Mock Caldecott: Allotment #3

Scoot
By Cathryn Falwell

Rating:

· The illustrations are absolutely fantastic!
· Paper collage complimented with a few textured prints
· Detailed and magnificently intense
· Wonderful use of language
· Informative author notes on the last few pages



Dinosaur vs. Bedtime
By Bob Shea

Rating:

· A story in which all children and parents can make a connection
· A young dinosaur can take on about any challenge and win…but what about bedtime?
· Humorous
· Shea uses mixed media with bold pictures and even bolder text
· Not only does Dinosaur win, but Shea wins with this book



Grace for President
By Kelly DiPucchio & Ill. By LeUyen Pham

Rating:

· After noticing that no girls have ever been president, Grace decides to run for office
· Great book for election time
· Informative in regards to the Electoral College
· “…the best person for the job.”
· Fun and colorful illustrations
· A variety of page layouts are used throughout the book



A Kitten Tale
By Eric Rohmann

Rating: 3.5

· A good story about an adventurous kitten who is excited about snow when three other kittens are not so optimistic
· Love the artwork: black borders and outlines positively compliment the colorful prints
· A mixture of relief and monotype prints; 32 separate runs for each image




Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures
By Julie Larios & Ill. By Julie Paschkins

Rating:

· A collection of poems written about mythical creatures
· The illustrations were done in gouache
· Each picture is colorful and outlined in black
· Creative illuminated letters bring attention to the title of each poem




Little Hoot
By Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Ill. by Jen Corace

Rating:

· Little Hoot wants to go to bed, but his parents want him to stay up late like owls should
· Watercolor paintings outlined in ink set against a white background
· An abundance of whitespace is used for a clean look
· Paintings are colorful with supportive detail




Building Manhattan
By Laura Vila

Rating:

· A time line of Manhattan; from 50,000 B.C.E to the present
· Colorful acrylic paintings
· Love the various perspectives Vila used
· Paintings are excellent
· Storyline is average





One Boy
By Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Rating:

· A boy creates 10 paintings that all together make a counting book
· Cutouts are used for each painting connecting the pictures and words
· I would have liked a stronger connection among all ten paintings…seemed a little random
· The artwork is bold, simple and colorful



Bye-bye, Crib
By Alison McGhee & Ill. by Ross MacDonald

Rating:

· A young boy wants to stay in his crib rather sleep in a “big bed”
· Fun story
· Illustrations have a nostalgic look; middle 1900s motif
· Not a fan of the illustrations…due to the style
· Watercolors and pencil crayon





Potato Joe
By Keith Baker

Rating: ???

· I have no idea how I feel about this book…I need to see how children will respond
· Sing-song lyrics, “one potato, two potato, hello Joe…”
· Illustrations are done with photoshop
· Brown endpages support the story
· Unusual looking personified potatoes lead the reader through the story
· Again mixed emotions with his one…check it out yourself

Mock Caldecott: Allotment #2

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
by Kadir Nelson

Rating:

· Absolutely fantastic
· As usual Nelson’s paintings are deep and rich with color
· Paintings are based on historic photographs
· I love the endpages (brown & simple), the quotes, the history, and the paintings.
· Nelson hit a grand slam with this one!




Frankenstein Takes the Cake
by Adam Rex

Rating:

· I love the way Adam Rex thinks outside the box
· Very creative…something different on every page
· Illustration were done in pencil, charcoal, oils, and with Photoshop
· Filled with wacky poems



What to Do with Alice?
by Barbara Kerley Ill by Edwin Fotheringham

Rating:

· “How Alice Roosevelt broke the rules, charmed the world, and drove her father Teddy crazy”
· Interesting story about Alice’s young life.
· Illustrations were done in digital media
· Fun illustrations with a since mode of the time period




That Book Woman
by Heather Henson & Ill. by David Small



· Text is filled with Appalachian dialect
· Good story about the Pack Horse Librarians
· Illustrations are done in ink, watercolor and pastel chalk
· Cartoonish look but with a touch of Trina Schart Hyman in them




The House in the Night
by Susan Marie Swanson & Ill. by Beth Krommes



· Inspired by traditional poems with cumulative patterns
· Scratchboard and watercolor make up the wonderful pictures
· In my opinion the pictures carry this story
· The pictures are black & white with touches of golden yellow to highlight specific objects on each page


Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

Mock Caldecott: Allotment #1

Each year my children's literature class participates in a Mock Caldecott. Usually my class starts in February so the real Caldecott winner and honor books have already been chosen. However, I would ask my students to not let the real award (if they even know the winners) play as a bias to there mock award. This year my class has been moved to the fall so I have saved this event as our culminating activity for the course. It also serves as our final exam (activity).

