Beautiful Blackbird- A Book Review for Children's Lit

         

     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bryan, Ashley. 2003. BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD. New York, NY: Atheneum. ISBN 0689847319

PLOT SUMMARY

All of the birds in Africa hold a meeting to determine which bird is the most beautiful.  Without hesitation, all of the birds determine that it is Blackbird.  Blackbird then agrees to give some of his black color to all of the other birds.  He mixes blackening brew in his gourd and gives every bird some black, but he tells them all the while that “I’ll be me and you’ll be you.” The story ends with all the birds singing that “black is beautiful.”

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This is one of the most eye-opening and glorious books I have ever read in my life.  The theme of this selection, to be yourself, is one of the most important lessons I teach my students.  And in complete honesty, I am a white lady teaching mostly non-white students.  I needed this book. I needed something that I can share with my diverse students that shows value and beauty in a different culture than what I know.  This story has crossed me over into a journey of discovery and realization that I must do more for my students.

In this myth, BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD, Bryan masterfully carries out the oral tradition of the Ila-speaking people of Zambia. He is true to the root culture of his tale with the dance, the shaman, and the diction choices he makes. His story has a rhythmic, musical quality that begs to be read out loud. When you read, “uh-huh, Blackbird, too,” you can’t help but speak the words aloud.  He also uses onomatopoeia, alliteration, and rhyme to convey the oral tradition of his tale with such phrases as “flip-flop-flapping” and “whirring, stirring.”

The illustrations in this book are actually cut outs of colored paper created by the author.  They are simple, colorful alive, and full of movement and shape. They complement the words of the story and show the energy and vibrancy of the action.

This myth does explain where the birds got their black coloring from, but more importantly, the main theme that “black is beautiful” is impossible to miss. Bryan also has themes of individuality, “color on the outside is not what’s on the inside” and the importance of culture, “my black roots,” as well.  Bryan writes, “It is important to affirm our ancestry, to learn about our people while learning about others” (Vardell 95). In this story, he accomplishes this very thing.  

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*Coretta Scott King Award Winner

*2x2 Book List

*Publishers Weekly: “Bryan’s lilting and magical language is infectious.”

*School Library Journal: “This unusual and little-known pourquoi tale… serves as a thoughtful and entertaining addition to units on self-esteem.”

*Booklist: “In this simple adaptation… the message is clear: “Black is Beautiful… Ready-made for participative storytelling.”

CONNECTIONS

*Students can find Africa on a map or a globe.

*Students can dance the Show Claw Slide like the birds in the story do (http://www.kalimba.co.za/)

*For a writing assignment, have each child pretend to be a bird and write about what color they would be and why.

*An art project where students cut out and use colorful shapes to make a scene.

*This story would be wonderful to have a professional storyteller come read.

*A reader’s theater with all the students participating; or a dramatization where each student gets a simple prop for their “bird” character.

*Students can each write a retelling of a tale from their own unique (religious, ethnic, racial) background.

Images taken from: https://www.google.com/search?q=beautiful+blackbird&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOlL7MiqrWAhVm6IMKHVPuCKgQ_AUICygC&biw=1254&bih=527#imgrc=SK1PnIVCVMTXtM:

Three Little Gators- A Book Review for Children's Lit

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ketteman, Helen. 2009. THREE LITTLE GATORS. Ill. by Will Terry. Chicago, Il: Albert Whitman & Company. ISBN 0807578247

