Rapunzel's Revenge

Rapunzel's Revenge

Written by Shannon and Dean Hale

Illustrated by Nathan Hale
Graphic novel  

Was Rapunzel really the damsel in distress? Not in this book!! Rapunzel defends the towns people, who are held under her "Mother" Gothel's spell. She knows there is a way to stop the magic, she just has to escape this monstrous tower, the horrendous animals, and the gruesomely evil bandits. This book grabs you from the moment you start. I was hooked into the story from page two. The authors keep the adventure and mysteries coming! I have never read a graphic novel before, so this was a new experience for me. I could tell that this would be great for students who really are not that into reading. It made the female character look strong and brave. When I picture Rapunzel, I picture the damsel in distress, not a strong fierce woman, who will help everyone and stop at nothing to save the people under Mother Gothel's reign. The illustrations in the story made the text pop out. The way the scenes are arranged makes it easy to follow along with the story and not to skip ahead, because you might miss something important! I really liked the flow of the story. It did not give you too much information about the plot right away, but left you guessing and wanting to know more about what each character was like in the past. The flashback scenes, were my favorite. I liked how the illustrator used different shades of browns to show the difference between the flashbacks and present scenes. It allowed you to be able to tell the difference with out having second guesses. I really enjoyed this book! It would be great for boys and girls! There is a lot of action and bandit butt kicking, perfect for boys!! 

Crow Boy

Crow Boy
Written by Taro Yashima
Picture book 5

When I first started to read this book and the children were being mean to the little boy, I was not very happy. I was not sure where the book was going. It made me feel bad for the young boy, because he was being teased. I was teased when I was about his age too. I understand what it feels like and there are other students who can relate to him as well. The students in the school call him Chibi, which in Japan means small. He is considered different because of his fascination with bugs and the environment and the fact that he is not interested with school. They do not realize what Chibi is going through until the end of their schooling days. The realized how far he has to walk to school each day to get to school. They all felt bad for making fun of him, when they did not even take the chance to get to know him. The illustrations in the story also go along well with the text. When Chilbi was upset in the classroom and did not want to see the other students teasing him, he would cross his eyes. The illustrations in the book on that page were also in double vision. I really liked that they incorporated that detail into the illustrations. There was nothing that I did not like from this book. The lesson behind the story was good and it was also portrayed in a way that everyone could relate to either by being the person getting teased or the person teasing.

Chato and the Party Animals

Chato and the Party Animals
Written by Gary Soto
Illustrated by Susan Guevara
Picture book 4

We all know a person who always knows how to bring a party down, but have you ever stopped to think about what is wrong with him or her? In this story, Novio Boy has never had a birthday party of his own. His best friend Chato decides to give him the best surprise party ever! Everyone has arrived and the party is hot, but where is Novio Boy??? Chato forgot to invite him to his own party!!! This book is full of laughs and great fun! It also teaches some new Spanish words to the child or adult who is reading it. I loved how the Spanish words were just placed into the text. It made it flow very easily and from the context clues you could derive the meaning of the word with out looking it up.  The illustrations in the book were very interesting. All of the picture books I have read so far have been realistic looking. The illustrator used cartoon like style to represent the story. It make the funny parts in the story that much more comical. This book discusses friendship, community relationships and teaches children about the Latino culture. I really enjoyed this book and learning new words to add to my vocabulary!

The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry

The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle
Written by Lynne Cherry
Picture book 3

This book was very informational. I loved how it talked about all of the plants and animals that work together to create the ecosystem they live in. It had a lot of connections that could be put into use in the classroom. Integrating it with science would be the main one. You could teach about ecosystems or different animals from those ecosystems. It would be a fun project for third or fourth graders to build their own replica ecosystem. That would be a great way to incorporate art within the lesson as well. I really enjoyed that it talked about how the mangroves are being non-existent. It is important for children to know what is going on in the world and for them to think of idea on how to fix the issues. Some of the issues may be too big for the child to fix on his or her own, but you allow the child to get creative with idea that everyone could do together! I love the environment and learning about different ecosystems and animals that live there. This book was fun and informational. The illustrations of the different animals and how they work together are beautiful. They really allow you to see the animals in the ecosystem together, not just individually. It would be great for any classroom or any home!

