The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
In The Wednesday Wars, we meet Hollis Hoodhood, the son of a Long Island architect who lives in the "Perfect House" with his perfect seeming family perfectly in the center of town. However, it is 1967 and things are changing in the United States and in Hollis' world.
As the sole 7th grader that is neither Jewish nor Catholic (and thus does not go to Hebrew school or Catechism after lunch on Wednesday afternoons), Hollis has effectively jailed his teacher who must now occupy him during what she thought would be free time. Mrs. Baker initially fills his time with punitive tasks but soon comes to the conclusion that the time may be spent more wisely -- through the reading of the plays of Shakespeare. Over the course of the school year, Hollis becomes a fan of the old Bard, learning about hate and power, goodness and honesty and finally, about "the endurance of love" (p. 172).
This is the thread that is woven through the story of 1967 at Camillo High School. The teacher's husbands are fighting in Vietnam and Walter Cronkite is reporting nightly on soldier's deaths. Two leaders who personify hope are horrifically killed -- Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
In one amusing incident after another, Holling can never seem to get ahead. He owes his class cream puffs which leads to a debt owed to Mr. Goldman the baker which leads to a photo of him in yellow tights splashed around the school. He has accidentally released a set of maniacal rats in the school and they seem to be after him. If that isn't enough, his sister has decided to become a flower child, which doesn't go over well with the owner of the "Perfect House".
Schmidt skillfully combines a story of the pains of growing up and figuring out who you are against a painful time in our history, as both the character of Holling and our country grew and changed. His book bridges a traditional "school/family novel" and historical fiction, neither ignoring the cultural changes that impacted daily life nor wandering into a heavy-handed history lesson (Tunnell, Jacobs, Young & Bryan, pp.152-154). Holling grows stronger through his tribulations, finding that his path may not be the one that his father has set for him -- or it may be -- but he wants to be the one to decide. He learns that much of what we see on the surface is not the entire story, but that the important people are the ones whose love will endure.
The Wednesday Wars is an excellent book for 5th through 7th graders. It is appealing to both boys and girls and may be a good choice for reluctant boy readers.
Work Cited: Tunnell, Michael O., Jacobs, James S., Young, Terrell A., Bryan, Gregory. Children's Literature, Briefly. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The Graveyard Book
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The introduction to Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book immediately draws the reader in. The murder of a family has just occurred, but the youngest child has escaped. The child wanders to a nearby graveyard, where he is taken in and protected from the murderer by a community of ghosts. Questions abound: Why has the family been murdered? Why is it so important to the murderer that the child be killed as well? Who is the murderer? How can a graveyard of ghosts possibly raise a child? Will the child survive both the graveyard and the murderer?
We find all of these answers in the story of Nobody Owens, the boy that was "adopted" by the ghosts as an infant. Nobody grows up in the graveyard, only knowing ghosts, but remaining a live boy. He survives there through the help of his guardian, Silas, a mysterious ghost who has powers to cross into the living world as needed. As Nobody grows up, he gradually has more contact with the living world, first through a young girl that he befriends and later by attending school. These encounters with the living world are fraught with difficulties, but the ghosts manage to extract Nobody from any serious problems. As the years pass, the man who murdered Nobody's family tracks him down, determined that he will finally kill Nobody as well. An encounter and chase with the murderer ensue and Nobody must call on all of the secrets of the graveyard in order to save himself.
Gaiman's mysterious novel is a perfect example of children's fantasy. It has numerous fantastic elements -- magic, good versus evil, heroism, and special characters (Tunnell, Jacobs, Young and Bryan). The reader is pulled into a world that straddles life and afterlife, with ghosts having magical powers and abilities. There is the classic struggle of good versus evil as portrayed in innocent Nobody who must fight for his life against evil Jack, his would-be murderer. Nobody takes on a further role in the story, that of the hero, as he must face trials and mature, eventually defending himself using the knowledge that he has gained through the years. And, finally, The Graveyard Book is chock-full of special characters, ranging from the ghosts that raise Nobody to the Grey Lady to the Black Jacks and more.
This would be an excellent book for 4th through 7th graders, especially those who like "scary" stories or fantasies.
