BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Jenkins, Steve. 2004. Actual Size. Houghton Mifflin: New York, NY. ISBN: 9780618375943

PLOT SUMMARY:

Displaying real life sizes of animals and insects across the pages of this colorful and informative book puts a new perspective on measurement for the reader. Author and illustrator, Steve Jenkins brings to life the animals he has chosen to measure. Included with each animal illustration is their approximate size and weight. Some of the facts are surprising, such as finding out the African elephant can weigh as much as 14,000 pounds. It is no wonder the author could only fit one enormous foot of the elephant across two pages.

By displaying the actual size of each animal, children can get a grasp on the difference in measurement between their own body size and weight and what they are seeing on the page. Most notable is the page with the gorilla hand opened up palm out, for the reader to measure their hand against. There is quite a remarkable difference in size.

The end of the book concludes with an appendix of all of the animals and insects included in the book. Each has a paragraph of interesting, fun facts including habitat.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

The illustrations are collages made from skillfully torn pieces of paper. The papers used appear to be handcrafted from many colorful hues and textures. Many of the illustrations are full-page spreads, accentuating how enormous some of these animals are.

Another clever technique that is fun for the reader is the one extended, fold out page that displays the profile of a crocodile, mouth open, and teeth, piercingly sharp. On the opposite spread is a fully extended Goliath frog from Africa.

The appendix at the end of the book includes further information on each animal and has a smaller illustration next to each description. This is a fun book for children, and will surely bring about much conversation on the topic of size and measurement.

2004 BCCB Blue Ribbon Award (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books)
2005 Beehive Book Award winner (formerly entitled Utah Children’s Book
Awards)

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

School Library Journal: “Mixing deceptive simplicity with absolute clarity, this beautiful book is an enticing way to introduce children to the glorious diversity of our natural world, or to illustrate to budding scientists the importance of comparison, measurement, observation, and record keeping.”

Starred Review Booklist: “Jenkins’ artwork is gorgeous (a gatefold of a frog in midleap is particularly memorable)… An unusual, unusually effective tool for connecting children to nature’s astonishing variety.”

CONNECTIONS:

• For other informational books by Steve Jenkins try:

Jenkins, Steve. Prehistoric Actual Size. ISBN: 9780618535781
Jenkins, Steve. Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest. ISBN: 0395899990
Jenkins, Steve. What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? ISBN: 9780618152438

• For classroom activity, have students measure each other; convert the inches into centimeters.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Simon, Seymour. 1990. Deserts. New York, NY: Morrow Junior Books. ISBN: 9780688074159

PLOT SUMMARY:

Seymour Simon introduces us to the four largest deserts in North America with factual information. He explains how different deserts can be from each other. Some, never having any rain, others receive rain a dozen times a year. Some have cactus and shrubs while others have no growth but do have dramatic rock formations.

He explains how sudden rainstorms combined with brutal winds shape the formation of deserts. Flash floods create gullies and eventually once all the rain has evaporated, leaves dry lakebeds. Seymour describes how sand is created from the erosion of the rocks in the desert. Also touched on is how plant life and small desert animals survive in these harsh conditions.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

Geared towards children ages 5-8 this 40-page book describing deserts is fact filled and is accompanied by stunning color photographs of the four major deserts in North America. Also included are line drawings illustrating the elevation of land and annual rainfall to help explain the effects of rain in the desert.

Most surprising are some of the photographs of the lush plant life that exists in some deserts with green desert grass and blooming flowers.

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

Horn Book: “An eye-catching learning experience.”

School Library Journal: “Simon presents clear, simplified explanations of natural phenomena with well-chosen color photographs that go beyond decoration.”

CONNECTIONS:

• Other children’s books by Seymour Simon that are about earth science:

Simon, Seymour. Mountains. ISBN: 9780688154776

Simon, Seymour. Icebergs and Glaciers. ISBN: 9780688167059

Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes. ISBN: 9780060877170

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Jurmain, Suzanne. 2005. The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 9780618473021

PLOT SUMMARY:

The Forbidden Schoolhouse is the captivating story of Prudence Crandall, a well-educated woman from Canterbury Connecticut. She opened a school in 1831 to educate African American girls. The story chronicles her obstacles and the violent opposition from the community towards her efforts. The African American students came from neighboring states, which created a stir of opposition in what was once a peaceful community. Miss Crandall had made her mind up that she wanted to give these young girls the opportunity to advance themselves. Prudence Crandall was a brave and courageous woman for her time. She aggressively sought help and support from people near and far who believed as she did in equal education.

At one point, Miss Crandall had seventeen students boarding at the school. The students were serious about their education and were excelling in their studies. The members of the community were determined not to have “black” girls going to school in their town and fought to shut the school down. Prudence Crandall was steadfast in her determination and even went to jail and court to fight for the rights of these girls to receive an education.

Finally, after someone set fire to the school Prudence decided it was time to end the two year battle and closed her school. The book gives a brief description of Prudence Crandall’s life after she left Canterbury and the many issues she was engaged in to the very end of her long life.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

The cover photograph of this book is most inviting. It is a sepia tinted photograph of the original schoolhouse that Prudence Crandall opened in 1831. It is softly muted on the edges with bold shadows of trees playing across the face of the schoolhouse. There is something eerily intriguing about this photo that invites the reader to pick the book up and look inside. From there the reading goes quickly. It is a captivating story with more original photos and reproductions of newspapers from the early 1800’s. The text is 120 pages, not including epilogue, appendix and notes. Of particular interest is part one of the appendix that lists the students who attended the school and where they came from and in some cases, what they went on to do with their lives.

