REPUNZEL'S REVENGE BY Shannon Hale, Dean Hale & Nathan Hale

RAPUNZEL'S  REVENGE

Bibliography

Hale, Shannon and Hale, Dean. 2008. Rapunzel’s Revenge. Ill. By Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781599902883.

Plot Summary

Rapunzel’s Revenge is a fantasy graphic novel in which the protagonist Rapunzel ( now a cowgirl) is separated from her “real” family as a little girl and taken in by the evil mother Gothel. At age 12, Rapunzel decides to look over the wall and see what it beyond. What she sees is desolate and ugly. Beyond the wall, she meets the woman who is her real mother and is separated again from her as she is taken back to Gothel who punishes her by locking her up in a tall tree for four years. During this time, Rapunzel’s hair grows to incredible lengths, and she eventually escapes her prison vowing to find and free her mother. This vow takes her on an adventure where she meets Jack. Jack (the cowboy) and Rapunzel (the cowgirl) become good friends and work together to find a way to free Rapunzel’s real mother from the evil Gothel using all kinds of antics that would be found in an old western movie.

Critical Analysis

Shannon and Deal Hale use the “everything but the kitchen sink” recipe for this fantasy graphic novel set in the old west. They start with a heavy portion of fairy tale, add a little myth along with morals, and add a Wild West motif. Upper grade elementary as well as middle school students will love the strong sense of justice, adventure, and first love. For older students, the overuse of blending so many stories and cultures together may be tiresome but if they love the old west, they will be hooked! 

Since most of the characters are spin-offs from other tales, it does not take long to figure them out. Rapunzel of fairy tale fame has the same advantage of long hair that helps her out except that this Rapunzel is a risk-taker who is not going to sit around waiting for a prince to rescue her. She has taken on that "Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane" appearance and vigor. In fact, when a prince shows up, she tricks him. Rapunzel’s sidekick Jack is also of fairy tale fame better known as Jake (what a cowboy name) and the beanstalk coincidentally has the goose who lays golden eggs. The evil mother character embodied in Gothel is a collective of all the evil mothers and stepmothers from various fairy tales. The other characters are an interesting assortment of various cultures. There are Indians, Mexicans, Asian, a French woman and European woodsmen to name a few. The oddest group of characters are some bandits wearing pirate gear and one who looks like the "A-Team". These are all familiar characters pulled from various stories.

Most fairy tales are set a long, long ago, but the Wild, Wild West makes for an interesting twist on this one. Rapunzel starts out as a perfect child in a perfect villa until she decides to see what is beyond the wall. This is very reminiscent of the old adage “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” or in this case wall. Rapunzel finds the other side of the wall is not greener but instead dirtier and uglier. When she finally escapes from the tree that imprisons her, she heads out into unknown territory. The map on page 73 helps the reader understand the landscape that Rapunzel and Jack must travel. The illustrations also help establish the setting. At the villa, the pictures are filled with green and lilac, and then, dark and lots of brown colors in the other areas where Gothel has withered everything away. The illustrations are essential to the setting.

The plot follows the usual fairy tale format. There is a quest for Rapunzel. She must escape from prison in the tree and find her “real” mother to set her free. Along the way, Rapunzel meets up with many challenges and obstacles to overcome. She must overcome the obvious ones like hunger and sleep, but also magical ones of sea serpents and overly huge wild boar. As soon as she completes one task, then something else goes wrong, and she has one more thing to conquer. Her desire is like the "code of the west" the good guy always wears the white hat! Right the wrongs that others have done!  This pattern continues until she finally overcomes the evil mother Gothel, and everyone lives happily ever after. The plot is very predictable, especially for older readers.

I enjoyed the unusual style of writing which Shannon and Dean Hale used for this story. It was interesting using characters and themes from from other fairy tales which makes the story so different. The language was uncanny using a combination of Old Wild West  mixed with modern words from today. The reader might hear Old Wild West words like “swigger-jiggered,” “yep,” “dag-nabit” and “scared spitless,” words and phrases like “avatar,” and “That’s just wrong”. This use of different dialect will keep the readers on their toes wondering what will happen next and what era will be discovered by their language. I truly believe that any age group will split their jeans when they read jokes about passing gas and embarrassing first kisses which would appeal to any age group. Overall, it is an entertaining twist on old material for younger readers as well as middle school and who knows a high school reader might even enjoy this one!

Review Excerpts

Publishers Weekly – “With its can-do heroine, witty dialogue and romantic ending, this graphic novel has something for nearly everybody.”

Alan Review – “This is definitely not your grandmother's Rapunzel—the quietly submissive, long suffering princess, waiting for the prince to rescue her.”

School Library Journal – “The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive.”

Kirkus Review – “A dash of typical fairy-tale romance, a strong sense of social justice and a spunky heroine make this a standout choice for younger teens.”

