Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ed Young: Author and Illustrator

Ed Young has illustrated over 80 books, and has written 17 of those. His illustrations are beautiful! Personally, I feel that Ed's illustrations make the text so much more powerful because they are so unique and fascinating. Sometimes Ed using a collage art style and other times he just makes amazing illustrations. Ed's work is based on his philosophy of Chinese Paintings. He quotes "A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words. They are complementary. There are things that words do that picture never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe". That quote really sums up how I felt when I was researching and looking at the various books he has illustrated and written. One of my favorites was "My Mei Mei" which is about a young girl who gets adopted by her parents and eventually asks her parents for a sister or a "mei mei". Her parents eventually do adopt another daughter and the book describes the bond between the two young girls. In the author's note I learned that this was based on his two daughters whom were both adopted. I really appreciated that some of his work comes from his own personal experiences. "My Mei Mei" is beautifully written, but the illustrations are even more so. They cover the entire pages and are so bright and warm felt. I really enjoyed reading this book. Many of Ed Young's books are also based on folktales that incorporate morals that he wants to convey to the reader. The book called, "What about Me?" is a story that I have heard many different versions. In Ed Young's tale he puts his own style in his writing and illustrations. The boy in the story goes on various adventures in search of gaining knowledge from a Grand Master. At the end of the story, the Grand Master tells the boy that helping others can be so rewarding and through living your life, you will gain knowledge. Ed Young conveys deep messages through his illustrations and writing. Ed Young feels that his purpose for writing children's books is to "stimulate growth in the reader as an active participant". I took this as it is Ed's way of saying he is trying to help teach and make kids aware of bigger issues in our world. I really appreciate the work that he has done.

This project helped me see the importance of learning about the author/illustrator/poet. Even in the classroom, learning about the author can be a very effective way of getting the students interesting in the author's work. This experience also demonstrated the importance of talking with your peers about books and authors. I learned about four other authors/illustrators and it sparked a personal interest to go read and check out some of those books. If students can do this same kind of activity, they can advocate and encourage each other to read books based on their knowledge and interests. Book choice is very important. This is a great way to learn about different authors and different books that are out there in the world.

Mid Semester Reflection

Overall, this class has proved very useful to me for my future career as a teacher. I have really enjoyed learning about different genres of children's books and learning how books can be such powerful tools in the classroom. I feel that I am also getting a lot out of this class personally, because I am taking the time to pick out books that interest me and I am finding out what kinds of genres and various authors I really like. I feel that learning what kind of books I enjoy will help form my style of teaching, (even though I won't ever limit my class to one genre by any means!). I think that this class has allowed me to delve into kid's books in a way that I haven't since I was a little kid. This is important because I am going to be an elementary school teacher, and I need to be a reader just like my students are becoming readers. By reacting, enjoying, and analyzing various books in this class, it has allowed me to see that I will be able to do these same things with my own students in the future. There is an endless amount of books out there, and that overwhelms me a little bit. However, this class has really encouraged me to look at different authors/illustrators and to look at different genres. It has also made me aware of some really fascinating books. Most of the reading I have done the last few years has been "school based" texts. Even though, this class is a requirement, I feel that it has allowed me to start reading for enjoyment again.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The Misfits by: James Howe

So far, this book has been really engaging, and I have really gotten into the characters and the story plot. There are text to self connections as I look back at the dynamics of high school and look at the different cliques and groups of students. I really appreciate how the author writes the story from the "misfit's" point of view instead of from an outsider looking in. A very important part of the story occurs in chapter 13 when we find out the purpose of the misfits independent party: "no more names". There is a lot of bullying that happens in schools and the damage that can be done is endless. This book touches on different kinds of people that are "geeky" or stand out and aren't "normal" compared to their peers. Some of these are "misfits" because they are gay, very tall, fat, unconventional, etc. Kevin, the "jock" character is even stereotyped as the "stupid jerk" that always makes fun of people but doesn't have the smarts to back up his insults.

