Reflection on Class So Far

So far I am loving this class. I really enjoy getting to branch out and read different types of picture books that I had no idea about before this class. This course is helping me understand the types of books I enjoy reading as well as the ones I do not care for. This is helping me build on authors I enjoy reading as well as illustrators. This class has also helped me focus more of the book than just the words; it has really helped me look more into the illustrations as well as meaning that may be behind the cover, back cover, inside flap, etc. This course is helping me really read a picture book and get as much out of it that will help me build on my class library when I have my own class as well as what books I will want to make sure I read to my students. This course is also helping me read more and more novels that students read. This is helping me get an idea of what students are reading as well as reacting to things that happen throughout the book. Reading the different novels is helping me think more about when I am teaching, to read for meaning and examining what I will want to make key points to talk to my students about through the reading. So far I have enjoyed this class and can't wait to see what all we do the rest of the semester!

Goldilicious

Goldilicious by Victoria Kann is geared towards children ages 5-8. This story is a sequel t the New York Times bestselling PINKALICIOUS and PURPLICIOUS books. In this book, a new magical character comes to life, Goldilicious, a unicorn owned by Pinkalicious. Goldilicious, also called Goldie, is Pinkalicious’ pet unicorn that can roller-sate, kite-fly, high jump and can protect Pinkalicious from the evil wizardry of her little brother. Together this duo can conquer anything. This is a wonderful story that helps show imagination and creativity of young kids. I liked reading this story as well as looking through the illustrations. I can picture a young girl and brother going through this in their imagination of play throughout the day. I thought the illustrator did a great job on the illustrations because they are eye catching in the match up of pink and yellow being bright colors and easy to catch ones eye. This book could be read at home with kids or also in a classroom. I think the best time this story could be read as a read-aloud would be when discussing creative pieces or having an assignment where students can write stories on whatever they would like.

What Would You Do If You Lived at the Zoo?

What Would You Do If You Lived at the Zoo? by Nancy White Carlstrom and illustrated by Lizi Boyd is a peekaboo book geared towards children ages 3 -6. I like this story. The illustrations are less realistic and with the different, bright colors throughout the page help bring out the different shapes. This book would be helpful to read to younger kids that would help them learn their shapes, colors, and animals at the zoo all at once in a fun way. This story would make most sense being read at pre-school or at home with younger aged children.

One Day at Wood Green Animal Shelter

One Day at Wood Green Animal Shelter by Patricia Casey is geared towards children ages 5 – 8. I really enjoyed this picture book. Patricia wrote it as a journal, in a way, as one of the days she went to the animal shelter. On the first page she writes a letter to the reader saying that one day she just decided to take her camera and pencil to the shelter so she could write this book. This book would be helpful to read to children who have never gone to an animal shelter before, or if they are studying animals, or just like going to the animal shelter and want to read about someone else’s experience. The one thing I really enjoyed about this book is the pictures and how the author set up or designed the pages. The illustrations are like collages. She had taken pictures of the real animals and collages them in there where they go in the cartoon-like pictures. The different colors she used, I liked. I also really liked how the text is in boxes next to the picture of the animal it is relating to. I think this story would be good to read to kids in a classroom setting or even at home.

Miss Fox's Class Goes Green

Miss Fox’s Class Goes Green by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Anne Kennedy is geared towards students ages 4-8. This story is about a classroom ‘going green’ and changing the way they were living to help the environment. I would recommend reading this book to a classroom at the beginning of the school year and work on recycling and ‘going green’ the entire school year. I saw this book at the curriculum lab when I wrote a lesson plan on a recycled project and I was so excited to read it because I could tie it in with that lesson! I really enjoyed this story and I think that Anne Kennedy did really well on the illustrations. She started the book on the inside cover of different ideas of going green written all over the page. The color throughout the story is bright and helps read the story, the pictures go well with the story and what is going on. I feel the illustrations really help tell the story and I would recommend reading this to a class or at home with kids!

What's the Big Secret?

What’s the Big Secret? By Laurie Krasny Brown, Ed.D., and Marc Brown is geared towards children ages 4-8. This book is an informational picture book that helps explain difficult questions kids ask about sex and other sexual oriented questions. It is informational and would be good for a parent to read to their kids so that their kids would be informed about differences between boys and girls and other things the book discusses when the kid brings up such a question. I do not think this book would be appropriate to read to a classroom as a read –aloud. It would not be appropriate for a lower elementary education classroom, but could be in an upper grade level classroom if students take it seriously. I feel the only way it would be read in a classroom is when teachers are discussing puberty with students. The illustrations throughout this book are good and mostly realistic and are good for informational purposes. The illustrations of the people are realistic but cartoon-like at the same time; I think this is good because it helps kids stay engaged in the information being discussed.

