Multicultural

Title: The Keeping Quilt

Author: Patricia Polacco

Illustrator: Patricia Polacco

Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks

Copyright date: 2001

Number of pages: 30 pages

Awards: Sydney Taylor Book Award

Genre: Multicultural, Children’s Literature

Brief summary: This is the story of how one little girls dress inspired the making of a quilt that would be made from articles of cloth from all the important people in her life. This quilt goes through all the important phases of life for the many people it touches as it passes from generation to generation in this family.

Cover:

·         Is the cover attractive?  Yes. It is beautifully done with pencil. The illustrations put particular emphasis on the quilt, as it is the only thing that is continually colored on the pages.

Story:

·         Are the stories interesting to children? Yes. It gives a beautiful story of the journey one object, a quilt, goes through as it moves from generation to generation in a family.

Organization:

·         Do the spacing and placement of the words make the passages easy to read? Yes. This is a very well-paced story with short and sweet passages that keep the reader engaged and reading.

Characters:

·         Do characters represent people from a variety of cultural groups? Yes. This story is about a family who moves to New York from Russia. This family is on quite an adventure as they work to transition into the new society they have joined.

·         Are females as well as males depicted in leadership roles? N/A. This book mainly depicts women as they create a beautifully composed and hand-crafted quilt.

Themes:

·         Does the story offer children a variety of things to think about, to question, and to consider? Yes. I think the teacher has a lot of power in creating a classroom discussion and encouraging the students to ask questions as the story is read. Questions could include: How did the quilt unite the different people? Do you have anything that once belonged to your parents or grandparents? When taught correctly, students will surely find a way to relate to this story.

·         Are there lessons to be learned? Yes. This is a heartwarming story that many children will come to cherish. It teaches the power of symbol and how love and faith can connect a family, despite the distance between them.

Settings:

·         Do the stories reflect a variety of settings? Yes. This story journeys with the quilt as it moves to and from the different family members.

Illustrations:

·         Are diverse populations represented in the illustrations? Yes. This is a well-depicted multicultural story about a family’s adventure moving to America from Russia.

·         Are the illustrations large, clear and bright? Yes. The illustrations are beautiful full page pencil drawings. They are very impressive.

·         Do the illustrations invite the reader to explore the text? Yes. The illustrations parallel the text well and work to enhance the story.

·         Do the illustrations explain and enhance the text? Yes. The illustrations do a spectacular job of telling a story.

Other Considerations:

·         Will the stories encourage discussions? This is a very relevant book that gives a unique perspective and tells a personal story. It teaches just what a culture goes through as they move into a new culture. It teaches of other culture’s traditions and the power of love and faith and how it can be passed from generation to generation.

·         Are the stories age appropriate to ensure children can understand what is presented? Yes. This is a well-written understandable story.

Reading level scale

7	highly difficult
6	difficult
5	moderately difficult
4	Challenging
3	above average
2	Average  (8-10 year old readers)
1	highly readable

My rating: 3/5.

classroom application:
A great enrichment activity I would do with my students would be to make a class quilt. This calls for quilt making! The students would design a classroom quilt. White material squares and fabric crayons would need to be purchased. Students can make self-portraits and print their names at the bottom. The quilt can be sewn together with a colorful border, just like the book.

Informational

Title: How Much is a Million

Author: David M. Schwartz

Illustrator: Steven Kellogg

Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books

Copyright date: 1985

Number of pages: 40 pages

Awards: ALA Notable book, a Reading Rainbow Feature Selection, and a Boston Globe/ Horn Book Honor book for illustrations

Genre: Informational, math, children’s literature

Brief summary: How Much is a Million knocks complex numbers down to size in a fun and engaging way. This book helps children conceptualize big numbers!

Author’s Website: http://www.stevenkellogg.com/page3.html

Cover:

·         Is the cover attractive?  Yes. It is magical!

Story:

·         Are the stories interesting to children? Yes. These big numbers are hard for kids to comprehend and wrap their heads around, so this book does a spectacular job of putting it into context and helping kids imagine just how big these numbers are.

Organization:

·         Do the spacing and placement of the words make the passages easy to read? Yes. The author does a wonderful job of helping kids experience the awe of big numbers. The author realized that we often hear big numbers, but don’t really know what they mean.

Characters:

·         Do characters represent people from a variety of cultural groups? No. There is no character development in this book.

·         Are females as well as males depicted in leadership roles? No. The leader of this book is a male wizard and he is the only one who leads the reader through the book.

Themes:

·         Does the story offer children a variety of things to think about, to question, and to consider? Although it may not be feasible to count a million of something, we can imagine a million through skills of estimation and mathematical reasoning, as displayed in this book.

·         Are there lessons to be learned? Yes. Large numbers, estimation, and mathematical reasoning are all lessons that are derived from this book. There is no story development, so this book lacks a theme.

