Sunday, September 30, 2007

STOP PRETENDING: what happened when my big sister went crazy
by Sonya Sones

1. Bibliography:
Sones, Sonya. 1999, 2001. STOP PRETENDING: what happened when my big sister went crazy. New York: Harper Collins: Harpertemptest. 1999, 2001. ISBN 0060283874


2. Plot Summary
Stop Pretending is a collection of poems written by a 13 year old who has an older sister that is normal one moment with no signs of mental illness and in the “blink of an eye”, is a manic depressant that snaps and ends up in a mental hospital. The poems are intense, powerful and an emotional roller coaster as the author writes of the mental illness and how it affects the family’s daily lives and the difficulties she has dealing with the illness, her own emotional state and issues involving her friends as they become aware of her sister’s illness.

3. Critical Analysis
This book is written in free-verse, falling rhythms and blank verse (amazon.com). It is a novel that is a fast and easy read. The book is based upon a true account of the author’s who is 13 years old and her older sister who is 19 and has a nervous breakdown on Christmas Eve. The younger sister kept journals of the visits to the mental hospital, life at school, her fears of classmates finding out about her sister and life at home without the sister. The author’s insert at the end of the book mentions having two older sisters. The verse written discusses the mom, dad, older sister and the author’s account of dealing with the effects of the nervous breakdown. The additional family member is not mentioned in the book. The book is exceptionally written to give one a feeling of being at the mental hospital, the pain associated with the sister’s illness and real-life issues or experiences. This book is definitely a must read for teens to adults.

Imagine yourself as a 13 year old, a visitor, alone in the psychiatric ward. Read the following poem found on pages 59 -60 of the book.

The Locked Ward
Lost on the locked ward,
I’m roaming the corridors
crawling with lunatics.

Haunting
the olive drab hallways,
they’re watching me,

stalking me,
rocking and drooling.
Who’ll show me the door?

I’ve got to
get out of here
now!

Spotting a nurse,
I’m suddenly sobbing.
She smiles, walking towards me

and holds out her arms
speaking so soothingly:
“You’re looking lost.

Follow me down this hall.
I’ll lead you out.
It can be scary. I know”

In only a moment,
we’re standing before
a locked elevator door.

“Now where is my key . . . ?”
she ponders aloud.
Something is odd.

Just then, a doctor
walks up and unlocks the door.
Quickly, I hurry aboard.

I turn to thank the nurse.
She winks at me coyly,
and suddenly sticks out her tongue.

Just as the doors close,
I see that she’s drooling,
and rocking and rocking and rocking.


From the author’s note, the sister was released from the psychiatric ward after a few months. She continued to be hospitalized several times but led a satisfying and productive life, continued her visits to the psychiatrist and took medication to control the illness. “She married, earned a master’s degree in library science, and worked as a public librarian for over twenty years.”


4. Review Excerpts

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-An unpretentious, accessible book that could provide entry points for a discussion about mental illness-its stigma, its realities, and its affect on family members. Based on the journals Sones wrote at the age of 13 when her 19-year-old sister was hospitalized due to manic depression, the simply crafted but deeply felt poems reflect her thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams during that troubling time. In one poem, the narrator fears that "If I stay/any longer/than an hour,/ I'll see that my eyes/have turned into her eyes,/my lips/have turned into her lips, ." She dreads having her friends learn of her sister's illness. "If I told them that my sister's nuts,/they might act sympathetic,/but behind my back/would everyone laugh?" and wonders what she could have done to prevent the breakdown. All of the emotions and feelings are here, the tightness in the teen's chest when thinking about her sibling in the hospital, her grocery list of adjectives for mental illness, and the honest truth in the collection's smallest poem, "I don't want to see you./I dread it./There./I've said it." An insightful author's note and brief list of organizations are included.
Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Review
“The poems take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated telling a compelling tale.”

From ALA Book Review
“This debut novel shows the capacity of poetry to record the personal and translate it into the universal.”

