Children's Literature

Reading books to children in which the heroes are from diverse backgrounds positively contributes to the view of the world. The United States of America, and certainly California, is a very diverse state. Children need to see the brilliant mosaic of people that make up this state and this country. Always look for books in which the protagonists are heroic and not victims. The protagonists should serve as models for children.

This list is under construction. Titles of books will be alphabetized. In the meantime, you may visit the website of the Center for Books in Spanish located here at CSUSM on the fourth floor of our library. The website address is http://www.csusm.edu/campus_centers/csb/

Selections of Fiction
 

There are many ways we can encourage children to read and respond to literature.  The use of visual literacy, story telling and drama are some ways to encourage response.  It is always a good story that will reach out and pull students into a book.  These activities are just suggestions.
    A variety of activities focused on eliciting reaction to the story and the characters that live within can heighten response levels for students.  It is when we do too many things with a book:  discuss it at length so the adults feel like they’ve done something with the book yet the children might not be in agreement, have students write endless journals or check activities off a list that we acquired somewhere that we begin to hear students groan whenever literature is mentioned.  Literature is to be read and enjoyed.  Sometimes reading the story is enough.  Be cautious about going overboard with activities.  Watch your students as you engage them in literature or as they read a book.  Have faith in the story to attract them.

Bunting, Eve. (1994). Smoky Night. New York Harcourt Brace & Company.

• Eve Bunting tells the story of that night in Los Angeles when turmoil broke out and neighborhoods were burned. In her picture book, Bunting has readers see the looters on the street and the fires through the eyes of Daniel and his mother as Daniel holds his cat close to his heart. The voice of the author is non-judgmental. Instead it is a tribute to the people of the neighborhood who help each other. It is simply one of life's experiences told with warmth and respect.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  How about involving children in your classroom in a project where they have to work together to clean up a lot close to the school or make something that can be shared with elders who may be home bound?  Children could either make something or write books about their neighborhoods and share those with others.

Bunting, Eve. (1998). So Far from the Sea. New York: Clarion Books.

• Laura Iwasaki and her family return to Manzanar, the war relocation camp where her grandfather died. Her father was also interned there as a child of eight years old. The family returns to pay one last visit to Laura's grandfather. The family is moving from California to Boston and will no longer be able to visit the grave of the elder of their family. It is a cold day. Laura's father shares his memories of Manzanar as it once was with the family. The illustrations are skillfully done by Chris Soentpiet. He contrasts the present (colored pictures) with the past (black and white lines). A tribute to those American citizens who were interned because they looked different.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  This is an opportune time to teach children about oppression and ostracism.  Ken Mochozuki's books Baseball Saved Us as well as Heroes would be excellent accompaniments to this book.  Look for some newspaper articles about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and read them to the children.  Then have them consider the effects of that act on people who had nothing to do with it.  I would hope that the conversation would at some time turn to what children do at school to children they don't like or children who are different from them,  A class book that contains the picture of each child, a piece of art each child has created and a piece of writing (perhaps poetry) about what it means to be an accepting and loving classroom community.
   

Conly, J.L.  (1998).  While no one was watching.  New York:  Henry Holt and Co.  Young adult.

