Sonya’s Comments (group member since Oct 27, 2011)

Sonya’s comments from the http://www.EDUG573Fall2011 group.

Lopez, W. & Wong, M.L. (2009). Mud tacos.New York, NY. Penguin Group.
Mario creates tacos in his backyard out of leaves, mud, and flower petals. Marissa thinks that they are horrible. Mario asks his grandmother to make real tacos, but she does not have the ingredients. Mario draws pictures of what they will need to pick up from the store for the tacos. Their cousin Chico is not very nice at the store or during mud taco time.
I enjoyed this book; the pictures are amazing. I do not have many books featuring Hispanic children, so I decided to read this book. This book is not just intended for Hispanic children, everybody loves tacos.

Mack, S. & Champlin, S. (2009). Road to revolution. New York, NY. Scholastic.
This is a graphic novel about the American Revolution. This book could also be used as a historical fiction novel. It talks about the road to the revolution, why they are dissatisfied with the king. They talk about the stockpiling of weapons, and they way that the colonists feel. Some are for the king, others are undecided, and then there are those against the king. Paul Revere and his famous ride is mentioned in the book. Spies are even mentioned in this novel.
I have said that I do not like reading graphic novels, but when I saw this one, I had to read it. This book is great. I think that students will enjoy reading this novel about the American Revolution rather than a history book. The illustrations in this novel are also great.

Carter, N. (2009). It’s all good.New York, NY. Kensington.
The character Gia finally has her own room in her new house with her new stepfather and stepsister. She is captain of the Hi-Steppers, who cheer at the football games. Her mother and aunt want her to join a club for girls that are virgins and are vowing to remain virgins until they are married. Gia’s relationship with a male friend has become indefinable, friends or dating? One of Gia’s friends is also in an abusive relationship.
I enjoyed reading this book and this author. Many teens will be able to relate to this story because of the issues about sex, boyfriends, and making the team. I want to read other books by this author.

Smith, T. (2009). Bone.New York, NY. Scholastic.
This is a story about two sisters who see dreams. They are in training to interpret what their dreams mean. One sister sees dreams better than the other. An evil dragon comes to kill everyone. The sister that sees better than the other, defeats the dragon. She agrees to kill the first living creature she sees after killing the dragon. The first person she sees is her sister who has been turned into an old crone. Instead of killing her sister, she kills one of her loyal dogs. Then she is nominated queen, but what will happen when people find out she spared her sisters life?
I did not care for this novel. I think that if you like graphic novels, this will be a nice read.

Johnston, T. (1998). Bigfoot cinderrrrrella. New York, NY. G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
This story is a remake of the Cinderella story, except in this story Cinderella is a dirty, ugly Bigfoot. The step sisters do not like nature, but Cinderella loves nature. The Prince loves nature. When he has his annual party, he is looking for a wife who loves nature as much as he does, and one who is as tough as he is. Time runs out, Cinderella loses her shoe, and the Prince searches for the woman with the big foot.
I like this story because the Prince is not “handsome” and perfect. He is dirty and smelly and loves nature. I think that it is a good story to use in the classroom because it spins a little different tale for the students. This story can always be used for compare and contrasting many different tales of Cinderella. The students could even come up with a Cinderella version of their own.

Paulsen, G. (2009). Mudshark. New York, NY. Scholastic.
Mudshark is a mystery/chapter book. Mudshark is good at solving mysteries. There are things that are going on in the school such as missing erasers and smells coming from the faculty restroom. There is a mysterious parrot that notices everything in the school. The gerbil is also running loose in the school.
For students that like to read mysteries, this is an interesting one. I enjoy reading mysteries, so therefore, I enjoyed this book. It reminded me of Encyclopedia Brown except Encyclopedia Brown gives clues, where Mudshark did not give the reader the clues.

Myers, W.D.(2009). Looking like me.New York, NY.Egmont.
This is a picture book about a boy who looks in the mirror in order to see who and what he is. He sees himself as a son, friend, brother, writer, and other things. He gets his ideas from what he sees and what others see him as.
I love this book. This is a great book in which to teach self-esteem and self-respect. The pictures are amazing. The pictures of the boy are just an outline, but the other pictures are real pictures of people and places. I found myself turning the book around to look at the pictures.

Pinkney, J.(2002).The nightingale.
This is a retelling of The Nightingale but the setting is in Morocco rather than China. This is a story about a bird that sings very well. People come from all over to hear the bird sing. One day the king hears about the bird and wants the bird to sing for him. The bird makes the king cry with his sound. The king wants the bird to stay with him, but the bird wants to be free. When the king is on his death bed, the bird comes back to sing for the king, and the king is made whole again.
I had not read this story before, so I enjoyed the story. I like mysteries and for me there was some suspense. I kept wondering what would happen next. This story could be used to compare and contrast with other retellings of the same story. It could also be used to talk about the characteristics of fairytales.

Pinkney, B.(2003).Thumbelina. HarperCollins.
Brian Pinknet retells the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale about Thumbelina. A woman longs for a small child, so a woman gives her magic seeds and tells her to watch them grow. Thumbelena is born, she is really small, and so the woman names her Thumbelena. Thumbelina is taken from her mother by a toad who wants Thumbelena to marry his son. Thumbelena does not want to marry the toad. A swallow rescues Thumbelena and takes her to where there are other people her size, she marries the king, and becomes the queen.
This is a great retelling of this story. The pictures are amazing. Everyone will feel sorry for Thumbelena. I think that boys and girls will like this story. This story could be used to talk about family as well as empathy and friendship. It can also be used to compare and contrast with other tellings of Thumbelina.

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Rinaldi, A.Number all the bones. New York, NY.Scholastic.
This is a book that could be used for historical fiction. The year is 1864 and the Civil War is going on. There are still slaves on many of the plantations. A young girl talks about her life on a plantation in Georgia. Her mother is dead, one brother was sold, another brother ran off to join the war, and her father is her master. The prisoners are placed in the Andersonville Prison, which was a real prison in Georgia. The girl also meets Clara Barton.
This story is a real page turner. There are many points in history that can be discussed. This young lady happened to be treated fairly well by her master, she was taught to read and write. I think that this book will bring up lots of class discussions.

Evans, K. (2011). What’s special about me, mama.New York, NY. Disney.
The little boy in this picture books ask his mother what is special about him> His mother talks about his freckles, skin tone, and eyes. But, the little boy says that he received those traits from other people in the family, so what does he have that belongs to just him? His mother tells him that the love that she has for him is what is special about him.
This is a really cute book to talk to the children about self-esteem and self-image. Many of our students do not feel good about themselves, so I think that this would be a good book to have that conversation with children.

Grimes, N. (2005). Danitra brown class clown. China. HarperCollins.
This is a poetry book told from the first person point of view of a little girl. She talks about her time in school and how she feels about her teacher, school, and homework. Zuri is the little girl’s name and Danitra is her best friend. Whenever the girl feels sad or lonely, Danitra comes in to help her feel better.

Girls and boys can relate to the poems in this book because all students have anxiety about the first days of school. All students wonder about the new school year, their teacher, friends, and homework. I especially like the poem about homework, Miss Volchek, A World Away, and A Friend In Need, a few of these poems reminded me of myself, because of this, I think that students will like the poems.

Grimes, N. (1996). Come sunday. Grand Rapids, MI. William B. Ferdman
The character LaTasha describes a typical Sunday for herself from the moment she awakes, to Sunday service, and then to bed. The poem is told from her point of view and how she feels throughout the day.

As always with poetry, there are poems that we like and there are those that we do not like as much. The illustrations are full of color you can see how LaTasha is feeling. I think that many girls will identify with LaTasha. Some of the poems rhyme and some do not. The poems are filled with feelings; you know how the character feels. Jubilation, My Offering, and, Church Supper, are three of my favorite poems.