Connections

* Use multiple versions of Rapunzel before reading Rapunzel’s Revenge. Then discuss how they connect. In addition use a Double Bubble Thinking Map to compare/contrast the stories and illustrations. Find Rapunzel written by different authors to see how the picture and style of writing are so different.

• Rapunzel
• Jack and the Beanstalk

*Create reader’s theater scripts for students to perform.

*In groups, have students select a fairy tale and rewrite it in a different setting.

A STEP FROM HEAVEN by An Na

Bibliography                                                                                                         
Na, An. 2001. A Step from Heaven. Asheville, NC: Front Street. ISBN 1886910588

Plot summary
This is a story of survival. Young Ju is a Korean immigrant whose family left Han Gook to come to America (specifically California) for a better life. Young Ju is suspended between adopting American ways and keeping her Korean heritage alive. Young Ju's family is not what it appears on the outside. Her father is abusive and an alcoholic. Her mother is obedient but strong. Young Ju is trying to cover up her reality and her brother is rebelling against everything. What becomes of this family makes a compelling story of how much a family can endure and overcome.

Critical Analysis

Each chapter from the book could be a story in itself.  The title is also the title of one of the chapters in the book where Ju's father explains how coming to America is like taking a "step from heaven".
This young adult novel is not just a story about a Korean family coming to America, it is story of how hidden lives of families who experience abuse and entrapment. It's about covering up so that no one really knows the truth about what goes on behind closed doors. It describes how Ju's family can just go on acting as though nothing is really happening when their world if falling apart. On top of Ju's family coming to a new country where no one in her family actually knows the language or the customs of their new home and trying to cope with abuse.
The problems that Ju faces are issues that many families face regardless of their race, country or culture. Children hide where they live because they are ashamed; mothers hide bruises left abusive husbands; no one knows really what goes on behind closed doors

The problems that Ju faces are issues that many families face regardless of their race, country or culture.  Children hide where they live because they are ashamed; mother hide bruises left by abusive husbands; no one knows really what goes on behind closed doors.

The first signs of abuse shows up relatively early in the text when Ju talks about her father slapping her mother. She describes how fast his hand was hitting her, and how the sound was so defining, sounding loud as breaking glass. She talks about how her father is frustrated with his life in America, and how he takes his anger out on her and her mother. Finally Ju is unable to take any more abuse from her father or watch him abuse her mother.  This becomes the turning point for the text. She calls for help, "...please ...send help...my father is killing my mother!"  How often does this actually happen and no one really knows the torture that children live in, or what pushed them to make that final call for help!

On a lighter note, the time when Ju went to school for the first time and she heard English, it was probably like so many of our own students that we have in our own rooms who speak a language other than English or like Charlie Brown listening to his teacher "WAA, WAA,WAA".  The words made absolutely no sense at all to her. The text tells how she began to develop her own words to help her cope with her new language, new environment, and trying to fit in. But in the end things finally begin to change and there is a ray of hope for Young Ju's family.


This is a very compelling book, bring a box of tissues if you decide to read it. But, take a moment to reflect on how our students feel when they come from another country where English is not spoken by everyone. Think about the issues that could be going on in their homes, the language barrier adding to the problems that already exists.
I think that teenage girls may find this book encouraging knowing that in the end things usually work out.


Review excerpts

BOOKLIST : "This isn't a quick read, especially at the beginning when the child is trying to decipher American words and customs, but the coming-of-age drama will grab teens and make them think of their own conflicts between home and outside. As in the best writing, the particulars make the story universal."

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: " Each of the chapters in this emotionally succinct novel might be read as a short story, although the plot-the acclimation of one young girl to a new
culture and to her own family- is steady and at times suspenseful."

hroughout the text the author inserts words from her native language helping to bring the story more to life. In the beginning you find Ju using more words from her native language, Korean, but as she begins to learn and become more confident she begins to speak more English and leaves her Korean words behind.  This irratates her parents, because they continue to speak Korean in the home and outside the home.  The language is more difficult for her parents to learn being older.  Ju and her brother begin to refuse to speak Korean which angers her father.

Connections

*Read Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club ISBN 0399134204.

*Have a class discussion about local services available to teens to help them if they are in similar situations. Where can they go that is safe? Who can they call (anonymously?) for help? What should they do if they suspect a friend is being abused? How can they stop the cycle?


*Create a "Getting to Know Our School" brochure that gives pictures of important places, with the accompanying English words or cognate that would help ELL students understand easier.  This might help new ELL students become more familiar with the school and community, as well as helping them learn new vocabulary in English.

JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL by Jack Gantos

 

Bibliography Gantos, Jack. 2000. JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL. New York: Scholastic. ISBN: 0439338743

Plot Summary

Joey Pigza, an extremely active young boy, is on his way to spend the summer with his dad whom he has not seen in many years. His dad, Carter, has the same little problem that Joey has...HYPER! But, his dad is trying very hard to get his life a little more calm. Joey's dad wants to get to know his son. Joey’s grandmother also lives with her son, she has just as many problems as her son, just in a different way. She's just as bad for Joey as his dad, smoking every breath and cohersting Joey to buy cigaretts for her over the phone!

During Joey's visit, his dad decides that neither one of them need their medicine patches any more! Carter's pataches are a little different than Joey's...one is for smoking. He decides that neither one needs their hyperactivity patch either! The story unflods as Joey sees himself return to his old troubled self. He knows there is a problem and he's losing control. Joey know that the things that he has starting doing again are just not right, but he can't seem to stop now.  

Critical Analysis

The story takes place in Pittsburgh a large but unglamorous city, perfect for the average guy. A general sense of time is indicated with the presence of a cell phone, but not everyone has one and the use of patches to treat smoking and hyperactivity. The theme, however, gives timelessness to the book. Children can always relate to Joey’s struggle with his hyperactivity and the problems of a child from a divorce. Joey is constantly aware of the power his ADHD plays in his life. With his medication he can deal with it, but is still very aware of the role it plays. When his dad takes away the patches, he knows this is wrong, but has a difficult time accepting that his dad made a bad choice for him and cannot tell his mom right away. Gantos is able to portray this through Joey’s voice and make it all seem plausible.

The characters are real people from the lower middle class with many day-to-day struggles. The mother works hard at a beauty shop, has no car insurance, an expired driver license, and is raising an overly active child on her own. Dad has the same problems with over activity and it has stunted his maturing. He has guilt over abandoning his son and wants to make amends, yet he cannot get beyond his own feeling. Joey want to understand and know a past he missed, but his dad is uncomfortable with talking about the bad things that have happened and won’t. Although he tries to change he cannot give up drinking and is currently doing community service for biting another man’s nose. He also abandons the nicotine patches he uses at the start of the story. He becomes obsessed with Joey helping his baseball team win a championship, yet he is not able to realize that Joey must have his medication to function productively. He has not changed or grown up.

Grandma is sick with emphysema and appears to be weak, but she is a wise old woman with much too offer. She informs Joey early on that things are not all good and that if he wants to stay he should not tell his mom everything that happens. She understands about his hyperactivity and comes up with ways to funnel it, such as going to the park and having him chase golf balls. She talks to him about the possibility that he may think he can get his parents back together and suggests that he not go there. She is not the picture of a typical coddling grandmother; she rides in a grocery cart and speaks roughly to him.

The story is told through Joey’s voice which makes it truly a kid’s story. We get to hear a running dialog of his views on everything that happens. For an overactive boy, he does some deep thinking and sees things pretty maturely. His first day alone with his grandma he decides to be nice to her, determining that it was up to him, the child, to set the mood. He also wishes that his mom could realize that Grandma is not all bad. When she gets tangles up in her oxygen cord and scrapes herself up, he calmly gets her home and cleans her up. Joey wants to get to know and admire his dad and tries real hard. He quickly learns that his dad likes to talk about the future, not the past, nor does he listen much. He worries when his medicine patches are thrown away, but works hard to control his behavior and believe that his dad is right about him not needing it. At times he feels like there are 2 Joey's; one for mom and one for dad. This is a good insight into determining who you are. The struggle gets too hard for him and he tries to tell his mom, but he is not successful. This is a lot for a kid to deal with. As the baseball season winds down and he has proven to be a good pitcher all the pressure and lack of medication overwhelms him. He falls apart at the last game and knows it is time to contact mom. He cannot succeed alone, he knows he needs his medication and someone who supports him – mom.

As I read this book I could see so many child that have passed through my class struggling with ADD or ADHD.  Many times their parents didn't want to face the fact that there was an answer, but it wasn't the one that they wanted to hear from their doctor.

Review Excerpts

Publishers Weekly
First introduced in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, Gantos's hyperactive hero Joey Pigza has not lost any of his liveliness… Like its predecessor, this high-voltage, honest novel mixes humor, pain, fear and courage with deceptive ease. Struggling to please everyone even as he sees himself hurtling toward disaster, Joey emerges as a sympathetic hero, and his heart of gold never loses its shine. Ages 10-up.

School Library Journal
Gr 4-8-At the end of Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Farrar, 1998), this endearing, but incredibly challenging kid was adjusting to his new medicine patches for his ADHD. Now he is flung from the frying pan into the fire when he visits his father and grandmother for the summer. ... Readers will be drawn in immediately to the boy's gripping first-person narrative and be pulled pell-mell through episodes that are at once hilarious, harrowing, and ultimately heartening as Joey grows to understand himself and the people around him. The ride home isn't smooth, but it is hopeful and loving. Does this mean that he is on the way to a happy, "normal" life? As Joey himself would say, "Can I get back to you on that?"-Starr LaTronica, Four County Library System, Vestal, NY

Connections

Other Joey books
Gantos, Jack. 1998. JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY. ISBN: 0-374-33664-4

Gantos, Jack. 2007. I AM NOT JOEY PIGZA. ISBN: 0-374-39941-7
Have students write an essay on a time when they felt out of control. How did they handle it?

