Week 8: Fantasy & Mystery

Jumanji

by: Chris Van Allsburg

Second Grade

• APA Citation: Allsburg, C. V. (1988). Jumanji. New York: Scholastic.

• Description: When Judy and Peter find a board game in the park, they take it home, hoping to alleviate their boredom. One live lion, an erupting volcano, and a dozen destructive monkeys later, the children are no longer bored. Their jungle adventure game has come to life! Chris Van Allsburg is a master at walking the line between fantasy and reality. His unusually sculptured drawings (familiar to the many devoted fans of the Caldecott-winning  The Polar Express and The Garden of Abdul Gasazi) convey the magical transition of a normal house to an exotic jungle. Readers will tremble along with Judy and Peter, urging them to roll the dice that will plunge them from one perilous predicament into another. Jumanji, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and winner of the 1962 Caldecott Medal, is sure to amaze and thrill even the most jaded young reader." Retrieved from Amazon.com on October 27, 2017: https://www.amazon.com/Jumanji-30th-Anniversary-Chris-Allsburg/dp/0547608381/ref=pd_cp_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y7S07PHZ0303RB9HYVVM.

• Age/Grade Level: 6-9 years old, 1st - 4th Grade

• Justification: First, I would read the book aloud as part of a story time presentation to the class. At the end of the book, neighborhood children are carrying the game away. Students will be instructed to write their own sequel about Peter and Judy's neighbors' experience. Students will brainstorm their own version of the game, including a unique name, and will draw a board game, complete with detailed spaces and subsequent actions that players would have to face. This illustration will accompany a written description of their version of an interactive board game, in which students will demonstrate CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. (English Language Arts Standards >> Language >> Grade 2, Retrieved from Common Core State Standard Initiatives on October 27, 2017: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/L/2/.) This book could also be part of a larger unit that would end with a class viewing of Jumanji. After watching the movie, we could have a class discussion on similarities and differences, and then students would write short responses about the book and the movie, and start to formulate thoughts on why the movie would be so different from the book.

• Keywords: curiosity, imagination, mystery, adventure

• Review: "Jumanji appears to be a perfectly ordinary game, except that it has been abandoned in the park with the cryptic message “fun for some but not for all.” Peter and Judy unfold the playing board and with the first throw of the dice discover that each moved immediately introduces a corresponding jungle phenomenon into their surroundings — a ravenous lion, marauding monkeys, a bewildered guide, an erupting volcano. Tension mounts with each addition, for the play rules state that once Jumanji is begun, it will not be over until one player reaches the Golden City. At the climactic moment Judy completes the last move. The surreal background disappears; the game is hastily returned to its original site; and two exhausted but undaunted children sleepily welcome the homecoming adults, who naturally dismiss the afternoon’s adventure as simply a dream. Meanwhile, Jumanji has been resurrected once more by a pair of curious, though less tenacious, youngsters. Substance or shadow, real or imagined, the bizarre and mythical world of Jumanji exists because of its own logic and the luminous precision of the full-page, black-and-white illustrations. Through the masterly use of light and shadow, the interplay of design elements, and audacious changes in perspective and composition, the artist conveys an impression of color without losing the dramatic contrast of black and white. As in The Garden of Abdul Gasazi(Houghton), he successfully explores the semi-magical country of the mind in which reality and illusion exist as conjoined yet distinct entities." reviewed in the August 1981 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

• Citation: Retrieved from Horn Book reviews on October 27, 2017: http://www.hbook.com/2013/10/news/awards/horn-book-reviews-caldecott-medal-winners-1980-1989/. 

• Awards: This book was The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books citation and The New York Times Outstanding Books citation in 1981. In 1982, this book received a Caldecott Medal, the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for illustration, the Children's Choice from the International Reading Association, and the American Book Award for illustration from the Association of American Publishers. In 1983, this book won a Kentucky Bluegrass Award from Ohio State Library. In 1984, it won the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award from the Washington Library Media Association. In 1985, it won the West Virginia Children's Book Award. In 1996, it was the Golden Archer Primary Award Winner from the Wisconsin Educational Media Association. Retrieved on October 27, 2017 from: https://hmhbooks.com/chrisvanallsburg/awards.html.

Week 7: Traditional Literature

The Legend of the Indian Paint Brush

by: Tomie dePaola

Second Grade

• APA Citation: Depaola, T. (1988). The legend of the Indian paintbrush. New York: Putnam. 

• Description: "In spring, the hills and meadows of Texas and Wyoming are ablaze with the reds, oranges, and yellows of the Indian Paintbrush. How this striking plant received its name is told in an old Indian legend. Many years ago, when the People traveled the Plains, a young Indian boy had a Dream-Vision in which it was revealed that one day he would create a painting that was as pure as the colors of the evening sky at sunset. The boy grew up to become the painter of the tribe, but although he found a pure white buckskin for a canvas and made paints from the brightest flowers and the reddest berries, he could not capture the sunset. How the young Indian artist finally fulfills his Dream-Vision is lovingly told and illustrated by Tomie dePaola, in words and pictures that capture the spirit and beauty of this dramatic legend." Retrieved from Amazon.com on October 17, 2017: https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Indian-Paintbrush-Tomie-dePaola/dp/0698113608

• Age/Grade Level: 4-8 years old, Preschool - 3rd Grade

• Justification: This book overall celebrates the uniqueness of everyone and the importance of seeking and utilizing individual talents rather than just trying to fit in and conform to the group. This is an essential lesson then, for any age group to learn and to be reminded of periodically. The story will encourage students to be themselves, and to pursue their own talents, gifts, goals, and interests. I would read this book to my class as part of a story time presentation. Students would then fill out a worksheet about the meaning of the book, fulfilling CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.6 Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe, and also  CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. This would lead to a guided discussion and personal reflection and written response time in which students think about their own strengths and dreams.

