Love To Mama

Title: Love to Mama
Author: Paula Barragan
Editor: Pat Mora
Illustrator: Paula Barragan
Medium: Acrylic illustrations
Genre: realistic non-fiction poetry
Theme: to show an appreciation of women in the family for what they did to their children.
Summary: Pat edited and contributed to this beautiful and celebratory collection, in total of thirteen poets write with joy, humor, and love about the powerful bond between the women in the family and children. These poets represent a wide spectrum of Latino voices, from award-winning authors to a 15-year-old new talent. The authors write passionately about their cultures such as Puerto Rican, Cuban, Venezuelan, and Mexican American. The undeniable influence of their mothers and grandmothers, for instance
Literary Elements:
Setting: a various of settings: from outside to house( pictures of various related to the poem)
Characterization: the book focuses on the mother and the love that is unconditional. Whatever the children do, the mother will still love their children no matter what they have done from bad to good. When the children did something bad, the mother gets hurt because of that but still love their children regardless.
Plot: there is no plot in the book because it is about poetry. The poetry is about its poem it is more of relaxing feeling when you read the poem.
Style: Humorous. Each line rhymes with each other and is repeated throughout to show how each are connected to each other.
Evaluation: I remember when I was young; I read this book to my mom on the mother’s day. She was very inspired. It is an inspiration book. It is a tribute book to mothers. Despite being aimed at the younger reader, adults will enjoy this collection as they read it to their children because each poem will conjure up memories of the love, joy and comfort given by mothers and grandmothers. Love to Mamá is sure to be embraced and treasured by everyone who wants to recognize mothers as one of our universal role models.

Yum! MmMm! Que Rico!

Title: Yum! MmMm! Que Rico!

Author: Pat Mora.

Illustrator: Rafael Lopez (Pura Belpre Honor Award Winner).

Awards: Amérias Award for Children’s Literature - 2008, Consortium of Latin American Programs, Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) Master List 2008-2009, ALA Notable - 2008, Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books – 2008, 

Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year – 2008, Lasting Connections, Book Links – 2007 and Great Lakes Great Books Award master list - 2008/2009.

Medium: Acrylic illustrations on wood panels.

Genre: Blurring genres of poetry and informational genres because on each page there was a paragraph describing the origins and uses of indigenous food and a haiku, which included short lines and repetition of syllables (5-7-5) to describe the indigenous food.

Theme: Appreciation of indigenous food.

Summary: A vividly illustrated book describing various indigenous foods such as chocolate and blueberries of the Americas with facts and haikus.

Literary Elements: The setting was in the present time with make-believe places like chocolate castle on clouds in the sky and real places like the jungles and deserts and they were a backdrop for the haikus. Characterization was flat and static, the book and illustrations were about the haikus and foods and there were no significant characters in the book. The static characters ranged from boys, girls, families, animals like birds, snakes, coyotes and personified objects like a slice of bread and a pineapple. The plot was episodic and flat. Each haiku has its own plot by describing the indigenous foods; there were no connection between the haikus except for the theme of indigenous foods. There were no conflicts or resolutions in the plot. The theme was appreciation of indigenous foods, their origin and history, how people used them in their meals and what they loved about it. Another unifying theme was family and comfort, the illustrations showed the theme through the book with gathering of families and various characters looking comfortable and happy eating the indigenous foods. The style of the author, Pat Mora and the illustrator, Rafael Lopez was consistent through the book. Pat Mora wrote the haikus and they all were 5-7-5 syllables and about indigenous foods and poetry was her style in some of her other books too. Rafael Lopez’s illustrations were done in vivid Mexican art styles, which were strongly influenced by Mexican muralists in Mexico City and Miguel san de Allende where he grew up and currently lives. His other works including posters, editorials, post stamps and children books had the same illustration style. The author wrote the haikus with different point–of-views, depending on each haiku. There were first, second and third point-of-views used in the haikus with the most haikus being told from first and second point-of-views.

Evaluation: This book may be static and flat but I loved the vivid illustrations and the haikus. The illustration depicted the haikus beautifully with colorful and whimsical designs and I feel connected with the haikus because they described the indigenous foods perfectly. My favorite one was peanut with the haiku, “ Smear nutty butter, then jelly. Gooey party, My sandwich and me.” (Mora, 2007). Peanut butter and jelly sandwich was one of my favorite foods growing up and I know many children love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and they would love the haiku. The haikus were something young children can connect and identify with food. I thought this book was a wonderful book to introduce young students to poetry with short and sweet haikus and the history of indigenous food and this can be expanded to include classroom activities about various food histories, cultures and traditions.