Luba and the Wren by Patricia Polacco

Luba and the Wren
By Patricia Polacco
Picture book 2

This is a folk tale from Ukraine. A young girl saves a Wren in the forest, not knowing it is an enchanted Wren. He tells her because she was so kind, he will grant her any wish she chooses. When she went home to tell her parents they begged her to go and ask for a bigger house and more fertile land. Her parents kept asking for more and more! She was getting disappointed with her parents, but she wanted to make them happy, so she kept asking the Wren for all the things her parents wanted. When they finally asked for too much than she could handle, she still went to the Wren. Finally when she returned home, it went back to the way it was in the beginning. She was so happy to see her mother and father happy as well. Finally, things went back to normal!

This had a great moral and would be great for a kindergarten or 1st grade lesson, on being content with what you have. The illustrations in the book, beautifully represent the Ukraine country. The colors on the houses and the details showing you the economic upgrade her parents ask for are very realistic. When I read this book there was a page, I was confused about when reading. It felt like there was a page missing. I could not follow the story line. When I did research on the story, all of them seemed to have that "gap." I think it could be used for  the children to think about what they would have done in that situation and make them understand the moral of the story.

The Chicken that Could Swim, Written and Illustrated by Paul Adshead

The Chicken that Could Swim
Written and Illustrated by Paul Adshead
Picture book1

This book took the story of the ugly duckling and gave it a completely new spin. The Man who loves Birds, felt extremely bad for Silky the chicken for eating all of her eggs. He knew that she wanted to be a mother. When Rosemary, the white duck, laid her eggs, she was too eager to get up and move around. She left her nest! The Man took the eggs to Silky, who was patient and gentle with them, until they hatched. The Man felt bad about taking all of the eggs from Silky, so he left just one. This little "chicken" soon found out that she was not a chicken at all! She was a duck!!

This story was very cute. It would be great to use as an opening for a science lesson on the evolution of life, how the baby grows inside of the egg and then hatches. The illustrations bring the story to life and they show all the great details of all of the animals that live by the pond. There is also a great lesson in her. It is be happy with who you are and love the people around you. The little chicken that could swim showed that he was perfectly happy with being a swimming chicken, even meeting his other brothers and sisters could not change that!

Leon's Story by Leon Walter Tillage

Leon's Story
By Leon Walter Tillage

When I began to read this book, I thought it would be like all the other slavery/Jim Crow books I have read. I had an I have already a lot of books like this, can there really be that many books about the same thing kind of attitude. Well I was completely wrong! This book opened my eyes to the world of fear that African Americans lived in during this time. It was always really hard for me to connect to books about slavery, because I was never directly affected by it. This book made you feel like you were living in the south with Leon. You could feel the emotions that he was feeling, but you also had your emotions mixed in with his. The emotions this book brought out of me were ones of anger and disillusionment. It is hard to believe that people actually treated other human beings like this. It was a sad time for our country and the memory still haunts people, that is why the topic in this book is still hard to bring into any discussion. The fact that segregation happened about 120ish years ago sounds like it was a long time ago, but really 120 years is not that long ago if you think about the whole history of the United States and the world.

I would use this book for 6th grade and up. Some of the scenes in the book are depicted very graphically and could be hard for a younger student to wrap their mind around. It was hard for me as a young adult to wrap my head around, so I could not imagine using this book as a teaching tool to a younger audience than 6th grade. However, I do think that this story has great value and many positive conversations could come from reading this book. It would allow people to see what was going on in the south in a first person point of view, and feel the emotions that Leon was feeling. This is a very strong and powerful book, but it is one that needs to be addressed.

Cleopatra by Adele Geras

Cleopatra
By Adele Geras
Biography
Genre study 3

Where was this book when I was younger? I always wanted to be an Egyptologist when I was younger. This book was fascinating. I learned so much about the Egyptian culture and their way of life. It talked about the pharaohs and their way of life, but it also told about the people of Egypt and how they lived and survived. The illustrations in this story are fantastic! They are colorful and vibrant. The illustrations go great with the text and they allow you to see what Egypt was like at that time. I really connected to this story, because I have always been interested in Ancient Egypt. I had a blast reading it. I even read some of it to my younger brother, who was reading it over my shoulder. It was great to take me back to my elementary school days! :)

Eleanor Roosevelt-A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman

Eleanor Roosevelt-A Life of Discovery
By Russell Freedman
Biography
Genre study 2

When I selected this genre of books, I was not thrilled at all. I love fantasy and mystery books! Non-fiction, biographical just did not get me excited  to read. When I began reading this book, it read very easily. The author drew you into the story and made you feel like you could really connect to the Roosevelt family. It gave you a great sense of who Eleanor was and what she believed in. I had no previous knowledge of anything that Eleanor had accomplished, except being FDR's wife. I did not know how influential in his policies she was or the work she did around the world. She is a great role model for any citizen in the world to follow. The photographs and news clippings that were chosen in the book reflected what was being talked about in the story and made the impact of what she did feel that much more realistic, you could see it being played out in your head. I really enjoyed learning about this book and seeing all that she accomplished even into her late 60's early 70's. It makes me feel like I can be doing so much more with my life that I am now.