I have approximately 70 picture books that have been published in 2008 available for my students. However, they are permitted and encouraged to add to the list if the wish. The students have one week to share information in class and on our electronic discussion board. Then at our scheduled two hour final they deliberate over those books they feel are most worthy for our mock award. Our goal is not to pick the book that the ALA chooses, rather we want to examine these books carefully and honor those books we feel are distinctive.

For this blog, I hope to add comments or thoughts from all the books I have available for the students. I will not give elaborate summaries for this activity, but later I hope to revisit some of the books I personally enjoyed as well as the books my students choose for the mock award. On the other hand, I will be rating each book that I add to the post. It is my goal to have all these posted by next week...big goal I know.

Allotment #1

Wabi Sabi by
Mark Reibstein & Ill. by Ed Young

Rating:

· Fantastic artwork: collage
· Absolutely love the collage of leaves
· Orientation of the book is vertical rather than horizontal
· “A way of seeing the world…Simple things are beautiful”
· Narrative enhanced by Haiku

I am a huge fan of this book. Both Reibstein and Young hit a home run with this one. This book would be on my shortlist for our Caldecott.


Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie
by Norton Juster and Ill. By Chris Raschka

Rating:

· Sequel to The Hello, Goodbye Window
· A story in which every child can relate,
· Raschka’s illustrations are fantastic. Mix of watercolor and crayon
· I love the full page spread of Sourpuss transforming into Sweetie Pie.
· Appropriate ending



I’m Bad
by Kate and Jim McMullan

Rating

· T-Rex narrates this energetic picture book
· I love how he asks the reader questions
· “Are you BAD? I’m REALLY bad….Bad Breath"
· Big bad dinosaur brags about his badness, hunts for food, surprises s with the ending
· Colorful and fun use of text/fonts

This book will make a great read aloud. I can't wait to share it with my wife's first grade class!



Never Take a Shark to the Dentist (and other things not to do)
by Judi Barrett & Ill. By John Nickle

Rating:

· I actually laughed out loud.
· Kids would enjoy this book
· Good for a writing prompt
· Acrylic paintings extend the simple text.
· Be sure to look beyond the initial concept of the picture...other humorous details are included

Another great book to share with students. Barrett also did Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.



Bear’s Picture
by Daniel Pinkwater & Ill. by D.B. Johnson

Rating:

· Originally printed in 1972 now newly illustrated by D.B. Johnson
· A nice mix of color and black & white
· Mix media was used for the illustrations.
· Bear paints a picture and two fine gentlemen challenge him
· They don’t see what bear sees
· Bear states, “It doesn’t have to be. It’s my picture.”
· Keep an eye on bear's tie throughout the story



Dog and Bear: Two’s Company
by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Rating:

· Three stories of Dog and Bear in one book.
· Colorful childlike paintings with strong black outlines
· 2nd book first Dog and Bear was published in 2007
· Reminds me of Frog & Toad, but with very simple text





Wonder Bear
by Tao Nyeu

Rating:

· Wordless picture book
· Unique Artwork is silkscreened with water-based ink
· Artwork has a matte finish with a touch of 60s or early 70s appeal
· Creative story…two children take a fantastical journey with Wonder Bear and his friends.
· The whole trip might just be a dream or is it?



1,2, Buckle My Shoe
by Anna Grossnickle Hines

Rating:

· Colorful end pages
· Photos of fantastic quilt panels make-up each page
· Visually appealing, but overall the book doesn’t do too much for me
· Retelling of the classic nursery rhyme





Boogie Knights
by Lisa Wheeler & Ill. by Mark Siegel

Rating:

· Charcoal, pencil and photoshop
· Good use of alliteration and overall language…this is its strong point
· Fun cartoon-styled illustration

If it weren't for the language usage, I would rate this as a 2-Star.




Jumpy Jack & Googily
by Meg Rosoff & Ill. by Sophie Blackwell


Rating:

· Chinese Ink and watercolor
· Starts okay, but gets redundant
· Personally not a fan

Friday My Radio Flyer Flew
by Zachary Pullen

Rating:

· Unique perspective is what makes this book
· paintings (oil)
· Caricature style pictures with big heads
· Overall I'm not a fan

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

An Abundance of Katherines

About two weeks ago, I read John Green's An Abundance of Katherines. Sadly, I forgot to post my thoughts. So better late than never. Here is a quick summary and my thoughts of the book...

Colin Singleton gets dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine. It just so happens that this is his 19th time to be dumped, and each time his girlfriend was named Katherine. Colin's best friend ,Hassan, recommends that the two take a summer road trip so Colin can get his mind off the recent break-up. The two make it to Gutshot, TN, where they stop and stay for the summer. While in Gutshot, Colin's diligently works on a theorem which predicts the future of his female relationships. The story culminates as the the two boys run into some trouble with some of the local teenagers.

