The Lizard and the Sun: La Lagarita y el Sol

written by Alma Flor Ada

illustrated by Felipe Davalos

©1997.New York. Dragonfly Books.
AD580L
Picture Book. Bilingual. 

When the sun goes missing, all of the animals go looking for the sun, but all give up except one lizard. This folktale celebrate the lizard finding the sun and bringing sunlight back to the community.

I gave this book a 24/32. This book features beautiful illustrations are beautiful, although I cannot positively say that the images are not stereotypical and would love to hear thoughts on this from anyone who has read this book and knows more about this. There are some diversity of character, and a mixture of animal and people characters who interact, however, the lizard, who is referred to as a 'she' has to get help from the emperor, a male, which seemed stereotypical to me. The story line is definitely interesting and one that kid would probably like. This book really doesn't contain character development, in fact the characters seem rather flat. The grammar and language is definitely fine, however, all of the book is in English and Spanish, but the English pages always comes first. This may send the wrong message to children in our classes or lives for whom Spanish is their first language, that English is more important than the language of their home, which is not the impression that I would want students to have. There is some cultural relevance to this book, as it is based off of an indigenous folktale, however, i'm not sure how accurate this portrayal is to the original. I would recommend this book for grades kindergarten through 3.

Here are some literary elements: 

Personification: The animals in the story talk to each other and with the emperor.

Onomatopoeia: "Tock, tock, tock went the woodpecker's beak..."

Beginning, Middle, and End: In the beginning, the sun is gone and the animals are looking for the sun, but they all give up until it is only the lizard. In the middle, the lizard finds a shiny rock and the lizard, the emperor, and the woodpecker find the sun sleeping inside. At the end, the sun will only stay awake if there is music, dancing and festivals, which turns into a tradition. 

For a mini lesson on beginning, middle, and end, share with students the beginning, middle, and end of this story, and practice sharing out loud with other stories as well. Finally, have students try to identify the beginning, middle, and end on their own.

Owl at Home

written by Arnold Lobel

©1975. New York, New York. Harper & Row Publications. Animal Fiction.

370L

Early Chapter Book

This beginning chapter book tells multiple stories about some experiences that owl has at home.

I decided to pick up this book and read it because it sounded familiar and I was curious what the book was like. Plus, I've been looking at a lot of newer children's books, and I wanted to take a look at an older one. 

This book is hard to evaluate with the rubric that I created because it focuses more on people and whether or not the book is diverse, and, well, Owl is an animal of course. With that being said, this book does not fit well into a classroom that wants more multicultural or diverse books.With that being said, I with that being said, I only gave this book about a score of 19/32.The stories are pretty flat, and there really isn't character development. There aren't social messages in the book either, in fact I found some of the stories rather strange. For example, one of the chapters is about how Owl thinks about things that are sad to him, and then cries into a tea kettle, and makes tea with his tears! I simply do not find this book to be culturally relevant or diverse, and probably not a necessary book to have in the classroom. Never the less, I would not say that it is a 'bad' book or not appropriate, I just wouldn't necessarily consider it to be of high quality. I would recommend this book for kindergarten or 1st grade.

Some literary elements in the book include:

Personification: In the first chapter, The Guest, the wind is knocking and pounding on the door, giving is human-like characteristics.

Punctuation: For younger kids, this book would be great for looking at basic punctuation including periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

For a mini lesson on punctuation, have students identify what the sentences ends with based on how it is said (inflection). Next, have students practice saying sentences with exclamation points using inflection, ask questions with inflection, and saying sentences that only just end with a period.

Journey

by Aaron Becker

©2013. Somerville, Masachusetts. Candlewick Press. Adventure/Fiction.
Lexile Measure: N/A
Picture Book. Written in last 4 years. 

When a little girl draws a door in her bedroom with a red marker, it leads her to a brand new land. She finds adventure and trouble waiting for her and her marker. Her act of bravery and kindness helps to get her home, and find a new companion.

I gave this book a 27/32. The pictures in the book are beautiful and engaging, which is good, because there are no words in this book! I think that for this reason, children would love this book and to have the opportunity to fill in the blanks, and write their own story to go along with the pictures. I only gave this book a 2 for the diversity of characters, because although the little girl solves problems and has achievements in the book, all of the characters are of Caucasian decent, even in images that show a big city, which I'm sure would have plenty of diversity in real life. I gave a 3 for many of the categories, such as story line, which is interesting, but also confusing at times. For social message, I also gave a 3 because it does send a positive message to girls that they are capable and can be problem solvers, but I just feel as though it is not a super powerful message in the book. I think that there is some cultural relevance to the story, but not as much as many other books that I have read and posted about in this blog. However, the character development got full points for showing the growth of a character from being bored, to changing that for herself, to saving a creature that she comes across. 