• Frankie, Earl and Angela are temporarily left with Aunt Lula on the "other" side of town when their dad goes to find work on the Eastern Shore.  At first Aunt Lula is pleased to have the children.  But as time goes by, it is clear that Aunt Lula feels over-burdened by the responsibilities she has accepted.  Suddenly, she disappears and the children are left on their own.
      Earl, the oldest, is not sure how to care and provide for the younger children so he follows his cousin Wayne to "look" at bikes.  Actually, they take the bikes and although Wayne says that he eventually returns the bikes to the rightful owners, Earl gets a cash cut.  He doesn’t really understand how he can get paid when the merchandise is supposed to be returned; however, he uses the money anyway to buy food for the younger children.
       But life is hard.  The money Earl gets doesn’t go a long way.  The children know there are people who live better than they do, like Addie and Maynard.; children who can have pets like Addie’s rabbit and Frankie wants a pet so badly.  When Addie’s rabbit disappears, the children from that part of town where green lawns and trees grow abundantly, meet the children from the other part of town ? Frankie, Angela and Earl.
      The story takes some interesting turns as the needs of the characters collide: Addie’s need to find her pet, Angela’s wanderings into the other side of town in search of a friend which she finds in Maynard, and Wayne and Earl’s need to provide for their "families."  Then there’s Mr. TipTop, Frankie’s friend who becomes a victim of Wayne’s greed and desperation.  All of this takes place while no one is watching.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  In a way this can become a story of the "have’s" and the "have not’s."  So that’s not something we want to stress.  There is a nice emphasis on friendship in this book ? the friendship between Addie and Maynard, between Angela and Maynard, between Frankie and Mr. TipTop, between Frankie and Earl when Earl is not with Wayne, and even the friendship Frankie had with the rabbit.
       Storytelling and Drama.  After a discussion of what friendship is a the types of friendships that existed in this story, children can then tell a spontaneous story about a special friend and things they like to do together.  After the storytelling, children can then portray the different kinds of friendships that exist.  As the group freezes in the pose they have chosen, the class describes what kind of friendship the group is portraying and how they know that.  The teachers needs to facilitate this process.

Igus, T. (1998).  i see the rhythm.  Paintings by Michele Wood.  San Francisco:  Children’s Book Pres.

• The oil paintings in this book are vibrant and compelling.  They enhance the almost lyrical presentation of text that discusses important periods of change in the lives of African Americans and the music that makes those times immortal.  This book is an excellent companion to the Caldecott honor book by Pinkey.

Johnson, A.  (19980.  Heaven.  New York: Simon and Schuster for Young Readers.  Young adult.

• Marley grows up knowing her mother and father ? she has her mother’s hands and her father’s love for ice cream.  She knows an uncle whom she loves and from whom she receives letters on a regular basis.  All of a sudden, all of that is changed one day when Marley finds out that she has been adopted ? that the mother and father she knows are really her aunt and uncle.  And what of her mother?   What happened to her?
  In typical adolescent fashion, Marley isolates herself from those who have loved and cared for her for so long ? her brother, now her cousin, and her friend Bobby and his baby Feather.  The new information brings change to Marley’s life ? change that makes her find ways to work out her relationships with all of the people with whom she would have to share her life for a long time to come.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  The letters from Marley’s uncle introduce the story, provide clues for the reader as to what might happen and help draw the story to a close.  The closeness between Marley and her mom (really her aunt) as well s Marley as her dad (her uncle) is also an issue that can he emphasized in an activity.   Bobby and Feather also provide a part of the love in Marley’s life and eventually help her work through the crisis that the new information has brought to her life.
       Letters.  This time I think I would take the letter format and have students (in pairs or groups of four ? whatever works best in your classroom) write letters to Marley about the important things that have happened to her in this story.  I would have students write large letters on chart paper, using the correct form for a friendly letter.  The idea of the letters is to help Marley appreciate her life in Heaven Ohio, so they have to convince her using incidents from the story.  When students have finished their letters, I would have them post the letters around the room.  The class could do a read around of the letters (in pairs or groups of four) and respond to the posted letters as if they were Marley.
       Compile the letters and responses in a way that students can go back and revisit their writing and those who might have been absent when this activity was done in class could come in, read the letters and responses and understand what went on in the story.

Martin, J.B.  (1998)  Snowflake Bentley.  Illustrated by Mary Azarian.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin.

• This is the story of Wilson Bentley who spent his life photographing snowflakes.  Two parallel stories are told.  While the story of Wilson Bentley is told in the text, facts that add elaboration to the picture as well as the text of his life are listed in the margin .

