Ivy and Bean

Title: Ivy and Bean

Author: Annie Barrows

Contemporary Realistic Fiction #2

This book is for younger readers – I would have been all over this book when I was in 2^nd/3^rd grade! It was beyond cute. The story follows Bean (sassy and dirty) and her neighbor Ivy (dainty and quiet). After playing a trick on her older sister, Bean escapes with the help of Ivy. Turns out, Ivy is secretively a witch in training and offers to cast a spell on Bean’s sister! Through this experience, the two girls become the best of friends. This story preaches the classic saying: don’t judge a book by its cover! You never know who can turn out to be a friend despite any differences you might have. This is a good message to share with children especially at this impressionable age.

I loved this book because of the sibling rivalry between Bean and her older sister. It reminded me of myself and my younger sister because we have never gotten along! The book also kind of reminded me of the Ramona books I read when I was young. The book is silly, has an adventure element to it, and describes a favorite topic of most seven-year-olds – getting in trouble! I personally loved reading about the friendship Ivy and Bean form. It was really just a cute book that I think children would love.

Another reason I enjoyed this book is because it is part of a series. Children at this level love series books and the Ivy and Bean series is a wonderful place to start. Young girls will relate to Ivy and Bean and the childhood struggles they encounter. As I stated, I would have loved this book as a child! This is definitely one for teachers to include in their classroom libraries. The text is large and easy to read but it complicated enough that kids can claim they have read “their first chapter book”. 

Edwina the Dinosaur

Title: Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct  

Author: Mo Willems

Author Study #3

Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct is an adorable story about a dinosaur named Edwina who lives in a town with humans. Edwina plays with the neighborhood kids, does favors for everyone in town, and bakes chocolate chip cookies. Everyone likes Edwina except a rotten boy named Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie, who is just determined to prove to everyone that dinosaurs are in fact extinct. Reginald does a presentation for the class, hands out fliers, and protests, but no one seems to be listening to him! What is a boy to do? Finally, Edwina decides to listen to his evidence, and she must admit, he is very convincing! Edwina decides that she probably is extinct, but you know what? She just doesn’t care and by the time someone finally listens to him, neither does Reginald! 

I found this book to be particularly amusing because it reminded me of the typical classroom know-it-all that everyone encounters at some point or another during their educational career. What I found to be most interesting was that all Reginald wanted was for someone to listen to him. This was a pretty deep concept for such a seemingly shallow book. I must also compliment the pictures – as usual, Mo Willems has really made them spectacular! The way Edwina is drawn reminds me of an old lady. It is quite adorable. I would recommend this book to any classroom teacher in a K-2 classroom. Like Mo Willems’ other books, Edwina is a perfect story for a read aloud lesson or story time on the rug. It is also a good independent reading book because the pictures help the students figure out what is happening in the book and what the words are saying.

Knuffle Bunny

Title: Knuffle Bunny  

Author: Mo Willems

Author Study #2

Mo Willems has done it again; Knuffle Bunny was a hilarious tale about a lost friend. When Trixie goes on an errand with her daddy to the Laundromat she accidently places her prized knuffle bunny stuffed animal into the machine as she is helping him put the laundry in. On their way back home, Trixie throws a most horrendous fit trying everything she knows best to get her father’s attention. She needs to let him know that knuffle bunny is gone! By the time they return home, Trixie’s father has had it! That is, until Trixie’s mother asks, “Where’s Knuffle Bunny?”. Suddenly it all makes sense! The family rushes back to the Laundromat to find her lost friend. 

What I loved most about this book was the interesting way the illustrations were done. They are a combination of actual black and white photos and cartoon characters. This makes them really pop off of the page because they are the only thing in color. I also liked the story itself. Everyone deals with a lost friend at one point in their childhood whether that is a beloved stuffed animal, blanket, or doll. I personally related to this story though mine didn’t end on such a happy note. I never got my blanket back. 

I would recommend this book for any classroom teacher in a K-2 classroom. Like other works by Mo Willems, Knuffle Bunny is truly hilarious and is sure to spark the interest of all of the students especially when read aloud during circle time. However, the book is also a good independent reading book because the detailed illustrations help the reader understand what is going on in the story. Trixie’s facial expressions and baby talk were particularly hilarious – I found myself cracking up the entire time!