Predicting what the second part of the book is going to be about, I think the kids are going to create this political party for social action to stop bullying and name calling. Many kids and even adults can enjoy this book because they can relate to their own experiences in middle school and high school, and they can see how power is played in the school institution. This book is full of rich text that facilitates big ideas that can relate to pre-adolescents. This book is funny, but also has a serious undertone of the effects of bullying. I am exciting to finish reading this book, and see what Addie, Bobby, Joe, DeShawn, and Skeezi Tookis have in store for social action...

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Mommy Laid an Egg by: Babette Cole


The title of this controversial book is pretty self explanatory of what the book is going to be about. Children are curious and want to know where babies come from. Usually they ask their parents, and either they get the truth or they get some made up fantasy story of how kids are made. If the parents don't give the kids an answer they are going to learn it sooner or later from friends. Anyways, this book starts out with these parents treating their kids like babies and giving them with crazy made up stories of how babies are born. The parents say that girls are made from sugar and spice and everything nice, and boys are made from slugs, snails and puppy dog tails. This line right here can facilitate a discussion about stereotypes of boys and girls. So are girls only supposed to be nice and be in the kitchen with sugar and spices? Are girls not allowed to get dirty and play with bugs like boys do? I didn't like this "made up" story that the parents tell their kids in this book because it is stereotypical of what girls and boys are "supposed" to be like in our society. Another tale that the parents made up is that babies are delivered by dinosaurs. I mean come on! Are the kids stupid? Dinosaurs have been extincted for millions of years, so how could they deliver babies? If I was a child, I wouldn't want to be lied to. If anything, I would rather my parents say they don't feel comfortable talking about it, and I would either forget about it or go ask my siblings or friends. I really liked how the kids in this book listened to their parents stories and then they responded by pretty much saying " I don't think so, daddy has a tube with seed pods and mommy has an egg inside her". Then the kids go on to say "this fits inside here" and explain the actual process by drawing different positions of how mommy's and daddy's fit together. The way the kids explain it is "it's a speed race for the eggs and the winner get the egg and it grows into a small baby". I understand how this book would be a very controversial and perhaps inappropriate book to share with students in the classroom. But I do think that this is an excellent book for parents to use if they do want to explain the truth about where babies come from. I really appreciated how this author showed how many people patronize young kids and act like they don't know anything. Most kids do know a lot, and if they don't, they will learn. It is a natural part of life.

Uncle What-Is-It Comes to Visit by Michael Willhoite


This book is about two kids who have an uncle that comes to visit for the first time. Their mother tells them that her brother is gay, but she doesn't get a chance to explain. The kids go out in the neighborhood and ask people what being "gay" means. They get the stereotypical responses back such as "it means he's a fag" or "queer" or "they dress up in women's clothes because they want to be woman"...etc. Even when the kids ask their mother if their uncle is married she responds and says "no he's not married, he's actually gay". That statement kind of disturbed me a little bit because I support gay marriage and gay rights. People need to accept it and stop acting like being gay means they are bad people. Anyways, the book continues and the uncle arrives. The kids are surprised to see that he is nothing like they had been told or what they expected. He looked like a normal guy who liked to do normal things. The book illustrates that gay people are just like heterosexuals and it also explains that gay men fall in love with other men instead of women. Also the same for lesbians, except the opposite (women fall in love with other women instead of men). I liked this book because it shows many different stereotypes that ignorant, heterosexual people hold against gay people. I think kids need to read books like these so that when they do meet or see a gay person they understand that they are just like them, NORMAL. This book is controversial because some parents and teachers do not feel comfortable with their kids learning about gay people because they don't believe in it and think that it might turn their child gay....which is ridiculous! I believe that gay people deserve the same rights as everyone else and they shouldn't be discriminated against because of their own personal choices.

