Graphic Novel

Coraline

I have heard stories about the book Coraline but, I did not know that it was also in a graphic novel version. It tells the story of a young girl who moves to a new house with her family. When she goes into a door in the new house, she finds another house, that is similar to her own. She finds that it looks so much better than her own. When she gets there, the food is better than at home, and the toy box is filled with fluttering wind-up angels and dinosaur. When she looks around, there is another mother and father. It was odd to her that she realized that they wanted her to stay with their child as well. After she learns that these people want to change her into their family, she has to fully get back to her other lifestyle. I knew that's how the original story went and the same goes for this graphic novel as well. It seems like a great book to be interesting and engaging for the young readers. It is also in another format that can be appealing to them as well. The format has great pictures and sentences that the children can understand. The only exception that I would have about this story is that it might be a little scary for some readers knowing what the story line is about and knowing that they might lose their family. I would rate this book with an overall 4 out of 5 stars. 

Title: Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman

Illustrator: P. Craig Russell

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publishing Date:June 24th, 2008

ISBN: 006082543X

Graphic Novels

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Another book that is definitely very popular today in schools and is great to blog about is the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This books talks about a boy who finds himself dealing with a lot in middle school. There is experience with stress that he has at home and at school. After reading the book for my literature circle project, I have come to the conclusion that there is a lot of humor and relation with the book to children today. There are hazards of growing up and its revealed through words and drawings as Greg, the main character records them in his diary. There is testing of friendships and seeing what it is like for middle school students today. After reading the book and learning more about it, the author recalls his experiences with school and expresses aspects of what it is like in middle school. I thought the illustrations and excerpts in the book were displayed appropriately and different from regular graphic novels. The story is also realistic and relatable to the readers. I would rate this book with a 5 out of 5 stars.

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publishing Date: April 1st, 2007
ISBN: 0810993139

Graphic Novels

Smile

It seems like this book is all the rage in a fourth grade classroom. At my field placement this semester, which is seventh generations charter school, all of the students are talking about this books. After looking at the content, flipping through the pages of the book, and read some parts, it seems like it is very appealing to children at this age. The pictures and graphics are appropriate and are relatable to the children at this age. The author writes the novel as a perspective of a sixth grader. The sixth grader tells the stories of her life as a normal sixth grader until one night after her girl scouts meeting when she trips and falls.  She severely injures her two front teeth. It seems as if there is a long and frustrating journey with on and off again braces, surgery, headgear, and a retainer with fake teeth. There is also stories about a major earthquake and boyfriend and friend troubles . After reading about this in the book and hearing stories from my field students, it seems like the students feel that the story is interesting to them and that they are able to read it well. Also, the language in the book is very appropriate for the students who are reading this book and I feel it is a great graphic novel to read. I would rate the book with an overall 5 out of 5 stars because of how appealing it was to me and how I was able to see how appealing it was to the students as well. 

Title: Smile
Author: Raina Telegemeier
Publisher: GRAPHIX
Publishing Date: February 1st, 2010
ISBN: 0545132053

Poetry

The New Kid on the Block

In this book, there are poems that many people may have never thought of before or even read about before. There are many animals that the readers are introduced with and associated with the silliest of things. For example, stories that have a creative side of boneless chicken, jellyfish stew, bouncing mice, and ridiculous dogs. There are even things like eating a dinosaur or having an alligator for a pet which can sound very interesting. I love how this book gives an edge to it and how the author allows the readers to think out of the box. It portrays that the children are able to understand that anyone can be creative and have their own way of thinking. There are over 100 poems in this book that allow children to be fully engaged. These poems are also very easy to comprehend with child friendly language. The illustrations are also bring light into the poems. I would give this book with an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars because of the creativity that is portrayed and how the poems are geared toward young readers in a unique way.

Title: The New Kid on the Block
Author: Jack Perlutsky
Illustrator: James Stevenson
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publishing Date: August 20th 1984

Poetry

The Napping House

In this picture book for children, there are many elements of poetry but also a cute sleepy story about children, a granny, and animals that carry an engaging story. There are many comical illustrations that are shown within moonlight until the sun comes up and that's when all of the color comes back to awake the household. It is great to see books that are in the form of poetry along with bigger books because many children might only want to read one story. I feel that it is good that authors can put stories into picture books. The book got many awards for its story and pictures. I would overall rate this book with a 5 out of 5 rating because it takes a twist that is different from other poetry books and the story is very appropriate for children to love. Lastly, the illustrations are very realistic for the readers and helps tell the wonderful story.

