"Where the Sidewalk Ends"Finally, Poems I can Understand!

Where the Sidewalk Ends
Written & Illustrated by Shel Silverstein
ISBN# 9780060256678

   I have to admit that when I realized this week's blog was to be on poetry, I was somewhat less than thrilled.  As a complete and utter "realist," I like things to be spelled out for me.  I feel that if you have something important to say, just say it!  Reading between the lines has never been my strong point.  As a student, I would dread the yearly unit on poetry.  Not only did I not "get it," but I had trouble writing poems too.  Not to tip my own hat or anything, but I know I write well.  Ask me to write an essay on a given topic, and I'll go to town.  However, ask me to just write without giving me a topic first - I'll freeze.  What can I say, I crave structure.  I'll even let you in on a secret; these blogs are difficult for me to write as well.  When I tell you there's not a creative bone in my body, I mean it.
     It was not until I took a children's literature class during my senior year of college that I began to change my mind about poetry.  I still don't "love it," but I no longer hate it either.  My professor showed us dozens of different types of poems.  In fact, she even created a type of poem herself that is starting to become very popular across the country.  Broadening my knowledge of poetry has helped me write poems a little bit better.  Writing poetry is about expressing yourself; your personality, ideas, and opinions.  Now I know that I can combine my need for structure with my personality.  I actually enjoy making simple rhyming poems, but it's the deeper ones that get to me.
     As a kid, one of my favorite pieces of literature was a compilation of poems by Shel Silverstein called Where the Sidewalk Ends.  Silverstein wrote and illustrated each poem in this book.  Although the poems were intended for schoolchildren, I'm sure most adults will get a kick out of them too.  The situations in the poems are very silly; typical ideas that the average kid thinks dozens of times throughout the day.  Silverstein uses short, simple words so that the kids can understand and relate to the poems.  Remember, someone like me wants to read a poem and enjoy it, not have to think hard about what the poet really means.
     Where the Sidewalk Ends is great to use as an ongoing activity.  For instance, you may want to cuddle up with your child each night and read a few poems to each other.  They're fairly short, so you can probably read quite a few, maybe right before bedtime.  C'mon now, if that's not a great memory to leave your kids with, I don't know what is!  This book can be utilized by teachers as well.  Obviously you won't be curling up with your students, but you can maybe read a page or two right after lunch each day to settle the children down (or after they unpack, or before they go home, or even as a reward for good behavior).  I guarantee that when they read poems about crocodiles going to the dentist, a boy turning into a TV, and instructions on how to bathe your armadillo, Where the Sidewalk Ends will quickly become a favorite book!

If you think you're just like me,

And you just don't get that thing called "poetry,"

Don't get discouraged, kid... listen up!

Because I'm only gunna say this once

There's millions of poems out there, kid, count 'em and see

There's more than enough for you, and even some for me

They're not all really boring, some of them are cool

So get off your butt and stop being a fool

Find the perfect poem, one that makes you smile

Keep on looking, kid, even if it takes a while

Try writing your own now, about anything you like

Vacation, school, even your very first bike

Keep on trying, kid, just think what you can do

Because if I can do it... SO CAN YOU!!

Copyright NM 2011

"Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters"Easily Relates to Ethnic Girls



Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
Written & Illustrated by John Steptoe
ISBN# 0590420585