Settings:

·         Do the stories reflect a variety of settings? Yes. The wizard takes us on an adventure exploring big numbers in different scenarios.

Illustrations:

·         Are diverse populations represented in the illustrations? Yes. There is a variety of populations represented in the illustrations.

·         Are the illustrations large, clear and bright? The stunning artwork renders concepts into improbable and entertaining visions, which helps students to demystify huge numbers like a million, trillion and billion.

·         Do the illustrations invite the reader to explore the text? Yes. The Illustrations and text in this book help the reader visualize who much a million, billion and trillion really are.

·         Do the illustrations explain and enhance the context? Yes. The illustrations are spectacular! They put the numbers into context and almost makes the concepts tangible!

Other Considerations:

·         Will the stories encourage discussions? Yes. Students can think about what things are logically sorted by millions. This can be built to by discussing things that come in 2’s, half dozens, dozens ect. Also, by simply viewing the pictures, students will begin to realize what numbers could be checked and which could likely be impossible to verify. This brings about the discussion of estimation and why it is useful when thinking about very large numbers, such as a million, billion and trillion. They will likely also think about what they can do in a second, minute, and hour. Several experiments can be conducted at school to study these time frames.

·         Are the stories age appropriate to ensure children can understand what is presented? Yes. This story enhances student understanding of giant numbers. Even though these numbers are difficult to comprehend, this book makes it so the reader can visualize just how much millions, billions, and trillions are.

 

Reading level scale

7	highly difficult
6	difficult
5	moderately difficult
4	Challenging
3	above average
2	Average  (5-10 year old readers)
1	highly readable

Despite the fact that this book is over 25 years old, it has a lasting appeal and is a great mathematical picture book!  

My Rating: 5/5! Excellent book! 

classroom application:
Continual activity: Marvelosissimo used calendars to represent years. We could make a class calendar for the entire school year by using oversized paper so there is plenty of room for students to write in the squares. Students take responsibility for daily recording of news and events in the squares. At the end of the month, students can be responsible for making a picture that summarizes the month. The teacher can bind the calendar pages with a spiral at the top to make the calendar into a big book.

A great social studies integration could be having the students study different things that are grouped by millions, such as population, money, land area etc. Each group will be assigned a specific category and gather research on it, reporting on it at the end. An example could be having students find cities in the United States or other nations that have populations in the millions. The students would work in their group to use almanacs to identify 10 such cities, ordering them in size with the smallest first.

Students will play the Bull’s Eye Game. To play, students will be divided into pairs. They will get a sheet of paper that has a large bull’s-eye on it. The inside circle will be labeled million, the next outer circle will be labeled thousands, followed by hundreds, tens and ones as the most outer circle. The group members will take turns pitching  paperclips at the bulls eye, recording their score by adding up the numbers. The students will first use expanded notation, then write the number. If the students have difficulty adding their numbers, they will be provide their place value houses.

 

Biography

Title: Who Was Hellen Keller?

Author: Gare Thompson

Illustrator: Nancy Harrison

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Copyright date: 2003

Number of pages: 107 pages

Awards: n/a

Genre: Biography

Brief summary: At the age of two, Helen Keller became deaf and blind. She lived in a world of silence and darkness and this book describes her struggle of trying to break through her disabilities. This is an inspiring biography that enhances the readers’ understanding of this subject.

Cover:

·         Is the cover attractive?  Yes. The covers of these books have bobble head caricatures of the famous person that the book is about- which is unique.

Story:

·         Are the stories interesting to children? Yes. These “Who Was” books are biographies that highlight the lives of famous people in a story-telling format. They are easy-to-read stories that are captivating.

Organization:

·         Do the spacing and placement of the words make the passages easy to read? Yes. These are detailed, fun, and entertaining easy-to-read stories.

Characters:

·         Do characters represent people from a variety of cultural groups? Yes. There is a variety of cultures and people depicted in this story.

·         Are females as well as males depicted in leadership roles? Yes. There are a variety of females who are in both leadership and non-leadership roles throughout the book. For example, there is a servant who is an African American woman in the story and there is Helen’s mom who is in a leadership role as she fights to figure out what is wrong with her baby and works to help her advocate for herself.

Themes:

·         Does the story offer children a variety of things to think about, to question, and to consider? Yes. This book is very informative and will surely capture children’s attention as they read about this unique person and all she overcame.

·         Are there lessons to be learned? Yes. Though these books are fun and entertaining, they still offer an abundance of historical information about each person and the world around them.

Settings:

·         Do the stories reflect a variety of settings? Yes. This book gives a great overview of Hellen’s life, including where she ventured to and what she accomplished.

