Classic Picture Book Review
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. Ill. by Maurice Sendak. New York: Harper Collins, 1963. ISBN9780759700285
PLOT SUMMARY
Max is an incredibly curious and active child. He is easily lost in his own thoughts and imagination, as he invents an adventure like no other within the walls of his own bedroom.
As Max is lost in the world of his own play, he is sent to his room for an unknown span of time, of which later is found out to be dinner time, where he goes on a unique adventure amongst monster-like and over-sized creatures.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Although Max is sent to his room without dinner, Max continues his natural boyhood imagination, where he is able to master his own wild nature with creatures he is able to rule over as king. In this imagination, he is able to obliterate the punishment of being sent to his room. The author moves from sentence to sentence over several pages, which makes for a wonderful page turning experience.
His illustrations are tame in color, and yet overpower most of the words. They seem to demonstrate the size of Max’s imagination and the greatness of the creatures in his imagination. There is a span of six pages where no words appear and only the illustrations of the rumpus Max oversees. The illustrations make the words come alive, as the monsters depiction of being "terrible" and having "yellow eyes" allow the reader to connect to the artworks on the pages.
The illustrations are unique in that they offer no decade clues, with the only indication of time as supper time. The dress and imagination offer a timeless feel and the idea of a boy’s imagination is biased free.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
1964 Winner of the Caldecott Medal for the Most Distinguished Picture Book of the Year
National Education Association, #2 on Teacher's Top 100 Books for Children List
School Library Journals Top 100 Picture Books #1 on The List
CONNECTIONS
Prior to reading the book to students, cover the words and have students make predictions and connections about what is taking place in the story.
Have students draw their imaginative self and the attire they might wear in their imaginative world.
Literacy Center: Provide students with a paper bag and other various crafts to create a "Wild Thing" mask. Once created, students will write their own wild thing story.
Check out other School Library Journal's Top 100 Picture Books:
- Stone, Jon. The Monster at the End of This Book. ISBN 9780307010858
- Allard, Harry. Miss Nelson Is Missing. ISBN 978-0395401460
- De Paola, Tomie. Strega Nona. ISBN 978-0142423387
Other books from Maurice Sendak
The Nutshell Library. ISBN 9780060255008
The Sign on Rosie's Door. ISBN 9780060287955
Alligators All Around. ISBN 9780064432542
Hello visitors! My name is Elizabeth Zelenak, and I have created this blog as an assignment for my Library Science class at Texas Woman's University. My professor is Dr. Sylvia Vardell, and the course is Literature for Children and Young Adults. I hope to learn a lot about children's books and about using this blog site for my current classroom. Happy blogging!
Caldecott Award Medal Book Review
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Smith, Lane. Grandpa Green. Ill. by Lane Smith. New York, NY: Roaring Book Press, 2011. ISBN 9781596436077.
PLOT SUMMARY
The story takes place in a beautiful and sculpture laden garden. The author provides distinctive time clues, as he gives historical references to a world war, as well as noting that grandfather was born before modern day technology. The story is told through the movement of the garden.
The story begins in the garden, with the first topiary tree presentation of his great-grandfather as a baby. The age progression is visualized through the designs of the topiary trees, including such common experiences from the first kiss to getting married. The reader is also somewhat surprised to learn that grandfather was in a world war, and thus this is where he met the young boy’s great-grandmother.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In Grandpa Green, the reader is treated to the life story typical of fathers and grandfathers around the world. From the beginning, the touching sequence of a man’s life moves the reader from page to page, with the natural progression to old age. We see the honest truth of the loss of memory that is typical in older years, and the touching importance of keeping our life memories documented and told to our younger generations, so that family history may never be forgotten.
The author tells the story through simple sentence structure, and at times uses alliteration. This alliteration offers a kind and natural flow for the reader, lending itself to be shared and enjoyed between a grandfather and grandchild.
Grandpa Green is a wonderful visual experience, where the words of the story and illustrations of the book gently tell the life story of an aging man. As the book title suggests, the dominating and central color of the entire story is a lush and calming green shade. The illustrations are delicate and defined, as each of the sculptures connects to the words of the author. Constant reminders of the important events in the grandfather’s life are perfectly embedded throughout the pages of book. The characters are moderately fixed into the artwork, with the intricate sculptures being the central and natural focus of the eye.
