Title: "Moses When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom"

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrated by: Kadir Nelson

Reading level: Ages 7 and up

Grades: First-Sixths

Hardcover: 48 pages

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; First Edition (August 8, 2006)

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 9780786851751

This story is about a courageous, compassionate, and deeply religious women, who with her bravery and passionate drive bring her and her people to freedom!

"I set the north star in the Heavens and I mean for you to be free.."

Born into slavery Harriet Tubman hears the voice of God, He tells her to leave her family behind and escape to free land.  Taking only her faith she waits until the Lord tells her to go and she runs to the woods through deep pounds, and hides herself in potato holes as if she is buried alive. With her faith slipping the Lord always reminds Harriet that He is with her and will never leave her. Harriet must trust people that could easily turn her in but with her faith and the strong desire to survive she makes it to free land. Harriet Tubman then went on to make nine-teen trips back to the south to help save her people. 
"Moses When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom" is a great book to use to teach children about the Underground Railroad, about slaves, and about Harriet Tubman. The story is about something that really happened back in 1619-1865. It brings you along with Harriet as she is running away from her master. The story makes you believe you are right there with her. Your heart aches for her and the story writing seems to natural as a children book. The author wants to share with the reader about the way in which Harriet was able to with the voice of God head north and find freedom. This story is one that will move you, it is portraying one of the most inspiring women of the Underground Railroad. 
There are many different elements through out the story. Three of these elements are allegory, foreshadowing, and assonance.This story is full of allegory its a story that helps us better understand something as powerful as the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman. The foreshadowing is also through out the book with the conversation Harriet has with God. They have a back and forth conversation about what she should do next and God always keeps her save and lets her know what will be coming next.  The last element is assonance which is the rhyming. The story is a written in a lyrical way so each words run smoothly with the next. 

The illustrations in the book are beautiful, they are full of passion, and you feel as if you are right in the story. Kadir Nelson did a great job in using the pictures to follow the text. The text and images go hand in hand. You can feel the stress and pain Harriet Tubman is while she travels to freedom. 

    

I would use this story to teach the importance of the Underground Railroad and who Harriet Tubman is. In the front of the book it gives some information on slavery so I would also want to use that in a lesson as well. The hard part about teaching this book would be that Harriet talks to God and in all public schools that is not allowed so using the story would not work which is sad to me because its such a wonderful and beautiful story.

The Shadow

Title: The Shadow

Author: Donna Diamond 

Illustrated by: Donna Diamond  

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Library Binding: 32 pages 

Publisher: Candlewick (July 13, 2010) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0763648787

The Shadow is a wordless book.that is about a girl who comes home from school, she heads up stairs to her room and spread out on the floor to do some drawings. She notices another character in the story. Its her shadow who at first in unnoticed until it slowly creeps up on her. It scares the little girl at first. She runs for cover but then she tells the shadow who is boss! This story is one that has you guess on what the little girl will do next. Its about taking on your fears and standing up to them. 

The character in the story is on we all can relate too. Even though there are no words in the story you can feel for the little girl. She is in her own little world drawing with her dolls when out of no where she sees her shadow for the first time. She at first is afraid but takes on that fear and finally stands up to it. Everyone in life has a fear and this picture books shows how to deal with those fears and over come them. The author wants us to know that "This work is an exploration of the fundamentals emotions of fear,melancholy, and the search for safety(Diamond)." She wants us to understand that fear is alive in everyone we need to take hold of it and stand up to it. The literacy elements in the story are not through words but through the pictures you can feel the foreshadowing of the little girl. You do not know what is coming next but with the girls expression you can guess what she will do next. The allegory is shown through out the whole book. The author wrote this book in a way that we will better understand something which is fear. The whole story is wordless so I believe you could use any literacy element to create a wonderful story. Using a wordless book is a great way to express how you feel about fear. Any literacy element can be used in this book, that is way I believe wordless books are so important, they can impact you in so many different ways.  

The illustrations in the story are so important in this story, because it is a wordless book I believe the images have to make a picture story in themselves. Each page has its own way of creating words with out having words there. The images get you thinking of what words you would use to create your very own story. Some of the images can be scary but the story is about dealing with fear and those images are a great way to talk with your children or students about they ways to deal with fear. The images that Diamond paints she said are "a source of power, imagination, and deep personal identity." This wordless book is an amazing story that I will use in my classroom.

A mini-lesson I would use this book for is one where each child would write their own text to the images. I would ask that they go through the pictures and write about the little girls facial expression, talk about how she is feeling, how she deals with fear, and then write about how they deal with fear. This is a great book to talk about with children who have a lot of fear and ways to deal with it. Overall I love this book and feel it would be a great teaching tool.