Connections: Read and discuss mental illness with teens and young adults. Discuss the emotions that one may feel when a family member may be in a similar situation. Have the students write a poem in falling rhythm, blank verse or free style using their real life experiences that focuses on a serious issue. Discuss the students poems and the emotions that stem from the works.

Additional stories by Sonya Sones include:
What My Mother Doesn’t Know
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies
What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Bubba the Cowboy Prince
by Helen Ketteman

1. Bibliography:
Ketteman, Helen and James Warhola (ill.) Bubba the Cowboy Prince. New York: Scholastic Press. 1997. ISBN 0590255061

2. Plot Summary
Bubba the Cowboy Prince is a fractured Texas tale version of Cinderella. Bubba lives on the family ranch with his stepfather and his stepbrothers Milton and Dwayne. They boss Bubba around making him do the work on the ranch and all of the chores. Miz Lurleen is a single, wealthy landowner who lives on a ranch in Texas. She decides to throw a party and invite all of the single men to her ball so she can find someone to marry who is as “tough as leather” and “cute as a cow’s ear”. Bubba’s evil stepdaddy and stepbrothers are invited to the ball and force Bubba to prepare their clothes, wash the wagon and horses for the ball. Bubba works frantically and when they are ready to leave for the ball, they refuse to wait on Bubba to get cleaned up to go with them. A fairy godcow tells Bubba to go to the ball and turns a cow into a beautiful horse. He is given clean “duds” and head to the ball. Miz Lurleen is tired of dancing with men who are of no interest in her. Bubba arrives at the and they begin to dance but when midnight comes, his clothes are once again nasty and smelly, he loses one boot as he escapes and rides his cow off into the night. Miz Lurleen sets out to try the boot on every single cowboy and finds Bubba riding up from working the ranch with only one boot on. They rode off into the sunset and lived happily everafter.

3. Critical Analysis
This book is written for baby to PreK ages but it is one of the best tales and an excellent choice for all age levels. Its contents and language will draw you in to the Texas life on the ranch. Wonderfully written and illustrated with Texas décor including the clothing, characters and surrounding. The painted illustrations are lifelike in resembling Texas characters. I especially like the physical features of stepdaddy and his leathery cowboy appearance of someone who is weathered and has worked the range for many years. This book is a must read and should be available in the library for the children to enjoy.

4. Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: “This is a fun-filled story with more hyperbole than a Christmas turkey has stuffing.:

From Kirkus Reviews
A Cinderella parody features the off-the-wall, whang-dang Texas hyperbole of Ketteman (The Year of No More Corn, 1993, etc.) and the insouciance of Warhola, who proves himself only too capable of creating a fairy godcow; that she's so appealingly whimsical makes it easy to accept the classic tale's inversions. The protagonist is Bubba, appropriately downtrodden and overworked by his wicked stepdaddy and loathsome brothers Dwayne and Milton, who spend their days bossing him around. The other half of the happy couple is Miz Lurleen, who owns ``the biggest spread west of the Brazos.

Connections: Read the story aloud to children and discuss the characters. Dr. Vardell presented this tale in her lectures as a reader’s theatre with characters and a script. This would be an excellent way to enjoy the book and present a humorous Texas tale to a group of children and adults. Costumes could be simple and fun. Have the children seek out additional books that may be used as a reader’s theatre and discuss in groups their suggestions for the costumes and script.