      Each year, the Coretta Scott King award is given to a book that recognizes the African American experience.  As I'm sure you (should) know, Coretta Scott King is the wife of the late and great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  This award has been designed to honor not only Dr. King's legacy, but Mrs. King's determination to continue her husband's quest for peace.
     In the year 2010; 150 years after the abolishment of slavery; forty five years after the Civil Rights Movement; with a black President in office, how is it that young African American children still feel like they are on the outside looking in??  As a country, we have all the check marks; I listed them above.  We look great on paper, don't we?  But how do we, as white American citizens, treat our African American counterparts?  Why do these children feel the way they do?  No child, black or white, should have to feel like they cannot be who they are. 
     There is a video that has gone viral in the past few weeks.  Sesame Street's head writer, Joey Mazzarino, wrote a song for his daughter.  I am so incredibly proud to say that I have known Joey my whole life, as he grew up a few doors down from me.  Joey and his amazing wife, actress/singer Kerri Butler, adopted a beautiful baby girl named Segi from Ethiopia a few years ago.  It came to Joey's attention that Segi was feeling very down because she wanted to have long, straight, blond hair.  Joey and Kerri thought that this was just because she was the only black member in their Italian family.  Perhaps she feels this way from seeing the hair on her mother and cousins.  After doing some research, Joey realized that his daughter was not the only girl who felt this way.  Grown black women, who grew up in primarily black families even felt bad about the way their dark, curly hair looked.  So, Joey put his talent to work and created "I Love My Hair."  Not only did Segi love it, but women across the country are expressing their gratefulness that someone "finally gets it."  Click here to read about Joey's story and see the video!
     This story proves how important it is for people, black and white alike, to be able to connect with the characters they see and read about.  The Coretta Scott King award expresses just this idea.  Each year, it picks several books that meet this criteria.  I was so pleased to find out while researching this week that one of my very favorite books, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe was a winner in 1988 for its illustrations.  This book is about King Mufaro's two beautiful daughters.  There is the sweet, kind Nysasha and the mean, bitter Manyara.  When a neighboring king requests the meet the girls to choose a future queen, Manyara tries beat her sister to the village.  Along the way she meets several people that she treats badly.  When Nyasha makes the trip the next morning, she treats the same people with kindness and love.  When the girls meet the king, he reveals that he disguised himself as the people along the road the night before.  He chooses Nyasha to be his queen because of her good heart, while Manyara becomes their servant.

     Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters shows that not all princesses look like a Barbie doll.  Young African American girls can relate to the beautiful princesses.  They will realize that if these girls are beautiful, and I look like them, I am beautiful too.  This is such an important lesson for girls to learn.  We all feel ugly at some points, and I suppose that is somewhat normal since it happens to the best of us, but all girls need to know deep down that they are beautiful people.  Seeing characters that look like you certainly helps.  On another note, this story really has the most gorgeous, detailed illustrations.  I can certainly see why it won the Coretta Scott King Award, as well as the Caldecott Honor.  If you have had the privilege to read this book, I'm sure you know what I am talking about.  If you haven't I strongly suggest adding it to your bookshelf!

"Little Red Hen" is a Fairytale Fav

The Little Red Hen
Illustrated by Lucinda McQueen
ISBN #059041154

    Ask any little girl what she wants to be, and chances are she will tell you "a princess."  In some cases, the little girl will tell you that she already is a princess.  I, myself, am guilty as charged.  Although I knew very well that I had not been born into royalty, I really thought that I'd marry into it.  Every little girl knows that if you marry a prince, you become a princess.  So, for the first few years of my life I would observe my future husband, Prince Harry, from behind my television set, holding tight to the secret that he would someday make me the princess I always wanted to be.
     Obviously, as I grew up I realized that although Prince Harry will eventually make some girl a princess, she would probably (okay, definitely) not be me.  But where did I, and every other little girl in the world, get this fantasy from?  Fairy tales.  Between the books and movies, toys and dolls, little girls are surrounded by this genre.  A fairytale, or folktale as it is sometimes referred, are stories that grew out of the imaginations of the people (folk).  These stories are generally popular with children, although they were actually intended for adults.  Walt Disney has recreated many fairy tales where he altered the ending and added fairies and magic to make them appropriate for children.  Many of the original stories did not have a "happily ever after" ending.  Did you know that the Little Mermaid actually sacrificed her own life and turned into sea foam because the prince married someone else?
     Luckily, writers have made these stories much more enjoyable to read.  I have always loved reading folktales to children of all ages, maybe because I enjoy them so much myself.  One of my all time favorite folktales is The Little Red Hen, illustrated by Lucinda McQueen.  This tells the story of a hardworking hen who lives with a lazy dog, a vain cat, and a chatty goose.  When the Little Red Hen finds a few grains of wheat, she decides to use them to make a loaf of bread.  She asks her friends for help during each step, planting the grains, cutting the wheat, threshing it and taking it to the mill, and finally baking the loaf.  Each time, they refuse to help her.  Once the bread has been taken out of the oven, the animals tell the Little Red Hen they will help her eat it.  This time, the hen explains that she does not need help.  Since she did the hard work all by herself, she will enjoy the final product all by herself.
     Not only does this story teach a great lesson about hard work, there are so many reading strategies you can teach with this book.  You can do a character analysis lesson with each of the 4 characters.  A character web would be a helpful graphic organizer for this lesson.  Another lesson can be sequencing; in what order did she do each task?  These tasks can also tie in to a science lesson on how bread is made from grains.
     Folktales are a very enjoyable genre to read, for both children and adults.  I imagine that both teachers and parents alike have tons of fairy/folk tales on their bookshelves.  I hope that this blog will persuade you to add The Little Red Hen to your bookshelf!