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  Photography.  This is a perfect book to use during the winter.  Children always cut out snow flakes, but wouldn’t it be different to have them take pictures of snowflakes to understand that each one is different from the other and none is more beautiful than the other.

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Peck, Richard.  (1998).  Strays like us.  New York:  Dial Books.  Young adult.

•  In this story, Richard Peck introduces us to two unlikely friends ? Molly and Will.  They both kind of get dropped of in a town where everyone who lives there has a sense of belonging.  Those who are newcomers like Molly and Will call themselves strays.
       Molly lives with her great-aunt Fay because her mother just can’t stay put anywhere for any length of time.  Will has landed next door at his grandparent’s house and a mystery seems to surround him and who he is.  His carefree manner and willingness to break into a song anytime coupled with a sense of loneliness finally brings these two strays together as friends.  School begins and seventh grade is filled with mystery and adventure for these strays.
      Great Aunt Fay, a registered nurse, is a puzzle to Molly.  She is the town’s doctor when people can’t afford one as well as a caregiver on whom several people rely.  Aunt Fay is always at Will’s house every morning and evening.  Molly doesn’t know what Aunt Fay does over there since she is not allowed to go into the house.  When she finally does, a blood curdling scream send her catapulting out of there.  Where did the scream come from?  A monster?  A person?
      Then there are Aunt Fay’s regular visits to Mrs. Voorhees’ house where Molly is allowed to go and be a kind of companion to this woman who dresses up in fine clothes but sees herself as not being well.  Molly senses something special yet different in the relationship between Great Aunt Fay and Mrs. Voorhees.  Another puzzle to work out.
       The past meets the present when Molly finds out what her special relationship to Mrs. Voorhees really is and what is being concealed in Will’s grandparents’ house.  Through tragedy and losses, a little mystery and humor, Molly and Will become residents of the town where they were once strays.

  So, What Could You Do with This Book?  There are several issues you could play with in this story.  There is the newcomer issue ? how adolescents feel when they move to a new town, have no friends and go to a new school.  Almost every student can identify with that situation.  They have either been the new student or have seen new students come to their school.  Then there is the issue of adolescents going to live with someone else because their nuclear family is not capable of caring for them, a situation that is becoming more common in this country.  Many times the people who step into the picture to raise an adolescent are much older such as Will’s grandparents and Molly’s Aunt Fay.  Or, you could focus on the friendship that eventually develops between Will and Molly and how finding out about Will’s real circumstances and the secret his grandmother’s house held made her understand and appreciate Will’s strengths.
       Drama.  Freeze frames seem to work well with middle school students after some discussion of what they might want to portray.  They might brainstorm words that come to mind when they think about either being a newcomer to school or being the local students who have to "welcome" newcomers to their school.   Students might come up with words like:
   Rejection
   Reluctance
   Confrontation
   Acceptance
   Fear
   Anger
  Students might also brainstorm words that might represent how adolescents feel when they have to go to live with someone much older than their parents:
   Resignation
   Rebellion
   Confusion
      The idea is to have students discuss what the words chose mean in relationship to the story ? how the words are related to the characters’ experiences.  As with anything else "new" for students, you should model for them with either another group of adults or with a group of students.  If you are willing to be a part of the drama activity the students will also see their participation in the activity as a natural event.   Students could also do the same with the friendship theme.
      Visual Literacy.  The tree could be central to a visual text representation activity.  Will and Molly first meet when they are sitting in the trees in their yards and the story ends when they are both trying to keep tent caterpillars from ruining their trees.  As a tree grows, so do the characters in this story.  Students could build a tree of life in groups and place on the tree the events that contributed to Will’s maturity and to Molly’s maturity.
   

Peck, R.  (1998).  So far from Chicago.  New York.. Dial Books for Young Readers.