Additional stories by Helen Ketteman who lives in Dallas, Texas include:
Armadilly Chili
Waynetta and the Cornstalk: A Texas Fairy Tale
Heat Wave
Not Yet Yvette
The Great Cake Bake
I Remember Papa
Armadillo Tattletale
Shoeshine Whittaker

Monday, September 24, 2007

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush
by Tomie dePaola

1. Bibliography:
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. ed. Tomie dePaola. New York: The Putnam and Grosset Group. Paperstar. 1988. ISBN 0698113608

2. Plot Summary
Little Gopher is a young Indian boy who lived with his people in their teepees on the Plains. He is smaller in size than the rest of the children so he was unable to compete and play with the other boys of the tribe. Little Gopher would sit and make toys of leather and wood, painting the toys with paints he had made from wild berries. One day, out of the clouds came an image of an old grandfather and a young Indian maiden to reveal the young Indian boy’s purpose and destiny in life. Little Gopher’s Dream-Vision is to become an artist for his people. He gathered wild berries and animal hair to make his paints and brushes to help him create many pictures. To fulfill his destiny, he should paint the sunset on a white buckskin. Little Gopher took the white buckskin and walked to the hillside to watch the sunset. Stuck in the ground were paintbrushes the colors of the sunset and he used these paintbrushes to deliver the beauty of the sunset to his people and left the brushes on the hillside. The next morning, the paintbrushes had bloomed into beautiful flowers known as the “Indian Paintbrush”. From that day forth, Little Gopher was known as “He-Who-Brought-the-Sunset-to-the-Earth”.

3. Critical Analysis
The book is an ABA Pick of the List Book that is retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. The reading level for ages 4 - 8 years but I recommend it for all ages. Reader’s will connect with and sympathize with the young Indian who wants to fit in. The reader will become aware of one of the many Native American cultures, their lives, beliefs and the legends associated with these people.

The illustrations are wonderfully created in bright and colorful watercolors that enhance the beautiful colors found in the Indian clothing and nature. They give one an image of how life may have been on the Plains.

4. Review Excerpts

From Horn Book

“A rhythmic and evocative retelling of an Indian legend that explains the origin of the Indian paintbrush flower. [The story of] how a young Indian boy, Little Gopher, becomes a man is an engaging tale of strength, perseverance, reverence, and obedience.”

From School Library Journal

“The humanity expressed in this story illustrates the value of perserverance and of endurance of effort that will bring its reward.”
From Booklist

“DePaola’s story, based on a Texas legend, is illustrated with full-color paintings rendered in the artist’s distinctive style. Earth tones, punctuated with splashes of bright color, predominate . . . . A handsome retelling.”

From Children’s Book Review Service

“The colorful illustrations accentuate the authenticity of a tale that encourages children to follow a different drummer.”


From Publishers Weekly

According to PW , this tale of Little Gopher's artistic dreams is "related with deceptive simplicity by dePaola; he enhances the plainness of the story with his primitive illustrations and . . . finds inspiration in the colors of the sunset." Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Connections: Read the story to the children. Discuss the story and the Native American culture and seek out a Native American who may be willing to tell this story as an oral tradition. Create a painting as Little Gopher using tempera paints and white felt. Have photos available of the sunset for the children to use as a model. Hang the finished on a small mesquite branch with yarn tied to it for hanging. Display on the wall for others to view. This would be a good unit for the spring when wild flowers are in full bloom.

Additional suggested works by Tomie dePaola include:
The Legend of the Poinsettia
Strega Nona
Frida Kahlo: The Artist Who Painted Herself
The Popcorn Book
The Legend of Old Befana
The Legend of the Bluebonnet
And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry from Everyone
by Alvin Schwartz
1. Bibliography:
And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry from Everyone. ed. Alvin Schwartz and Sue Truesdell (ill). Harper Collins Publishers. 1992.
ISBN 0060227575

2. Plot Summary
And the Green Grass Grew All Around is a collection of folk poetry compiled into one volume that focuses on a variety of topics including people, food, school, teases and taunts, wishes and warnings, love and marriage, work, stories, nonsense, riddles, fun and games, rain and shine, animals and insects, a tree and other things. “Schwartz organizes them by topic and/or form and proves all kinds of fascinating supporting material: an engagingly conversational introduction; general explanatory notes plus full item-by-item sources, many of which are intriguing in themselves”(Kirkus) Many of the items located on the pages are well known playground or jump rope chants. Musical scores are also included so the child can sing along with the words to a familiar tune.

