she discovered along the way of her life; old pictures of strangers that she had never met, but desired to make a book about. I have not read a lot of books set in the early 1900s (1911 in this book), set right before the depression and World War II, but this one was very interesting to some extent. I was not drawn into it like I was in The Giver and Number the Stars, but I did want to get to the bottom line of what had happened at the beginning of the story that the main character was remembering back about. Lowry does tend to write stories that deal with the underprivileged and unfortunate citizens in our society. I think that she tries to, with her words, make the wrongs of this world obvious to us and to allow us, the readers, to change our own lives to make the unfortunate citizen’s lives better. With Jacob, he is a person who is trapped in his own mind of solidarity, but he loves animals and being kind to other people. I hate the fact that whenever anything goes wrong in the town (the mill burning down, as an example) that they blame Jacob. When he tries to care for a human baby that is his sisters’, who doesn’t want to take care of it, the baby ends up dying. The boy who loved animals and roaming around in the great outdoors was sentenced to the rest of his life in the Asylum, where people scream and yell, because they are out of their minds. I am saddened to think how scared Jacob must have been in this place and how unhappy he was, as well. This is so sad and so true of ways that mentally handicapped people were treated back in those days. Jacob didn’t belong in the Asylum, he belonged with a family who loved him and were patient with him. He belonged in a place where he could care for small and pitiful animals and bring them back to the living. Yes, mental institutions are meant for some people with illnesses, but it was not meant for Jacob, who most likely struggled from autism. So sad, and yet so much of a mirror image of our own society. Have we gotten better at treating and caring for people with mental disabilities? I hope so. This reflection of our own society is also another way that Lowry weaves her writer’s craft.
National Geographic Desert Animals, Animals in their Habitats, by June Randolph - Information Text
I teach about the different habitats in the third grade, and this year my goal was to introduce the different habitats with a read aloud, each day. When I began talking about the desert habitat, I of course decided to read The Three Little Javalinas to my class, because it does a cute little fractured fairytale version of the desert animals, people, and plants. Unfortunately, at the time I was not as interested in nonfiction as I am now (thank you Dr. Johnson), so I had not acquired the book that I am about to write about. However, rest assured, I will be using this National Geographic Desert Animals nonfiction book as a read aloud from here on out (along with The Three Little Javalinas, because I just love that book!).
National Geographic Desert Animals is a fabulous nonfiction book that looks very similar to a National Geographic magazine, only with child readers in mind. The words are student friendly and it offers a lot of pictures and captions to show the desert (both cold and hot), it’s animals, and plants. The book is also useful for teaching text features (glossary, index, table of contexts, bold words, captions, etc.) because it has all of those. I would be able to use this with students who are reading below grade level in their third grade in a buddy reading or independent reading group. I have noticed so many times that my learning disabled and lower readers love to read nonfiction. I think one of the reasons is because it shows pictures (attracting their interest), has leading titles (keeping their interest), and breaks the information up into little segments and parts (allowing for scaffolding along the way). National Geographic doesn’t stop with just the desert, however, either. They have Forest Animals, Ocean Animals, and Rain Forest Animals. What a nice plethora for my use next year!
Science is fascinating to children and if they like the animal or habitat, they will most likely read the nonfiction book that teaches them more about that animal and habitat. Even I am pulled into the works of these books, learning right along with the children about animals and their interesting body parts that help them to adapt to their environment.
National Geographic Desert Animals is a fabulous nonfiction book that looks very similar to a National Geographic magazine, only with child readers in mind. The words are student friendly and it offers a lot of pictures and captions to show the desert (both cold and hot), it’s animals, and plants. The book is also useful for teaching text features (glossary, index, table of contexts, bold words, captions, etc.) because it has all of those. I would be able to use this with students who are reading below grade level in their third grade in a buddy reading or independent reading group. I have noticed so many times that my learning disabled and lower readers love to read nonfiction. I think one of the reasons is because it shows pictures (attracting their interest), has leading titles (keeping their interest), and breaks the information up into little segments and parts (allowing for scaffolding along the way). National Geographic doesn’t stop with just the desert, however, either. They have Forest Animals, Ocean Animals, and Rain Forest Animals. What a nice plethora for my use next year!
Science is fascinating to children and if they like the animal or habitat, they will most likely read the nonfiction book that teaches them more about that animal and habitat. Even I am pulled into the works of these books, learning right along with the children about animals and their interesting body parts that help them to adapt to their environment.
Goin' Someplace Special, by Patricia C. McKissack and Illustrations by Jerry Pinkney - Historical Fiction
What a delight to read! I was tearing up by the end of the book. Goin’ Someplace Special is a historical fiction picturebook that is set in the segregated past of Nashville, Tennessee. ‘Tricia Ann feels like she is old enough to go to a place that she affectionately calls “Someplace Special” by herself, today, without her Mama Frances with her. She so looks forward to this place and getting there, but along the way she is faced with the hatred and ignorance that some showed during the segregation time period. ‘Tricia Ann has to sit in the “Colored Only” section of the bus, she isn’t allowed to sit on a bench in a park for it is reserved for “white’s only”, and when she accidentally gets pushed into a hotel lobby, she is publicly humiliated by the hotel matron because black people are not allowed in the hotel unless they are workers. With all of the humiliation and disappointment disrupting her at one time joyful attitude, the reader is continuously left wondering what makes the “Someplace Special” so special. I wanted to comfort the poor girl and yell at the ignorant people along the way who dared to disrupt her happiness. Yet, the reader is not disappointed at the end to find that the “Someplace Special” that ‘Trisha Ann has been trying to get to is a library, where everyone can go and read.
My heart was breaking for little ‘Trisha Ann, who had gotten herself all beautified for this little outing. She was so excited about going to a special place on her own and met with so much injustice and unfairness along the way. The last picture of the book, with her looking up with so much expectation pulled at my heart. I know, through that look of her’s and the library sign that reads PUBLIC LIBRARY: ALL ARE WELCOME, that she will finally get the respect that she deserves. How very fitting that a house of knowledge, a library (one of my favorite places in the world) was one of the first places to desegregate in a peaceful manner and allow ALL people to enter in the late 1950s! I love it!
I learned something from this book that I must share with my students and with other friends, Nashville, Tennessee’s public library board of directors decided to integrate all of their facilities long before the rest of the city had. That just shows that not all white people were ignorant and filled with the stupidity of hatred that unfortunately the majority of the city must have been filled with! The author of this book actually wrote the story from her own perspective, remembering her own trips to the library, where she was welcome, despite what her skin color was. She wrote a quote in the Author’s Note that gives me goosebumps, “…reading is the doorway to freedom” (pg. 32, McKissack, 2001). How very true!
My heart was breaking for little ‘Trisha Ann, who had gotten herself all beautified for this little outing. She was so excited about going to a special place on her own and met with so much injustice and unfairness along the way. The last picture of the book, with her looking up with so much expectation pulled at my heart. I know, through that look of her’s and the library sign that reads PUBLIC LIBRARY: ALL ARE WELCOME, that she will finally get the respect that she deserves. How very fitting that a house of knowledge, a library (one of my favorite places in the world) was one of the first places to desegregate in a peaceful manner and allow ALL people to enter in the late 1950s! I love it!
I learned something from this book that I must share with my students and with other friends, Nashville, Tennessee’s public library board of directors decided to integrate all of their facilities long before the rest of the city had. That just shows that not all white people were ignorant and filled with the stupidity of hatred that unfortunately the majority of the city must have been filled with! The author of this book actually wrote the story from her own perspective, remembering her own trips to the library, where she was welcome, despite what her skin color was. She wrote a quote in the Author’s Note that gives me goosebumps, “…reading is the doorway to freedom” (pg. 32, McKissack, 2001). How very true!
Friday, May 4, 2007
The Hundred Dress, by Eleanor Estes - Realistic Fiction
I have reached the point in my life where I like to read books that leave deep messages and lessons within my mind and heart. These books are even more enjoyed by me when I can incorporate them into my classroom lessons to teach my students how to treat each other. The Hundred Dresses was an excellent book for this very reason. The main characters are young girls that are more on the popular side within the school and one who is desperately trying to fit into that crowd. One, Peggy, is well to do and has pretty much everything she wants, including a school full of friends who follow her lead in even the meanest of games. Peggy’s best friend is Maddie, who doesn’t come from a well to do family, but she fits in because she remakes Peggy’s old hand-me-downs into stylish clothes and follows Peggy’s lead in all things, even a mean-hearted game played on an immigrant girl from Poland that attends their school. Finally, we have that immigrant girl, Wanda Petronski. She has a difficult to pronounce last name, she is shy and doesn’t fit into the “popular” crowd very well, and she only wears the same blue dress everyday to school. To make matters worse, she lives in Boggins Heights, the cheap side of town, where the majority of the immigrants live. Thus, the game begins with Wanda one day telling Peggy that she has one hundred dresses with matching shoes all lined up in her closet, followed daily with Peggy goading and patronizing Wanda to talk about the dresses. Of course, nobody believes Wanda, because she is poor and only wears her blue dress day in and day out, but they enjoy tormenting her so much and laughing at her. I leaned from this book that the bullies may not know how far they are taking their tormenting games until it is to late. In this case, Wanda and her family completely moved away for good!
I had a very good discussion with my students on this book, when I choose a group of girls in my class to do a novel study with. Their assignment was to take post-it notes and mark areas that they would like to talk about in this book, things that they could connect to, character actions and motives that they didn’t agree with, feelings about which character they liked the most and which they liked the least, including putting themselves in certain character’s shoes. I was blown away by the conversation that these girls had. They took the understanding and the analysis of this book to a new level. I sat back and observed while they completely led the conversation sessions (there were two sessions because this is a short book) and they amazed me! The level of understanding that these third grade girls brought with them was outstanding. Every now and then I would want to insert my own thoughts (Maddie really was not a nice girl because she refused to stand up for what she realized was right and wrong about the way to treat people), but they could always back up their feelings with textual evidence! I loved it and so did they. For weeks after we finished the novel unit, they kept assigning other book characters in further stories with the characteristics of Maddie, Peggy, and Wanda. The majority of us felt sorry for Wanda and could identify someone in our own lives or our school who was a Wanda. We brainstormed ways to include this person or people into the group so that they would not feel left out and ultimately unwanted in our school environment. We talked about how we all have a little Maddie in all of us, because even when we know something is wrong, we often times bow down to peer pressure. Many ways to avoid peer pressure were discussed and talked through. I was proud!
For my own thoughts, I feel like the situations in The Hundred Dresses occurs everyday in every town, state, and country. Sure, it may not be a situation of a lonely, poor immigrant girl trying to fit in, but the lonely isolation for certain people is very evident. I can recall from my own childhood being around people that made me feel like I wasn’t like them and didn’t belong. It is not a good feeling. That is the Wanda coming out in me. I even remember creating elaborate, and untruthful, tales about how fabulous my summers were, so that I sounded very in control of my life when in reality, I was just as alone and self-conscious as Wanda. Still, of all the characters, I am very much a Maddie. I see wrongs daily and never speak out about them for fear of losing ground in whatever part of life that I am in. This is the characteristic within me that I must continuously fight, so that evils and wrongs do not go unpunished and flourish. I once heard it said, and I strong agree with, the saying, “All it takes is the truth to not speak up in this world to let evil win”.
I had a very good discussion with my students on this book, when I choose a group of girls in my class to do a novel study with. Their assignment was to take post-it notes and mark areas that they would like to talk about in this book, things that they could connect to, character actions and motives that they didn’t agree with, feelings about which character they liked the most and which they liked the least, including putting themselves in certain character’s shoes. I was blown away by the conversation that these girls had. They took the understanding and the analysis of this book to a new level. I sat back and observed while they completely led the conversation sessions (there were two sessions because this is a short book) and they amazed me! The level of understanding that these third grade girls brought with them was outstanding. Every now and then I would want to insert my own thoughts (Maddie really was not a nice girl because she refused to stand up for what she realized was right and wrong about the way to treat people), but they could always back up their feelings with textual evidence! I loved it and so did they. For weeks after we finished the novel unit, they kept assigning other book characters in further stories with the characteristics of Maddie, Peggy, and Wanda. The majority of us felt sorry for Wanda and could identify someone in our own lives or our school who was a Wanda. We brainstormed ways to include this person or people into the group so that they would not feel left out and ultimately unwanted in our school environment. We talked about how we all have a little Maddie in all of us, because even when we know something is wrong, we often times bow down to peer pressure. Many ways to avoid peer pressure were discussed and talked through. I was proud!
For my own thoughts, I feel like the situations in The Hundred Dresses occurs everyday in every town, state, and country. Sure, it may not be a situation of a lonely, poor immigrant girl trying to fit in, but the lonely isolation for certain people is very evident. I can recall from my own childhood being around people that made me feel like I wasn’t like them and didn’t belong. It is not a good feeling. That is the Wanda coming out in me. I even remember creating elaborate, and untruthful, tales about how fabulous my summers were, so that I sounded very in control of my life when in reality, I was just as alone and self-conscious as Wanda. Still, of all the characters, I am very much a Maddie. I see wrongs daily and never speak out about them for fear of losing ground in whatever part of life that I am in. This is the characteristic within me that I must continuously fight, so that evils and wrongs do not go unpunished and flourish. I once heard it said, and I strong agree with, the saying, “All it takes is the truth to not speak up in this world to let evil win”.
