International Literature #3-Miki's First Errand by Yoriko Tsutsui



This book was originally published in Japan, but was translated and published by RIC Publications in 2006.  The story is about Miki, a five year old girl whose mother asks her to go to the corner market to buy some milk.  It would be appropriate for 3-6 year olds of any ethnic origin.  Even though the illustrations prove that the child is obviously Asian, the story would be familiar to children from many locations around the world. The style of writing in this short book is just right to keep a young child or young reader's attention. 

International Literature #2-Nicholas by Rene Goscinny



This book was originally published in France in 1959 and later published in 2011 by Phaidon Press in English.  This is the first book in the Nicholas series.  In this volume, there are nineteen different stories concerning Nicholas and his friends, whom live in an all boys boarding school somewhere in France. Throughout the book, he and his friends get in trouble in a variety of ways.  I enjoyed and connected particularly with the story of how he and his friends annoyed and punished their substitute teacher. 

This book is not what I would call politically correct due to the antics of Nicholas and his friends; however, it would definitely keep the reluctant reader engaged from cover to cover.

International Literature #1- Mo's Mischief by Yang Hongying



The Mo's Mischief series was written by Yang Hongying, a very popular children's writer in China.  She has sold over nineteen million books since the year 2000.  Books from this series are some of her most popular titles.  They were first published in China and later published by HarperCollins in New York.

The most sold title in the series is Pesky Monkeys.   In Pesky Monkeys, Mo travels to his grandparents' home in the countryside.  Mo enjoys rollerskating, playing with dogs, and seeing many rare animals while on his visit. 

The book details plenty of adventures that will peak kids' interest.  The chapters are short and include tons of pranks in the content that kids will find very funny.  Even though this series doesn't seem very educational, it may appeal to boys that are reluctant to read. 

Diversity Literature #2-Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata



Oh, now this one is a tear-jerker.  Kira-Kira is a Newbery Medal Winner, and I can definitely see why.  The story takes place in the 1950s when Katie and the rest of her Japanese-American family move from Iowa to Georgia when Katie is just in kindergarten. Her parents work in terrible conditions and endure impossible hours in a poultry plant and hatchery.  Even so, they somehow manage to create a loving, stable home for their three children: Lynn, Katie, and Sammy. Katie’s trust in, and admiration for her older sister Lynn never falters, even when her sisterly advice doesn’t seem to make sense. Lynn teaches Katie to see how everyday things are kira-kira (glittering, sparkling in Japanese). The two girls dream of buying a house for the family someday and even save $100 in candy money.  Lynn develops lymphoma, but Katie tries her best to see Lynn's kira-kira outlook on life as Lynn's condition gets worse.

This book should be in every library media center collection because of its honest portrayal of life for a family of different cultural background.  The narrator (Katie) has such an honest, transparent voice that allows the reader to become greatly involved in the characters and the plot.

Another one of my favorite reads for this class!

Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine (Diversity Picture Book)



I keep saying this alot to myself, but I think this is my favorite book that I have read so far for this class.  Henry's Freedom Box is a Caldecott Honor book   It is a true story about a slave named Henry Brown.  As a child, Henry was taken from his family to a new slave owner to work in a tobacco factory.  He grew up, met his wife, and had children.  His wife and children were sold at a slave auction.  With the help of two friends, one being a white doctor who did not agree with slavery, he mailed himself in a box to Philadelphia where he could be free.  He traveled 350 miles in 27 hours from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia in that box.  He never saw his family again.

This book should definitely be in every school library collection.  It is such a touching story about innovative way that a slave become free.  It is a true story, so this book could help bring any unit on the Underground Railroad to life.     

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Book/Movie Comparison #3)



I was inspired to do this comparison by my son.  He absolutely loves the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, so I thought it would be interesting to see how these two are related.  They couldn't be more different. 

Judi Barrett's picture book begins in the kitchen where a grandfather is making breakfast for his grandchildren.  He is flipping the pancakes when one accidentally lands on his grandson’s head.  The grandfather uses that accident in a bedtime story about a town called Chewandswallow where it rains food.  Something goes wrong and too much food begins falling.  It becomes so unbearable that the citizens of the town end up having to leave and start a new life elsewhere.  The story ends when the grandfather finishes the story and tucks the kids into bed. 