PLOT SUMMARY

In this version of THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, Mama Gator evicts her three young sons from the family log.  The three young gators must then find their own homes.  When First Gator builds his house of rocks, the two other gators tell him that it is a “bad choice” because it will be too much work.  Second Gator builds his house of sticks, and the Third Gator builds his house of sand.  When the Big-bottomed Boar shows up, he destroys both the Second and Third Gator’s homes with a wiggle of his “rump with a bump, bump, bump,” and all the gators find safety with First Gator and his stone home.  In classic form, the Boar tries to wiggle down the chimney, but for his troubles is rewarded with grill marks on his big-bottom and runs off, never to wiggle his rump in the swamp again.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This East Texas version of THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, THE THREE LITTLE GATORS, is an entertaining and colorful read. Ketteman uses dialect “It’s time you young ‘uns set out…” and regional vocabulary to write a tale that sounds like it comes straight out of the swamp.  In this comical tale, Ketteman adds her own refrains, such as the Big-Bottom Boar shouting, “I’ll wiggle my rump with a bump, bump, bump and smash your house!” She uses parallel sentences and rhyme to help in the oral telling of the story with word pairings such as “thinner” and “dinner.” Her literary elements round out with onomatopoeia, alliteration, and regional idioms such as “raced faster than snakes after a bullfrog.”

The cartoonish illustrations show adorable and colorful characters.  They complement and extend the text with each scene, and add additional humor.  For example, when the Big-Bottom Boar exclaims, “… wiggle my rump… and smash your house,” the illustration shows a huge boar bottom smashing the house.  They are hilarious! When the boar is shimmying down the chimney, the page is turned sideways and his piggy-fear is clear on his face while his bum lights up with little piggy-bum hairs.

While the conventional plot and theme are preserved, the humor both the author and illustrator use in this version of such a well-known and often-retold story make it stand out as a fun and vibrant alternative.

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*Wanda Gag Award Honor Book 2010

*Publishers Weekly:  “… folksy details in both text ("Third Gator ran faster than a fox after a muskrat") and art (a bottle of boar sauce sits next to the fireplace, as the boar earns some grill marks) should entertain.”

*Booklist:  “Loaded with plenty of outlandish action from the bug-eyed, cartoonish characters rendered in glimmering colors, this would make a rip-roaring group read-aloud.”

CONNECTIONS

*Before reading THE THREE LITTLE GATORS, watch Disney’s Silly Symphony adaptation of the original story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olo923T2HQ4.

*Read more alternative version of the story, such as THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka or THE THREE LITTLE FISH AND THE BIG BAD SHARK by Ken Geist or THE THREE LITTLE JAVELINAS by Susan Lowell.  Have students determine what elements of the story always stay the same, and which elements can change.

*Read more fractured fairy tales also by Helen Ketteman, such as BUBBA, THE COWBOY PRINCE.

*Have the students adapt the story into a reader’s theater.

*Have students write their own version of a folktale- either this one or another one they like.

Rumplestiltskin- A book review for Children's Lit

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Zelinsky, Paul O. 1986. RUMPELSTILTSKIN. New York, NY:  E.P. Dutton. ISBN 0525442650

PLOT SUMMARY

In this traditional retelling of RUMPELSTILTSTKIN, a miller’s daughter is locked in a room and told she will be killed if she does not spin piles of straw into gold.  As she weeps at the impossibility of this task, a small man appears and offers to help her in exchange for a token.  She obliges him with a necklace, and he works his magic and turns all the straw into gold.  Three times the small man comes to help the girl, but the third time she must agree to give him her first born child.  She makes the deal out of desperation, and the third room is magically filled with gold.  As often happens in these tales, the king decides to marry this rich young woman and, a year later, she has her first royal child.  The little man returns for his token, and the mother balks.  He gives her three days to guess his name in exchange for her child.  By the third day, she has come into possession of his name, he rages and disappears, and she lives happily ever after with her child.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This story is a traditional retelling of a classic tale.  The story contains the rule of three (in the number of times the girl must turn straw into gold and again in the number of days she has to guess Rumplestiltskin’s name), magical elements (a small man who can spin straw into gold and rides on a spoon), and the traditional setting of “Once there was…” The story is well-told and shows clear examples of classic characters in the innocent miller’s daughter and the greedy king.

Zelinsky uses alliteration and onomatopoeia to aid in the oral telling of the story with “he had spun all the straw into gleaming gold” with a “whir! whir! whir!”  He also uses repetition of phrases to support the important points of the story.

The realistic illustrations are beautifully crafted oil paintings. They complement the text of the story by showing exactly what the words describe. Some of the illustrations show not only one scene, but Zelinsky is able to show multiple scenes incorporated into one picture.  For example, at the top of one page the miller is telling his story to the king outside of the castle, and at the bottom of the page, the girl is being led into the first room.  This is wonderful for young children to be able to see the entirety of the story being played out in front of them.

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*Caldecott Honor Book 1987

* New York Times Book Review:  "Children...love the story for its mystery, and its familiarity. Adults will find that, like most classic fairy tales, this one rewards periodic rethinking."

* School Library Journal : “Zelinsky's smooth retelling and glowing pictures cast the story in a new and beautiful light."  

CONNECTIONS

*Students can read some other retellings of this story and compare them. For example, the fractured fairy tale RUMP: THE TRUE STORY OF RUMPLESTILTSKIN by Liesl Shirtliff.

*Students may read some of Zelinsky’s other tales, such as: RAPUNZEL or HANSEL AND GRETEL.

*The illustrations in this book would be great to use for students to use to creatively write.  They could write the thoughts of a character, an ending that shows where Rumplestiltskin goes, or something entirely different (such as their own fractured fairy tale if they read RUMP also).

Images taken from: https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&biw=1254&bih=527&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=rumpelstiltskin+zelinsky&oq=rumpelstiltskin+zelinsky&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0j0i8i30k1l2.297330.309736.0.310012.40.32.8.0.0.0.175.3240.17j14.31.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.35.2985...0i67k1j0i13k1.0.lHoSnhc5c4M#imgrc=2G1Om-uK4yOfXM:

The Lion and the Mouse- A book review for Children's Lit

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pinkney, Jerry. 2009. THE LION AND THE MOUSE. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316013560.

PLOT SUMMARY

In this adaptation of THE LION AND THE MOUSE, a small mouse escapes from an owl only to be caught by a lion.  Surprisingly, the lion looks on the mouse with wonder and then lets him go.  Soon after, the lion is caught in a poacher’s net and the mouse heroically scampers in and frees the lion from the trap. Both creatures then return to their families.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

I don’t know when I was last enraptured by a wordless book.  I was hooked from the very first illustration of the African savannah with a pride of lions at its center. From that moment on, this tale proved to be an engaging and emotional adventure. I may have even teared up in the scene where the lion was caught in the net and fearing he would never return home to his cubs, but only because the illustrations are so powerful.

The illustrations of this book are absolutely spectacular.  This is a good thing because the illustrations in this book tell a profoundly moving story with help from only a few well-placed animal sounds- onomatopoeia at its best.   This wordless telling of this timeless fable is the most gripping one I have ever seen.  As you turn the pages, you feel the movement of the animals as you travel with them through this adventure.

Pinkney masterfully creates believable characters through their facial expressions and body postures. The illustrations of the animals show the emotion they are feeling: the wonder when the lion holds the mouse in his paw, the trepidation of the mouse when she finds herself in the grasp of a powerful predator, and the radiating, red fear when the lion is caught in the trap.  The blocked scenes of the mouse running in to save the lion are exquisite. The sensation of a mouse boldly scampering is felt and the lion’s pitiful “ROAR” grows and shrinks as it fills the entire top of the page.

An added bonus of this adaptation is the insertion of families.  The book opens on the lion’s family, and after the mouse is freed by the lion, it shows her running to a nest of mouse babes.  The story ends with mama mouse delivering a piece of the poacher’s net to these squeaking youngsters.

The lesson of this fable is successfully shown through both characters.  The kindness of these two opposite creatures is cleverly shown through the vast difference in their sizes.  This fable shows us that physical size does not matter, only the size of our heart. 

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*Caldecott Medal Winner 2010

*2x2 Book List 2010

*Starred review School Library Journal: "Pinkney's luminous art, rendered in watercolor and colored pencil, suggests a natural harmony.... A classic tale from a consummate artist."

