Children's Literature Reviews: March 2011

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Strega Nona

Title: Strega Nona

Author: Tomie dePaola

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing

Copyright Date: 1979

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: infants- 5 year

Summary: Strega Nona is a story about an elderly woman who hires a young boy named Anthony, to help her with the chores. One day, Anthony sees Strega Nona cooking in a pot that wind up being magic and makes endless amounts of pasta. He remembers the spell that she uses, but unfortunately he doesn’t see her blow three kisses to stop the pot from producing more pasta. Strega Nona goes to visit a friend, and before she leaves she tells Anthony to stay away from the pasta pot. He ignores her advice, and invites the entire town over for some pasta. The towns’ people begin to get full, so Anthony stops feeding them, and that’s when disaster strikes. The pot keeps making pasta. More and more keep coming out, and soon the town begins to fill with pasta. Strega Nona comes home in the nick of time, and blows three kisses. She tells Anthony that he needs to start eating, because she wants to sleep in her bed. So he begins eating and eating.

Reaction: I thought this was a cute book. It actually made me laugh a bit, and I thought that it was funny how cocky Anthony was during the middle of the book. I feel that this book just goes show you that you shouldn’t do things that you don’t know the response or reaction to it.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book to children of all ages. Even I thought that it was a cute book, and I’m 22. I especially think children who want to be cooks would really enjoy this book.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t have any problems with this story. I thought it was a good story, and one that I would feel comfortable with my children reading and/or checking out from the library.

The Giving Tree

Title: The Giving Tree

Author: Shel Silverstein

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date: 1986

Pages in Book: 64 pages

Reading Level: 6-8 years

Summary: This is a cute little story about a young boy and his friendship between him and a tree. The tree is always there for the boy, giving him whatever he wants. The boy swings on his branches, sits in his shade, uses branches to build himself a home, and in the end, provides a stump for the now old man to sit upon. The tree loves the boy and gave him the ultimate sacrifice. His stump. It didn’t matter that the tree didn’t have anything to offer him in the end, because all that mattered was that they had a friendship to hold them together.

Reaction: I thought this was a very cute book, and it’s one that has a good message learned. I love how no matter what, the tree is there for him, and that’s what true friendship is. Being there and always going out of your way to help your best friend. This book makes me appreciate the friends that I do have, and the strength of each relationship. No matter who it is, I’m glad that all my friends know that I’m there for them no matter what.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book to anyone. And if the children are too young to read, then I recommend that their parents read to them. I think it’s a great book, and like I said earlier, there is a great message that is learned from it, and that message is that friendship is always strong, and willing to give all.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t have a single problem with this book. It brought me to slight tears, and if a book can do that, then I doubt there’s any way that I could find anything wrong with it.

A Single Shard

Title: A Single Shard

Author: Linda Sue Park

Genre: Historical Novel

Publisher: Random House Audio

Copyright Date: 2004

Pages in Book: 152 pages

Reading Level: 12 and up

Summary: This is about a twelve year old boy named Tree-ear, who lives under a bridge in Korea. He loves watching Min make pottery, and one day he sneaks into the potters house to look at all the creations. Tree-ear accidently breaks a box, and in order to pay the potter back, he must work off this debt for nine days. Tree-ear then attempts to make his own pot, but never gets the chance. In the end of the story, Min (the potter)’s son dies.

Reaction: It was really hard for me to get into this book. I didn’t find it very entertaining, and a lot of the time, I would get caught up in the fact that I couldn’t pronounce the character’s names. It was just a difficult book for me to read, and I didn’t find it very interesting.

Recommendation: I’m not so sure I’d recommend this book to many people. But on the other hand, I know a lot of people in the classroom thought it was an amazing book. I think I’d leave this as an option for my future students to read.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I just didn’t’ like the book. I didn’t think it was written very well, and I wasn’t impressed with the creativity.

Anne of Green Gables

Title: Anne of Green Gables

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery

Genre: Novel

Publisher: Random House Children’s Books

Copyright Date: 1982

Pages in Book: 308 pages

Reading Level: 12 and up

Summary: Anne Shirley is adopted (by accident) by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. The brother and sister need help on their farm Green Gables, and Anne is more than willing to help. She’s very quick, talkative, and has an imagination like no one can believe. She would’ve loved to go by the name of Cordelia, because she thinks it’s a beautiful name, and although she doesn’t consider herself as beautiful, she still loves the name. She quickly wins over Marilla and Matthew, because of how open and talkative she is. She has a best friend named Diana and together they hate Gilbert Blythe. After a while, Anne realizes that she no longer hates Gilbert, and they become the best of friends. She has several fun adventures with Diana, Jane and Ruby. Anne grows up and soon leaves Green Gables to go to college. Matthew dies of a heart attack, and after the funeral, Marilla learns of a bank failure. Her eyesight is failing, and because of this, Anne returns to the farm, turning down a scholarship and helps Marilla out on the farm.