LAURA INGALLS WILDER: GROWING UP IN THE LITTLE HOUSE by Patricia Rielly Giff

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Riely Giff, P. 1988. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Growing up in the Little House.
New York: Penguin Group. 0140320741


Plot Summary

Laura Ingalls Wilder was late in years and living on her farm in Missouri, when she looked back on her life and realized that she had had a most unbelievable series of adventures from the time when she was a very little girl, right until the time Text was about Laura Ingalls Wilder. This text was about how she and her family felt moving to the little house on the prairie. 

Critical Analysis

This text was dry and took a long time to read even though the text was short. Some chapters such as the politics and advertising were interesting, I still got bogged down. Take a look at the book from the political point of view of Wilder and at her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, a fascinating new way to take the reader in a new direction.

Reviews Experts

Publishers Weekly

Fans of Wilder's popular Little House books will want to turn to this biography to learn which parts of the stories actually happened. Beginning with the first book, set in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, Giff supplies the pertinent facts. Important events, she explains, such as the death of a baby brother and later, the death of Wilder's own child, were left out of the series. This spare account of Wilder's experiences has a reminiscent air; in an author's note, Giff says she wanted children to know "how difficult some of the times in Wilder's life really were." To this end her book is sadder than some of Wilder's fiction. Even after 20 years of journalism, Wilder felt "I didn't know how to write" and was asked to revise the first book, issued in 1932 when she was 65. Ages 7-11.

School Library Journal 

Grade 3-6 A brief biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder that may interest readers of the ``Little House'' (Harper) books. Obviously, a short biography of the author of nine autobiographical novels can't give readers much new information about her life. However, Giff does explain that Wilder started writing at age 65, after being encouraged by her daughter, Rose, and describes her life with Almanzo, the birth and death of a son, and her writing for local newspapers. Information about the Laura Ingalls Wilder award is sketchy at best, not stating that the award was first presented to Wilder, and stating that it is given ``to a children's author whose books are wonderful and loved by children.'' Giff includes quotes and facts from the ``Little House'' books, and her biography of the author should appeal to Wilder's fans.

CONNECTIONS

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote great descriptions of the world she lived in. This is one of the reasons we know so much about what life was like for people in the 1880’s.

Compare and contrast Laura Ingalls Wilder:Growing up in the Little House to another book about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Follow Laura’s example and write a descriptive paragraph about the world around you.

Write About the World Around You

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) became one of the most beloved

children’s authors of all time when, in her sixties and seventies, she wrote the Little House series of novels. The novels were the inspiration for a long-running television series.

Giff wrote about how Wilder took the extraordinary things that happened in her life to develop the entire Little House Series that young girls all over fell in love with.

HATTIE BIG SKY Written by Kirby Larson

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Larson, K. 2006. HATTIE BIG SKY.
New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN: 0385903324

PLOT SUMMARY
The year is 1918 and a gutsy sixteen-year-old orphan, Hattie Brooks, is determined to achieve her dream. She has been shuttled from one distant relative to another tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she summons the courage to leave Iowa and move all by herself to Vida, Montana. Hattie starts over in a big way when she takes on this challenge to finish "proving up" her uncle's homestead claim in Montana. Under the big sky country, Hattie braves hard weather, hard times, a cantankerous cow, and her own hopeless hand at the cookstove on her quest to discover the true meaning of home and carry on her late uncle's homestead.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This historical fiction text introduces readers to Hattie Brooks a young woman who is about to have her whole life changed again, but this time will be the last moving from place to place that she will have to endure. Hattie write to a friend who is fighting in World War I and sets the scene for her story through her letter. Hattie's childhood was marked by ever changing households, living with various relatives never knowing who or where she would wind up. As the reader becomes involved in this text, they learn that Hattie has received a letter from an uncle she hardly knows and he has left her is homestead in Vida, Montana. This event marks the beginning of a new adventure that would forever impact Hattie's life. The challenges Hattie faces give readers a strong heroine challenged by the tough environment in which she grows. Her emotional journey introduces her to great friends, forces her to make difficult decisions, and eventually guides her to a sense of independence. The trials and situations of her challenges cause her to become able to "prove up her claim", which is the homestead left to her. 
Kirby Larson, through tireless and thorough research, promises readers an accurate depiction of life for those who braved the challenges of land ownership in this time and region of U.S. history. The reader will follow this journey with Hattie from her train ride filled with hope to a Montana farm that exposes harsh realities and the beauty of Montana country. Larson has said that the book is patterned after a member of her family.

