Newberry #2

A Year Down Yonder was written by Richard Peck. It is the follow-up to the Newbery Honor book, A Long Way from Chicago. It won the Newbery Medal in 2001. It is suited for students in grades 3rd-7th. This book relates to topics such as the Great Depression, grandparents, bullies, and family relationships.

In 1937, fifteen year-old Mary Alice Dowdel is sent to rural Illinois to live with her grandmother as her family tries to get back on their feet after the 1937 recession. Mary Alice's grandmother is not your typical grandmother. She is rough, tough, and mischievous. Deep down, she has a soft heart. Mary Alice is taken on many adventures as they reverse pranks on Halloween pranksters, one of which turned out to be the principal's son. Grandmother Dowdel with Mary Alice's help steals ingredients to take to the community Halloween party. Being a city girl and the granddaughter to Grandmother Dowdel makes it hard for Mary Alice to fit in. However, she ends up landing the role of Mary in the Christmas play and studying with the star basketball player. Mary Alice learns that her grandmother has a soft soft and is there when she needs her.

This book was excellent. Grandmother Dowdel and her ideas are hilarious. I enjoyed reading the historical information about the recession that was included. This would be a great read for any child or adult!

This book reminded me of my grandparents. Like Mary Alice, I had grandparents that lived far away (New Jersey) that I saw only for a 1-2 weeks a year. Sometimes they could be embarrassing like Grandmother Dowdel. For instance, my grandma loved waiting for the school bus with us. She would even make us line up in front of the bus and take our picture. It's cute when you're 5- not 15. Despite all of their embarrassing antics, I know that they love me and are there for me at all times.

Children's Books = Feature Films #3

Hoot was written by Carl Hiassen in 2002. It is the story about Roy Eberhardt who has just moved to Coconut Grove, Florida from Montana. Being the new kid at school really stinks for Roy because he sits by himself at lunch, and is bullied by Dana Matherson. One day while Dana was forcefully pressing Roy’s face against the bus window, he saw a shoeless boy running on the sidewalk. Intrigued by this boy, he tries to find out who he is and why he was running. Soccer jock Beatrice is not enthused about Roy sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. Roy finds out that Beatrice and that boy, called Mullet Fingers, are step brothers and sisters. Roy, Mullet Fingers, and Beatrice fight to protect the burrowing owls that live in a lot where a new pancake house is being built. The kids work together to put a stop in the construction of a building that will endanger the miniature owls. Two notable characters are the deputy and the foreman of the construction job that just can’t catch a break because of these meddling kids.

I found Hoot to be well… a hoot. It was very funny in some of the tricks pulled by the kids. For instance, spray painting the windows of a squad car while the patrolling policeman slept. The major themes in this book include bullying, friendship, and animal conservation.

After reading the book, I watched the movie which came out in 2006. The movie was less than 90 minutes. It’s almost impossible to capture on camera what is on the pages of a book. The major weakness of the movie is that it failed to show the importance and strength of the friendship created by the three main characters. The movie did not spend much time showing the owls maybe to highlight the fact that they are endangered. It is a very entertaining movie. Of course, I found the book more entertaining than the movie.

Carl Hiassen has written several books. The theme of conservation is apparent in many of his books. Skinny Dip is a book about a marine scientist named Chaz who is trying to put a stop to illegal dumping of fertilizer in the Everglades. Paradise Screwed is a book about Southern Florida’s wildlife.

Yoshiko Uchida

A Jar of Dreams by Yoshiko Uchida is told in first person by Rinko, an eleven year old Japanese girl growing up in California during the Great Depression. She expresses the troubles her family has being a minority in a mainly white community. Her family experiences ridicules, discrimination, and even violent acts such as car tires being slashed and the family dog being shot.

Rinko's father owns a struggling barber shop that has a hard time paying the rent. His dream is to won his own garage as he enjoys fixing things. Her older brother, Cal, is an engineer student who is losing his dream of becoming an engineer due to a fear that no one will hire him because of his skin color. She also has a little brother, Joji, who did not play a major role in the book. The family is friends with Mrs. Sugar, the next door neighbor, and Uncle Kanda, a man that rode the same boat to California with the parents. Rinko's parents has instilled the value of an education in their children by creating "going to college" jars or jar of dreams.

The family's life is turned upside down by the news that Rinko's Aunt Waka will come to visit from Japan. At first, Rinko is embarrassed and not excited about her visit as she dresses in kimonos and is proud of her Japanese heritage. Rinko wishes she could be like everyone else. With the help of Aunt Waka and Uncle Kanda, the family is able to put a stop to community members that have been mistreating them, open dream businesses for their parents, and affirming the children's dreams of going to college. In the end, Rinko is sad to see Aunt Waka leave and wishes she used the time to get to know her better.