The Luckiest Girl, by Beverly Cleary - Realistic Fiction
I was a girl, and still am a girl, who loved a cute little love story in my younger days. Therefore, when I saw The Luckiest Girl, by Beverly Cleary, I jumped at the chance to read it. It was actually the first book that I selected for my Children’s Literature class journal; I just delayed in journaling on it. With Beverly Cleary being such a “school-wide” name all over the nation, I figured that I was in for some good reading. I wasn’t disappointed and this reading allowed me to take a trip down memory lane in high school once again. However, I have definitely changed since my high school years.
Shelley is an adventurous eleventh-grader who is about to begin the school year with the same old occurrences in her life (same friends, same boyfriend, same Saturday evening activities, etc.) when she gets the offer to visit her mother’s college roommate’s family in California for the year. Shelley jumps at the chance and her parents reluctantly are persuaded. She encounters a different life in California with her new adopted family, new friends at San Sebastian High School, and a new boyfriend or two. The reader gets a chance to see Shelley grow and mature throughout the year and discover things about herself that she wouldn’t have discovered if she had stayed at home and lived the same life in Portland, Oregon.
I was impressed with the teenage romance, coming of age story. I would definitely be able to rate this book a “G” and not worry about my middle-school student or high school student reading about a lot of sexual language and innuendos. Life is very happy for Shelley and most of the other students at San Sebastian High. Everyone is very polite, courteous, and welcoming. I do pause here to ponder the fact that this is really not very much like high schools today, however. Unfortunately, in realistic high schools I can say that there would be a lot more gossip, slander, and hostility to a new girl who comes in and sweeps the “best looking guy” and star of the basketball team off his feet. In that light, I really wouldn’t say that this book met its goal of realistic fiction.
I also noted that Shelley seemed to depend on boys to make her happy. When she was at home she had Jack as a comfortable companion to date her on Saturday nights. She desired for more excitement in a boyfriend and moved onto Phillip, star of the basketball team. However, when both Phillip and Shelley began failing Biology, they have to call their “love” to a halt until they got their grades up. This is when Shelley begins to feel miserable at San Sebastian and in need of a boy. Finally, she begins to date Harvey, who was an admirer all along. She leaves California at the end of the year thinking that she is in love with Harvey. Even with all this dating, the only physical touching that occurs is a sweet kiss shared between Harvey and Shelley at the end of the year. Once again, however, I do not think that this is very realistic to today’s teenagers. I was a teenager just ten years ago and remember how very much “in love” I could fall and I very specifically remember girls getting pregnant in high school. That is a far cry from a sweet end-of-the-year kiss. I also didn’t like the characteristic of Shelley that seemed to feel like she needed a boyfriend in order to enjoy her life and free time. Girls these days need to know that they can succeed without a boyfriend and should tell the cute guy in Biology class to hush while they learn enough to pass, if not ace, the exams.
I guess on after thought, I enjoyed the reading of this light-hearted story, but some of the characteristics of the main character Shelley really bothered me. I didn’t feel like she was bold enough and truly courageous enough to be a role model for young girls today. Sure, she was sweet and decided to spend a whole year of her life in a completely different state with a different family, but she showed neediness wherever she went. Her courageous and brave character lasted for about as long as it took her to travel in the airplane from Portland, Oregon to San Sebastian, California. I like the female characters that take the bull by the horns, so to say, and don’t depend on a boy to lead them around.
Shelley is an adventurous eleventh-grader who is about to begin the school year with the same old occurrences in her life (same friends, same boyfriend, same Saturday evening activities, etc.) when she gets the offer to visit her mother’s college roommate’s family in California for the year. Shelley jumps at the chance and her parents reluctantly are persuaded. She encounters a different life in California with her new adopted family, new friends at San Sebastian High School, and a new boyfriend or two. The reader gets a chance to see Shelley grow and mature throughout the year and discover things about herself that she wouldn’t have discovered if she had stayed at home and lived the same life in Portland, Oregon.
I was impressed with the teenage romance, coming of age story. I would definitely be able to rate this book a “G” and not worry about my middle-school student or high school student reading about a lot of sexual language and innuendos. Life is very happy for Shelley and most of the other students at San Sebastian High. Everyone is very polite, courteous, and welcoming. I do pause here to ponder the fact that this is really not very much like high schools today, however. Unfortunately, in realistic high schools I can say that there would be a lot more gossip, slander, and hostility to a new girl who comes in and sweeps the “best looking guy” and star of the basketball team off his feet. In that light, I really wouldn’t say that this book met its goal of realistic fiction.
I also noted that Shelley seemed to depend on boys to make her happy. When she was at home she had Jack as a comfortable companion to date her on Saturday nights. She desired for more excitement in a boyfriend and moved onto Phillip, star of the basketball team. However, when both Phillip and Shelley began failing Biology, they have to call their “love” to a halt until they got their grades up. This is when Shelley begins to feel miserable at San Sebastian and in need of a boy. Finally, she begins to date Harvey, who was an admirer all along. She leaves California at the end of the year thinking that she is in love with Harvey. Even with all this dating, the only physical touching that occurs is a sweet kiss shared between Harvey and Shelley at the end of the year. Once again, however, I do not think that this is very realistic to today’s teenagers. I was a teenager just ten years ago and remember how very much “in love” I could fall and I very specifically remember girls getting pregnant in high school. That is a far cry from a sweet end-of-the-year kiss. I also didn’t like the characteristic of Shelley that seemed to feel like she needed a boyfriend in order to enjoy her life and free time. Girls these days need to know that they can succeed without a boyfriend and should tell the cute guy in Biology class to hush while they learn enough to pass, if not ace, the exams.
I guess on after thought, I enjoyed the reading of this light-hearted story, but some of the characteristics of the main character Shelley really bothered me. I didn’t feel like she was bold enough and truly courageous enough to be a role model for young girls today. Sure, she was sweet and decided to spend a whole year of her life in a completely different state with a different family, but she showed neediness wherever she went. Her courageous and brave character lasted for about as long as it took her to travel in the airplane from Portland, Oregon to San Sebastian, California. I like the female characters that take the bull by the horns, so to say, and don’t depend on a boy to lead them around.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Water Dance, by Thomas Locker - Informational
I teach third grade, so when I see a text that interweaves the third grade Standards of Learning, I jump at the chance to use it with my class. Water Dance is such a book that is filled with information about the water cycle, yet it goes so much farther than just that. The text is a beautiful flow of poetic and painted words that work excellently together with the illustrations which were done with oils on canvas. Each two pages (a layout) has words on one page, in the center, with a box border around them and the other page has a beautiful picture that is also box bordered just the same as the words. The simple font type and box borders only serve to draw the reader’s attention to the beauty of the illustrations and the poetic language visualizations within the text. As with most work that is done in oils on canvas, the lights (lighting, sunshine, and moonshine) stands out from the rest of the illustration. Every illustration has water in it and the reader is always left with the feeling that the water is powerful, whether it is at rest (as in the calm sea illustration) or raging down the mountain (as in the waterfall illustration). The thunderhead and rainbow illustrations not only capture the reader’s attention with the power and details of the artist’s own perspective of the water cycle, but they firmly align with third grade curriculum because, as the text explains, both of these are water, just in different forms. One can also read this book and acquire a grander appreciation for the works of God. I felt, at times, like I was in an airplane flying over these beautiful works of nature.
The text can be read straight forward, with the illustrations on one side being looked at simultaneously with the reading of the words. The text starts out describing a portion of the water cycle (within the evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and accumulation phases) and then leaves the reader at the bottom of the page with the actual name of the portion that is being described in italics. Therefore, I chose to use this with my class in a way that not only reviewed the water cycle, but focused on poetic visualization. I told them to visualize in their heads what pictures were being painted with words (they love doing this sort of thing). I read the text to them (leaving out the line that side what the picture was actually about), let them visualize, let them share what they thought it was, then told them and showed them the picture. Amazingly, more times than not, they answered correctly and were able to tell the words that made their visualization correct. They also insisted to know what materials and mediums were used to create the illustrations and each picture was always greeted with a gasp of appreciation. I love this class!
As this book came highly recommended to me by another student in my Children’s Lit class, I also will highly recommend it. Therefore, let me leave you with a little “water cycle” today:
I wind through broad, golden valleys
joined by streams,
joined by creeks.
I grow ever wider,
Broader and deeper.
I am the river. (Locker, 1997)
The text can be read straight forward, with the illustrations on one side being looked at simultaneously with the reading of the words. The text starts out describing a portion of the water cycle (within the evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and accumulation phases) and then leaves the reader at the bottom of the page with the actual name of the portion that is being described in italics. Therefore, I chose to use this with my class in a way that not only reviewed the water cycle, but focused on poetic visualization. I told them to visualize in their heads what pictures were being painted with words (they love doing this sort of thing). I read the text to them (leaving out the line that side what the picture was actually about), let them visualize, let them share what they thought it was, then told them and showed them the picture. Amazingly, more times than not, they answered correctly and were able to tell the words that made their visualization correct. They also insisted to know what materials and mediums were used to create the illustrations and each picture was always greeted with a gasp of appreciation. I love this class!
As this book came highly recommended to me by another student in my Children’s Lit class, I also will highly recommend it. Therefore, let me leave you with a little “water cycle” today:
I wind through broad, golden valleys
joined by streams,
joined by creeks.
I grow ever wider,
Broader and deeper.
I am the river. (Locker, 1997)
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Harry the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion and Illustrations by Margaret Bloy Graham - Picturebook
I was a child who loved to play in the mud growing up. My mother would pick me up from school and ask me, on a daily basis, if I had been playing in a pigsty. Well, I really wasn’t sure what a pigsty was, so I naturally said yes each time and she would naturally smile and laugh at me each time. Still, I loved my baths! I had toys for the bath that would rival any “dry-world” toy box. Being dirty was good for the day, but at night, I wanted to feel clean in my sheets to drift into dreamland.
Just like I grew up with the dirt, I grew up with Harry, the Dirty Dog. This was one of my books that I had in my bookshelf growing up (my parents did pretty well at picking this one out for me) and I just purchased a newer, 50th Anniversary Edition of it. I love dogs and had six growing up. Yes, six; three inside (all poodles) and three outside (bigger dogs). Now I have two adorable dogs (lab/retrievers) that live inside and unlike Harry, they love their baths.
Harry is great, because he personifies a small child wanting to play for the day and finally go home at night with his family. How clever of a character Harry is when he steals the scrubbing brush, buries it, and goes out on the town for some fun. Children love the idea of a white dog with black spots becoming so dirty that he turns into a black dog with white spots. Little ones will laugh with glee, because they know how dirty he is and probably have been in this situation themselves. This book also reminds be of The Great Gracie Chase, Stop That Dog, by Cynthia Rylant. Both dogs are pampered and when they don’t get their way they decide to take on the world by themselves. However, they do want to be able to come home in the evening and be loved by their families. And after all, why shouldn’t they?
The illustrations are simple, yet child-friendly. There are not any elaborate colors that we see with some picturebooks, but that is alright. I mean, we are working with a very dirty dog here. I don’t think that shiny trucks and glimmering streets would work out well with these pictures. Some of the illustrations are full page layouts and some are only one page layouts, but all the written words are at the bottom. I particularly like the pictures of Harry playing tag with the other dogs around a construction zone and then sliding down a coal chute. The coal chute really dates this book, though, making it believable that it was originally copyrighted in 1956. Yet, the main theme still remains, dogs can be mischievous no matter what age in history and can still be loved by their owners, no matter how dirty they get.
Just like I grew up with the dirt, I grew up with Harry, the Dirty Dog. This was one of my books that I had in my bookshelf growing up (my parents did pretty well at picking this one out for me) and I just purchased a newer, 50th Anniversary Edition of it. I love dogs and had six growing up. Yes, six; three inside (all poodles) and three outside (bigger dogs). Now I have two adorable dogs (lab/retrievers) that live inside and unlike Harry, they love their baths.
Harry is great, because he personifies a small child wanting to play for the day and finally go home at night with his family. How clever of a character Harry is when he steals the scrubbing brush, buries it, and goes out on the town for some fun. Children love the idea of a white dog with black spots becoming so dirty that he turns into a black dog with white spots. Little ones will laugh with glee, because they know how dirty he is and probably have been in this situation themselves. This book also reminds be of The Great Gracie Chase, Stop That Dog, by Cynthia Rylant. Both dogs are pampered and when they don’t get their way they decide to take on the world by themselves. However, they do want to be able to come home in the evening and be loved by their families. And after all, why shouldn’t they?