*Starred review Kirkus Reviews:  "A nearly wordless exploration of Aesop's fable of symbiotic mercy that is nothing short of masterful... Unimpeachable.”

*Verily Magazine: "A child will get lost in the illustrations and grow old with this beauty."

CONNECTIONS

*Let students write their own telling of the fable using the pictures as a guide.

*Read Pinkney’s traditional telling of this story in the collection Aesop’s Fables (2000) and compare the two tellings.

*Have students read other fables by Pinkney to determine the common factors that make a fable.

Illustrations taken from:  https://www.google.com/search?q=the+lion+and+the+mouse+pinkney&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW-eGZh6rWAhVF2oMKHeL4BZkQ_AUICigB&biw=1254&bih=527

MILLIONS OF CATS- A book review for Children's Lit

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gag, Wanda. 1928. MILLIONS OF CATS. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0698113632

PLOT SUMMARY

An old lady and an old man feel lonely, so the old man sets off on a journey to bring home a pet cat.  He finds “millions and billions and trillions” of cats, but he can’t determine which is the prettiest to take home. So, of course, he takes them all home.  They decimate the land on their way back to his home, and upon their arrival, the old lady tells him that they cannot keep so many cats.  The elderly couple go into the house to let the cats decide which cat will stay with them, and when they go back out, the cats have “eaten each other all up”.  All that remains is one small, bedraggled kitten.  They take it inside, tend to it, and it becomes a beautiful cat that brings them joy.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

I’m not going to lie to you.  I do not care for this book at all. Truthfully, I absolutely detest it. At first I felt like there was something wrong with me because this is a classic (first published in 1928).  But then I found out I am not alone.  In Travis Jonker’s game “One Star Review Guess Who?”(100scopenotes.com), episode 58, our book MILLIONS OF CATS is the winner with the clue: “literally the hunger games for cats…” With that in mind...

Gag writes this story in traditional folktale format starting with “once upon a time” and proceeds to use repetitive language and rhyme patterns to create a well-written text.  How can a child not be drawn in by “cats here, cats there, cats and kittens everywhere”? She also uses repetition in the actions of the man going and returning on his journey “over the sunny hills and through the cool valleys” as well as the actions of him selecting all of the cats.   Gag pulls the end together with more repetition and rhythm to add her final line “not one was as pretty as this one” and deliver the theme of her story.

The illustrations in this picture book are fantastic.  Keeping in mind the time period, the pen and ink drawings are detailed and creative.  As the old man takes his journey to the cats, the landscape grows and stretches across the pages.  These landscape illustrations are breathtaking.  The borders of the artwork grow and curve and bubble and you actually have the sense of movement as you travel with the old man down the road. As the kitten grows, you watch her frame by frame become a “plump” kitty. 

All in all, the story is beautifully written and has brilliantly drawn illustrations.  The time period creates two issues that the parent/teacher/librarian will need to choose how to address before reading with the students.  There are some diction choices that will need to be addressed with young readers unfamiliar with the vocabulary-either frontloaded or left for the student to analyze as they read.  Also, the old man is smoking a pipe at a few places in the story, and that may need to be addressed as well. If you are comfortable with the cats “quarreling” (ie. killing each other en masse), the story does teach a lesson that pretty is in the eye of the beholder, and vanity will kill you.

So, while I won’t be reading this book to my young daughter any time soon, I do see the merit in the artistry Gag used in both her language and images.    

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*Newbery Honor Award

*Oldest picture book continuously in print (which I think is noteworthy)

*Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

*Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductee 2017

*#21 Top 100 Picture Books by School Library Journal

*The New York Times- “A perennial favorite”

*School Library Journal- “Considered by many to have ushered in the age of the modern picture book, this Newbery Honor winner is characterized by innovative design and a strong storyteller’s cadence.”