Source Cited:
Tunnell, Michael O., Jacobs, James S., Young, Terrell A.and Bryan, Gregory. Children's Literature: Briefly. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
The introduction to Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book immediately draws the reader in. The murder of a family has just occurred, but the youngest child has escaped. The child wanders to a nearby graveyard, where he is taken in and protected from the murderer by a community of ghosts. Questions abound: Why has the family been murdered? Why is it so important to the murderer that the child be killed as well? Who is the murderer? How can a graveyard of ghosts possibly raise a child? Will the child survive both the graveyard and the murderer?
We find all of these answers in the story of Nobody Owens, the boy that was "adopted" by the ghosts as an infant. Nobody grows up in the graveyard, only knowing ghosts, but remaining a live boy. He survives there through the help of his guardian, Silas, a mysterious ghost who has powers to cross into the living world as needed. As Nobody grows up, he gradually has more contact with the living world, first through a young girl that he befriends and later by attending school. These encounters with the living world are fraught with difficulties, but the ghosts manage to extract Nobody from any serious problems. As the years pass, the man who murdered Nobody's family tracks him down, determined that he will finally kill Nobody as well. An encounter and chase with the murderer ensue and Nobody must call on all of the secrets of the graveyard in order to save himself.
Gaiman's mysterious novel is a perfect example of children's fantasy. It has numerous fantastic elements -- magic, good versus evil, heroism, and special characters (Tunnell, Jacobs, Young and Bryan). The reader is pulled into a world that straddles life and afterlife, with ghosts having magical powers and abilities. There is the classic struggle of good versus evil as portrayed in innocent Nobody who must fight for his life against evil Jack, his would-be murderer. Nobody takes on a further role in the story, that of the hero, as he must face trials and mature, eventually defending himself using the knowledge that he has gained through the years. And, finally, The Graveyard Book is chock-full of special characters, ranging from the ghosts that raise Nobody to the Grey Lady to the Black Jacks and more.
This would be an excellent book for 4th through 7th graders, especially those who like "scary" stories or fantasies.
Source Cited:
Tunnell, Michael O., Jacobs, James S., Young, Terrell A.and Bryan, Gregory. Children's Literature: Briefly. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Love That Dog
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Sharon Creech (in the form of Mrs. Stretchberry) is very tricky! A person who is convinced that they don't like poetry (like me and Jack) might just be convinced that poetry is pretty cool by the end of this book without even knowing how it happened.
Love That Dog is the story (told through poems) of Jack, who thinks that he neither can write nor understand poetry. First attempts at writing result in "Brain's Empty". However, his teacher doesn't give up on him and soon, he is writing snippits of poems that hold a very personal story. First, he writes about a car, but doesn't want anyone to know that he was the one who penned the poems. As he slowly becomes more confident, he writes about his beloved dog, the fun that they had together, and, finally, the accident that takes his dog from him. His words are simple, but there would be few readers (including myself) who would not tear up as they read about the fate of Jack's dog.
As far as understanding poetry,Jack is initially not impressed with the genre. His reaction to Robert Frost's classic is "What was up with the snowy woods poem that you read in class?" Mrs. Stretchberry keeps introducing the works of other poets until Jack finds one that speaks to him - Mr. Walter Dean Meyers. Once Jack discovers Mr. Meyers - in his words, "the best, best, BEST" - a love of poetry is found. Meyer's work inspires Jack to expand his own poetry writing and, eventually, ask Mr. Meyers to come to his school.
Creech's book makes poetry accessible and interesting. She breaks down the idea that poetry is an unapproachable or esoteric genre by utilizing the simple words of a child and a story that nearly every person can relate to. She points out through the story that there are many kinds of poetry and many poets. Finding the style or poet that you love is the entrance point into enjoyment of poetry.
Creech's book would be a great addition the curriculum of a middle or upper elementary class that is starting a unit on poetry. It is a quick read (and may easily be done chorally in class, as demonstrated recently in our Children's Literature class) that will make students open to learning about and enjoying poetry.
Sharon Creech (in the form of Mrs. Stretchberry) is very tricky! A person who is convinced that they don't like poetry (like me and Jack) might just be convinced that poetry is pretty cool by the end of this book without even knowing how it happened.
Love That Dog is the story (told through poems) of Jack, who thinks that he neither can write nor understand poetry. First attempts at writing result in "Brain's Empty". However, his teacher doesn't give up on him and soon, he is writing snippits of poems that hold a very personal story. First, he writes about a car, but doesn't want anyone to know that he was the one who penned the poems. As he slowly becomes more confident, he writes about his beloved dog, the fun that they had together, and, finally, the accident that takes his dog from him. His words are simple, but there would be few readers (including myself) who would not tear up as they read about the fate of Jack's dog.
