The Sign Painter by Allen Say

This is another one of Say's autobiographical books. I like this one because it is about Say himself and he takes on a third person narrative in the he refers to himself as "the young man". It is cool to know things about the author before reading this because this is actually the story of how Allen Say became a painter. I really like that he refers to the teacher as, "the man" instead of using his specific name. This gives the book more of a story-like feel instead of getting technical with specifics. The pictures that he has painted look once again very realistic and take the reader on a trip along with the characters. The book tells how the young boy went on a long road trip with a man to paint murals in the middle of nowhere. They never really know what they are painting but they are getting paid for it. One day, they come upon a huge roller coaster. I love the metaphor that is made when the man says that the clouds are just passing by like him and the boy and the builder who all have big dreams. Then, on the very last page the boy says, "just passing by..." This is a cool way to end the book because it shows the reader that this was just a short random thing that inspired the boy to go on and become an amazing artist.

The Lost Lake by Allen Say

This is great for any kid to see that although parents do tend to be boring, they also oftentimes have a fun side. The little boy goes to live with his dad for the summer and is always bored because his dad never talks to him. His dad decides to take the boy to see the Lost Lake and tells him that it can be their little secret together. They begin to hike and the boy is surprised by how much of an outdoorsmen his dad is. He is pushed really hard to keep up with his dad's fast pace. They find a lake but it has too many people so the dad decides that they should keep hiking to find another place. Throughout the story, you can tell that the boy and the dad are not close and this may be one of the first times they have ever spent this much one on one time together. The boy doubts the dad the entire time but never once says, let's go back or I don't want to do this anymore. He also begins to learn things about his dad that he had no idea about, like the fact that he is a really great cook. This is a very unusual quality to just now be learning, so I am thinking that he normally lives with his mother. When they stop to camp for the night, the boy is doubting that they will ever find the lost lake, but when they wake up the next morning, it is right in front of them. This book would target many different children because many kids have distant relationships with their parents, whether they are married or divorced. The main message seems to be that kids should give their parents more opportunities to open up and not just judge them as boring.

Stranger in the Mirror by Allen Say

I liked this book because it is something different for Say to not do an autobiographical book. The topic of respecting elderly people and not treating them like old people is something very important that does not seem to get addressed enough with kids. This would be a great read aloud. In this book, a little boy hopes that he never has to get old and then turns into an old man. Everyone stares and makes fun of him for looking so funny. Even his parents are talking about it behind his back. He feels terrible and decides to run away from home. Before he leaves, he spots a skateboard and decides to go for a ride. As he is riding, he forgets all of his troubles and doesn't have a care in the world. Then, he jumps off and is instantly reminded that he looks old because all of the kids are staring at him. This part is great because Say doesn't tell the reader that the kids are staring but the picture shows this. He then goes home and his sister teases him by putting his bag into his grandpa's room. I love the part when he says, "who cares what I look like, I am Sam." This is something that I think a lot of elderly people can relate to because when they get older, people begin to forget them for who they are and just look at them as an old person. After just a day, he returns to his old body and is so relieved to be himself again. The pictures are very detailed and realistic looking and are great to get the reader to feel sympathetic for the little boy.

Glogster

Glogster

Link to my glog:
http://kpid.glogster.com/allensay/

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

This is such a great book. I loved all of the pictures so much because when you read the book, it feels like you are swept away on a trip around the world. The story is amazing and needed to be told. I love that Allen takes it from his own perspective and is his own character in his story. He tells the story of his grandfather as he traveled to America for the first time to explore. He loved it and even raised a family in California. Later in life, he becomes very homesick and returned to Japan with his family. His daughter then raised a family in Japan and had a son who is actually Allen. Allen tells of how he loved to visit with his grandfather. His grandfather told him all about California and how he wants to go back soon. His grandfather never makes it back so Allen moved to California to get a feel for why his grandfather loved it so much. He raised his family there but tells the reader how he still gets homesick for Japan and goes back every now and then. I think the main message is that anywhere you travel can be made into a home and you are always going to miss the places that you move away from. I think this would be great to read to young children and help them to understand how others feel that were not born here. This would also be great for those who have had to move to understand that a home can be made anywhere you go.

Tree of Cranes by Allen Say

This story is very unusual and fun to read. Say does a good job of capturing the character because he does it from the perspective of the little boy. The water colored pictures are really wonderful. I also like that Say sets up his books to have just writing on the left and the right page completely filled with a single picture. It really does look like the picture has been snapped from a camera. The book is about a little boy who lives in Japan. He comes home to find his mother making something and is eager to know what she is doing. He thinks she is acting very strange because she is decorating a tree that she has dug up from the backyard. The mother tells him that she wants to celebrate the tradition that she has from her home of California. The very last line, the boy says, "it was my first Christmas". I like that Say leaves this detail to the very end in order to let the reader wonder what tradition the mother might be celebrating. This is another example of a person living in a place other than the country that they grew up in and feeling homesick. I think that this is a big message that Say brings up a lot in his books. That many people may look like they are from a certain place, but they could have grown up with completely different customs than they people they live around now and people need to be respectful of each others customs. It is also cool to see this family celebrating Christmas in Japan because this is not something very common to see.