• The story covers a period of several years ? from 1929 to 1935 ? when Joey and his sister Mary Alice travel by from Chicago by train each summer to a small town in Illinois to stay with their grandmother.  Grandma Dowdel lives the life of a small country community in contrast to the big city of Chicago where her grandchildren live.  In Grandma’s town, children are involved in all community activities.  Nothing is hidden from them including their first viewing of a dead body or direct involvement in poaching fish, with Grandma, of course.  The narrator, Joey tells the story as an adult, looking at his childhood’s past experiences.
       In humorous fashion, Peck portrays Grandma Dowdel as a woman who can handle anything including the Cowgill boys who spend their spare time terrorizing the citizens of the town.  Grandma knows just how to get even, and she uses a mouse in a quart of milk to do just that.  She also knows how to get what she wants, like getting Joey that coveted airplane ride, even if she had to come by acquiring the ride ticket a little dishonestly.
       Although Joey and Mary Alice go to visit Grandma each summer reluctantly at first, soon they look forward to their visits.  They know, as does Grandma, when it is the last time.  Joey reflects on those summers with a smile as he remembers Grandma’s antics, her cleverness and love, even though she never quite said it out loud.  And in 1942 Joey once again boards the troop train that would not stop in Grandma’s town, not this time.  But there she was, waving as the train rattled through town.  Joey waved back for a long time, "long after the window filled with darkness and long distance.".

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  This book has many possibilities.  The train serves as a symbol that kind of moves the story from place to place as well as helps end it.  Time is a critical piece to the story because it is organized by year and summer.  There is also the relationship between an independent, free thinking and strong-willed elder with her grandchildren.  Each of these themes could lead to a activity to elicit student response.
  Visual Literacy and Drama.  I think I would have students in groups, create a timeline of each summer Joey and Mary Alice go to see Grandma Dowdel.  I would then have students decide on and depict the most significant thing they think happened that specific summer to Joey and Mary Alice.  Students can choose to still-pose their event or draw it.  In turn, they present their representation of the text to the class and the class observes, makes comments on what they see and what they thought students were thinking about in the story when they either created the visual piece of still posed the event.  Students would also want to refer to incidents in the story as well as clues in the visual representation or the still pose that help them come to their conclusions.
   

Pinkey, A.D. (1998).  Duke Ellington. Oil paintings by Brian Pinkney.   New York:  Hyperion Books for Children.

• "Ragtime music set Duke’s fingers to wiggling."   That line sums up the influence music had on Duke Ellington and his un-suppressible desire to make it come alive in his original scores.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  Music, Art and Dance.  I instantly thought about listening to the music described in both of these books.  With a renewed interest in jazz and swing children of the 21st century can enjoy what their grandparents and parents enjoyed.  Because the oil paintings are so much a part of the text, I can see students listening and responding in visual ways or in dance.

Ringold, Faith. (1993). Dinner at Aunt Connie's House. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

• This is an excellent way for young children ages 5-9 to learn about the African American women and their accomplishments. The story is about a young girl named Melody who discovers that the best thing she does during the summer is to visit Aunt Connie's house. There she and Lonnie, an adopted son of Aunt Connie's, hear noises in the attic. It is there they encounter twelve beautiful portraits of African American women. The paintings speak to the children and share with them their courageous lives. Imagine being able to speak with Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Augusta Savage and many others!

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  This is a great opportunity for children to investigate the lives of these heroes.  Then they can make the transfer by creating their own gallery in their classroom of people who have made a difference in their lives. Under each picture (they could either draw the person or bring in a photograph of the person) students could list the name of the person and what he or she is famous for in their lives.

Sachar, L.  (1998)  Holes.  New York:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  Young adult, Newbery Award winner, 1998.