As far as understanding poetry,Jack is initially not impressed with the genre. His reaction to Robert Frost's classic is "What was up with the snowy woods poem that you read in class?" Mrs. Stretchberry keeps introducing the works of other poets until Jack finds one that speaks to him - Mr. Walter Dean Meyers. Once Jack discovers Mr. Meyers - in his words, "the best, best, BEST" - a love of poetry is found. Meyer's work inspires Jack to expand his own poetry writing and, eventually, ask Mr. Meyers to come to his school.
Creech's book makes poetry accessible and interesting. She breaks down the idea that poetry is an unapproachable or esoteric genre by utilizing the simple words of a child and a story that nearly every person can relate to. She points out through the story that there are many kinds of poetry and many poets. Finding the style or poet that you love is the entrance point into enjoyment of poetry.
Creech's book would be a great addition the curriculum of a middle or upper elementary class that is starting a unit on poetry. It is a quick read (and may easily be done chorally in class, as demonstrated recently in our Children's Literature class) that will make students open to learning about and enjoying poetry.
Friday, October 12, 2012
The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems
The Arrow Finds Its Mark edited by Georgia Heard illustrated by Antoine Guilloppe
The Arrow Finds Its Mark is an anthology of poems that resulted from a challenge which asked poets to create a poem using already existing text ("found text") that was not currently in poem form. Authors found text in all manner of places, from Twitter to magazines, book titles to crossword puzzle clues. The editor's goal was to show readers that poetry can be found anywhere and that text may be manipulated in varying ways to create new meanings.
The poems were created out of ordinary text in a surprising number of ways. Each poem is introduced at the top of the page by a short statement of "Found by (poet's name) in (location of original text)" so that the reader has information on the original source of the text. Beyond that, the techniques widely vary. Many poets used the exact words that they found, but arranged them into lines and stanzas that give them meaning, as in "Marilynne's Montessori Memo". Another method used is to re-arrange the words found in a different order, as in "How to Write a Poem on Your Computer". The most interesting technique, in my opinion, is that of simply adding a title to the text. It is striking how a title can completely change the meaning of text. For instance, the author Laura Purdie Salas used this road sign text as the basis for her poem:
The Arrow Finds Its Mark is an anthology of poems that resulted from a challenge which asked poets to create a poem using already existing text ("found text") that was not currently in poem form. Authors found text in all manner of places, from Twitter to magazines, book titles to crossword puzzle clues. The editor's goal was to show readers that poetry can be found anywhere and that text may be manipulated in varying ways to create new meanings.
The poems were created out of ordinary text in a surprising number of ways. Each poem is introduced at the top of the page by a short statement of "Found by (poet's name) in (location of original text)" so that the reader has information on the original source of the text. Beyond that, the techniques widely vary. Many poets used the exact words that they found, but arranged them into lines and stanzas that give them meaning, as in "Marilynne's Montessori Memo". Another method used is to re-arrange the words found in a different order, as in "How to Write a Poem on Your Computer". The most interesting technique, in my opinion, is that of simply adding a title to the text. It is striking how a title can completely change the meaning of text. For instance, the author Laura Purdie Salas used this road sign text as the basis for her poem:
Red Squirrels
Drive Slowly
The only changes that she made were to eliminate the capital letters and to title the poem, "They Don't Want Speeding Tickets, So..." so that it appears as:
They Don't Want Speeding Tickets, So...
red squirrels
drive slowly
With that title (a seemingly very small addition), she has completely changed the meaning of the text.
I think that this book could be very effectively used in poetry units for grades 4th through 8th. Not only does it show that poetry may be found anywhere, but that words may be used in many ways other than what our mind first sees. For students who are having trouble with writing poetry, the techniques in which the poets almost use words as an artist would use paint may open their eyes to the flexibility of text and words.
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Where the Sidewalk Ends By Shel Silverstein
For my first poetry choice, I decided to return to a collection from my childhood that has become a classic, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. As a child of the decade in which it was published, my initial reaction to the drawings and poems is an affectionate, "They are so 70s!" It was a time in which children were being urged to be themselves (anyone remember "Free to be You & Me"???) and that children's literature was moving away from the idealized stories and images of the 1950s and 60s. However, Silverstein's poems remain as relevant and engaging to students in 2012 as they did in 1979 when I discovered the book.