What a Truly Cool World

What a Truly Cool World by Julius Lester and Joe Cepeda is a picture book geared towards children ages 4-7. This story is about the creation of the Earth by a Native American looking God and angels. The story has a fun way of explaining the creation of the Earth as well as things on the Earth like animals, flowers, music, for a few examples. I really enjoyed this story because I thought it has a good message and I enjoyed the illustrations because they used bright color and happy things going on. I think this story would be good to read at home or in a Sunday school class but, because of the controversies on religion would not be a good idea to read as a read-aloud in a classroom. I think that it may be OK to have it on the classroom library shelf; you would probably have to discuss it with administration before putting in there, just to make sure it will not cause any future problems.

Why Heaven is Far Away by Julius Lester and Joe Cepeda

Why Heaven is Far Away by Julius Lester and Joe Cepeda is the sequel to the story What a Truly Cool World. This story is geared towards students ages 6-8. This sequel brings back the angel characters from the first story to help bring together community, cooperation, and kindness. It does this while explaining why heaven is now so far away from earth because it used to be that you could go back and forth between heaven and earth by a latter. This sequel did the same as the first, in my opinion, in telling reasons things have happened in a creative way. I think that this story is a good example of being creative and thinking outside the box of why things are the way they are. The illustrations in this book are as good as the first; they are bright colored and help explain the text more. This is a good story, but because of the controversial issues of religion it would not be a good idea to read this in a classroom, but would be good to read it to a kid at home or even in a Sunday school class.

All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman

All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Marc Boutavant is geared towards ages 3 to 6. In just flipping open the cover it has a saying which I really like, "families, families, all kinds of families. Families are people and animals, too. but all sorts of other things fit into families. Look all around and you'll see that they do!" ...a little bit down the inside flap it has another saying that says, "play families, real families, all kinds of families. Think of the families, the ones that you're from. Someday you'll grow up and you'll have a new family and you'll be the family of families to come!" I like these sayings; these are lovely and show how families are. There is not one family that is the same, there are all sorts of families and that is ok. These two sayings help explain the story. The story is explaining that there are different kinds of families everywhere, not just in people but in other things like a fork and a spoon, for example. I really enjoyed this story as well as the different illustrations throughout the book. They were so bright and colorful. Each picture was different in its own way and helped explain the words in the text more clearly. This story was also fun to read because it was rhyming and I really enjoy rhyming. I also thought this story showed a good message that there is no family that is the same, whether it is different things as well as in people. Each family is unique in it's own way and it is ok. This story would be good to read to children whether at home or in the classroom. Either way, I find the story to portray a good message to students that every family is different, and it is ok that their friends have different living situations as them and that it does not matter.

The Misfits, by James Howe

The Misfits, by James Howe is a "timely, sensitive, laugh-out-loud must-read." says a voice of Youth Advocates. I agree. This novel is told in the voice of a twelve year old boy, Bobby Goodspeed, who works in the tie section of the men's section of a department store. Bobby and his friends: Addie, JoDan, and Skeezie are 'misfits'. They don't really fit in with other kids. They are all different. For example, Addie is always trying to stand up for herself and her freedom, even if its against the rules, JoDan also known as Joe is gay, Skeezie is against love and lazy, and Bobby is a fat kid. All have been friends for a long time because their differences with other people brought them together. One quote that I liked from the first half of the book is in chapter 12, Bobby has just figured this out, "This business of really knowing people, deep down, including your own self, it is not something you can learn in school or from a book. It takes your whole being to do it -your eyes and your ears, your brain and your heart. Maybe your heart most of all." I thought it was a good thought that he came up with. This book is geared towards10 -14 year olds. I think even older people can read it and get something out of it. This book shows a lot about different people, different thoughts, and accepting things that have gone on and will go on. I have enjoyed reading it so far, it is fun that it is written in the eyes of a twelve year old so you can see how a kid would write, in their thought process, and speak. I think this book would be good to be read in a junior high/middle school and high school class setting. It shows and discusses a lot of controversial issues and would be great to have classroom discussions with. I am looking forward to reading the remainder of the book.
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After reading the rest of the book I really enjoyed it. I feel like it has a lot of key points that a lot of young teens face. There were two quotes that I agreed with a lot and wanted to put on here. The first was on page 95, "when you're living through them, events are nothing more than stuff that happens. You're not thinking about significance. Significance only comes when you look back at your life. At the moment, what you're thinking is whether you've got enough money in your pocket for hot fudge or you should just order a single scoop." I really agree with this quote, its not something you think about in your day to day life but then when you look back after a year or so you think of whether something was significant or not. Another quote I really agree with is towards the end of the book, "the way I look at it, love does not necessarily make for a happy ending any more than winning does. What makes for a happy ending is what Addie said all along: freedom. The freedom to be who you are without anybody calling you names." I agree with this quote too because everyone should be able to be who they are without being made fun of.