3. Critical Analysis
The largest percentage of the book is a wonderful compilation of folk poetry by known and unknown authors that Alvin Schwartz compiled into one volume. Many of the items within this book are familiar and brought back childhood playground memories while others were unfamiliar with a few originating 400 years ago. I did not particularly enjoy a large portion work in the “non sense” category. The book has a reading level for ages 9 - 12 years but many of the poems, rhymes, chants, riddles and songs can be enjoyed by children of all ages as well as adults. Factual and resource information is also included for further studying many of the works. The illustrations are black and white cartoon characters (people and animals) with wide-eyes, exaggerated physical features and silly expressions that add to the humor of this book.

4. Review Excerpts
From School Library Journal

Grade 3 Up-- A marvelous book that is sure to become a classic if children have any say in the matter. Schwartz has gathered sassy, funny, scary, and slightly naughty children's folk poetry heard on school grounds and wherever else kids are having fun.

From Kirkus Reviews

Not since Carl Withers’s A Rocket in My Pocket (1948) has there been such a grand compilation of familiar (and unfamiliar) rhymes and chants from the children’s own tradition: riddles, games, wishes and taunts; poems about love, food, school, or animals; parodies, nonsense, and stories.

Connections: Read the following poem to children of all ages and see if they are familiar with the tune “Turkey in the Straw”
Re-read the second time to music and invite the children to sing-along:
Do your ears hang low,
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot,
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder
Like a Continental soldier?
Can you pluck a merry tune?
Do your ears hang low?

Ask for volunteer to read a riddle from the book and see who knows the answer.
On the playground, try a jump-rope chant or have the students bounce a ball to the words.
Encourage children to write in their journal a favorite work from the book and then have them create their own folk poetry with illustrations.

End with this hilarious tune to: The Farmer in the Dell
I with I wath a fith,
I with I wath a fith,
I’d thwim and thwim the deep blue thea,
I with I wath a fith.

I with I wath a thip,
I with I wath a thip,
I’d thail and thail the deep blue thea,
I with I wath a thip.

I with I wath a thafety pin,
I with I wath a thafety pin,
I’d rutht and rutht till everything butht,
I with I wath a thafety pin.

I with I wath thum thlime,
I with I wath thum thlime,
I’d ooth and ooth in everyone’s thoose,
I with I wath thum thlime.

I with I wathn’t a thimp,
I with I wathn’t a thimp,
I’d thing a thong that had thum thenthe,
I with I wathn’t a thimp.

Additional works by Schwartz include:
Scary Stories (multiple works listed under this topic)
Tomfoolery: Trickery and Foolery with Words
A Twister of Twists

Friday, September 7, 2007

TALKING WITH ARTISTS
by Pat Cummings

1. Bibliography:
Cummings, Pat. TALKING WITH ARTISTS, ed Pat Cummings. New York: Bradbury Press. 1992. ISBN 0027242455

2. Plot Summary
TALKING WITH ARTISTS consists of interviews with fourteen well known picture book illustrators who share their thoughts and insights on their lives and abilities as illustrators.

3. Critical Analysis
Pat Cummings’s reveals valuable information as she conducts interviews of book illustrators including Victoria Chess, Leo & Diane Dillon, Richard Egielski, Lois Ehlert, Lisa Campbell Ernst, Tom Feelings, Steven Kellogg, Jerry Pinkney, Amy Schwartz, Lane Smith, Chris Van Allsburg, David Wiesner and her own personal interview.
This book is lengthy and should be used as a teaching or informative tool for students who wish to illustrate. The questions included: Where do you get your ideas from? What is a normal day like for you? Where do you work? Do you have any children? Any pets? What do you enjoy drawing the most? Do you ever put people you know in your pictures? What do you use to make your pictures? How did you get to do your first book?
The information revealed is inspiring and brings hope to those who wish to illustrate a picture book. Included in the book are photos of the illustrators as a child and as adults. The variety of illustrations and details reveal the real talents and unlimited options available in becoming an illustrator.

