Alice the Fairy; David Shannon

Alice the Fairy by David Shannon is one of my favorite children books because at one point when your a child (even me) fantasies about being something other than an ordinary kid. This book is fun and amazing. On the first page of the book David Shannon starts Alice's imagination by saying "My name is Alice, I'm a fairy! I'm not a permanent fairy. I'm a temporary fair. You have to pass a lot of test to be a permanent fairy." This book allows children and adults to experience imagination. His drawings are also very good bringing the reader into the story to capture the idea of how a child believes they are a fairy. This book also extends children's vocabulary skills because he uses many big words a child might not know. David Shannon is highly praised for his children's books. He also wrote No, David which we read in class a few weeks ago. From the book No, David! he received the Caldecott Honor Book, an ALA Notable Children's Book, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. David Shannon also wrote two other books about David, David Goes to School and David Gets in Trouble. All three books about David have been best sellers. If you have not read Alice the Fairy I highly recommend this book. David Shannon is an outstanding writer and if you are going to be a teacher, you should definitely have a few of his books in your classroom!

During my senior year of high school I went to a middle school everyday for an hour to help a teacher in her 5th grade classroom. Throughout the year they read many different books, but the one that sticks out the most to me was the time in the year when they read "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls. I don't remember if I read it in the 5th grade because I went to the same middle school that I was helping out at but it was the first time I heard and took it in as more of an adult than a child. Just a brief summary of the book if it is not coming back to you is that there is a little boy named Billy and he raises enough money to buy 2 coonhounds so he can use them to go hunting so he can sell the hides. After many adventures, Billy is attacked by a mountain lion, and with the help of his dogs he escapes but one of the dogs is fatally wounded and the other dog dies with a heartache. What Ican remember most if the different reactions of the students. Some of the children just did not really care and were doing it because that is what the assignment was and they had to do it. But other students cried because the dogs were not just Billy's dogs but I think they felt apart of the adventures with the dogs. It just really showed me that books can mean so many things to different students and me being a future teacher, I need to be able to handle all of the different attitudes and emotions of the books I use in my classroom.

Working in a pre-school room with two year olds, it is always fun to find good books that the children can really interact with, one of my favorites is, Go Away Big Green Monster! By Ed Emberley. This book uses exciting illustrations that really jump out at children and short simple phrases that get them interested in the book. It begins by describing what the scary monster looks like from his long green nose to his sharp white teeth, finally at the end of the book the children get to shout, "go away big green monster and don't come back until I say so!". The children in my classroom really get a kick out of this book and actually have it memorized. If you ever need a good children's book that will catch even a two year olds attention, I strongly recommend Go Away Big Green Monster! By Ed Emberley.

Shel Silverstein, how I love him!

So now that we are moving on to the poetry unit, I couldn't help but look up some of the poems that I used to love when I was a kid.  Of course, I had to google Shel Silverstein, my favorite poet from my younger days!  I read his poem, "Bear In There," and I totally remember having this read to me in second or third grade.  It is a poem about a polar bear in someone's refrigerator who eats all the food.. basically.. in a nut shell.  The poem basically describes my childhood at my elementary school.  Not to be taken literally, but I really did enjoy every one of Shel Silverstein's poems.  His poems actually got me interested in reading!  I think if I had to thank anyone for writing something so profound, but yet so simple and fun, it would have to be Shel Silverstein.  I love him and you should too!!!!  

The BFG

Being an extreme Roald Dahl enthusiast as a child (and today), I felt compelled to share with you one of my favorite works by him, entitled The BFG. The BFG stands for The Big Friendly Giant, and it's a story revolving around a girl named Sophie, who sees a giant sneaking around children's windows across the street, and then gets captured by the giant who spots Sophie looking at her and fears that she will spread rumors about the sneaking giants.

As it turns out, The BFG is the only nice giant in existence, and he lives among children-eating cannibals who love to eat "human beans".

As it turns out, the reason the BFG was sneaking around to children's windows is not because he was going to eat the children, but because his hobby is to create happy dreams for sleeping kids, and then he blows the blob-like dreams into children's windows through a long trumpet-like instrument. He tries to change kids' opinions of giants in general through happy dreams.

Overall, the book is absolutely fantastic, and is presented in classic Dahl form - full of creative made-up words and spoonerisms, fantastic adventures, and of course, the extremely adventourous relationship between a child and a fantastical being.