A Father like That

 

Title: "A Father Like That"

Author: Pham Zolotow

Illustrated by: LeUyen Pham 

Reading level: Ages 4-12

Grade: Kindergarten-Sixth 

Hardcover: 40 pages

Publisher: Harper Collins (April 24, 2007)

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0060278641

This story is about a little boy whose father leaves before he is born. He has never met his father nor has he ever had someone else try to take that place.  He goes on imagine what it would be like if his father was here. He tells his mother that his father would walk with him down the street, play games with him, help washes the dishes after dinner, read him stories when he was sick, and many more father son ideas he can only dream of. He mother is listing to him tell her what is would be like to have his father here. His mother looks at him and responses "Ill tell you what, she says when I stop talking. I like that kind of father you're talking about. And in case he never comes, just remember when you grow up, you can be a father like that yourself (Zolotow)."
This story is a good story because it makes you feel for the character, it makes you think about what other ideas he could do with his dad. The main character had a problems because he was dealing with the fact that he has no father and what it would be like to have a father. His mother then tells him that if his father never comes back then he can be just like the father he never had. So he starts out with a problem and starts to over come it by knowing that when he becomes a father he can be the type of father he has always wanted. The author is using this story to express to everyone that not everyone has a mother and a father. Its showing others that some children struggle with the fact that their father or even mother is not apart of their live anymore. I know this is a great story to read to children in your classroom if you have a lot of single parent families. It could help children come to understand the meaning of single parent families and even all the different types of families there are out there. 
The three literacy elements found in this story are allegory, allusion, and hyperbole. The allegory is in the whole story. Its a story that will help everyone better understand what is it like for a child who has no father. The little boy in the story images what it will be like to have a father and I know a lot of children can relate to this story and its a great one to read for all children to again see all the different types of families there are out there. The allusion is seen in the pictures you can see the little boys mind just thinking of what it would be like to have a father in his life, he dreams of all the fun activity's they would do together, and at the end of the book the very last picture is the little boy outside walking down the street. In this picture you can see allusion by the way he is thinking that he will be like the father her never had when he grows up.The last hyperbole is also in the story and the way the little boy talks about what his dad and him would do if he was around. He is over the top with some of his ideas like when he talks about how is father would just say "Why, sure all boys do" when it comes to the fact that the little boy talks to much in class. He makes the dad out to be like a best friend, which is great because that is the way he images his father would be if he was around.
The illustrations build on the text. Each pages is full of color, expression, and detail. They make you feel as if the father is always with the boy, its as if they are best friends and as if the boy has had his father in his life all along. The pictures give you a sense of warmth and happiness which I believe is what makes a story a great one. 
A mini-lesson I would do with this book is talk about what is means to have a only a mother or a father. I would want to bring this story into my classroom when it comes to the topic of families. I also would use this story to let my children create their own idea of what they would want to be like as a parent when they grow up. Each child has said "When I grow up i'll let my children do that or this" so it would be fun to let the children dream up what they would be like as a parent.

A Beach Tail

Title: "A Beach Tail"

Author:  Karen Lynn Williams

Illustarted by: Floyd Cooper

Ages: 4-8

Grade: Pre-kindergarten-second

Published: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data

Language: English

This story is about a little boy named Gregory. Gregory goes to the beach with his father. When Greg fins a stick at the beach he starts to draw a lion in the sand, His fathers tells him don't go into the water and do not leave Sandy the lion. The little boy listens to his father and does not go into the water and does not leave Sandy. Greg still finds a way to make his way down the beach by making Sandy's tail longer and longer before he looks up and see that he can not see his father. Greg makes the trip back to where his father is by following the trail of Sandy's tail. When he gets back to where Sandy was Greg looks up and there his is father waiting for him. Greg tells his father he never went into the water and he never left Sandy. His father smiles at him and they head into the water for a father son swim. 

What a great book to bring out in a classroom at the end of the school year. Spending time at the beach is a way a lot of children spend time in the summer. Going to the beach is an memory that most children relate to summer time. 

From the Author on why she wrote the story:

http://www.karenlynnwilliams.com/beach.html

Behind the Story

I love the beach and had wanted to use this setting in a story for a long time. When I am near the ocean, life is always open to possibilities and the creatures there fascinate me. I had been playing around with a simple story of a child who gets lost and uses his sense of place and interest in nature to find his way back. I grew up in New England and beaches there are my favorite. But I had the opportunity, recently to go to the beach and write on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Finally it hit me that this story about finding your way should be a beach story.