Tea with Milk by Allen Say

This was a really interesting book to read. I love that all of the pictures have a very realistic feel to them. Say tells the journey of a little Japanese girl who lives in America but her parents speak Japanese. This is very prevalent in today's society with many foreigners coming here to raise a family. Oftentimes the native language is spoken at home while the child speaks English and learns American customs outside of the home. It is funny because a Japanese girl is seen as the foreigner here because she does not know the customs of Japan. She follows her heart and refuses to have an arranged marriage. She is very strong-willed and does things her own way and gets ridiculed for it. In the end, she meets a man who is in the same predicament of not being able to speak the language and they find common ground. On the very last page, Say comes in and says that the little girl was his mother and the man she met was his father. I like that the author leaves this to the very last page. This makes reading a non-fiction seem more intriguing and not just like a biography of a person's life. I also like the title of the book because it is something that reminds the reader that the girl never forgot where she came from. This book is good for kids to understand the perspective of those who are foreign to our country.

Class Reflection

So far, I have really enjoyed reading all different types of children's literature. I have opened up to a lot of books that I would have never thought to want to read. I'm so glad that we read the graphic novels because I normally would have no desire to read one. I ended up having my child study student read one and he loved it. I will remember this type of book for my future classroom because it would be a great recommendation for a student that is bored with books and artistically talented. I am also glad that we read the controversial books because I have always though about some of those controversial topics but have been concerned about how I would address them in my classroom. I plan to bring this books in to introduce the topic. This would be much easier and may answer a lot of questions that kids may have on the subject. I also have started to notice so many new things in picture books, like the illustrations and how they support the text, the author's target audience and how I can incorporate some books into activities for students. I really enjoyed reading both, The Giver and Misfits. They are both great books for a 5th or 6th grade class. They both touch on very important topics of name-calling and also the problems with same-ness. Learning about the different genres was very helpful for me because I have learned in block A that bringing in a variety of different genres into my classroom is very important. I had no clue that there were so many different kinds. I think that this is very important in order to widen the child's book choice and spark the interests of all students. So far, this class has really overlapped and supported me in my other classes. I cannot wait to see what will come next.

The misfits

I absolutely loved this book and think that every sixth grade class should get a chance to read it. It is great because it is written from the perspective of a misfit junior high kid himself. The boy is fat and gets called a lot of names pertaining to his size. It is good to see how normal his life is and to see that he is able to survive the name calling with the support of his friends. This teaches a really good message, that as long as you have friends, it does not matter how popular you are. The character development throughout the book is awesome for all of the characters. It would be great to do a character tracking activity with the students in order to lessen the confusion.
I love Joe and how his character develops slowly. It took me a while to realize that he was gay, which shows that homosexuals are very normal. The first thing that really caught my eye was the beginning of chapter 4, when Joe has the word faggot written on his locker and then a boy calls him a fairy. These are two typical words that are used to put down homosexuals. It is important for children to see how damaging something as small as name calling can be. I really did not like that the author made Joe so stereotypically gay. He loves the color pink and act very girly often. This reinforces stereotypes that kids may already have. I also did not like that in the end, Joe is able to reveal that he likes Collin and everything just works out perfectly. Everyone goes to the dance. This is not very realistic, because typically kids at that age would be very scared to come out, let alone tell another member of the same sex that they like him/her. Then, of course Collin ended up being gay also and was just as comfortable with going to the dance with Joe. This is very unrealistic.
This book is great because it teaches children that any kind of name calling is bad. All kinds of kids would be able to relate to the name calling, because the author includes so many different personalities. I really liked doing the activity in class, where we thought back on high school to think about what names we were called. It made me realize that even though "goody too shoes" is small and innocent, it did hurt me and I would have liked for the name calling to stop.
The book also teaches kids that if they want to make a change, they should speak up and fight for what they believe in. I love that Bobby, the quiet, shy kid, was the one with all of the great ideas. This could cause other kids to stand up for what they believe in.

Hair in Funny Places by Babette Cole

This book is a great way to introduce the changes your body goes through when it enters puberty. The book touches on every single thing that could happen to a child experiencing puberty. This teaches the child that they are not the only one going through these changes and that some of these things they are experiencing can be blamed on their hormones and are not just their own fault. I do not like that Mr. and Mrs. Hormone are made to look really gross and mean. This may teach children that hormones are scary and not a good thing to go through. Puberty should not be made into a negative experience that all kids should fear. I actually was surprised that the graphics were so modest because I had just gotten done reading another book by Babette Cole, in which the graphics are appalling. I like that this book does not just focus on girls going through puberty, but it also brings in the boys and in the end teaches children that puberty is something that you have to go through if you ever want to grow up to be a parent someday. This book is great for a parent to read to their child who is about to experience puberty in order to prepare them. I like that the book touches on every aspect but does not go into detail. For instance, the book talks about the girl bleeding but does not go any further than that. This leaves the topic open for the parent to explain to their child however they may want.