•  Stanley Yelnats’s name spells itself both ways, which is kind of the way Sachar tells the story.  The plot is filled with coincidences, events that seem to develop in a circular manner, and digging that never seems to have an end.
  One day Stanley finds himself in possession of a pair of tennis shoes belonging to a famous basketball player, which just kind of fell out of the sky.  The shoes were to be auctioned for a charitable cause ? to help fund a shelter for the homeless.  The assumption is that Stanley stole the shoes, so he finds himself in a juvenile detention center ironically named Camp Green Lake.
   The daily work at "camp" involves the digging of holes five feet deep and five feet across ? one of interesting recurring patterns that makes the reader to wonder how the story will unfold.  Two stories that are intricately related to each other unfold as the book progresses.  It is when Stanley uncovers something hard and shiny in his hole that the plot races on and engulfs the reader.  Why is the warden so interested in any contents found in the holes?  And what is so important about this old dried up lake anyway?
      Stanley just seems to have bad luck as does the rest of his family.  They have endured a steady stream of bad luck which they blame on Stanley’s "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig stealing-great-great-grandfather".  It turns out that their luck really is a result of Stanley’s great grandfather.  One story alternates with another.  One tells the story of Stanley’s "adventures" at Camp Green Lake while the other tells the history of the area in which Camp Green Lake is located.  Both stories lead directly to Stanley. .
      The recurring theme of luck and fate is woven throughout the story from the never ending job of digging holes, circles that never end, and Stanley’s name.  Stanley is told that digging holes builds character.  He can’t understand how that kind of work could possibly build character.  Finally he learns that the boys are digging to find a mysterious "something" and the shiny top of a lipstick tube that Stanley found is part of the mystery.
  When an opportunity presents itself, Stanley runs away to find Zero, a friend and a fellow-runaway.  While trying to survive in the dry, dead wasteland surrounding the camp and struggling to get to the mountain that promises shade, water and freedom, Stanley and Zero figure out the mystery of the holes, the camp, and the curse of the Yelnats family.  In their journey away from the camp and finally back to it, the boys encounter all sorts of creatures  - rattlesnakes, scorpions and ever-treacherous yellow-spotted lizards.  Everything comes together in the end.  The reader is spellbound.  He adopts the role of detective as he finds the missing pieces of the puzzle with Stanley.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  One thing that might puzzle readers in this book is that there are two stories taking place at the same time.  Readers who are tied to the present by their background knowledge, having to shift between the "present" story being told and meeting new characters in the story that relates the "past", and holding all of that in their heads, might need some help.
       Visual literacy.  Try having students create visuals of the story as they read it.  Prepare two layers of long paper such as butcher paper.  As students read about what is happening to Stanley in the present, they sketch the most significant parts of the story.  When the story shifts to the past and new characters and events are introduced, students cut a window in the front sheet and sketch the past on the back sheet.  That way, each time they open a window, they are reminded that they are looking through the window at the past.
       Storytelling.  A good storytelling activity to use after the book has been read is to have students identify an area around town that has always had some mystery about it; a place about which kids tell scary stories to each other to impress the listener.  If there is no such place in town, have students create one.  They can draw the place and make a list of words about the place.  For example, what does it look like?  What does it smell like?  What kinds of noises can you hear at this place if you are very, very quiet?  If you reached out in the dark, what would you feel?
   Have students hold up their pictures in a small group and tell the story of that place and the mystery surrounding it.
       Drama.  I see some tableau work taking place with this book.  After students have read a section of the story.   Have them brainstorm word that come to mind.  For example, after reading the first four chapters, have students think of words that might express how Stanley is feeling.  Is he depressed?  Frightened?  Does he this as a joke?  Does he feel unending thirst in his entire body?
   Divide students into groups of four or five and have them decide how they want to depict a feeling that Stanley is experiencing.  Once students decide, they freeze in position.  The class tries to guess which feeling they are portraying.  As a teacher you could move one of the characters in the tableau and ask the class what the change in position has done to the portrayal.  Has the meaning changed?  How?
   Tableau work usually follows some work in process drama where students become a part of the story by responding to a character or situation.  There are no memorized lines, no props, just finding ways for students to step into the story and talk as if they were there at a specific time.  However, if students in your class trust each other and have done a lot of group work, tableau work can go very well.
   