REVIEW EXCERPTS 

Booklist, Starred Review

Larson, whose great-grandmother homesteaded alone in Montana, read dozens of homesteaders’ journals and based scenes in the book on real events. Writing in figurative language that draws on nature and domestic detail to infuse her story with the sounds, smells, and sights of the prairie, she creates a richly textured novel full of memorable characters."

School Library Journal

"Larson creates a masterful picture of the homesteading experience and the people who persevered."

CONNECTIONS
This book would be a great historical fiction introduction to a unit on World War I.
It is also be used as a read aloud for the class. 
Students could choose to make this an independent reading that would allow for character analysis and problem-solution discussion.
Teachers could use this book to do an author's study to find out interesting ways that Kriby Larson researched to gain more insight into her family history.
This text is also available as an Audio Book so that the whole class could listen and review the book together.

One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia

One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Williams-Garcia, R. 2010. ONE CRAZY SUMMER. New York: Amistad. ISBN 9780060760885.

PLOT SUMMARY

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.

When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 One Crazy Summer is a powerful story; round, believable characters we come to love; insight into a period of history from a perspective we probably haven’t heard before; expert and beautiful use of language; consistent and distinct ways of talking that help us understand each character as an individual; and a story that leaves you warmed and smiling, with deepened understanding and with things to think about. Rita Williams-Garcia understands what it takes to capture an audience when it comes to characterization.This is a book that will stick with you. Each character in this text is uniquely written, they holds up in dialogue and are completely immersed in the story that Rita Williams-Garcia has put them in. It is a beautiful thing and translates into fluid and poetic narrative. This historical fiction text has a great story and history lesson rolled into one. It portrays a time in history that young readers of today may not be able to understand without a text such as this. It's one of those reads that you just don't want to put down. You want to continue to know what is going to happen to Delphine. This book is also offered as an audio book for those who like to read on the go (as you're driving!).

REVIEW EXCERPTS


School Library Journal
Emotionally challenging and beautifully written, this book immerses readers in a time and place and raises difficult questions of cultural and ethnic identity and personal responsibility. With memorable characters (all three girls have engaging, strong voices) and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading.—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library




Booklist
Set during a pivotal moment in African American history, this vibrant novel shows the subtle ways that political movements affect personal lives; but just as memorable is the finely drawn, universal story of children reclaiming a reluctant parent’s love. Grades 4-7. --Gillian Engberg


 Kirkus Reviews
“Delphine is the pitch-perfect older sister, wise beyond her years, an expert at handling her siblings...while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page”




CONNECTIONS


Language Arts, collaborate with the Social Studies/History.  This book is a fabulous tie-in for the Civil Rights Movement in American History.


1. Create timelines that compare actual Black Panther events with those described in One Crazy Summer.  Research the time when the Black Panthers started the children's programs in Oakland. The timelines could include important historical events that happened from 1968 such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s death to the end of that movement.
2. Research the key players of the Black Panthers, such as Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, and Bobby Hutton.  Include other historical figures from the time period.
3. Compare and contrast the positive and negative decisions made by the Panthers.  Discuss what they did that worked and what they could have done better.
4. Compare the beliefs of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and The Black Panthers.  How are they alike? Dislike?
5. Review poetry, music, and movies from the 1960's.  Have students write their own poetry and lyrics about things they believe strongly.  
6. Encourage the students to write a play or make a video that demonstrates the conflicts experienced by Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern within the larger conflicts of the United States during that time.

Bibliography
Kerley, Barbara. 2008. What to do About Alice. Ill. by Edwin Fotheringham. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. ISBN 9780439922319

Plot Summary

“I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly DO BOTH,” says President Theodore Roosevelt of his daughter Alice.  What To Do About Alice is an excellent example of a picture book-biography. Kerley’s straight to the point and somewhat comedic text compliment Fotheringham’s illustrations beautifully. The text and illustrations grab the reader’s attention from the very beginning where they immediately learn of her father’s impatience with her to the last page where we see her walking by her father’s “head” on Mount Rushmore as she is carrying a large spoon to eat the world up with. Both the author and illustrator were very clever in constructing Alice’s life and her adventures so vividly that you can’t help but want to turn the page to see what kind of fun or mess Alice has gotten herself into this time!

Alice Roosevelt was not the kind of well behave girl you’d suppose a president’s daughter should be. She was more the kind of girl who danced all night, owned a snake named Emily Spinach (named after a rather thin aunt) and joined an all-boys club under her father’s very nose by having the boys dress up like girls whenever they held meetings at her house. Alice was also known to jump into a swimming pool fully clothed and created a group called the Night Riders—but if you want to know what kind of mischief THEY got up too you’ll have to read the book and find out!