The Forbidden Schoolhouse received the following awards:

2006 ALA Notable Book for Children
2006 Orbis Pictus Honor Book
2006 Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
2005 Booklist Editors’ Choice
2006 ALA Best Book for Young Adults
2005 Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books — Blue Ribbon Winner
2006 Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts
2008 Arizona Young Readers’ Master List

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

Starred review in Booklist: “Jurmain has plucked an almost forgotten incident from history and has shaped a compelling, highly readable book around it.”

Horn Book: “Fascinating photographs and images…and endnotes provide insight into the lives of the students, Crandall, and her supporters.”

CONNECTIONS:

• For other books about African American women and education during the nineteenth-century try:

Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl. ISBN: 9780810950450

Kendrick, Stephen, and Paul Kendrick. Sarah’s Long Walk: How the Free Blacks of Boston and Their Struggle for Equality Changed America. ISBN: 9780807050187

• Also of interest, poems about Prudence Crandall’s students:

Alexander, Elizabeth, and Marilyn Nelson. Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color. ISBN: 9781590784563

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Grimes. Nikki. 1994. Meet Danitra Brown. Ill. by Floyd Cooper. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books. ISBN: 9780688120740

PLOT SUMMARY:

Meet Danitra Brown is a collection of thirteen poems that chronicles the friendship of two young girls, Danitra Brown and Zuri Jackson. The poems include situations of being bullied, feeling different, comfort in friendship, and the joy of riding a bike with a friend.

Each poem is illustrated with rich colors depicting the mood and bond of the friendship.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

In reading the poems that portrays the friendship between these two girls, many readers may remember or relate to friendships they have had. The memory of the sheer delight of riding a bike and feeling like you were flying and sharing it with a friend; or a moment of feeling sad and confiding in a friend who had a comforting word to help. But mostly the memory of just sharing time with a best friend is what comes through in these beautiful poems about the friendship between two girls.

Floyd Cooper did the artwork, oil wash illustrations, which involve painting with oil on an illustration board and using an eraser to remove some of it. The effect is a soft gauzy look, almost like oil pastels. The colors in the illustrations are aglow with richness and warmth. One memorable illustration goes with the poem “Culture”. The moment of two girls acting out the scenes from a play is beautifully captured, the twirling and romping that ensued is alive on the page, and one can almost hear the giggles.

Meet Danitra Brown won the ALA Notable Book Award and the Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book.

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

Publisher’s Weekly: (starred review) “Anyone who has a best friend can relate to this realistic but bubbly volume.”

School Library Journal: “The poignant text and lovely pictures are an excellent collaboration, resulting in a look at touching moments of friendship with universal appeal.”

CONNECTIONS:

• For more books by Nikki Grimes about the friendship of Danitra and Zuri try:

Grimes, Nikki. Danitra Brown, Class Clown. ISBN: 9780688172909

Grimes, Nikki. Danitra Brown Leaves Town. ISBN: 9780688131555

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Frost, Helen. 2003. Keesha’s House. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN: 9780374340643

PLOT SUMMARY:

This young adult novel is written in a poetic series of sestinas and sonnets. It tells the story of seven young teenagers in difficult life situations, struggling to survive. Each teen tells their story in a short verse. There is a safe house that they all find their way to. This house provides them with safety and some comfort from the very adult problems they are faced with. We also hear from some of the adults in their lives and get a perspective on their side of the story. Each teen has a chance to speak again as the book concludes, allowing the reader to hear how the teen has evolved from their experience of living at the safe house.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

This book easily draws the reader in, both due to the writing style and the disturbing subject matter of the story. The story is told in the voices of six young teenagers in a series of sonnets and sestinas. These are teenagers living very grown up lives, shouldering burdens that anyone could buckle under. One girl is pregnant and afraid to tell anyone, except her boyfriend. The boyfriend is set to go off to college on an all sports scholarship. Another girl is fighting off advances her mothers new husband is making towards her. The third girl is living with her grandmother and falling into the world of drinking and going along with the crowd. One boy is discovering that he is gay and is now disowned by his father. Another boy is living in a series of foster homes unsuccessfully while he waits for his parents to be released from prison.

The odds that these young people were up against often seemed insurmountable, and yet they strived for survival. These are the voices of strong souls who have found themselves with troubles they did not ask for and want just to live in comfort and safety and to have “family”.

The story told in verse moves quickly while each voice heard is very individual. While reading the stories of these young adults the reader is not overly aware of the story being told in verse. This is a very effective way to introduce a form of poetry young adults may not be familiar with.

This successful first novel by author Helen Frost won the 2004 Michael L. Printz Honor Award.

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

School Library Journal: “Teens may read this engaging novel without even realizing they are reading poetry.”

VOYA: “Spare, eloquent, and elegantly concise.”

Alan Review: ” The rhythmic quality and easy flow of the poetic forms allow the reader to feel the life in these characters in a powerful way.”

CONNECTIONS:

•Have students try writing in free verse, perhaps a day in their life or one memorable event.

•For more young adult themed novels written in verse, try:

Herrera, Juan Felipe. Crashboomlove: A Novel in Verse. ISBN: 9780826321145

Glenn, Mel. Split Image. ISBN: 9780060004811

Wayland, April Halprin. Girl Coming in for a Landing. ISBN: 9780440419037

Wolf, Virgina Euwer. Make Lemonade. ISBN: 9780805080704