#20-Zathura

Zathura: A Space Adventure

Written and Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg

Hougton Mifflin Company, 2002

38 Pages

Fantasy

      This is the story of two brothers, Danny and Walter. Danny is the youngest and Walter is always picking on him. One day, while the boys are in the park, Danny finds a game. They go back to the house and Danny starts to play the game. Soon he and Walter find themselves battling robots, pirate space ships, and learning about the effects of no-gravity. The game continues until Walter is sent back in time through a black hole. Walter finds himself back in the park with Danny and stops Danny from getting the game. Even though the boys never really finished the game they both learned how to get along with each other and how to do things together.

     Allsburg used pencil and pen to create the black and white illustrations for this book. Even though all the illustrations in this book are black and white they are very vivid. The illustrations in the book look very realistic. It almost feels like you are watching a black and white film when you read the book. The pictures are very detailed and the reader can tell that Alsburg spent a lot of time drawing the pictures. Allsburg also uses a technique that is similar to crosshatching in the pictures that give it an even more detailed look.

      This book would be great for older students. It is a great book to use to teach students that it is better to get along with the people around you than it is to fight with them all the time. It would be a good way to help students understand that cooperation is better than bullying. Also it would be a great book to use with a space unit. Even though it is a fantasy book I think it would be a fun way to introduce a unit on space. It could also be the basis for a writing activity in which students write a story about a space adventure they would like to have.

#19-Skippyjon Jones:Lost in Spice

Skippyjon Jones: Lost in Spice

Written and Illustrated by Judy Schachner

Dutton Children's Books, 2009

30 pages

Fantasy

“Holy green gorillas,” gulped Skippito. “It's a Martian-ito!”

     Skippyjon Jones LOVES Mars. He loves it so much that he borrows some red spice from his mom so that he can turn his bed into Mars. Soon Skippyjon Jones finds himself on a Martian adventure. He joins his friends on the surface of Mars. He gets separated from his friends and makes friends with a one eyed martin who looks almost like him, minus the fact that he only has one eye. Skippyjon finds his way back to his friends and soon comes face to face with five green Martians. His twin is with the group and he has to fight his twin for his sock monkey. The Martian twin lets go of his sock monkey and Skippyjon is sent flying back into his bedroom out of his closet door.

     Schachner used acrylics, pen, and ink to create the illustrations for this book. Schachner uses lots of vibrant color in this book. She mainly uses red since the main setting is Mars. While Skippyjon is in space she uses lots of reds for the surface of Mars and dark blues for the surrounding sky. The way she uses the colors makes the reader feel like they are actually on the surface of Mars. She does a great job of making the reader feel like they are actually on Mars.

     This book would be great for younger children. Young children would really relate to Skippyjon's imagination. This book would be a great book to read during a space unit. This book would also be a great book to read as a basis for a writing assignment about what students think they would find on Mars. Also the book contains lots of Spanish words so as the teacher reads the story the teacher could teach them what the words mean. It would be great to use in a class that had some ELL students because the teacher could have them help her translate the words.

#18-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

An apdatation of Lewis Carroll's Original Tale

Illustrated by Robert Sabuda

Little Simon, 2003

12 Pages

Fantasy

   

      This is a pop-up adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It chronicles the adventures that Alice has after she falls down the rabbit hole and into a mysterious wonderland. She chases the white rabbit who is late for a very important date, eats a cake that makes her shrink, has a conversation with a caterpillar, has tea with the mad hatter and plays croquet with the queen using a flamingo. Alice finally wakes up and finds that she has really been sleeping all this time.

      Sabuda uses his paper engineering skills to turn this classic into a interactive story. The story literally comes alive as the characters pop off the pages. There are several interactive things in the book. My favorite was an accordion like paper structure that you lift up and then look down the hole at the top. This lets the reader actually look down the rabbit hole and it makes it feel like you can actually see Alice as she falls down the very long dark hole.

     This would be great to have in any classroom. Both younger and older children would enjoy this book. Older children would be able to read the story on their own and the pop-up would be very appealing to younger children. I think that this book could be used in an older classroom to show that illustrations don't always have to be 2-D. After having the students look at the book they could be encouraged to make their own mini pop-up book. I think it would also be a great way to start introducing harder books that students will have to read in the upper grades. Alice in Wonderland is not an easy read but this pop-up version would make it fun and enjoyable. I think children of all ages would really love this book. I do think it is the type of book that should be borrowed from the teacher, however, because of it's fragile nature. I think it would be better for the teacher to keep this in his/her private library and allow students to “check it out” and be given strict rules as to how to handle the book.

