The Giver - Modern Fantasy

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is an intriguing story of a young boy in a seemingly Utopian society. When people get old they are put into a home for the old; at a certain point, they are "released." Children are placed in homes by the people in charge of the society. Every family gets two children. Everything is arranged for the people of the society. When they turn 12, everyone in the society is given their job so they can start training. Young Jonas, the main character, is given the job of "the receiver." He goes to the old receiver to get all the memories of the past that nobody else in the society has, such as fire, snow, even war. Everything has been so controlled in this environment that nobody else knows about these things.

I loved this book! Though there are some heavy issues in this book, I believe that if discussed properly, this book would be appropriate for a middle school classroom. The writing was excellent and at times I felt as though I were actually a part of the story. I see why this won the Newberry award!

The Lorax - Illustrator Study

I loved The Lorax by Dr. Seuss! This is the second book I read by Dr.Seuss for my illustrator study. This is the story of the once-ler and the lorax. The once-ler came to this beautiful land with the Truffula treas and the brown Bar-ba-loots and the Swomee-Swans and the Humming-Fish. Everyone is happy, but then the once-ler cuts down a tree to make a thneed. The lorax comes out of a tree and warns him not to cut out the trees, but the once-ler doesn't listen. Soon it's too late; the once-ler has cut down all the trees and has smogged up all the air. The brown Bar-ba-loots, the Swomee-Swans, and the Humming-Fish have all gone away because it is no longer a nice place to live.

This book sends a great message about the environment to children. The end says that "UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." He tells the boy he was telling the story to that he should plant a Truffula seed and grow more Truffula trees. I would love to use this book as a fun way to teach my students about the environment. As for the illustrations, this book used strong illustrations to show the intensity of the pollution that occurred when the once-ler cut down all the trees and built his factory.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish - Illustrator Study

One fish two fish red fish blue fish, by Dr. Seuss, is the first book I read for our illustrator study. The story is complete nonsense. Every two pages is a different set of rhymes, usually about some goofy made-up animal. I loved it! It could be a really fun way to teach students about rhyming. Many of the words were made up but it was descriptive enough so that one could easily tell what they meant. I would read this to my students if we were talking about rhymes. Everyone loves Dr. Seuss!!

As for the illustrations in this book, from what I remember they seem to be similar to the illustrations in other Dr.Seuss books. This seems fairly obvious to me being as the same mad illustrated them, but I believe some of the cartoons are actually the same from book to book.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type - Required Reading

Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type, by Doreen Cronin is about a group of cows on a farm. One day, they find the farmer's old typewriter. They decided to write to the farmer asking for electric blankets because the farm is cold at night. They refuse to give milk and the hens refuse to give eggs until the farmer gives them electric blankets. Finally, the farmer sends duck with a compromise; the cows will get electric blankets if they give the typewriter to duck so he can bring it back to the farmer. All is well with the cows, but the typewriter never leave the hands of the ducks... they want a diving board!

I loved this book! I read it to the five-year-old girl I babysit and she enjoyed it too. She liked the repetitive "click, clack, moo! Click, clack, moo!" However, she had some trouble with the final "Clickety Clack moo!" I would read this with kindergartners or maybe first graders but probably not older than that. This book could be a way to start a discussion about letter writing. I believe it would be a hit in a primary classroom.

Daddy's Roommate - Banned or Challenged Book

Daddy's Roommate was written and illustrated by Michael Willhoite. This is the book my group chose to do our banned/challenged book study on. This book tells the story of a young boy whose parents are divorced. His dad has a new "roommate." Throughout this book, the boy's mother is explaining things that his daddy and daddy's roommate like to do together. They do such things as cook together, watch TV together, and even fight together, but they always make up. At the end of the book, his mom explains that "Daddy and Frank are gay" and that "Being gay is just one more kind of love." This book has large, colorful pictures along with one sentence on each page. It is clearly intended for young children around kindergarten or first grade.

I felt that this book could be good. It was a very direct book that discussed this boy's family. I would use this book as a discussion about different types of families. I do not think it is necessary to discuss whether one should or should not be gay/lesbian, but I do think it is necessary for students to understand that while some people have one parent or divorced parents, some people have gay/lesbian parents. With the exception of the page where it said that the boys daddy and Frank sleep together, I thought this would be a good reference for a discussion on this type of family. The sleeping together part I had a problem with because most books about heterosexual parents don't even mention/show them sleeping together, so why was it necessary here? Other than that, I thought that this book was informative and told enough while seeming to keep the focus on what they do as a family.

The Ugly Duckling - Traditional Literature

I almost forgot how much I loved the story of The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Anderson, until I re-read this favorite classic. This particular version was illustrated by Robert Van Nutt. In this story, a duckling was the last of his brothers and sisters to hatch. When he was born, his mother defended him but all the other animals called him ugly. All his life, he gets made fun of and ends up with VERY low self-esteem. Even the hen and the cat and the dogs won't treat him as an equal; they all look down on him. No matter what he does, the poor duckling seems never to fit in. In the end, he decides to join the swans because he would rather be pecked to death by them then live more of his life in mental anguish. It turns out, however, that he is a SWAN! He is the most beautiful swan of all, even the swans agree!
I love this story! It is a great story about self-esteem. This duckling had very low self-esteem throughout his whole life, but he needn't have. Students should learn from this book that things are not always as they appear. At first, this "duckling" appeared ugly and a misfit, but later, we learn that he is a beautiful swan. I would love to read this book again and would definitely have a version of this story in my classroom.

Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair - Required Reading

I enjoyed Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair, by Patricia Polacco, but not as much as I enjoyed her other books. This book was about a town who watched TV all the time. They didn't read books. In fact, books were used to fix potholes, leaky roofs, and, most importantly, the Triple Creek Dam. Eli's Aunt Chip stays in bed all the time and doesn't even own a television set. One day, she starts to teach Eli how to read. He hadn't even known that books were for reading! When he knows how to read, all the other kids want to know how. One day, he reaches to grab Moby Dick out of a wall of books and realizes that he just took a chunk out of the dam! All of the books fly everywhere and it is a mess! Everyone's televisions stop working and they are mad. Eventually, all the kids say they will teach their parents and grandparents to read. The town rebuilds the library and Aunt Chip is the librarian!

As I said, I did not enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Patricia Polacco's other books. I found it interesting, though, that the pictures of many of the children were the same as the children in her other books. When I read her other book, I felt as though I was really part of the story. I felt as if I were in a real story that could actually have happened. Though this book made a good point about the importance of reading, I did not feel nearly as connected to the story as I did in The Butterfly or Pink and Say or even Chicken Sunday. Of the four books by this author, this is the one I would be least likely to have in my classroom. I feel that there are other books that better get across the message of the importance of reading.