The Princess and the Pea

Title: The Princess and the Pea

Author:  John Chech

Illustrator: Bernhard Oberdieck

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary:

This is a re-telling of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic The Princess and the Pea.

Opinion:

The illustrations in this book are lovely. They are so soft, detailed, and colorful you fall right into the story.  The picture of the castle on the stormy night is my favorite. Everything else is so dark and creepy, but the glow from the castle windows shines through and makes it look like such a comforting haven.  You immediately understand why the princess would go there for shelter.

Though I do enjoy this classic fairytale, it does have its problems that should be noted from a critical literacy standpoint. There are many issues and questions this story brings up. For instance, why did she have to be a real princess? What makes princesses so special and “common” girls so unwelcome? What is so special about princesses that they can feel a pea through twenty mattresses? Why is this a desirable quality? Why does the man get to choose his bride yet the entire population of women must stand around waiting for a man to come? Why is the princess always blond and white? These questions need to be brought up and considered before stories like this get shown to children as quality literature.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom, on my library shelf, for genre studies, and possibly for a comparative analysis as well. I might have my students look at many different versions of this fairytale and question them from a critical literacy standpoint.

Tuesday

Title: Tuesday

Author:  NA

Illustrator: David Wiesner

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary:

This is a wordless book about some very interesting and magical Tuesday nights. On this particular Tuesday evening frogs magically rise and fly on their lily pads over sleeping people below. It won the1992 Caldecott.

Opinion:

The illustrations in this book are phenomenal. They are so detailed and realistic it makes you feel as if this really could happen. You could wake up to find frogs floating through the air and watching your television. It opens all doors and windows for your imagination and lets it run wild. Anything could happen on a Tuesday night around eight.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for genre studies as well. These illustrations could easily keep students captivated and interested.

Rapunzel

Title: Rapunzel

Author:  Paul O. Zelinsky

Illustrator: Paul O. Zelinsky

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 4of 5 stars

Summary:

This book is a re-telling of the popular Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel. It won a Caldecott in 1998.

Opinion:

The illustrations in this book are amazing. They are so detailed and they have an old world feel to them. It makes you feel like you’re looking at the original illustrations. Looking at the picture of Rapunzel playing by the water you feel a little like you’re in a long lost paradise. The water looks so clear and the sky looks so dreamy. Each picture takes you back in time with the story.

Though I do enjoy this classic fairytale, it does have its problems that should be noted from a critical literacy standpoint. There are many issues and questions this story brings up. For instance, why is the witch so old and scary looking? Why couldn’t she have been young or pretty or both? What kind of father did Rapunzel have if he was instantly willing to give her up for a handful of leaves? Why did her mother have no say in it and did she even care? Why did both men in this story feel it was okay to trespass? These questions need to be brought up and considered before stories like this get shown to children as quality literature.

I would use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for genre studies as well. I would also use it for its critical literacy potential, maybe doing a comparative analysis of several versions of Rapunzel and asking my students the questions I’ve listed above, forcing them to think from a critical literacy standpoint.

The Penguin and the Pea

Title: The Penguin and the Pea

Author:  Janet Perlman

Illustrator: Janet Perlman

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 4of 5 stars

Summary:

This book is a parody of the popular fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.

Opinion:

This is an adorable and humorous retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales. Perlman puts her own unique spin on it with the plump penguins, each with their own quirky personality, and when the Prince asks for the Princess’s fin in marriage the moment is truly magical.

The illustrations in this book are equally as humorous. They tell a story all of their own, showing activities the penguins participate in and facial expressions they have. Reading this book was truly enjoyable and I laughed out loud regularly.

Although I do enjoy this story and this fairytale in general, it does have its problems that should be noted. From a critical literacy standpoint there are questions like, why did she have to be a real princess? What makes princesses so special and “common” girls so unwelcome? If the two penguins loved each other before they knew she was a real princess why did she still have to prove it? What would have happened had she not felt the pea? There are many issues with this fairytale all of which should be recognized before stories like this are presented to children as good stories or quality literature.

I would use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for genre studies as well. I would also use it for its critical literacy potential, maybe doing a comparative analysis of several versions of The Princess and the Pea and asking my students the questions I’ve listed above, forcing them to think from a critical literacy standpoint.

Focus Question: How does knowing about literary elements impact understanding of a story?