Reaction: I thought that this book was incredible. It was a very sweet story, and a lot of what happened to Anne, reminded me of my childhood. She was such a happy child, and I love that she was able to make a strong relationship with her adopted parents. The author did an incredible job on this book, and kept my attention the entire time.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this story to every single child, preferably girls. But the boys might not like it as much. It was very well written, but I think I’d recommend this book to older girls, because there are some words that the children wouldn’t know or understand.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: Honestly, I don’t have a single problem with this book. It was full of adventure, emotions, imagination, etc. It was very well written, and I couldn’t find a problem with this book, even if I wanted to.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Title: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Author: Judith Viorst

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing

Copyright Date: 1987

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: 5-9 years

Summary: Alexander is a young boy that just has an absolutely horrible day. The moment that he wakes up, he finds gum in his hair. He doesn’t find a treat in his cereal, doesn’t get a window seat on the way to school, gets yelled at during school, ditched by his best friend, and has no dessert for lunch. And that’s just the beginning. Everything continues to go wrong, and Alexander hopes that by going home, it would make the day just a little bit better. But he’s wrong. He gets home and has food (lima beans) which he hates, can’t find anything good on TV., and goes to bed wearing his railroad pajama’s (ones that he hates). All he wants to do is move to Australia and get away from a place where he has horrible days.

Reaction: I thought the book was good, but slightly depressing. I doubt that even people in real life have days like this, where not a single thing goes right. It was well written, but I didn’t like the illustrations very much, and just overall wasn’t very impressed with the book.

Recommendation: Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend this book to many children. Maybe if the child was having a bad day, I’d read it to them, to let them know that their life isn’t that bad, but other than that reasoning, I doubt that I would recommend it to anyone.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I just didn’t like how everything was going wrong, and how his result for solving all his problems was to run away. That’s not the answer, and I don’t want other readers to think that that’s the way to get away from your problems, or how to solve them. Because that’s just not how it works.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Author: J K Rowlings

Genre: Fantasy/Fiction

Publisher: Scholastic

Copyright Date: 2003

Pages in Book: 766 pages

Reading Level: 9-12 years

Summary: This is the fifth of the Harry Potter series. In this book, Harry’s cousin is attacked by Dementors. He is forced to use magic to fight them off, and because of this it gets Harry in trouble. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Magic refuses to admit that Voldemort has returned. Professor Umbridge comes to Hogwarts and begins teaching the new Defense Against the Dark Arts. She single handedly begins taking down the school. Rules after rules are created, and it comes to a point where pretty much everything is against the rules. Harry, Hermione, and Ron find a secret room that allows them to practice their magic. Harry begins teaching his followers magic tricks, because it’s at the point now where they need it to survive. Harry goes into the Ministry of Magic’s building to find the record of prophecy. They are caught, and Harry and Voldemort begin fighting. His uncle Sirius Black dies in the attempt to save his godson.

Reaction: Honestly, this was my least favorite book of all the Harry Potter series. I thought that the entire book was very dreary, and boring. There wasn’t a happy part in the entire thing, and it seems like everything just went downhill from that point on. Harry lost his only last family member that was alive, and it almost seems as if that was his last chance at help. Overall, I wasn’t very impressed with this book.

Recommendation: I’d only recommend this book, because after reading the following two books, you need to know what goes on in this book to understand the following ones. If you’re really into these types of books, then I think those people would enjoy the books more than I did.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I just thought that the books were very dreary and boring. Nothing that happened was happy, and it seems that everything went from bad to worse. I just wasn’t impressed with the book. There was a lot of death, and it just got sadder and sadder as you continued reading.

Tuesday

Title: Tuesday

Author: David Wiesner

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Clarion Books

Copyright Date: 1991

Pages in Book: 30 pages

Reading Level: infant – 5 years

Summary: This is a straight up picture book. There are very few words in this book. So the story line can pretty much be anything that you make it to be. But to me, once eight o’clock hits, the frogs begin flying around the city. They fly into people’s houses, through clothes lines, at dogs, etc. Once the sun comes up, the powers fade, and they quickly hop back to their ponds, leaving the people of the city to figure out what happened during that night. Then a week later, about the same time, the pigs start flying…

Reaction: I liked this book. I thought the illustrations were good, and I like that the author left a lot of the story up to the readers’ imagination.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book to children about the ages of the reading level. I think it’s one that the children would get a giggle out of, because on what planet do frogs or pigs fly?

Potential Problems/Conflicts: The only thing that bothered me was that the frogs eyes looked rather creepy from time to time.

The Rainbow Fish

Title: The Rainbow Fish

Author: Marcus Peister

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: North-South Books, Inc.