I remembered when my son Peter once wandered down the beach as my husband and I watched from the blanket under the umbrella and we could see the moment he looked up and panicked when he realized he could not see us. Peter did not have a stick or Sandy’s tail so my husband ran after him and guided him back to our blanket but the memory came back to me as inspiration for this story.
As a child I spent many weekends and vacations on the beaches of Rhode Island and Cape Cod where my dad taught me about jellyfish and sandcastles and how to body surf. He was always nearby when a wave knocked me over.

  

This story is a great read-aloud that will get children excited about the summer time, spending time with family, and being out in the hot summer sun. The story grabs your attention because its about a little boy who goes on an adventure down the beach with out his father. The father is watching him the whole time but to Greg he felt lost until he followed his trail back to his father. The story is one that gives children the idea that as children they still have a chance to be interdependent. Greg makes his way down the beach with out anyone but himself and Sandy's tail, what a great way to show children that as we grow up we get to make out way down the beach. The author tells us that she loves the beach and wanted to write a story about it, so expressing how she feels about the beach through Greg and his father gives us a scene that she wants us to feel the wonderful world of the beach. The story is portraying an African-American father and son spending time together in the sun. Their race is never mentioned in the text but is illustrated through the pictures. In this story race is not the focus of the story which is a change from a lot of story children read which are mainly about slavery, racism, the civil right movement, etc. Those topic in children books are very important but its great to see a story that many children will look at and relate to in a positive way. This book does a great job of portraying a life for people of color in which their race is not the main plot of the story. What a great book to read in class where children can see themselves as the character.

The literacy elements in this story are onomatopoeia, pun, and alliteration. The onomatopoeia is heard though out the whole story. Whenever Greg draws Sandy's tail longer he makes the sound of "Swish-Swoosh." He also makes Sandy talk by saying "Roar" which is also another example of onomatopoeia in the story. The pun is said when every Greg sees something on the beach like the "Gooey purple jelly-fish". The last element is alliteration and again this can be found in the whole book "spray splashed," "deep, dark ghost," and many more. The illustartaions in the story are wonderful they make you feel ask if you are on the beach hearing the waves crash on the beach, the bird singing in the sky, and feeling the sand all over your body. Floyd Cooper makes the images build on the text, most of the time the images make you feel beyond the text. The face of the boy, his father, and the sand he is drawing on become so real that the words are not even needed but of course the word make the story just as wonderful as the images.

A mini-lesson I would do with this story is to read it aloud to the class and have them draw out an anmial that would have a tail as long as Sandy. I would also ask them to draw the animals or things that their animal will run into like Sandy's tail did. After reading this story you will feel as if summer can not come soon enough. Karen Lynn Williams and Floyd Cooper do an amazing job at grabbing your attention in so many ways its great!

You Can Do it!

Title: "You Can Do It!"

Author: Tony Dungy

Illustrated by: Amy June Bates 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Grade: K-3

Hardcover: 32 pages 

Publisher: Little Simon Inspirations; First Edition edition (July 8, 2008) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 9781416954613

This story is about a little boy named Tony He grew up in a home that was encouraged by his family and faith. Tony had big dreams for himself and never thought less of what his big dream was. His big dream was  that he wanted to be a football player and no one was going to stand in his way. Everyone is Tony's family new what they wanted to be and for him he was going to be a football player no matter what it took. One person in his family though could not figure out what he wanted to be, or what his big dream was. He just could not find a dream to follow, until one day when he stopped messing around in class and becomes that kid on a mission to find his  big dream. His brother Tony and all his family members are the to encourage him and help him get to where he needs to be to find that dream. Linden spends time praying to God and talking with his family before he finds his big dream, which was to become a dentist.

This story is a very good story. The theme of the story is to teach us that we all have a big dream and we will one day find it. Each one of us will become what we want to become and grow in ways we never new we could. Linden in the story was undecided on what he wanted to be until he spent time praying and explore all the ideas he found interesting.  The author Tony Dungy wrote this story to share with us how much his family meant to him and all this siblings. How important faith is and how we all have a purpose in life we just need to find it. The literacy elements in the story are allegory, foreshadowing, and hyperbole. Each elements is seen through out the whole story. Allegory is something that helps us better understand something, in this story the idea that we all have a big dream we just need to put our faith into it is what is helping us better understand how we can find our own big dream. The foreshadowing is through out the whole story as well. Each character gives us a hint for what they think Linden should be and hyperbole is in the beginning of the story when Linden said that he is going to be a duck because he can not think of anything else to be. The pictures in this story are amazing. They add so much texture and detail to the story. With out the pictures the story would be no where near what is really is now. Each picture is filled with color, detail, and heart. You can tell the illustrator was very passionate about the story and wanted each one of use to feel the pictures they way she did. A mini-lesson I would do with using this story would be to teach children the idea of a dream. How we all want to be something when we grow up and show them that Linden did not know what he wanted to be until he really spent time figuring it out. A lot of time we do not know what we want to be, so this story is a great one to show us that no matter what happens we all have a purpose on this world and we will find your own big dream some day!

