Title: "Sometimes it's Grandmas and Grandpas not Mommies and Daddies"
Author: Gayle Byrne
Illustrations by Mary Haverfield
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Grade: Pre-kindergarten-second
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Abbeville Kids (October 27, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780789210289
This story is about a young girl who shares with us the loving, affectionate experience of living and being raised by her grandparents. Its takes you through the ups and downs of what its like for a child who read about mommies and daddies and realize she just has her grandparents and will never have her parents raise her. Her Nonnie and Poppy raise her and love her more then she knows. They read with her, play with her, and do everything mommies and daddies but better :) The story is a wonderful one that takes you through what its like to have grandparents raise you and not your parents. The theme of the story is one that teaches us that no matter who you are raised by they will love you and it doesn't make you different. Families are always seen as one mother one father and siblings, but it takes you through what it looks like to have grandparents as your main caregiver. The text in the story is natural you can feel the words flow together and create a metal image in your head. The author is trying to get the point a crossed that it is not always mommies and daddies that raise children grandparents do it as well. The author had notes in the back of the book that express why she wanted to write a book about grandparents raising children because she felt that her grand daughter would be puzzled as of why all the books talk about mommies and daddies and not grandparents raising children.
The elements in the story are allegory which is though out the whole story, its a story that helps us better understand that grandparents are just like mommies and daddies and at times will raise children just like mommies and daddies do. Assonance is found also through out the story the words are repeated and you can hear the rhyming feel. The last element would be allusion referring to something with out saying it. In the story the grandparents are reading a story about a mom and dad they do not say anything to the little girl until she asks but you can see they refer to her thoughts with out saying anything to her.
The illustrations in the book are beautiful you can feel the text build on the images and the images build on the text. The little girl is loved by her grandparents and you feel that in the images. When the little girl is sad you can see that on her face and the grandparents are their to hug and hold her. With out the images the story would not be the same. The love the grandparents express to the girl is so vivid in the images and makes you feel as if you are loved by the grandparents as well.
A-mini-lesson I would do using this book would be to express what it means to have a family that is not just a mom and a dad. Its a story that shows others that families are of all kinds. I would want my children to write or draw about a time they felt really loved by their parents or grandparents. Its a great book to use with children who are not aware that there are other kinds of families then just their own.
No comments:
Post a Comment