Copyright Date: 1999

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: infants- 5 years

Summary: This is a cute story about a once rude, stuck up fish who had the most beautiful scales in the entire water. One day, a little blue fish asked him for a scale, and he angrily said no. After that, all the other fish (having heard what happened) refused to talk to him. He became miserable, and swam around, saddened that there was no one that would talk to him or admire his scales. So he went to go see the wise octopus. She/he told the rainbow fish that in order to be happy, he had to give away his silver shiny scales. He had a hard time overcoming that, but when the little blue fish returned and asked him again for a scale, Rainbow Fish hesitantly gave him one. The joyful look on that fish’s face filled Rainbow Fish with joy, and each time after that (when he had to give away a scale) he did it with joy and pleasure.

Reaction: I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was cleverly made, and I thought that the message of sharing was clear and appropriate. I think that the children who read this book would thoroughly enjoy the book, and if anything, it will make them interested in fish!

Recommendation: I’d recommend this to any child. I think all children should read this book.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I don’t have a single problem with this book. I thought it was well written and very nicely done.

Katy and the Big Snow

Title: Katy and the Big Snow

Author: Virginia Lee Burton

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Copyright Date: 1976

Pages in Book: 40 pages

Reading Level: 3-6 years

Summary: This is a story about Katy the truck. She can do anything that she puts her mind too. Nothing can stop her. In the summer, she drives the bulldozer around and helps the city of Geoppolis with their streets. Then during the winter she plows the roads clear of snow. One winter, the snow kept coming and coming and before anyone knew it, there was snow way past second stories of people homes. So out went Katy, and she dug out a path for the Fire Department, Mail man, telephone company, water company, etc. She saved the entire city, and it wasn’t until they were all saved and dug out that she went home to rest.

Reaction: I thought it was a cute story, but probably not one that I would read. I originally read the book because the main character and I have the same name, but once I started reading it, I got bored rather easily.

Recommendation: I’d definitely recommend this book to younger children. I think if older kids wanted to read this, that would be fine, but they would get bored quickly.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t like how many pages it went on and on saying that Katy dug out. After about 3 pages, I think the children would have gotten the idea, but the author kept going and going. It was a rather repetitive book.

In the Night Kitchen

Title: In the Night Kitchen

Author: Maurice Sendak

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date: 1996

Pages in Book: 40 pages

Reading Level: 3-6 years

Summary: There is a young boy named Mickey who wakes up one night to a noise from downstairs. All of the sudden, he is naked and shows up in the “night kitchen”. He falls into batter, and while he’s struggling to get out, there are three bakers that prepare the batter for cooking. He flies out of the milk bottle and helps the bakers finish making the cake. He hops back into the bottle and returns to his bed.

Reaction: I did not like this book one bit. I thought it was awful and I saw a lot of things that were as if they were connected to World War II time. The bakers looked like Hitler, and I didn’t like how he was put in the oven, naked. I thought this was an absolutely horrible book, and I wouldn’t ever read this again.

Recommendation: I wouldn’t recommend this book to a single child. Even reading it as an adult, I thought it was horrible, and there were too many connections between Hitler and the Nazi’s in this book.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I had a problem with this entire book. It was awful.

Corduroy

Title: Corduroy

Author: Don Freeman

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Penguin Group

Copyright Date: 1976

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: infant- 5 years

Summary: This is a story about a little teddy bear, which is passed up in the department store because he is missing a button. He goes in search of the button, all over the store, searching high and low. He finally finds his button, and Lisa (the girl whose mother made her pass him up) returns to the store and buys him, sews on the button and he’s brand new and has a new home.

Reaction: I have always loved this book. I thought it was so cute, and I somehow managed to find something new out of the book each and every time. I love how over everything else, Corduroy was able to find himself a home and become happy with his new friend Lisa.

Recommendation: Of course! I’d recommend this book to each and every child. I think that it’s a necessary book for each family to have in their home! It’s got a sweet message, and one that makes anyone who reads it happy.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: Not a single problem. I think this is a classic, and honestly I couldn’t find a problem wrong with this book, even if I wanted to.

Ramona Quimbly, Age 8

Title: Ramona Quimbly, Age 8

Author: Beverly Cleary

Genre: Novel

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date: 1992

Pages in Book: 208 pages

Reading Level: 9-11 years

Summary: Ramona Quimbly is a little eight year old who has everything wrong happen to her. She finally is old enough to ride the bus all by herself. She gets into her third grade classroom, and instantly connects with her teacher Mrs. Whaley. One day, she brings what she thinks is a hard-boiled egg to class and decides to crack the shell on her forehead. Unfortunately for her, the egg isn’t hard-boiled and the yolk runs all over her. She over hears her teacher saying some not nice things about her, and she’s crushed. Later on, she and her sister are forced to make dinner together, and since some of the ingredients are out, they substitute. This proves to not go quite as well as they planned, as soon as Ramona throws up in front of everyone, something that she thinks is the most embarrassing thing alive. The family has a lot of problems, and at the end of the story, Ramona’s dad takes them all out to dinner. They find out that a nice man has paid for their meals, after he asks Ramona if she’s been nice to her mom.

Reaction: I thought this book was rather cute! Wanting to be a school teacher, I liked how the teacher and Ramona had a connection. I also liked how even though several bad things happened to her, she was always the bigger person. She had so many adventures as a little girl and it made me a little envious of her. I also liked how at the end of the book, the author showed that the family was all fighting, and having trouble, but in the end, it all worked out. I made the connection that every family has problems and no matter what, at the end of the day, your family is always there for you and you can always depend on them.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this to any child. I think I would even recommend this to children younger than the recommended years, because it’s a book that the children’s parents can read to them as well.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t have any big problems with this story, but I did have a little problem with the fact that Ramona thought her teacher was talking bad about her, behind her back. Teachers, I don’t feel, should be talking down upon their students, and if they decide to…I feel that they should do that away from the school area.

Ella Enchanted

Title: Ella Enchanted

Author: Gail Carson Levine

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: HarperTrophy

Copyright Date: 1997

Pages in Book: 240 pages

Reading Level: 8-12 years

Summary: When Ella of Frell was born, a fairy named Lucinda gave her the gift of obedience. Every order that Ella was given had to be obeyed. Ella’s mother dies, and at her funeral she meets Prince Charmont. Her father sends her off to school; Mandy (her godmother) gives Ella her mother’s necklace and a magic book. At school, Hattie learns of Ella’s problem and begins taking advantage of the fact that she can never say no. Ella tries to fight every order that Hattie gives her, and after finding out that there is a wedding that her father is attending (where the fairies are also attending) and she heads towards the land where they will all be. On her way to the wedding, she is captured by ogres and Prince Char soon saves her. Ella finds Lucinda, but she refuses to retract her “curse”. Ella later meets up with Prince Char again at the wedding, and they go off and dance together. He leaves for a year, but Ella and Prince Char write each other, and quickly fall in love with each other. Sadly, Ella’s father goes out of the country and her stepmother makes Ella a slave in her own home. While a slave, Prince Char declares his love for her, but for his own protection, Ella pretends that she’s run off with another man. He’s heartbroken, but upon his return to Kyrria, Ella disguises herself so that she can go to the three day ball and see him. Mandy and Lucinda help her, and after reforming, Ella goes to the ball as Lela. On the last night of the ball, Hattie snatches the mask off Ella, forcing her to run away. Char realizes who she is and demands that she marry him. She refuses, and by doing so, she breaks the curse. She then accepts his hand in marriage and they live happily ever after.

Reaction: I thought this book was very cute! I was surprised to see how different it was from the movie! I thought that the movie would’ve at least followed some of it! But no! I loved how Ella and Char fell in love over letters, and that he still loved her after she wrote him off. It was such a cute book, and I couldn’t help but think of how happy she winded up being, even after all the problems and trials that she had in her life.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this to any child. Preferably girls, but I don’t doubt that some boys would love this one too. I think there is a great message that is portrayed here, and one that I didn’t have any problems with. I thought it was a cute book.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t have any problems with this book. It’s a lot like Cinderella, and if the children like that book, they are guaranteed to like this one as well.

The Hundred Dresses

Title: The Hundred Dresses

Author: Eleanor Estes

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Copyright Date: 2004

Pages in Book: 96 pages

Reading Level: 6-10 years

Summary: This book is about a young girl named Wanda Petronski, who is teased and picked on in school. Her fellow schoolmates make fun of her for her last name and her faded dresses. One day, Wanda claims that she owns one hundred dresses at her home, and every day, they corner her and have her describe all of her different dresses. Wanda leaves the school, and it isn’t until after she leaves that a drawing contest proves that she was telling the truth about it all.

Reaction: I thought that this story was very cute, and one that I would read again. It made me realize what children really can be like, and I thought that the author did an excellent job. It captured my attention the entire time, and I literally wanted to see what the dresses all looked like. To have that kind of an imagination is amazing!

Recommendation: I’d read this to any girl reader. Obviously no boy would want to read a story about girls and dresses, but I think that it’s one that the littler girls would thoroughly enjoy and want to read.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t see any problems with this book. I didn’t like the fact that the girls would make fun of Wanda, but it made the story that much more interesting at the end of the book when the girls were proven wrong.

Everyone Poops

Title: Everyone Poops

Author: Taro Gomi

Genre: Non Fiction/Children’s Literature

Publisher: Kane/Miller

Copyright Date: 1987

Pages in Book: 27 pages

Reading Level: infants- children in preschool

Summary: This is a story about children and animals alike, and the fact that they all poop. Big or small, pebbles or rocks, they all poop. This just shows that pooping is normal, and that it’s not a big deal.

Reaction: I think this book is absolutely hilarious, and loved it. I remember reading this book when I was younger, and I thought it was one of the most hilarious books that I’d ever read.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I think it’s a cute book that introduces going to the bathroom, and lets the children know that it’s not a big deal.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I don’t have a single problem with this book. I think it’s cute, informative, and a fun twist on learning about bodily functions.