The movie is an extreme elaboration of what happened in the bedtime story in the book.  A boy named Flint, who is known in the town Chewandswallow for his wacky inventions, invents a machine that turns water into food later causing food to fall from the sky.  The townspeople are temporarily pleased with his invention, but the food becomes to large and falls too often causing utter chaos and obesity in the town. 

I enjoyed both the book and movie separately, but they have very little in common. 

Because of Winn-Dixie (Book/Movie Comparison #2)



I am always up for a good sentimental "dog" movie or book.  Because of Winn-Dixie ranks way up there with Old Yeller for me.  The book was written by Kate DiCamillo in 2000 and was awarded a Newbery Honor in 2001.   The book was then made into a movie in 2005.  The story is about a young girl, Opal, who moves to Naomi, Florida with her father when he gets a new preaching job there.  Her mother left her when she was toddler.  Opal's father is very wrapped up in his job as a pastor and has difficulty relating to her and raising her.  Opal finds her first friend in the new town when she meets a stray dog in Winn-Dixie (grocery store) that she adopts and names Winn-Dixie. That summer Opal and Winn-Dixie make friends with an interesting group of people.  Winn-Dixie also helps to strengthen the relationship between Opal and her father.

I was glad to see that the movie did not stray away from the plot of the movie, which is very rare in a movie based on a book.  Even a lot of the dialogue from the book was present in the movie.  The difference that was the easiest to detect was Opal's father's personality.  In the book, he was portrayed as a loving father who seemed to have trouble relating to his daughter.  In the movie, he was very gruff and harsh.  Opal had an extremely hard time persuading him to allow her to keep Winn-Dixie in the movie; however, in the book he was more easily persuaded.  Winn-Dixie goes missing in the movie and book.  Her father shows up to help her look for Winn-Dixie in the book, but she has to find her dad to help her search for him in the movie.  At least they kept his character consistent, I suppose.  Another difference, although very insignificant, is the type of dog Winn-Dixie was.  In the book, he was a labrador-like dog.  The movie portrayed him as a terrier-like dog. 
I truly enjoyed both the book and the movie!

Awards for Children's Books Published in Other Countries

The following are two awards given for books published in other countries that are translated into English:

• (Pura) Belpré Medal
  The Belpré Medal honors a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose works best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.  The award is given by the ALSC and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services
• Mildred L. Batchelder Award
  The Batchelder Award is given to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.  This award is given annually by the ALSC  (Association for Library Service to Children), a division of ALA (American Library Association) and is meant to encourage American publishers to publish children's books from countries outside the United States.

Resources
American Library Association. (2011). Pura Belpré award. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/template.cfm?template=/CFApps/awards_info/award_detail_home.cfm&FilePublishTitle=Awards,%20Grants%20and%20Scholarships&uid=B9EF73E2B7604A57

American Library Association.  (2011). Mildred L. Batchelder award.  Retrieved from:
http://www.ala.org/template.cfm?  template=/CFApps/awards_info/award_detail_home.cfm&FilePublishTitle=Awards,%20Grants%20and%20Scholarships&uid=15CF8F3F1F99F531

Ramona and Beezus Movie Based on Book Series By Bevery Cleary (Book/Movie Comparison #1)



The Ramona series by Bevery Cleary is very dear to my heart.  I still remember sitting, mesmerized, in my second grade classroom as my teacher, Mr. Perkins, would read from these books to our class with so much expression and enthusiasm.  I was excited to hear, in the summer of 2010, that a movie Ramona and Beezus, was coming out.  I wondered which book the producer would use as the basis for the movie.  Good thing I read all the Ramona books as a child, because there were many of the books represented in the storyline of the movie.

Similiarities between the books and movie include Ramona is the main character and that some of the same events involving her and the other book characters occur in the movie.  Ramona (Joey King) is still annoying to her older sister, Beezus (Selena Gomez) and her curiosity, imagination, and spunk get her into trouble sometimes.  Most of the events in the movie were taken from Ramona Forever, where Howie's uncle, Hobart, tries to court Ramona's aunt, Beatrice.  Sadly, this storyline slightly took away from Ramona's part in the story.  Ramona's father loses his job (Ramona and Her Father), Ramona gets a bad report card and curses (Ramona, the Brave),and she makes a rather large mess with toothpaste (Ramona and Her Mother), and the list goes on.  I did enjoy the scenes that expanded on Ramona's imaginative play.