Honoring our ancestors.  (1999).  Edited by H. Rohmer.  San Francisco:  Children’s Book Press.  All ages.

• Fourteen artists from diverse cultures write and draw about their ancestors.  Each explains his or her art and how the art reflects the ancestors who preceded them.  Each artist also describes what his or her ancestors has meant in the artist’s personal and professional life.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  This book can help children learn about their ancestors.  Children could generate questions they would like to ask as elder in their family.  They bring the answers to school and then tell the story of the ancestor.
       Storytelling.  Children need some structure for this storytelling activity.  For example, you would model how to take the answers to questions and turn them into a story.  Therefore, you would have to interview and elder in your family too.  You could start out with something like:

  • I want you to meet my grandmother, Augusta.  She came to America as a child.  Augusta remembers sailing from Portugal in a ship she first thought as being large.  She was sure she might get lost on it.  But after two or three days the ship seemed to shrink in size.  There were fewer places in which she could hide or play.  The journey seemed endless.  When would they arrive?  Would they ever get to America?
    When the sea rolled and tossed in its sleep, Augusta was sure they would all surely drown.  She remembered the color, the smells and the noises.  They trip remained vivid in her memory.  And it was these memories that provided the paint for the wonderful pictures Augusta showed me in the stories she told me.

   Be sure to scaffold this activity with and for your children who need support in finding more words to make their stories come alive.
       Visual Literacy.  Children can also tell the story of their ancestor(s) in a visual representation of this person and what he or she stood for.  The idea is to have children visualize things that remind them of this particular ancestor.  They can place those items anywhere in the picture and connect them in some way. Children can also find pictures in magazines and use those in their collage.  Outlining the items from the magazine in color can make the collage a bit more dramatic.

Santiago, C.  (1998).  Home to medicine mountain.  J. Lowry, illustrator.  San Francisco:  Children’s Book Press. Picture Book.

• This story is based on an incident in the lives of Judith Lowry’s father and uncle.  In the 1930’s Native American children were typically separated from their parents and placed in boarding schools.  At these schools, children were Americanized, that is, they wore typical American type clothing instead of their native dress and had to learn to read, write and speak only English.  The government paid for their transportation to boarding school, but not for children to go home for summer vacations.  The intent was that children would stay at boarding schools for as long as possible, and thus forget their native cultures and languages.
       This story was inspired by the time that Judith Lowry’s father and his brother hopped a train and rode it in the open night, tied to the top of the train, because they just couldn’t bear to be away from Medicine Mountain and their grandmother’s stories for the summer vacation.

  So What Could You Do with This Story?  This story lends itself to storytelling.  Children can use a story told by an elder as in Honoring our ancestors.  Or, they could talk about an autobiographical incident and turn that into a spontaneous story.  It is important however, that you model the process of spontaneous storytelling.  Share the process with students.  Describe for them what you had to do in your head in order to tell your story.   Tell them what you saw in your head, what you heard, smells you smelled, things you could reach out and touch in your mind as well as how you felt about the picture you created in your mind of a particular incident.
   

Alarcón, F.X.  (1998).  From the belly button of the moon and other summer poems.  M.C. Gonzalez, illustrator.  San Francisco:  Children’s Book Press.