What is it that makes these poems so timelessly engaging to children? First of all, they are funny, imaginative, silly & ridiculous in a wonderful way that children love. Everyday actions and objects are twisted into crazy situations, such as the boy who watched so much TV that he actually turns into a TV in "Jimmy Jet and his TV Set". Silverstein knows just how to tickle a kid's funny bone with the gross out factor of "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Will Not Take the Garbage Out" while also creating poems that every kid can relate to such as "Sick", in which a child is terribly ill until he realizes that he doesn't have to go to school. Silverstein uses rhyme, alliteration, consonance and onomatopoeia to create a rhythm in each poem that stays in the reader's head. To this day, a July 4th does not pass without his poem "The Fourth" coming into my mind:
For my first poetry choice, I decided to return to a collection from my childhood that has become a classic, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. As a child of the decade in which it was published, my initial reaction to the drawings and poems is an affectionate, "They are so 70s!" It was a time in which children were being urged to be themselves (anyone remember "Free to be You & Me"???) and that children's literature was moving away from the idealized stories and images of the 1950s and 60s. However, Silverstein's poems remain as relevant and engaging to students in 2012 as they did in 1979 when I discovered the book.
What is it that makes these poems so timelessly engaging to children? First of all, they are funny, imaginative, silly & ridiculous in a wonderful way that children love. Everyday actions and objects are twisted into crazy situations, such as the boy who watched so much TV that he actually turns into a TV in "Jimmy Jet and his TV Set". Silverstein knows just how to tickle a kid's funny bone with the gross out factor of "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Will Not Take the Garbage Out" while also creating poems that every kid can relate to such as "Sick", in which a child is terribly ill until he realizes that he doesn't have to go to school. Silverstein uses rhyme, alliteration, consonance and onomatopoeia to create a rhythm in each poem that stays in the reader's head. To this day, a July 4th does not pass without his poem "The Fourth" coming into my mind:
Oh
CRASH!
my
BASH!
it's
BANG!
the
ZANG!
Fourth
WHOOSH!
of
BAROOM!
July
WHEW!
Not only does he use onomatopoeia that reminds the reader of every fireworks display that they have seen, but also creates a concrete image in the way that he has placed the words, which brings to mind a firecracker shooting to the sky (Tunnell et. al, 98).
I believe that what sets apart Silverstein's collection apart are the moments in which his poems urge readers to think or to break out of the norms of expected thought. In "Magic", he points out that "...the magic I have known/I've had to make myself". In "Colors", he challenges readers to look past outward appearances and discover the uniqueness of each soul. "Listen to the Mustn'ts" points out to the reader that, while the world may seem to be constantly saying no, possibilities are actually endless. By spreading his message of a world that is full of imagination, acceptance and possibilities in the form of poems that speak to children, he manages to avoid the heavy-handedness into which less effective children's literature may stray.
I think that Where the Sidewalk Ends would be wonderful for 2nd graders through adults :)
Work Cited: Tunnell, Michael O., Jacobs, James S., Young, Terrell A., Bryan, Gregory. Children's Literature, Briefly. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Persephone
Persephone by Sally Pomme Clayton Illustrated by Virginia Lee
I chose Persephone as the traditional story with which I was not familiar. Somehow, in my education, I missed many of the ancient Greek myths, which are an essential part of an educated person's knowledge. I've often been lost when references were made to such things as Pandora's box or the nature of pomegranate seeds. Having read Sally Pomme Clayton's version of Persephone, I am now familiar with one more influential Greek myth.
The story of Persephone follows a beautiful young girl who is kidnapped by the God of the Underworld, Hades. Her mother, Demeter, the Goddess of Earth, is distraught and puts the world into a period of cold and death as punishment for allowing her daughter to be taken to the Underworld. Zeus, God of the Sky, intervenes and demands that Persephone be returned to Earth immediately. Hades acquiesces, but only after convincing Persephone to eat 3 pomegranate seeds before her departure. Upon returning to Earth, Persephone learns that the pomegranate seeds were food of the dead that will force her to return to the Underworld for 3 months a year -- one month for every seed eaten. And thus, each time she returns to the Underworld, Mother Earth, Demeter, condemns the world to cold and death until the return of her daughter, which heralds spring.
