Imagine a Place

 Imagine a Place is a wordless picture book published by Sarah L. Thompson in 2008.  The images in this book are beyond incredible as they are very detailed and engaging to the human eye.  Analyzing the images in this story actually blew me away as the are so strategic in the sense that they make readers feel like they are traveling right along throughout the story.  This book really extends a readers imagination as it takes you out of this world to places you have always wanted to go.  One of the most fascinating concepts of this story is that words simply would not do the images justice.  By focusing in on the details on each page, the reader becomes as free as a bird and can travel through the many pages exploring the possibilities in the world.  This book would serve as a great resource to pair with a writing assignment as it truly opens the door to so many endless explorations through its very vivid illustrations.  The images almost appear to the human eye as paintings and I found myself never being able to look away. Although the story is not entirely text free, for the most part the pictures simply guide the reader.  There are few poetic guides throughout the story but the vast landscape images define the story as a whole. Feel free to take a look at some of the incredible images pulled from the story below.

Friends All A Flutter!

Owly & Wormy Friends All a Flutter is a wordless picture book by Andy Runton that was published in 2011. This wordless book is very much targeted towards pre-readers in the sense that the pictures are very juvenile and contain a lot of questions marks, explanation points, and other key commands that aid in comprehension of the images prior to being able to read text.  One key element of this story that aided in my comprehension was the summary of the plot on the front flap of the book.  Personally I often times struggle to understand stories that do not have text, so reading this quick summary  really helped me internalize the pictures in an easier manner.  Throughout the story, Owly is distraught over his plant and the fact that butterflies will not come fly around it as its growing.  However as the story goes on, readers follow Owly through pictures and his inner thoughts to in turn understand the life cycle of a butterfly.  This story would be a great piece of literature to incorporate into a science lesson of the life cycle of butterflies as students watch the caterpillar turn into a cocoon and then essentially a butterfly in the end.  The illustrations in this book are key in helping young readers rely on images to help them figure out words in a text.

Tuesday

Written  by David Wiesner, Tuesday is a wordless book written and illustrated in 1991.  Unlike a variety of wordless books I have read in the past, this book has four separate pages that have times of the night on them for readers to identify with the pictures.  Structured in the form of picture spreads, this story takes place around a full moon as lily pads with frogs on them begin displacing themselves from their home in ponds and begin overtaking the world at night by flying around, watching tv, and even playing with dogs.  This book is extremely visual as a large focus is placed on the details of the pictures while readers follow the frogs throughout the night.  Flipping through the book, most of the spreads are dominated by the colors blue and green which has a huge effect on the readers mood. Aside from the effect the colors have on the story, the time stamps truly helps readers gauge what is going on throughout the story and form an understanding of the pictures without relying on words.  The last page of the story is ironic in the sense that it is the following Tuesday, and rather than having the frogs on lily pads exploring the world, it is now pigs. This truly extends the readers imagination and adds humor to the story as the readers can begin guessing other animals that might start flyin the following Tuesday. Examples of the pictures spreads are shown below. Can you figure out what is going on in each image?

Three Times Lucky

As a winner of the Newbery Honor Award and a New York Times Best Seller, Three Times Lucky is a children's chapter book written by Sheila Turnage in 2012.   Prior to reading this book, I was told it was a historical fiction novel however as I continued to read through the book it became clear that this novel is classified a suspense story.  The plot centers around the two main characters, Mo and Dale, who take it upon themselves to investigate a murder mystery within their hometown.  As they work together, they begin discovering connections between their personal lives and the mystery at hand as both Miss Lana and the Colonel end up being kidnapped and held for a ransom.  This story encourages readers to pay close attention as they read in order to piece together key details of the story to solve the mystery. 