I would recommend this book for 1st grade through 5th grade.

Literary elements in this book would be really fun to explore because there are no words! Here are some you may want to explore with children:

Beginning, Middle, and End: This may be a fun way to explore beginning, middle, and end, using only visuals instead of the usual picture books with pictures and text written on the page.

Problem and Solution: What was the problem in this book and how did the girl fix it?  There are multiple problems and solutions to look at such as the girl being lonely and so she draws a door to get somewhere else. Another problem is when she sees the birds who is captured, and she solves it by setting it free. 

Setting: Setting would be fun to explore in this book, as the character goes from where she lives in a big city to this completely different place with castles and knights. 

Mini-lesson on setting: Have students evaluate this book and find as much as they can about the setting, even though the book has no words to tell about the setting. Have students think about how the setting affects the story. What is instead of this palace that she arrives at, she ended up at a public library or inside of a volcano. Have students use their imagination to explore setting and where it could have taken the main character in the book instead. 

Knock, Knock: My Dad's Dream For Me

written by Daniel Beaty 

illustrated by Bryan Collier

©2013. New York, New York. Little, Brown Company. Contemporary Realistic Fiction.
AD780L
Picture Book. Written in last 4 years. Diverse Protagonist.

Every morning, Dad knocks on the door and the boy and his dad play the knock, knock game. But one day his dad stops knocking. The boy wishes that his dad was there to help him as he grows older. The boy gets a note from his father giving him advice to follow as he gets older. 

I want to give everyone a fair warning that this book is a tearjerker. I would give this book a 32/32 based on the children's evaluation rubric, which you can find posted on the blog. This is the terribly sad story of a boy who begins by playing a game every morning with his dad, to a boy who has no father there at all. The story line is so well constructed, even though its terrible sad, and it shows a character of a diverse background in a leadership role. The illustrations are LOVELY, featuring collage and water color, and characters are depicted beautifully and in interesting ways. We get to see the boy grow without his father, and his character develops so wonderfully throughout the book. This book has social messages of continuing on through loss or missing someone, which I think is a positive social message, as this is something that many students face. This book is also very culturally relevant this weekend, as students have parents who are not there. At the end of the book, there is an authors note that says that it is about his own life and his dad being incarcerated, and what it is life to grow up with the pain of missing a parent. However, in the book, you cannot tell what happened to the dad necessarily, which makes this book relatable for many students whose parents may be gone in the military, passed away, live separately, or have a parent who is incarcerated, like the boy in the book. I would recommend this book for K through 3rd grade. 

Here are some literary elements that you may want to use in this book:

Title and Subtitle: Like multiple other books in this blog, this book also has a title and a subtitle. 

Ellipses: "how to dribble, how to shave...[on the next page]...how to drive, how to fix the car."

Colon:"...on my desk, I find a letter from my father:" and "...hear these words".

For a mini lesson on colons: Discuss how colons are used in this book and in other books that contain colons. Next, have students determine what the colon's  purpose is and why the author chose to use it. You may also want to look at semi-colons and compare how they are used in books.

Social Justice Theme: Incarceration

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad

written by James Rumford

© 2008. New York, New York. Roaring Book Press. Realist Fiction.
Lexile Measure: AD830L
Picture Book. Diverse Protagonist. 

Ali likes to play soccer with his friends and listening to loud music, but most of all, he loves writing in calligraphy. He loves the silent music of his pen as it stokes the page and helps to drown out the noise of the war that is happening around him.

I would give this book a 30/32 and here's why. The book had wonderful illustrations that feature calligraphy in Arabic. The book is representative of a boy who lives in Baghdad making this book diverse, and in a positive way. The story line is well-constructed , and though there wasn't a whole lot of character development, it still is a great story. This book is so relevant today, and in times when we often hear negative things about the Middle East, this book gives us a glimpse into the life of a boy who lives there and who is effected by the war. This can help children to understand the impact that war can have on people and children, whether its people in our own country, or people in the country who we may be at odds with. 
It was brought to my attention that the boys name in the book would really be Muhammad Ali, and that this was left out of the book (He says his name is Ali). This may have been to take out the any religious affiliations in the book in order to focus on the boys experiences, rather than what religion he belongs to. Other than this, the book is credible and shares a wonderful story that can help students to understand how other parts of the world are being impacted by violence, and how this impacts kids too.

I would recommend this book to children in 1st through 5th grade.
  Here are some literary elements to consider teaching:

Title and Subtitle: Use this book to help students understand title and subtitle as a part of some books, while some books may only contain a title. Use this books as well as other books to determine if books have a subtitle and a title. 

Setting: This book has a clear setting. Have students describe the setting of Baghdad by the pictures and descriptions in the book.

