Boom #3- Graphic Novels

Title: Annie Sullivan and The Trials of Helen Keller 

Author and Illustrator: Joseph Lambert 

Publisher: Disney and Hyperion Books 

Publication Date: 2012

ISBN #: 978-142311336-2

Brief Summary: This is a very interesting graphic novel about Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan. The book describes the struggles and accomplishments that they shared together. Some of those struggles and accomplishments included learning to sign, learning to eat with utensils and learning that objects had names and meaning. 

Evaluation: This is one of the most interestingly formatted books I have ever read. The text is not just formatted in speech bubbles like most graphic novels. Instead, the author used the illustrations to help depict what was going on in a very creative way. Sometimes the speech bubble was placed in Helen Keller's head to symbolize what she was thinking, words were placed on objects around the home after Helen learned the names for those objects, and the book begins a drawing of young Helen as a shadow figure in total darkness. This portrayed how her life must have felt before she met Annie. The book does not spare the struggles or negative parts of Annie and Helen's time together. The illustrations showed their body language when arguing or fighting with each other so that readers could get an idea of just how frustrating this process must have been.  At times the text was hard to follow, there was a lot going on on each page and it made me feel scattered while reading. However, if small sections of this book were assigned at a time for children to read while learning about Helen Keller, I think it could be an effective and fun learning tool. This would not be the kind of book that the teacher reads out loud in front of the class because the font and pictures were so small that it would be hard for students to read/see, and their attention would easily drift elsewhere. 

Rating: 3 out of 5 signing letters. 

Book #2- Graphic Novels

Title: Biography of Malcolm X

Author: Jessicac Gunderson
Illustrator: Seitu Haydem

Publisher:  Capstone Press
Publication Date: 2011

ISBN #- 978-1-4296-5471-5

Brief Summary: This graphic novel is a biography of Malcolm X. It outlines in a simple way Malcolms values and beliefs regarding racism and equality. This novel also takes you through some major events of his life that led him to becoming a civil rights leader and events that led to his murder.

Evaluation: I did not know much about Malcolm X before reading this book which is why I chose it for my blog. The text outlined information on him in a simple, easy to read, and kid friendly way. I wold not say that this book is appropriate for all young readers of all ages because it does have some mature content in it like Malcolm's murder. The book is formatted as an informational book would be. It contains a real life picture of Malcolm X and real life timeline of his life, an index, a glossary and a table of contents. This graphic novel would be a good tool to use for introducing the topic of Malcolm X to a class.

Rating: 3 out of 5 X's

Book #1- Graphic Novels

Title: Hiccup!

Author and Illustrator: Mike Herrod

Publisher: Blue Apple Books
Publication Date: 2012

ISBN #: 978-1-60905-255-3

Brief Summary: This is a graphic novel about a bunny who has the hiccups. Him and his friends try to cure them all day at school before he has to perform in the big school play! The story tells all the different tricks he used to try to cure his hiccups. Read this book to see if he hiccups during the play!

Evaluation: This is definitely the most humorous book I have blogged about. The ideas that the kids at school came up with to get rid of hiccups were ridiculous, but I have heard of some of those same ideas from my own friends and family! The comics were written in different fonts and color which made it more interesting to read. Also, there was only a small amount of text per page. This made it more enjoyable to read than if it was written in paragraph form. I definitely recommend this book to any young reader, especially those interested in graphic novels.

Rating: 4 out of 5 hiccups!

Book #3- Poem Books

Title: Hist Wist 

Author: E.E. Cummings 
Illustrator: Deborah Kogan Ray 

Publisher: Crown Publishers Inc. 
Publication Date: 1976

ISBN #: 0-517-57360-1

Brief Summary: This book is a chant like poem about Halloween and all of the things associated with the day. The book describes old witches, the devil, ghosts, and goblins. Make the sounds that these creatures are making and chant along with them in this book by E.E. Cummings. 

Evaluation: I thought this book was rather odd. The words did not always rhyme and they sounded more like a chant rather than a poem. It also reminded me of a predictable book at times when the author wrote out what the first word on the next page was going to be. There were also a number of words that were made up and might be difficult for young readers to figure out. The illustrations were incredible. They had such elaborate colors that seemed to melt into one another and the detail was so intense. The illustrator really brought the readers right into the story and up close and personal with its characters whether you wanted to be or not. At the end of the book, the entire poem is written out together as if they were lyrics. I found this book to be creepy and think it might scare some young readers, but the illustrations are definitely worth seeing for yourself. 

Rating: 2 out of 5 ghostlings. 

Book #2- Poem Books

Title: The Burger and The Hot Dog 

Author: Jim Aylesworth 
Illustrator: Stephen Gammell 

Publisher: Atheneum books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: 2001

ISBN #: 0-689-83897-2

Brief Summary: This is a funny book about food and the many adventures the foods find themselves in. The food face struggles like wearing stripes all day as candy canes, getting stuck together as cinnamon buns and hot dogs getting into arguments with hamburgers. At the end of the book you get to make up rhymes of your own! 