"This Old Man" Makes for a Great Picture Book

This Old Man
Illustrated by Pam Adams
ISBN #9780859530262

       Perhaps the biggest difference between children's books and adult's books are the wonderful illustrations we see in children's literature.  Ask any random kid what their favorite part of a book is, and chances are he will tell you something to do with an illustration.  When children are young, illustrations are their key to unlocking the words.  A good author will match important words on each page to a corresponding picture.  So now, if the child sees a picture of a dog, she can better sound out d-o-g.  The even better authors use the "Three R's," (rhyming, rhythm, and repetition) in their work as well.  This allows the children to follow the same pattern throughout the book, and use the pictures to just match up the words that are changing.
     For the majority of my teaching career, albeit short-lived, I have worked with mostly children in grades 1-5.  That is approximately ages 6-11, for those of you that have forgotten.  This past summer, however, I had the pleasure of teaching in a pre-school.  The children in my class were between 2 and 4 years old.  Is 2 to 7 years a big age difference in the adult world? Not at all.  My boyfriend and I are 5 years apart (and guess who is more mature... yeah).  Collegiate classmates may be decades apart, yet still do the same work.  But in the wonderful world of children, a few precious years can make all the difference.  On my very first day, I read through the alphabet chart with my kids and asked them to write the letters of their name.  All I got were a bunch of blank stares and a few dirty diapers.  Being the typical teacher that I am, I knew I had to come up with activities that these kids not only could understand, but would be educational as well.  I found my answer in big picture books.
     I would read the class the same few books each day, but our favorite was This Old Man.  You probably remember this as a song.. "This old man, he played one.  He played knick knack on my drum, with a knick-knack patty whack - give a dog a bone - This old man came rolling home."  Pam Adams, who is the book's illustrator, really did an amazing job.  What makes this book so special are, in fact, the illustrations.  The words are simply the same song that we all sang at some point in our childhood.  "This old man" knick-knacks his way up to playing "ten on my hen."  Cute, yes, but nothing out of the ordinary.  What Adams created is called a "book with holes."  That means that each page has a cut out through which you can see a portion of the next page (in this case, you can see the next old man). 
     Each page spread (2 pages that are next to each other, like pages 2 and 3) describes the man playing one number.  The numbers are on the left side and are printed big and bold; very appealing to the eye.  There is a scene drawn on the right side of each spread, that not only depicts what the old man is doing on the current number, but shows what he has already done as well.  The children would love to look at the picture to find what the man is up to now.  In addition to being so engaged, my kids would participate as well.  Sometimes they would all sing along with me, other times I would point to one child and have him say that part, then another child, and so on.  You would be surprised how many different ways there are to read the same book!
     Pam Adams did a remarkable job illustrating the classic This Old Man.  Every element that a good children's picture book should have is incorporated into this book.  I found it to be extremely motivating and enjoyable with young toddlers, however I imagine that children of all ages would love it.  Not only will the children love the bright, colorful pictures, but they will feel so much happiness and importance when they can sing along with you, an adult that they look up to.  I strongly suggest adding this book to your library!

"Old Lady" Gets the Honor that she Deserves



There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Written By Simms Taback
Illustrated by Pam Adams
ISBN #0859537277