I really enjoyed this book. I was worried that I wouldn't like it. I really enjoyed how it included information about the Japanese heritage. This book reminded me of the book The Star Fisher written by Laurence Yep. Both books involved families with diverse cultural backgrounds experiencing discrimination. The Depression time period, the idea that the families are opening new businesses, and the strong, elderly next door neighbors that become friends with the family are themes evident in both books.

This book could be used in the classroom to teach about the Great Depression as Rinko discusses how times are rough and how they must watch their pennies. It also could be used to teach about prejudices and acceptance of others.

The author has written many other books such as: Hisako's Mysteries, Sumi and the Goat and the Tokyo Express, Makoto, The Smallest Boy, The Rooster who Understood Japanese, and The Bracelet. I have not read any other books written by the author but conclude by reading titles of other works that she writes books that integrate the Japanese culture.

Laurence Yep

This book is about fifteen year-old Joan Lee, a Chinese-American. Her family has moved to West Virginia to open a laundry business. The community is not very accepting of the family. Her family experiences name calling and vandalism. Joan finds friendship with her landlady, Mrs. Lucy and another outcast, Bernice.

The author helps the readers to know the characters by describing the characters physically and including dialogue. We really get to know the main character, Joan Lee, as her thoughts, feelings, and actions are shared as she tells the story. Readers also feel a twinge of sympathy for Joan’s parents who speak little or no English, have a struggling family business, and rely on their children for certain tasks. Yet the parents stay strong for their children.

This is a great book that covers many important themes. Many students will relate to the characters because they are treated differently because of their ethnicity and family background. This book could be used in the language arts, social studies, and character education classes. This is an entertaining book with many valuable lessons.

I enjoyed reading this book. This book provides excellent lessons for readers such as accepting others and overcoming prejudices. I believe that everyone feels that they were prejudiced against for one reason or another such as color of their skin, sex, weight, height, sexual orientation, and hair color. I think that students will benefit reading about characters their age that overcome prejudices. This book could be a start of deep classroom discussions about prejudices and accepting others that are different.
Laurence Yep has written many other books such as The Case of teh Goblin Pearls, Child of the Owl, Dragon Cauldron, and Dragon Steel to name a few.

Jerry Pinkney

The Patchwork Quilt was written by Valerie Flournoy and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. This book is about a little girl named Tanya who develops a special relationship with her grandmother as she works on a quilt. Tanya's mother doesn't understand how special a homemade quilt is. Grandmother considers one a masterpiece. Tanya begins to sit with her grandmother as she works on the quilt. She learns how a quilt can tell a story. Over time, patches are made out of special articles of clothing such as Tanya's Halloween costume, her brother's favorite pair of pants, and mother's dress she made for Christmas. Tanya's mother eventually sees how special a quilt is and begins to help grandmother with the quilt making.

After Christmas, Grandmother gets ill that keeps her away from the family and the quilt. Tanya and her mother begin working on the quilt. Tanya's brother even helps with the cutting of the patches. Tanya soon takes the project on by herself as her mother is busy taking care of grandmother. Weeks later, grandmother recovers and begins working on the quilt again with Tanya's help. The quilt is finished and the reflects on some of the patches and where they originated. One of the corner patches was stitched "For Tanya from you Mama and Grandma" for all of her hard work on the quilt.

This book is written beautifully. The story contained dialogue between the characters. The illustrations by Jerry Pinkney are beautiful. They are very detailed especially in the pictures of the quilt pieces. The illustrations con consist of pencil, graphite, and water color. I believe the illustrations seem dated as if the story took place in the 1970's or 1980's. The language of the book does not imply this era. However, this "dated"look also gives it a nostalgic vibe.

I can relate to this book as I come from a family of women that make quilts and other handmade items. I've learned to appreciate the quality and specialness of a homemade afghan or quilt. As a child, the homemade items made by my mother and grandmother were not as appreciated as they are now. For my wedding, my husband's grandmother made a quilt and it was signed by all the guests making it an extra special keepsake.

This book could be used in may ways in the classroom. The amount of dialogue contained in the book could serve as a model for students when writing stories including dialogue. This book could also be used to discuss family relationships and traditions. An extension activity could be that the class create a class quilt out of small pieces of fabric or paper that could be glued to a large piece of material or fabric.

Julius Lester

Long Journey Home was written by Julius Lester in 1972. This book has won many awards such as National Book Award Finalist, School Library Journal, Best Books List, and the Library of Congress Children's Books of the Year List. Long Journey Home is a collection of six short stories that deal with slavery and African Americans.

