Dirt on My Shirt

Dirt on My Shirt

Foxworthy, J. (2008). Dirt on my shirt. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

Dirt on My Shirt  was written by Jeff Foxworthy and illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. This collection of children’s poetry is a comical look at a young boy’s life. Foxworthy introduces you to the boy’s family and friends through comical experiences all kids can relate to.

The book includes a dedication page  with a message from Foxworthy to his friend Maggie, and from Bjorkman to Greentree Elementary and their principal.  This added a personal touch to the very comical collection of poetry.

One of the poems included was entitled Staring Contest the illustrator did a great job building suspense by drawing only half the illustration on the page and then drawing the actual contest in action on the next page.  The subject of this poem is very comical; how many of you had a staring contest with your cat as a child?

 

The illustrations are cartoon figures, the illustrator did a great job adding to the comedy in the poems. In the illustration to the right, I can just see the boy and the cat with their eyes open wide and the tears about to roll down their cheeks, both trying not to blink.  A staring contest is definitely something I think every child, big or small can relate to. 

Jeff Foxworthy did a great job writing about a young child’s experiences that no matter how old we are we can all relate to.

A Single Shard

A 

Single Shard

Parks, L. S. (2001). A single shard. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

A Single Shard is the winner of the 2002 Newbery Medal Award.   

The format/design of this multicultural book was deliberately designed to invoke curiosity in the reader.  The book included a dust jacket with endpapers ;on the front cover the author wrote, “Tree-ear was so called after the mushroom that grew on tree trunks without benefit of parent seed.  A good name for an orphan, Crane-man said.  Right of the bat the reader gets a clue, a foreshadowing, that the main character is an orphan.   The author also started the novel by simply using an entire page to introduce the setting, the author wrote, “A small village on the west coast of Korea, mid- to late 12^th century”. 

Tree-ear the main character is an orphan being raised by Crane-man. He is a curious young boy who likes to watch a local potter named Min.  One day Tree-ear’s curiosity got the best of him and he accidentally broke some of Min’s pottery.  In order to repay Min for the broken pottery, Tree-ear agreed to work for free for several days.  Tree-ear continued to volunteer his time long after he had repaid him debt.  Tree-ear wanted Min to teach him how to do his craft, but Min would not, he was only willing to pass it down to his son.  Unfortunately Min’s son died, so he had no one to pass the family tradition to.  Later Tree-ear was sent on an errand with pottery to show and a tragic accident happened, all the pottery was smashed to shards.  Min’s work was so exquisite he was able to obtain the commission with a single shard of his pottery, which leads to the title of the book.

This book is full of literary devices such as metaphors and similes.  This would be a great book to analyze and record literary devices, discussing how they enrich and develop the text.

According to Promethean Planet the following resource includes, “writing activities, comprehension and discussion questions for each chapter in the book. There is also an anticipation guide and an essay. The activities in this resource can be used for both small and whole group instruction. In addition, there are graphic organizers in this resource that can be printed and assigned for independent or small group work or displayed on your Smartboard for the entire class to share their responses.”

http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/89110/literature-guide-for-a-single-shard#.UKWLqWdSTbw

Henry’s Freedom Box

Henry’s Freedom Box

Levine, E. (2007). Henry’s freedom box. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Awards: 2008 Caldecott Honor Book

Henry’s Freedom Box is a multicultural/historical fiction book. The protagonist in the story was a young boy who grows up as a slave.  The author really focused on the main character, showing emotion, and developing a rounded character the reader could relate to. The events in the story give the reader a true understanding of events that commonly happened to slaves and their families.

The illustrations add to the story line, showing the emotions on the characters faces. The illustration to the right depicts Henry who is mailing himself to freedom in a small crate.  The crate was tossed and turned in the journey, in this particular illustration you can see the look of anguish on Henry’s face, and the reader can tell Henry is very uncomfortable.