• Keywords: multicultural, folklore, talent, individuality

• Review: "Little Gopher can't keep up with the other Indian boys; he prefers making and decorating small figures. When it's his turn to go out into the hills "to think about being a man," a vision tells him to become a painter, using colors "as pure as. . .the evening sky." But though he works hard, Little Gopher is dissatisfied with his dull, dark paintings. Patiently, he gazes at the sunset each evening till at last he is rewarded: brushes with sunset colors spring up for his use, returning next day--and each spring thereafter--as flowers. In a full-page note, dePaola traces this story to Texas Wildflowers, Stories and Legends, a collection of newspaper articles by Ruth D. Isely--which doesn't really give much clue to its Native American source. The retelling is pleasantly cadenced, even though it tells us more about the artist's need for serf-expression within any society than about Plains Indians. And dePaola's somber tones burst forth into satisfyingly brilliant sunsets. This should do well at picture-book tour." Retrieved from Kirkusreviews.com on October 17, 2017: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tomie-depaola/the-legend-of-the-indian-paintbrush/

• Citation: The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. (1988, April 15). Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tomie-depaola/the-legend-of-the-indian-paintbrush/. 

• Awards:

Week 6: Poetry: Beyond the Ordinary

Snowmen at Night

by: Caralyn Buehner

Second Grade 

• APA Citation: Buehner, C., & Buehner, M. (2002). Snowmen at night. New York: Phyllis Fogelman Books.

• Description: "Not since Frosty paraded through the village square have snowmen enjoyed such a slip-sliding good time as they do in the Buehners' (Fanny's Dream) latest flight of fancy. When a boy observes that the snowman he built the day before now looks droopy and disheveled, he imagines what happened to his snow creation during the night. Soon the boy pictures all the neighborhood snowmen gathered in the park for "ice-cold cocoa," a snowball fight, a round of making snow angels and more. Surely a full night of play and a long glide back to their homes must be the explanation. The rhythm of the rhyming text sometimes matches the rollicking spirit of the snowmen's wintry pursuits, but occasionally stumbles: "Then the snowman games begin: They line up in their places,/ each one anxious for his turn in the snowman races." The glee comes through at its most infectious in Mark Buehner's oil-and-acrylic paintings of the merrymakers, who look so delighted in their revelry that readers won't be able to help smiling in response. Bringing the brisk snap of the season to the fore, his scenes feature a natural light show, depicting an inky night sky and fluffy snow that glistens beneath moonlight and (street) lamplight, and eventually, the gradual brightening of dawn. Children will like being in on the secret here and eagle-eye readers will relish finding hidden figures in the shadows, clouds and snowdrifts. Ages 4-8. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audible Audio Edition edition." From Publishers Weekly, retrieved from Amazon.com on October 17, 2017: https://www.amazon.com/Snowmen-at-Night-Caralyn-Buehner/dp/0803730411

• Age/Grade Level: 3-5 years old, another review said 4-8 years old

• Justification: This book is gorgeous, and an imaginative, magical story about what snowmen do when we're not around. I found it enthralling, and know that students would enjoy it as well. I would read this story to my class as part of a story time presentation. Then, I would ask students questions related to the text, and prompt them to imagine other inanimate objects and what they might do when humans aren't paying attention. Inspired by the text, students would then be instructed to write their own version of a similar story in which they are the main character, and they encounter something non-human doing unexpected things. They should include details and sensory descriptions of what they would feel and think, which demonstrates CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3 Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. (English Language Arts Standards >> Writing >> Grade 2, Retrieved from Common Core State Standard Initiatives on October 17, 2017: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/2/.) This could be tied into a larger creative unit studying works that personify objects, not only for the entertainment value, but also to begin to discern with the use of guided questions why these works would appeal to people, and could include a class viewing of the movie Toy Story.

• Keywords: poetry, snowmen, nature, supernatural

• Review: "PreSchool-Grade 1-A child wonders why a snowman looks droopy the morning after it was made and decides that snowmen must be nocturnal. The bouncy, rhyming text describes the imagined rumpus in which the snowmen have races, do tricks on skates, and bump into one another like clowns. "They gather up their snowballs, the pitcher takes his aim,/and underneath the moonlit sky they play a baseball game./No one knows just how it started,/but soon it's quite a sight-/with snowmen throwing snowballs/in the world's best snowball fight!" After a night of action, the tired snowmen return to their homes. The oil-over-acrylic paintings capture the fun of the rollicking adventures and bring these round creations to life. The illustrations convincingly depict their solid bodies in action, and the moonlit snowy setting provides a sense of mystery. The imaginative description and lively art could provide an entertaining read-aloud for bedtime sharing or winter storytimes." 
  Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN
  Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audible Audio Edition edition.  From School Library Journal, retrieved from Amazon.com on October 17, 2017: https://www.amazon.com/Snowmen-at-Night-Caralyn-Buehner/dp/0803730411

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• Awards: