Goodnight iPad is a parody of the classic children's book story entitled Goodnight Moon. Goodnight iPad was written by Ann Droyd and published in 2011. I read this story online as an e book which was very ironic due to the fact that the book uses the exact structure of Goodnight Moon but changes the words in the text to revolve around technology. Reading this book as an e book allowed me to understand the text from a different perspective while also using technology which is what the story i centered around. Within a classroom, this book would be a great resource to use in order to introduce parallel structure to students. Through using technology, and the availability of Goodnight iPad on the internet, students could compare both texts in order to compare and contrast the text features and structures with one another.
We Are in a Book!, is a children's picture book written by Mo Williams. As an elephant and piggie book, this story is part of Mo Williams larger collections of books targeted towards younger children that introduces them to the topic of dialogue between characters. The words in this story are very basic an each character's dialogue usually only consists of a few words. For this reason, elephant and piggie books are great texts to use in Kindergarten classrooms to help students recognize site words and begin early reading skills. The images within the text are very simple as every page contains a picture of elephant and piggie themselves exchanging dialogue with on another. The main focus of each picture is in regards to the characters facial expressions and such emotions allow early readers to use context clues from the pictures in order to determine words they may be unsure about. One drawback to this text is that it is rather lengthy as it is 57 pages, however the text reads very smoothly and is an easy read for students. The length allows students to pick up on repetition throughout the story and in turn recognize words more smoothly by the end. If you are a teacher working with students who are learning to read, I strongly recommend that you use Mo William's texts to help them extend their knowledge.
Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin was written by Chieri Uegaki and Qin Leng in 2014. This modern story tells the tale of a little girl who strives to play the violin in a talent show but faces much opposition from her brother. A unique aspect about this story is that it is centered around Javanese history and introduces readers to basic Japanese as Hana refers to grandfather throughout the text as her ojiichan. Infusing Japanese culture throughout the text, the author uses dialogue to help the readers truly connect with Hana's emotions as she strives to overcome the fear and lack of self confidence she has for performing in public. This text is geared towards upper elementary school students as the author uses rather lengthy paragraphs on each page and it would serve as a great read aloud. Another aspect in which to incorporate this text into the curriculum would be through teaching an integrated lesson combining the arts, ELA, and social studies as the story is based around the Japanese culture while incorporating a young girls love through music.
Stella's Starliner is a children's picture book written by Rosemary Wells in 2014. This story is a science fiction text that tells the tale of a little girl named Stella who lives in a special house called the Starliner. This house is different from others as it is made of silver and she lives with happily there with her mother and father. The plot quickly switches as a few kids from the neighborhood tell Stella her family is poor and that she lives in a tin can and these comments cause Stella to reevaluate her happiness in her home. This story is very marketable towards younger children as it teaches a lesson surrounding happiness and how the love that people have towards their families is what truly defines happiness rather than money itself. Another interesting aspect of this story is that the illustrations were created using watercolors, gouache, pastel, ink, and colored pencils. As a story target towards younger readers, the cartoon images associated with the story allows readers to truly comprehend the text. This story would serve as a great read aloud for teachers to use within the classroom as it teaches a larger lesson about life that all students should grow up hearing.
Harlem, is a children's picture book poem written by Walter Dean Myers in 1997. The illustrations in this story tell a tale of their own as the recipient of a Caldecott Honor, and they were created by Christopher Myers. The first time reading this story poem through, the words seemed to have a rythm as if they could be chanted or sung. Little did I know that this story is a chorus about the charisma and charm present within Harlem. The front flap inside the book revealed this to me and it was such a surprise as I did not read the flap until I had read the story through once with no previous knowledge. The visuals within this text are extremely intense and descriptive as the reader will become truly captivated by not only the text, but the illustrations as well. This poem is told in more of a free verse format as there are hardly any rhyming words present throughout the text. The author also uses many pauses and breaks to separate the words even though it does not necessarily designate the end of a sentence. Full of information in regards to the culture of Harlem, this text would serve as great resource to teach children the ideas of poetry while integrating it into aspects of the social studies curriculum as well.
The President's Stuck in the Bathtub is a children's poetry book about the presidents. It was written by Susan Katz and illustrated by Robert Neubecker in 2012. This particular book contains a plethora of information and it is one that I wish I had stumbled upon prior to completing my unit for my second grade class in regards to social studies. A unique aspect about this book is that every page is broken down into separate poems that depict each president's uniqueness to serving the country. This picture book serves as a current and up to date resource to use in the classroom as it covers every single President of the United States from George Washington through our current president Barack Obama. Each poem within the text is individualized to portray characteristics and fun facts about each president that encourages readers to giggle and become engaged in the text. Many of the facts about the presidents I myself did not even know so this book served as a great refresher for myself to learn more facts about each president. In extending children's knowledge even further, this text serves a great resource to encourage students to apply their prior knowledge while reading the poems about each president as many of the poems infer to historical elements such as the poem about George Washington and how he lived everywhere except the White House because it had not been built yet. Each poem within the text is also unique as they all follow various rhyme schemes. Some poems are free verse, some are ABAB, and some follow an even loser rhyming pattern. The poems present within this story serve as an excellent way for teachers to integrate ELA in to the social studies curriculum as well.