The illustrator, Kadir Nelson, used lots of line in his illustrations to show texture in the drawings.  The illustrations in this book are very detailed and the lines used create a greater sense of reality.  The drawings seem very real; you can see the wrinkles in the character’s clothing.  There is a lot of depth in the illustrations, which help the reader feel like they are in the story.  

On the following website the illustrator has written a letter to his readers, he describes the research he did to prepare and plan the primitive illustrations.  He was very concerned with his illustrations clearly depicting the time period. The link also includes a slide show with the primary sources he used to get inspiration for the illustrations.  This would be a great way to show students how illustrators use primary sources to get ideas of what the time period really looked like.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/letter-kadir-nelson

The following website has videos of the author answering questions about the book.  She also reads the book aloud.

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/video.jsp?pID=1640183585&bcpid=1640183585&bclid=6814353001&bctid=5705791001

Pigs Might Fly

Pigs Might Fly

King-Smith, D. (1980). Pigs might fly. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Everyone has heard the phrase when pigs fly; well this animal fantasy book, Pigs Might Fly, is a comical spin off this popular phrase.  In the story Mrs. Barleylove gives birth to a dag, which has deformed front legs.  Usually the fate of these unfortunate little ones lay in the hands of Pigman and is not long lived, but this determined little dag found his way back to his mother and escaped Pigman’s wrath.

This determined little dag’s name was Daggie Dogfoot, because his front feet were more like a dog’s paws.  This defect made Daggie special and he was determined to show everyone just how special he was.  Throughout the story he attempted to do things normal pigs could not, like flying although he was unsuccessful with his attempts to fly; he eventually found he was a great swimmer.  This skill ended up saving Daggie, the large herd of pigs, and the Pigman from a flood.  Daggie was a hero in the end.

This book is an animal fantasy because the animals throughout the story do incredible things, like talking, making friends, and even flying!!!  The events of the story were person-against-society, Daggie Dogfoot was different from the rest of his liter mates, but he was determined to live and prove how special he was. Throughout the book Daggie was faced with struggles, but his determination helped him to continue fighting.

I think the theme of the story is not to judge a book by its cover.  Poor Daggie Dogfoot was different from his liter mates and no one really wanted to give him a chance.  They assumed he wasn’t capable of doing anything worthwhile, when in fact he became the hero in the end.

The illustrations were spread throughout the book and where simplistic black and white hand sketched illustrations that gave the reader a visual of what was happening in the story.

I think this book would be a great book to use to discuss differences, acceptance, and character traits such as determination.  

Owl Moon

Owl Moon

Yolen, J. (1987). Owl moon. New York, NY: Scholastic.

 

Jane Yolen is the author of Owl Moon, which received the Caldecott Medal in 1988 and has been featured on Reading Rainbow.

Owl Moon is a wonderful story about a father who takes his child out late on a winter night to go owling.  They brave the cold and develop a great family activity the child will never forget. 

The setting of the story is a snowy winter night in the country.  The setting is a very integral part of the story.  The author also uses the literary device simile to create an image in the readers mind.  For instance, on the first page the author wrote, “The trees stood still as giant statues.” and “Somewhere behind us a train whistle blew, long and low, like a sad, sad song.”  The author uses this literary device again later in the book. I would teach students how to identify a simile and then have the read the text looking for examples.  The author also did a great job using descriptive details to help the reader form a mental picture of the events.

The illustrator John Schoenherr used colors that complemented the text. Although you never see the moon in any of the illustrations, his use of the vivid white lets you know the moon is reflecting on the fallen snow.  The composition of this reflection of the moon’s light helps to light up the scene and enriches the mood of the text.  In the picture to the right the illustrator uses the contrasting gray to form the shadows of the father and his child; this would insinuate the moon is in front of them even though the moon is not captured in this illustration. 

The following link is a teacher reading aloud Owl Moon.  She stops in several places and has the students think about the illustrations and has the students making self to text connections throughout.   This would be a really great way to incorporate this into a literacy center activity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pryNnhuYJA