Title: A Child’s Calendar

Author: John Updike

Illustrator: Trina Schart Hyman

Medium: Watercolor

Genre: Realistic fiction/Poetry (uses imagery (figurative language), rhymes)

Theme: Each month has its own identify.

Other Relevant Information: The book was nominated for Caldecott medal and received a silver award (for honor) in 2000.

Summary: It’s a collection of twelve poems that describe each month. For each month, a poem gives it a depth description of its celebrations, activities, and type of weathers.

Literary Elements:

Style:

Poetry- Updike’s poetry gave me a sense of integral for each month. Each month either had four or five stanzas as he provided a strong imagery for each month. His third person narrative and his descriptions gave me a lot of flashbacks for each month! For example, “The sun is rich, And gladly pays, In golden hours, Silver days.”—this is a beautiful description of what June tend to bring and this brings me back when I was a younger girl chasing after these lightning bugs outside as the sun seem to melt down into gorgeous colors. Also, he uses simile into his poetry, for example—“All bundled up, we feel as if we were fat penguins, warm and stiff” Guess which month is that?! J His poetry also practices rhyming—seems most months follow the pattern of a, b, a, and b. For example-
“ America,

It makes us think,
Of hot dogs, fries,

And Coke to drink”

I’m not sure, though. I never was too good identifying its pattern (a, b, a, b…!??!)

Illustration- Hyman’s watercolor illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, realistic, and integral as it certainly gave a good sense of what each month should look like. For example, June, you see two little boys who are trying to catch frogs from the pond. What I just said does not justify the “realness” of what she drew of. She was able to display the emotions on those little boys’ faces and how their environment excites those boys. She certainly was able to capture each month’s poem perfectly along with her watercolor drawings. For example, for the same illustration of two little boys sneaking into the pond area to catch frogs, one stanza describes the illustration perfectly (in my opinion) as it says, “And long green weeks, That never end. School’s out. The time is ours to spend”

Characterization: Based on the poetry, it does not mention any characters---but, in all illustrations---illustrator shows you an interracial family. I would like to think that they are well developed characters because we can see what type of emotions they display throughout the year, what they wear, what they like to do, and who they hang out with. They have their own White neighbors. They are almost always in every picture. It seems that the illustrator-Hyman wanted to promote the diversity throughout each month. However, she does not with holidays—not everyone does Christmas! Hanukah, anyone? Still, for any young readers—they will be able to relate to each illustration. For example, who has not gotten naked at the beach at a young age?! J Beautifully done. Some illustrations remind me of my younger days…. How wish I could go back in time to enjoy all of these activities with my family again! This is not just for young readers, it is also for older adults who want to remember what it was like.

Plot: Its plot is pretty obvious, straightforward—it’s circular….in both of illustrations and text. Each year, we will all experience the similar type of weather, activities, and emotions of how we feel for each month. However, its poetry---and it does not exactly gives a “story” with a problem that needs to be solved. This type of book is good for children who are beginning to learn seasons and description of each month.

Evaluation:

Come on, I do not need to say much for illustration as she won a place to be on Caldecott medal list! Her illustrations makes me excited about this upcoming winter because all of its holiday and activities that are bound to happen. She does a great job of showing how different races of people do enjoy all things that we also enjoy as well. However, I do wish for Updike and Hyman to take consideration of doing different holidays. Popular holidays does not define America—diverse activities and holidays does. Not only that, not everyone get to experience four seasons. There are some people who only get to experience two seasons. Nevertheless, this is a good book for anyone to read---if I lived in Florida all of my life, I would be curious to learn what the winter seasons would be like!