A Year Down Yonder

Title: “A Year Down Yonder”

Author: Richard Peck

Genre: Children’s Novel/historical Fiction

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Copyright Date: 2000

Pages in Book: 144 pages

Reading Level: 12 years and up

Summary: This is a story about a young girl named Mary Alice, who was sent to live with her Grandma Dowdel during the Great Depression. One thing to know was that Mary Alice was from Chicago, and her Grandma lived in a farming community. Needless to say, Mary Alice was anything less than thrilled about this move. One the first day of school, Mary Alice gets into a little “tiff” with the school bully, Mildred. Mildred follows Mary Alice home, trying to bully a dollar out of her. Luckily, Mary Alice has a Grandma that is up to no good a lot of the time, so while this was happening, Grandma sets Mildred’s horse free, forcing Mildred to walk all the way home. Throughout the rest of the book, Grandma is up to her usual mischief, and ends up always doing something nice to people because of it. One winter, Mary Alice lands the part of “Mary” and the entire Christmas Pageant was a mess. Everything that could go wrong did. A young boy named Roy moves into the city, and with the help of Mary Alice’s best friend, they pretend that Roy is interested in Ina-Rae. Mary Alice and Roy begin dating, when the school year is about to end, they promise to write each other. After WWII ends, Mary Alice and Roy get married on Grandma’s front porch.

Reaction: I thought this book was absolutely adorable. I loved Grandma Dowdel, and thought she was hilarious! She was always up to no good, but she would always go out of her way to help people. Everything that Grandma did was so funny! She filled this book with humor and emotions. I thought it was so cute that Mary Alice and Roy ended up together, too. Even though she didn’t want to move to the farm with her Grandma, it’s incredible to think that if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have met Roy and gotten married to him.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this probably to any girl within the reading level. I doubt that many boys would appreciate it as much, but just from reading it this time, I was able to get a sweet message out of it. I think it’s an appropriate book for children to read, and one that the readers will get a lot of giggles out of.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: Honestly, I didn’t have any problems with this book. I thought it was very well written, and one that had a good message.

Love That Dog

Title: “Love That Dog”

Author: Sharon Creech

Genre: Poetry

Publisher: HarperCollins

Copyright Date: 2001

Pages in Book: 112 pages

Reading Level: 8-12 years

Summary: This is a poetic book, about a young schoolboy named Jack. He doesn’t like poetry, nor does he like to write it. Throughout the entire book, he is writing to his teacher, asking her to stop giving them poetry assignments. The story starts off with several little poems, ones without much meaning, and end with Jack writing many interesting poems. He finds out that deep down, he actually is a poet.

Reaction: I thought this was a rather cute book. I’m not big on poetry, so I wasn’t looking forward to reading this particular book. But as I began reading it, I thought it was quite humorous. I would have acted the exact same way towards writing those assignments as Jack did. And the poems were quite good towards the end of the story!

Recommendation: As much as I hate to admit it, I’d recommend this book to any child, within the reading levels. I think it’s a great introduction to poems, and it’s one that I would have wanted to read, instead of the awful poems that my teacher would make me write.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I liked this book, and I didn’t have any problems with it. I honestly think that children would love to read this book.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Are You My Mother?

Title: Are You My Mother?

Author: P.D. Eastman

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date: 1988

Pages in Book: 72 pages

Reading Level: 5-8 years

Summary: This is a cute little story about a young little bird, which wakes up to find his mother gone. The bird was just born, so he doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t know what his mother looks like, or where she went. So he climbs/flutters out of the tree, and goes on a hunt to find his mother. He begins asking cows and other animals, in the search of his mother. Finally, he runs into a crane, which takes him back to his nest, where his mother is waiting for him with dinner.

Reaction: I think this a very cute story. It sends a good message out to the children, and it ends on a good note. The story line is a happy one, and I enjoyed the book very much.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book to many children. I think a lot of children would enjoy this book just as much as I did, and they would get the same peace of mind that I did.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: The only thing that I could see wrong with this book, is what about the children that didn’t have a mother growing up. Either she ran out on them, died, or got a divorce and never saw her child. How would the children who are in this situation react? Is it something that they would even need to read about?

Children Like Me

Title: “Children Like Me”

Author: Anabel Kindersley

Genre: Informational

Publisher: DK Publishing, Inc.

Copyright Date: 1995

Pages in Book: 80 pages

Reading Level: 8-11 years

Summary: This book is about all the children around the world. It tells of their names, where their from, what their families are like, how they dress, what some national customs are from that area, etc. This book is pretty much informing the children of what other children’s lives are like, outside of the United States.

Reaction: I thought that this was a good book, but I wasn’t very interested in the book. I thought it was one that I probably wouldn’t have read when I was younger.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book, probably to children who were actually interested in learning more about other children all over the world, and wanted to know things, such as that.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I just didn’t think that the book needed to be that big, nor did it need to have that small of print. The book had a lot of pictures, which I appreciated, but other than that, there was a lot of information on the paper, and so it was very distracting.

Love You Forever

Title: Love You Forever

Author: Robert Munsch

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Firefly Books

Copyright Date: 1994

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: 3-6 years

Summary: This is a very sweet story about a young mother and her son. Every day, no matter what he says or does, she says to him “I’ll love you forever, I’ll love you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” And at the end of the story, the young son is now a grown man with a family and child of his own. But one day he comes home, and treats his mother the same way, and he says to her “I’ll love you forever; I’ll love you for always, as long as I’m living, my mother you’ll be”.

Reaction: I absolutely, 100% love this book. I cry every single time I read it. It has such a sweet story line, and I feel that they truly love each other. It’s honestly one of the cutest books I’ve ever read.

Recommendation: I completely recommend this book to every single person. I loved the entire thing! It was one of my favorite books of all time.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: There was absolutely loved this book. I have no complaints or problems with this book.

Green Eggs and Ham

Title: Green Eggs and Ham

Author: Dr. Seuss

Genre: Children’s Literature

Publisher: Random House

Copyright Date: 1988

Pages in Book: 62 pages

Reading Level: 5-8 years

Summary: This story is one about a character named Sam, who tries to get his friend to eat green eggs and ham. He keeps on trying, and trying, but his friend refuses to try it, insisting that he wont like it. Finally, at the end of the story, you see his friend giving the green eggs and ham a try, but only if Sam promises to leave him alone. Low and behold, his friend really enjoys green eggs and ham, and decides that he can eat it anywhere!

Reaction: I thought that this was a rather cute book! It’s one that my mom read to me as a child, and I remember always wanting to make green eggs. I would try anything and everything! I enjoyed this book, and actually read it several times, after just the once.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book to all kids, of every age. I think it has a good story line, as well as the fact that it has poetry in it.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: Honestly, I didn’t have any problems with this book. I thought it was very cute, and enjoyed reading it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Author: J. K. Rowlings

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Pages in Book: 759 pages

Reading Level: 9-11 years

Summary: Dumbledore has just died, and Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to leave the Hogwarts school to find the remaining horcruxes before Voldermort does, so that they can destroy him. Unfortunately, they don’t know anything about the horcruxes. They don’t know where they are, what they are, or what they do. They find the first several rather easily, (Slytherin’s locket and the Sword of Gryffindor). The three decide to return back to the school to find another horcrux, but quickly learn that Voldemort and his follwers have taken over the school . Harry, Hermione, and Ron and all of Harry’s followers go into battle, and several die. It isn’t until after Severus Snape dies, that Harry learns that he is the seventh and final horcrux, and in order to defeat Voldemort, Harry must die. The book ends with Harry defeating Voldemort after he dies, and then he comes back to life because of the love of his mother. After the end of the book, it shows nineteen years in the future. Harry and Ginny Weasley are married, as are Ron and Hermione. Both families have children, and one of Harry’s kids are about to enter into Hogwarts, but is scared that he may end up in Slytherin.

Reaction: I absolutely loved this book. I read all of them, and by the time that I read this one (for the second time) I cried just as much as I did the first time. I was so touched by all the people, willing to die for Harry and what he was fighting for. Personally, I made the connect that it was very much like our Heavenly Father and Jesus, where Jesus died so that the good can prosper. I felt that this book was very much related to the Church, and a lot of the connections that were made, reminded me of how lucky I was that Christ died so that we can join to be with him again.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to children and parents alike. I think it’s a great book that can bring the family together (as long as all the other books in the novel) It has several similies in the book, and the words and names are challenging ones, ones that the children would need the help of their parents to read to.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: The only problem that I might have towards this book, is that this particular book is somewhat violent, and if younger children were reading this, I’d be a little nervous as to how they would react to it.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Lincoln: A Photobiography

Title: “Lincoln: A Photobiography”

Author: Russell Freedman

Genre: Biography

Publisher: Clarion Books

Pages in Book: 160 pages

Reading Level: 9-12 years

Summary: This book basically was about Abraham Lincolns life, and what he liked, disliked, did as a child, did with his children, how he acted around the white house and so on. It was all informational. It told of how he didn’t like to be called Abe, and he liked to wear his slippers around the White House (those are just a few examples)

Reaction: Honestly, I thought it was a good book, but I’m not one for reading biography’s, so I wasn’t very interested in reading this.

Recommendation: I’d probably recommend this book to older children, and I don’t think that I would recommend it to children. Maybe if there were having it read to them, but not to read on their own. I feel like the children would fall asleep while reading this book.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: For me, I just didn’t like the book. I thought it was rather long, and I didn’t feel that the author captivated my attention. I didn’t want to keep reading, and I didn’t care to really find out more about Abraham Lincoln. Maybe if it had been in a different context, I just didn’t feel like it was very entertaining, especially for a young child to read.