One key element that became extremely helpful throughout the story was the presence of a map at the beginning of the story.  The map is of the town Tupelo Landing and served as a great resource to reference back to while reading the story in order to visualize where key events in the story were taking place.  Seeing as how the story takes place in North Carolina, it is rich with details of North Carolina geography as it references Raleigh and Winston Salem.  Due to this, it would be a great novel to incorporate into a geography unit in order to ensure integration of ELA topics.  Ironically, Three Times Lucky is also a series book and readers can follow Mo and Dale on their next investigation in a book entitled The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing.  Personally, I am really looking forward to reading the next book in the series as there were many references towards the ghosts of people who had past that once lived in Tupelo Landing and it should be extremely interesting to see how the author continues to tell the story of Mo and Dale.

Roanoke The Lost Colony: An Unsolved Mystery from History

Written in the form of an interactive mystery, Roanoke The Lost Colony: An Unsolved Mystery from History was published in 2003 by Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple.  Unlike the other historical picture books I have previously read, this story provides more factual information rather than stretching the truth and turning the information into more of a humorous setting. Throughout the story, the details surrounding the Lost Colony known as Roanoke are depicted as the little girl who is a detective struggles to put together clues to find out what happened to the settlers who disappeared after colonizing near what they thought was the Chesapeake Bay. 

The information presented throughout the story is extremely immense as it accurately depicts the events happening among the colonists during during this time in history.  In particular, each page has separate segments of information for the reader to take in.  The story line takes place however on the side is a notepad which provides readers with additional information regarding the events taking place in the story.  The reader does not have to read the text in the notepad to understand the story however it provides a strong background of knowledge to the help the reader grow.  Aside from the story and the notepad, each page also has a third box which defines unknown vocabulary words that might have appeared at some other point on the page. This is a strong resource for readers to rely on and I even found myself looking to the yellow box to help understand words that I was not familiar with. All in all, this text is extremely rich in the information it presents as readers can use all of the details to come up with their own conclusion as to what they think happened to the Lost Colony while John White was away.

A Big Cheese for the White House: The True Tale of a Tremendous Cheddar

Prior to reading A Big Cheese for the White House: The True Tale of a Tremendous Cheddar, I had never heard about the big cheese given to the White House by the citizens of Chesire, Massachusetts. Written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by S.D. Schindler in 1999, this story explores how one community comes together to provide the President Jefferson with their prized cheese upon hearing that the White House was serving Norton cheese.  Together the citizens of Chesire form a cheese that weights 1,235 pounds, stands four feet high, and was made from nine hundred and thirty-four cows.  Much the the dismay at first of Phineas, Elder John proves that the cheese can be made and transported to the White House.


As a historical text, this story provides a plethora of information regarding a small New England town's effect on the White House.  This story is extremely marketable to young readers as it uses humorous elements to to essentially describe events circling a huge historical moment in history.  At the end of the story, a page is dedicated to detailing the actual historical elements surrounding the cheese curd for readers to allow for readers to have a more descriptive analysis aside from the humorous aspects apparent in the story.

Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek

Written in an extremely unique format, Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek tells the story of President Lincoln's forgotten childhood friend who saved his life when he was a young child.  Without the presence of Austin in Abe's life, it is likely that Abraham Lincoln could have never been president.  This story was published in 2008 by Deborah Hopkison and the illustrator, John Hendrix, also plays a huge role within the text as well. Whereas many children's books are written in a dialogue format, this story is written in third person as both the author and illustrator tell the tale from their point of view.  Various times throughout the story, both Deborah and John will address the reader by asking questions to keep the reader engaged. Specifically, at one point in the story the interpretation of how Abe Lincoln actually crossed the river was left up to the illustrator to decide to help the reader understand that often history is left up to perception as it happened so long ago. Personally, I was rather nervous prior to reading this story as i am not a huge fan of historical literature however hearing the story from an outsiders point of view made it rather humorous and engaging for readers at the same time.