• This collection of poems in two languages recalls the summers Alarcón spent as a child in Mexico.  The title is from a translation of the name the Aztecs originally had for Mexico City, Mexico-Tenochtitlan.  Mexico comes from metzli which means moon, xictli means bellybutton and o means from.
   To Alarcón the colors in Mexico are brighter, the sounds louder and clearer, the smells stronger and the tastes richer.  It is these sounds, colors, smells, tastes and experiences at his grandmother’s house about which Alarcón writes poetry.  There is a liveliness to this books that engulfs you as you read the poems.  Coupled with the art, you cannot help but feel the joy and color of the author’s childhood on the summer trips to Mexico City with his family each summer.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  Reading poetry makes one want to write poetry.  Students could take the stories they developed in concert with books above such as Honoring our ancestors and turn those into a series of short poems.  For example, take the short story of my grandmother, Augusta.  I could write:
   Coming to America

  Tossing and turning
   Tumbling on the turbulent sea mattress
   Will we ever get there?
   Nowhere to play
   Nowhere to hide
   On this watery playground

Curtis, G. (1998).  The bat boy and his violin.  E.B. Lewis, illustrator.  New York:  Simon and Schuster.  Picture Book.

• There is nothing that Reginald loves more than playing his violin.  Mozart is in his blood, but his father thinks Reginald should put aside his "fiddling" and work as a bat boy for the Dukes, the National Negro League.  Reginald goes, but he takes his violin with him.
       He isn’t a very good bat boy.  He just doesn’t have the speed and coordination it takes to get the bats out to the batters in a timely manner.  Reginald’s dad ends up doing it for him.  The team is just not doing well.  Then Reginald does what is so natural for him.  He picks up his violin and begins to play.  Sounds of Mozart, Beethoven and Bach fill the dugout and float out to the field.  The Dukes begin to win games but Reginald’s dad has yet to be convinced that playing the violin is what Reginald is meant to do.  The art and the story pull the reader into a time in American history when many of the most talented baseball players did not play for the white teams.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  I think you might want children to listen to the music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven while you read the story to them.  The story deals with the interests children have as opposed to what their parents may want them to do, an age old issue as well as the rhythm in music and in baseball.
       Perhaps a pitcher for a local baseball team and a violinist from the local symphony could come to class and tell children their stories about how they got where they are and the kind of rhythm it takes for them to do what they do.
   

Van Camp, R.  (1998).  What’s the most beautiful thing you know about horses?  G. Littlefield, illustrator.  An Francisco:  Children’s Book Press.

• The author comes from an Indian tribe, the Dogrib nation,  in Canada that uses dogs instead of horses.  On a day when it is 40 degrees below zero, Richard Van Camp ponders the question:  what’s the most beautiful thing you know about horses?
   The author begins his story by describing the Dogrib nation and the importance of dogs to their community.  He decides to ask the members of his family as well as his friends his question about horses.  In the zigzag of some zany and some interesting answers to his question, Van Camp brings the question back to the reader.  What’s the most beautiful thing you know about horses?  And, what is the most beautiful thing about you?  It is a story that helps children appreciate the beauty in nature, to value the opinions of others, and to see the beauty in themselves.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  As soon as I read this book I could see children asking questions about beautiful things in nature.  They could talk to people around the school and in the community.  The answers to their questions could be told in a story circle.  For example, if the circle had eight children, each could ask a different question or they could all ask one question.  Let’s say for example they all decided to ask, what’s the most beautiful thing you know about flowers?  Each child in turn could share a different answer to the question.  Use a story stick and pass it around the circle.  The child who has the story stick shares an answer to the question.   For example, The most beautiful thing about flowers is their smell.  When the smells are all mixed up, they make you can make you dizzy and dream of faraway places.
       Drama.  Tableau work might be nice to use here. Have students talk about a beautiful thing about flowers or anything else and freeze frame that feeling.  The rest of the class can discuss what they see and what they think their fellow students are representing in their freeze frame.

Sís, P.  (1998).  Tibet through the red box.  New York:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  Young adult, picture book, diary.