I would recommend this book to anybody looking for a quick but great read that will send you soaring into a nostalgic mist.

5 stars.
*****


evan.

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil

This was one of the books I read after the graphic novels section, I used to be all about reading comic books when I was younger but I had not read one in a long time, but after reading Shazam, I got back into reading comic books. It a really good comic about a homeless boy named Billy Batson who follow a shadow that looks like his father, but instead of finding his father he find a Wizard that turns Billy into a Super Hero, well more like put a Super Hero in Billy. At this time he also finds out he as a sister. It get even better I just don’t want to spoil the comic for anyone that is going to read it. It has great art, with semi-gloss paper, so it a very nice looking comic on top of a great read.

Where the Wild Things Are....

Since I am an advertising major and I don't have really any interaction with younger kids, I'm not "up" on what's going on in the kids realm these days. But after reading/discussing "Where the Wild Things Are" I have begun to realize what a popular book it is among kids. I saw a copy of the book this weekend at Uncle John's Cider Mill and it was also mentioned in the book I was reading ("Forgotten" by Mariah Stewart). I Thought it was an odd coincidence at Uncle John's but after it was mentioned in my book I began to understand what a phenomenon this book is among kids. 

The Tomato Collection

Since this week’s topic is children’s poetry, I thought it would be appropriate to share one of my favorites. After doing the reading for this week, I was immediately reminded of children’s poet Kevin Kammeraad and went home to find his book, The Tomato Collection. This poet gave a presentation at my elementary school when I was in 5th grade and I bought an autographed copy of his book. The illustrations and photographs in this book are some of the most creative I have seen. There is an extremely diverse range of poems from his laugh-out-loud Little Low One to his senseless Norwood to his inspirational Natalie. There are so many wonderful poems in this collection and I encourage you to read some of them on his website.

Kammeraad grew up in Michigan and went to school at Grand Valley State University. I think that supporting local authors is really important and I hope that you all enjoy his poems as much as I do. I looked up his website to see if he had published anything since that presentation nine years ago and it turns out that he has two other poetry collections (A Curious Glimpse of Michigan and I Remember…) and was an illustrator for the book How Much Wood Could A Woodchuck Chuck.

Where the Wild Things are

After going over what everybody was assigned for the book discussion on "Where the Wild Things are," I was really fascinated by what my peers came up with. For example, I thought that seeing the moon as a symbolic image to represent Max's mother was incredibly interesting. I had never thought of it like that before, and after that point was raised in class, it made me see the moon in a whole new way. It totally makes sense that the moon in some way or another could represent his mom because as soon as he went away to "where the wild things are," the moon was small and insignificant, signifying that Max was unhappy with his mother after she sent him to his room without supper. As time passed, he probably was less and less upset with his mom, and that would make sense that the moon would increasingly get larger in the illustrations. The moon was also pictured numerous times in the book, indicating that his mother was always somewhat "watching over him." I just thought that viewpoint was really cool and a new way to look at images and their meaning. I wasn't too sure what to expect on the first book discussion, but now I can't wait to hear the next one just because I love everybody's interpretations and opinions. It really opens me up to looking at text as well as pictures in a whole new way.

Oprah's Book Club

I don't know if any of you are fans of Oprah...but I actually just had the opportunity to be in her audiance on Friday. It was an awesome experience and it just so happends that she announced her new book for her book club that morning. It's called "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and I've already begun reading it. It really is an awesome book so far and I've only reached the 3rd chapter. I know this does not follow our theme of CHILDREN'S LIT, but I figured that this being a literature course in general, there may be others who are interested :) I definately recommend it...happy reading!

Yertle the Turtle

Has anyone read "Yertle the Turtle" by Dr. Seuss?  I was at home this weekend and found it in my closet.  It is the story of a humble turtle that becomes king through a lucky sneeze.  I'm not in the TE program, but for everyone who is, I strongly recommend picking this one up for one of your classes.  