The illustrations are simple, yet child-friendly. There are not any elaborate colors that we see with some picturebooks, but that is alright. I mean, we are working with a very dirty dog here. I don’t think that shiny trucks and glimmering streets would work out well with these pictures. Some of the illustrations are full page layouts and some are only one page layouts, but all the written words are at the bottom. I particularly like the pictures of Harry playing tag with the other dogs around a construction zone and then sliding down a coal chute. The coal chute really dates this book, though, making it believable that it was originally copyrighted in 1956. Yet, the main theme still remains, dogs can be mischievous no matter what age in history and can still be loved by their owners, no matter how dirty they get.
Thank you, Mr. Falker, by Patricia Polacco - Picturebook
I love books and I have learned through time that books typically love me in return. A book can become a true friend in a time of need. It will allow you to laugh with it and cry with it and even become the best of friends with it. Books are like friends that we can return to over and over again for solace and understanding in a world so full of struggles. Patricia Polacco’s Thank you, Mr. Falker is a dear friend to me. I read this book every year, when we read The Keeping Quilt from our basal reader. And even though I read this book every year, I still choke up and tear a bit at the end of the story. I try to maintain self-control and pose for the purpose of my third grade students who usually equate tears to sadness and sorrow, but sometimes I just let them flow. When I read the part at the end about how Patricia Polacco (the struggling Trisha learning to read) many years later walks up to Mr. Falker at a wedding and thanks him, I crack. I still believe that the most profound words in history are usually the simplest, and Polacco does justice with these that follow. “He hugged me and asked me what I did for a living. ‘Why, Mr. Falker,’ I answered. ‘I make books for children…Thank you, Mr. Falker. Thank you’” (Polacco, 1998). I mean, how could any teacher read this and not ball? I’m tearing up right now! If there is someone out there who can handle it with elegance, I really don’t think I want to meet them. This book is meant to make teachers cry!
I have read several Polacco books and love her easy style that she weaves for the reader. She writes from her life and what she knows, much like Cynthia Rylant. She has a rich heritage that has shaped her and who she has become. Throughout all of her books the reader is always left with the feelings of an appreciation towards family and others in life. It is almost like all of her books are a testament to the one’s who have molded and shaped her along the way. What a great way to receive a thank you card!
I was a child who had an extreme difficulty in learning to read, but I wanted to read so badly. My mother would work with me and I had a first grade teacher who would work with me and eventually it clicked. When I finally read my own chapter book by myself, I was overjoyed. My mother would let me stay up late at night and read in bed. I believe, to this day, that the best place to read is in bed. Reading takes you places and allows dreams to become reality. I dream at night in bed with my eyes closed and dream in the day with my eyes glued to a book. Both types of dreams feed who I am, who I want to become, and where I want to go. Therefore, I can sympathize with the author in her feelings of difference in not being able to pick up a book and immediately read it at an early age. I love that she has worked to overcome her learning disability and is here today, writing and informing people that you can be what you want to be, despite the odds. One day I want to be able to write a book (I want to be a writer, I just am not really sure where to start) that thanks those in my life who have molded me. But for now I can say, Thank you, Ms. Polacco. Thank you, for writing a book that touched my heart!
I have read several Polacco books and love her easy style that she weaves for the reader. She writes from her life and what she knows, much like Cynthia Rylant. She has a rich heritage that has shaped her and who she has become. Throughout all of her books the reader is always left with the feelings of an appreciation towards family and others in life. It is almost like all of her books are a testament to the one’s who have molded and shaped her along the way. What a great way to receive a thank you card!
I was a child who had an extreme difficulty in learning to read, but I wanted to read so badly. My mother would work with me and I had a first grade teacher who would work with me and eventually it clicked. When I finally read my own chapter book by myself, I was overjoyed. My mother would let me stay up late at night and read in bed. I believe, to this day, that the best place to read is in bed. Reading takes you places and allows dreams to become reality. I dream at night in bed with my eyes closed and dream in the day with my eyes glued to a book. Both types of dreams feed who I am, who I want to become, and where I want to go. Therefore, I can sympathize with the author in her feelings of difference in not being able to pick up a book and immediately read it at an early age. I love that she has worked to overcome her learning disability and is here today, writing and informing people that you can be what you want to be, despite the odds. One day I want to be able to write a book (I want to be a writer, I just am not really sure where to start) that thanks those in my life who have molded me. But for now I can say, Thank you, Ms. Polacco. Thank you, for writing a book that touched my heart!
Monday, April 30, 2007
The Very Quiet Cricket, by Eric Carle - Picturebook
I just recently had a great-niece born into my family and I have been very excited about buying books for her to read and to have read to her as she grows. Being a third grade teacher, however, I was a little lost on which books to buy for a young child (granted, Haleigh will not be reading them for several years, I figured I could always start her library off from the beginning). To be honest, I was never really raised on really good picturebooks, such as the caliber of books that I have been reading throughout this semester. My parents made sure that I had as many books as I wanted, but they turned out to be comic books and fairytales most of the time. Therefore, I have felt a little like Cynthia Rylant in that book warehouse filled with children’s books; so many books and so little time!
As mentioned, I decided to read Eric Carle because many in my Children’s Literature class who teach younger students were recommending his work. I’ve heard of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and wanted to read this one to myself, The Very Quiet Cricket. I really think that crickets are cute and I really would like for him to write one about fireflies.
The end pages of the book are very interesting because they look like some of the finger paint work that I have seen preschoolers do; a masterpiece of colors and zigzags. In fact, the illustrations are very child-friendly and look like they could be replicated by a child with finger/tempera paint and an easel.
I love the story line, as well. There are not a lot of words on a page and the overall story grows on itself. You have a little cricket being greeted by different types of insects throughout the day, but when the cricket tries to respond likewise, he is unable to make a sound. The same thing occurs throughout the day and the same words are basically repeated over and over again. This is a great tool for teaching early readers to read. The ending fits with a different occurrence, when the little cricket is finally able to make a sound when he meets up with a “lady cricket”.
The beauty of some of Carle’s books is that he interweaves nature and science into the book. Young children are fascinated with nature and the natural occurrence of things within their new, big world and this book is tailored to quench this fascination. I, in my older age, discovered something new. I did not know that only the male crickets can make a sound when they rub their wings together. Now, on summer nights, when I listen to the crickets outside, I will know who is playing in the natural orchestra!
As mentioned, I decided to read Eric Carle because many in my Children’s Literature class who teach younger students were recommending his work. I’ve heard of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and wanted to read this one to myself, The Very Quiet Cricket. I really think that crickets are cute and I really would like for him to write one about fireflies.
The end pages of the book are very interesting because they look like some of the finger paint work that I have seen preschoolers do; a masterpiece of colors and zigzags. In fact, the illustrations are very child-friendly and look like they could be replicated by a child with finger/tempera paint and an easel.
I love the story line, as well. There are not a lot of words on a page and the overall story grows on itself. You have a little cricket being greeted by different types of insects throughout the day, but when the cricket tries to respond likewise, he is unable to make a sound. The same thing occurs throughout the day and the same words are basically repeated over and over again. This is a great tool for teaching early readers to read. The ending fits with a different occurrence, when the little cricket is finally able to make a sound when he meets up with a “lady cricket”.
The beauty of some of Carle’s books is that he interweaves nature and science into the book. Young children are fascinated with nature and the natural occurrence of things within their new, big world and this book is tailored to quench this fascination. I, in my older age, discovered something new. I did not know that only the male crickets can make a sound when they rub their wings together. Now, on summer nights, when I listen to the crickets outside, I will know who is playing in the natural orchestra!
Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak - Picturebook
“And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!” I want to be Max, the ruler of the wild things, holding a royal scepter in my hand and commanding wild things to do as I please. I want to sail across an ocean in my own private boat for days, weeks, and into a year. I mean, at some point in all our lives, I would wager to say that we all wanted to be Max. I would also wager to say that we all have been Max’s mother at some point in time, telling him to go to bed without dinner because he smart mouthed off at us. I would even wager to say that at times we have all been the wild things, wanting to roar terrible roars (when someone has upset us) and gnash terrible teeth (when we feel frustrated) and roll terrible eyes (when someone is threatening our place in this world) and show terrible claws (maybe just when we are hungry). Still, a person, no matter what age, can read this book and discover themselves in it.
Ironically, I didn’t read this book for myself until I had taught for several years. Sure, I had heard of the book and could even tell you a little about the wild things, but I couldn’t tell about the main plot to the story. Interestingly enough, however, I am glad that I read it as an adult, so that I could smirk at Max and his “hedonistic behavior” and realize that this was really a dream (or was it?). The author/illustrator draws from the ideas of dreams. I still, as an adult, dream every night, and just like Max, my dreams are strange and unbelievable in their natures. In my dreams I have traveled to many a place in the time period of a good night’s sleep and arrived right back home in the morning. The wild things are true creatures of dreams with their different configured bodies. They are a combination of animals and all have really scary eyes, but not too scary. A child would most likely be able to realize that these are not creatures to fear, but creatures to pretend to fear and more importantly, to laugh at. Yes, the wild things are a true conglomeration of different animals, but it is the eyes that make them perfectly unique. Their yellow eyes, which Max instantly tames with the “staring game”, are fascinating to look upon. They are just big yellow dots with pupils of black smaller dots, but they show so many emotions and feelings. I see fear and excitement, joy and anger. It is when the wild things actually close their eyes that Max tires of being their ruler and decides to go home.
The whole concept of the wolf suit is fun, also. When people go to costume parties they become someone else for a little while. They are given a chance to break free and take a little vacation from life, even when you are around people you may see every day. In a costume, you are different and you feel the desire to act-out the character. I can imagine that Max was quite the beastly wolf in the wolf suit, obviously leading him into some serious trouble.
The pictures are simple, yet neatly done. When I say simple, I do not mean that they could be easily drawn by just anyone, however. I believe that the pictures are meant to be simple to show an event in a little boy’s life (just like some of our own childhood events) that could happen to anyone. The same simplicity is shown with the island of the wild things. Yet here, when the wild rumpus begins, the pictures become full layouts and bleeds. That is one great rumpus party to be a part of! We could all slip off into a dreamland of wild things and resurface in the present with the simple act of awakening.
Ironically, I didn’t read this book for myself until I had taught for several years. Sure, I had heard of the book and could even tell you a little about the wild things, but I couldn’t tell about the main plot to the story. Interestingly enough, however, I am glad that I read it as an adult, so that I could smirk at Max and his “hedonistic behavior” and realize that this was really a dream (or was it?). The author/illustrator draws from the ideas of dreams. I still, as an adult, dream every night, and just like Max, my dreams are strange and unbelievable in their natures. In my dreams I have traveled to many a place in the time period of a good night’s sleep and arrived right back home in the morning. The wild things are true creatures of dreams with their different configured bodies. They are a combination of animals and all have really scary eyes, but not too scary. A child would most likely be able to realize that these are not creatures to fear, but creatures to pretend to fear and more importantly, to laugh at. Yes, the wild things are a true conglomeration of different animals, but it is the eyes that make them perfectly unique. Their yellow eyes, which Max instantly tames with the “staring game”, are fascinating to look upon. They are just big yellow dots with pupils of black smaller dots, but they show so many emotions and feelings. I see fear and excitement, joy and anger. It is when the wild things actually close their eyes that Max tires of being their ruler and decides to go home.
The whole concept of the wolf suit is fun, also. When people go to costume parties they become someone else for a little while. They are given a chance to break free and take a little vacation from life, even when you are around people you may see every day. In a costume, you are different and you feel the desire to act-out the character. I can imagine that Max was quite the beastly wolf in the wolf suit, obviously leading him into some serious trouble.
The pictures are simple, yet neatly done. When I say simple, I do not mean that they could be easily drawn by just anyone, however. I believe that the pictures are meant to be simple to show an event in a little boy’s life (just like some of our own childhood events) that could happen to anyone. The same simplicity is shown with the island of the wild things. Yet here, when the wild rumpus begins, the pictures become full layouts and bleeds. That is one great rumpus party to be a part of! We could all slip off into a dreamland of wild things and resurface in the present with the simple act of awakening.
The Widow's Broom, by Chris Van Allsburg - Picturebook
I became introduced to Chris Van Allsburg books last year, with his story The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, in our basal reading book. After reading that story, I must say that I really was not enthralled with Van Allsburg, however, with the excitement of other teachers pushing me forward, I read some more of his books. I quickly realized that I enjoyed his works and wanted to read more and more. His sense of mystery that he left the reader with after reading his books was very exciting and I realized that many a theme could be drawn from his words. True, most of his illustrations (all done by him) were typically black and white, but with a bit more analyzing on my part, I realized that the black and white photographs were just right for the words and the themes that Van Allsburg was trying to get across to the reader. With all of this in mind, I decided to read The Widow’s Broom.
For as long as I can remember I have been drawn to books that recognize hatred, racism, and selfishness in the world and try to right these evils and allow the “underdog” character to succeed. I like the idea that love conquerors all and that eventually the truth will set a person free. In short, I want the bad guy to get what is coming to him/her in the end and the good guy to win. The Widow’s Broom is a book that embodies all of these characteristics, and I loved it. True, I enjoyed reading it to my class with the lights off and the shades drawn and with a spooky voice. I had set the tone for my third graders to enjoy a Halloween/Autumn type book, but this story goes so much deeper than that. The very real prejudices of the neighbors against the broom that is in a sense “gifted” to Widow Shaw is very real and more scary than anything that could fall from the sky on a dark, cold autumn night. The extent of actions that this prejudice takes the neighbors to reflects the Puritan beliefs and reminded me of the Salem Witch hunts in the 1600s. The reader feels a close bond with the Widow and her broom, who appears to be almost pet-like in it’s loyalty and desire to please. The only thing it does is help around the house, keep the Widow Shaw company, and sweep when it gets the chance. Therefore, when the reader sees the neighbors plot against the broom and openly pick on the innocent item, the reader is outraged (at least I know that I was!). The final act of injustice is proven when the broom is “burned at the stake” in order to supposedly rid the country of such evil. I laughed right along with my students when we all discovered that the Widow Shaw, such a seemingly helpless, old lady, had devised a plan to truly rid the country of the evil with the neighbors finally leaving in fear of a “ghost broom”.
This Van Allsburg book did not leave me wondering at the end, because it mentioned the white paint and the little hint in the beginning about the broom not sleeping. I knew that Widow Shaw had devised a clever plan to save her new companion and help mate. The justice that was written into the end of the story was very well appreciated by me, the reader, and twenty little third graders!
For as long as I can remember I have been drawn to books that recognize hatred, racism, and selfishness in the world and try to right these evils and allow the “underdog” character to succeed. I like the idea that love conquerors all and that eventually the truth will set a person free. In short, I want the bad guy to get what is coming to him/her in the end and the good guy to win. The Widow’s Broom is a book that embodies all of these characteristics, and I loved it. True, I enjoyed reading it to my class with the lights off and the shades drawn and with a spooky voice. I had set the tone for my third graders to enjoy a Halloween/Autumn type book, but this story goes so much deeper than that. The very real prejudices of the neighbors against the broom that is in a sense “gifted” to Widow Shaw is very real and more scary than anything that could fall from the sky on a dark, cold autumn night. The extent of actions that this prejudice takes the neighbors to reflects the Puritan beliefs and reminded me of the Salem Witch hunts in the 1600s. The reader feels a close bond with the Widow and her broom, who appears to be almost pet-like in it’s loyalty and desire to please. The only thing it does is help around the house, keep the Widow Shaw company, and sweep when it gets the chance. Therefore, when the reader sees the neighbors plot against the broom and openly pick on the innocent item, the reader is outraged (at least I know that I was!). The final act of injustice is proven when the broom is “burned at the stake” in order to supposedly rid the country of such evil. I laughed right along with my students when we all discovered that the Widow Shaw, such a seemingly helpless, old lady, had devised a plan to truly rid the country of the evil with the neighbors finally leaving in fear of a “ghost broom”.
This Van Allsburg book did not leave me wondering at the end, because it mentioned the white paint and the little hint in the beginning about the broom not sleeping. I knew that Widow Shaw had devised a clever plan to save her new companion and help mate. The justice that was written into the end of the story was very well appreciated by me, the reader, and twenty little third graders!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
26 Fairmount Avenue, by Tomie DePaola - Autobiography
My students come to me with a repertoire of knowledge about Tomie DePaola books under their little knowledge belts because they do an author study on him in the second grade. Therefore, when I pull the Tomie DePaola books for them to read with our story, The Mysterious Giant of Barletta, they pretty much already think that they know everything about him that is possible. That is when I decided to bring out the autobiography. Remarkably, they don’t read this with the author study in the second grade so that left me, the third grade teacher, to have a little trick up my sleeve. Be forewarned, however, that you will experience many laughs when you read this book, because DePaola is certainly one of the most hilarious children that I have encountered!
The story begins around the time that Tomie was approximately age four and his family was beginning to build their new home on 26 Fairmount Avenue. A hurricane struck Meriden, Connecticut that fall and nearly destroyed the production of the home and many city ordinances nearly stopped the finalization of the home altogether, but in the end, the family moves in. In this book, Tomie is the youngest child (his sisters come later in life) with one older brother. Evidently the brother is a good child and student, and the reader can infer, through various incidents in the book, that Tomie was nothing like his older brother. In fact, his first day of kindergarten Tomie, with as much self-confidence that a five-year-old can have, haultily walked up the school steps and marched right up to the principal. The principal asked him who he was and Tomie replied and then curtly asked who she was. The reader starts gaining the feeling that Tomie may not have made the best decisions throughout grade school when we are left hearing Tomie say that he got to know the principal very well throughout he next couple of years. This leaves the reader to infer that Tomie was not the “best” of students, so to say.
Another funny occurrence happened that first day of kindergarten when he finally walked in to his classroom, met the teacher, and asked when they were going to beginning reading. Interestingly (and I use that term with sarcasm), the teacher told him that they would not learn how to read until next year, in the first grade. Tomie simply stated that in that case he would come back next year, turned around, and walked home. How very defiant for a child and with such confidence. I love it! I know a child like that!
Tomie DePaola’s book, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, was mentioned in this book with Tomie talking about going to visit his grandmothers and sitting with Nana Upstairs for visits. The respect that he felt for this older woman is very evident and sincere through this writings, even when he recalls an uncomfortable incident with laxatives. I will leave this little section of the book closed until you open it and read it for yourself; and believe me, it will be well worth it!
Finally, Tomie was a child after my own heart when he went for the first time to see Walt Disney’s Snow White. He was so excited because his mother had read the book to him many times and he was delighted to get the opportunity to see it in moving picture. However, as we all experience at least once in our lives, most movies never exactly match the books. Tomie was so outraged at this that at age four he stood up in the movie theatre and shouted at the screen! He was of course hushed by another woman behind him, but the sight of seeing an outraged child shouting at a movie screen for not going exactly by the book makes me smile. I have wanted to do this many times but couldn’t quite pull it off with as much “class” as DePaola did. His mother came and rushed him out of the theatre as soon as the movie ended, however. So funny!
The story begins around the time that Tomie was approximately age four and his family was beginning to build their new home on 26 Fairmount Avenue. A hurricane struck Meriden, Connecticut that fall and nearly destroyed the production of the home and many city ordinances nearly stopped the finalization of the home altogether, but in the end, the family moves in. In this book, Tomie is the youngest child (his sisters come later in life) with one older brother. Evidently the brother is a good child and student, and the reader can infer, through various incidents in the book, that Tomie was nothing like his older brother. In fact, his first day of kindergarten Tomie, with as much self-confidence that a five-year-old can have, haultily walked up the school steps and marched right up to the principal. The principal asked him who he was and Tomie replied and then curtly asked who she was. The reader starts gaining the feeling that Tomie may not have made the best decisions throughout grade school when we are left hearing Tomie say that he got to know the principal very well throughout he next couple of years. This leaves the reader to infer that Tomie was not the “best” of students, so to say.
Another funny occurrence happened that first day of kindergarten when he finally walked in to his classroom, met the teacher, and asked when they were going to beginning reading. Interestingly (and I use that term with sarcasm), the teacher told him that they would not learn how to read until next year, in the first grade. Tomie simply stated that in that case he would come back next year, turned around, and walked home. How very defiant for a child and with such confidence. I love it! I know a child like that!
Tomie DePaola’s book, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, was mentioned in this book with Tomie talking about going to visit his grandmothers and sitting with Nana Upstairs for visits. The respect that he felt for this older woman is very evident and sincere through this writings, even when he recalls an uncomfortable incident with laxatives. I will leave this little section of the book closed until you open it and read it for yourself; and believe me, it will be well worth it!
Finally, Tomie was a child after my own heart when he went for the first time to see Walt Disney’s Snow White. He was so excited because his mother had read the book to him many times and he was delighted to get the opportunity to see it in moving picture. However, as we all experience at least once in our lives, most movies never exactly match the books. Tomie was so outraged at this that at age four he stood up in the movie theatre and shouted at the screen! He was of course hushed by another woman behind him, but the sight of seeing an outraged child shouting at a movie screen for not going exactly by the book makes me smile. I have wanted to do this many times but couldn’t quite pull it off with as much “class” as DePaola did. His mother came and rushed him out of the theatre as soon as the movie ended, however. So funny!
Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry - Historical Fiction
I picked up Number the Stars at the bookstore because it was a historical fiction novel (and I needed one of those for my Journal blogging) and because Lois Lowry (the writer of The Giver) wrote it. I was so fascinated with The Giver that I was certain that if she used the same craft in Number the Stars that she employed in The Giver, that I would love this book. I was right, because I was drawn into Number the Stars instantly.
I enjoy books that have an undercurrent of realism and ironic events and characters embedded through the writing of historical fiction. Number the Stars is set in Copenhagen, Denmark during the Nazi Germany invasion. The Johansen’s are a typical Danish family that had three daughters who were going about their daily lives before their king, Christian X, surrendered to Germany, without a fight, because he had the knowledge that Denmark was a small country and that they would not survive a war. German soldiers get posted throughout town, curfews are issued for the citizens, electricity and foods are rationed, and blackout curtains are put up. Life changes even more dramatically when their oldest daughter, Lise, is killed in an accident. Like in The Giver, the reader really doesn’t find out about how Lise is killed immediately, but as we read the story, Lowry gives us a trail to follow until we realize that Lise was a member of the Resistance group and that one rainy night she was purposely run down by a car of the Nazi’s. The reader suspects something of this sort, with Lise being engaged to marry another boy, Peter, who is a Resistance member, but never really finds out until the end of the book exactly how she died. Another important plot in the book is that the Johansen’s are close friends with a Jewish family, the Rosen’s. The Nazi’s had not begun tormenting or capturing and relocating Jewish families and people in Denmark until recently, and now they must all hide and leave or be sent away to concentration camps. The Johansen’s are able to smuggle the Rosen’s to safety just in time. In fact, all of Denmark came together to make sure that their Jewish residents were cared for as much as possible.
There are so many powerful themes flooding the pages of Number the Stars, but the one that highly impacted me was the loss of innocence. Ten-year-old Annemarie is very grown-up for her age, having to be due to the events that are occurring in her country. She tries to occupy her time playing little girl games, like races and paper dolls. The foot races are abruptly stopped in the beginning by a German soldier who interrogates her and her best friend Ellen about running in the streets and the paper dolls are set aside when she begins remembering her own sister’s death and the night that it occurred. She even cares and pampers her little sister, Kirsten – who really is the only character who maintains a childlike trait throughout the story – by making up fairytale stories, that Annemarie no longer believes in.
My, how Lowry can weave irony and satire into her novels! Denmark is at war, in a silent, resistant way, with Germany, and the girls are playing pretend with paper dolls that they have named after the characters of Gone with the Wind. Annemarie comments that pretending to play Gone with the Wind is so much more exciting than pretending with fairytales. That made me smirk, because I always pretend-played fairy tales, because it was a different country and time period for me. That is the very reason that Annemarie is pretend-playing Gone with the Wind, because of a change in location and characters. I also found it ironic how Gone with the Wind is about war, the Civil War, which ravishes the main characters’ homes and changes their lives forever, same as the characters in Number the Stars lives are changed forever by a home front war. It is also about the prejudice and mistreatment of African Americans, just as the prejudices and mistreatments of the Jewish community are being played out in Denmark during this time period.
Lowry has a way of weaving so many interesting historical facts and information into her works and makes the characters come alive right before the reader’s eyes. I wanted to be there, helping smuggle Jewish people to safety.
I enjoy books that have an undercurrent of realism and ironic events and characters embedded through the writing of historical fiction. Number the Stars is set in Copenhagen, Denmark during the Nazi Germany invasion. The Johansen’s are a typical Danish family that had three daughters who were going about their daily lives before their king, Christian X, surrendered to Germany, without a fight, because he had the knowledge that Denmark was a small country and that they would not survive a war. German soldiers get posted throughout town, curfews are issued for the citizens, electricity and foods are rationed, and blackout curtains are put up. Life changes even more dramatically when their oldest daughter, Lise, is killed in an accident. Like in The Giver, the reader really doesn’t find out about how Lise is killed immediately, but as we read the story, Lowry gives us a trail to follow until we realize that Lise was a member of the Resistance group and that one rainy night she was purposely run down by a car of the Nazi’s. The reader suspects something of this sort, with Lise being engaged to marry another boy, Peter, who is a Resistance member, but never really finds out until the end of the book exactly how she died. Another important plot in the book is that the Johansen’s are close friends with a Jewish family, the Rosen’s. The Nazi’s had not begun tormenting or capturing and relocating Jewish families and people in Denmark until recently, and now they must all hide and leave or be sent away to concentration camps. The Johansen’s are able to smuggle the Rosen’s to safety just in time. In fact, all of Denmark came together to make sure that their Jewish residents were cared for as much as possible.