#17-Petite Rouge

 Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood

Written by Mike Artell

Illustrated by Jim Harris

Puffin Books, 2001

23 Pages

Traditional Literature

   This book is a cajun version of Little Red Ridding Hood. In this version Petite Rouge, a goose, is given the task to take food to her sick Grand-mere. While she is traveling through the swamp she comes across Claude the gator. Claude tries to get her to share her food, but Petite Rouge scares him off with her pole. Claude is very mad and decides to swim ahead of Petite Rouge and sneaks into Grand-mere's house and scares Grand-mere into the closet. He then disguises himself as Grand-mere and lays in her bed. When Petite Rouge arrives she soon figures out that she is being tricked by Claude. Claude then tries to eat Petite Rouge, but TeJean, her cat, plays a trick on Claude. TeJean throws Petite Rouge a piece of boudin that is covered in hot sauce and Claude eats it and has to jump in the swamp to cool his mouth. Claude never bothers Petite Rouge or her Grand-mere ever again.

     Harris used watercolor and pencil to create the illustrations for this book. Harris uses a lot of negative space in the book to help emphasizes things. For example most of the illustrations are double page spreads with full illustrations on both pages but on some pages he uses negative space to help emphasizes something. When Claude first comes up to Petite Rouge he tips the boat and the end that she is in is the only part that is illustrated on that side of the double page spread. The other side is a full picture. Harris used negative space in this illustration to draw attention to the fact that Petite Rouge is sitting in the boat which is now raised high above the water.

     This book would be great when talking about different dialects. The whole book is written in a Cajun dialect. It also contains lots of french and cajun phrases that students may have never heard. Students could also compare and contrast this book with the original Little Red Ridding Hood story. This book could also be used to just talk about Cajun culture and explain where the Cajun culture came from.

  

#16-The Three Snow Bears

The Three Snow Bears

Written and Illustrated by Jan Brett

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007

30 Pages

Traditional Literature

   This is an Arctic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In this version, Aloo-Ki is fishing on a ice floe when her team of dogs floats away on a pice of ice. Meanwhile a family of polar bears is having breakfast but the little bear's breakfast is too hot so the family takes a walk while the food cools off. As Aloo-Ki tries to figure out a way to get to her dogs, she comes across a large igloo. She goes inside and tries the soup. Of course the first is too hot, the second is too cold and the third is just right. Then Aloo-Ki tries on the boots and finds that the smallest pair is just right. Finally she lays down in the smallest sleeping bag and takes a nap. Meanwhile the family of polar bears have spotted the team of dogs and saves them and pushes them back to safety. The family then returns to their igloo to find that their breakfast has been eaten, their boots have been messed with and the little bears are missing and have been replaced by some other boots! Then they find that their sleeping areas are messed up and the little bear finds Aloo-Ki asleep in her sleeping bag. Aloo-Ki wakes up and runs out the door to find her team of dogs. Aloo-Ki and her dogs ride back home while the bear family waves good-bye.

     Brett uses watercolor to create the beautiful illustrations in this book. The pictures in the book are all bordered. Also on the sides there are vignettes showing a side story. In the side story it shows the family of polar bears and their adventure while Aloo-Ki is in their igloo. The side story that Brett tells in the vignettes shows the bears rescuing the team of sled dogs. Brett does a great job of using these vignettes to tell two stories at once. It allows readers to not only follow Aloo-Ki's story but also the bears story while they are out of the igloo. As the bears get back to the igloo in the side story it builds suspense because now the reader knows they are coming back and the reader wonders what will happen. All of the illustrations in the book are beautiful. Brett uses a lot of whites, blues and other Arctic-like colors to help make the book feel like you are really in the Arctic.

     This book would be great to have students compare and contrast Goldilocks and the Three Bears with. Students could maybe even be encouraged to write their own version of the traditional story. It would also be a good book to use to talk about life in the Arctic. Students would see a lot of ways that living in the arctic is different from living somewhere warmer. This book could also be used to teach about the Inuits, Aleut, and Yupik tribes who live in the Arctic.  

#15- Stone Soup

Stone Soup

Written and Illustrated by Jon J. Muth

Scholastic Inc. 2004

29 Pages

Traditional Literature

    This is the European traditional story of Stone Soup but it takes place in China. In this story three monks, Hok, Lok, and Siew are traveling through the mountains of China. They are talking about generosity when they come to a town which has forgotten what it is to be generous. The villagers have had a rough time in the last few years so they have all decided to just take care of themselves. When the monks arrive all the villagers shut themselves up in their houses. The monks decide to make stone soup and get a young girl to help them. As they begin to make the soup more and more of the villagers come out to help. The villagers begin to add more and more ingredients until they have created a very tasty soup that all the villagers can enjoy.