Another key aspect that stood out in the story was the strong moral and lesson that was portrayed as the story continued.  History is often not given the time it deserves within the elementary curriculum as an emphasis is placed on language arts and math.  With that being said, this book would serve as a perfect measure to integrate a history lesson into a read aloud. By engaging readers and having them predict the outcome of the story, readers not only begin to see Abraham Lincoln as the 16th president of the United States but they also gauge an understanding of the importance of ones actions because although we may not all be famous and in history books, our actions still predict the future of the world.

Me...Jane

" Each one of us makes a difference. We cannot live through a single day without making an impact on the world around us- and we have  choice as to what sort of difference we make" 

- Jane Goodall

Me...Jane is a historical fiction picture book written by Patrick McDonnel in 2011.  The story follows a little girl named Jane who has a strong love for being outside with animals.  Throughout the story, Jane learns everything she can about animals and longed to one day live in Africa to learn and write about animals.  The end of the story closes with Jane's dream coming true. From this story, readers can truly understand that if they set their minds to something, dreams can in turn come true and be acoomplished.

 The format of this text is set up in a way unique to the reader.  Prior to reading the book, if the reader had no previous knowledge coming into the text about who Jane was the story would remain a mystery and for that reason, readers may not even know it is indeed a true story.  Once the story closes with Jane's dream coming true in Africa, it is followed up with an autobiography page about the life of Jane Goodall herself.  Along with its historical aspect, this story describes the adventures of a little girl who would one day group up to become not only an environmentalist but also a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Emily's Blue Period

Pablo Picasso is a Spanish artist who went through a blue period when he only painted artwork in blue between the time period of 1900-1904 due to the fact that he was going through a rough patch in his life.  Much like Pablo Picasso, Emily's Blue Period is a book about a little girl who idolizes Pablo Picasso and looks up to him as she experiences many growing pains common in many children's lives. Her parents are going through a divorce and she feels like she does not know where she belongs.  Throughout the story she transforms from her blue period to finding a new love for collages as Picasso and his friend Braque found happiness through such artwork as well. Written by Catheleen Daly in 2014, this book serves as a great preparation for students who are beginning to read chapter books as it is broken down into four separate chapters to help young readers prepare for more extensive books later on.


Reading this story pulled on my heartstrings as it explores an extremely relatable topic that many students in my future classroom will identify with.  Broken households are becoming more common as time goes on and this story provides a positive message for readers as it encourages them to find something that they love doing and give it their all. Not only does this story provide a strong overall message for readers, but it also exposes readers to the history of the famous artist known as Pablo Picasso. Honestly before reading this story, I had no previous knowledge of Picasso's blue period.  Reading this story encouraged me to research more about the interesting life of Picasso by extending my knowledge outside of the literature I read.  Within the classroom, this book would be a great resource to encourage children to take charge of their own learning and make connections between the material presented in the book and Pablo Picasso's life himself.  Afterall, that is the most amazing thing about children's literature.  It helps students form connections and internalize information in ways that they are not necessarily most comfortable with. By thinking outside of the box and drawing those larger life connections, Emily's Blue Period models the importance of connecting common life issues with intellectual thought through understanding the true meaning of art. 

Three Bears in a Boat

Think back for a moment to stories your parents use to read you as a child.  Many of these stories taught you a lesson; one that would in turn make you a better person by helping you understand the world.  Three Bears in a Boat is a modern story that does just that.  Written by David Soman in 2014, the story takes readers on an adventure with three little bears who happen to accidentally break their mothers beautiful blue seashell. The bears go on an adventure to find a replacement for the shell and in turn learn the importance of taking responsibility for ones actions as they experience much turmoil in regards to placing blame on one another.