Personally, I enjoyed my first novel by John Green. I appreciated the added footnotes that Green used to enrich the story. I found these interesting, humorous, and informational. I found the universal topic, male/female relationships, entertaining and engaging. I would definitely recommend this YA book.

Rating:

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

Emily Gravett

I just returned from NCTE's Annual Convention were I had the opportunity to meet several children's authors and illustrators. One of those talented individuals was Emily Gravett. Emily shared about her writing and drawing experiences at the Children's Literaure Assembly's session titled Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts.

I am a huge fan of Emily's work. I love the way she thinks out of the box and creates radical change picturebooks. I was first introduced to Emily's work a little over a year ago via Wolves. Since then I have loved all of her other books.

During the CLA session at NCTE, Emily shared two books that will be coming to the US in the future: An Odd Egg (a very fun book about a duck that finds a beautiful egg) and Dogs ( a book of opposites). She also read her newest published book, Spells....I think I may have a new favorite!

Visit her site: http://www.emilygravett.com/

In the very near future I will post about my new friend Jerry Pallotta (thanks Deb!).

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

An Author from Down Under

One of my students is currently doing her student teaching in a 5th grade class in Australia. I recently asked her for some book ideas from down under. Here was her response...

...there is an author named Morris Gleitzman. My class was checking out his website the other day. His books are kind of morbidly funny.. crazy sense of humor and the kids love it. There are some chapter examples on his website. One of the books is about a frog and his family who keep getting squashed by cars on the freeway and his life long ambition for friendship between frogs an humans... as he drags the dried up bodies of his squashed relatives off the freeway... you get the idea. Here's the website. http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/ where you can get more information and several audio samples from several of his books

Also, the authors Jackie French and Emily Rhoda are very popular...

Thanks for sharing with us Amy.

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I have recently had several students ask me about Jeff Kinney's book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Sadly, I could only give them second-hand information about the book because I had not read it. I had heard many good reports about the book with one such report from my son (4th grader at the time). With all this in mind, I thought it was time to read the book.

Let me say that I am glad I read it. I though it was very creative, funny, and real. There were several times I actually laughed out loud while I read. I also found this book to be an extremely fast read...even for me!

I can see why so many students like this text. Kinney provides so many opportunities for the reader to connect with the protagonist. I must admit that I too had many connections...ranging from my junior high experiences (long ago) to my current role as a parent of middle school/elementary children. My next step is to talk to my children and ask them about their personal connections to the book. This could be an interesting conversation.

I am often asked if this book is considered a graphic novel. I would say technically no, but there are some elements (similar to Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpaints Series) that might make students ask the question. Personally, I would consider it more of a radical change text or an illustrated novel than a graphic novel.

Most of you are probably aware of the sequel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules and the newest addition Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (coming out in January '09). Also be sure to checkout the website for the online journal...very cool! http://www.funbrain.com/journal/Journal.html

By the way, now I know why my son wants to study robotics for his independent learning project.

Rating:

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

The Tale of Despereaux: The Graphic Novel

Are you kidding me, I felt like I was reading a Disney animated book! I must admit this has been the worst book so far on my blog.

I was so excited to see this book in the bookstore last night along with several YA books all of which I purchased. So today between typical Saturday house/yard work and the Ohio State/Penn State football game, I thought I would read. Wow, I think I may have enjoyed the yard work in 43 degree weather more than I enjoyed this book. Before I purchased the book I should have taken more notice at the cover which reads...adapted from the major motion picture...notice it does not say it has been adapted from the book.

Personally, I do not even want to waste my time writing a review for this text, so it will be super quick! Cheesy illustrations (too movie Disney-like), cheesy link to the book written by Kate DiCamillo, and too much missing...not to mention some wacky additions. One positive about the book...at least I can use this text as a negative example in my children's literature class.

I can't imagine how cheesy the movie will be. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.

Rating:

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

Cut

It has been awhile since I last posted a book of my own. My most recent read was Cut by Patricia McCormick. The book is about a topic for which I have very little knowledge. However, I have wanted to read it for quite awhile since it is a popular YA book, and because I wondered if it might give me some insights to teen cutting.

After reading this book I was not disappointed. I do feel that I have a little better understanding (however I know that this is only one story/example). I can understand why YA readers might connect with the book. Although the protagonist, Callie...aka S.T. for Silent Treatment, self inflicts her wounds there are many other characters in the book with other problems that teenagers also deal with. Ultimately readers might connect with the same underpinning problem that Callie had...putting blame on herself for her family's problems.

