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?
Monday, May 7, 2007
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!
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