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