I really liked the writing style used by McCormick, a first-person voice directed to the protagonist's therapist. I liked the ending and the initial healing between Callie and her father. I liked Callie's self-realization that she does need help, and that she actually wants to get better.

I'm already giving too much away so I better stop.

Rating:

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

The Dumb Bunnies

Believe it or not I had not read my first Dumb Bunnies book until last spring. At that time I purchased two titles from Scholastic: The Dumb Bunnies & Make Way for Dumb Bunnies. Of course they were dumb, but I loved the humor in the both the text and the illustrations. OK so would I really use these in an elementary classroom? This was a question asked by several of my undergrads. Well those of you that know me know that I probably would...of course I've been known to use a lot of controversial literature in the past and the present. Personally I think these books would be a fun way to teach intertextual connections (text-to-text).

FYI, my two boys are big Dav Pilkey fans. They both love the Captain Underpants Series. My youngest is currently a third grader and a struggling reader. Last week I gave him my two Dumb Bunnies books to read. He absolutely loved them. His responses would have provided rich data for anyone studying children's responses to picture books (Larry Sipe...you would have loved it). Here were some of his responses: laughter, giggles, smiles, head nods, and quotes like "What the heck? Oh my gosh! You've got to be kidding me! They are so dumb!" Any book that encourages and engages my struggling reader can't be that bad. These books put a smile on my son's face which then put a smile on my face! Thanks Dav.

I haven't done a rating for some time so here I go:

I know that some of you may lose a little respect for me for this rating, but the books fit my sense of humor.

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

The Olympics

Sorry that I haven't posted in quite a while, but I have been concentrating on recreating several syllabi for this fall. OK, that is true, but I am also spending a lot of time watching the Olympics.

The Olympics have always been important to me (mainly the T&F events), but this year, it seems as thought I watch everything I can. To tell the truth, I will be glad when it is finally over so I can get back to more reading. Of course as soon as the Olympics are over I will start watching football (The Ohio State Buckeyes & the Indianapolis Colts). The bottom-line is that at times I lack self-control to turn off the TV and pick up a book. Sorry, but that is just the way I roll.

I have a plan to integrate my students' responses to their children's literature readings to this blog, so hopefully that will give us more books to explore. Classes start in about a week, so we'll see if this pans out or not.

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

YA List from a Friend

I have recently been emailing back and forth with a colleague and new friend from Minnesota, Charlotte Sullivan. In our last few emails Charlotte has given me some YA recommendations. With her permission, I have taken the words right from our email to share with all of you. Because these are Charlotte's annotations and because I have not read any of these book, I will not be rating them. Also please note that Charlotte's original intention was for my eyes.

From Charlotte...

I highly recommend Neal Schusterman's Dark Side of Nowhere. Sci Fi for kids who don't like sci fi. Strong first person voice, examples of leadership, excellent suspense and plot arc. For middle school...but also high school. There's also a great audio recording.

Also love Anne Ursu's Shadow Thieves, the first in a wacky Chronus Chronicles trilogy about contemporary kids and three main Greek gods. (You may not know that one of the doors to the underworld is in our very own Mall of America, here in MN. ;-) . Strong voices, imitates Greek epic story structure, good humor. Protagonists are two cousins, one white/ one black--one from US/ one from England. The second book is out. Haven't read it yet. I'd say, intermediate and up.

Also, you've probably heard of Lightning Thief. Another blend of today and Greek mythology. Main character has ADD.

Although City of Ember, I feel is a so-so book craft-wise, I loved challenging students to think about possibilities in the classroom. We looked at parallels to Plato's cave, and at Crown (a Christian college), the concept of having limited knowledge of the spiritual realm, or of life beyond what we know.

You might check out Pete Hautman. He won the National Book Award for Godless, about a teen who creates his own religion...but I actually like his other books. Especially Sweetblood (teen w/ diabetes, interest in vampires...but the story is real-world), Invisible, etc. These are all teen reads. Stunning, concise, first person, short chapters. He's a true artist. But he's lately done a new Bloodwater mystery series with is partner and author Mary Logue. Fun... more intermediate level.

Susan Fletcher's Shadow Spinner, is a retelling of Scheherazade story from the POV of a young, handicapped girl who happens to be a spunky storyteller herself. Intermediate. Great action, great story.

One last title. I really enjoyed Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy. Humor, fantasy, adventure, intriguing explorations of social power structures, resistance to oppression, etc. I see some post-9/11 overtones, though, I believe Stroud is from UK. Some conservative readers may object to the djinn and spirit world represented. I loved it. Also a great audio version of this.

Thank you Charlotte for sharing these titles and for permission to post them to my blog.

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn