Because of Winn-Dixie

DiCamillo, K. (2009) Because of winn-dixie. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Read on June 9, 2012. 

This 2001 Newbery Award winning book is one of my all time favorites. It's about a girl, India Opal Baloney, who has moved with her father, The Preacher, down to Naomi, Florida. Opal befriends a dog who is wreaking havoc on the manager of their local Winn-Dixie. Once "Winn-Dixie" gets a bath and some food in his belly, he becomes a respectable member of the Baloney family, aside from his pathological fear of thunderstorms.

During summer break, Winn-Dixie helps Opal make new friends, even though she doesn't even realize that they are becoming friends. There's "pinch faced" Amanda Wilkinson who only appears pinch faced because she's hiding the secret that her brother had recently drowned in a pool. Stevie and Dewey Dunlap hesitantly become friends with Opal and ultimately teach her not to judge people by how they look. Because of the Dunlap boys, Opal is introduced to Ms. Gloria Dump. Gloria is the neighborhood "witch"who helps Opal realize that she ultimately needs to forgive her momma for drinking and leaving the family because we all make mistakes. Like every single one of us, Opal judged these people before really getting to know them. She thought they were mean, stuck up, or even a criminal but once she got to know each of them, she found that they all had secrets, just like she did.

This contemporary, realistic fiction book is a fun book to read aloud (Trelease) because the reader begins to take on the voices of each character. When I read aloud to the class, I find myself using a slight accent so that the students realize that Opal is the one telling the story. Sweetie Pie Thomas gets a super sweet, high-pitched voice, while Gloria Dump gets a deep, low, slow voice to represent her age and thoughtfulness. Students often enjoy this book so much, that I hear moans and groans after reading each chapter. While reading, I have students respond by telling me what a good chapter title would be once we've finished a chapter. They really engage in this discussion with each other, agreeing or disagreeing and adding their own thoughts to that of their neighbor. And it's not often that this happens, but I've had a lot of students say that this book is actually better than the movie!

Knuffle Bunny Too

Willems, M. (2007). Knuffle bunny too: A case of mistaken identity. New York, NY: Hyperion Books.

A contemporary/realistic fiction book read June 6, 2012. A 2008 Caldecott Honor Book.

In Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (also written by Mo Willems), we meet Trixie and Knuffle Bunny. We learn of her love for her bunny when she throws a royal tantrum upon losing her precious toy.

A few years later, we meet a more grown up and sophisticated Trixie who talks constantly and still totes her Knuffle Bunny everywhere she goes. When she meets Sonja at school, she finds that she's not the only one with a love for the cute, stuffed animal. When the girls begin a battle over exactly how you pronounce Knuffle Bunny's name, the teacher confiscates the two bunnies to be returned after school. Little did either girl realize, they got the wrong bunny. They make their mother and father race across the streets of New York to swap bunnies so that the households can get some rest. Not only is each girl reunited, but they also become good friends due to their shared love of the same bunny.

Besides the story and finally finding out that there is no "right" way to pronounce Knuffle Bunny, the pictures are astounding. The used mixed media art while using actual pictures of New York and mixing it with drawings of the characters. I believe, especially out in Davidson County, that this takes students somewhere they've likely never been. They can take a short break from cow pastures and fields to experience a city that is like no other--New York City.

Because of the speech bubbles, as opposed to plain text, I believe that this book is great for reading aloud (Trelease). The teacher can utilize the speech bubble to read in different voices and really draw the readers into the story. I think that it is also a good book to help motivate students to read (McKenna and Kear) because it is not set up in the traditional way. Whenever I use this book in my classroom, I always have to search book bins because it is never on the shelf for very long.

Tuesday

Wiesner, D. (1991). Tuesday. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

Read on June 6, 2012. Winner of the 1992 Caldecott Award.

Everyone has heard of the saying, “when pigs fly,” but what kind of crazy things happen when frogs literally fly? Tuesday is a magical tale of frogs who fly on their enchanted lilly pads when the clock strikes nine. Some frogs are out for fun, like late night television, while others are out for revenge. When morning arrives, all the frogs drop from the sky and return to their pond. This book leaves the reader thinking about what kind of magical things could happen when Wednesday rolls around?