*Amazon- “… a wonderful tale of vanity versus humility”

CONNECTIONS

*IN THE HOUSE OF THE NIGHT is another book with cats written in Gag’s style

*For older students, read as a companion to THE HUNGER GAMES and discuss similarities.

*Other works by Gag: THE FUNNY THING, SNIPPY AND SNAPPY, THE ABC BUNNY.

Photos taken from: https://www.amazon.com/Millions-Cats-Picture-Puffin-Books/dp/0142407089

UPTOWN- A book review for Children's Lit

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Collier, Bryan. 2000. UPTOWN. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805057218

PLOT SUMMARY

A young boy takes the reader on a tour of his hometown, Harlem.  He shows them the train, the food, the buildings, the shopping, the art, and more- all from his child’s point of view as he goes about his regular activities.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Collier creates a beautiful and vibrant picture book in UPTOWN.  His young, earnest narrator describes Harlem through a child’s perspective.  Collier uses similes and metaphors to illustrate how a child would see the city- “Uptown is a caterpillar.  Well, it’s really the Metro-North train…”  Not only do his literary elements create a moving interpretation of Harlem, but the shapes, fonts, colors, and sizes of the words add to the meaning.  The “orange sunset over the Hudson River” is yellow and orange.  The music notes that “float through the air” literally float across the page. 

After all the imagery and art in the language, it is hard to imagine that the illustrations have any work left to do, but they are magnificent.  I fell in love with this story before I even left the first page.  The illustrations contain bold, bright color, strong lines, interesting angles (looking down through a window onto the narrator’s head), and unique style (imagine buildings that somehow look to be made of chocolate, but completely real at the same time).  They seem to illustrate the reality of the city with the imaginative quality of childhood.  And all the while, our young narrator is there, naïve and sweet, and so well created that he almost seems like a real kid.

 

This story brings Harlem to life.  It is culturally authentic and shows the feeling of community and pride this young boy feels about where he comes from.

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award

*Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrators

*Publisher’s Weekly- “… both text and art capture a child’s sense of perspective and imagination”

*School Library Journal- “From [the narrator’s] perspective, it’s the very best place to be, and readers will find it difficult to disagree.”

CONNECTIONS

*This could be a great way to get the students thinking about where they come from and use this as a jumping off point to write a story or a poem about their hometown.

* Other Award-winning books by Collier:  TROMBONE SHORTY, MARTIN’S BIG WORDS: THE LIFE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., and ROSA.

Pictures taken from: http://kinderbooks.net/wp-content/uploads/2004/01/Uptown1.jpg 

ORSON BLASTS OFF- A book review for Children's Lit

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Colon, Raul. 2004. ORSON BLASTS OFF. New York, NY: Atheneum. ISBN 0689842783

PLOT SUMMARY

A young boy, Orson, becomes bored within moments of his computer breaking.  Weasel, the jack-in-the-box, comes to life and tells Orson to “kindly step outside.” Orson and Weasel go on a fabulous journey to Antarctica, survive a hurricane, travel through space, and even pop through a black hole.  When they return home, Weasel un-animates and Orson decides to go play outside.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In the spirit of Where the Wild Things Are, ORSON BLASTS OFF captures the adventures of a young boy escaping his real life problem by taking a magical adventure.  At first I am tempted to believe it is a take-off on the formerly mentioned classic tale, but although I can find a substantial number of similarities, the story takes a different approach to the fantastical adventure with quite a few skillfully crafted literary and artistic elements.  The exquisite illustrations leaping out of the page and the dialogue of the characters keeps the reader intrigued from start to finish.

Colon creates two very unique characters through his word choices.  There is a continual dialogue between them throughout the story that shows Orson’s youth, “This is so cool!” and his creativity, “I have an idea that should get us out of here.”  Weasel is set apart as an older, proper character with his “Respectfully, sir, it is not I…” Colon also seamlessly connects the real to the fantastical and each setting change using a cleverly worded pun (“one whale of a tale” becomes “one tail of a whale”).  Colon does not confine his words to boxes, fonts, or sizes.  His words move across illustrations, out of boxes, and across the page depending on the situation. 