Evaluation: This is another rhyming book about food that is sure to keep you laughing! Another clever twist on personification shows that food has as many feelings and troubles as we humans do! The illustrations were so different. They were not realistic portrayals of the food by any means. Extra colors were used to make the food look whatever emotion they were feeling at the time and the foods shape was altered in different ways to make them look more like cartoons. Each small poem was so far-fetched that it made the book hilarious. Whatever you do, don't read the book while you are hungry, it will just make you even hungrier!

Rating: 4 out of 5 burgers

Book #1- Poem Books

Title: Dear Hot Dog 

Author and Illustrator: Mordicai Gerstein 

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: 2011

ISBN #: 978-0-8109-9732-5

Brief Summary: This is a book about every day things as if they were alive! Written as poems, the author introduces you to things that children see throughout their day and tells you what those things are thinking! In this book you can read about the adventures of toes, a toothbrush, pants and of course, a hot dog. 

Evaluation: This book put a clever twist on personification, a common way of thinking for young children in Piaget's per-operational phase. Each poem explains the life and thoughts of these not so inanimate objects that children come across everyday! The pictures were drawn with scribbles, out of the lines, as if children had drawn them. At one point the formating of the words was completely turned on its side so the kids have to twist the book in order to read the words. So not only were the poems creative, but the formatting of the book was as well. This makes the book a lot more interactive! My favorite part about this book was its bright and vivid colors. I highly recommend this book to any child or poem lover!

Rating: 5 out of 5 hot dogs!

Book #3- Historical Text

Title: Meet Kit An American Girl Doll (Book 1)

Author: Valerie Tripp
Illustrators: Walter Rane and Susan McAliley

Publisher: Pleasant Company Publications
Publication Date: 2000

ISBN #: 2323205017

Brief Summary: This book is about a young girl named Kit Kittredge who is growing up in the 1930's. Kit has a dream of writing for a newspaper company and the book explains her adventures while trying to do so. Meanwhile, her family is living in The Great Depression, so it also highlights struggles Kit and her family went through during such an economically tough time.

Evaluation: When it comes to learning about history as a young reader, I immediately thought of The American Girl Series. Kits stories were my favorite growing up. The book gives young readers a way to relate to someone from a completely different time period. Kit goes through struggles like getting along with siblings, seeing her parents try to find jobs, and getting into innocent trouble like all kids still do today. What makes this book even better is that after the story is done, it offers a glimpse into the past. This education section of the book shows readers real photos of people from this time and tells them where people worked, what they ate and what their life was like while living in the midst of The Great Depression. Not only is this a fun book to read, but teaches the kids something valuable too about history and makes them want to read the rest of the books in the series! One may think that since the book is tied to toys, dolls, clothing and other marketable products, that the authors are just out to make money and not write high quality books. I would disagree with that assumption. It is clear after reading every single American Girl Doll book, that the authors really want their readers to learn about history through these books. I know I did. Meet Kit is a good quality historical text example and perfect for young readers, especially young girls.

Rating: 5 out of 5 newspaper articles!

Book #2- Historical Text

Book Title: Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!

Author: Kathleen V. Kudlinski
Illustrator: S. D. Schindler

Publisher: Penguin Group Inc.
Publication Date: 2005

ISBN #: 0-525-46978-8

Brief Summary: This book tells readers about the very first Dinosaur related findings and how the assumptions that archaeologists in China made about the Dinosaurs were all wrong! We eventually figured out that they were wrong by doing more research and finding more Dinosaur bones. It then goes on to explain how other past assumptions about dinosaurs were wrong too!

Evaluation: The moral of this story is that our knowledge about Dinosaurs is constantly evolving as we conduct more research on the topic. Children can be inspired by reading this book to conduct their own dinosaur related research and maybe prove historical research that we hold to be true now, actually false! The font is multicolored at times, bold, and written with a fun font. These formatting characteristics make the book more appealing to read. It is also illustrated with both dark and bright colors which catch readers attention. This book would interest any young Dinosaur lover.

Rating: 3 out of 5 dinosaur feet.

Book #1- Historical Text

Book Title: A Horse Named Seabiscuit

Authors: Kathy East Dubowski and Mark Dubowski
Illustrator: Mike Rowe (includes photos)

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Publication Date: 2003

ISBN #: 0-448-43343-5

Brief Summary: This story highlighted the historical career of the racehorse named Seabiscuit. He ran 33 races and won lots of first place prizes! The authors emphasized how much of an underdog Seabiscuit was and that he still came out on top.