I Never Knew Your Name by: Sherry Garland


This is a book about a boy (narrator) who observes his neighbor (young teenage boy) at different times throoughout a short period of time (my guess is a month or two). The neighbor boy plays basketball and is very isolated from other people. The main character/narrator wants to play with the neighbor boy but on several occasions decides against it. The narrator notices his sister making fun of the neighbor because of his funny clothes and the little boy's rationale for this is "I guess that's the way big sisters are". When the main character sees the neighbor boy feeding the pigeons he almost decides to go up on the roof and join him. However, he notices that the neighbor boy is crying so he decides against it. Eventually the narrator finds out that the neighbor boy committed suicide. The book never states that the boy committed suicide, but the pictures and the text makes the audience infer that that is what happened. For instance the sister says to the little boy (narrator): I don't know why he did it, he wasn't so bad. The sister probably felt guilty for making fun of someone she really didn't know. The little boy felt really guilty for not trying to be friends with him, when he really did want to get to know him. There is a high suicide rate for teenagers, and children need to be aware of the negative effects of bullying, stereotyping and not accepting people can have on young adults. This is a book that I would definitely share with a group of older intermediate level readers because even though this is a controversial topic it is something that is relevant or may be relevant for them in the near future. Middle school and high school are some of the hardest experiences people go through in life. If kids are aware of the statistics and the effects having a friend can make, they may be more willing to accept people that are a little bit different from themselves.

The Stupid Kids Die By: Harry Allard


First of all, the title sends a very strong statement that really explains what this whole book is about. Stereotypes. Stereotypes of how people are supposed to act and how they are supposed to be in our society. This is a family called the "Stupids" who do various activities that are not acceptable and do "stupid" things such as not being able to tell time, mows carpet instead of lawn, eats breakfast in the shower, eating with feet, making a dress with chickens, can't see in the dark so they must be dead. These are all examples that happen to the stupids throughout the story. The message of the story is show that if people do things in an unconventional way, you are stupid. It is hard for the general population or different groups of people to be acceptable of others that are different from them and do various activities in a different way. For example, some people may not have been born with arms, thus they do everything with their feet including eating, writing, cleaning, grooming etc. How can people judge that this person is stupid because he or she uses their feet instead of their hands. When the author used the example of the women making a dress out of chickens it made me laugh out loud. In our society it is acceptable to make fur coats and no one laughs at them. In fact, they are regarded as most likely having money and a higher social economic status. So isn't that the same as making a dress out of live chickens!? I thought that was a funny example that demonstrates how some of the ideas that are "normal" in our society, can be kind of messed up and "stupid" from another person's perspective.

"The Un-Wedding" by: Babette Cole


This controversial picture book is about two kids and their parents and the process of divorce. Throughout the entire story, they never mention the actual word "divorce" but refer to instead as an "un-wedding". The book explains why parents fight and give specific examples of how they disagree and have different ideas. For example, the mom's idea of a dog is a big fat furry one. The dad's idea of a dog is a small cute short haired one. The dad's idea of vacation is camping, and the mom's idea of vacation is going on a cruise. I think the author does a good job of making these ideas understandable for kids, instead of saying that parents get divorced because of money, or an affair, or different values and beliefs. This book makes the controversial issue of divorce more kid friendly because it focuses more on the likes and dislikes that the parents have with each other. I don't know if this is necessarily good, because kids are smart and they understand a lot more than we thinkt they do. Maybe being honest with kids about the real reasons of the divorce would benefit them because they could better understand that it is not their fault.

One reason I think people get divorced is because sometimes they get married young, and over the course of time people evolve and mature and change into different people. This book focuses more on this aspect, that the parents have different interests and are very different people. One thing I didn't appreciate about the end of the book was how the author depicted a "un-wedding" or divorce as if it's a time for celebration and happiness. Divorce can be ugly, and very horrific for both the parents and the kids. I believe the author was trying to send the message that it is okay for people to get divorced, because the two people are usually happier as an end result. However, this book made it seem like it's "cool" if your parents get divorced because you get more material things, like two Christmas's, two birthdays etc.

An important aspect when teaching children about divorce is that it is NOT their fault. Many children take responsibility for their parents divorce and this can lead to low self esteem and really damage a child's psyche. This book briefly touches on this aspect, and focuses more on the idea that un-weddings or divorce is for people that have different interests. One aspect of this book that I really appreciated was how they talked about their parents having two separate houses, and there is a tunnel that only "Demetrius and Paula" can go through to get to each house. This is unrealistic because most divorced parents do not live in walking distance, but the message is that the kids still have both of their parents, they are now just in separate houses.