First Person Point of View: This story is told in the first person point of view. Ali tells that story of his life himself and uses "I" as he tells the story. 
Mini-lesson in first person point of view: Tell students that this story is in first person point of view, and then have them listen to the story to find out why. After reading the book, see if any students can determine why this book would be considered to be written in first-person point of view. Have students identify other texts with first person point of view.

Social Justice Theme: Violence/war

Wonder

by R.J. Palacio

©2012. New York. Alfred A. Knopf. Realistic Fiction.
Lexile Measure: 790L
Middle School. Diverse Protagonist. Written within last 4 years.

August Pullman is just like any other 5th grader, except that he was born looking different than other children. After being home-schooled through elementary school, Auggie attends a mainstream middle school for the first time. School is no walk in the park for Auggie, but his kindness does not go unnoticed, and he teaches his classmates many valuable lessons.

Whoa. This story is filled with so many positive messages about kindness and how we should be treating EVERYONE, no matter what they look like, after all, its about what's on the inside. I would give this book a 31/32. This book would be most appropriate for 6-8 grade, but is a great read for any high-schooler or adult as well. 

The message of this book is golden and much needed in schools and households, and that is a message of kindness. This book also addresses bullying and mistreatment by peers. I only gave the book a rating of 3/4 for language, because in the book, the word 'retarded' is used when Auggie says that he is not retarded to his mom in a heated moment in the book. However, this could lead to a great lesson about this word and why it isn't okay to use it in the context that Auggie used it. After all, he is only a kid who makes mistakes, too. The book has a great storyline and is told from different perspectives, not just Auggie's. The story is definitely engaging and keeps you on your toes. Auggie's character develops a lot as he cannot even imagine going to middle school in the beginning and by the end...well you should just read it. These are the reasons that I gave the book the score that I did. 

Here are some literary elements that you may wish to explore in this book:

Point of View- This book was written in multiple points of view, from close family to friends, to people who you would not have expected.

Characterization: How was Auggie characterized throughout the story?
For a mini lesson on characterization: As reading this book, have students pick out parts of that book that help to characterize Auggie through descriptions, actions, and interactions with others. This could also lead into conversations about who we are and what we do being more important than what we look like.

Symbolism:This book has tons of symbolism to be found, such as the masks that Auggie wears to hid his appearance, as his desire to hide away from the cruel world. Another example would be when he cuts off his padawan braid, representing his legging go of his childhood and sort of "growing up".

Social Justice Theme: Disabilities.

A Movie in My Pillow: Una pelicula en mi almohada

poems/poemas by Jorge Argueta 
and illustrations/illustraciones by Elizabeth Gomez
©2001. San Francisco, California. Childrens Book Press/Libros Para Ninos.

No Lexile Measure Found
Picture Book. Bilingual. Diverse Protagonist.

A Movie in My Pillow: Una pelicula en mi almohada gives us a glimpse into the childhood of Jorge Argueta and what it was like to come to America as a child during a time of war in his home country of El Salvador. Jorge's poems piece together to tell the story of his experiences, including the changes that he faced, the relationship with his father, and the feeling of having his family back together again.

I would give this book a 30/32. The book shoes diverse characters, and more importantly, the achievements of those characters. The illustrations are beautiful and representative of the authors culture. The social messages are very positive and affirming for children, and I think that this book would be especially positive for those who are moving to America from another country. The language is appropriate, and the book is very culturally relevant, as there are children coming to America seeking refuge and they could relate to this book about coming to America from another country. The author is definitely very knowledgeable on this topic as well, because this is an autobiography told through poems. The story line and character development are the only sections that got 3 points based on the rubric. This is because the story line has to be sort of pieced together because it is written in poems. And I also just felt as though there wasn't a lot of character development throughout the story, though there definitely was some. Still a fantastic book that would be a great addition to any classroom or household. I would recommend this book for 1 through 5 grade, or for anyone who is learning Spanish as well!

Literary elements in this book:

Text to match meaning: There is one poem called Yo-yo, where the words of the poem follow the stings of the yo-yo and zig-zag around the page.

Poetry: Evaluate the poetry and the structures of the poems that Argueta wrote for this book. Also, consider how he wrote a story using poems. 

Figurative Language: There as metaphors and personification. For example, you can find personification in the poem The Best Guide in Town, 
"Little city trains
that go in and out 
of the open mouths 
of mountains"

or metaphors in My Grandma's Stories
"Mitas stories 
are old

like the mountains"

For a mini lesson on metaphors, use this book to show children examples of metaphors, and then have students look for other metaphors as they are reading. Students may want to create a collection of metaphors they can find, or they may want to come up with some of their own.

Social Justice Theme: Immigration