Pigs Make Me Sneeze

Title: Pigs Make Me Sneeze

Author: Mo Willems

Author Study #1

Let me just say, I am a huge fan of Mo Willems! I absolutely love his work and the Elephant and Piggie series is no exception! After finishing Pigs Make Me Sneeze, I couldn’t help but smile. The book made me laugh and was so cute and funny. The story is about two best friends – one an elephant and one a pig. As they are trying to find out what to do with their day, Elephant can’t stop sneezing! Every time he tries to talk he ends up going “ACHOO”. Elephant finally concludes that he must be allergic to his best friend, piggie, and there is no sadder news than being allergic to your best friend. After visiting the doctor (who happens to be a cat), Elephant concludes he must be allergic to cats too because he just cannot stop sneezing! Finally he learns that he just has a cold, but piggie has already found this out as he himself now has a cold. 

Young students will be especially intrigued by this story because of the amazing illustrations. Elephant and piggie express so much emotion; each face they make is explicit on each page and is quite funny for the students to see. I absolutely love how the pictures can tell the story almost perfectly without the words even being there. The different sizes of font provided are also nice. The aaaa and the chooo are especially large helping to emphasize the dramatic nature of the sneezes. I would personally recommend this book for any classroom teacher K-2. This story is perfect for struggling independent readers or as a read-aloud lesson. It will be sure to have your students laughing!

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Title: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Author: Bette Bao Lord

Historical Fiction #2 

What can I say; I absolutely adored In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. The story follows the main character, Shirley Temple Wong, who has recently left China to join her father in America. Much of the book focuses on blending her family’s traditional Chinese customs with American customs and how the two differ. Shirley’s mom, in particular, must learn how to cook and grocery shop like other American moms. I found myself both laughing and sympathizing with Shirley as she struggles to adapt to the American way of life. 

Readers can’t help but relate to Shirley. She is an outcast, she is different, and like most children, is left out and made fun of on occasion. However, this all changes when she befriends the school bully. Suddenly, Shirley feels like she belongs and she had true friends who stick up for her. Most importantly, the reader learns that Shirley doesn’t have to compromise herself or her heritage to fit in. I loved that she was able to retain so much of her culture and that the reader was able to experience this blending of cultures on a positive note as many stories of this nature don’t end up going as well. 

Though I wasn’t particularly interested in the baseball aspect to this book, some students would be very interested and intrigued by this sub plot. Readers learn a great deal about baseball during the time period, who the important teams and players were, and most importantly, a little black history in baseball and the ever-so-famous Jackie Robinson. I like how the story was able to effortlessly blend Chinese history and baseball history into one amazing story. I would definitely recommend this book for third grade and up.

The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Title: The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Author: Sherman Alexie

Required Text

This story is about a young Indian boy named Arnold or Junior (depending on who you ask). Arnold is your average teenage boy – he loves girls, basketball, and masturbating, but Arnold is also not-so-average. His life on the “rez” and the fact that he has an enormous amount of health problems for a boy his age on top of being poor, nearly-friendless, and overcome with the tragedy of alcoholism in his community all contribute to his not-so-average life. However, Arnold challenges these obstacles when he decides to get off the “rez” and go to an all-white high school in order to better his education. At first, he is treated as an outcast, but by the end of the book the love and acceptance he gains literally brought tears to my eyes. Told from the perspective of someone I found so easy to relate to, I fell absolutely in love with this story. It has been a long time since I have read a book this “real” and enjoyable – it really hit home for me. In fact, I believe it is the best story I have read all semester.

I would recommend this book to anyone and would use it in any classroom 7^th grade and up. Though some of the subject matter may be deemed inappropriate for younger audiences, I feel as if what the story has to say and the deeper messages involved override anything that would be questionable for younger students. More importantly, I think the way in which the story is written and the relatability of the characters make it all the more powerful. The tragedy presented in this book is also important as it speaks strongly against alcohol abuse, which is an important topic for all students to learn about and consider particularly at this age. All in all, I loved this book cover to cover and think it is an important read for all students. 

Because of Winn-Dixie

Title: Because of Winn-Dixie

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Book to Movie Comparison

After reading Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie, I truly fell in love with the story. I thought to myself, I’m not sure how a movie adaptation of the book could even come close to how amazing this book is. However, upon watching the movie I was pleasantly surprised at how well the producers were able to stick to the original story line. That being said, I believe the few changes that were made to the story only helped to enhance the theatrical version making the movie more dramatic and interesting to watch. It seems rare to find a book and the movie adaptation of that book to both be worthwhile and, for that, I greatly applaud the producers of the movie.