There are so many powerful themes flooding the pages of Number the Stars, but the one that highly impacted me was the loss of innocence. Ten-year-old Annemarie is very grown-up for her age, having to be due to the events that are occurring in her country. She tries to occupy her time playing little girl games, like races and paper dolls. The foot races are abruptly stopped in the beginning by a German soldier who interrogates her and her best friend Ellen about running in the streets and the paper dolls are set aside when she begins remembering her own sister’s death and the night that it occurred. She even cares and pampers her little sister, Kirsten – who really is the only character who maintains a childlike trait throughout the story – by making up fairytale stories, that Annemarie no longer believes in.
My, how Lowry can weave irony and satire into her novels! Denmark is at war, in a silent, resistant way, with Germany, and the girls are playing pretend with paper dolls that they have named after the characters of Gone with the Wind. Annemarie comments that pretending to play Gone with the Wind is so much more exciting than pretending with fairytales. That made me smirk, because I always pretend-played fairy tales, because it was a different country and time period for me. That is the very reason that Annemarie is pretend-playing Gone with the Wind, because of a change in location and characters. I also found it ironic how Gone with the Wind is about war, the Civil War, which ravishes the main characters’ homes and changes their lives forever, same as the characters in Number the Stars lives are changed forever by a home front war. It is also about the prejudice and mistreatment of African Americans, just as the prejudices and mistreatments of the Jewish community are being played out in Denmark during this time period.
Lowry has a way of weaving so many interesting historical facts and information into her works and makes the characters come alive right before the reader’s eyes. I wanted to be there, helping smuggle Jewish people to safety.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Who Was Thomas Jefferson?, by Dennis Brindell Fradin - Biography
As a teacher of third grade, the Standards of Learning dictate that I teach my students about various famous Americans, Thomas Jefferson being one of these. Until I began teaching about him, I must admit that I really didn’t know much at all about him, other than the fact that he was the third president of the United States and that he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Other than that, I was lost. Still, being a person who finds history fascinating, my husband, mother, and I planned a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania about a year ago and immersed ourselves in United States history. I must say, that if surrounding yourself with United States history is your idea of a great time (like me), then go to Philly!
Who Was Thomas Jefferson? (TJ is what my third graders affectionately call him) is a chapter book biography. It begins with Jefferson’s entrance into the world and doesn’t end until his exit from the world. Throughout the book the reader learns about his character and the events that weaved themselves through his life and through history. In my opinion, he was a remarkable man. He was an avid reader who could sit and read for fifteen hours straight, without stopping to eat. Now, that is a reader! He was exceptionally self-motivated and determined to accomplish things in his life that he felt were good and honest things. He was shy and did not like to talk out in public, because he was said to not be a very good speaker, but he could write. Surprising me was the fact that he didn’t even really want to write the Declaration of Independence. Sure, he believed in freedom from what he considered the tyranny of England, he just thought that John Adams would be better for the job of writing such a paper. Yet, with a little flattery, Jefferson wrote the most important document in American history.
I have always been interested in his affairs with Sally Hemings, a slave that he owned, but had several children with. I never understood how someone can have a “love” relationship with a person and father children with them, and still keep them on as slaves until the end of his life. Even when Sally had the possibility of gaining hers and her child’s freedom by staying in France and not returning to Virginia with Jefferson, she still returned with him and had more of his children, remaining his slave until the end of his life. It was ironic to discover, through the reading, that Sally was the half-sister of Jefferson’s late wife. Though she was never recognized as a half-sister, the two women shared the same father. She was a product of an owner having an affair with one of his slaves, just as she and Jefferson did.
I have put this book, as well as another book of this type about Benjamin Franklin, in my Buddy Reading center and my students are reading it. I feel that it is written in a very tasteful and student friendly way and can be used as a read aloud if wanted.
Who Was Thomas Jefferson? (TJ is what my third graders affectionately call him) is a chapter book biography. It begins with Jefferson’s entrance into the world and doesn’t end until his exit from the world. Throughout the book the reader learns about his character and the events that weaved themselves through his life and through history. In my opinion, he was a remarkable man. He was an avid reader who could sit and read for fifteen hours straight, without stopping to eat. Now, that is a reader! He was exceptionally self-motivated and determined to accomplish things in his life that he felt were good and honest things. He was shy and did not like to talk out in public, because he was said to not be a very good speaker, but he could write. Surprising me was the fact that he didn’t even really want to write the Declaration of Independence. Sure, he believed in freedom from what he considered the tyranny of England, he just thought that John Adams would be better for the job of writing such a paper. Yet, with a little flattery, Jefferson wrote the most important document in American history.
I have always been interested in his affairs with Sally Hemings, a slave that he owned, but had several children with. I never understood how someone can have a “love” relationship with a person and father children with them, and still keep them on as slaves until the end of his life. Even when Sally had the possibility of gaining hers and her child’s freedom by staying in France and not returning to Virginia with Jefferson, she still returned with him and had more of his children, remaining his slave until the end of his life. It was ironic to discover, through the reading, that Sally was the half-sister of Jefferson’s late wife. Though she was never recognized as a half-sister, the two women shared the same father. She was a product of an owner having an affair with one of his slaves, just as she and Jefferson did.
I have put this book, as well as another book of this type about Benjamin Franklin, in my Buddy Reading center and my students are reading it. I feel that it is written in a very tasteful and student friendly way and can be used as a read aloud if wanted.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
But I'll Be Back Again, by Cynthia Rylant - Autobiography
I have learned that as I get to know an author’s craft and style of writing by reading several of their books, I feel close to an author and their life. Maybe it is that “fame” thing that movie stars and celebrities go through, but I find myself yearning to know more about the person who writes the books that have touched my heart in a special way. I want to know more about the moments and events in their life that have caused them to write the way that they do and to express an emotion through a story event or character that so closely relates to me and connects to my little spirit. I almost feel a kinship between the authors and myself and want to talk to them more. However, the only way that I can relate with them more is to read more of their books and to possibly see them at readings or by video interviews. The chances of me sitting down with them over coffee and them allowing me to listen as they pour out their life story upon my burning ears is more likely not going to happen. Therefore, my remedy for such a feeling is the autobiography.
I found myself laughing aloud and feeling like I was getting to know Cynthia Rylant in her autography. I found much of myself in that book, with Rylant’s experiences through life. This now makes perfect sense to me why I enjoy her books so much and find a friend and co-thinker when reading them. Sure, my parents never divorced and my mother never left me to live with my grandparents in a small mountain town for four years, but I still found myself in her hopes and dreams and reflections of life.
In my later years (and keep in mind that I am only 28 years old) I have grown very fond of The Beatles and their music. Raised by parents who were themselves brought up during the 50’s and on the King of Rock-n-Roll (Elvis), I never really listened to The Beatles. Their anti-war protests greatly outraged my Veteran father, so their music was not listened to. Now, I find myself humming songs of their’s randomly and listening to them as a drive to class. I can imagine when they first came out that their popularity was amazing. I, personally, was in love with Davy Jones from the Monkey’s and I am not ashamed to admit that he was my first love and I was sure that we would somehow meet and marry. Little did I know (being a child of the 80s), that Davy Jones in my time was old enough to be my father. That was a harsh reality that I had to face in my first ten or eleven years of life! I’m still trying to recover :)
It is interesting to me that Rylant had so many friends who were male. Throughout the book we find that her playmates and best friends were typically males and that those were the ones that she had most of her most intimate (and I don’t always mean sexual) conversations with. It does make the reader pause to ponder if she was trying in her own childlike way to make up for the lack of a male figure in her life with so many male friends. Her confidence around the opposite sex was amazing, as well, with her joking and talking about things with boys that most middle and high school girls struggle with. I sensed no awkward silences and situations for Rylant and her buddies throughout her autobiography; just a lot of goofing around and having fun.
The way that Rylant delivers her story to the reader does not make the reader feel sorry for her, but brings about the realization that her life was not easy and that she survived, with love and a curious nature. She did not have both parents (and for about four years, she didn’t have either parent) to raise her and support her. She did not have books to read about far away places and adventures of animals, objects and humans. Yet she lacked in no imaginative way. I heard a person ask Richard Peck during his interview in Washington, D.C. if he thought that in order to be a good writer you had to be raised in a good and supportive home by both parents. Peck’s response was along the lines of that being raised and supported by both parents was important, but that not all good writers had to have this. Around this time in the watching of the speech I was wondering what planet the woman who asked that ridiculous question was from. It is obvious that writers are born with a talent and that not all writers have that parental support and nurturing at home. Rylant found it in her grandparents and her friends and eventually her mother. She is a good writer, not because she had, but because she didn’t have. Now she is able to look back and reflect on her life and brings believable characters alive that feel and experience what she felt and experienced. That is what makes a great, not just a good, writer!
I found myself laughing aloud and feeling like I was getting to know Cynthia Rylant in her autography. I found much of myself in that book, with Rylant’s experiences through life. This now makes perfect sense to me why I enjoy her books so much and find a friend and co-thinker when reading them. Sure, my parents never divorced and my mother never left me to live with my grandparents in a small mountain town for four years, but I still found myself in her hopes and dreams and reflections of life.
In my later years (and keep in mind that I am only 28 years old) I have grown very fond of The Beatles and their music. Raised by parents who were themselves brought up during the 50’s and on the King of Rock-n-Roll (Elvis), I never really listened to The Beatles. Their anti-war protests greatly outraged my Veteran father, so their music was not listened to. Now, I find myself humming songs of their’s randomly and listening to them as a drive to class. I can imagine when they first came out that their popularity was amazing. I, personally, was in love with Davy Jones from the Monkey’s and I am not ashamed to admit that he was my first love and I was sure that we would somehow meet and marry. Little did I know (being a child of the 80s), that Davy Jones in my time was old enough to be my father. That was a harsh reality that I had to face in my first ten or eleven years of life! I’m still trying to recover :)
It is interesting to me that Rylant had so many friends who were male. Throughout the book we find that her playmates and best friends were typically males and that those were the ones that she had most of her most intimate (and I don’t always mean sexual) conversations with. It does make the reader pause to ponder if she was trying in her own childlike way to make up for the lack of a male figure in her life with so many male friends. Her confidence around the opposite sex was amazing, as well, with her joking and talking about things with boys that most middle and high school girls struggle with. I sensed no awkward silences and situations for Rylant and her buddies throughout her autobiography; just a lot of goofing around and having fun.
The way that Rylant delivers her story to the reader does not make the reader feel sorry for her, but brings about the realization that her life was not easy and that she survived, with love and a curious nature. She did not have both parents (and for about four years, she didn’t have either parent) to raise her and support her. She did not have books to read about far away places and adventures of animals, objects and humans. Yet she lacked in no imaginative way. I heard a person ask Richard Peck during his interview in Washington, D.C. if he thought that in order to be a good writer you had to be raised in a good and supportive home by both parents. Peck’s response was along the lines of that being raised and supported by both parents was important, but that not all good writers had to have this. Around this time in the watching of the speech I was wondering what planet the woman who asked that ridiculous question was from. It is obvious that writers are born with a talent and that not all writers have that parental support and nurturing at home. Rylant found it in her grandparents and her friends and eventually her mother. She is a good writer, not because she had, but because she didn’t have. Now she is able to look back and reflect on her life and brings believable characters alive that feel and experience what she felt and experienced. That is what makes a great, not just a good, writer!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
I Had Seen Castles, by Cynthia Rylant - Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction is a genre that I really have always enjoyed and continue to read often, and this book is one of the best that I have ever read. I was slow beginning it, because I was immediately overwhelmed with the “sad” feeling that existed throughout the novel. I did this with the fifth Harry Potter book several years back and finally picked it back up again and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I probably would have put this book down for that very reason and may not have picked it back up again, ever, but class made me, and I am glad for that. I had to realize that the “sad” feeling that was disturbing to me in the beginning of the book (I really am a “happily-ever-after-kind-of-girl”) was part of the voice and tone that Rylant was trying to get across. The setting was after the Depression and right before, during, and after World War II. America did not want to enter another war so soon after experiencing World War I and the Great Depression. America was ready for some peace and serenity that wartimes never afford. However, America was plunged into this war with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the realization that Nazi Germany was a far greater threat than they wanted to believe.
Rylant does an excellent job at allowing the reader to see the torn nature of our country during this time with the relationship between Ginny and John. John is a character who is much like boys of that time period, imagining that war will only last a little while and will bring glory and honor, not horror and a lifetime of nightmares and images. I saw this same attitude in Paul Fleischman’s Bull Run, with soldiers and women from both sides thinking that they were going to “teach those enemies” and be back in time for Christmas. It is always a lesson that is learned the hard way that war is not easy and does not get solved quickly. Still, generations never seem to learn from past mistakes and continue to enter into wars with the same feeling and enthusiasm again and again. It is not to long into the actual war that John realizes his mistaken notions and only longs to fight to survive.
Ginny is a “peace loving hippy” before her time. She stands for her ideals and yearns to believe that peace is possible. She views herself as an open-minded individual that doesn’t believe in war. I always find it interesting that the more open-minded we say we are, the more close-minded we become. Still, despite their differences, they loved each other and longed to be near each other.