Mommy Laid an Egg by Babette Cole

At first, I thought this book was harmless because the parents are making up goofy ways to explain to their kids how babies are made. They tell them things like; mommy lays an egg that hatches, a dinosaur drops them off at the doorstep and that some are even made like little gingerbread men. This seemed so innocent until the children decided to explain to the parents how they think babies are made. It is kind of weird that the children are the ones who already know all these things and that they are the ones drawing graphic pictures. Then, when it got to the part that said, "this fits in here", it became a little too graphic with pictures of all the different positions that mommy and daddy can fit into each other. I honestly would be surprised to see a parent actually want to show this to their child. It is one thing to explain the process, but to actually teach them positions and show such graphic pictures would not be okay with me. The book seems to have good intentions in trying to make it easier for parents to talk with their children. However, the pictures that are drawn are unnecessary. I also noticed that not once, did the story talk about when a man and woman are in love they choose to have a baby together. This book makes sexual intercourse seem like an everyday activity that has no sentimental value.

I Never Knew Your Name

This book confused me at first because I was trying to spot the controversy right away. I didn't realize that it had been building all along with the kid always being so lonely and being made fun of by others. Then, the boy sees him crying and it hit me that this boy is really lonely and depressed. I like that the book is so simple and normal, yet it goes into such a big issue. Suicide is an issue that I do think needs to be addressed in the classroom before any event like this happens. It is important for kids to realize that when they do not reach out, they are losing the opportunity for friendship. Just by talking to someone who seems lonely, can make a huge impact on someone's life. Yes, death is a tough issue to deal with but I think that a lot of times teachers think that the issue needs to be ignored and dealt with by the parents. This is also a good book to go along with the issue of bullying. Students need to be aware of the actions that they make. This is a very powerful book that can teach students how much of an impact they can have on each other. I love that the author never fully comes out and says that the boy has committed suicide. This gives the reader's a lingering wonder and lets him/her infer what has happened when the obituary is in the paper. Seeing that the little boy regrets not becoming friends with him, may help students to open up to others that they may just be too scared to talk to.

The Un-Wedding by Babette Cole

This book does a great job of touching on the subject of divorce. This is something that is very common and will most likely appear with students in my class. The book gives a fun and enjoyable way to bring up the issue and not ignore it. The fact that the parents hate every little thing about each other can show kids that sometimes it is just not a good idea to live with someone that does not agree with you. You could show the students this by saying, one student that hates cats would probably not like living with another student that loves cats. When the students post a sign to have other kids that have the same problem meet and discuss, a bunch of other kids turn up. This can show students that they are not weird because they have divorced parents and that many other students are just like them. They also talk about how, at first they thought it might be their fault, but they come to the realization that it really is just their parents being immature. It is great because in the end, instead of showing the parents signing divorce papers. The author makes things more simplistic and sugar-coated, by having an un-wedding for the parents. The book also shows, the kids much happier in the end when their parents are not fighting all the time. This is a great way to see the positives in such a negative situation and to teach kids that do not have divorced parents, that it is also common to have parents that do not live together.

William's Doll by Charlotte Zolotow

Just by looking at the front cover, you can tell that this book is going to be controversial. The title of the book is William's Doll, but there is a picture of the little boy throwing a basketball. This shows right off the bat, that boys are supposed to play with balls, not dolls. The picture is this book, tell a thousand words. William is looking really silly because he is doing activities with an imaginary doll in his hands. The boys in the background are laughing and pointing at him throughout the book. All of the activities that his father has him do are typical of what most fathers would like their sons to be doing. These activities show that even though he wanted a doll, that did not mean that he couldn't be perfectly fine partaking in other masculine activities. I can see why this would be so controversial in our current society. Many people are just like this little boy's father and would not agree with the grandma for giving him a doll to play with. The fact that she justifies the doll by saying that it will teach him to become a good father is also controversial. I completely agree with the grandma. However, many might believe that this desire means that the little boy is going to grow up to be a homosexual. I think that this is an important book to read because it teaches people that males and females should not be expected to do only masculine or only feminine things. Another thing I noticed was that the little boy refers to the doll in that he wants to undress it, put it to bed, pull down the shades and kiss it goodnight. The brother also calls him a "creep" for wanting a doll. I could see why some may believe this to be characteristic of a child molester. I think the main point of the book is great, but I think that it could be given in a little bit more of a settle way.