• This story is based on a diary kept by the author’s father, a filmmaker, when he was lost in Tibet in the mid-1950’s.  Opening the red box in his father’s library, Peter finds the diary.  As he reads the diary, the author becomes a traveler in Tibet and his imagination takes over as he reads and interprets his father’s diary.  Peter remembers how he felt about his father and how he longed for his father to be at home with him when he was a little boy.  He remembers the stories his father told him after he returned from Tibet.  Through the reading of the diary  the author learns about his father and "sees" Tibet, the place in which his father was lost.  As we read the story fact and imagination become intertwined.  I was never really sure where fact ended and imagination began.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?    I think that reading this book could cause some comprehension problems for some students. What is fact?  What is imagination?  I would make little red boxes that small groups of students could open to find part of Peter’s father’s diaries, pictures from Tibet as well as a map of Tibet.  As children find each new thing in the box, they each talk about how that particular thing made Peter feel when he found it.
   

Bunting, E.  (1998).  Your move.  J. Ransome, illustrator.  San Diego:  Harcourt Brace and Co.

• Isaac watches as his brother James is talked into a nighttime escape to prove himself to the K-Bones.  James has to paint the name of the crew on a sign over the freeway by the K-Bones.  But the K-Bones say they are not a gang, just a bunch of guys who get together to have some fun.  James believes them but Isaac has some doubts.  He wonders about the K-Bones, the painting of the sign in the dark of the night and anything else the K-Bones label as "fun.".  During the painting episode, Isaac gets hurt and the Snakes appear with guns.  It is then that James understands that he wants nothing to do with the K-Bones or any other groups like them.

  So What Could You Do with This Book?  This book addresses one of those uncomfortable areas for many teachers ? the existence and realities of the gang culture.  Many times we avoid these issues because we want children to see the "nice" things in stories.  Yet children see the effect of gang conflicts in the news on television.  Perhaps the message here is how much more important one’s blood family is than a gang.
       Storytelling.  This is opportune time to have children think about a person in his or her family or a close friend, like Mrs. Lopez in the story, who helped him or her when there was a crisis.  There would need to be some preliminary talk about what kinds of things people in your family or your friends can do to help you to help children understand that the help does not have to be a huge, fantastic thing; just help that was given because someone cared.   For example students may have special reationships with cousins, brothers or sister.  Talk about how siblings care for each other, using the examples in the story.
   

A Word about English Language Learners.

• Sometimes when we have our students read great stories, we forget the English language learners.  I have seen them totally eliminated from classroom activities or included in the activities with no support given for comprehension.  Thus, response to the story becomes almost impossible for them to express if they have understood the story.
       Something that you might do is have students act out the events of the story for English language learners in story theatre style.  The visual representations of the story as it progresses, like a pictomap, will also give second language learners support.  Since English language learners understand oral language wwith comprehensible input before they can produce English in conventional reading and writing formats, it is then important for us to remember how children acquire a first language.  They listen, look for patterns, observe gestures and begin to label objects and actions they see.  We can do that for second language learners.  Label the pictomaps with key words and then use those key words to help them find other examples of what is portrayed in the story or the pictomap.  We can do the same thing with freeze frames.  English language learners usually have similar labels in their language.  We just need to provide multiple examples for them to see and hear so they can activate their own background knowledge of life experiences and language for the term(s).  Thus, English language learners can begin to understand literature and respond to the story.
       English language learners may also have to revisit the main events of the story several time to understand the language, the tone and the sequence of the events.  Worksheets and work packets are inappropriate.  Think about real life and what you would do if you were in another country and reading a novel in another language.  What kind of comprehensible input would you need?  Wouldn’t repetitive gesture help you?  Pictures?  Labels?  Watching someone act it out?  Using redundancy and repetition not in a drill-like manner but in the natural flow of normal conversation?
       If we expect students to always read novels and literature on their own, then the options to create comprehensible input seem very narrow.  However, if we find other ways to help students read a novel (and round robin reading is totally unacceptable because it fosters inattention for those not reading) besides just reading it aloud to them, the options to create comprehensible input are limitless.  We think that some of the suggestions we had made as to what you could do with a book might help you accomplish that.

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