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Picture Books
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Picture Books
Picture Books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This site is part of a class project for LS 5603, a graduate level children's literature course offered at Texas Woman's University. On this page I review Picture Books. See Below: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Henkes, Kevin. 2000. Wemberly Worried. Hong Kong: HarperCollins Children's Book Group. ISBN 0688170285. This book is about a little mouse named Wemberly who worries about everything. She has a favorite stuffed rabbit that she cuddles for security named Petal. Wemberly’s parents and grandmother reassure Wemberly by telling her not to worry, but she worries anyway. Wemberly goes to her first day of school, very worried. The teacher introduces her to a little mouse named Jewel, who is similar to Wemberly. Jewel has her own stuffed animal, a cat, that she cuddles, named Nibblet. Wemberly and Jewel gradually begin to warm up to each other, and play with each other. By the end of the first school day, they are both ready to return to school again tomorrow. The written style of this book is easy to follow, in part because of the predictable language, and repetition used in the book. For example, “‘Don’t worry,’ said her mother. ‘Don’t worry,’ said her father. But Wemberly worried. She worried and worried and worried” is repeated in the book. The book is written with humor and yet addresses an important issue for a child – coping with anxiety over the unknown. The book’s illustrations are done by the author using watercolors and a black pen. He includes dialogue between characters in some of the illustrations. The illustrations complement the story and give the reader a concept of what it feels like to be a small child in an adult world. I would highly recommend this book because of the lighthearted and clear way it addresses children’s anxiety. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Van Allsburg, Chris. 1981. Jumanji. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0395304482. This book is about two children, Judy and Peter, who are left alone at home for the day. They become bored with their toys and go outside. They find a board game, Jumanji, under a tree. They decide to play the game, even though there is a warning label stating that the game won’t be over until someone reaches the Golden City and yells “Jumanji!” With each roll of the dice, an actual living jungle animal or weather pattern appears in the house – a lion, a snake, rain, volcano lava, etc. The children rush though the game as quickly as possible to avoid these dangers. As soon as Judy reaches the Golden City and yells “Jumanij!” all of the jungle creatures and weather patterns disappear. The children put the game back by the tree and decide to do a puzzle. They fall asleep until their parents return home. They look out the window and see the neighbor’s sons running down the path with the board game. … Jumanji is well written, in that it does not condescend to the audience or avoid using words with many syllables. The plot, having elements of danger in it, would most likely capture the imagination of a child. However, the hand-drawn illustrations are the most striking part of the book. They are highly detailed and realistic looking. The author-illustrator won the Caldecott Medal for the illustrations. I would recommend this book for its plot, as well as for its dramatic and life-like illustrations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pinkney, Brian. 2000. Cosmo and The Robot. Singapore: HarperCollins Children's Book Group. ISBN 0688159419. This book tells the story about a boy, Cosmo, who lives on Mars with his parents and older sister, Jewel. His best friend is a huge robot named Rex. One day, Rex is injured and begins to attack the family. Cosmo’s parents tell him that Rex has to go to the dump. They give Cosmo a belt with many exciting tools attached to it to make up for the loss of Rex. Cosmo has no one else to play with now but his sister Jewel, who is older and bossy. Cosmo uses the tools on his belt to take things apart. He and Jewel play by the dump and Rex suddenly attacks Jewel! Cosmo scares Rex to protect Jewel, and Rex falls down and bangs his head. Cosmo thinks he can fix Rex using his tools. He does so and gains the respect of his bossy sister as well as his best friend Rex to play with once again. This book is well written in that it uses complex language and has believable characters and a good plot. The message of the book includes the importance of friendship, and the value of using one’s resources and imagination to solve problems. The author-illustrator used acrylic paints, scratch board, and luma dyes, which when combined together provide some texture to the illustrations. The illustrations complement the story well and help the reader imagine what living on Mars could be like. I would highly recommend this story, especially for children with older siblings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johnson, Odette, and Bruce H. Johnson. 1991. Apples, Alligators, and Also Alphabets. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195407571. This book does not have plot, and, due to the nature of the book, its characters change from page to page. However, each page is visually captivating because of the book’s detailed, colorful and imaginative illustrations. Each page’s illustration and caption represents a single letter – both capital and small – starting with A and ending with Z. The authors-illustrators use clay to form fanciful pictures of creatures, whose names begin with the letter being represented. For example, for the letter ‘K’, the caption reads “Kangaroo Kings, Keys, and Kittens.” The picture depicts kangaroos wearing kingly apparel and keys around their necks. Kittens are in the picture, also, observing the kingly kangaroos. However, those items are not the only things in the picture that begin with the letter ‘K.’ Upon closer inspection, there are also kites, ketchup, and a kettle in the picture. The same is true for the entire alphabet. A caption lists three or four representative creatures or items for the letter being depicted, and then typically there are more items in the picture to find that start with the particular letter in question besides those in the caption. This, I imagine, would make for a fun treasure hunt for children – the opportunity to search for the other items in the picture that begin with the letter being represented. I would recommend this book for children as being a well-illustrated and educational alphabet picture book. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Napoli, Donna Jo. 2002. Flamingo Dream. Illus. by Cathie Felstead. Singapore: HarperCollins Children's Book Group. ISBN 0688178634. This book tells the story about a girl whose father is dying of cancer, and the last trip they take together. The trip is to Florida, where he grew up. They go to the dog track, and to the beach, etc. There are pink flamingos at the dog track. With each outing, the girl collects souvenirs. They return home and the father is hospitalized. The girl visits him wearing a pink flamingo shirt from the trip to Florida. Shortly thereafter, he dies. At the funeral, they receive plastic pink flamingos for the yard as gifts. Her mother explains that her father is never going to come back. They scatter the father’s ashes in the yard by the flamingo’s legs. The girl dreams that the flamingos are flying back to Florida and feels better. She carries on her father’s annual tradition – creating a yearbook. The father used photos, but the girl uses souvenirs from the trip and the past year with her father. This book does a good job in telling this very poignant story. It addresses the emotions that arise during the grieving process with honesty and straightforwardness. The illustrator uses collage and draws pictures with a child-like style, almost as if providing the reader with the opportunity to see the girl’s actual yearbook. The issue of the death of a parent is important to address, and many people are uncomfortable with this topic. I would highly recommend this book for children who have lost a loved one through death. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Smith, Cynthia Leitich. 2000. Jingle Dancer. Illus. by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu. New York: Morrow Junior Books. ISBN 068816241x. This book tells the story of a young Native American girl named Jenna, who wishes to participate in the next powwow as a Jingle Dancer. Being a Jingle Dancer is a family tradition and holds spiritual meaning for her family and her culture. To be a Jingle Dancer, she needs to have four rows of jingles on a dress made especially for the occasion. There is not enough time to order jingles from the catalogue, as the powwow is next week. She solves her problem by borrowing a line of jingles off the dresses of four different neighbors and relatives. In return, she promises to dance in their place. Having procured the four lines of jingles, she sews them on her dress in time to dance in the powwow. This book has beautiful, warmly colored illustrations, done in watercolor. I enjoyed how the story and illustrations mixed both a modern American setting with Native American traditions. For example, Jenna watched her grandmother Jingle Dance on a tape played on a VCR. The book’s story is told using language and metaphor that speaks of the Native American culture. The theme of four repeats in the story, and holds significance for the Native American culture. The messages in the story of cooperation and creative thinking and determination to solve problems are valuable ones. I would recommend this book for children as they learn about parallel cultures, to expand their understanding of diversity in a multicultural world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are Some Links To Pages about Children's Literature (On this Website)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Home ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Study about Lloyd Alexander ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Traditional Literature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Poetry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Non-Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Historical Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fiction and Fantasy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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