The Man Who Tricked a Ghost by Laurence Yep

I enjoyed this retelling of a Chinese folktale because I have always been fascinated by Chinese culture, both current and ancient.  Tiki Tiki Tembo by Arlene Mosel is another one of my favorites.  In The Man Who Tricked a Ghost, a man named Sung, who is not afraid of anything, encounters a ghost on his way back home from a friend's house.  The ghost intends to scare him, but Sung gets the best of him and turns him into a sheep.  I love a story with a hero!

Other Books By Laurence Yep:

• Dragonwings
• Child of the Owl
• Sea Glass
• Dragon of the Lost Sea
• Liar, Liar
• Monster Makers, Inc.
• The Rainbow People
  (illustrated by David Wiesner)
• The Star Fisher
• The Lost Garden
• Dragon's Gate
  (illustrated by Wayne McLaughlin)
• The Junior Thunder Lord
  (illustrated by Robert Van Nutt)
• Later, Gator
  (illustrated by Eric Velasquez)
• Thief of Hearts
• Tree of Dreams: Ten Tales from the Garden of Night
  (illustrated by Isadore Seltzer)
• Ribbons

Newbery and Caldecott Awards

The Caldecott Award was named after a nineteenth century English illustrator named Randolph Caldecott.  The award is given annually to the best picture book illustrator for a book that was published the preceding year by an American publisher in English.  The illustrator must be an American citizen or resident.  Honor books can be named.

The Newbery Award is named after an eighteenth century bookseller named John Newbery.  The medal is awarded annually to the best contribution to children's literature by an American citizen or resident that was published by an American publishing company in English the preceding year.  Honor books can be named.

These awards are equally significant because in a picture book, the illustrations are key to conveying the content of the book as well as mood or feelings.  They can take the written content of the book to a whole new level.  The intended audience of a book also determines, for the most part, what type of award the author/illustrator could win. Picture books are usually intended for younger children and books with few or no pictures are usually intended for more mature readers

Resources
American Library Association. (2008). Terms and criteria. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottterms/caldecottterms.cfm

American Library Association. (2008). Terms and critieria. Retrieved from:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyterms/newberyterms.cfm

Sam and the Tigers by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Sam and the Tiger is an excellent storytelling book and is a retold version of the controversial Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman.  I remember my grandfather talk of Little Black Sambo, but before reading this book, I had no idea whom he was speaking of.

 Sam and his family live in a place called Sam-sam-sa-mara where everyones name is Sam and people and animals live together like there are no differences between humans and animals.  The story begins with Sam and his family going shopping for new school clothes.  Sam is on his way to school when he begins meeting tigers who want to eat him.  He gives each tiger an item of his new clothing in exchange for his life.  In the end, he tricks the tigers to quarrel with each other and gets his clothing back.  The tigers are quarreling so violently that there bodies melt into a pool of golden butter that Sam's mother uses to make pancakes for all the neighbors. 

I really liked this book because it tells of how a weak little boy outsmarted a big, strong tiger.  The illustrations are very detailed.  The tigers look as if they could pounce off of the page.

A few other books by Julius Lester are:

• Black Folktales, 1969 (Grove Press)
• The Knee-High Man and Other Tales, Illustrations by Ralph Pinto, 1972 (Picture Puffins)
• The Tales of Uncle Remus:The Adventures of Brer Rabbit. Illustrations by Jerry Pinkney, 1987. (Puffin Books)
• More Tales of Uncle Remus: Further Adventures of Brer Rabbit, His Friends, Enemies, and Others. Illustrations by Jerry Pinkney, 1988. (Puffin Books)
• How Many Spots Does A Leopard Have and other Tales. Illustrations by David Shannon, 1989 (Scholastic Trade)
• John Henry. Illustrations by Jerry Pinkney, 1994. (Dial Books for Young Readers)
  
  

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford (Coretta Scott King Award)



Moses is such an inspirational book and is the winner of two awards, the Caldecott and Coretta Scott King.  The book describes Harriet Tubman's journey to Philadelphia, a place of freedom from slavery for her and later her family.  My favorite parts of the book are the way the author uses different fonts and font sizes to communicate the different dialogues and the way it sounds like a song or free verse poem.  The illustrations are so detailed and communicate the mood of the story very well.

This book is related to diversity because it describes a turning point in American history when some of our citizens began to appreciate the differences of others, while not allowing those differences to mean inequality. 