I was disappointed that John never went to find Ginny after the war, but that would not have fit the story and the character development. John was not the same person that he was when Ginny knew him and loved him. John was meant to “grow into an old man” and try to forget the past. Unfortunately, Ginny was part of that past, even if not directly connected to the war. Therefore, she must also be pushed behind, never failing to haunt him throughout the rest of his life. I get the feeling John never married.
This book has continued to haunt me throughout my past days. I see the sheep in the field, grazing and soon slaughtered by bullets and the cow being lead away by the French farmer, only minutes before the deathly shooting is to begin. Such innocence is lost by war, leading me to ask: Isn’t there another way? However, this, too, leads me to ponder what Thomas Jefferson, “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God”.
Rylant does an excellent job at allowing the reader to see the torn nature of our country during this time with the relationship between Ginny and John. John is a character who is much like boys of that time period, imagining that war will only last a little while and will bring glory and honor, not horror and a lifetime of nightmares and images. I saw this same attitude in Paul Fleischman’s Bull Run, with soldiers and women from both sides thinking that they were going to “teach those enemies” and be back in time for Christmas. It is always a lesson that is learned the hard way that war is not easy and does not get solved quickly. Still, generations never seem to learn from past mistakes and continue to enter into wars with the same feeling and enthusiasm again and again. It is not to long into the actual war that John realizes his mistaken notions and only longs to fight to survive.
Ginny is a “peace loving hippy” before her time. She stands for her ideals and yearns to believe that peace is possible. She views herself as an open-minded individual that doesn’t believe in war. I always find it interesting that the more open-minded we say we are, the more close-minded we become. Still, despite their differences, they loved each other and longed to be near each other.
I was disappointed that John never went to find Ginny after the war, but that would not have fit the story and the character development. John was not the same person that he was when Ginny knew him and loved him. John was meant to “grow into an old man” and try to forget the past. Unfortunately, Ginny was part of that past, even if not directly connected to the war. Therefore, she must also be pushed behind, never failing to haunt him throughout the rest of his life. I get the feeling John never married.
This book has continued to haunt me throughout my past days. I see the sheep in the field, grazing and soon slaughtered by bullets and the cow being lead away by the French farmer, only minutes before the deathly shooting is to begin. Such innocence is lost by war, leading me to ask: Isn’t there another way? However, this, too, leads me to ponder what Thomas Jefferson, “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God”.
Monday, April 23, 2007
No More Homework! No More Tests!, collected by Bruce Lansky - Poetry Collection
The poetry anthology “No More Homework! No More Tests!” was a very humorous story that I have been reading aloud to my students, as well as, using in a poetry workstation in my classroom. My students love the book and have often requested certain poems by name that they would like me to read to the class. Often times it is the students who do not seem to enjoy reading as much who request the poems by name. Some of the poets featured in this anthology are Bruce Lansky (he is the one who put the book together), Shel Silverstein, and Jack Prelutsky, to name a few. The theme for all the poems deals with the “hardships” (and I use that term with a satirical voice) of being a student, and at times – a teacher, in school. All the poems have humorous undertones and make the reader either laugh at the joke or roll their eyes at the “cheesy” tales.
I personally found a laugh in the poem “Sick”, by Shel Silverstein. I can remember how on certain days I would just not want to get up and go to school. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy school, I just wanted to sleep in and be lazy. Now that I am a teacher, I can see the same things in my students, early in the mornings. They walk in and sometimes even complain of being sick and needing to go home, when really they are just tired and lagging into starting a new day. The speaker in this poem goes into great detail with a parent about how they are extremely sick (beyond understanding and need to go to the doctor right now for fear of death!) and cannot possibly go to school. This goes on until the end of the thirty-two lined poem, in which they realize that it is Saturday and suddenly feel better and well enough to go out and play! This makes me smile at the irony of trying to convince your parent that you are too sick for school, but when you realize it is the weekend, you are well, suddenly.
Though this book was written for an audience of children in mind, I can’t help but wonder if the poets were trying to “focus” children’s ethics a bit. In the poem “I Should Have Studied”, a student is watching the person beside them get their test paper back and the test paper has a big “F” on it. The only problem is, that student copied off of their neighbor’s paper, so they know exactly what grade they got, before they even receive it back. I love it! Great lesson for not cheating.
All of the poems are filled with puns and laughable situations that really are not exactly reality, but make one laugh to think that it could happen. Students are able to read it with partners or to themselves and find enjoyment.
On a side note, this would not be the only type of poetry that I would want to put in my poetry center or read aloud to students. After reading the chapter by Denise Johnson on poetry, I realize that students need to be exposed to all sorts of poetry, not just humorous, pun-filled poem anthologies, such as this one. Works by Fleischman and Rylant would be an excellent starting place to expose them to other works, as well.
I personally found a laugh in the poem “Sick”, by Shel Silverstein. I can remember how on certain days I would just not want to get up and go to school. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy school, I just wanted to sleep in and be lazy. Now that I am a teacher, I can see the same things in my students, early in the mornings. They walk in and sometimes even complain of being sick and needing to go home, when really they are just tired and lagging into starting a new day. The speaker in this poem goes into great detail with a parent about how they are extremely sick (beyond understanding and need to go to the doctor right now for fear of death!) and cannot possibly go to school. This goes on until the end of the thirty-two lined poem, in which they realize that it is Saturday and suddenly feel better and well enough to go out and play! This makes me smile at the irony of trying to convince your parent that you are too sick for school, but when you realize it is the weekend, you are well, suddenly.
Though this book was written for an audience of children in mind, I can’t help but wonder if the poets were trying to “focus” children’s ethics a bit. In the poem “I Should Have Studied”, a student is watching the person beside them get their test paper back and the test paper has a big “F” on it. The only problem is, that student copied off of their neighbor’s paper, so they know exactly what grade they got, before they even receive it back. I love it! Great lesson for not cheating.
All of the poems are filled with puns and laughable situations that really are not exactly reality, but make one laugh to think that it could happen. Students are able to read it with partners or to themselves and find enjoyment.
On a side note, this would not be the only type of poetry that I would want to put in my poetry center or read aloud to students. After reading the chapter by Denise Johnson on poetry, I realize that students need to be exposed to all sorts of poetry, not just humorous, pun-filled poem anthologies, such as this one. Works by Fleischman and Rylant would be an excellent starting place to expose them to other works, as well.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Waiting to Waltz, A Childhood, by Cynthia Rylant and Illustrations by Stephen Gammell - Poetry
I guess, by now, I feel like a know Cynthia Rylant, on a friendly level. I feel like I have shared some of her memories as a child and laughed at some of the ironic occurrences. Rylant never ceases to strike the note of sincerity in me every time I read one of her books or works of poetry. She is a person who has really taken the time to analyze their own life and write about themselves. I wonder if this need to write was a psychological outlet for her, trying to deal with so many memories, both good and bad, from her childhood? Rylant’s collection of poems about her childhood, Waiting to Waltz, A Childhood, is no different. She manages to use simple words to convey so much meaning. In this collection, the simple words are so impactful that I don’t really think the illustrations are necessary. In fact, the illustrations took away from my reading, because at times they are a bit scary. I am not certain, but I do think that the illustrator, Stephen Gammell, was the illustrator for the books Scary Stories, and those frightened me as a child. Maybe that is why I would rather just read the simple, yet eloquent words, than look at the illustrations.
It is nice to read memoirs or poems about a person’s life, written by the person, so that I have a better understanding of how the characters in other books came about. I was revisited by Cletus (from Rylant’s book Missing May) in the poem titled “Pet Rock”. Roger was very much like Cletus, always hanging around and showing total devotion and interest in anything that Rylant wanted to do. Cletus was like this to Summer, constantly around her and Ob and not really taking the hint that he was not “liked”. Still, Cletus was aware to an extent of Summer’s feelings, as he didn’t really want to take her to meet his parents; for fear that they would recognize that Summer didn’t think as highly of him as they did. I bet Roger recognized this in young Cynthia, and like Summer, it took a bit of time for her to realize it, too.
It is good to know that children, for the most part, go through the same feelings and emotions that all other children go through. I believe that you can change the time period or the place and you would still have adolescents who go through feelings of needing to be accepted by their peers and wanting to be just like everyone else. The poem titled “PTA” really sounded this out, with Rylant obviously wanting to fit in and have her mother go to PTA meetings (which are a very boring experience, might I add!) and participate like the other mothers do. She does discover that her mother doesn’t have to go to PTA meetings to be important in the eyes of her peers when they turn to her after a classmate faints, because her mother is a nurse. I realize that we all judge ourselves more harshly than our peers typically do, and I think that Rylant realized this here, as well.
I found myself in some of the poems that were written and connected to what occurred in Rylant’s life. I am a Christian and have experienced some of the church incidents that Rylant experienced: I was scared after leaving a church that spoke tongues as a child and I have heard preachers who “yelled people to the Cross”. I can tell that Rylant does have a reverence for Christ, even if her opinion of “church” is not too high. She is an excellent writer who is very honest with her feelings.
It is nice to read memoirs or poems about a person’s life, written by the person, so that I have a better understanding of how the characters in other books came about. I was revisited by Cletus (from Rylant’s book Missing May) in the poem titled “Pet Rock”. Roger was very much like Cletus, always hanging around and showing total devotion and interest in anything that Rylant wanted to do. Cletus was like this to Summer, constantly around her and Ob and not really taking the hint that he was not “liked”. Still, Cletus was aware to an extent of Summer’s feelings, as he didn’t really want to take her to meet his parents; for fear that they would recognize that Summer didn’t think as highly of him as they did. I bet Roger recognized this in young Cynthia, and like Summer, it took a bit of time for her to realize it, too.
It is good to know that children, for the most part, go through the same feelings and emotions that all other children go through. I believe that you can change the time period or the place and you would still have adolescents who go through feelings of needing to be accepted by their peers and wanting to be just like everyone else. The poem titled “PTA” really sounded this out, with Rylant obviously wanting to fit in and have her mother go to PTA meetings (which are a very boring experience, might I add!) and participate like the other mothers do. She does discover that her mother doesn’t have to go to PTA meetings to be important in the eyes of her peers when they turn to her after a classmate faints, because her mother is a nurse. I realize that we all judge ourselves more harshly than our peers typically do, and I think that Rylant realized this here, as well.
I found myself in some of the poems that were written and connected to what occurred in Rylant’s life. I am a Christian and have experienced some of the church incidents that Rylant experienced: I was scared after leaving a church that spoke tongues as a child and I have heard preachers who “yelled people to the Cross”. I can tell that Rylant does have a reverence for Christ, even if her opinion of “church” is not too high. She is an excellent writer who is very honest with her feelings.
Long Night Moon, by Cynthia Rylant and Illustrations by Mark Siegel - Poetry
I would definitely add Cynthia Rylant’s Long Night Moon to my collection of bedtime stories that I would enjoy reading to my own children one day. This single-illustrated poem combines a peace of nature while teaching the reader about a Native American ritual and the changing of the seasons. The charcoal illustrations are extremely beautiful and fitting to match the words of the poem and the theme of night. I can feel everything in this book, from the cold snow in February, the warmth of the June night, the rumble of thunder beneath my feet and all around me in July, and the nearness of the October Acorn Moon. Night is a time that many, children particularly and adults even at times, find difficult to overcome from the fear and trepidation of the “unknown”. This book washes away that unknown fear and almost makes the reader want to go out walking at night and do just what the jacket cover in my book says, “…stop and consider what might be revealed in one spot over one year by twelve unique and exquisite full moons?”. I can almost imagine myself around a Native American campfire, listening to the elders tell tales of the moons and the seasons. I thought it was fitting to have a mother figure holding a child at the beginning of the story and again at the end of the story, almost telling her little one the story of the moons (like ancient people in the past would have done) and how they relate to him/her. The reader feels like they are the little one, learning about the moons, but at the same time, we are an onlooker to an ancient ritual between the old and the young.
It is during the months of January and February that I always wish that I lived somewhere where it snowed, like in the illustrations with the Snow Moon for February. The house looks so tucked in for the night, with the blanket of snow all around it. My eyes are immediately drawn to the deer, with the cold breath being exhausted. It is a misconception that nature shuts down at sunset, because so many animals begin activity at that time of day. It is interesting to think about the Sun and Moon being sister and brother, as is mentioned in the Snow Moon.
I want to be outside under the big tree in June during the Strawberry Moon. The illustrations throughout the entire book are so captivating and Monet-like, with the essence of light being very poignant in the pictures. Still, this illustration, with the fireflies and great full-moon, really draws the reader to the understanding that there really shouldn’t be anything to fear during this night with this moon.
The Thunder Moon in July talks about “…trembling, shuddering, and disappearing in the thick black sky.” The light is still present in the illustrations, but the foreboding and uncertainty that comes with a thunderstorm is very obvious, with the moon hiding its friendly and safe face in the dark clouds.
The October Acorn Moon is so large and happy looking, lighting the way for nature and all the animals to find their way to safety in the crisp fall weather, before the dawn of winter. It almost looks as if a person could reach up high enough and touch the face of the moon.