Where the Wild Things Are

Hey everyone! I know this is kind of after the fact but I found the critical analysis on Where the Wild Things Are to be quite interesting. As part of my response I talked about dominence and power relating to eye contact and how American society holds eye contact to such high importance. I thought it was interesting how the wild thing's eyes were yellow which made them stand out to me and signified importance. I related this to what Max said about how he "did a magic trick" on them by staring into their eyes without blinking which was a challenge of dominance where the weaker one will look away first... like in the animal world where looking into another animals eyes signifies a challenge of power.
I dont think i will ever look at these childrens books the same after this class!

Artistic Response

I just wanted to let people know that I enjoyed doing the artistic response. Hopefully when it is your turn to do the artistic response you will also enjoy it. It is a great opportunity to be creative and have fun with the homework as well as extend your understanding of the reading.

Moo Ba La La La

Moo Ba La La La is a famous children's book by Sandra Boynton and includes characteristics that make is stand out from other children's books. I was drawn to this book because I am from a farm first of all and I was able to relate to the book and also bring back memories from my childhood. When children are young I think it is important they learn about animals, because children are naturally attracted to animals. Children love to visit zoo's and farms, and have pets around there home because it gives them something to play with and also entertains them. The book introduces animals to children in a great way because it allows them to sing and dance along to the animal sounds. The books starts by introducing the sound of a cow and then a sheep, and as the story goes on a pig is introduced singing "La, La,La" just to make sure the children are paying attention. The book teaches children sounds of many other animals including rhinoceroses, dogs, cats, horses, ducks, and kittens. Children being listening to the animal sounds to help them to interact and become involved with the book. At the end of the book, it provides an opportunity for children to participate and practice the animal sounds. The books say "Its quiet now,_____ what do you say?" This allows the reader to interpret which animal sound they liked and practice the sound. This enables a connections for a child because the child becomes part of the book and is able to not only learn something, but also engage by singing and dancing. I wanted to blog about this book because right away I felt a connection with the book because of my childhood. I lived on a farm with cattle and horses, it brought back memories from when I would go out to the pastures and want to pet the animals and I would sing the sound of the animal to try and get its attention. For example " I would say mooooo, and hope the cow would come towards me." I hope that children have the opportunity to read this book, even if a child goes to an inner city school, because animals are important to child's life in many ways.

Flowers in the Attic

I haven't read Flowers in the Attic or an book by V.C. Andrews for that matter in the past two years and out of the blue I hear this girl telling her friend about Flowers in the Attic outside on a Friday night at 3am! So I though it was necessary for me to re-visit the book and the Dollanganger family series. I spent my entire high school career hooked on V.C. Andrews (and of course Harry Potter.) I actually got started reading the series when my mother's friend from work was about to have a yard sell and she had just about every single book V.C. Andrews ever wrote and being the avid reader I was I took a few and was hooked. I ended up on ebay at least 3 times a month looking for the missing books in my series that I hadn't bought the first time. Anywhoo, I was wondering if anyone else ever read Flowers in the Attic or any of the family sagas from V.C. Andrews? Or have you ever read anything in comparison to it because I love series and things with a lot of twist.

The Yellow Umbrella

Hi everyone!
I'm an artsbridge scholar at MSU and so to me I have the best job ever! I go to elementary classrooms and teach them through creative movement. All last year I was in a 4th and 5th grade split, but for my TE301 class I was placed in a kindergarten class. I was able to do some of the creative movement stuff with my kindergarteners as well when my teacher had spare time. This year I might be in the kindergarten classroom and if not I'm going to be doing something similar in that classroom through the outreach program I'm involved in through Orchesis dance at MSU. Anyway, the point of this is that I'm really interested in using the book The Yellow Umbrella that we dealt with in class this week. I think the kindergarteners would love it, especially with the music. I'm thinking of having them look at the book one time through to tell the story to themselves. I would then discuss with them about the stories that they found and any questions that they have. Then I'm thinking of playing the music again with the book and having them put movement to it. They could maybe work in groups and then share with the class, or even just do it as an entire class. I'm debating on if i want to use the words or not. I'm maybe thinking about having some groups use words and others not. And then after they all share with the class I would discuss with them the difference that the words make on the story and the movement that they put to it. Or i could have them as a class do it once without words and then once with words. What do you think? Any suggestions? I'd love to hear any opinions and/or ideas or anything to add!!! Thanks!
Shayna

Session 5: Poetry!

No class Tuesday, 9/23! This week is intended to be "off" so that you can start your library/bookstore visits!