The Story of Ruby Bridges

Title: “The Story of Ruby Bridges”

Author: Robert Cole

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: 4-8 years

Summary: The story of Ruby Bridges is an amazing one. Ruby is a young African American girl who is growing up in the 1960’s at the time where schools combined together, mixing white and black children together. Ruby passes the test, and is able to go to school. Unfortunately for her, the white children’s parents refuse to let their children go to class with her, and it is a long time before she even learns that there were white children in the school, just in different areas. Every day she is escorted to school by U.S. Guards, and the white parents and community are surrounding them, swearing and threatening her. At the end of the story, you find out that Ruby prays for them every day, and she risks her life to do it. After a while, some of the white families begin letting their children go to school with her, and she slowly begins to have classmates.

Reaction: I thought this was an amazing story, one of courage and strength. What an amazing girl she is, and what makes it even better is that the story is a true one. I find that she has so much courage, to stand up to all those white people, who are yelling and threatening to kill her. She had so much faith in her God, and she trusted in him completely. I love that.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this to any and every child. I thought it was such a cute story and one that every child needs to hear and read. Everyone can learn something new from this story.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t see any problems with this story, and I don’t know how you could! It’s a non-fictional story, and therefore, even if you did have a problem with it, it’s not one that you could just change the ending.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

Title: “The Great Gilly Hopkins”

Author: Katherine Paterson

Genre: Children’s Novel

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Pages in Book: 160 pages

Reading Level: 9-12 years

Summary: Gilly Hopkins is a younger girl (about 11 years old) who has gone from foster home to foster home, and because of this, she has many problems connecting with other people, very bitter, cynical and angry at the world. She moves in with her newest foster mother, Maime Trotter, and immediately she dislikes her. Gilly loves to bully the other children in the home, especially a young boy named William. She begins to struggle at confronting her own personal issues such as racism, as well as teaching William how to read, and defend himself against the bullies. One day, Gilly receives a postcard in the mail from her mother, whom she believes that cares for her very much and wants her back. Gilly steals money from Mr. Randolph’s personal stash, and tries to use it to buy a ticket to San Francisco but is soon picked up by the police. It isn’t until after this, that Gilly realizes how great she actually has it. Trotter soon becomes like a mother to her, William like a brother, and Mr. Rudolph like a uncle. Unfortunately, Gilly’s mother receives the letter that was sent to her several weeks before, and Gilly is uprooted and sent to live with her grandmother. Gilly gets so excited because her mother is coming to Virginia to visit, but her dreams are soon crushed as she learns that her mother doesn’t want her, nor does she intend to take her back to San Francisco with her. She calls up Trotter, and sadly learns that she can’t go back home to her. Heartbroken, Gilly sucks it up and decides to make the best of living with her grandmother.

Reaction: I didn’t really like this book very much. Even though Gilly turned herself around, I feel like she went through a lot for such a young child, but then again, that’s reality. And honestly, I really didn’t like how the story ended. I would have much preferred that Gilly ends up with Trotter, and family that actually loves her.

Recommendation: Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend this story to anyone. I didn’t like it very much, and I didn’t think it was one that would leave the children happy and smiling. I felt like it was very depressing, and although this may happen to several children, I don’t think that they need to know about this at such a young age.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: My biggest problem with this story was that Gilly didn’t end up with the family that she loved at the end. She ended up with her grandmother, when she wanted to really be with Trotter, William and Mr. Rudolph.

Stargirl

Title: Stargirl

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Publisher: Knopf Books

Pages in Book: 192 pages

Reading Level: Young Adult

Summary: This particular story is about a young girl named Susan moves to a new high school (Mica Area High School). She does everything out of the ordinary. She dresses up in different clothes, sings “Happy Birthday” to complete strangers, and she even cheers for both teams during school athletic games! There is a shy boy named Leo, who falls for Susan (or Stargirl). Soon Stargirl becomes extremely popular, and people are dying to be just like her. The most popular girl in school, Hillari Kimble, is very rude to Stargirl and refuses to include her in anything. It isn’t long before Stargirl is invited to join the cheerleading squad. The basketball team begins playing incredibly well, and Stargirl gets frustrated, and cheers for the other team (in addition to her team), something that she did before she became popular and on the cheerleading squad. Basketball play-offs come and go, and after losing horribly, the school blames Stargirl on the big loss and pretty much shuns her. Her only friends are Dori and Leo, who she begins dating. It soon becomes obvious to Leo that the couple is rejected from almost everyone at school, and he begs Stargirl to become “normal”. So she becomes consumed with dressing right and acting the way her peers act. The Ocotillo ball comes around, and Leo refuses to go. Stargirl goes to the dance alone, and once she walks onto the tennis courts everyone becomes instantly impressed and her popularity level begins to rise again. She asks the DJ to play the “Bunny Hop” and everyone at the dance (minus Hillari and Wayne) dance. Later on during the dance, Hillari slaps Stargirl across the face, and instead of retaliating, she kisses her on the cheek. After leaving the dance, Stargirl is never seen again.