I chose this fantasy/fantastic story because it is one of my favorite mentor texts in the classroom. Even though it is a mostly wordless picture book, it lends itself to a lot different activities. Out of all of the strategies that the Mosaic of Thought (Keene and Zimmerman) gives, I find that this book is best used for inferring. Students have to rely on the picture clues like the dog running away from the frogs, to infer that the dog is probably running away because he is scared of the flying frogs. Students may also enjoy discussing with each other (Langer-sociocognitive theory) what would happen in a book titled Wednesday. They would use the very important clue at the end of the story of a pig's shadow floating outside of a barn to help them work together and formulate a story.

The pictures in a picture truly make or break the book. The pictures in this book are beyond extraordinary. The detail given to each frog, to make him look different than the others, is a detail that does not go unnoticed to the reader. This book defines surrealism style pictures to a tee. 

The Tale of Despereaux

DiCamillo, K. (2003). The tale of despereaux. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Read June 1, 2012. A 2004 Newbery Award winner.

Despereaux Tilling is a mouse in love...with a human. This is clearly a violation of the mouse rules set forth my the Most Very Honored Head Mouse, but Despereaux doesn't care. In fact, he's already broken many of the rules like being seen by a human, reading books instead of eating them, being touched by a human, and talking to a human. For his crimes, he is sent to the Dungeon where the rats will rip him apart and eat him. He is scared but trying to be brave for Princess Pea, his fair maiden.

This story is also about Roscuro, who although he is a rat, loves the light. He is strongly discouraged by his rat friend, Boticelli, to not indulge in his need to be near the light, but he cannot resist. In his attempt to see more light, he falls out of the chandelier in the dining room of the castle and accidentally kills the queen. He is forever on a mission to destroy Princess Pea for calling him a rat while wearing a face of utter disgust. He spends his time in the dark dungeon, waiting for the opportunity to see revenge.

Miggery Show, Mig for short, is a simple-minded, ugly girl who has only one desire: to be a princess. When Roscuro hears of this, he is quick to act, promising Mig that if she helps him then she can take the place of Princess Pea. He has Mig pull a knife on the princess and take her to the dungeon with the prisoners, not realizing that she would never be able to take the place of the beautiful princess. The princess, in an act of love and bravery, simply asks Mig what she wants. This is a question that no one has ever asked Mig and she responds by saying that she just wants her mother. The princess feels empathy and the two commiserate together.

Even though the story is not a "happily ever after" ending, there are some wonderful things that happened as a result of some selfless acts. Roscuro was allowed by the princess to visit the light upstairs but he never truly felt like he belonged in either place. Mig didn't become a princess, but she was reunited with her father who treated her like a princess for the rest of her life. Despereaux, although he did not marry the princess, became good friends with her and they had many adventures together.

I chose this high fantasy book because it had been sitting on my classroom's "Award Winning" shelf for years. I had never read it, but decided that I would give it a try. I loved it, of course, and look forward to finally using it in the classroom for something other than a dust collector.

There are many activities that a teacher can do to get a response from readers, but I think there is one thing that would make the most difference in the reader's mind. Although it seems that Despereaux, Roscuro, and Mig are all completely different, they are truly similar in so many ways. If a student thought about this after reading, they could discuss with each other, all the ways the characters are similar and what one thing makes them the most different. It would also be interesting to note whether or not the students enjoyed the way the narrator talked to the reader. To enforce the beliefs of Aidan Chambers, the students could hold discussions on whether they liked it, did not mind it, hated it, find a relation to another book, or practice it in their own writing.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Lin, G. (2009). Where the mountain meets the moon. New York, NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Read on June 11, 2012. This book is a 2010 Newbery Honor Book.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a traditional folk/fairy tale about a little girl named Minli who is seeking to find out what her family can do to change their fortune. She sets out on a journey to the Old Man of the Moon, who lives at the top of Never-Ending Mountain. Before she leaves, she gets directions from a talking goldfish. Along the way, she meets up with quite a cast of characters reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. There's Goldfish Man, Magistrate Tiger, Dragon, greedy monkeys, talking goldfish, twins named A-Fu and Da-Fu, and eventually the Old Man of the Moon. When you read this book, you will find that Minli makes a very unselfish decision when talking to the Old Man of the Moon and her family's fortune does, indeed, forever change.

