eng169-journal-blog

[eng169-journal-blog]

5 Caldecott Picture Books

(week four)

No, David! by David Shannon:1999 (summary) No, David! is about a young boy named David going about his day doing bad things, and getting into trouble by his mom. As the book continues he continues being bad, chewing with his mouth open, jumping on furniture, breaking a vase. The book ends by his mother giving him a hug. (evaluation) In terms of story, this books purpose is to show children that no matter what they do, they are still loved. The plot holds up, and it is clear why it is a Caldecott winner. Visually, this book is well illustrated and the font choice is fitting as it looks like the story was handwritten by child David. (reaction) I think this book is very cute, and I like that it benefits parent and child. It shows a child that getting into trouble with your parents does not mean that they do not love you. It shows parents that sometimes a child will act out for attention. Overall this is a cute and fun read, and my son likes it as well. 

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds: (summary) This book follows a little bunny named Jasper Rabbits and his love for carrots. He is illustrated eating carrots while he walks to school, going to baseball, and walking home. The story then takes a spooky twist, and it seems the carrots are following Jasper. He sees the carrots in his shed, room, and “everywhere.” His parents couldn’t see them but he believed they were trying to get him. The story ends with Jasper building a fence around the carrot patch to keep the carrots in. Then we see the carrots in the field rejoicing because their plan worked: Jasper would not be able to come in to eat them. (evaluation) The strongest aspect of this book it the illustration and the word placement on the pages. The mostly orange and grey-scale pictures make the book creepy, but not scary. The way the text is place compliments the imagery and does not take away the focus but rather supports the story perfectly. (reaction) This is one of my son’s favorites. He loves how the carrots are depicted in a “spooky” way and thinks that Jasper’s plan is “funny” but he gets such a kick when its show that it was the carrots doing the planning. (Supplemental item) Creepy Carrots was written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown. It was published in 2012 and received the Caldecott Medal award in 2013.

Five Little Monkeys by Juliet Kepes: (summary) This story focuses on five monkeys who are very wild and are not well received by the rest of the jungle animals. Their names are Binki, Bulu, Bali, Buzzo, and Bibi. We get to see the monkey’s capture the main villain of the story, a tiger. By doing this they become heroes and the rest of the jungle animals like them because of it. (Evaluation) Based on chapter four in Children’s Literature Briefly, this book is extremely well illustrated. It uses cute pictures and depictions of the monkeys as well as the rest of the animals. The villain is not scary, so it is appropriate for toddlers, but is adventurous enough for young children as well. (reaction) I this this book is cute, and I like how all the monkeys names start with B. My son enjoys when I read out all their names and thinks it is funny. This book has aged well, because its almost 60 years old and still a classic. (Supplemental Item) This book was published in 1952, and was Kepes first published book. It won it’s Caldecott Medal in 1953 and has also won multiple awards for its illustrations. Juliet Kepes was also a sculptor and a painter. 

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey: (summary) This book follows Sal and her mother as they go to blueberry hill to pick blueberries for winter. As they get there we see a mother bear and her bear cub also getting berries for the winter. The two children end up following the wrong mother, Sal following the mother bear, and the bear cub following Sal’s mother. The mother realizes the bear is following her, and soon both children are back with the right mom, then Sal and her mom go back home. (evaluation) This book has a well thought out and simple plot. The four main characters, Sal, her mother, mother bear, and the bear cub, represent a good parallel between humans and animals, which makes sense and is appropriate. The illustrations are serious, but still captures the young and childish Sal. (reaction) I like this book, and think it is very good. I like when Sal starts following the bear and eating the blueberries. My son was not very interested in this one however, but I could imagine other children liking this book. 

This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen: (summary) This story shows a small fish stealing a hat from a large, sleeping fish. He swims to a place where the leaves are big and close together, confident the big fish wont find him. The fish wakes up, finds the small fish, and takes back the hat. (evaluation) The story is written well, and is humorous. The illustrations are the main focus of the story, because the text is what the small fish is thinking, which is not what is in fact happening. This makes the story cute, but can be confusing to children. (reaction) I enjoyed this story, as did my son, but I had to explain more of what was going on. The the big fish did wake up, that the crab did show the way, that the big fish did find the small fish. I don’t think that takes away from the story, but should be noted that maybe younger kids would have a harder time understand the humor of the book. (supplementary item) Jon Klassen is a 29 year old Canadian writer and animator. His story Not My Hat was the first to ever receive both the Caldecott Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal. 

[eng169-journal-blog]

Alice in Wonderland + Through the Looking Glass

(week 2+3) Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, focuses on a young girl, Alice, and her dream like adventures in what she calls Wonderland. This novel follows Alice through a series of personal changes: mentally and physically. While she is put through riddles, puzzles, and challenges, she varies in size, but she also gets a new perspective on herself and live itself. 

Through the Looking Glass, also written by Lewis Carroll, is the sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Once again we follow Alice into wonderland, the main difference is that rather than falling into an adventure, she enters an almost alternate dimension, through a mirror, which is like a mirrored and backwards version of her normal world. The main adventure in this story is Alice traveling through the Queen of Heart’s “checkerboard” land with the promise of becoming a queen herself is she can make it to the eighth row. The story ends with Alice becoming a Queen and then waking up back in her normal world.

Evaluation: Analyzing these books based of of the thirteen both satisfy- Style and Language, Setting, Plot, Tension, Tone, Theme, Illustration, and Design and Layout. I think both novels have great style and language very clearly identified as Carroll’s. The setting alongside the design, layout, and illustrations are all well thought out and match the fantasy like story. I think both novels lack in pacing, some chapters move a lot faster than others, and do not jump from point to point as evenly as they should. Children’s Literature Breifly states that “Good books must have characters that are unique and believable.” (pg 17) While the characters in this book are very unique, they are not believable in a real world setting, but because it is Wonderland I think all the characters fit perfectly and it is believable that they exist in this fantasy. 

Reaction: I have always enjoyed Alice and Wonderland as a child, but reading both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass it is interesting how many of the stories from both books are mostly related to just Alice in Wonderland. I did not know before that the Jabberwocky poem was in Through the Looking Glass. Overall, I think these books are fun, but I probably would not read them again. 

Supplemental Item: Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He was born in on January 27, 1832 in Daresbury, United Kingdom. He died on January 14, 1898 from pneumonia. His Alice books are what he is most known for, but he was also a mathematician and a church deacon.