McKissack, P. (2000). Color me dark. New York, NY. Scholastic.
This is a story about two sisters, one has a dark complexion, and the other one has a light complexion. The darker complexion sister is teased and called names because of her darker color. The sister tries to convince the sister of her inner beauty. The family deals with racism, lynchings, and burnings in the South. The family decides to make the great Black Migration North that many Blacks chose to do.
I will use this book for historical fiction to talk about how Black people were treated after the Civil War. I will also talk about civil rights and the great migration North. This story is also good for students who have a darker complexion and are feeling that they are not beautiful because of their complexion.

Curtis, C. (1998). The watsons go to birmingham-1963. New York, NY. Scholastic.
The Watsons are going down south to Alabama to visit their grandparents. The children talk about their adventure along the way. Once the Watsons leave the North, they will have a hard time finding a motel that will accept Black people in the South. This story takes place during the bombing of the church where the four little girls died.
I like the way this story flows, from before the family leaves, preparations, to the drive there and back from Alabama. I will use this story with historical fiction because of the references made to the year 1963, racism, and the bombing.

Myers, W.D.(2007). Harlem summer. New York, NY. Scholastic.
Mark is a sixteen year old boy who lives in Harlem. He tells about his summer, looking for a job, accidentally getting involved with the mob, and meeting some very interesting people. Mark gets involved in bootlegging and gets to work at The Crisis, a well-known Black newspaper. He meets Countee Cullen, Fats Waller, Langston Hughes, and many others.
This is a great book. It is full of the history of Harlem and some of the people who have made it famous. This book could be used to talk about famous African Americans, Harlem, and prohibition. At the end of the book, there are pictures of people and places in Harlem.

Tobin, P.(2007).Spiderman.O.C.,Canada.Dan Buckley.
This was the typical Spiderman graphic novel. The twist to this story is that there are two girls with superhuman powers. One girl can read minds and the other one can touch someone and put ideas into their minds. The two girls have lived in many different places. One day they see Spiderman and the one girl decides that she want to attend high school so that she can get close to Spiderman. Throughout the story Spiderman solves crimes.

This is an interesting story that I think the boys will enjoy reading. I am not a Spiderman fan, so I did not enjoy the reading, but if one enjoys Spiderman, and then they will like the graphic novel. There were quite a few storylines going on in this novel and so I kept turning back in the story to remember who was who. It was an easy read also broken down into chapters.

Morse, S. (2008). Magic pickle. New York, NY. Scholastic.
The Magic Pickle is about a pickle that has been awakened from a long sleep. The pickle is a superhero that has come to find the evil villains, the vegetables. The vegetables and the pickles used to live underneath a girls bed in a whole in the floor. When the girl discovers the hole, she goes into the hole thus awakening the pickle. The girl and the pickle find the evil villains and put an end to their destruction.
I loved this story. The storyline flowed easily and I was very interested in getting to the end of the story, a page turner. The illustrations are wonderful, nice clear pictures. The book is written in chapters, so if the students want to find a good place to stop reading for a break, they can. While reading the book I felt like I was seeing the action enfold on a television screen.

Adina, S. (2008). It’s all about us.New York, NY. FaithWords.
The main character is this story is Lissa, her father is a famous movie director, and Lissa is going to a new school. Lissa is bullied by the popular girl in school; she is also pressured to have sex for the first time. Even though Lissa says that she is a Christian, she does not want to admit to being a Christian. She falls in love with the most popular boy on campus who wants her to have sex. Lissa eventually decides to do everything but. Unfortunately for Lissa, the incident is taped and sent to the cell phones of the students at school.
This is a novel that I think that many teens can identify with because of the subject content. Many teens think that it is taboo to still be a virgin, and many whether you are a male or a female. Plus with all of the modern technological gadgets, one does not know whether they are being recorded or not. Many children can identify with being the new person in school and wanting to make friends.