GRANDPA GREEN Book Trailer

Here is my book trailer for Grandpa Green by Lane Smith

WICKED GIRLS by Stephanie Hemphill

Bibliography

Hemphill, Stephanie. 2010. Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials. New York: Balzer + Bray. ISBN 0061853305

Summary

This is a fictionalized account told from the perspective of three of the real young women involved in the Salem witch trials. Ann Putnam Jr. is the driving force behind the accusations. Margaret Wilson, Ann’s cousin, is a love-sick girl who is torn between loyalty to her cousin and the game they have created and her betrothed and the life they could have together. Mercy Lewis is a servant in Ann’s house and one who Ann idolizes. She clings to the safety that following Ann brings. As these girls and their friends continue to accuse, and the consequences become direr, will they choose to continue their game, or will honesty prevail?

Critical Analysis

Hemphill creates a believable story about the motives and personalities of the accusers in the Salem witch trials. She weaves her tale from the perspective of the three main characters, with the other characters’ personalities being viewed from different angles. While their personalities are distinct, the language used by each of the characters does not match their age. Ann, the youngest, often sounds much older than her supposed twelve years. While she is most often the ring leader, her voice also comes across as much older than her seventeen year old peers', which can confuse the perspective at times. The language used also attempts to reflect the Old English that would have been spoken in the late 1600's, but doesn't quite feel natural.

The changing perspectives were clearly defined at the beginning of each poem, which helped separate the characters and helped the reader keep the switching perspectives straight. While each poem has a rhythm of its own, the individual poem titles and notice of changing perspectives help give the reader a chance to mentally prepare for the shift. By choosing to write using the free verse poetic form, Hemphill was able to successfully convey the changing emotion as characters manipulated each other and power was sought and lost in a battle of peer pressure and adult exploitation.

Review Excerpts

2010 School Library Journal Best Books of the Year Award winner

Horn Book Guide – “In this forceful verse novel, Hemphill gives voice to those who writhed, twitched, and shrieked their way to power during the Salem witch trials.”

School Library Journal - "What emerges is a slow but gripping look into the minds of the group and the way their dynamics shift as power is gained and lost throughout the course of the events" - Genevieve Gallagher

Connections

This would be a great novel to read as a literature connection when studying the Salem Witch Trials.

It would be a great connection to studying the idea of peer pressure and what it can lead people, especially teens, to do.

This would be a great book to pair with Arthur Miller’s The Crucible - ISBN 0140481389

MIRROR MIRROR by Marilyn Singer

Bibliography

Singer, Marilyn. 2010. Mirror Mirror. Ill by Josée Masse. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN 0525479015

Summary

Marilyn Singer retells well known fairy tales through reverse poems she calls “reverso.” When read in one direction, the story unfolds one way, in the usually more traditional telling of the story. When the poem is then reversed and read from bottom to top, the story becomes quite different.

Critical Analysis

Each of Singer’s reverso poems are written in two stanzas with the first being a more traditional version of the story and the second being the reverso, or upside down version that shows the story from a different perspective. The technique alone is interesting and a very creative way of analyzing well-known stories. Her poems cause the reader to stop and really think about the story.

Singer’s poems are written in free verse, which allows her to manipulate the lines so that when the story is read in reverse it still makes sense. She was very careful to use certain phrases and the freedom of free verse poetry to make each poem work, with surprising results. One moment the Ugly Duckling is confident that one day “A beauty I’ll be.” And the next he is unsure, thinking “No way/ I’ll turn into a swan.” Then there is the story of Goldilocks and the three bears written as if it were a news story with one side stating, “Asleep in cub’s bed,/ blonde/ startled by/ bears.” The other side reads “Bears startled/ by blonde/ asleep in cub’s bed.”

Masse’s illustrations creatively help to show both perspectives of each poem by creating split images. The images make the reader, combined with the mixed up story, consider who really is the hero or villain of each story.

Review Excerpts

2011 ALA Notable Books for Children Award winner

2010 Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books Award winner

Horn Book Magazine – "Through a poetic invention she dubs the reverso, Singer meditates on twelve familiar folktales, and, via the magic of shifting line breaks and punctuation, their shadows." 

Booklist - "A must-purchase that will have readers marveling over a visual and verbal feast." – Patricia Austin

Connections

Compare and contrast the two sides of the fairy tale as resented in each poem.

Read a traditional version of the fairy tale and contrast it with Singer’s versions.