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Newbery Award Winner)



Now this is a clever book!  I will be honest.  Most of the time, when reading a new book, I skip the foreword and just start reading.  Something told me to read the foreword this time...so I did.  The author of this book explains that she wrote this book for the students at her school where she works as a librarian.  They were studying the Middle Ages, and she wanted them to have something to dramatize to go with the unit.  She wrote 22 short monologues so that each student in the classes would have an important part. 

While some of the vocabulary from this time period was a bit difficult to understand, most of the harder words were defined or explained in sidenotes on each page.  I learned alot of life in the Middle Ages.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (Newbery Award Winner)



I really enjoyed this book.  Set in the 1960s, Delphine and her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, embark on a journey from Brooklyn to Oakland, California to visit their birthmother, Cecile.  When the children were very small,Cecile left the children to live with their father and his mother.  To put it lightly, Cecile was not happy about their visit and found them to be more in the way of her Black Panther gatherings than anything.  Little by little, the girls chip away at the wall their mother has built up around her heart. 

It may sound silly, but the thing that came to my mind was the movie "Forrest Gump" and Forrest's dealings with the Black Panthers that Jenny befriended during her hippy days.  Because this movie was the only source of background knowledge for me, this book taught me alot about life for a young African American girl during this time period.  It was very eye-opening! 

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson (Caldecott Medal)



There is something very calming about this book that would make it a great nighttime/bedtime read.  The House in the Night is a cummulative bedtime verse about the light shining from a house in the night.  Objects mentioned in the story all have a place, making the world seem orderly and that everything is right where it is supposed to be right before bedtime. Sounds great, doesn't it?  The fact that I don't like going to sleep at night before my house in neat and tidy might have something to do with how much I liked the book. 

Flotsam by David Wiesner



Call me a partypooper, but I did not enjoy this book.  The book has no words, but the plot is told through the illustrations. A young boy finds a camera washed up on the beach and takes the film to be developed.  In these pictures, the boy sees photos of a fantasy-filled underwater world and of boys and girls who have taken pictures of themselves holding pictures of other boys and girls.  The boy realizes the camera has come in contact with boys and girls from many different periods of time and different places.  The book ends with the boy throwing the camera back to sea and another child finding it. 

Although, I prefer books with words, I don't know that there could have been a more clever way to do this book.  It was almost as if the author was trying to cause the reader to have a true imaginative experience-one in which the reader has to imagine the dialogue and thoughts of the characters as well as the strange underwater creatures seen in the photos.   

The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster (Caldecott Medal)

The Hello, Goodbye Window is a  feel-good book about a little girl who visits her grandparents.  The window at her grandparent's house has many purposes that include beginning and ending their time together, saying hello to the world, and greeting visitors.  I would guess the story has sentimental meaning to the author.  I enjoyed how the book reminded me of things that my parents and grandparents did for me as a child and about special traditions we had.  I really enjoyed the illustrations, which appear to be a mixture of crayon and water colors.  They make the reader feel like the story is being told by a child. 

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (Caldecott Medal)



What a fun book this is! Although the story line is fairly simple, I greatly enjoyed this book.  Sometimes its just nice to be able to read for pure amusement, and this book gave me that type of experience.  The plot consists of a kitten who sees the full moon and thinks it is a bowl of milk.  She attempts many times to reach it but fails each time.  In the end, she finds a nice bowl of milk waiting for her at home.  The kitten reminded me of Lily, the mouse (Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse also by Henkes) because of her spunkiness and curiosity.  I liked the repetition in the book that lends itself to choral participation by students during a read aloud.  The black and white  illustrations are simple but give just enough detail and are pretty humorous on some pages.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein

(Caldecott Medal)

This book, written by Mordecai Gerstein, is a true story about a tightrope walker named Phillipe Petit who walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974. 
At the conclusion of the book, Gerstein says the towers are gone, but Petit's tightrope walk is part of the memories we have of the Twin Towers as U.S. citizens.  I was a freshman in college on September 11, 2001, so the events that took place that day were replaying in my mind while I was reading.  Directly after finishing the book, I will admit that I didn't particularly like the book because it seemed to end so abruptly.  Then, I thought that Gerstein could possibly be giving the reader time to reflect on the events of 9/11 and what they mean to us as a nation. After taking time to reflect on the book for some time, I value the book for its historical value and can see myself using the book in my classroom for 9/11 activities.

I have finally done it!

I have finally arrived! I have created my very first blog! Stay tuned to see my LME 518 posts and "proud mommy" posts.