Reaction: I thought this was a VERY cute book. It reminded me a lot of when I was younger and the struggle that I went through while in middle school. I think that a lot of teenagers would be able to connect with this book, and be able to see what it’s like for others and how they would react. I was really impressed with Stargirl and how she held her own. She never lost her cool, and it seems like she treated everyone exactly how she would want to be treated. I thought that this book was a good read, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this book to children entering into middle school. Preferably girls though. I think that girls would be able to make a stronger connection to the main character (Stargirl) than the boys would.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t see it so much as a problem as I saw it as disappointing, was when Hillari slapped Stargirl across the face. I don’t feel that that happens all that much, and when I did happen (even though Stargirl acted more mature), I felt bad for her, and wished that the author had let something else happen, instead of that slap.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Morris's Disappearing Bag

Title: “Morris’s Disappearing Bag”

Author: Rosemary Wells

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd.

Pages in Book: 40 pages

Reading Level: 3-7 years

Summary: This is a story about a young rabbit named Morris, who gets a teddy bear for Christmas. His brother and sisters get a chemistry set, beauty products and a hockey puck and stick. The older bunnies all get to play with each other’s gifts, but they claim that Morris is too small and would ruin their presents. Upset, he finds another present that was unclaimed under the tree. He opens it up, and in it is a disappearing bag. He crawls in, and hides. His sisters and brother look all over for him. Once he comes out, they get so excited to use it. They let him play with their presents in exchange for letting them play in his bag.

Reaction: I thought this was a very cute book and I really enjoyed it! I liked how the bunnies were acting like literal people. They did everything that humans would do. And I even felt like they reacted in ways that children would react. It was a cute story, one that I think all children with siblings would be able to connect with. Rosemary Wells writes good books, and ones that I think all children should read.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this story to all children, but especially children from the recommended levels. It’s an easy read, and one that all would enjoy.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t see any problems with this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would want all kids to read it.

Just What Mama Needs

Title: “Just What Mama Needs”

Author: Sharlee Glenn

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Harcourt Inc.

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: 4-8 years old

Summary: This book is about a little dog named Abby, who dresses up as a different character each day. She dresses up as a pirate, detective, cowgirl, witch, genie, queen, and herself. Each day she helped her mother accomplish tasks around the house, and did chores. At the end of the week, she became herself and went around doing things that she loved to do.

Reaction: I honestly thought that it was a very cute story, and it involved imagination and created fun ideas for the kids to act up as. I thought the story line was a fun one, and one that the children would thoroughly enjoy.

Recommendation: I’d recommend this story to younger children, but probably not eight year olds like the reading level claims. I thought that it wouldn’t be advanced enough for the eight year olds.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t have any problems with the book. I thought it was a cute one, and one that I would let my children read it.

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa

Title: “Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa”

Author: Erica Silverman

Genre: Picture book

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Inc.

Pages in Book: 39 pages

Reading Level: 6-9 years

Summary: This book is about two companions who do everything together. Cowgirl Kate goes through several cowgirl activities, and many of the times Cocoa is either hungry, or thirsty. They struggle through things, but in the end they work together and the things around the ranch/farm are finished.

Reaction: I thought it was a cute book, and definitely one that I would read to younger children. I felt like it was very repetitive, but young children would get a giggle out of what goes on. I liked the strong bond that Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa have.

Recommendation: I’d definitely recommend this book to children from the ages of 6-9. No older though. Even though it was a good book, it wasn’t my favorite and I’m not sure all children would appreciate it.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: The only problem that I had with the book was that it was repetitive.

Granddad's Fishing Buddy

Title: Granddad’s Fishing Buddy

Author: Mary Quigley

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd.

Pages in Book: 29 pages

Reading Level: 4-8 years

Summary: A little girl named Sarah is over at her grandparents’ house, and she stays up all night, wanting to capture everything that goes on. She hears her granddad wake up, and get ready to go fishing. She convinces him to let her go with him, expecting to meet his fishing buddy. They fish around the lake, not catching anything. Then a blue heron skims across the lake, and granddad has Sarah row over to him. They begin catching several fish, as they follow the heron around the lake. It isn’t until later that Sarah realizes that granddad’s fishing partner is actually the heron.

Reaction: I thought this was actually a very cute book! I really enjoyed reading it, and I couldn’t figure out who his fishing partner was until she did! It captivated my attention, and I actually wanted to keep reading it. I think children of all ages would enjoy reading this book.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to (like I said earlier) children of all ages. I think that out of all the messages that come across this book, the message of bonding and following what your elders say speaks the loudest. It’s a lesson that all the children should learn and enjoy reading about.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t see any problems with this book. I thought it was well written, and enjoyable.