LSSL

BIBLIOGRAPHY Krosoczka, J. (2009). Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 9780375846847 PLOT SUMMARY In this graphic novel, book number two of Lunch Lady series, Lunch Lady battles against the librarians. Mrs. Page, the librarian and her league are planning on destroying all the video games that are about to be released. The lunch lady teams of with Dee, Terrance and Hector, the Breakfast Bunch from the first book, to stop the librarian’s plans. CRITICAL ANALYSIS This is a popular book series in my classroom of third graders, so that is why I feel like it is appropriate for that age. It is an excellent graphic novel for a read along, since it is simple to follow. The illustration of the book is simple, yet grabs the reader’s attention. The color scheme in this book are rather dull including only black, white, grey, and different yellow but it does make the dialogue in the book more noticeable. Personally, I believe thi...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Hale, D. & Hale, S. (2008).   Rapunzel's revenge .  New York, NY.  Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books. ISBN: 9781599900704 PLOT SUMMARY This story is about Rapunzel who lives a spoiled and privileged life in her village. She is very curious about what is outside the walls because her mother, which is not her real mother, does not allow her to leave. Being curious, she escapes and sees the poverty and ill-treatment of the villagers who live on the other side. Rapunzel meets up with Jack and together they encounter several  adventures to save her real mother. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Rapunzel’s Revenge is a graphic novel that is entertaining and exciting for students in the upper elementary to read. The illustrator does a wonderful job, it is colorful and you can clearly see every detail which capture expressions on the characters face. This twist on the original is amusing and entertaining.  Seeing Rapunzel use her hair as...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Ryan, Pam Munoz. 2015. Echo . New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 978-1338133028 . PLOT SUMMARY Echo is about the stories of Friedrich, brothers Mike and Frankie, and Ivy. Which are intertwined with the tale of a boy named Otto. Otto gets lost in the woods and is frightened. He meets three mystical sisters in the forest during a game of hide and seek. Otto’s life is changed forever by the three sisters and a magical harmonica. Decades later, the harmonica appears in the lives of Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California. All the stories are pulled together with the story of the three sisters from the beginning into a powerful tale.   CRITICAL ANALYSIS This is a wonderful, epic story with music tied into it. The characters are well-developed and sympathetic; the storylines believable. It’s like four stories in one book, which words well because of the way the sortie is well developed. The stories are diverse because i...

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Lord, Cynthia. 2006. Rules . New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN: 0-439-44382-2. PLOT SUMMARY : Twelve-year-old Catherine has a lot to deal with. She is dealing with common adolescent issues like friends and boys but, she is also dealing with having a sibling who is autistic and parents whose expectations of her are high. Catherine watches patiently over her brother but feels frustrated and embarrassed by his disability. She makes “rules” for him to follow to help him be more “normal”. She learns to better understand the feelings of her disabled friend Jason but not without learning what true friendship means. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: Rules is a wonderful realistic fiction book not only because of its character but also the plot.   The characters in Rules are ones that every young child can relate to or learn from even though not all readers can relate to having a sibling with Autism. This book is special because there are not many books that address autism. M...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Erdrich, Louise. Chickadee . New York: Harper, 2012. ISBN 978-0060577926 PLOT SUMMARY Chickadee is the son in an Ojibwa family. He has a twin brother name Makoons. They are always together, but one day they become separated when Chickadee is taken. The family spends the remainder of the fall season searching for Chickadee, unaware if he is dead or alive. They must cross new territories and experience great heartache as well as surprising new joys. CRITICAL ANALYSIS This is Louise Erdrich fourth book in the Birchbark House Series. Erdrich truly captures the lifestyle of the Native-American Ojibwa culture in Chickadee . This story is both heartwarming and frightening. As the story unfolds we learn the love that the twin brothers have for their family. We learn that the community is connected and that everyone is involved with helping with daily chores like gathering food. The historical information about the Native American tribes and traditions is pr...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Schmidt, Gary D.   The Wednesday Wars. New York: Hyperion Books, 2007.  ISBN 978-1-4231-0687-6 PLOT SUMMARY The Wednesday Wars is about a seventh grader names Holling Hoodhood. Holling attends Camillo Junior High during the Vietnam war and Martin Luther king’s assassination. He believes that is teacher Mrs. Bakers hates his guts. Holling is battling between two worlds. The worlds of his baseball buddies, Shakespeare and the girl who is always there for him. Hollings also has to deal with his father who is focused more on his architecture business then holing and his sister who has run away to California. Holling learns a lot about himself and finds friendship in unlikely characters during seventh grade. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Holling is a teenage boy who is dealing with friends, family, teachers and girl issues, much like teens of today. Although the time period is 1967, readers can still relate because of the similarity in issues. Schmidt shows...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Cushman, Karen.   The Midwife’s Apprentice. New York: Clarion Books, 1995.  ISBN 978-0547722177 PLOT SUMMARY The midwifes apprentice is about a lonely, unwanted, neglected homeless girl. She doesn’t know her age and has no name other than Brat. She slowly starts to finer herself with a place to sleep, food to eat and new profession, a midwife. She fine a new name for herself, Alyce. After she is not able to deliver a baby, she runs away to work at an inn. At the inn, she successful delivers a baby and returns with confidence to take her place as the midwifes apprentice. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: Karen Cushman’s The Midwifes Apprentice provides a detailed account of a poor young girl’s transformation from a wandering, nameless child, to a woman with a name, who serves her community with valuable skills. The medieval village is dirty, smelly, and completely realistic. Cushman’s characters are relatable and believable to young readers. She is rel...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Larson, Kirby.  2014.   Dash .  New York, NY.  Scholastic Books. ISBN: 978-0545416368 PLOT SUMMARY Dash is the story of Eleven-year-old Mitsi and her family that have their lives turned upside down because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They are forces to relocate to a war internment camp. Mitsi and her family must leave everything behind including their dog, Dash. Her neighbor Mrs. Bowker agrees to take Dash in while the family is at the camp. While at the internment camp, Mitsi begins receiving letters from Dash. The letters help Mitsi gain hope that one day they would be reunited with Dash. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Kirby Larson creates a story based on the real-life events of a Japanese American woman. As readers, we are able to imagine what life was like during the bombing of Pearl Harbor and life in an internment camp. Larson provides readers with how anti-Japanese feelings were heightened during this time and how friends t...