     Muth used watercolor to create the beautiful illustrations for this book. He uses a lot of neutral colors. The village is very plain looking. The color choice makes the village look very depressing, which is exactly what the village has become because everyone is selfish and only cares for themselves. Muth uses a few colors to help brighten up the story. The little girl is wearing a yellow shirt and this helps begin the change in the village's appearance. As the story progresses more and more color is added. Each person has a different color shirt and so as more people add to the pot of soup there is more color. By the end of the book, when the monks are saying farewell to the village, the village looks more like a nice, pleasant place and is very inviting because there is more color shown. Muth does a great job using the colors to help set the mood of the story.

     This book could be used for a character education lesson about generosity. The teacher could talk about why it is important to be generous to others. Students could also make their own recipe for Stone Soup after reading this story. This would also be a good book to use about the Chinese culture. There are some notes at the end of the book regarding some things about the origins of the Stone Soup story and about Chinese culture that is represented in the book which could help the teacher explain the chinese culture more. 

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#14-Dream

Dream

Written by Susan V. Bosak

Illustrated by Wayne Anderson, Lou Fauncher, Christian Birmingham, Barbara Reid, Yang Huang, Michele Lemieux, Shaun Tan, James Bennett, Bruce Wood, Robert Ingpen, Raul Colon, Leo and Diane Dillon, and Mike Carter.

TCP Press, 2004

28 Pages

Poetry

"Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly"
-Langston Hughes

    This is a story told in poetic form. It is a story about life and how in each stage in our life we see things differently. The main theme of the book is to never stop dreaming. Even when life gets hard we have to find the motivation to keep going. It is a very powerful book to help us see that we can achieve great things when we dream and make wishes. The book also has an inspirational quote on each double page spread.

     There are 15 illustrators for this book and all the illustrators have their own medium that was used. The mediums used include oil paint, pastels, 3-D plasticine photographed, watercolor, ink, collage, colored pencil, acrylic, and digital media. I love the fact that this book has so many different illustrators represented and so there are lots of different mediums used. At the end of the book is a list of each illustrator with thumbnails of the picture(s) they contributed to the book and it tells what medium they used and has a short bio for each illustrator. The book is laid out so that each section of life is a double page spread and is a different color. The book starts out in yellow and progresses through the rainbow of colors and ends back on yellow. Each color corresponds to the time in life talked about on the double page spread. The early years are colorful and then the teenage years are blue to represent the melancholy years of adolescence. As the person ages life goes to black and white to gray. Then the person remembers their dreams and the pages are green. This is a very colorful book, but the colors are a great way of representing the different stages of life.

     This would be a great book to start the beginning of the year out with. The students could write their wishes on a star. It would be a great way to help students realize that no matter how rough the school year may get, they can accomplish a great deal if they just put their mind to it. I think this book would be a great way to help motivate students at the beginning of the year. It would also be a great book for older students. It would be a great book to read to 6^th - 8^th graders close to the end of the year. The teacher could read it to the students and explain that as they make the transition from childhood to teenage years they need to remember their dreams. The teacher could have them make a list of goals and dreams they have so that they will stay encouraged as they go through the next stage in their life. Also at the back of the book it lists a website that students could go to and create their own Dreamer Profile. There are lots of activities that could be used on this website in the classroom setting.

#13-Sidewalk Chalk

 Side Walk Chalk: Poems of the City

Written by Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo

Wordsong Boyd Mills Press, 2001

32 Pages

Poetry

    This is a book of poems about what it is like to live in the city. Some of the topics of the poems include things like getting a haircut at the barber shop and going to the laundry mat. All of the poems portray something about what it is like to live in the city and family life in the city. Most of the poems center around African American children and their families.

     Tokunbo used watercolor to create the colorful illustrations for this book. All the pictures are very vibrant and full of color. The colors match up with the theme of each poem. For example a poem entitled Aunt Lizzie's Pictures is about how the child's aunt has all her family members pictures on display along with some influential African American's pictures. The illustration for the poem contains lots of blues and purples to help portray the tranquil feeling the child would feel when she is at her aunt's house.

     

     This book would be good for grades 2^nd and up. The book would be great when teaching about different cultures. It would be a great way for students to see how city life is different from country life. Students could compare and contrast their lives to the life of the child who lives in the city. This book would be a great way to help students who live in the country to understand that not all children live in the same places they do. This book would be a great way to have students write about something about their everyday lives in the form of a poem. This book is a really great book that students could be encouraged to read on their own also. The teacher could read a few poems out loud to the class as part of a book talk and encourage the students to read it on their own to discover more about city life.