4. Review Excerpts

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-8-- Conversations with Victoria Chess, Leo and Diane Dillon, Richard Egielski, Lois Ehlert, Lisa Campbell Ernst, Tom Feelings, Steven Kellogg, Jerry Pinkney, Amy Schwartz, Lane Smith, Chris Van Allsburg, and David Wiesner form the content of this book. All say that ``practice, practice, practice'' is the key to success. The illustrators that Cummings interviewed and her own comments are primarily aimed at young people who love to draw. They tell about how they got started, and where they get their ideas and techniques. There are chatty bits of information about the artists themselves, examples of their childhood drawings, and beautifully reproduced samples of current work. The same questions are asked of each contributor, but the answers range from serious commentary to lighthearted humor. The cumulative result is a short course in how to succeed in the book business, and general agreement that illustration is a tremendously satisfying and enjoyable occupation. Young artists will learn a lot; teachers and other children will also love it. Well designed and well conceived, this book will be welcomed in all those classrooms in which children's literature has become central to the curriculum. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Connections: Read 1 - 2 interviews at a time to the children grades 3 -8. Display the book for further viewing and have the children illustrate a photo that is similar in style to the interview read that day. Display these on a bulletin board for viewing. Invite teachers and students to view the illustrations. Have the children interview one another on the their illustrations and the techniques they used to create their artwork.

Additional stories by Mordicai Gerstein include:
Talking With Artists, Vol. 3. March 22, 1999. ISBN 978-0395891322
My Aunt Came Back. February 28, 1998. ISBN 978-0694010592
Carousel: A Novel. April 1, 1994. ISBN 978-0027255126
THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS
by Mordicai Gerstein

1. Bibliography:
Gerstein, Mordicai. THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS. Connecticut: Roaring Brook Press, 2003. ISBN 0761328688

2. Plot Summary
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers is based upon the true story of a young man known in New York City as the French aerialist, Philippe Petit who placed a tightrope one quarter of a mile one thousand three hundred forty feet in the air between the Twin Towers. On the night of August 6, 1974, Philippe and his friends snuck into the incomplete Twin Towers, up onto the roof and worked diligently throughout the night to secure a large cable that was seven-eighths of an inch thick. At dawn, Philippe began his hour-long tightrope performance for the people below. After he removed himself from the cable, the police arrested him and the judge sentenced him to performing in the park for the children. He was very happy to do this and very happy that walking between the towers on August 7, 1974 fulfilled his dream.



3. Critical Analysis
This Caldecott Medal award winning book details the real-life account of a man accomplishing his goal as he bravely walked a tightrope between the towers is a moving and inspirational story. The story is encouraging for those who dreams and wish to pursue the dreams. The illustrations wonderfully depict the bravery and courage of Philippe as he walked the tightrope. The oil paintings are detailed and give one a feeling of being on the tightrope as if they would be looking down upon the crowd. The fold-out pages provide an added touch to the entire experience.