CRITICAL ANALYSISThis biography serves its purpose of being educational, but unlike most in its genre, it was also a fun biography to read. It is designated as a book for children ages 4-8 and I feel that it was done so appropriately, but I also feel as if it would be suitable for older children and possibly even younger teens. This is an inspirational tale of a young lady whom had her heart set on exploration and that is exactly what she did. I believe that this book could be inspirational for young ladies who feel like they are required to take on the traditional gender roles as deemed appropriate by society, but want to do so much more with their lives! I would without resignation recommend this book to anyone interested in history, women’s liberation or those who just like to read a fun book!

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Booklist

"Irrepressible Alice Roosevelt gets a treatment every bit as attractive and exuberant as she was....The large format gives Fotheringham, in his debut, plenty of room for spectacular art."

 Kirkus
"Theodore Roosevelt s irrepressible oldest child receives an appropriately vivacious appreciation in this superb picture book.... Kerley s precise text presents readers with a devilishly smart, strong-willed girl who was determined to live life on her own terms and largely succeeded."

School Library Journal
"Kerley s text gallops along with a vitality to match her subject s antics, as the girl greets White House visitors accompanied by her pet snake, refuses to let leg braces cramp her style, dives fully clothed into a ship s swimming pool, and also earns her place in history as one of her father s trusted advisers. Fotheringham s digitally rendered, retro-style illustrations are a superb match for the text."

CONNECTIONS ConnectionsOther stories/bibliographies by Barbara Kerley:
Kerley, Barbara. The Extraordinary Mark Twain. ISBN-10: 0545125081;ISBN-13: 978-0545125086
Kerley, Barbara. One World, One Day. ISBN-10: 1426304609; ISBN-13: 978-1426304606
Kerley, Barbara. A Cool Drink of Water. ISBN-10: 0792254899;ISBN-13: 978-0792254898

Websites with Activities, Games and Lesson Plans
http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/Classroom-Teaching-Tools/Lesson-Plans/View-Lesson-Plans/463/lessonId__416/
http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/viewWorkDetail.do?workId=1275177
http://suzyred.com/2009-what-to-do-about-alice.html
http://www.texaslibrarian.com/page/11/

Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blumenthal, Karen. 2002. SIX DAYS IN OCTOBER THE STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929 A WALL STREET JOURNAL BOOK. New York,NY: Simon & Schuser Children's Publishing Division.
ISBN13: 9780689842764


PLOT SUMMARY

A book about the most desperate days 1929 those of October.Written about the fabulous fortune that Americans had built in stocks plunged as never seen before. At first it all seemed like a mistake,a problem in the system. But as the decline in the stocks gathered momentum, so did the destruction of the financial foundation of America. Over twenty-five billion dollars in individual wealth was lost completely vanished. People all over America listened to the radio and watched as their dreams faded right before their very eyes. Investing in the stock market would never be the same!
 
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
 
This is a well written account by Karen Blumenthatl, of the six-day period of the darkest days in America. which brought our country to its knees. This book relives the inter working plans of key stock-market players such as; Michael J. Meehan, an immigrant that started his career selling cigars outside theaters one who helped convince thousands to gamble their hard-earned money as never before.It paints the picture of riveting accounts of the power struggles between Wall Street and Washington, to heart wrenching tells of those who lost their life savings and more who could not withstand the allure of stocks and the power of money and greed.
At first I wondered how young readers would be drawn to this book or how they could make connections to something which happened so many years ago. But through the vivid photos and an expressive well written text this era comes alive. Young readers relive the era of stock-market fascination through this engrossing account. Blumenthal explains the stock-market fundamentals while bringing to life the darkest days of the mammoth crash of 1929.

REVIEW EXCERPTS 

Publishers Weekly

This fast-paced, gripping (and all-too-timely) account of the market crash of October 1929 puts a human face on the crisis. Blumenthal, the Dallas bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, sets the scene in the affluent post-Great War society: she reproduces the famous January 1929 cartoon from Forbes magazine (a frenetic crowd grasping at a ticker tape) and her statement "Executives who had spent their lives building solid reputations cut secret deals in pursuit of their own stock-market riches" may send a shiver down the spines of older readers aware of recent corporate scandals

Booklist

 Gr. 7-12. A Wall Street Journal bureau chief, Blumenthal combines a fascinating overview of the infamous stock market crash in 1929 with a rare and useful primer of financial basics.


CONNECTIONS

Social Studies
This text can be used as a themactic unit in Social Studies for ESL students to help them understand the depression of 1929 for U. S. History.