This book offers a family history typical of an American family, as historical references to events such as the chicken pox, a farm, and a world war are exposed. It provides an opportunity for the older generation to connect to a younger one, as age progression and the memories are uniquely timeless and persistent throughout generations.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
Winner of the 2012 Caldecott Honor Book
Amazon.com Best Books of the Year 2011-2013
2014 Contemporary: Lane Smith, Lifetime Achievement Award
CONNECTIONS
Check out these other contemporary picture book award winners:
- Chaud, Benjamin. The Bear's Song. ISBN 9781452114248
- Jenkins, Steve. The Beetle Book. ISBN 9780547680842
- Liwska, Renata. The Quiet Book. ISBN 978-0547215679
Other works from Lane Smith:
- Abe Lincoln's Dream. ISBN 9781596436084
- It's A Little Book. ISBN 9780230768758
- It's A Book. ISBN 9781596436060
Lesson Connections:
Have students make a timeline of great-grandfather's life events.
Use references made in the book, such as the chicken pox and the world war, to research and write about for older readers.
Have students draw topiary trees that correlate to their life story.
Literacy Center:
Read the book to the class. In the center, they will create a life event for grandfather that would make logical sense. For example, the purchase of his first home. They will illustrate and write one sentence to correlate with their illustration.
Lane Smith
Picture Book by Mo Willems
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Willems, Mo. There Is A Bird On Your Head. Ill. Mo Willems. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2007. ISBN 9780545115988
PLOT SUMMARY
This picture book features two main characters, an elephant and a pig. The animals are personified by their use of language, expressions, and feelings throughout the book. Additionally, the elephant wears eyeglasses, almost to suggest a certain level of sophistication and subtle personality. The characters participate in dialogue between each other and apparently are friends.
n the beginning of the book, the elephant and pig seem to be enjoying a peaceful moment, until a bird lands on the elephant’s head. Surprisingly, the elephant, which is substantially larger than the bird, is quite bothered and somewhat scared of the small bird. His friend, the pig, continues to inform the elephant of the happenings on his head. The pig appears somewhat amused by his friend’s misfortune. Soon after the first bird, a second bird lands on his head, then a nest, then followed by eggs, ending with three baby chicks on his head. The illustrations are cohesive with the dialogue, as they allow the reader and listener to count along with the happenings in the book (i.e., two birds, three eggs, etc.).
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The elephant and pig share a typical friendship. The author suggests that opposites attract, and ultimately it is in the best interest of the friendship that this distinctive attribute exists. While one friend may have a difficult time dealing with a situation, the other friend may have a unique way of helping a friend cope with any situation.
The writing style is very simple, and consists of simple sentences placed within dialogue caption bubbles. The size of the font makes for a wonderful first reader, with repetition of words and illustration clues. Excitement is stressed through the size of the words, and is confirmed to the reader by the expression of the characters.
The illustrations of the story are simple drawings, with few lines and minimal details. The colors used by the illustrator are very delicate pastel blues, pinks, greens, and yellows. The illustrations glue the words nicely together, and offer opportunities for young readers to count. The illustrator ties the dialogue bubble colors to the character colors, which allows early readers to understand character dialogue and to anticipate the next speaker in the story. The expressions of the elephant and pig indicate the personalities of each character, implying the pig has a lighter and easier temper.
I found the gender to be somewhat difficult to determine. However, using colors, the blue elephant would suggest a male character, and the pink would suggest a female one.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
From the School Library Journal- “The conversation between the friends flows smoothly and allows beginning readers to practice expression as they read. These appealing titles will tickle the funny bones of children and are sure to become favorites.”
From KidsReads.com- "Whenever I want to reminisce about my childhood, this book is the first one I pick up. The simply drawn illustrations and small lines somehow managed to gain my love and respect for this book. It will always have my respect and remain a dear memory of my childhood."
CONNECTIONS
Read Aloud followed by writing activity: Have students write about a time they felt uncomfortable, and how they could have solved the problem.
Have students create a double bubble map to compare and contrast the two characters.
Ask students to write about a time they were a good friend and a time they were a bad friend.
Reader's Theater: Assign a role to every pair of students. Students will create a paper plate mask for their character. Allow students to practice until fluent, and present their small play to the class.
Visit Mo Willems Website for more fun ideas and presentations of his works!
Other works from Mo Willems:
- Cat the Cat, Who Is That? ISBN 978-0062306531
- Let's Go For a Drive. ISBN 978-1-4231-64821
- A Big Guy Took My Ball! 978-1423174912
Check out these other Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Winners:
- 2013 Medal Winner. Long, Ethan. Up, Tall and High! ISBN 9780399256110
- 2011 Medal Winner. Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, Bink and Gollie. ISBN 978-0763664459
- 2010 Medal Winner. Geoffrey Hayes. Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! ISBN 9781935179351
photo credit: Marty Umans
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