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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 14:26:29 -0600
My personal list of favorites this year included Stray Dog and Martin's Big Words. I have been a big fan of Bryan Collier's collage and watercolor art and have liked all of his books. Martin's Big Words is a great introduction to the life and times of Martin Luther King for all ages. I have read it aloud to first- second-, seventh- and eighth-graders, and they have all liked it. It is one of several excellent picture books about civil rights, human rights, family, and friendship that have come out this year, the others being Deborah Wiles's Freedom Summer (winner of CSK New Talent award for its illustrator Jerome Laggarigue), Goin' Someplace Special (CSK Award), and Jacqueline Woodson's The Other Side, illus. by E.B.Lewis.
Stray Dog has the feel of a picture book classic. It's a great read-aloud book -- simple, warm, and funny. After the awards were announced, I took my set of winners and started presenting the books to the first and second grade clases at my school. Since I have only a half hour with each group, the other books I show and talk about and read parts of, and Stray Dog I read aloud. The kids love the story and are very good at noticing details and even artistic choices, such as the page that is all white space surrounding the dog. Kids articulate the sense of loneliness this illustration makes us feel. They love the bubbly tub scene, the chase scene with dog, dog catcher, and kids, the little boy having to hold his pants up, and so forth.
I tell kids the story of Waterhouse Hawkins and show the illustrations. It's the book many kids ask me to leave behind so they can look at more closely later. It appeals to the many dinosaur lovers among young children, yet it has lots of information for older readers, too. A great example of a picture book that works for older readers. Several of my 7th graders have given it a look. It's a well-written, attractively-made book. Kids especially love that scene of the dinner party inside the dinosaur.
With The Three Pigs, you can play on kids' knowledge of the story, which -at the beginning -- reads the way they remember. When the first pig is blown out of the story, you have the listeners' attention. I find this a difficult story to read aloud and find myself telling the story instead, showing the illustrations as I go and pointing out essential details. It works well that way. It's an attractively made book, the pigs are cute, the concept is innovative, but since it doesn't work well for me as a read-aloud it wasn't one of my top choices, though it was my pick for what I thought the committee would choose.
Presenting all four of the books together as I've been doing is a lot of fun. They are four very different books, with excellent, distinctive art and a range of themes and subjects.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Sun 27 Jan 2002 02:26:29 PM CST
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 14:26:29 -0600
My personal list of favorites this year included Stray Dog and Martin's Big Words. I have been a big fan of Bryan Collier's collage and watercolor art and have liked all of his books. Martin's Big Words is a great introduction to the life and times of Martin Luther King for all ages. I have read it aloud to first- second-, seventh- and eighth-graders, and they have all liked it. It is one of several excellent picture books about civil rights, human rights, family, and friendship that have come out this year, the others being Deborah Wiles's Freedom Summer (winner of CSK New Talent award for its illustrator Jerome Laggarigue), Goin' Someplace Special (CSK Award), and Jacqueline Woodson's The Other Side, illus. by E.B.Lewis.
Stray Dog has the feel of a picture book classic. It's a great read-aloud book -- simple, warm, and funny. After the awards were announced, I took my set of winners and started presenting the books to the first and second grade clases at my school. Since I have only a half hour with each group, the other books I show and talk about and read parts of, and Stray Dog I read aloud. The kids love the story and are very good at noticing details and even artistic choices, such as the page that is all white space surrounding the dog. Kids articulate the sense of loneliness this illustration makes us feel. They love the bubbly tub scene, the chase scene with dog, dog catcher, and kids, the little boy having to hold his pants up, and so forth.
I tell kids the story of Waterhouse Hawkins and show the illustrations. It's the book many kids ask me to leave behind so they can look at more closely later. It appeals to the many dinosaur lovers among young children, yet it has lots of information for older readers, too. A great example of a picture book that works for older readers. Several of my 7th graders have given it a look. It's a well-written, attractively-made book. Kids especially love that scene of the dinner party inside the dinosaur.
With The Three Pigs, you can play on kids' knowledge of the story, which -at the beginning -- reads the way they remember. When the first pig is blown out of the story, you have the listeners' attention. I find this a difficult story to read aloud and find myself telling the story instead, showing the illustrations as I go and pointing out essential details. It works well that way. It's an attractively made book, the pigs are cute, the concept is innovative, but since it doesn't work well for me as a read-aloud it wasn't one of my top choices, though it was my pick for what I thought the committee would choose.
Presenting all four of the books together as I've been doing is a lot of fun. They are four very different books, with excellent, distinctive art and a range of themes and subjects.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Sun 27 Jan 2002 02:26:29 PM CST
