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Amber Long
60 Sylvan Heights Drive
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648
anl5049@psu.edu
3/26/2009
Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
21 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011
Dear Mr. Parnell and Dr. Richardson,
My name is Amber Long and I am writing to present to the authors of And Tango Makes Three an award. My children’s literature class at Penn State Altoona was assigned to create an award, have the class nominate books, and choose a winner. The award I created was called “The I Love You Award”, which would be given to the book that best demonstrated love and friendship for children.
I chose to award this book because it was the book that best illustrates for children how love can exist in different forms. I had read this book before and loved it. I did not know children’s books existed that discussed the controversial issue of same-sex relationships. I thought it was a wonderful story, especially considering the fact that it was based off of a true one. It is great that Tango’s story could be used to create a book that introduces children to some of the uncomfortable subjects that our society is dealing with today. As a future teacher, I will definitely make the decision to share this wonderful nonfiction picture book with my students to help them understand and be aware of same-sex relationships. I think this will also be a great benefit to a classroom for students that do have families that are similar to Tango’s.
I would like to thank you for taking your time to read this letter. This book gave a wonderful example and demonstration for the meaning of love. This award may be a small one, but I think you should know that this book is touching many people. I will continue to share this book with others and encourage other teachers to read and share the story.
Sincerely,
Amber Long
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Cooking Wizardry for Kids I nominate "Cooking Wizardry for Kids" by Kenda and Williams. I nominate this book because it gives good direction for kids and cooking including safety tips. The book is great because the recipes are low-fat and low-sugar recipes written by children. All the recipes are fun for children to make and include all the calorie, fat, sodium and cholesterol per serving. The book also follows an easy format for children to follow. ]]>
I nominate the book, "This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort" for the Gracie's Cry Award. The book could be used in almost every grade, but mainly grades 4-6. This book is an anthology of poems written by children about the September 11th events. I nominated this book because I think it has a strong relationship to us all presently and could definitely be used in any of our classrooms in the near future to teach about these horrific events.
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Dragons hate to be discreet ; a story I nominate the book, " Dragons Hate to Be Discreet" by Winifred Rosen. This book is good for grades 2-4. Instead of looking at all of the more popular books, I chose to look at a picture book that I had never heard of. I nominated this book because of the way it kind of introduces fictional creatures. In the story, a girl is friends with the dragon and tells how the dragon can be nice and friendly, but will breathe fire at the "right moment". This is an interesting picture book that would be good for a read aloud. ]]>
I choose to nominate the book, "Hansel and Gretel" retold and illustrated by Jane Ray. This particular Hansel and Gretel book should be used in grades 3-6. The illustrations in this book are different than most versions and give it a new, interesting twist. I chose to nominate this book because of some of the morals there are to learn from this story. All of us as human beings are curious, and in this case, that curiosity gets them stuck in a bad situation. It's kind of a harsh story and I think that as a student I would learn the lesson for these siblings by just reading the book.
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