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean

Title: I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean.

Author/Illustrator: Kevin Sherry.

Medium: Watercolor background, paper-cut and 100% squid ink.

Genre: Modern Fantasy

Theme: Expect the unexpected and the concept of big.

Summary: A giant squid swims through the ocean naming the other sea animals he was bigger than until a whale swallows him and he was not the bigger animal anymore.

Literary Elements: The illustration regarding mood in the book was cool. The color consists mainly of pleasant blues, purples and greens with the occasional off white, grey and orange. The style of illustration was simple with bold and thin flowing lines and told from a first person point of view. The illustrations reflected the integral oceanic setting with cool colors and flowing lines with the giant squid, whale and other sea animals. The main character, a giant squid was flat and static and his main action in the book was to point out how bigger he was than other sea animals such as shrimp. clams and crabs. The plot was episodic with the giant squid floating along in the ocean mentioning the sea animals he was bigger than until the whale swallowed him which was the major point of the plot. The theme was the concept of big. The author constantly used the word, big in nearly every monologue the squid spoke and toward the end of the book you can see the theme of unexpectedness popping up when the whale swallowed the giant squid.

Evaluation: This was a simple and straightforward book and would be great for an emergent reader. The book emphasized on the concept of big and it would be good to teach toddlers the concept of big. Older children would enjoy this book, especially the surprise of whale swallowing the giant squid and I was surprised myself when I read the part. Teachers will be able to come up with different in classroom activities for with the book with young students like having them illustrate things that are smaller or bigger than themselves.

The House that Jack Built

Title: The House that Jack Built
Author/Illustrator: No specified writer
Genre: Folktale

Theme: No matter how big or small we all are connected.

Summary:

Literary Elements: Things that take place in the house that Jack built.

Setting: Jack’s house. With the different animals that are mentioned in the poem, it seems as if it would be a farm that Jack lives on.

Characterization: The main character is this story is not necessarily Jack but “the man all tattered and torn” and “The maiden all forlorn”. We have no idea who Jack is.

Plot: The things that took place in Jack’s house and how they all link together no matter how big or small the situation may be.

Style: Humorous. Each line rhymes with each other and is repeated throughout to show how each are connected to each other.

Reflection/Evaluation: I like this story for the mystery behind it. I have heard the saying “ This is the House that Jack Built” for so long now, but I could never figure out what it meant. I have seen it in movies, music, and other books. It is a very popular phrase and people often it with the book. The book’s content is not very deep yet, it referred to all the time in society.

Title: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Author: Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

Illustrator: Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Media: colored pencils and water color

Genre: Informational Non-Fiction

Theme: Understanding the every body part and its own purpose.

Summary: This book informs the facts about animals' special characteristics to help them survive such as  tails, noses, ears, eyes, and mouths. It shows many possible uses of each body part.

Literary Elements:

Setting-  This book doesn't show any backgrounds, only focuses the pictures of animals. If I have to decide, I'd say nature because there are several animals sitting on the rock.

Characterization- This book doesn't represent a depth of one's character. It just shows the pictures of different animals and their uses of certain body part.

Plot- It doesn't have a plot. It's a guessing book for the children to guess which body part matches an animal. It's an informative for the children to learn about animals and their body parts.

Style- This book's mood is stabilized with the warmth of dark colors like gray, green, blue, brown, and dark purple and completely white background. Each animal has its own short description explaining the reasons to have this body part. The authors' goal is to keep the children reading by showing the pictures of animals' body part only. Children need to turn other page to find out which body part belongs to animals.

Reflection/Evaluation

This book is a well-informed to show the animals' use of their body parts for different reasons. The illustrations are detailed focusing on animals and their body parts. Very eye catching to help the children recognize them. It's a wonderful way to help the children to learn about the natural world around them. Animals and humans have the similar body parts for different reasons. After reading, they can recognize each of their body parts and realize every body parts' purposes.