Tunnell, Jacobs, Young and Bryan point out in their book Children's Literature: Briefly that "Myths grew out of early people's need to understand and explain the world around them and their own existence." The story of Persephone clearly is an explanation of the mysteries of the changing seasons and the cycle of life and death. The death and cold of winter is the Goddess' punishment to Earth as the summer is Earth's reward for the return of her daughter. Persephone becomes the symbol for life, the seeds of the pomegranate, for death. What is interesting is the context that Clayton brings with her source notes at the end of the book. She connects the story to both ancient and modern Greek life. In the note, she reveals that the story of Demeter, Persephone, and pomegranates symbolized renewal and the mystery of life to the ancient Greeks. In modern Greece, she tells us that pomegranates are used at New Years and weddings to bring good luck and happiness. Interestingly, they are also used at funerals to honor the dead.
The inclusion of this final note in the book is one of the two outstanding features of the book. It gives deeper meaning not only to the story but also to the way in which the story affected Greek culture. The second outstanding feature of the book is the illustrations. Virginia Lee created images that convey the fear of the kidnapping, the power of Zeus and the beauty of the Earth as Persephone returns and spring comes back to the world. One of my favorite images is that of Demeter bringing winter to Earth. She is shown sweeping her wide white cape over the land, using it to bring death to all plants and making all that it touches become gray. A small quibble that I have with the illustrations is that the details do not always match the text, a problem I also noticed in Gift of the Crocodile. For instance, Hades' chariot is described as golden, yet the painting shows it as black. While the general excellence of the paintings more than makes up for such mistakes, they do cause pause for the reader.
I think that this book would be excellent as an introduction to Greek myths, probably for grades 1 through 3.
I chose Persephone as the traditional story with which I was not familiar. Somehow, in my education, I missed many of the ancient Greek myths, which are an essential part of an educated person's knowledge. I've often been lost when references were made to such things as Pandora's box or the nature of pomegranate seeds. Having read Sally Pomme Clayton's version of Persephone, I am now familiar with one more influential Greek myth.
The story of Persephone follows a beautiful young girl who is kidnapped by the God of the Underworld, Hades. Her mother, Demeter, the Goddess of Earth, is distraught and puts the world into a period of cold and death as punishment for allowing her daughter to be taken to the Underworld. Zeus, God of the Sky, intervenes and demands that Persephone be returned to Earth immediately. Hades acquiesces, but only after convincing Persephone to eat 3 pomegranate seeds before her departure. Upon returning to Earth, Persephone learns that the pomegranate seeds were food of the dead that will force her to return to the Underworld for 3 months a year -- one month for every seed eaten. And thus, each time she returns to the Underworld, Mother Earth, Demeter, condemns the world to cold and death until the return of her daughter, which heralds spring.
Tunnell, Jacobs, Young and Bryan point out in their book Children's Literature: Briefly that "Myths grew out of early people's need to understand and explain the world around them and their own existence." The story of Persephone clearly is an explanation of the mysteries of the changing seasons and the cycle of life and death. The death and cold of winter is the Goddess' punishment to Earth as the summer is Earth's reward for the return of her daughter. Persephone becomes the symbol for life, the seeds of the pomegranate, for death. What is interesting is the context that Clayton brings with her source notes at the end of the book. She connects the story to both ancient and modern Greek life. In the note, she reveals that the story of Demeter, Persephone, and pomegranates symbolized renewal and the mystery of life to the ancient Greeks. In modern Greece, she tells us that pomegranates are used at New Years and weddings to bring good luck and happiness. Interestingly, they are also used at funerals to honor the dead.
The inclusion of this final note in the book is one of the two outstanding features of the book. It gives deeper meaning not only to the story but also to the way in which the story affected Greek culture. The second outstanding feature of the book is the illustrations. Virginia Lee created images that convey the fear of the kidnapping, the power of Zeus and the beauty of the Earth as Persephone returns and spring comes back to the world. One of my favorite images is that of Demeter bringing winter to Earth. She is shown sweeping her wide white cape over the land, using it to bring death to all plants and making all that it touches become gray. A small quibble that I have with the illustrations is that the details do not always match the text, a problem I also noticed in Gift of the Crocodile. For instance, Hades' chariot is described as golden, yet the painting shows it as black. While the general excellence of the paintings more than makes up for such mistakes, they do cause pause for the reader.
I think that this book would be excellent as an introduction to Greek myths, probably for grades 1 through 3.
The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story
The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story by Judy Sierra & Illustrated by Reynold Ruffins
I choose The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story as a traditional story which echos a European traditional story with which I am familiar.
The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story is set in the Spice Islands in Indonesia and follows what most Westerns will recognize as the "Cinderella Story". A lovely young woman named Damura mother dies and her father marries another woman. The new wife is quickly revealed to be evil and cruel, her daughter and herself treating Damura as a servant. While she is washing clothes in a river, a magical talking crocodile gives Damura a lovely silver sarong when her own is lost. When a dance given by a local prince is announced, her stepsister decides to wear the silver sarong as her own. Damura, sad because she will not be able to go to the dance with nothing to wear, goes to the crocodile who gives her a golden sarong and matching shoes. However, she must return home before the rooster crows. She attends the dance and enchants the prince, but must run away when the rooster crows. The prince's only clue to her identity is the golden shoe that she mistakenly leaves behind. With the shoe, he travels the land to find its owner, which, of course, is Damura. After they are re-united, they marry. Her stepmother and stepsister remain insanely jealous of Damura and throw her into the river to be eaten by a crocodile, hoping that the stepsister will become the prince's new love. When the magic crocodile hears of this, she orders the other crocodile to spit out Damura and to hunt down the stepmother and stepsister. Damura and the prince are re-united and the stepmother and stepsister are never heard from again.
The similarities to the Cinderella story with which I am familiar are clear. The basic story and characters could be taken right out of the Disney version (minus talking mice of course). The differences are in the setting and the end, in which the stepmother & stepsister try to kill the Cinderella-like character in a last-ditch attempt at "winning" the prince. Since they are so similar, I wondered if this book was an attempt at creation of multi-cultural literature that modern educators are seeking (Horning, 50) and not a traditional tale at all? However, on the last page of the book, the author has included an extensive source note which not only cites the source of the original story but also explains the background of the story and why there are so many similar "Cinderella" stories around the world. I found it very interesting that evidence shows that spice traders from Asia traveled around the globe, bringing with them stories from their own lands and those that they visited. Since the first recorded Cinderella story was from China, it is quite possible that this tale was re-told and re-interpreted in the countries on the spice trade routes and beyond. This does not refute the idea that similar tales sprung up due to the universality of human experience. The tale was so popular because of this very reason, which led to its endurance. The extensive source notes in this book are a good example of why their inclusion is so important in traditional tales.
Since this is an illustrated book, it is important to make a few observations on the images. The paintings are bright, with vivid colors portraying a tropical locale. Mood is conveyed through color and light. For instance, in the scene in which Damura's mother is on her deathbed, her mother's bed is surrounded by darkness. We know that death is near, but that the light shining on Damura and her mother symbolizes the importance of these last few moments together. The scenes by the river are often dark, conveying mystery and sometimes, danger. One issue with the illustrations is that some of the paintings do not convey the same message as the text. For instance, the first sarong that is given to Damura is described as silver. In the painting, the sarong is blue. While this is not a huge difference, it does contradict the idea of illustrations supporting and further conveying the text. When they contradict one another, it is almost as if the illustrator hasn't read the text.
This book would be a wonderful read-aloud to support multi-cultural stories or a unit on folklore, in particular if the source information is shared with students. I believe that it is particularly well suited to primary grade students.
Source: Horning, Kathleen T. From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books. New York: Collins, 2010. Print.
I choose The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story as a traditional story which echos a European traditional story with which I am familiar.
The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story is set in the Spice Islands in Indonesia and follows what most Westerns will recognize as the "Cinderella Story". A lovely young woman named Damura mother dies and her father marries another woman. The new wife is quickly revealed to be evil and cruel, her daughter and herself treating Damura as a servant. While she is washing clothes in a river, a magical talking crocodile gives Damura a lovely silver sarong when her own is lost. When a dance given by a local prince is announced, her stepsister decides to wear the silver sarong as her own. Damura, sad because she will not be able to go to the dance with nothing to wear, goes to the crocodile who gives her a golden sarong and matching shoes. However, she must return home before the rooster crows. She attends the dance and enchants the prince, but must run away when the rooster crows. The prince's only clue to her identity is the golden shoe that she mistakenly leaves behind. With the shoe, he travels the land to find its owner, which, of course, is Damura. After they are re-united, they marry. Her stepmother and stepsister remain insanely jealous of Damura and throw her into the river to be eaten by a crocodile, hoping that the stepsister will become the prince's new love. When the magic crocodile hears of this, she orders the other crocodile to spit out Damura and to hunt down the stepmother and stepsister. Damura and the prince are re-united and the stepmother and stepsister are never heard from again.
The similarities to the Cinderella story with which I am familiar are clear. The basic story and characters could be taken right out of the Disney version (minus talking mice of course). The differences are in the setting and the end, in which the stepmother & stepsister try to kill the Cinderella-like character in a last-ditch attempt at "winning" the prince. Since they are so similar, I wondered if this book was an attempt at creation of multi-cultural literature that modern educators are seeking (Horning, 50) and not a traditional tale at all? However, on the last page of the book, the author has included an extensive source note which not only cites the source of the original story but also explains the background of the story and why there are so many similar "Cinderella" stories around the world. I found it very interesting that evidence shows that spice traders from Asia traveled around the globe, bringing with them stories from their own lands and those that they visited. Since the first recorded Cinderella story was from China, it is quite possible that this tale was re-told and re-interpreted in the countries on the spice trade routes and beyond. This does not refute the idea that similar tales sprung up due to the universality of human experience. The tale was so popular because of this very reason, which led to its endurance. The extensive source notes in this book are a good example of why their inclusion is so important in traditional tales.
Since this is an illustrated book, it is important to make a few observations on the images. The paintings are bright, with vivid colors portraying a tropical locale. Mood is conveyed through color and light. For instance, in the scene in which Damura's mother is on her deathbed, her mother's bed is surrounded by darkness. We know that death is near, but that the light shining on Damura and her mother symbolizes the importance of these last few moments together. The scenes by the river are often dark, conveying mystery and sometimes, danger. One issue with the illustrations is that some of the paintings do not convey the same message as the text. For instance, the first sarong that is given to Damura is described as silver. In the painting, the sarong is blue. While this is not a huge difference, it does contradict the idea of illustrations supporting and further conveying the text. When they contradict one another, it is almost as if the illustrator hasn't read the text.
This book would be a wonderful read-aloud to support multi-cultural stories or a unit on folklore, in particular if the source information is shared with students. I believe that it is particularly well suited to primary grade students.
Source: Horning, Kathleen T. From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books. New York: Collins, 2010. Print.
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood - Retold and Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
1984 Caldecott Honor Book
When selecting traditional stories to read (folktales, myths, legends, etc), I decided to choose one story with which I was familiar, one that I was not and a familiar story which has variations in many cultures. For the story with which I am familiar, I choose Trina Schart Hyman's version of Little Red Riding Hood.
The reason that I selected this version of the story was my immediate reaction to the illustrations. The watercolor images are lush, highly detailed and provide the perfect Old World atmosphere to the book. Each page is framed by a boxed border featuring flowers, small prints and quilt blocks, similar to the details that one would find on European Country style furniture and illustrations, lending a sense of place and history to the story.
Details in the paintings are wonderful. Little Red Riding Hood is shown as quite small in comparison to the adults, portraying her as very young (maybe 4 or 5, as opposed to the characterization of her being around 12 that I've seen in other versions). We know that she is very young not just from her size, but the details of the images of her. Her feet are often shown turned in or awkwardly placed, as if she is uncertain and unconfident. The artist shows her with wide, innocent eyes and sometimes, with a finger in her mouth. The reader knows from these details that this is a person who will be easily taken in and will not be able to defend herself.
We also know that the wolf is an evil character from our first sighting of him. While the rest of the illustrations are bright and full, the wolf is gray and lean, a stark contrast. Little Red Riding Hood does not recognize him as bad immediately, however. She is shown as watching him with big eyes which are focused on him, showing her as entranced by him. He easily strays her from her path to Grandmas by mentioning the flowers of the forest. When she goes to pick flowers, he dashes off to Grandma's and, before Grandma knows what is happening, he eats her whole.
As Little Red Riding Hood approaches the cottage, she knows that something is the matter. Everything in the house looks fine (as we see from the illustrations), but, as the text and her eyes tell us, something is not. As she asks Grandma about the changes in her appearance, her hand is to her mouth and one foot is stepping backwards. Before she can act on her fright, she also is eaten whole. Luckily, the huntsman comes along and rescues both of them from the wolf. The huntsman is painted as huge, at least a foot and a half taller than Grandma, as would be appropriate for a savior.