Without the illustrations, I do not believe that this book would have been as powerful as it was. It would be interesting to conduct a visualization activity with students, using Long Night Moon. I would read the poem to them, without showing the pictures, and allow them to draw what they “see” in the words. Then, compare the illustrations by Mark Siegel to their own. Still, this may also be a good book to just enjoy and devour, as it lends itself to some very soothing and delicious imagery.
It is during the months of January and February that I always wish that I lived somewhere where it snowed, like in the illustrations with the Snow Moon for February. The house looks so tucked in for the night, with the blanket of snow all around it. My eyes are immediately drawn to the deer, with the cold breath being exhausted. It is a misconception that nature shuts down at sunset, because so many animals begin activity at that time of day. It is interesting to think about the Sun and Moon being sister and brother, as is mentioned in the Snow Moon.
I want to be outside under the big tree in June during the Strawberry Moon. The illustrations throughout the entire book are so captivating and Monet-like, with the essence of light being very poignant in the pictures. Still, this illustration, with the fireflies and great full-moon, really draws the reader to the understanding that there really shouldn’t be anything to fear during this night with this moon.
The Thunder Moon in July talks about “…trembling, shuddering, and disappearing in the thick black sky.” The light is still present in the illustrations, but the foreboding and uncertainty that comes with a thunderstorm is very obvious, with the moon hiding its friendly and safe face in the dark clouds.
The October Acorn Moon is so large and happy looking, lighting the way for nature and all the animals to find their way to safety in the crisp fall weather, before the dawn of winter. It almost looks as if a person could reach up high enough and touch the face of the moon.
Without the illustrations, I do not believe that this book would have been as powerful as it was. It would be interesting to conduct a visualization activity with students, using Long Night Moon. I would read the poem to them, without showing the pictures, and allow them to draw what they “see” in the words. Then, compare the illustrations by Mark Siegel to their own. Still, this may also be a good book to just enjoy and devour, as it lends itself to some very soothing and delicious imagery.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Feelings about Virginia Tech Tragedy
I once read that when a writer is upset….they write. That is how they know how to deal with their emotions that are raging inside of them. Katherine Paterson wrote Bridge to Terabithia from her own personal, emotional response to her son’s best friend’s death from a tragic strike of lightening. Eve Bunting recalled her sons quoting an E. B. White sentence about how sad it was that Charlotte died alone, after facing the death of his own, dear bunny. Well, I don’t profess to be a writer of greatness that could anywhere compare to Katherine Paterson, Eve Bunting, or E.B. White, but I have discovered that I am a writer of some sort and that is what I am going to do. I will write!
With the tragedy that has literally shaken our country occurring just days ago at Virginia Tech University, I feel that my soul longs to speak out about the feelings it is harboring inside. It is a yearning within me that has to be satisfied, and until quenched, I am rendered unable to write anything else. Sure, I have joined America in the endless watching of news reels and readings of newspaper articles, I have mourned the lost at services, and kept a silent vigil at moments of silence during the day. I have even worn Virginia Tech colors (something a Carolina Tarheels fan would not normally do) in memory of the tragedy, and I have joined into conversations with people for the sole intention of finding out more about the Tech situation from their own point of view. Did they know anyone? Did they find out something new? How were they connected? Because, you see, we were all connected, one way or another, to this tragedy that has made many tremble at the mere thought of this nightmare. We are all part of the human race, which makes us connected. We all look at the faces of the young and innocent, realizing the potential that lies in each life, and that makes us connected. We all fear a horror like this and hope to never see anything like this occur again, and that makes us connected. And we all search to understand how something as disturbing and monstrous as this could occur, not too far from where we take our own tests in quiet classrooms, and that makes us connected.
I thought that I was moving on from this tragedy, having discovered that the one person that I know who was taking an Engineering class in Norris Hall at the time of the shootings was safe and one his way home to be with his family. I was moving on, that is, until I read his message about being a survivor, after seeing the light of another day after this horrific event. He was in a classroom that happened to barricade their door only minutes before the shooter tried to enter, undoubtedly with the intent to take all of their lives. He wrote how at first they thought the gun shots were construction sounds, but when a girl in his class walked over to shut the door, looked out and saw a gun, she slammed the door and they all hit the ground under their desks. My friend that I know frantically screamed to barricade the door, but he, himself, was to terrified to move. Finally, some brave student quickly barricaded the door, only minutes before the shooter tried to enter and take their lives. He couldn’t get in, so he shot two bullets through the door, then went across the hall and slaughtered other innocent people. My friend, and his classmates that were innocently testing in that room that day, survived this tragedy by barricading the door only minutes before their life was to end. My question now is how do the survivors move on and continue living after this demonic event that almost cost them their lives?
I sit and try to write about Long Night Moon and other wonderful, sensory books that arouse feelings of calm and peace within the reader, but no calm and peace are found for me today. And no calm and peace will be found for many in the days, months, and years to come. I can not tell why these events occur. I can not tell when and if they will continue to occur. I can tell that life is precious and that we have so little time to truly live it out. Enjoy each breath, enjoy each view, enjoy each laugh, each love, each hand holding experience. Enjoy life and all it has to offer and do not let fear take it away from the living.
I began this with the intent to write away my pain and sorrow and I’m not sure that my goal was met. I began this with the intention to heal and I’m not sure that my goal was met there, either. Will we heal from this event in our lives? I don’t know. But we should live our lives with honor and goodness, if even only as a testimony to those who have lost their lives only days ago.
With the tragedy that has literally shaken our country occurring just days ago at Virginia Tech University, I feel that my soul longs to speak out about the feelings it is harboring inside. It is a yearning within me that has to be satisfied, and until quenched, I am rendered unable to write anything else. Sure, I have joined America in the endless watching of news reels and readings of newspaper articles, I have mourned the lost at services, and kept a silent vigil at moments of silence during the day. I have even worn Virginia Tech colors (something a Carolina Tarheels fan would not normally do) in memory of the tragedy, and I have joined into conversations with people for the sole intention of finding out more about the Tech situation from their own point of view. Did they know anyone? Did they find out something new? How were they connected? Because, you see, we were all connected, one way or another, to this tragedy that has made many tremble at the mere thought of this nightmare. We are all part of the human race, which makes us connected. We all look at the faces of the young and innocent, realizing the potential that lies in each life, and that makes us connected. We all fear a horror like this and hope to never see anything like this occur again, and that makes us connected. And we all search to understand how something as disturbing and monstrous as this could occur, not too far from where we take our own tests in quiet classrooms, and that makes us connected.
I thought that I was moving on from this tragedy, having discovered that the one person that I know who was taking an Engineering class in Norris Hall at the time of the shootings was safe and one his way home to be with his family. I was moving on, that is, until I read his message about being a survivor, after seeing the light of another day after this horrific event. He was in a classroom that happened to barricade their door only minutes before the shooter tried to enter, undoubtedly with the intent to take all of their lives. He wrote how at first they thought the gun shots were construction sounds, but when a girl in his class walked over to shut the door, looked out and saw a gun, she slammed the door and they all hit the ground under their desks. My friend that I know frantically screamed to barricade the door, but he, himself, was to terrified to move. Finally, some brave student quickly barricaded the door, only minutes before the shooter tried to enter and take their lives. He couldn’t get in, so he shot two bullets through the door, then went across the hall and slaughtered other innocent people. My friend, and his classmates that were innocently testing in that room that day, survived this tragedy by barricading the door only minutes before their life was to end. My question now is how do the survivors move on and continue living after this demonic event that almost cost them their lives?
I sit and try to write about Long Night Moon and other wonderful, sensory books that arouse feelings of calm and peace within the reader, but no calm and peace are found for me today. And no calm and peace will be found for many in the days, months, and years to come. I can not tell why these events occur. I can not tell when and if they will continue to occur. I can tell that life is precious and that we have so little time to truly live it out. Enjoy each breath, enjoy each view, enjoy each laugh, each love, each hand holding experience. Enjoy life and all it has to offer and do not let fear take it away from the living.
I began this with the intent to write away my pain and sorrow and I’m not sure that my goal was met. I began this with the intention to heal and I’m not sure that my goal was met there, either. Will we heal from this event in our lives? I don’t know. But we should live our lives with honor and goodness, if even only as a testimony to those who have lost their lives only days ago.
Joyful Noise, Poems for Two Voices, by Paul Fleischman - Poetry
Before taking this Children's Literature class, I had never heard of Paul Fleischman or any of his works. However, as of now, he is quickly becoming one of my favorite author's. In his previous works that I have read, "Seedfolks", "Bull Run", "Sidewalk Circus", and "Westlandia", I have seen an author who looks at life from so many points of views and seems determined to allow all different voices to be heard. His book of poetry "Joyful Noise, Poems for Two Voices" is no different. This Newbery Award winner takes the views of insects looking on the world and going about everyday life. The poems, purposefully written to be read by two people, working simultaneously together, would be an excellent addition to an elementary classroom. This could very easily fit into a science lesson on animal adaptions and habitats. The words and stanzas are very readable and can be easily understood by a child (even by children as young as second graders), whether it is read as a whole class, a choral reading, or by partners. The only poem that I would be hesitant about would be the "Honeybees" poem, because it has the word HELL in it. I would not take this book out of my class, but I would be cautious in telling the students that there is a word that is not acceptable to say at school in it. I do feel that this poem is an excellent example of the diversity within a bee hive (the Worker bee verses the Queen bee), but I wouldn't want them to be reading this poem and say the word aloud. While we are an open society and many try to fight censorship, I don't want to advocate my students to use profanity in my classroom or at school. An eight-year-old saying Hell in a poem isn't necessary.
Children are naturally interested in insects and science, and this is an excellent collection of poems by one author who has obviously sat and considered the world from an insect's point of view. I have sat and watched children collect bugs around the yard at school so that they could take it back to the classroom and "keep it for a pet". I am sure that students who consider a spider to be a great classroom pet would find enjoyment from this subject matter of insects.
I don't think that we humans stop to wonder what life is really like for insects, no more than we stop to wonder what life is like for other people in our community. The poem "Honeybees" reminded me of this. One bee thought that life inside a beehive was grand, because she only lead a luxurious life, while the other bee worked all the time and got little praise for his/her efforts. I think that the human life is like this. In our socioeconomic world, some people naturally do get more attention and treated like "Queen Bees" (if you will), while others are constantly working and trying to survive, while treated like nobodies! When I analyze my own life, I have to say that I usually feel like a Queen Bee, but on days when I have Parent-Teacher Conferences, Report Cards due, children to teach, a gym to try to get to, a family to tend for, and classwork to catch up on, I feel like a Worker Bee. Still, I know that so often in life people, like single mothers, are working possibly two jobs (if not more) and still trying to spend time with their children, don't get the credit they deserve.
The poem "Water Striders" made me smile, because I saw them as little children, saying how easy it is to walk on water and not understanding why their "students" always sink beneath the surface on their first attempt. So many times I have heard my third graders say that something, a task or new learning skill, is easy, not realizing that what is easy to one may not be easy to another.
I had to remind myself half-way through the book that the author was Paul Fleischman and not Cynthia Rylant. I have grown so use to reading these two author's works together, that I realize that they have alot of similarities. They both point out the ironies of life, as Fleischman did in this book with the different points of views of the characters. They also write about nature and all it's many glorious (and not so glorious) facets. Some people may not be excited to read a book from an insect's point of view, but Fleischman did, and it worked wonderfully.
The illustrations are beautifully done, using what I would think is just pencil drawings. They are simple and just right, fitting into the theme of it being about simple creatures, insects. The two symmetrical insects on the front-matter and back-matter are an interesting twist to the fact that two voices are meant to read this book together.
Children are naturally interested in insects and science, and this is an excellent collection of poems by one author who has obviously sat and considered the world from an insect's point of view. I have sat and watched children collect bugs around the yard at school so that they could take it back to the classroom and "keep it for a pet". I am sure that students who consider a spider to be a great classroom pet would find enjoyment from this subject matter of insects.
I don't think that we humans stop to wonder what life is really like for insects, no more than we stop to wonder what life is like for other people in our community. The poem "Honeybees" reminded me of this. One bee thought that life inside a beehive was grand, because she only lead a luxurious life, while the other bee worked all the time and got little praise for his/her efforts. I think that the human life is like this. In our socioeconomic world, some people naturally do get more attention and treated like "Queen Bees" (if you will), while others are constantly working and trying to survive, while treated like nobodies! When I analyze my own life, I have to say that I usually feel like a Queen Bee, but on days when I have Parent-Teacher Conferences, Report Cards due, children to teach, a gym to try to get to, a family to tend for, and classwork to catch up on, I feel like a Worker Bee. Still, I know that so often in life people, like single mothers, are working possibly two jobs (if not more) and still trying to spend time with their children, don't get the credit they deserve.
The poem "Water Striders" made me smile, because I saw them as little children, saying how easy it is to walk on water and not understanding why their "students" always sink beneath the surface on their first attempt. So many times I have heard my third graders say that something, a task or new learning skill, is easy, not realizing that what is easy to one may not be easy to another.