When I feel Angry

Title: "When I feel Angry"

Author: Cornelia Maude Spelman

Illustrated by: Nancy Cote 

Reading level: 4-8

Paperback: 24 pages 

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (January 1, 2000) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 9780807588970

This story is about a little bunny that talks about what makes him feel angry. "When somebody makes fun of me, I feel angry." "If the teacher says I was talking and I wasn't, I get angry. It isn't fair." The story goes on to tell us all about the ways that make people angry. Then it goes on to tell us how the little bunny deals with his anger. He tells us that at time he wants to hit, yell, or be mean to others. He is learning to deal with his angry by taking a deep breath, walking away, or closing his eyes and count to ten. Then at the end of the story the little bunny tells us that when he feels angry he knows what he must do to change the way he is feeling. 

This story is a great one! Its teaching us how to deal with out angry feelings. A lot of children get angry and will hit their friends or be mean to them. This story takes us through the ideas of what makes us angry, how we can deal with out angry in a bad way, and then it talks about what we should really do when we feel angry. The author is trying to teach us that being angry is a feeling we all go through, but as children we need to learn how to deal with out angry in a way that wont hurt anyone or ourselves. The characters in the story are animals so its a easy book to talk to children about and get them thinking about how they feel when they are angry and what they do to solve the problem. The literacy elements in the story are allegory and personification. The allegory in the story is to teach us something and help us better understand something. In this story the allegory is about how to deal with our angry. What we should so and how we should act when we have those feelings. The personification is in the whole story because the characters in the story are animals that walk, talk, push babies in strollers, and play at the park. The images in the story are great. Full of color, expression, but are simple. Each pictures offers its own build to the story. With out the pictures the story would not come off the way the author wants it to. Using bunnies as the characters should us that we all deal with the feeling of angry no matter who you are. A mini-lesson I would do with this story is to do a picture walk through the story, make connections with the text and pictures, and then talk about what makes each of use angry and how we deal with that angry. I would want the children to draw and write out how they feel when they get angry and what makes them angry.

Im not Invited

Title: "I'm Not Invited"

Author: Diana Cain Bluethenthal

Illustrated by: Diana Cain Bluthenthal 

Reading level: Ages 9-12 

Paperback: 32 pages 

Publisher: Aladdin (January 28, 2008) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 1416971416

This story is about a little girl named Minnie. She has a best friend named Charles, but if there best friend why is Charles not inviting Minnie to his birthday party on Saturday? At first Minnie feels that he must of forgot to invite her or he thought he initiated her and really did not. Through out the week Minnie is a wreck. She can stop thinking about Charles birthday party and why she would not of been invited. She never got an invitation, no party, no cakes, no nothing. How could he forget to invite her? Her family tries to figure out what is wrong out with but they just can't seem to help her. Saturday Minnie gets a call from her friends and they ask her if she wants to meet at the park to play kickball, Minnie heads over to the park and as she heads to the field she sees Charles. Why is he here, shouldn't he be at his party? Charles runs up to Minnie and she asks him about the party. Charles laughs and tells Minnie that they party was for his little sister, and that is the last place he wants to be. This story is great because it deals with a feeling that everyone has had before. The feeling of being left out, hurt, and unhappy, we all have been through it and this book does a good job of dealing with it. The pictures help make the story a good one, they build on the text. You can really feel the emotion that Minnie is having. When she is sad you feel sad for her and when she is happy you feel happy for her. The author wrote this story because she wanted to show others what it feels like to be left out and how when someone is left out how we should comfort them. The while characters and the color characters are seen as the same, no one is placed higher or lower then anyone. That is another reason why this book is good, because it includes other ethnic groups. The literacy elements that I found in the story are allegory and foreshadowing. The allegory in the story is seen through out the story, we are learning that Minnie is unset that she was not invited to the party but at the end of the story we learn that the party was not for her friend Charles but for his sister. The story is helping us better understand that some times people feel left out and we need to learn the right way to deal with it. The foreshadowing is seen in the story as well. The pictures are what give us a hint for what is coming next. The images build on the text, which helps us better understand how the characters are feeling. The pictures in the story are simple they do not have much color and they do not hold much detail, but they make the story great. You can really feel the way Minnie is feeling and I believe that makes a picture book great. Having simple pictures that can really impact you. The mini-lesson I would want to use this book for would be to teach my class about the feeling of being left out. Everyone has a time when they felt left out so reminding the class what it feels like and way they can make sure it wont happen in our classroom. This book would help children learn to include all their friends.