The story is much how I remember it, though I now recognize the features that make it a classic folktale. The world of the story is magical, in which animals talk and a large wolf can eat a whole person in one bite (and they escape unscathed!). There is also a moral element to the story - none of this would have happened if Little Red Riding Hood had only listened to her mother and not strayed from her journey to Grandma's house. In the future, she will listen to her mother. However, she finds comfort that, through the entire ordeal, she remembered her manners!
In Kathleen Horning's book on Children's Literature, From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books, she points out that there is a great deal of variation in the degree to which original sources are credited in adaptations of traditional stories. Keeping this in mind, I noted that the only credit given to a previous source is on the copyright page, in the Library of Congress headings that list "Grimm, Jacob. 1785-1863. Rotkappchen." This is unfortunate, as I believe that it is greatly helpful to know the background of the original story. While I've read Little Red Riding Hood previously, I do not know what the original story contained. Are the versions that I've read (including this one) softened, Americanized or otherwise changed for marketing reasons? It would be useful to be able to make a judgement using the original story as a baseline.
1984 Caldecott Honor Book
When selecting traditional stories to read (folktales, myths, legends, etc), I decided to choose one story with which I was familiar, one that I was not and a familiar story which has variations in many cultures. For the story with which I am familiar, I choose Trina Schart Hyman's version of Little Red Riding Hood.
The reason that I selected this version of the story was my immediate reaction to the illustrations. The watercolor images are lush, highly detailed and provide the perfect Old World atmosphere to the book. Each page is framed by a boxed border featuring flowers, small prints and quilt blocks, similar to the details that one would find on European Country style furniture and illustrations, lending a sense of place and history to the story.
Details in the paintings are wonderful. Little Red Riding Hood is shown as quite small in comparison to the adults, portraying her as very young (maybe 4 or 5, as opposed to the characterization of her being around 12 that I've seen in other versions). We know that she is very young not just from her size, but the details of the images of her. Her feet are often shown turned in or awkwardly placed, as if she is uncertain and unconfident. The artist shows her with wide, innocent eyes and sometimes, with a finger in her mouth. The reader knows from these details that this is a person who will be easily taken in and will not be able to defend herself.
We also know that the wolf is an evil character from our first sighting of him. While the rest of the illustrations are bright and full, the wolf is gray and lean, a stark contrast. Little Red Riding Hood does not recognize him as bad immediately, however. She is shown as watching him with big eyes which are focused on him, showing her as entranced by him. He easily strays her from her path to Grandmas by mentioning the flowers of the forest. When she goes to pick flowers, he dashes off to Grandma's and, before Grandma knows what is happening, he eats her whole.
As Little Red Riding Hood approaches the cottage, she knows that something is the matter. Everything in the house looks fine (as we see from the illustrations), but, as the text and her eyes tell us, something is not. As she asks Grandma about the changes in her appearance, her hand is to her mouth and one foot is stepping backwards. Before she can act on her fright, she also is eaten whole. Luckily, the huntsman comes along and rescues both of them from the wolf. The huntsman is painted as huge, at least a foot and a half taller than Grandma, as would be appropriate for a savior.
The story is much how I remember it, though I now recognize the features that make it a classic folktale. The world of the story is magical, in which animals talk and a large wolf can eat a whole person in one bite (and they escape unscathed!). There is also a moral element to the story - none of this would have happened if Little Red Riding Hood had only listened to her mother and not strayed from her journey to Grandma's house. In the future, she will listen to her mother. However, she finds comfort that, through the entire ordeal, she remembered her manners!
In Kathleen Horning's book on Children's Literature, From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books, she points out that there is a great deal of variation in the degree to which original sources are credited in adaptations of traditional stories. Keeping this in mind, I noted that the only credit given to a previous source is on the copyright page, in the Library of Congress headings that list "Grimm, Jacob. 1785-1863. Rotkappchen." This is unfortunate, as I believe that it is greatly helpful to know the background of the original story. While I've read Little Red Riding Hood previously, I do not know what the original story contained. Are the versions that I've read (including this one) softened, Americanized or otherwise changed for marketing reasons? It would be useful to be able to make a judgement using the original story as a baseline.
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