When we meet for session 6, we'll be exploring the genre of Poetry and taking a look at multi-vocal texts.

Here are some questions to help you focus your reading:

• Poetry: C & G, Ch 4 (and Apol/Harris )

• How is the genre defined? How is it meant to be experienced? (Is this what we see in schools?)
• What range of poetry is available to young readers?
  
• How might we evaluate poetry? How might conventional understandings of form, etc. help us? (Scare us? Excite us? We'll spend some time unpacking our own histories with poetry!!!)

I've said this to each of the sections, but I want to reiterate: The quality of conversation in the class depends largely on you! Please come prepared, with your textbook! Preparing for class is part of your full participation in class!

Don't forget that the facilitator and artistic response people from Where the Wild Things Are need to submit their second papers to the appropriate dropbox by 6 pm on Monday, 9/22.

"Sick" by Shel Silverstein

I know that we will not talk about children's poetry until 2 weeks from now, but after leaving class I was trying to think of some children's poems that I know. The first thing that came to my mind was the poem "Sick" by Shel Silverstein from his book Where the Sidewalk Ends. I don't know if anybody else remembers this poem from when they were younger, but this was my favorite. In fact, in 4th grade we had to recite a poem in front of the class and we would get extra credit if we memorized it. I remember reciting that poem hundreds or times a day and I would act in out in front of my family also. When I looked it up on the Internet there were parts that I didn't even need to look at the page I could still remember it! But I will try and see if my parents still have this book of poems and bring it to class next time, because there are many great poems in the book. Just thought I would share my memory will all of you guys!!

Pinnochio

This weekend I went home and was looking through some of my old children's books and ran across an old book.  It's a 1965 edition of Pinnochio that actually used to be my mom's book when she was a little girl.  I realized that I had never actually read the whole story so have started reading it as part of the daily reading challenge.  I find it quite surprising how different this book is from the Disney version of Pinnochio that I'm used to.  Much more bad things happen to him in the book than the movie and I find myself surprised at some points that this book is for children.  Has anyone else ever felt that way while reading a children's book?

Library Cards

I was at the East Lansing Library the other day and one of the librarians said that you can get a
6 month library card for $12. (If you rent or own within East Lansing, it's free.)

If you don't already belong to a library, I encourage you to join! Not only will it make our class assignments easier to do, but the library has a wider selection of books than you'll find at most bookstores. I've found some of my favorite books by just browsing through the stacks!

Observing Picture Books...

During class this past week, I really wanted to point out that I enjoyed reading all the different types of books that were out around the room. By looking at other genre's it really opened my eyes to other books that I could possibly create an interest in. I had read that Three Little Pigs during our class session, and it really wasn't the same as the classic version. The one that I read had modified pigs and it just made me feel that it lost its originality. I enjoyed class this week but yet still find the roles just a little confusing. Anyone feel the same way...

Full Moon Soup or The Fall of the Hotel Splendide

During class on Monday 9/8, I mentioned the picture book entitled, Full Moon Soup, by Alastair Graham. This book is exclusively illustrations with no text. It has been a favorite of mine since I was a young girl and I think many of you will find it very entertaining to look through. It tells a story about the collapse of a hotel in a 24 hour period. The illustrations are very vivid and detailed. What makes this book so entertaining is the fact that, on each page numerous events occur and you must have a good eye to be able to pick out the abundant amount of details in the drawings. I would recommend this book to anyone. If I am able to locate this book I will make sure to bring it in for others to appreciate!

Session 4: Where the Wild Things Are discussion

In next week's session we'll be having our first small group literature discussion!

• Read Where the Wild Things Are. (I would suggest you read it several times. I usually do my first read "just for pleasure" and then do more careful reads.)
• If you don't know, check the list on Angel to see what letter you have been assigned. Then check the schedule to see what response role you will be taking on for the book.
  
• Refer to the syllabus for a description of your role and write a response. Those who are assigned artistic response need to create a response and write a paper. Those who are assigned intertextual response need to look for one or more other "texts" to bring to their reading of WtWTA.
  

• For those who are doing Textual, Critical, or Intertextual responses, submit your papers to the Angel dropbox by 6 pm the night BEFORE class meets. To clarify, you should upload your paper as an attachment. The attachment should be labeled according to the directions in the syllabus. Do NOT cut an paste your paper in the box!