Oracle’s Education Foundation, ThinkQuest an interactive site devoted to educating children on the stock market, savings bonds and investment saving.

http://library.thinkquest.org/3096/

QUEST FOR THE TREE KANGAROO AN EXPEDITION TO THE CLOUD FOREST OF NEW GUINEA by SY MONTGOMERY Photographs by NIC BISHOP

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Montgomery, S. (2006). Quest for the tree kangaroo: an expedition to the cloud forest of New Guinea. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Photographs by Nic Bishop ISBN 9780618496419

PLOT SUMMARY

Author Sy Montgomery goes on an expedition to the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea with scientific research team leader Lisa Dabek photographer Nic Bishop and many other well known scientists. This book discusses the grueling and adventurous trip to find the mysterious Matschie (“MATCH-eez”) tree kangaroo. Well documented are the trials and tribulations associated with the capture, testing, tracking and releasing of the tree kangaroo. Flora and fauna are beautifully photographed as well as unusual and often unidentified species. Background information is intertwined in the telling of the story so you get an inner feeling for the people of the land. This is a must read for people curious about wildlife and glimpses of undiscovered territory.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Sy Montgomery uses her background knowledge as a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter, and radio commentator, to explain an accurate story of the expedition to find the elusive tree kangaroo. She follows scientists from around the world to document their journey up into the cloud forest. Montgomery tells the story with vivid details about the scenery and life of natives of Papau.

The saying “pictures tell a thousand words” is so true in this book. Nic Bishops’ ability to capture the eye of even the minutest subjects conveys more meaning than words can say. His photos are truly amazing and offer such insight into the physical surroundings that you are able to identify with the emotions of the people trudging through the clouds and see the animals as they are viewing them for the first time.
This photo essay has text interspersed with a design pleasing to the eye, inviting and easy to read. The level and complexity of the text is at a higher level and could easily be considered to be appropriate for a younger reader due to the size and amount of text. Some pages appear to be written on vellum so you can view the background of the cloud forest. Bishop’s creative style of framed photographs pops out at you and invites you to turn the pages. Montgomery adds a page of advice from Lisa Dabek to encourage students to get involved in rainforest and animal conservation efforts. She also includes pages about zoos where you can view tree kangaroos and websites to visit. An acknowledgment page to the native people that helped make their expedition a success and simple verses spoken are included. This is a highly recommended book that can be used as a springboard into all curriculum areas.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature) Informative and interesting, and kids who love animals or are thinking about becoming veterinarians will keep this book moving off the library shelves.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 19)) …Bishop's photographs, shots of the expedition members, striking close-ups of flora and fauna including the sought-for kangaroo and lush, green cloud forest scenes, are beautifully reproduced.

Eileen Wright (Library Media Connection, April 2007) The reader becomes quickly drawn into the quest, and one feels as though the narrator is sitting beside her sharing the details of the expedition.

AWARDS

Green Earth Book Award, 2007 Honor Book United States
Henry Bergh Children's Book Award, 2006 Winner Non-Fiction Environment and Ecology United States
John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, 2006 Winner United States
Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, 2007 Winner United States
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, 2007 Honor Book United States

CONNECTIONS

Reading
Do an author study on Sy Montgomery and read other books written by her.
Use other books written by or photos included by Nic Bishop and compare his style of photography and text in each of his books.
Students can compare and contrast tree kangaroos and other marsupials.

Science
The layers of the rainforest can be studied. Sizes and weights of the kangaroos can be converted from metric to standard units of measurements.

Social Studies
Study the people and history of Papua New Guinea. Compare and contrast their customs and living conditions to ours in the U.S.

Other Literature

Pocket babies and other amazing marsupials by Sneed B. Collard III ISBN: 978-1-58-046-4

Marsupials by Nic Bishop ISBN: 978-0-439-87758-9

Diamond Willow

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Frost, Helen. 2008. DIAMOND WILLOW. New York: Frances Foster Books Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-31776-8

PLOT/SUMMARY
This edge of your seat story is set in the interior of Alaska. Diamond Willow is about a young girl named Willow who lives in a small village in Alaska with her mom, dad, sister, best friend Kaylie, and her sled dogs. After an unfortunate accident leaving her favorite dog Roxy blind, Willow decides to flee to her grandparents to save Roxy's life. Willow and Kaylie find themselves lost on their journey in the middle of a snow storm. After many animals intervene to save their lives, Willow makes it to her grandparents. When Willow's parents finally find out about what the girls have gone through to save Roxy and their survival during the snow storm, they decide to bring Roxy back home. Willow finds out about that she had a twin sister who died when they were just a few days old. She also finds out that her sister, Diamond, is now her dog Roxy. Willow and Roxy grow even closer, and develop a special bond that allows them to communicate. "I feel like I am flying with them, like my twin sister Diamond is alive inside me saying, Willow, this is happiness."

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Helen Frost successfully manages to create a verse novel that is both captivating and touching. The novel begins with an author's note explaining that the majority of the story is written in diamond-shaped poems with hidden messages printed in darker ink inside each one. She told of how the willow tree creates beautiful diamond shapes out of the places where a branch had been injured and fell away. The main theme of this story shows how the unsuspecting situations in our lives can make us beautiful regardless.