Have students write their own version of a story from a different perspective in the same way that Singer’s reverse does. 

RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS by Joyce Sidman

Bibliography

Sidman, Joyce. 2009. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors. Ill by Pamela Zagarenski. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 0547014945

Summary

This is a story of the seasons. It is told in poems, using color as the main component to describe what can be seen, felt, and tasted throughout the year.

Critical Analysis

This poem in cleverly crafted, bringing color to life by involving more than just the sense of sight.  “Yellow . . . smells like butter,” describes sweet summer corn. “The wind feels black,” in fall. Colors are even personified when “green is tired . . . green sighs with relief,” as summer comes to an end and other colors take over. By bringing out the best and unique qualities of each season, the reader is left seeing and feeling the beauty of the earth as one season fades into the next.

While this poem does not follow a pattern, it reads smoothly. The punctuation and pauses add a perfectly timed dramatic element. When reading, the word choice seems so natural, but taking a closer look it is obvious the care that was taken to choose just the right words to heighten all of the senses on every page. Onomatopoeia and alliteration are both used throughout the poem, but not overused, simply highlighting certain sections.

The illustrations in this book are immaculate. On every page, the focus color is highlighted in both text and by using various hues of that color, with minimum of other colors used simply to add a spark of contrast. Word to describe the color or shape of various objects or the names of the seasons are seamlessly woven into illustrations adding a whole other dimension to the illustrations as they complement the poem.

Review Excerpts

2010 Caldecott Honor Book

2010 ALA Notable Books for Children Award winner

School Library Journal - "This poetic tribute to the seasons will brighten dull days." – Julie Roach

Booklist - "As the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page do sing." – Ilene Cooper

Connections

At a foundational level, this book can be used to introduce colors and connecting those colors to the real world. After reading, the children can go outside and find objects of different colors. Either by collecting them or taking pictures, a book can be created using the found objects.

Connect to science. It could be used at a variety of levels when looking at the different aspects of the seasons. There is also vocabulary used, such as the waxing and waning of the moon that could be used as a literary connection to a scientific concept.

This book can be used as an example of how words can be used to strengthen the craft of writing – in both poetry and prose – by activating all the senses through careful word choice.

THE THREE PIGS by David Wiesner

Bibliography

Wiesner, David. 2001. The Three Pigs. New York, NY: Clarion Books. ISBN 0618007016

Summary

As this story traditionally begins, three pigs set off to find their fortune when the big bad wolf comes along to blow their houses away. This time he literally blows them away . . . and out of the pages of the story. The wolf appears perplexed as his dinner has disappeared right before his eyes. The three pigs, now on their own adventure, set off to invade other stories, drawing out a character here and there, saving some from their doomed fates of their own stories.  When the three pigs decide it is time to go back to their own story, some of the friends they have made along the way decide to go with them. What will the wolf think of that?

Critical Analysis
Wiesner's unconventional retelling of this traditional tale pulls the reader out of the story along with the characters. While the beginning and ending hold true to the traditional story line, Wiesner takes us on a paper airplane ride into the pages of other stories. Wiesner depicts the wolf's reactions brilliantly on each page as the words indicate that he "ate the pig up," but he is standing there perplexed as to where his dinner actually went.

The change in Wiesner's illustrations as the characters move in and out of their real stories adds another dimension to guide the reader through the space and time he has created. The way he incorporates some of his other works such as Tuesday and The Loathsome Dragon (with Kim Kahng), bring the reader into Wiesner's fictional world and make the reader want to discover more.

Review Excerpts

2002 Caldecott Medal winner

New York Times Book Review  - "Wiesner's dialogue and illustrations are clever, whimsical and sophisticated. . . ." - Sean Kelly

Horn Book Magazine - "Wiesner's postmodern interpretation of this tale plays imaginatively with traditional picture book and story conventions and with readers' expectations of both." - Kitty Flynn

Connections

 This version of the story would make a great compare/contrast with a more traditional version such as:

            The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone ISBN 0899192750

It could also make a great unit study by reading several different versions that twist the tale such as:

            The Three Little Pigs by Steven Kellogg ISBN 0064437795

            The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka ISBN 0140544518

Make this into a reader’s theater for students. It could be easily modified for various grade/reading levels.