• For those who are doing Artistic or Personal/Facilitator responses, remember that you need to bring your work to class as well, even though you'll be submitting parts 1 and 2 of your papers the following week.
  

• Everyone should bring a hard copy of your paper to class for reference and to give to your facilitator.

• Don't forget that you need to post or comment during the first 5 weeks of class!
  

Finally, please read and bring your copy of "Accountable Talk" (in the coursepack) to class!

Next week we'll share our responses in our small groups, debrief with the whole class, and watch a video that shows what literature circles might look like in the classroom.

Comment on this post with your questions as they occur to you! If you have a more particular question, please email me!

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

Yesterday in class, when we were going through different picture books at each table, our group started to discuss the book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein. We contemplated what genre the book would be considered because it is about a man who actually walked on a wire between the twin towers, but we were not sure if everything in the book was fact. After looking at a few reviews, I have come to the conclusion that most people consider the book a true story.

Another thing that my group was thinking about was whether or not the book was written before September 11th. At the end of the book, Gerstein mentions that the towers are no longer there and we wondering if those pages were added after 9/11 for marketing or other reasons. After class, I found out that the book was not published until 2003 and some people think that it can be used as a good way to introduce a serious topic, like 9/11, to children. It does not go into detail about the incident, but it would allow for children to ask questions and it may make it easier for parents or teachers to bring up such a serious subject. Since tomorrow is September 11th, this may be a good book to read with any children who may realize that it is a significant day but are not really sure why.

One more thing, Gerstein also wrote a highly praised book titled What Charlie Heard. This book is also about a real person, American composer Charles Ives. I have not read the book, but it sounds very interesting because its about making music and Gerstein translates noises that are usually heard into words.

Daily Reading Challenge!

If you haven't checked out the "Daily Reading" description on page 8 of the syllabus, here it is! Although we aren't going to do this as a formal assignment, I encourage everyone to participate:

Many teachers ask students to set aside time for independent reading, whether that be in the classroom setting as part of Sustained Silent Reading (S.S.R.) or Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) program or at home. The goal is to provide students with opportunities to select and read books for pleasure.

In this spirit, I will be asking each of you to set aside 30 minutes each day to read children’s or adolescent literature. (I will be participating as well!) Although you are welcome to keep track of what you are reading for your own benefit, this assignment is ungraded. Think of this as an “excuse” to settle in with a good book! (Imagine saying to your roommate, "I can’t help with the dishes right now, I’m doing my homework!")

Throughout the semester we will have class discussions about how we are selecting books and what is challenging or rewarding about this type of regular reading. As we come across books we enjoy, we’ll also have the chance to share titles with each other informally in class discussion and/or through our blog. As time permits, we may also discuss the growing number of informal book clubs and social networking sites which provide opportunities to find, share, and discuss children’s literature.

Honors Option Projects

For anyone interested in taking our class for honors, I've posted the description of the requirements and project on our Angel site.

If you are interested, please talk to me in the next couple of weeks. I'll ask you to send me an email confirming your interest (for my records) and we can start discussing which author you are interested in researching for your final project.

Session 3

Hello everyone,

We'll have two themes in sessions 3: learning to read picture books in more complex ways and practicing the different types of responses to literature so that you'll feel more comfortable preparing for our first literature discussion.

To prepare, please:

• Read chapter 2 ("The Art of Picture Books" and chapter 3 ("The Content of Picture Books") in the C & G textbook. Come prepared to apply what you are learning to some books!
• Read Rudiger (2006) "Graphic Novels 101". What are graphic novels? What types of visual literacy skills might we use to read them?
• Review the Luken's Genre chart. This will be a resources we use throughout the semester!

Optional:

• Read the Kiefer (2004) and Sipe articles. They'll provide useful vocabulary for discussing illustrations.
• Check out this post and resource on manga!
• Bring in a graphic novel, manga, or picture book that you would like to discuss.

Valerie

Inheritance Series

Hey Everyone!

I was just curious if anyone has read the Inheritance Series? They consist of Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr. Brisingr is being released September 20th. It was suppose to be a trilogy, but the 3rd book is being spilt into two books now. So if anyone reads this series or is interested in reading a fantasy series I would love blogging about it.

Also if you watched the movie... I will just say it was nothing compared to the book. It was poorly made and I was very disappointed.