Title: The Napping House
Author: Audrey Wood
Illustrator: Don Wood
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publishing Date: September 1st 2000
ISBN: 0152026320

Poetry

Where the Sidewalk Ends

In this wonderful poetry book, there are many poems that are child friendly and appealing to young readers. In the book there is about a little over 100 short poems that relate to stories of children and their families and friends. The poems also mention many events that children might do when they are younger. The poems have characters of all kind including humans and animals. The author portrays a great sense of alliteration, rhythm, and rhyme of stories that can be funny and interesting to young children. Along with having great poems that children can read, there are also great illustrations that make the stories more lively. After looking through the book and reading some of the poems, I would rate this book with an overall 5 out of 5 stars because the poems are very relate able to children's lives. They are also again very engaging and realistic for young children to understand the story line as well.

Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends
Author: Shel Silverstein
Publishing Date: November 20th 1974
Publisher: HaperCollins Publishers
ISBN:0060513039

Historical Fiction

The Gardner

The story tells a little girl who has a suitcase full of seeds and brings it to a city to stay with her Uncle who is baker. The city is going through a lot during this time and wants to try to make people smile and be happy again. The city is in a dark era because it is during the Depression. She starts to work in the shop and bring smiles to the customers faces with the flowers that she grows. She also has a secret that nobody knows about and that is where she works on her garden. It is a rooftop garden that she hops will make her uncle smile and see that she can make things happen. The story is told through letters that are written at home and there are many illustrations that express what the Depression era was like and different observations that the characters make. I feel that this book expresses many elements of what it was like in the Depression era and also the connection between a girl and her uncle. Letter are also a reflection of how many people communicated back then. It is written in a child friendly way and you could see the culture back then. I feel that the book is a great representation of historical fiction but I feel that there should be a little more information on the depression era specifically. I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars based on my explanations.

Title: The Gardner
Author: Sarah Stewart
Illistrator: David Small
Publishing Date: August 30th 1997
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
ISBN:0374325170

Historical Fiction

Survivors: True Stories of Children of the Holocaust

Throughout this book about children in the holocaust, there are text features and different stories that young readers can really be interested in. There are many elementary schools and middles school touching on the topic of the Holocaust and how it was known. The stories are real-life situations that the children gone through during their lives of danger and fear. The children found a way to make it through the rough times of the war. There were some who escaped the camps and there were also others that were not that lucky and had to experience the horror. Their ultimate goal was to get to survival and by reading the short chapter book, you can see the courage, motivation, and inspirations that it brings to young readers. After going through this book and seeing what the life was like during these times, it seems like there are many connections that the younger readers can make since they were children just like them. The readers can sense the children own feelings in the book and see how it impacted them the most. I like how the books is a chapter book and gives much detail about the stories. I also feel that there might be some words in the book that might be a little challenging for readers but besides that, it can be very engaging. That allows me to rate the book with an overall 4 out of 5 stars.

Title: Surviors: True Stores of Children of the Holocaust
Author: Allan Zullo
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Publishing Date: March 1st 2005
ISBN:0439669960

Historical Fiction

Baseball Saved Us

In this book, there is a boy named Shorty who is a Japanese American that was sent to an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor. There was a lot of other people who were Japanese Americans that were also sent to the camps as well, which were very harsh. The conditions were harsh by having long hot and hard days that they did not know what was going to happen. Shorty and his father thought that they were going to fight these conditions of the dessert and build a baseball diamond and form a league to have for the people to have enlightenment during these hard times. The story tells not only about the story of the camp and fun with baseball but, to help others learn about dignity and self respect. After looking at this book, I thought it was a great story for children to learn about and see what it was really like in the internment camps after the Pearl Harbor attack. They can see what the time period was about and how other suffered from it. Since the moral of the story is to gain a positive and greater insight about bad situations, it helps children to see how they can do the same. The picture book has a realistic element by expressing them through pictures and the text. I would overall rate the book with a 5 out of 5 stars because it tells a great historical story about a child during the times of Pear harbor and young readers can understand the perspective more as it is focused on a child. The text and pictures are very realistic as picture books should be. The children can also learn a moral that is proposed in the story and carry it out with them in any situation. 

Title: Baseball Saved Us
Author: Ken Mochizuki
Illustrator: Dom Lee
Publishing Date: March 1st 1993
Publisher: Lee and Low Books
ISBN:1880000199