I think it would also be great to find several of the stories that are incorporated into this tale and tie them all together to see that the real fate of those characters as it happens in their stories. Two of the stories depicted are:
             Tuesday by David Wiesner ISBN 0395870828
             The Loathsome Dragon by Kim Khang and David Wiesner ISBN 0618543597

THE GINGERBREAD MAN retold by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Megan Lloyd

Bibliography

Kimmel, Eric A. 1993. The Gingerbread Man. Ill. by Megan Lloyd. New York, NY: Holiday House. ISBN 0823411370

Summary

An old woman and an old man make a man out of gingerbread, complete with licorice, icing and peppermint trimmings. They plan to eat him until he suddenly pops up and runs from them, teasing them with his chant “You can’t catch me. I’m the gingerbread man!” The gingerbread man makes his way through the country past a sow, dog, horse and cow. They all join in with the man and woman to chase the gingerbread man. Until he meets a sly fox that convinces the gingerbread man he will help him escape across the river. But the sly fox is not quite as noble as he first appears.

Critical Analysis

Kimmel's retelling of this traditional story about a gingerbread man that comes to life and sends both man and animal chasing after it has such rhythm that children and adults can't help but fall in love with this story again. The gingerbread's refrain of "Ill run and run as fast as I can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread man." is perfectly balanced so that every time it repeats, even with the additions of the various characters chasing the gingerbread man, the reader almost wants to sing it out. Even Kimmel's word choice of using "sow" instead of pig adds an element of poetry to the story.

Lloyd's illustrations add a humorous quality, especially in the way the characters faces are depicted on each page. The smug smile the gingerbread man has on each page as he escapes yet another pursuer turns into shock as realizes he may have met his match. The emotions bring the character to life. The combination of Kimmel's storytelling and Lloyds artistic talent make this retelling a must have in every library.

Review Excerpts

From School Library Journal – “Kimmel brings humor and warmth to the retelling of this spicy classic.” – Elizabeth Hanson

From Horn Book Guide – “Delightful watercolors capture with humor the movement and pace of the story, making this a pleasant addition to any collection.”

Connections

For younger audience, this version makes for a wonderful sequencing activity.

Turn this into a reader’s theater.

I read this story to my class as we were working on the rhythm of stories and they were able to chime in quickly with the refrain “I’ll run and run as fast as I can. You can’t catch me. I’m the gingerbread man!” They loved to share the story with me. 

JOSEPH HAD A LITTLE OVERCOAT by Simms Taback

Bibliography

Taback, Simms. 1999. Joseph had a Little Overcoat. New York, NY: Viking. ISBN 0670878553

Summary

Joseph had an overcoat. Over time, it become old and worn, but instead of just throwing it out, he makes it into a … jacket. When the jacket becomes old and worn Joseph turns it into something else. Joseph continues turning each garment into something new, until there is nothing left. But is nothing really the end to Joseph’s overcoat?

Critical Analysis

Simms Taback takes a traditional Yiddish folk song and turns it into a beautiful story with rich, detailed illustrations. The story has a repetitive refrain that children love to recite. As the reader approaches the end, instead of being able to begin the next page with "So he made a . . ." he realizes there is nothing left; the reader can feel the sadness that is shown on Joseph's face as well as the animals who have come along for the journey. Thankfully Taback continues the story to teach us that just because it seems like there is nothing left, it doesn't mean you can't get something out of it.

Taback's illustrations alone bring the story to life. They are vibrant and almost move on their own. The die-cut holes that show the transition from one piece to another add another dimension that catapults the illustrations into award winning perfection.

Review Excerpts

2000 Caldecott Medal winner

From Booklist – “Taback's mixed-media and collage illustrations are alive with warmth, humor, and humanity.” – Tim Arnold.

From Horn Book Magazine - “Don't you lose it: clever, visually engrossing, poignant, it's worth holding on to." – Martha Parravano

Connections

 This would make a great story to read around Earth Day. It could be connected to reusing old things that aren't completely worn out. For an in class project, students could pick from a variety of old things and turn them into something new. I would love to do an at-home project to get the families involved with turning something they have that is old into something new and useful.

I have used this story in the past for retelling. We acted out our retelling with each “new” piece on card and the students chanting the refrain “It got old and worn. So he made . . .” They loved it!

My students also fell in love with the way the book was illustrated. They loved the die-cut holes that allowed the overcoat to change throughout the story. They tried to illustrate their own stories that way and found it very hard to match their holes on one page with the illustration on the other. They had a blast trying it and I was impressed to see the problem solving they used to try and make it work.