There were many ways in which Because of Winn-Dixie the book and Because of Winn-Dixie the movie were the same. For example, all of the main characters with the exception of one were portrayed in the movie in the exact sense that they were portrayed in the book right down to their looks and how they were described in the text. Moreover, all of the monumental scenes these main characters were involved in were included in the movie just as they were described in the book. Some of these included Otis singing to the animals, Gloria Dump and her alcohol bottle “ghosts” hanging in the tree, Winn-Dixie catching the mouse in church, etc. As I previously stated, the movie truly did follow the original story line quite well.

Despite the fact that the movie and book version of Because of Winn-Dixie were quite similar, there were some important differences I noticed in the film. Right off the bat, it became clear to me that Winn-Dixie smiled in the movie instead of sneezing all the time like he did in the book. This was probably the only change that I really didn’t like because in a sense it took away from the nature of Winn-Dixie’s character that was presented in the novel. Another important difference was Winn-Dixie was almost taken by the pound in the middle of the movie – this never occurred in the book. Winn-Dixie also never ran away nor was he hated by the trailer park manager, Alfred, who was one of the added characters to the movie along with the goofy representation of the town police man. All in all, however, any of the small changes made to the movie only enhanced its dramatic affect and didn’t take away from the main story line. As I said before, the only difference I didn’t like was Winn-Dixie’s smiling instead of sneezing.

One thing I think the movie really succeeded in was its casting selections. The majority of the characters were portrayed in the movie in the exact same way they were portrayed in the book. They even looked how I had imagined them while reading, which is something that doesn’t happen often for me. My only critique is that I was under the impression that Opal’s father was an older man. He appeared to be quite young in the movie adaptation, and I imagined him as a graying man that was kind of skinny and feeble. However, this was only my interpretation of the character and as far as the acting goes, the actor did a terrific job capturing the essence of Opal’s father.

Between the movie and the book I, of course, enjoyed the book better. Very rarely, and I mean rarely, do I ever enjoy the movie better than I do the book. It’s not that the movie wasn’t good because it was; it’s just that I like how when I’m reading the book anything goes. I can picture anything however I want, imagine people how I want them, etc. It becomes an exciting adventure I can take myself on. With the movie, everything is set in stone. The people look like this, the town looks like this, nothing is left up to the imagination. There’s just something about a book that will always be more exciting to me than a movie.

In the end, I gave the movie a thumbs-up because I enjoyed it! The story is so sweet, and I don’t know how anyone could not enjoy it. Stories about dogs always get to me, and this was no exception. More specifically, I liked how the characters were portrayed, and I was able to fall in love with them just as I did in the book. The little girl who played Opal did a terrific job as did the other actors with their characters. I also liked it because it followed the story line of the book fairly accurately, and since I loved the book so much this of course meant I loved the movie. The one thing I can say both about the book and the movie is that it was a genuine story about friendship and, for that, I think it has the ability to touch and inspire anyone.

Big Red Lollipop

Title: Big Red Lollipop

Author: Rukhsana Khan

Illustrator: Sophie Blackall

Picture Book #5

Big Red Lollipop is your typical karma story, “what goes around comes around”. After being invited to her first birthday party at school Rubina rushes home to tell her family the exciting news. There is only one problem – her little sister Sana wants to come too! To make matters worse, Rubina’s Ami (mom) insists that she takes her. As she expected, Sana ruins the party and Rubina doesn’t get invited to another for a very long time. Sana even eats her red lollipop she gets in her treat bag! Little sisters can be the worst.  But, what happens when Sana grows up, is invited to a party, and must take her little sister Maryam with her? Readers will be surprised by Rubina’s response.

I enjoyed this book for several reasons. First, the illustrations were very well done. They were colorful and realistic and added to the story greatly. I also enjoyed the moral of the story or the message that it was trying to convey. Though it had a little to do with karma, it also had to do with friendship and forgiveness between sisters. This would be an excellent book for any students with younger siblings, male or female. I would recommend its use for any classroom as a silent reading book or for circle time use. In fact, I may share it with my own little sister when I get the chance.