Bibliography : Bartoletti, S. (2010). They called themselves the K.K.K.: The birth of an American terrorist group.  New York: Houghton Mifflin. Plot Summary: They Called Themselves the K.K.K provides us with the long history of the American Terrorist group K.K.K. The explains the exploration of the civils war and the emancipation proclamation. It provides readers with the evolution of the group from the very beginning and gives readers an insight through the personal experiences of Mittie Williams Freeman. The book mostly focuses on the KKK but it does contain details the anti-slavery actions of sympathetic Unionists and the anti-freedom actions of the Confederates. Critical Analysis: They called themselves the K.K.K. is an informational storybook because it has a storyline with characters to follow, it also includes dialogue and narration. The book contains many text features that help the reader navigate through the book such as table of contents, captio...

Bibliography : Tonatiuh, Duncan (2015). Funny Bones Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras .  New York, NY. Abrams Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9781419716478 Plot Summary : Funny Bones Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras tells the story of Jose Guadalupe Posada, particularly his artwork of Calaveras. The book discusses the artist Jose Guadalupe or also known as Don Lupe and after his death Posada. In this book readers will learn about the creation of Calaveras art, the meaning, the artists struggles, success and samples of the artwork. Critical Analysis: The author Duncan Tonatiuh shares the journey of Jose Guadalupe Posada life in this captivating biography. The beginning of the book sets the history of Posada’s childhood, how he learned to read and about his discovery of his lifelong passion for printing. The book goes on to discuss some of the struggles he faced from having to move because of political views in his artwork to losing his shop to a ...

Bibliography: Jenkins, S. (2014). Eye to Eye: How Animals See The World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. ISBN 978-0547959078 Plot Summary: Jenkins Eye to Eye is an informative text about different animals and their eyesight. Each page features animals with all different eye balls, more than 100 eye balls total. The eyes vary from size, shape and other unique features.   Critical Analysis: In this eye-catching book, Jenkins shows us the worlds of animal eyes and each eyes function. Readers can learn a wide range of interesting facts about each eye for example, how animals “communicate, find food, avoid predators, or locate a mate” using their eyes. Towards the end of the book readers get to see the evolution of the eyes through a chart.   This book is great for all ages, younger readers will love the illustrations and older children will enjoy all the interesting facts. Jenkins use of a mixture of different textures give it a collage lik...

Bibliography:  Fleming, Candace. Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life . New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005. ISBN  9780689865442 Plot Summary: Candace Fleming’s Our Eleanor is a biography about one of America’s most beloved first ladies. The book begin with a timeline then brings the reader through a nontraditional look at Eleanor’s life through handwritten notes, letters, newspaper articles, personal diary entries, and photographs. Critical Analysis:  In Our Eleanor , Fleming’s invites the reader on a wonderful journey of the former first ladies’ life in the form of a scrapbook. The book starts with Eleanor’s childhood then to motherhood, next her time as the first lady and ending with her death. What sets this biography apart from others is not only the use of the scrapbook but also the way Fleming keeps the reader engaged and motivated to move forward and read to the very end. What is fascinat...