1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sendak, Maurice. When the Wild Things Are. HarperCollins, 1963.
ISBN 9780060254926
2. PLOT SUMMARY
In this action-filled picture book, Maurice Sendak writes about a child named Max, who misses out on dinner by his mother because he is being mischievous. He describes the way Max being angry feels and how he copes with it. He details the very real anger that children can often experience when they feel misunderstood by their parents.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Where The Wild Things Are, is a story that plays on imagination as its role in coping with angry feelings. The story begins with our main character Max going to bed without his dinner as punishment for being “wild” or mischievous around his home, by his mother. The story goes on to show Max being the king of the “wild” where creatures are at and do what he says. He eventually gets homesick and returns back home to his supper being warm ready for him. The illustrations that Sendak provides gives us a sense of time when we can see that it is the evening time with the moon showing but it being light blue as if the moon will soon show up. Once Max decides he wants to come back home see the moon brightly lit around the stars and it is later that day now when his supper is there waiting for him. Sendak also provides us with human-like feet on his wild things, maybe symbolizing someone in Max’s life. Sendak depicts the complex emotions of Max, even though he was longing for independence even in his imagination he misses home where he ultimately feels comfort.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Randolph Caldecott Medal in the year 1964.
Horn Book Guide starred (Fall 2003)
This fortieth-anniversary edition of the beloved Caldecott-medal-winning book is a reissue of the 1988 edition, which was reprinted from new engravings made from the original art.
Booklist starred (November 1, 2007 (Vol. 104, No. 5))
"Preschool-Grade 2. This simply written but subtle book became a classic not only because it legitimized children’s angry feelings—and their ability to use their imaginations to deal with those feelings—but also because it showed punishment and love coexisting in a parent-child relationship."
5. CONNECTIONS
*Relationship skills and how to solve problems that arise.
*Connecting with children's emotions and helping with self-management to regulate self-emotions and behaviors to cope with the different forms of anger.
*If you feel comfortable enough in leading conversations about anger and how we can cope, with your students this would be a great read aloud to open the floor to that conversation.
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Willems, Mo. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh. UnionSquareKids, 2023.
ISBN 9781454952770
2. PLOT SUMMARY
In this action-filled picture book, Mo Willems writes about a pigeon who really wants to drive a sleigh, that is until he finds out what it all really entails. In this humorous fiction book, we get to see the pigeon trying to persuade the reader to let him drive the sleigh. The pigeon then realizes that it is not as fun as he thought it was because he smells a reindeer!
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh, is a story that tells the very driven decision the main character the pigeon has to drive the sleigh. Willems does an amazing and authentic job in capturing the reader's attention with the different color speech bubbles, different fonts, and colors used throughout the book. We can see how detailed he was even with the illustrations of the sleigh with the text “HOX3” because traditionally that is what Santa would say. The pigeon’s facial expressions also give us cues in what he is feeling at that moment. For example, when the pigeon catches a smell of the reindeer we can see he isn’t too fond of it because of his facial expressions and the way Willems illustrated the page and how the words are written pointing to “phew” in the text. After the pigeon realizes it he decides that he no longer wants to drive the sleigh, and that he has better things to do.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Kirkus Reviews (September 15, 2023)
"A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)"
School Library Journal (September 1, 2023)
"A good choice for a Santa-centric and Christmas-specific collection.-Jennifer LaBurre"
5. CONNECTIONS
*Holiday and Traditions: Are you looking for a fun book to get into the holiday spirit? This is the book to gather your students around and enjoy a humorous story!
*This book can lead to conversations about wants, sometimes what we want isn’t what is best for us.
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mattick, Lindsay. Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Sophie Blackall, LittleBrownAndCompany, 2015. ISBN 9780316324908
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, tells the true story of a soldier called Captain Harry buying a bear for twenty dollars while on his way traveling to his training camp. He names the bear Winnipeg, Winnie for short and builds a bond with her while he is away. When he is traveling to France he decides to leave her in the London Zoo so that she is safe and she eventually becomes loved by all of the visitors who come by to see her, especially Christopher Robin Milene. Christopher Robin would visit Winnie and his father would eventually write books about their adventures about this beloved bear who we would all come to know as Winnie-the-Pooh.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear offers a heartwarming narrative that combines historical importance with literature. Mattick's storytelling skillfully intertwined together the elements of history, biography, and nostalgia, making it engaging for both children and adults.
Mattick brings an emotional depth to the story that engages with its readers. The illustrations by Sophie Blackall complement the text by capturing the warmth of Colebourn's interactions with Winnie. The emotions shown in the characters are very telling with or without the text on its pages. The illustrations of having the current scenes of Cole and his mother reading the story while his mother is telling the story brings an extra warmth to the story. Blackall does an extraordinary job at making sure the location illustrations are detailed so that the reader can envision the scenes just as they are. The colors, and whimsical images bring the pages to life. The details towards the end of the book by adding the photographs in an album format was a very full circle moment for this book.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Booklist starred (September 1, 2015 (Vol. 112, No. 1))
“Little ones who love A. A. Milne’s classic stories will be enchanted by this heartening account of the bear’s real-life origins.”
Horn Book Guide starred (Spring 2016)
“Mattick, the storytelling mother in this book, embellishes her family's history with evocative, playful language, matched by the period warmth of Blackall's carefully composed images.”
Kirkus Reviews (July 15, 2015)
“The piece has something of a split personality, and the Winnie-the-Pooh angle comes so late it seems almost an afterthought. Beautiful but bifurcated, with the two stories in one making it a challenge to determine the audience. (photo album) (Picture book. 5-8)”
5. CONNECTIONS
*Friendship, adventure and the bond between animals and humans.
* Historical fiction, this book does an amazing job at connecting the illustrations depicted.
Similar books:
* "Corduroy" by Don Freeman
* A Bear Called Paddington" by Michael Bond
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Viorst, Judith. Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day by Cruz, Ray, Aladdin Paperbacks, 1987.
ISBN 9781442463165 (e-book)
2. PLOT SUMMARY
On a day when everything goes wrong for him, Alexander is comforted by the thought that other people can have bad days too.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day story depicts how Alexander feels “invisible” yet Cruz decided to use color to make the reader see who he is. At a time where everything seems to go wrong, or not as good as he tried to make it, we can only see our main character Alexander in color, and all of the situations he finds himself in are in black and white. Cruz uses a lot of line work in his illustrations, to make the background look simply abstract so that we can focus on the main characters' situations.
Viorst use of details when writing about the constant invisibility that our character shows as a realistic day of what it feels like when one thing after another goes wrong. Our character keeps going through his day still being resilient because he continues his day. At the end of his day, his mother tells him that some days are like that, which shows just how his mother tried to comfort his reality.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Horn Book Guide (Spring 2010)
“This new edition of the classic story about a boy encountering injustice and just plain rotten luck all day long includes a preface by the author and the illustrator. In addition, the pictures have been selectively colorized: on every page, reddish-haired Alexander is brightly clad while everything around him remains in original black-and-white. It doesn't ruin the story, nor does it add much”
Publishers Weekly (July 31, 1998)
“Objecting loudly to his family's plans to relocate, the hero of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day "makes a gratifying return," said PW. Ages 5-8. (Aug.)”
5. CONNECTIONS
*Social emotional conversations about how we can cope with our feelings of anger, feeling invisible and left out.
* This book can be used to guide a conversation on how to be there for our friends and how we can support them.
Comments
Post a Comment