The author uses a very simple conversational language when telling this story. The majority of the story is told from Willow's point of view using words and phrases that are appropriate for a young girl. However, each line holds importance written in bold darker text that gives the reader empathy for the main character.

Parts of the story are told by Willow's ancestors, who are now reincarnated into the animals that surround and watch over her. The author uses language that personifies each ancestor through the animal that they have become. The ancestors' parts are not written in the same diamond-shaped form as Willow's story. Their parts are written is regular verse as to show that they are on the outside of her life unable to communicate with her.

This story would be appropriate upper elementary students but needs much building of background knowledge so that students will have an understanding of the text. This text would be an excellent selection to introduce poetry to students who may feel that they do not like poetry. 

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

LIBRARY SCHOOL JOURNAL - "Frost casts a subtle spell through innovative storytelling. Her poems offer pensive imagery and glimpses of character, and strong emotion. This complex and elegant novel will resonate with readers who savor powerful drama and multifaceted characters."

BOOKLIST - "The casual diamond shape of the poems reflects how precious jewels of wisdom can grow around painful scars."

CONNECTIONS
*This book is a good model of how poems can be written to form pictures. Older students can create their own poem pictures with hidden messages.

*After reading this book, you can teach your students about dog sledding and tie-in with the Iditarod.

*This can be used in a unit with other stories about the bond and love between owners and their animals.


Other Engaging Books
Law, Ingrid. SAVVY. ISBN 0803733062
Gaiman, Neil. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. ISBN 0060530928

London, Jack. WHITE FANG. ISBN 1580496741

RED Sings from Treetops a year in colors

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sidman, Joyce. 2009. RED Sings from Treetops a year in colors. Ill. Pamela Zagarenski. ISBN 978547-01494-4

PLOT SUMMARY
This is a beautiful picture book that consists of four different poems about the seasons of the year. The focus of the poem is on the colors that you see during that specific season and how they change as the season changes.  For example "Red swells on branches bent low. Red: crisp, juicy crunch! In fall, Yellow grows swells and lumbers down the block, blinking:Warning---classrooms ahead."

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This wonderfully whimsical and cleverly written book talks about colors that you might see during the seasons and how they will change throughout the year.  Joyce Sidmann uses these brilliant colors, enchanting pictures of children, animals and background to make a story that any age child could relate to.  She brings in the different senses to help describe the colors and happenings during the seasons. The words and illustrations makes one use their schema to bring in the aroma and sounds on each page. "Fall smells PURPLE: old leaves, crushed berries, squishy plums with worms in them. PURPLE: smell of all things mixed together."
Within the text, the color that Sidmann so vividly paints is highlighted and written in the color it represents.  This helps young readers experience the feeling and color she so well represents in her writing. 
Pamela Zagarenski's illustrations are amazing! Each of her illustrations are breathtaking with their vibrancy that is so full of detail. Each illustration is just as captivating as the text.  Zagernski uses the same character throughout the text along with her dog, who both appear to be royalty. They both walk through the seasons taking in each one with fervency as the season change. Zagarenski also includes red birds in every season which appears somewhere near the top of pages.
This is an excellent book to share with young readers because of the way colors are discussed in a sensory manner as you see the seasons change.  Young readers will be able to make a text-to-self connections using their senses, colors and shapes.  As a teacher, I would incorporate Science and Social Studies along with my Read Aloud in order to compact my lessons. I would use this text during the fall when we teach seasons.  What a great writing connection students could make as they experience the changing of the seasons.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “This is an important book both for its creativity and for its wisdom.”

KIRKUS: “A charming inspiration to notice colors and correlate emotions.”

HORN BOOK: “Sustaining the playfulness of the text and its sense of awe, mystery, and beauty, the illustrations contribute gracefully to the celebration.”
BOOKLIST: “As the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page, do sing.”

CONNECTIONS
*Teachers could incorporate Science using the seasons and senses. Begin reading the book on the pages of illustrations with the smells and sights of fall. Teachers may bring in the smells discussed in the text and allow students to feel and smell fall. Possibly revisiting the text each season to introduce those sounds, smells and feelings throughout the year.
*Teachers could incorporate Social Studies buy using the text as a sense of communities.
*For younger students, the text could be used to teach colors, shapes, sounds, smells and other sensory descriptions. Students could draw shapes and use objects collected for colors and smells.

Other Books Written by Joyce Sidman

Sidman, Joyce. 2010. DARK EMPEROR AND OTHER POEMS OF THE NIGHT. ISBN 0547152280

Sidman, Joyce. 2005. SONG OF THE WATER BOATMAN AND OTHER POND POEMS. ISBN 0618135472

Sidman, Joyce. 2007. THIS IS JUST TO SAY: POEMS OF APOLOGY AND FORGIVENESS. ISBN 0618616802