Besides this book being an award winner, I chose this book because a student recommended it to me. She read it for Battle of the Books and loved it! I did not think I could ever like a book about dragons and Chinese fables. I was also a little intimidated by the sheer size of this book, but I am SO glad that I gave this book a shot because it was one of the best books I've read in a while.

I love how every tale that is told makes reference to something you read in a previous chapter, tying it all together to create a big picture at the end. For example, the story talks about an angry Magistrate who longs to be part of a royal family. The page in his destiny book told him that his son would marry a grocer's daughter. Since this was clearly unacceptable, he decided to kill the girl. We find out in a later chapter that the son did marry someone from royalty, but she had a strange habit of always wearing a flower on her head. When he questioned her about it, she told him of a crazy man who tried to kill her. When the girl's parents died, she was sent to live with the king, making her royalty but still a grocer's daughter. Guess who the crazy man was?? That's right, the Magistrate! There are many more tales like this one and all of them will have you saying, "So that's why the author mentioned that!".

The way the author uses descriptive language, lends itself to active reading the whole time (Fish), as they imagine how cold Minli is climbing the mountain, the sadness her parents feel when she disappears in search of changing the family's destiny, and the ladder that Minli used to climb up and see the Old Man of the Moon. Students, after having read the book, can illustrate one of the tales told in the story to help solidify what they read (Keene and Zimmerman, Mosaic of Thought).http://heavymedalbooks.blogspot.com/2012/06/where-mountain-meets-moon.html

Lon Po Po

Young, E. (1989). Lon po po: A red-riding hood story from China. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Read on June 1, 2012.

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China, by Ed Young, is a traditional story that takes the shape of a fable. I chose it for two main reasons: it is a Caldecott Award winner (1990) and I love reading books that are compared to another version.

It is similar to the familiar story that we all know and love in that there is a wolf who is pretending to be their grandma (Po Po). The similarities end there.

When three sisters are left home alone, a stranger comes visiting. Their mother has gone to visit Po Po and has instructed the girls that they are to lock the door and not let any strangers in. Tao, Paotze, and Shang have every intention of following their mother's instructions, until their grandma comes knocking at their door. Against their better judgement, they let Po Po in only to discover that she is actually a wolf. There's none of the traditional, "Grandma, what big eyes you have," instead, the children point out things like their Po Po has seemingly grown a bush on her backside. Once the sisters realize what is going on, they are quick to act! They lure the wolf out of the house and play a string of tricks on him until he is climbing a tree. When he falls from the tree, the author notes that the wolf not only broke his head, but also his heart. In a weird way, the author's choice of words has me feeling sorry for the wolf for having to suffer, but then I remember that he was about to eat 3 children and feel sorry no more.

The illustrations in this book are similar to that you might see in a dream. They are not the sharp images that you might see in a book by Chris VanAllsburg, but rather they are flat and simple. This type of art is known as primitive, folk art. The pictures, flat or not, are beautiful and you can tell they've been done with some sort of paintbrush.

To get students engaged in this book, and to illicit student response, I've thought of some activities. The first, and most obvious, would be to compare this book to its multiple versions. Since the story takes place in China, there are some words that could present a challenge to some students, therefore, the students could work together for this activity (Langer, sociocognitive theory). They could also benefit from sharing what they liked about the book compared with others of the same tale, any connections they made while reading, or anything they had difficulty understanding (Chambers, 3 sharings). I can't wait to use this book in my classroom and think of even more activities to get the students actively engaged.

Ready, Set, GO!!

It's time to step away from the Kindle, and the last Fifty Shades, and pick up some high quality children's literature.

I went to library today, a place I haven't been in 4 years (!!), to renew my library card and pay any late fees. A dollar later, I'm browsing the children's section to find books for my challenge. After searching and searching by author, I realized that the books I need are clearly marked with a sticker that classifies the winners of the Caldecott Award--my job just got a lot easier!

Eight books later, I'm practically skipping out of the library! I love reading and I can't wait to get started on my challenge of reading a book a day.

I was fortunate enough to find one of this year's honor books AND one of the earlier Caldecott winners. My first two books, which I'll be posting about a little bit later, are Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell and Finders Keepers (1951) by William Lipkind and Nicolas Mordvinoff.

My first books...just waiting to be read.