Willy's Pictures

Title: Willy’s Pictures

Author: Anthony Browne

Illustrator: Anthony Browne

Picture book for ages (approximately) 7 and up

Rating: 4of 5 stars

Summary:

In this book Willy, a chimp, paints pictures which are tributes to masterpieces such as The Creation of Adam and the Mona Lisa. It won the Hans Christian Anderson Award.

Opinion:

This book is similar to the book Once Upon a Picture which I blogged about earlier. It shows sixteen different famous paintings through the eyes of Willy the chimp with a short commentary at the bottom of the page. The artwork is beautiful. You can stare at each page for hours analyzing each little detail. Often time you can find things within each picture such as, paint brushes or bananas. This book is a good example for children to see how they can create their own art and opinions about art. It shows them the thought process going through Browne’s head as he looks at a painting. What does he think about it? How can he recreate it in his own vision? It shows that you don’t just look at something and take it for what it is. You form an opinion and your own version which should be shared. I really like that. I think too many times people, myself included, take things at face value and don’t analyze them, or think about what they mean. People need to do that, we need to read between the lines and form individual opinions otherwise we are just parrots for someone else.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for all grades in genre studies and author studies as well. I just may be careful around certain classes I might have because in the back of this book are the real paintings, many of which include nudity such as The Creation of Adam and The Turkish Bath. They are small and you can’t see a whole lot of detail, but an immature class or student may get very hung up on that without taking anything else out of the lesson.

King and King

Title: King & King

Author: Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland

Illustrator: Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland

Picture book for ages (approximately) 8 and up

Rating: 5of 5 stars

Summary:

This book tells a story about a prince looking for his perfect match and finds it in another prince.

Opinion:

I find the story told in this book to be nice, it has a good plot and a storyline similar to many traditional fairy tales. The way it ends is untraditional, but I find it sad that it is also considered controversial. People in our society are homosexual. It happens and that’s the way it is. I see no need to isolate that population by only having stories and books with heterosexual characters. It would be the same as all books and stories having only Caucasian characters or only Christian characters. How is it uncontroversial to have a Hispanic story but it is controversial somehow to have a homosexual couple in a story? No, they are not the majority but they are still a group of people and we shouldn’t pretend like they’re not there. Reading a book about a homosexual couple will not turn a child into a homosexual anymore than reading a book about birds will turn them into a bird, if that’s what people are afraid of. But reading a book like that will open their eyes to a different style of living and and will promote tolerance and acceptance, which we could all use a little more of. A little more acceptance in this world and maybe one day we won’t have to worry about bullying and harassment because different will be okay.

The illustrations in this book are fun and exciting. They used several different forms of art to create these wonderful illustrations including, collage, paint, stamps, watercolor, and ink. They are fun to look at and add that much more to the story. There are several illustrations that show things not stated in the text.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for all grades in genre studies and author studies as well. As I said before we wouldn’t keep a book about Latinos or Kwanza out of our classroom so why keep this book out. In schools especially, which are a particularly good breeding grounds for bullying and harassment, we need to promote not just tolerance but acceptance. Kids need to be able to come to school and feel safe and accepted for who they are and books like this can help.

The Stupids Die

Title: The Stupids Die

Author: Harry Allard

Illustrator: James Marshall

Picture book for ages (approximately) 7 and up

Rating: 1of 5 stars

Summary:

This book tells a story about the Stupid family and how they think they’ve died when the lights go out in their home.

Opinion:

I find the story told in this book to  be totally pointless. This book is supposed to be humorous, but I found it mean spirited, uninteresting, and shallow. This book aims to get kids to laugh at and make fun of this family for their unintelligent conversations and actions. There are no good morals or reasons to read this and in fact I feel it even promotes teasing and bullying.

The illustrations in this book are equally boring. There is nothing exciting about these pictures. Few colors are used and little detail is given. Additionally, all characters are portrayed as overweight and fairly unattractive. What kind of message is that sending?

I would never use this book in my classroom. It is not valuable literature and I feel that it promotes qualities in children that are highly undesirable such as teasing and mockery.

The Higher Power of Lucky

Title: The Higher Power of Lucky

Author: Susan Patron

Illustrator: Matt Phelan

Novel for ages (approximately) 8 and up

Rating: 5of 5 stars

Summary:

This book is about a ten-year-old scientist, Lucky, who fears her guardian will leave her so she searches for her higher power to make her life better and more stable.It is the winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal.

Opinion:

This is a wonderful story written by Patron. It envelopes many elements of good story telling such as humor and mystery. The mood she imposes on the reader is equally as stimulating. You feel what Lucky feels. When Miles shows up to have her read him the same story for the thousandth time you feel her slight annoyance. When her dog, HMS Beagle is sitting, waiting for her at the bus stop, you feel her joy and pride. When Lincoln gives her one of his many knots you feel her happiness and while she may not know it yet, you as the reader can tell there’s a childhood crush going on. The setting Patron uses adds even more to the story. Lucky and her story would not be the same if this story took place in an urban area. The charming, yet floundering town of Hard Pan, California is perfect for Lucky and her story. Patron also uses symbolism throughout the book which is another reason this book is a great piece of literature. Not only is there the surface meaning of the text, but there’s a message underneath it all too. Bridget’s passport is much more than a passport to Lucky, it is the symbol of abandonment.

The illustrations in this book are few but fit it to a tee. They are wispy and soft and add that little extra detail to help cap off the story. They let you see into Patron’s head a little bit. What was she envisioning when she was writing these pages? You could have this story without them, but I’m not sure it would be quite as enjoyable.

I would most definitely use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for read-alouds and possibly for an assigned reading project. This is a wonderful book to use if you want to demonstrate and teach the literary elements.

Miss Rumphius

Title: Miss Rumphius

Author: Barbara Cooney

Illustrator: Barbara Cooney

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 4of 5 stars

Summary:

This book tells a story about a woman, Miss Rumphius, through the eyes of her great niece

Opinion:

This is a nice story. Cooney’s writing has a pleasant rhythm and a warm feel. The story centers around what Miss Rumphius wants to do with her life, go to faraway places and live by the sea when she grows old, but her grandfather tells her she must do one more thing, make the world a more beautiful place. She takes you back in time with Miss Rumphius, showing all her adventures. You connect with her mood when she falls ill and can’t plant her flowers. You really want her to win, to accomplish what she wanted to do in life. When you find out how nature helped her cause you kind of do a little fist pump.

The illustrations in this book are equally as pleasant and warm. They remind me a little bit of a softer version of the imagery used in the movie Up. The colors used are enjoyable to look at. Without these illustrations the story would not be the same, possibly even dull. You need to see the colors of the flowers she plants and how she makes the world a more beautiful place in order to get the full experience.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for all grades in genre studies and author studies as well.