Evaluation: This was an inspiration book that gave me chills the whole time reading it. I love a good underdog story. Growing up with horses, my family was always talking about Seabiscuit, and now I can see why. This is a great story for any young reader who needs to feel like they can accomplish anything they put their mind to. I especially love how the authors included Seabiscuit's return to racing after he had gotten hurt. There was a mix of illustrations and real photos in black and white (as it would have been in that time period). I loved seeing both kinds of illustrations in one book. The authors did a great job describing the fantastic life of Seabiscuit, and I highly recommend this book to any young reader, especially any young horse lover!

Rating: 5 out of 5 race horses!

Book #3- Informational Text

Title: Platypuses Web-Footed Billed Mammals

Author: Rebecca E. Hirsch

Publisher: Lerner Publications
Publication Date: 2015

ISBN #: 978-1-4677-5581-8

Brief Summary: This is an informational book about Platypuses. The author takes you through every detail about Platypuses including the following: their living environment, how they hunt, their physical characteristics, and how platypuses compare to many other animals.

Evaluation: This book is very colorful and can attract the attention of young children. However, children, especially young readers might need help reading some of the scientific words and interpreting the units of measurement that the book describes Platypuses with and describes how Platypuses compare to other animals with. It was definitely very informative and if you love to learn about Platypuses like I do this is the book for you!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Platypuses

Book #2- Informational Text

Title: Diana The People's Princess

Author: Richard Wood

Publisher: Steck-Vaughn Comopany
Publication Date: 1998

ISBN #: 0-8172-3998-7

Brief Summary: This is an informative history book for young readers about princess Diana. The book explains her upbringing, marriage, children and family, and most importantly her humanitarian efforts. It really brings to life how beautiful of a person Princess Diana was both inside and out.

Evaluation: I chose to do my blog on this book because I have heard wonderful things about Princess Diana but I didn't know that much about her and I was interested in knowing more about her. This book really describes her shining personality well and shows how amazing of a person she was. However, I don't think that this book is appropriate for all young readers. Elementary school aged children don't need to be seeing pictures of her car after it crashed for example. Also the vocabulary used in this book was complicated at times so that young readers might not be able to read this book on their own. Also, young children most likely won't be interested in this book because they probably have never heard of Princess Diana and the information that it talks about takes place way before there time. For those reasons they have no way of relating to the books information. I could see this book being useful if it was used by a child doing a project on Princess Diana who has to learn everything there is to know about her. This book is even more informative because it contains a glossary of complicated or medical terminology and the terms definitions.

Rating: 3 out of 5 crowns.

Book #1- Informational Text

Title: EMTs

Author: Kristin Nelson

Publisher: Lerner Publications Company
Publication Date: 2005

ISBN #: 0-8225-1690-x

Brief Summary: This book is all about what EMTs are and what they do. It describes the supplies EMTs use and things they do to help their patients in a medically accurate yet child friendly way. It also contains a fact sheet and history of EMTs synopsis at the end of the book.

Evaluation: As an EMT, I saw this informational text and knew I had to use it for my blog. I was surprised to see how accurate the author was regarding the information provided and how child freindly the wording was. EMTs can handle violent and dangerous situations and I think the aspects of the job were explained in a way that was appropriate yet informative for young readers. This book really makes an ambulance and the poeple who work on it less scary for kids and I love that! I think all schools should be reading this book to students becuase the chance that they will come across EMTs or an emergency situation is highly likely. The only critique I have is that it is outdated. Medicine, especially pre-hospital medicine, is changing everyday. Many of the facts on the facts page are wrong. For example, there is no longer such a thing as an "EMT-Intermediate", also the supplies shown in the pictures look alot different now, especially the stretchers. If children read this today they probably wouldn't be able to recognize that the supplies they see in the book are the same they might see if on an ambulance or scene of an emergency. The author should write an updated version of the same book because she did an excellent job with this one!

rating: 4 out of 5 Ambulances!

Book #3- Fantasy

Title: Bartholomew and The Oobleck 

Author and Illustrator: Dr. Seuss 

Publisher: Random House Inc. 
Publication Date: 1949

ISBN #- 0-394-80075-3

Brief Summary: This classic Dr. Seuss story is about an egotistical king who wishes to have something new fall from the sky. The King summons his magicians who create the horrible Oobleck that is sticky like glue and destroys the kingdom. After realizing this is a horrible idea, with Bartholomew's help, The King is able to say that he is sorry and that it is all his fault which made the Oobleck go away! Everything in the kingdom returned back to normal because those simple words saved the day! 

Evaluation: This has always been one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. I love how all the drawings are gray scale except for the Oobleck which makes the mysterious slime look even more magical. The bright green color really catches readers attention. This story also has a great underlying message for children which is that it is always better to admit when you are wrong. Obviously there is no such thing as Oobleck, there is magic involved, and the setting takes place in a kingdom. These are all characteristics of fantasy books. This book is not appropriate for all reading levels because of the difficult vocabulary at times and the amount of words per page. The story would be more effective for young readers if teachers or parents read the book out loud to them as my parents did for me when I was younger. 



Rating: 4 out of 5 drops of Oobleck!