Outside Reading: Sacagawea Picture book

A Picture book of Sacagawea by David Adler who is the author and Dan Brown who is the illustrator is a perfect children's book explaining history and the story of Sacagawea. I love the story of Sacagawea, the Indian girl who helped Lewis and Clark on the expedition to the Pacific. The picture book of course does not include every detail, but it does tell the story of how Sacagawea was captured around the age of ten and sold to a white trader. She then helps Lewis and Clark with her knowledge of the land and nature and communication with other Indian tribes. The illustrations are the only thing that through me off, they didn't seem to portray the historical setting. They seemed to depict the story as if it happened in this time period, and not in the past, but they were of course great illustrations that help tell the story to younger children. I think it is important for younger children to have an insight at history at a young age. My mom told me the story when I was younger and I have loved learning about the history of Sacagawea and been interested in the history ever since.

Outside Reading: Eloise at the Plaza

I absolutely love Eloise at the Plaza by Kay Thompson. Eloise is a young six year old who lives at the Plaza Hotel and loves adventure. She has a nanny that must constantly keep track of her and two pets she is fond of. Eloise roams around the hotel attending events she is not invited to, spying on people, helping people whether they ask for it or not and continuously being a mischievious young girl. It would seem like Eloise is a brat who is constantly getting into trouble, but I think she is a lonely girl who wants to dream and make her life exciting. She is a very confident and curious young girl whose life motto seems to be "getting bored is not allowed," which I find a funny quote from a six year old. Kay Thompson portrays perfectly how children speak, but the use of Eloise's character. The illustrations encourage the comic view of the book especially with the reactions from the guests. Eloise is extremely entertaining for children and give children a mind of adventure as they want to be confident like Eloise and explore the world around them.

Outside Reading:Franklin book series

The Franklin book series by Paulette Bourgeois who is the author and Brenda Clark who is the illustrator are great children's books that tell and story and teach a lesson. In perticular Franklin is bossy is a great story for children that teaches a lesson that many children have problems with. Playing with others and taking turns is a big deal for children, especially in kinder and 1st grade. In the story Franklin bosses around his friends telling them how to play and what to play. Bear and his other friends don't like the fact that Franklin is being bossy and they decide not to play with him. When this happens Franklin realizes he would rather take turns and play than not have friends to play with at all. I love the illustrations in the Franklin series as well, they are all bright and fun. I like how the Franklin series are fun stories, but they all have a lesson to teach children. It is easy for children to relate to Franklin, because he is just like a young boy who faces realistic problems and has to find a way to solve them.

Outside Reading: The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker picture book by Susan Jeffers is a great version of the story, I found I liked it better than some other wordy versions. Her drawings portray a beautiful version of the ballet. I have always loved Christmas time and I think ballet is beautiful art, so I really enjoyed this picture book. There is a magic story to the illustrations that almost says more than the text. The pictures put the sound of the ballet into my head with the detail and enchanting colors. The book captures the plot of the story to where it makes it easy for children to understand and follow the ballet. Marie is the name of the young girl who dreams of meeting a nutcracker prince and a fierce battle with a seven headed mouse king. I love the Land of Snow and the Land of Sweets illustrations, it really depicts the beauty of the fairytale land and Christmas. I highly recommend this book for chidlren, especially for young girls who love the fantasy story or young children that are having trouble understanding the play.

Outside Reading: Madeline

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans is by far one of my favorite works of children's literature. The story is told in rhyme and the illustrations enhanced my interest in the book. Madeline is a young girl who attends a boarding school in Paris with eleven other girls. I love Madeline's courageous, curious, and adventureous character. The routine of the girls in the story would seem to make the story boring, but Madeline brings in the spontaneous personality and energy to the story. The plot turns when Miss Clevel feels that "something is just not right" and Madeline has a stomach ache and must be rushed to the hospital to have her appendix taken out. Madeline can be seen as mischievious, but i think she is a positive influence for young girls because she is the smallest girl, but she has a big heart and a brave soul. The other girls are jealous of Madeline, because she gets all the attention being in the hospital. This is why the book ends with the girls crying "boohoo we want our appendix out too." The book was also made into a movie and a television series. The movie goes into more of a story that the first original book of Madeline, but both were great.