What Do You Do With An Idea is a children's picture book written by Kobi Yamada in 2013. This book is extremely interesting as it follows a little boy as he goes from having an idea, to nurturing it, to watching his dream unfold before his very eyes. This simple and short story portrays such a strong message for readers as it teaches them to never give and always follow their dreams. One of the best aspects about this story is that although the sentence structure is very simple and easy to follow, it truly is a story for children and adults of all ages. The positive vibes that I recieved while reading this book caused me to instantly read it again and even read it to my friends who are entrepreneurship majors as the theme portrayed throughout the text is very deep in the sense that it can be extended to apply to everyone. This book is also extremely notable as it received a gold medal for Recognizing Excellence in Independent Publishing. As an extremely inspirational text, this book could be incorporated into many aspects of the curriculum or even stand alone as a read aloud for students as they will instantly fall in love with it just as I did.
Over the past year and a half, I have grown to love and appreciate graphic novels in relation to children's literature. I was never exposed to such medians of telling stories as a child and honestly I was extremely terrified to try something new by reading a graphic novel. Through reading a variety of graphic novels over the past year, I have come to truly appreciate them as they offer readers a new way to interpret a novel rather than just simply reading words on a page. The graphic novel, Hidden, is no exception to my new found love of graphic novels. Hidden is an exceptional story written by Loie Dauvillier, Marc Lizano, and Greg Salsedo in 2012. Hidden tells the story of a grandmother's experience of the Holocaust as she recounts the events she had to overcome during this time to her granddaughter. The story is extremely easy to follow and it is full of a vast amount of information regarding the Holocaust. The pictures present within the story allow readers to visualize what they are reading and in a way make the words into an actual movie within their heads. Although graphic novels can often be difficult for readers to understand and follow, this story would serve as a great introduction for readers who may not be extremely confident in their ability to read graphic novels. The words and pictures present within this story allow readers to truly visualize when the characters are speaking and follow their thought process in order to better understand the story structure as whole.
Prior to reading Seedfolks, I was not really sure what to expect. The text is extremely short as it is only 87 pages and I often get confused when reading books with multiple characters. However, this piece of literature could not have been more surprising to me as I loved it more than I could have ever envisioned. This story was writing by Paul Fleischman in 1997 and it was illustrated by Judy Pedersen, and it follows thirteen different characters as they all find common ground among a vacant lot within their hometown and they each begin growing some sort of vegetable in order to create a community garden. Many of the character's overlap in a multitude of manners and therefore this text is extremely easy for readers to keep track of each individual characters importance. The chapter's are also titled with each character's name to ensure readers understand who they are reading about prior to reading each chapter. As a truly inspirational story, this novel serves as a great way to show readers the importance of communities and would pair great as an ELA integration into a social studies unit involving communities and their relationships. Although this story is a chapter book, it is very simple in its text structure and would be very appealing for upper grade elementary school students to read.
The Kamishibai Man was written and illustrated by Allen Say in 2005. This text differs from the other Allen Say stories I read as it is more intricate in it's design. At the start of the story, Say includes a forward which explains to readers the definition of kamishibai so that readers can use their schema and infer throughout the duration of the story. Within this particular story, Say explains to readers how the creation of television took away from the importance of oral stories that the kamishibai man would tell to the children. This story introduces readers to the Japanese tradition of paper theater and its importance with their culture. The kamishibai man returns at the end of the story to tell his stories one again as he longed to return to his old days of using paper theater to entertain children. The story concludes with an afterword as Say explains the history behind kamishibai and offers readers an inside to truly understanding the importance of paper theater as being a "poor man's theater" following World War II. The incorporation of this book into an upper-grade elementary curriculum would serve as a strong resource to help readers understand more about Japanese culture and importance of preserving such elements of history such as the tradition of kamishibai. 
One of Allen Say's most widely known texts is entitled Grandfather's Journey, and it was published in 1993. One key aspect of this text is that Allen Say both wrote and illustrated the story, and it is a Caldecott Medal winner for the illustrations present within the text. In researching Say' work, he described his writing process as one where he first draws the pictures and then later comes up with text to correspond with the pictures in order to tell the story. Within this particular text, Say describes his grandfather's decision to the move to America while detailing his own love for two countries and the constant struggle he undergoes for being in love with two separate countries. The illustrations in this story serve as resource to guide readers as the paintings tell a story of their own and are very visually en-capturing to readers. Within the text itself, this story would appeal to younger and older readers alike as the words are very simple but they key concepts behind the text can be extended into a social studies unit in order to further explorer the concept of immigration and assimilation into a new country.