Illustrations:

·         Are diverse populations represented in the illustrations? Yes. Though the illustrations are black and white, they are still captivating and featured throughout the book consistently.

·         Are the illustrations large, clear and bright? The illustrations are appropriate for this book. Though they aren’t giant or colorful, I still think they do a good job of capturing the essence of the book.

·         Do the illustrations invite the reader to explore the text? Yes. The illustration and the text work well together in this chapter book.

·         Do the illustrations explain and enhance the context? Yes. The text and illustrations work cooperatively with each other.

Other Considerations:

·         Will the stories encourage discussions? Yes. This is a well-done overview of Helen’s life, so the students are sure to learn something new. With new learning come new questions for sure.

·         Are the stories age appropriate to ensure children can understand what is presented? Yes. These books are formatted in a manner that promotes students understanding.

Reading level scale

7	highly difficult
6	difficult
5	moderately difficult
4	challenging
3	above average
2	Average  (8+ year old readers)
1	highly readable

classroom application:
I love art, so anytime I can integrate art, I do! For this activity, after reading Who Was Hellen Keller the students will be given art supplies and a blindfold. This activity challenges the children to think in new ways and explore new feelings. The students will paint on the surface while blindfolded by focusing on the arm and finger movements. They will discover the interesting challenges of creating artwork without vision. After the students have finished their painting, they will do the same picture with their eyes open. We will discuss the differences in the process.

 

My rating: 4/5! This is a great book!

Title: The Anne Frank Case

Author: Susan Goldman Rubin

Illustrator: Bill Farnsworth

Publisher: Holiday House

Copyright date: 2009

Number of pages: 40 pages  

Awards: n/a

Genre: Biography, history, Holocaust

Brief summary: This is the story of the journey Simon Wiesenthal underwent to find out if, in fact, Anne Frank’s diary was authentic. This is an intense story that testifies to the difference that one person’s dedication can make.

Cover:

·         Is the cover attractive?  Yes. The cover is undeniably interesting.

Story:

·         Are the stories interesting to children? Yes. Anne Frank stories are inspiring and entertaining that surely take the reader on a remarkable adventure.

Organization:

·         Do the spacing and placement of the words make the passages easy to read? Yes. For such a short account, the passages are full of detail, which paints a discrete picture in the minds of the readers. I would suggest the reader have background and strong interest in this subject matter if he/she wants to pick this book up though.

Characters:

·         Do characters represent people from a variety of cultural groups? Yes. This is a very culturally sensitive and respectable book.

·         Are females as well as males depicted in leadership roles? Yes. I think this book shows just how big of a difference anyone, despite sex, religion, culture, or background, can make a difference.

Themes:

·         Does the story offer children a variety of things to think about, to question, and to consider? Yes. This story promotes a lot of mature and complex thoughts and questions, such as anti-Semitism, survival, hope and courage.

·         Are there lessons to be learned? Yes. This is an incredibly inspiring story. I think this story does a superb job of revealing the truth to young people about this highly disturbing time in history. I admire this story’s ability to uproot the ignorance of this subject, which helps to show the global issues such ignorance can cause.

Settings:

·         Do the stories reflect a variety of settings? Yes. This story takes the reader on the adventure Simon finds himself in as he tries to find the truth about Anne’s story. It is an incredible account of her story.

Illustrations:

·         Are diverse populations represented in the illustrations? Yes. The illustrations are remarkable! They detail the story very well.

·         Are the illustrations large, clear and bright? Yes. The illustrations are wonderful. They are full page and filled with emotion.

·         Do the illustrations invite the reader to explore the text? Yes. The illustrations parallel the reading very well. They are very powerful!

·         Do the illustrations explain and enhance the context? Yes. The illustrations are absolutely amazing! The illustrations do the story justice!

Other Considerations:

·         Will the stories encourage discussions? Yes. Stories of survival tend to draw readers in with no effort. Stories of survival help to show the reader that there is hope in this world and reminds people that we can still accomplish great things.

·         Are the stories age appropriate to ensure children can understand what is presented? The description of events is so well done that I think this book would be appropriate for readers age 10 and up.

Reading level scale

7	highly difficult
6	difficult
5	moderately difficult
4	challenging
3	above average (readers age 10+)
2	Average
1	highly readable

 *this is a complex subject with specific vocabulary that could prove challenging.

classroom application:
For this project I will have the students research the time period of the Holocaust. There will be groups of two, each being assigned a year during the Holocaust. The group will provide information reguarding what phase the Holocaust was in. In addition, each group will provide information about what was going on around the world and perhaps what the cost of living was, prices of misc. items, other world events that were happening, etc. This will give the students a wider perspective and view of this time in history. Each group will place their information on a piece of paper that will make the timeline that will be placed on the back wall of our classroom.

 

4/5! Wonderfully illustrated and interesting story!