     For our first "official" blog, my professor instructed us to write on any "Award [meaning Caldecott or Newbery Medals/Honors] Winning Children's Book."  At first I thought, "Oh, ok no big deal. All the books I love have won awards, so I can basically write about anything I want, right?" WRONG!  When I downloaded a list of all the books that have been chosen for these honors, I couldn't help but notice that some of my favs were MIA.  Of course the lovable Winn Dixie made the cut, as did Trixie and her beloved Knuffle Bunny (twice, in '05 and '08).  But I couldn't help but wonder why some of my favorite characters fell through the cracks!  Where-oh-where is my little Chrysanthemum?  And what about my favorite spunky gal, Pinkalicious?  Tsk, tsk to whatever committee left you ladies out.  Anyway, I was very pleased, however, to find that a very silly, and hungry old lady did, in fact make the cut.
     I truly feel that Simms Taback's There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (which was a Caldecott Honor winner in 1998) is one of the best children's books ever written.  The book follows the story of a little old lady who swallows a fly, and then proceeds to swallow a spider in order to catch the fly.  She continues to swallow bigger animals to catch the one before it.  Each page follows the same rhyming pattern.  For example, one part reads: There was an old lady who swallowed a bird.  How absurd to swallow a bird!  She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.  She swallowed the spider to catch the fly - I don't know why she swallowed a fly!  Perhaps she'll die!
     I mean c'mon... what can't you teach with this book?  There's the obvious rhyming and patterns.  The kids absolutely love to follow along with this book.  When I read it, I always have my audience join in and help me read each page.  The pictures are helpful to those who cannot follow along with the words; those kids can still feel a part of the group.  That brings me to another great lesson, using pictures to help you figure out words!  This book can certainly be used to teach main idea (what is the whole book about?), facts and details (why is she swallowing each animal?), and word meaning (notice the sentence after it names what she swallowed;  there is always a fancy word in it).
     In my opinion, however, this book is best utilized with a sequencing lesson.  After the read aloud, I usually give my kids a picture of each animal she swallowed.  Then, they write out a paragraph in their notebooks listing each thing she swallowed in order, and placing the picture where appropriate.  They can use any of the sequencing words from the mini-lesson that make sense to them.  Here is an example of this activity, done by a 2nd grader with the book There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat.

     Now even if I stopped here, I'm sure you would agree that I proved my point; There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is a great book to have in your classroom.  But guess what?  I'm STILL not done.  The best thing about this book is... there's more.  Literally.  There are more books that follow the same exact format.  Lucille Colandro has written an "Old Lady" book for just about every holiday and season.  Halloween is right around the corner; why not try There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat?  Thanksgiving already?  There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (although this one is by Alison Jackson) would be a great read.  You can actually buy the whole set, in which the old lady swallows a shell (for summer time), some leaves (autumn), a chick (Easter/springtime), snow (winter), and a bell (Christmas).  I know what you're thinking now... this could be a killer compare/contrast lesson, right?  Not to mention how many connections can be made, too.
     The Caldecott Honor is awarded to the illustrator of a distinguished American picture book for children.  Simms Taback served as both author and illustrator to this classic.  Although I have praised this book for its story and how it can be incorporated into the classroom, I have neglected to point out why Taback received the Caldecott Honor.  His pictures are bold and bright, and surely catch the eye of children and adults alike.  They make following along with the words easy and enjoyable.  As I said already, pictures are very important to those youngsters who cannot read yet.
    I hope that I have been able to give this piece of literature it's proper due.  It is definitely a book every teacher should have in her classroom, and every parent should have on his bookshelf.  I would love to hear from anyone who falls in love with this book as I did!

My Very First Blog

          I must admit that this is my first attempt at blogging.  This blog will serve as a semester-long assignment for my Children's Literature class.  The idea of this blog is to share our thoughts, feelings, and connections to children's books as we read them.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, there are three different types of "connections" one can make to a piece of literature.  A "text-to-text connection" is just that; when you make a connection between one piece of text and another.  In a "text-to-self connection," the reader makes connections between herself and the book.  Perhaps the book reminds you of something that has happened to you.  A "text-to-world connection" is when the reader connects the book to the world around her.  I imagine I will often refer to these terms throughout my blog.
          I have always been a huge fan of children's literature.  As a kid, I remember reading under my covers with a flashlight so my mother would think I was asleep (although now that I think about it, I suppose a flashlight wasn't the best idea).  Back then, all I knew was that I was reading books that interested me.  As an adult, I realize that I was reading award winning pieces of literature that I can now share with my students.  I love the fact that the classics I read in the early 90s are still being enjoyed today; there's brave little Madeline, silly Amelia Bedelia, the troublesome Cat in the Hat, the great Ramona Quimby, and the responsible members of The Babysitter's Club.  In fact, most of the books I came to love were around for many years already!  These characters have secured their place in the hearts of children from generation to generation.  Through the years we have met many new characters for children to love as well, such as the "wimpy" Greg Heffley, the magical Harry Potter, and a friendly dog named Winn-Dixie.
          I will try to blog about books that are new to me, but I can't promise that I won't incorporate some of my all-time favs as well.  However, what I can promise is to follow the advice I give my students when they read something for the second (or third, etc.) time, and that is to "read through a different pair of lenses."  Each time we read a book, we are even smarter than we were the last time; we now have more experiences under our belts; the world around us has changed.  I am looking forward to sharing my love for children's literature :)