Colon’s images are no different.  Some of them start in boxes and pop out of them, some of them tumble across a page, and some pages are full of nothing but illustrations.  His artwork is beautiful and imaginative.  He creates smaller images when Orson is in the “real” world and larger images to show when he is in the “fantasy” world.  The illustrations work hand in hand with the puns to connect the changing settings throughout the story. 

The theme of this story book is implicit, but clearly shown.  It is current and relevant to issues students are facing in this digital age.

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*School Library Journal:  “A flight not only into imaginary realms but also into the delicious world of language awaits readers in this fanciful journey.”

*Starred review in Booklist:  “The clever story …will draw children right into Orson’s daydream world.”

CONNECTIONS

*To continue the theme of leaving behind technology, pair this book with FAVORITE THINGS by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

*Also connect this story to DRAW!, also by Colon, to see more of this same theme.

*Raul Colon is also the illustrator of:

MY MAMA HAD A DANCING HEART by Libba Moore Gray

RISE THE MOON by Eileen Spinelli (His work in this book is called “beautiful” in a starred review by Booklist)

(photos taken from https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=orson+blasts+off) 

THIS IS NOT MY HAT- a book review for Children's Lit

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Klassen, Jon. 2012. THIS IS NOT MY HAT. Somerville, MA: Candlewick. ISBN 9780763655990

 PLOT SUMMARY

A little fish has stolen a hat from a large fish.  As this little fish tells his tale and makes his run to freedom, the large fish begins the search for his missing hat. Two fish swim into the tall plants, and only one swims out.   

 CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The beauty of this story lies in the irony between the short, simple sentences of the fish’s thoughts, “This hat is not mine. I just stole it” with the bold, expressive illustrations showing what is actually happening.  What blows my mind is that Klassen is able to use simplicity to create such a complex and meaningful tale. 

 Klassen uses very short sentences along with very large font for this story.  The simplicity of his words and the tone of his first person narrator show the train of thought of the thief AND make it easy for young children to understand; it had my young daughter cracking up as I read to her.  

Klassen’s illustrations only show muted browns, reds, grays, and black, but this pulls the reader in to focus on the details.  He emphasizes the difference in the size of the fish by having the big fish take up two pages every time he shows up and always fitting the little fish on one side.  In each illustration, Klassen uses very subtle signals (a squinted eye, a pointing claw, a trail of white bubbles) to tell a story that contradicts the words on the page. The reader can’t help but giggle and laugh throughout the story.

Instead of forcing a lesson, the ending of the story leaves the reader to determine the fate of the little fish thief themselves, so children can draw their own conclusions about the outcome of taking what is not ours.

  

    AWARDS AND REVIEWS

*Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book

*New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year

*#1 New York Times Bestseller

*Amazon Best Books of the Year 2012

*The Horn Book review:  “Darkly hilarious.”

*School Library Journal:  “This not-to-be-missed title will delight children again and again.”

    CONNECTIONS

*This book will work well to teach children a lesson about stealing.

*Other hat books by the author: I WANT MY HAT BACK and WE FOUND A HAT

*More books illustrated by Jon Klassen: 

      HOUSE HELD UP BY TREES by Ted Kooser

      EXTRA YARN by Mac Barnett

Photos taken from: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Jon-Klassen/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AJon%20Klassen 

About me

Hi all,

My name is Emily and I am learning to library.  Really, I am in graduate school to earn my MLS (Master of Library Science) at Sam Houston State University.  The purpose of this blog is to post book reviews of the literature I review for my course Children's Literature.  

I have been an avid reader my entire life, and have enjoyed reading books with my high school and middle school students as a teacher for the past 15 years.  I am ready for another adventure, but I don't want to leave the school setting, so I have chosen to pursue this new adventure so I can grow in new ways and stay in the environment that I love.  I am terrified and excited to get started...