I had to remind myself half-way through the book that the author was Paul Fleischman and not Cynthia Rylant. I have grown so use to reading these two author's works together, that I realize that they have alot of similarities. They both point out the ironies of life, as Fleischman did in this book with the different points of views of the characters. They also write about nature and all it's many glorious (and not so glorious) facets. Some people may not be excited to read a book from an insect's point of view, but Fleischman did, and it worked wonderfully.
The illustrations are beautifully done, using what I would think is just pencil drawings. They are simple and just right, fitting into the theme of it being about simple creatures, insects. The two symmetrical insects on the front-matter and back-matter are an interesting twist to the fact that two voices are meant to read this book together.
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis - Historical Fiction
This is the second time in my life that I have read this book to myself and it makes me laugh anew each time. Last time I read it I was an undergraduate in college, again taking a Children’s Literature class, and laughed with hilarity at the beginning with Byron getting stuck to the frozen mirror because he was trying to practice kissing himself. The interesting part to that was that the reader was never really introduced to any girls that Byron was really “kissing” except that time that Bryon’s mom was telling him about staying in Alabama for a while and she mentioned the “problem with Mary Ann Hill” as one in the list of things that Byron had been doing wrong in Flint. I guess that the cold mirror really did teach Bryon a lesson for a little while.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 is a powerful book that highlights a particularly sad and confusing time in American history, but adds some humor and irony in, as well. Curtis seems to be a master at this, taking a sad time in history, showing that time from a different perspective than history books probably did, but adding touches of the human spirit and laughter into the sullenness and sorrow of the events. The reader sees a family, the Watsons (or the Weird Watsons, as the neighbors say) that is just like the picture of any family in America back in the 60s. Mr. Watson works hard to provide for his family, but manages to spend important time with them, as well, joking, laughing, and watching cartoons with them on Saturday mornings. Mrs. Watson is a stay at home mom who raises the children, takes care of the finances in the household, and makes sure there is a good dinner on the table each night. Byron is the rebellious oldest child, constantly pushing the limits and bullying his younger brother (except when the situation really is bad or life threatening). Kenny is the “Peter” character from the Brady Bunch in the Watson household, really not fitting in, because he is not tough like his older brother and enjoys learning and playing make-believe. Then there is Joetta; the precious little girl who everyone loves. Your “typical, Leave-it-to-Beaver, American” family, except….they’re not white, they are African-Americans. I love the irony that Curtis plays with this, because at that time (and unfortunately, sometimes even now) people thought that only a certain race acted decent and typical. How wrong that is! Who wouldn’t want to be a part of the Watson family? I know that I would.
As a reader, I had a hard time determining who the African American people were and who the Caucasian people in Flint, Michigan were. There seemed to be no boundaries between the races and everyone seemed to get along perfectly fine. The only time that that issue was brought up was when Mrs. Davidson, a neighbor, came to give Joey an angel miniature before the family left to go to Birmingham. The angel was a white figure and that obviously bothered Joey, but she handled the situation in a very lady-like manner that made me as the reader proud of her. However, with the downward drive into Alabama and the rest of the South, things began getting very segregated and the reader could tell that there was a difference in safety and feelings between the two parts of the country at that time. Kenny said that he couldn’t understand why adults didn’t want a little girl to go to school (Ruby Bridges) and I can’t either. To be honest, I would have felt afraid sending my “delinquent teenager” into Alabama for the summer, much less the school year, with all the hatred being shown towards children and people of the African American race. Once again, a very sad time in our country.
Flint, Michigan had changed a lot in the time frame between the book Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. When Bud was around, people were still showing racism and hatred due to skin tones and now, with the Watson’s, it is difficult to detect even a bit of hatred and difference. There is also a mention of Uncle Bud several times in the story, which lead me to fantasize that Bud made it into manhood, began a family, and was living life well. Still, there was not a mention of Herman E. Calloway and the Dusty Devastators of the Depression, which you would expect if someone was very important in your family.
Curtis’ craft is to draw a reader in with laughter and humorous situations, and then to “hit them” with the seriousness of the time period. That allows reader’s emotions to be on the raw and to really get the point across. It is almost like sitting in church and listening to a great preacher deliver a funny sermon, to get the congregation focused and listening, and then driving the point home about a more serious issue. Before you know it, you are analyzing and searching your soul about something that moments before you weren’t really thinking about or even near to pondering. I like how Curtis works his craft in this way.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 is a strong story that probably would have been banned decades ago, but is opening the eyes of adults and children alike in today’s day and time about the disease of hatred that racism can cause. Our country has come a long way and I hope that it continues to move in a more progressive direction.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 is a powerful book that highlights a particularly sad and confusing time in American history, but adds some humor and irony in, as well. Curtis seems to be a master at this, taking a sad time in history, showing that time from a different perspective than history books probably did, but adding touches of the human spirit and laughter into the sullenness and sorrow of the events. The reader sees a family, the Watsons (or the Weird Watsons, as the neighbors say) that is just like the picture of any family in America back in the 60s. Mr. Watson works hard to provide for his family, but manages to spend important time with them, as well, joking, laughing, and watching cartoons with them on Saturday mornings. Mrs. Watson is a stay at home mom who raises the children, takes care of the finances in the household, and makes sure there is a good dinner on the table each night. Byron is the rebellious oldest child, constantly pushing the limits and bullying his younger brother (except when the situation really is bad or life threatening). Kenny is the “Peter” character from the Brady Bunch in the Watson household, really not fitting in, because he is not tough like his older brother and enjoys learning and playing make-believe. Then there is Joetta; the precious little girl who everyone loves. Your “typical, Leave-it-to-Beaver, American” family, except….they’re not white, they are African-Americans. I love the irony that Curtis plays with this, because at that time (and unfortunately, sometimes even now) people thought that only a certain race acted decent and typical. How wrong that is! Who wouldn’t want to be a part of the Watson family? I know that I would.
As a reader, I had a hard time determining who the African American people were and who the Caucasian people in Flint, Michigan were. There seemed to be no boundaries between the races and everyone seemed to get along perfectly fine. The only time that that issue was brought up was when Mrs. Davidson, a neighbor, came to give Joey an angel miniature before the family left to go to Birmingham. The angel was a white figure and that obviously bothered Joey, but she handled the situation in a very lady-like manner that made me as the reader proud of her. However, with the downward drive into Alabama and the rest of the South, things began getting very segregated and the reader could tell that there was a difference in safety and feelings between the two parts of the country at that time. Kenny said that he couldn’t understand why adults didn’t want a little girl to go to school (Ruby Bridges) and I can’t either. To be honest, I would have felt afraid sending my “delinquent teenager” into Alabama for the summer, much less the school year, with all the hatred being shown towards children and people of the African American race. Once again, a very sad time in our country.
Flint, Michigan had changed a lot in the time frame between the book Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. When Bud was around, people were still showing racism and hatred due to skin tones and now, with the Watson’s, it is difficult to detect even a bit of hatred and difference. There is also a mention of Uncle Bud several times in the story, which lead me to fantasize that Bud made it into manhood, began a family, and was living life well. Still, there was not a mention of Herman E. Calloway and the Dusty Devastators of the Depression, which you would expect if someone was very important in your family.
Curtis’ craft is to draw a reader in with laughter and humorous situations, and then to “hit them” with the seriousness of the time period. That allows reader’s emotions to be on the raw and to really get the point across. It is almost like sitting in church and listening to a great preacher deliver a funny sermon, to get the congregation focused and listening, and then driving the point home about a more serious issue. Before you know it, you are analyzing and searching your soul about something that moments before you weren’t really thinking about or even near to pondering. I like how Curtis works his craft in this way.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 is a strong story that probably would have been banned decades ago, but is opening the eyes of adults and children alike in today’s day and time about the disease of hatred that racism can cause. Our country has come a long way and I hope that it continues to move in a more progressive direction.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Bull Run, by Paul Fleischman - Historical Fiction
How many times must we humans go to war before we realize that war is not the answer to so many of our problems? That is the question that I was continuously asking myself as I read Bull Run. I have found myself in earlier years obsessed with reading John Jakes series about the Civil War in America and the relationships that were torn apart and literally shot at because of different opinions and people desiring to make money. Bull Run was no less a novel at inspiring me that war was and is evil. I do find it interesting that so many of the people who were in the Civil War were shapers of our great country today. Many of the men who were commanding officers and generals studied beside each other at West Point and later fought beside each other in the Mexican-American War. You would think that these men who had been companions in such life changing situations would not fight against each other or be used by politicians and the wealthy to reenact blood slaughter and sorrow that they know war causes. It is usually the innocent who are harmed in war and not the guilty. No, the guilty stay safely hidden away while informing the innocent to do their deadly bidding for them. I was again surprised by the irony I saw within the characters of Bull Run. Many of them sought to seek glory from war, to make a name for themselves, just like our notorious Custer who certainly was predicted to do great things (as Edmund Upwing informed the readers!). That same bravery that won Custer the name of being a hero and a courageous man also cost him and many others their lives when his pride became too large, in later life.
It still amazes me how many think at the beginning of a war that the war will be over in weeks, maybe at the latest, months. I remember our nation thinking this when we went to war with Iraq in 2002. We are now in 2007 and we still have soldiers and civilians being killed in a war that is in a land that most of us will never visit. The people also thought that war was a pretty situation. I found a sad hilarity in Flora Wheelworth’s eldest daughter running after the train telling her husband not to soil his coat and supplying him with all the things that he would need in the war: a razor, a mirror, a hairbrush, a nail file, calfskin slippers, and a fine suit of clothes to be saved for his triumphant entry into Washington. Later on in the book we find out that this man was wounded and that it was uncertain if he lived or not. I guess that no amount of toiletries preparation can prepare a person for the entrance into a deadly war.
Gideon Adams was one of my favorite characters in Bull Run, because he knew why he was fighting and was a courageous man to fight for his freedom. Now days we teach students that the Civil War was fought to free slaves, because the North housed people who didn’t believe in slavery. I am sure that that is a true statement for some people, but not for everyone in the North. Also, not everyone in the South believed slavery was right. The irony in Gideon wanting to fight and being told to go home because this was a “white man’s war” is outrageous but very true for that time. The Civil War for some was to free slaves and to ensure that all in our country are treated equally, but for many more it was fought to make bank accounts larger and to prove a point that one section of the country was better than the other (almost like at a sports event).
My heart went out to Shem Suggs, the orphan who only felt at home with horses. He did not want to kill people for one cause or another. He wanted to be near horses and to possibly have his own. I can imagine that after the battle of Bull Run that he buried the horses, who had been killed, with reverence and with solemn tears. This is a man who knew that relationships were worth more than wars and the only time he shot someone was to protect Greta, his horse (and to an extent – family member).
If righteous people step back and don’t speak up, it is the evil and greedy people who will take over in our world. It is up to the righteous and intelligent people in the world to say that we need to find a better way than fighting, a better way than innocents being killed, and a better way than war in general. War. Is it a necessary evil, or just a evil?
It still amazes me how many think at the beginning of a war that the war will be over in weeks, maybe at the latest, months. I remember our nation thinking this when we went to war with Iraq in 2002. We are now in 2007 and we still have soldiers and civilians being killed in a war that is in a land that most of us will never visit. The people also thought that war was a pretty situation. I found a sad hilarity in Flora Wheelworth’s eldest daughter running after the train telling her husband not to soil his coat and supplying him with all the things that he would need in the war: a razor, a mirror, a hairbrush, a nail file, calfskin slippers, and a fine suit of clothes to be saved for his triumphant entry into Washington. Later on in the book we find out that this man was wounded and that it was uncertain if he lived or not. I guess that no amount of toiletries preparation can prepare a person for the entrance into a deadly war.
Gideon Adams was one of my favorite characters in Bull Run, because he knew why he was fighting and was a courageous man to fight for his freedom. Now days we teach students that the Civil War was fought to free slaves, because the North housed people who didn’t believe in slavery. I am sure that that is a true statement for some people, but not for everyone in the North. Also, not everyone in the South believed slavery was right. The irony in Gideon wanting to fight and being told to go home because this was a “white man’s war” is outrageous but very true for that time. The Civil War for some was to free slaves and to ensure that all in our country are treated equally, but for many more it was fought to make bank accounts larger and to prove a point that one section of the country was better than the other (almost like at a sports event).
My heart went out to Shem Suggs, the orphan who only felt at home with horses. He did not want to kill people for one cause or another. He wanted to be near horses and to possibly have his own. I can imagine that after the battle of Bull Run that he buried the horses, who had been killed, with reverence and with solemn tears. This is a man who knew that relationships were worth more than wars and the only time he shot someone was to protect Greta, his horse (and to an extent – family member).
If righteous people step back and don’t speak up, it is the evil and greedy people who will take over in our world. It is up to the righteous and intelligent people in the world to say that we need to find a better way than fighting, a better way than innocents being killed, and a better way than war in general. War. Is it a necessary evil, or just a evil?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)