This story would be a perfect read aloud to do with a lower grade class in elementary school.  The pictures in this text are phenomenal and truly engages young readers by catching their eye.  Most importantly, a lesson is learned through the story and it would serve as a great oppurtunity for students to learn new vocabulary such as the world "moral".  Not only was this text an easy read, but the author wrote with a very advanced sentence structure.  One of my favorite lines from the story was when the bears were learning that they were all responsible for their mothers broken seashell and the text read, "They didn't care whose fault it was anymore, they were all in the same boat".  This clever line made me laugh as a I read it and it serves a learning oppurtunity for children to understand and be exposed to the definition of an idiom.  Although this story appears as a basic children's book about three bears, it is much more extensive than that and can be integrated into many aspects of the curriculum as readers are learning a larger lesson about life.

Mr. Cornell's Dream Boxes

The children's picture book entitled Mr. Cornell's Dream Boxes, is a nonfiction work of art written in 2014 that explores Joesph Cornell's influence on the world of art.  Written by Jeanette Winter, this picture book encourages readers to become dreamers by seeing the world through a different aspect.  By reading this story, the reader gets to decide what kind of trait Mr. Cornell finds enjoyment using which in turn allows children to depict their own understanding of art.  In reality, Mr. Cornell creates shadow boxes which capture his lifetime memories by holding sacred parts of his life that mean the most to him. His shadow boxes are displayed and marketed towards children as he encourages them to become dreamers. 

The endless amount of imagination present in this book stood out to me more than anything.  Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of Joesph Cornell before and I did not know anything about him until I read the Author's Note at the end of the story.  This would be a great piece of literature to use in the classroom to encourage students think outside of their comfort zone and take in life by capturing every single moment.  In using this book as part of my future curriculum I envision myself reading the author's note to the children first so that they have an understanding of who Joesph Cornell is.  Another aspect of the story that stood out to me was the reference to Mr. Cornell's love for journaling through writing down all of his thoughts and ideas.  Seeing as how I am getting my master's degree in children's literature, the importance of encouraging children to love writing means more to me than anything.  This story sends a strong message to children as it encourages them to find their own individual way to take in and remember every aspect of life.  It made me stop and think about how sometimes I do not value life's precious moments enough and encouraged me to stop and think about how to best savor the little moments that mean the most in life.

Saxby Smart Private Detective in The Curse of the Ancient Mask and Other Case Files

 

Growing up, I loved reading mystery books that kept me on the edge of my seat at all times.  The Saxby Smart series is a modern day version equivalent to many of the suspense novels I grew up reading. Written by Simon Cheshire in 2007, this series is extremely interactive for readers as it encourages the reader to pay close attention at all times. Saxby Smart is a private detective who is well known by his peers for getting to the bottom of crime while also attending school at the same time.  A unique aspect about the Saxby Smart series is that each book is broken down into separate crime stories as the reader follows Saxby and works along with him to piece together information in order to solve each mystery.   

This chapter book is different than most in the sense that it also includes illustrations by R.W. Alley.  Periodically located hroughout the story, the illustrations add to the drama of each case file and allow the reader to use visual images to formulate the story more accurately in ones head.  I found myself truly loving the illustrations and looking forward to turning each page in hope to come across more pictures. Not only do the pictures aid in reader engagement, but Saxby is constantly asking questions and encouraging the readers to piece together the clues on their own before he reveals his solution to each mystery. Many of the chapters end by Saxby listing out facts and questions which summarize all of the clues thus far.  He also will stop mid story and ask the reader if they know the key to each case before revealing the details. This allows readers to stop and think about the information presented before them in an attempt to encourage readers to think outside of the box.

 I was actually fairly nervous about remaining engaged while reading this book as it is broken down into three different detective cases all together, however I found myself constantly wanting more and turning each page as quickly as I could.  Although the cases in the story are all fairly different from one another, there are many common elements in regards to characterization that allow for fluency among the three different stories.  In turn this ensures readers do not feel like they are reading three completely different stories that have no correlation to one another.  For any reader who loves piecing elements together and truly feeling involved in the story, the Saxby Smart series is for you.  I can't wait to head to the library and choose another book in the series to read next!