The first story, Satan On My Track, is about a blues singer that refuses to settle down and travels from place to place. Louis and Ben are two stories about slaves that escape using the Underground Railroad. The Man Who Was a Horse was about a patient black cowboy who could wrangle a herd of wild mustangs by himself. When Freedom Comes is about the emancipation of slaves and the aftermath. Long Journey Home contains many different facts about slavery.

Ben was my favorite story. For one it took place in Kentucky and described the beautiful scenery of Kentucky. It was a story about a lawyer from Chicago named David who was courting a woman, Samantha, who lived on a Kentucky plantation similar to the one in Gone with the Wind. He would visit her often. A major difference between David and Samantha is that he did not agree with slavery and could never envision himself as a slave owner. As their relationship grew, Samantha’s family talked of David taking over the plantation when they got married. David did not wish to move to Kentucky or to be a slave owner.

The plantation was run by Samantha’s father and the head slave, Ben. Samantha and her brother, Albert, grew up with Ben and considered him as part of the family. All of the slaves respected Ben. When Samantha’s father died, Albert hired an overseer to be the head of the farm above Ben. The overseer treated the slaves badly. After receiving a bad beating from the overseer, Ben escaped. The plantation began to fall apart as slaves ran away and didn’t care about the plantation or family. Samantha and David married and moved to Chicago. Samantha could not bear to stay there any longer. The mansion was soon burned down during the war.

Julius Lester has been writing since 1965. He has written forty-three books. A major theme found in many of his books is slavery of African Americans. Lester is not one that stays with a certain genre. He has written many autobiographical, fiction, folk tales, history, non-fiction, picture, and poetry and photography books. He has even written an instruction book on how to play a twelve string guitar.

Dr. Suess

The Cat in the Hat is one of the most loved children's books. It was written by Dr. Suess in 1957. It is the story about a brother and sister who are entertained by the cat in the hat while their mother is out. Despite,the fish's pleas to leave, the cat entertains the children through a balancing act that ends up with the toy ship in a cake and a bent rake. The cat brings in a red, wooden box that he calls fun-in-a-box. Inside are two creatures called Thing One and Thing Two. The Things end up making an even bigger mess when they try flying a kite in the house. When mother is spotted on her way home, the children catch the things with a net and the cat leaves the children and the huge mess. He returns riding a vehicle with arms that straightens the house back to its tidy state. In the end, mother asks the children if they had fun while she was out. The children ask the readers the question, "What would you do if your mother asks you?"

Dr. Suess wrote this book using 225 vocabulary words geared to children ages 6 and 7. In fact, Dr. Suess was given a vocabulary list and a challenge to create a new reading primer for children. It took him a year and half to write the book.

Is there a contemporary book that has tension similar to what is found in The Cat in the Hat? I don't think there is any book that could even compare to the classic The Cat in the Hat.

This book was written in 1957. However, it still appeals to children today. The text and illustrations are not dated as you would expect. The illustrations of the characters, setting, and plot seem as though they do not belong in our world...maybe Suess World. The rhythmic text found in his books cause children to keep reading the books over and over again. His imagination also appeals to children. What child has not dreamed of the mischievous they could cause while mother is away? Grandparents and parents are also eager to share the book with their children and grandchildren that they once read when they were children.

The Lorax, written in 1971, is about a boy who visits the Onceler to find out what the Lorax was. After paying fifteen cents, a nail, and a shell of a great-great-great- grandfather snail, he heard the story through a whisper-ma-phone. Years ago, the Onceler came across the truffula trees. He used the tufts to knit a thneed. After cutting down his first tree, he was visited by the Lorax, the speaker of the trees, who called him greedy. The onceler ignored the Lorax and began knitting more theneeds with the tufts of chopped down trufflla trees. He built factories and was shipping theends everywhere. He was visited by the Lorax many times who tried to explain what harm it was doing to the environment. Soon, there were no more Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans or Humming-Fish. All that was left was smog, a glumpy pond, and no more truffula trees. The Lorax left leaving behind the word "Unless" written in rocks. Onceler didn't know know what that meant until now. "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better." The onceler tosses down the last truffula seed and advises the boy to plant it and take care of it. Maybe if a forest grows the Lorax and his friends will come back.

The Lorax is didactic because it it is a book that teaches a moral lesson. The lesson is to take care of the environment before it is too late. Readers also learn to appreciate the environment they have been blessed with. This book should be used to teach children about how the environment is effected by our actions. Adults need to teach children how to help the environment such as reduce, reuse, and recycle.

There are many books that are considered didactic. Mr. Peabody's Apples by Madonna is a story was inspired by a 300-year old Ukrainian story that teaches students the power of words and how they can do harm to others. I read this to my students to teach them about the harmful effects of gossip. Adults will find this story applicable to their life as well. Another book could be The Giving Tree.