The day we met you

Title: The day we met you

Author: Phoebe Koehler

Illustrator: Phoebe Koehler

Media: Pastel cravon

Genre: Realistic Non-fiction

Theme:

Adoptive parents narrate the loving preparations made for the day they took their child home
Summary: It is about the preparations made when the parents are going to be adoptive parents to a child. The book explains what they did and get for the adoptive child.


Literary Elements:

Setting-

The setting is in the house and on the sidewalk. The setting focuses inside the house such as parents are preparing to meet their first adoptive child.

Characterization-

The book has no main characters in it. It was very flat. There is no “I” or “ a person’s name” only “We” and “You.” This book could teach children that some book doesn’t need any characterization. Mostly books has main characters in it and to make sure their readers know who is important and whatnot. i

Plot-

The Plot is very dull and dry because it is talking about the common feelings of parents when they first met their children. It has no exposition, rising action climax, falling action, or Denouement. The plot could have been better if the parents explain how they decided on adopting a child because they couldn’t make any babies. For instance, the mother finds out that she couldn’t make a baby, that is considered a rising action to me.

Style-

The text is simple but speaks directly to the heart. The parents narrate all the concrete steps they took the day they receive the call to pick up their new baby. The crayon illustrations convey a beautiful sense of warmth and love. Both children and adults will find themselves drawn to the purity of expression in both writing and illustrations.

Reflection/Evaluation-

The Book is an inspiration to any adoptive people. I think it is a good book for people who got adopted. The book wants to let adoptive people know that they love you as much as they love each other. I personally would not recommend my students to read the book for their entertainment because the book has no point of view from each side. The book talks about general ideas of how the parents feel when they meet their first adoptive child/ren.

Title: Jumanji
Author/Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg
Medium: black-and-white pencil/ sculptured drawings
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Theme: Life’s full of instructions. Be sure to read them first and don’t give up until you finish what you started.

Summary: Judy and Peter were very bored when their parents went to the opera and then they decided to go outside to the park. At the park, they found a Jumanji—a game board. They brought the game home to play. Needless to say, Peter and Judy didn’t know all adventures they would have to face before finishing the game up! J

Literary Elements:Setting: The entire story happened mostly at their house. Allsburg’s illustrations were gorgeous as it provided a very integral background. Each picture was like a black and white photo. Each picture was very detailed. For example, one of those pictures, Judy and Peter ran off into the park—you could see all grass, bushes and trees being very sharp. Almost like it was a real picture! Readers can almost imagine as if they were Judy or Peter.

Characterization: We know Judy and Peter as a sister and a brother. They were two siblings that decided to play the game, “Jumanji”. If it was not for exquisite drawings that the author did, then we would have not known what those characters looked like. We don’t know who they really are other than those facts that I just mentioned. Therefore, they are superficial characters. However, the readers (children) can relate to Judy and Peter because all children often imagine things to keep themselves entertained. There are other characters that only appeared once or twice (such as monkeys, lion, a man, snakes—etc) and they all were superficial as well. I wonder if this book had no words but pictures, would these characters become well developed or round?

Plot: The sequence in this story was progressive as it showed both in illustrations and text. Very straightforward with what was happening. Although, his illustrations were a bit more advanced than text because you could really see how illustrations were showing what was happening…..little details you could see in pictures that was not written. Their conflicts was to finish the game to get rid all of those strange creatures that they brought out of the game board. Children can relate to Judy and Peter’s conflicts---as if you do start something…and if you do not finish it then there will be problems. Hence self versus self. It’s a life along lesson to be learned for all of us.

Style: Allsburg’s text weren’t rich as I was hoping it to be. The entire story was being told in third person. I honestly did not like the text itself as much as I did with his illustrations. In my opinion, the text and the illustrations does not match. Its text was just flat while the illustrations were so much detailed, rich, beautiful and left more to tell. If its text included more of figurative language then maybe it would be different.

Reflection/Evaluation: To be honest, I was disappointed that the book was not similar to the movie. Didn’t Peter become a monkey? Didn’t they befriend a friend who came from the Jungle? Weren’t Peter and Judy only just friends and came to fall in love with each other?? Well, I only wish that I had read this book before I saw the movie My perspective might have changed if I did. Still, his illustrations just completely blew me away. It made me feel like I was there physically. His hidden message was clear—all children should not give up once whenever they started something. Life is full of instructions as they bring obstacles but as long as we keep trying…we’ll eventually finish.