Outside Reading: Amelia Bedelia series

I found books in the Amelia Bedelia series to be absolutely hilarious. Amelia is a maid for the Rogers family who never does anything right and takes the tasks she is given literally. I actually read a few of the books with different students in the HOST program. They enjoyed reading them and I did as well. The one I found most entertaining was Amelia Bedelia and the baby. Amelia is babysitting and is given a list of things to do for the baby. When the list says to powder the baby, Amelia powders herself and when the list says to take a nap, Amelia does not feel like sleeping so she makes strawberry tarts instead. She takes everything literally, which is so comical and children really enjoy it, especially girls. The only lessons I thought came out of the stories are to not treat people differently because they do something wrong, or look at people in the wrong way because they are different. Amelia obviously can't help the fact that she takes everything so literally or does not understand. Otherwise the series is written for comic effect and simple fun.

Class Discussion-The Giver

I had read The Giver in middle school before this class and I loved the book the first time I read it! I actually finished it almost two weeks before we were suppose to finish it for class when I was younger. The idea that I did not know what ended up happening to Jonas and Gabe really bothered me. Yet, after attending class I realized that it was great to come up with my own ending to the story, which I thought they do survive. Class discussion was so interesting when we talked about how important memories and feelings are to live and humanity. It is difficult to imagine a place or world without them if someone didn't read this book. I thought it was brilliant that Jonas felt the memories, like the fire or the feeling of love at Christmas. I love that he came back to Christmas at the end with the memory of the sled and the snow, especially since i get that same love feeling about Christmas and that time of year. And not only the Christmas aspect, but how you can see it in a religious perspective of Christ sacrificing himself for our sins and Jonas sacrificing himself so the community is alive again and has those memories. The detail of no color is fascinating as well, how Lowry does not come out and say there is not any color, until Jonas first sees the color red.

bibliography on Lois Lowry-children's lit author

Lois Lowry is by far one of my favorite children's literature authors. One of my first outside reading entries was on her book, Number the Stars, which is one of my favorite children's books. The Giver was also a brilliant read and both books won awards. The major theme of Lowry's books is human connections. This deals with the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment. Lois is amazing the way she mixes comedy and tradegy. Lowry quotes this on wikipedia "I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another." To me Lowry is not only an amazing writer for children, but an unbelieveable person. She made the point that after her son died in a fighter plane, that she wished to honor him by helping to find a way to end war and conflict on earth. Besides The Giver and Number the Stars, some other of her literary works include: The Anastasia series, A Summer to Die, The Sam series and The Tate series.

Outside Reading: The Borrowers

I loved the book "The Borrowers," by Mary Norton. A tiny family consisting of 3 lives underneath the kitchen floor of "human beans" as the family calls them. They have postage stamps hanging on the walls as paintings and use cheese graters for gates. They have a simple life of borrowing everything they need with harm never coming their way. Pod Clock who is the father is the only family member allowed to go above into the house, but Arrietty their daughter is very curious and stubborn. She makes friends with the young boy of the Driver family who lives above, but is seen one day by the rest of the family. The Clock family becomes in danger as the entire Driver family is trying to get ahold of them. The Borrowers go on an eventful adventure as the young boy helps them escape. I loved the fact that everyday items from the kitchen or bedroom were used as completely different things for the Borrowers. For example; safety pins as locks and match boxes as drawers. It is also fun to see the point of view from smaller people who are afraid of human beings. It would be convincing to children to think that Borrowers really do exist and stretch their imagination. They made this book into a movie which also was very delightful!