4. Review Excerpts

From Publishers Weekly
This effectively spare, lyrical account chronicles Philippe Petit's tight rope walk between Manhattan's World Trade Center towers in 1974. Gerstein (What Charlie Heard) begins the book like a fairytale, "Once there were two towers side by side. They were each a quarter of a mile high... The tallest buildings in New York City." The author casts the French aerialist and street performer as the hero: "A young man saw them rise into the sky.... He loved to walk and dance on a rope he tied between two trees." As the man makes his way across the rope from one tree to the other, the towers loom in the background. When Philippe gazes at the twin buildings, he looks "not at the towers but at the space between them.... What a wonderful place to stretch a rope; a wire on which to walk." Disguised as construction workers, he and a friend haul a 440-pound reel of cable and other materials onto the roof of the south tower. How Philippe and his pal shang the cable over the 140-feet distance is in itself a fascinating-and harrowing-story, charted in a series of vertical and horizontal ink and oil panels. An inventive foldout tracking Philippe's progress across the wire offers dizzying views of the city below; a turn of the page transforms readers' vantage point into a vertical view of the feat from street level. When police race to the top of one tower's roof, threatening arrest, Philippe moves back and forth between the towers ("As long as he stayed on the wire he was free"). Gerstein's dramatic paintings include some perspectives bound to take any reader's breath away. Truly affecting is the book's final painting of the imagined imprint of the towers, now existing "in memory"-linked by Philippe and his high wire. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Connections: Read the story aloud to children ages 5 - 8. Re-read the story and ask the children to pretend they are holding a balancing item in their hands and walking between the towers. If possible, have lines made from tape and ask the children to pretend they are high in the air while walking on the tape lines. See how many can walk on the straight line then encourage them to add a few dance moves, hops, turns etc.
Ask the children to write in their journal how they felt walking on their tightrope and how they think Philippe felt. Illustrate a photo relating to the story.

Additional stories by Mordicai Gerstein include:
The Wild Boy. ISBN September 25, 2002. 978-0374483968
Leaving the Nest. February 20, 2007. ISBN 978-0374343699
The Mountains of Tibet. September 7, 1989. ISBN 978-0064432115

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

KNUFFLE BUNNY
by Mo Williams

1. Bibliography:
Williams, Mo. KNUFFLE BUNNY. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2004.
ISBN 0786818700

2. Plot Summary
Knuffle Bunny is the story of a young girl named Trixie and her favorite stuffed bunny “Knuffle Bunny” who walk with Trixie’s father to the Laundromat. Trixie and her father sight see along the way to the Laundromat. Trixie helps her father load the washing machine, put in the money and they begin their journey home. A few moments later, terror strikes Trixie as she realizes something is missing and blabbers frantically to her father who does not understand what Trixie is telling him. They continue home with Trixie unhappy all the way. When they reach their home, Trixie’s mother realizes that Knuffle Bunny is not with them. The family race back to the Laundromat in a desperate search for Knuffle Bunny. They search behind and inside the empty machines but cannot find the bunny. At last, Daddy pulls Knuffle Bunny from the drying laundry and Trixie speaks her first words “Knuffle Bunny”.

3. Critical Analysis
This story wonderfully portrays a toddler who attempts to communicate without being able to speak. The babbling and fussing are very descriptive of an unset child. Words such as Trixie went “boneless” and “bawled” give a visual image of an unhappy toddler. The illustrations are photographs of Brooklyn, New York buildings in black & white digital images. The cartoon characters are colorful and stand out against the black & white background. The neighborhood is busy with the character’s daily lives as Trixie and her Daddy stroll to the Laundromat and home.

4. Review Excerpts

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL review: Personalities are artfully created so that both parents and children will recognize themselves within these pages. A seamless and supremely satisfying presentation of art and text.–Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI

BOOKLIST review: *Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 1. This comic gem proves that Caldecott Medal-winner Willems, the Dr. Spock and Robin Williams of the lap-sit crowd, has just as clear a bead on pre-verbal children as on silver-tongued preschoolers. ...Willems chronicles this domestic drama with pitch-perfect text and illustrations that boldly depart from the spare formula of his previous books. Sepia-tone photographs of a Brooklyn neighborhood provide the backdrops for his hand-drawn artwork, intensifying the humor of the gleefully stylized characters--especially Trixie herself, who effectively registers all the universal signs of toddler distress, from the first quavery grimace to the uncooperative, "boneless" stage to the googly-eyed, gape-mouthed crisis point. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


Connections: Read the story aloud to children ages 3 - 8 and have them focus on Trixie’s actions and discuss how they may react in this situation. Encourage laughter and participation of the group as the babbling words are read and Trixie went “boneless”.


Additional stories by Mo Williams include:
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. ISBN 078681988X
Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. ISBN 0786837462
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog. ISBN 0786818697