As a elementary student I can honestly say I don't remember anything about literary elements. I'm sure I "learned" them at some point, but they just never stuck with me. After reading the Peterson and Eds article as well as going over them in class I can say it has impacted my understanding when I read. I always comprehended what I read before, for the most part, I just didn't understand why a book or a story connected with me or didn't connect. I didn't understand what made a good story. After reviewing these elements and learning more about them I find myself trying to figure out which ones are used best in a story and why the author chose to use one more than another. This, I feel, makes me a better reader. I now know why a story lacking in mood won't be on top on my reading list. I now feel more comfortable classifying a story as quality or poor. I have concrete reasons rather than just "a feeling."

Imagine a Night

Title: Imagine a Night

Author: Sara L. Thompson

Illustrator: Rob Gonsalves

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary:

This is a picture book which was written for the illustrations. Each fanciful illustration has a short poetic caption to go with it.

Opinion:

This is another book I chose basically for the cover art, which I’m not sure I can even describe. It has wonderfully dreamy and fantastic pictures that play tricks on the eye. Reading this book is like being in a dream. Anything is possible and everything is wonderful. There is no time element only imagination and creativity.  It is especially fun to read the words before looking at the pictures because the words give little hints regarding the nature of the next picture but you are never quite sure what will happen, as really anything could. To me this book is the perfect bedtime story since while you are reading it both the pictures and the rhythm of the words make it feel as if you’re already dreaming.

I would definitely use this in my classroom for read alouds, genre studies, reading groups, and on my library shelf. This is what I consider to be a timeless book and a pure joy to read. I can’t wait to share it with my students. I also have found that there are at least two other books by Gonsalves, Imagine a Day and Imagine a Place, that you can be sure I'll be adding to my collection as well.

Mr. Griggs' Work

Title: Mr. Griggs’ Work

Author: Cynthia Rylant

Illustrator: Julie Downing

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Summary:

This is a picture book about a man, Mr. Griggs, who is a mailman. He loves his job very much but one day becomes ill and can’t work. When he gets back to work he feels so much better.

Opinion:

I chose this book because I have heard many of my professors praise Cynthia Rylant’s work, but I must not have grabbed one of her best. Don’t get me wrong, this was a decent book, it just wasn’t great. The story never really went anywhere. The literary element of plot never really went anywhere and I never really felt any mood. There was no emotional connection to the character and I never got pulled into the text. I kept waiting for something to happen, something to really make this story pop, but at the end all I could think was, the crazy workaholic mail man got sick, whoopty doo.

The pictures in this story, contrary to the story itself, were lovely. If I were to read this book again, for whatever reason, I would probably just look at the pictures. Mr. Griggs’ crazy hair and facial expressions made me smile and added a little depth to his character. The pictures often gave details that the words did not, which helped with the uneventful plot.

I would use this in my classroom but probably only as an option on my library shelf and only because I don’t see any particular reason not to. If a student wants to read it, fine. I think everyone needs to read books of varying quality. How do we know something is high quality if we’ve never seen anything of lower quality? Basically I think of this book as average, nothing amazing, but nothing awful either.

The Three Pigs

Title: The Three Pigs

Author: David Wiesner

Illustrator: David Wiesner

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary:

This is a picture book which shows a very different version of the Three Little Pigs. The pigs escape the wolf by going into another literary world where they meet other typical storybook characters. It won the Caldecott in 2002.

Opinion:

There is a reason this book won an award it is phenomenal.  It starts with your typical Three Little Pigs scenario. The illustrations are fairly dull and typical of older fairytales. The first few pages had me confused. I could not understand why this man had won any award for these very common looking illustrations, but on page five it became clear to me this was not the typical fairy tale I have heard so many times. The pigs literally start jumping off the page. They leave their confined illustration boxes  and looks animated they’re almost real. They completely ditch the story line and fly on a paper airplane made from the pages of their tale. They then jump in and out of other fairy tales bringing with them a dragon and the cat and fiddle. The best picture in the whole book is the page where one pig gets really large and up close then states they think they can see the reader. This book turned me from a mature, twenty-something, college senior who analyzes children’s books for quality, into a five year old little girl with pigtails who giggles as she reads.

I would definitely use this in my classroom both on my library shelf as well as in reading groups, as a read aloud book and basically anytime I could. The story line and art work in this book are beyond amazing and I can’t wait to purchase it for my students to enjoy.