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, Illustrated by Mary Azarian

Snowflake Bentley
By Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Illustrated by Mary Azarian
Biography 1

I really enjoyed how this book told the story of Wilson Bentley. It was very readable and contained a lot of information on his life. My favorite part of the book was the excerpts of information on the sides of the pages. It allowed the reader to be able to understand what was going on in his life at that time and why he was doing the things he was doing. The illustrations in the book went a long with the story as well. From the illustrations you could tell what was going on in the book without having to read the words. That allows the book to be great for all ages. It could be read to a kindergarten class or even to a third grade class if they are studying weather. There are many great ideas that this book could be used for...the possibilities are endless! I could really relate to this book, because it would have been a book I would have chosen this book when I was in first or second grade to read. The pictures in the book are beautiful and that alone would have had me captivated for hours.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Princess Academy
By Shannon Hale
Newbery Honor Book

Have you ever wondered what it took to be a princess? Could you imagine leaving your family to find out? Miri was a 14 year old girl living in the territory on Mount Eskel with her sister and her father. They were all quarry members. They worked hard for the stone they collected and were in turn treated unfairly by the lowland tradesmen. One day all of the girls were taken against their will to the princess academy. Faced with complying or returning to Mount Eskel as a disgrace to their family, the girls went through the program all secretly dreaming about wanting to marry the Prince.

This book is filled with many twist and turns. It keeps you on your toes and completely engaged. I really connected with some of the girls in the book. We all know what it feels like to be disliked for sticking up for something you believe in of for speaking out when someone is treating you unfairly. This book would be great to show how the character develops and learns from her mistakes. It is also a great book about friendship and working hard to achieve what you want! While I was reading the book, in my head I had a picture of how I wanted it to go (in a perfect world), but the author, Shannon Hale, had another idea that left you guessing what was going to happen. It was well written and you were able to see all of the characters and picture the mountain and the lowlands. Princess Academy is a great realistic fiction book, it keeps its reader engaged and there is never a dull moment it the book!!

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Ninth Ward
By Jewell Parker Rhodes
Coretta Scott King Honor Book

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, no one knew the levees would break. The lower Ninth Ward was a disaster. The houses that were not torn apart from the hurricane were washed away by the flood. The lower ninth ward has still not recovered from this storm today. This book gives the reader a great personal story of what the hurricane was like that night. It put it into perspective that people lived through this storm, not everyone was able to evacuate the city.

This story is very emotional and powerful. I have been to New Orleans many times to volunteer. I've seen the disaster first hand and I have talked to the people who lived through it and some of the people who were able to escape. The people in the story greatly resemble the people who do live in New Orleans. They are all very faithful people and believe that there was a reason for the storm and they will become stronger because of it. The moral of the city was extremely low, but you had people like Lanesha, who would not give up until they were all safe.

The author uses her love for reading in the words that the main character, Lanesha, uses. She is a brave young woman, who is forced to take care of a dog, her dying mother, Mama Ya-Ya, and her best friend, TaShon. She had to be the one to make sure they were all well prepared so they could survive through the night and maybe a couple of days. She used her and Mama Ya-Ya's great gifts to survive through the storm, along with her great planning. This is a great book for discussing character traits! It could be incorporated into a science lesson about weather, and then tied into history, since this was one of the most devastating storms of the last decade.

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? By Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Caldecott Honor book

Grace for President
By Kelly DiPucchio
Published by Hyperion Books for Children 2008
Monarch Award nominee

Ladies, have you ever thought of becoming the President of the United States of America? Well Grace Campbell was SO shocked, when she learned that there has NEVER been a female president. She decided she was going to run. She did not know she was running against Thomas Cobb! He was great at everything and everyone liked him. This story reminded me of the tortoise and the hare. There was a great moral to never give up and strive to what you want to do and what you believe in! I loved the illustrations that went with the text and how some of the text was incorporated into the illustrations. It made the book come to life! It showed the hard work that both of the candidates put into their campaigns and it showed some of the not pleasant sides of their campaigns! Over all this book was enjoyable and fun! It shows the reader that he or she can do whatever he or she puts their mind to, even becoming the first female president. It also teaches aspects of social studies by teaching the process of the campaigns and how the electoral votes work in the United States.