The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid

Written by: Hans Christian Andersen

Illustrated by: Lisbeth Zwerger

Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004

40 pages

Traditional Literature

The Little Mermaid is the traditional story of the mermaid who fell in love with a human boy. This story is very well-known throughout the world. This new publication of the story makes it seem brand new. The way Hans Christian Andersen wrote the book really makes the story come to life. The Little Mermaid traditional text differs from the Disney movie in several aspects. The little mermaid dies at the end of the book so that the prince doesn’t have to.

Lisbeth Zwerger has won many awards for her illustrations. She paints with watercolors and her illustrations look so smooth on paper. The paintings seem almost transparent. The illustrations are done on single page spreads and have a white border around each picture. The text is set in Veljovic font and is formal in placement.

This book is appropriate for anyone to read, but would probably be best for older elementary age children. Even though it is a classic story, the book is very long with a lot of harder vocabulary. This book would be fine to use for younger children as long as someone was reading it to them. Students could do a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the traditional literature to the Disney movie. The students could also talk about why the endings in the book and the movie are different.

I could not find any awards for The Little Mermaid and that is very hard for me to believe. Maybe I just looked in the wrong places. Nevertheless, this is an amazing book and I would definitely recommend reading it!

Change-up: Baseball Poems

Change-up: Baseball Poems

Change-up: Baseball Poems

Written by: Gene Fehler

Illustrated by: Donald Wu

Clarion Books, 2009

48 pages

Poetry Book

Change-up is a book of poems all about baseball. Reading these poems can take you to a place where you can actually feel what is happening around you. Gene Fehler does an excellent job capturing the perfect moments of the game. Dusk is a poem included in the book that I can relate to. It is about a time when the teammates get together and go out to a vacant lot to play baseball and the little boy can hear his mom calling to him from down the street that it is time to come home. This reminds me of when I was little and I would go outside with my friends to play and my mom would always call me in when it started getting dark outside. I also like the poem The Umpire. In this poem the player hates the umpire for calling strikes on each one of his teammates, especially him. Come to find out at the end of the poem that the umpire is actually the player’s dad. Window Noises is a poem a lot of little boys and girls who play baseball can relate to. Basically what the poem says is that window noises are always bad because windows don’t make sounds unless they are breaking.

Donald Wu illustrated this book using acrylic and colored pencil. I love the colors Wu used to portray the different feelings I get from reading the poems. The illustrations for Snow Baseball are done in very light colors (blues and whites) and give a very light and fluffy feeling to the poem. The illustrations for Baseball Dream 1 are done in very bright colors and really bring out the excitement I get from reading the poem. The text placement is informal and is set in Boton font.

This book is appropriate for anyone to read, but probably appeals more to children who play or enjoy the game of baseball. This book of poems could be used when teaching students about emotions you get from reading or about descriptive words. I would have my students write a poem describing something they enjoy doing and then have them illustrate the poem and share it with the class.

Change-up has not won any awards, but Gene Fehler has written several other books and poems that have won awards. Beanball is his newest novel and has been a nominee for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award, Keystone State Reading Association Young Adult Book Award, Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award, and Land of Enchantment Book Award. It was also a SIBA Book Award Finalist and won the Best Book Award for Grade 7-12 Novels. This is definitely a book I would use in my classroom!

Cinderella

Cinderella

Cinderella

Written and illustrated by: Kinuko Y. Craft

Sea Star Books, 2000

29 pages

Traditional Literature

This is the traditional story of Cinderella who was mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, but still manages to win the prince’s heart. Cinderella is the story of a fantasy coming true.

Craft illustrates the book using oil over watercolors. The text for the book is set in Adobe Koch Antiqua font and the placement is formal. Borders are used around the pages with text and the illustrations are done in both single and double-page spreads.

This book would be appropriate for anyone to read. Most people are very familiar with the story of Cinderella. Cinderella could be used in the classroom when studying character traits. The students could do a Venn diagram on the traits of Cinderella versus her stepsisters.

K. Y. Craft has won many awards for her art. She has won five gold medals from the Society of Illustrators and her paintings have appeared in Time magazine, Newsweek, and National Geographic. I would definitely recommend this book to be used in the classroom.

The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling

Written by: Hans Christian Andersen

Illustrated by: Roberta Wilson

Odyssey Books, 2010

32 pages

Traditional Literature

The Ugly Duckling is about a sad and ugly duckling turning into a graceful swan. The ugly duckling is taunted by his siblings as well as the other animals. The ugly duckling is very lonely and wants to die. He finally sees one day that he has turned into a beautiful swan.

Roberta Wilson used paint to illustrate this beautiful retelling of The Ugly Duckling. The emotion of the story can really be seen in the illustrations. The pictures are very detailed and colorful. The text placement is formal and the illustrations are both double and single-page spreads throughout the book.

This book would be appropriate for anyone to read. The Ugly Duckling is a traditional story and most people are familiar with it. This book could be used when teaching a lesson on bullying or self-confidence. Students could also research different types of birds such as ducklings, hens, and swans, and compare and contrast them.

The Ugly Duckling is a Caldecott Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children’s Book Award winner. I would definitely recommend this book since it is a very notable piece of traditional literature.

Sheep Blast Off!

Sheep Blast Off!

Sheep Blast Off!

Written by: Nancy Shaw

Illustrated by: Margot Apple

Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

27 pages

Fantasy Book

Sheep Blast Off! is a fantasy book about sheep who find a spaceship in their field. They board the spaceship and blast off into space. There is a thump and two sheep float outside to see what happened. There’s just a scratch, but lights are flashing and computers are beeping and the sheep are scared. They finally figure out they should turn on autopilot and they make it back home safely.

Margot Apple illustrated this book using colored pencils. The text of this book is set in Garamond style font and is informal in placement. A lot of the words rhyme. Each page is illustrated on a double-page spread. The colors really depict the emotion in the story. When the sheep are scared the colors are dark and when they are happy and blasting off into space the colors are very bright.

This book would be appropriate for younger elementary age children. This book could be used to teach a lesson on space or farm animals since the sheep are flying the spaceship. The students could write their own fantasy story and share it with the class. Another option would be to make rhyming word patterns.

This book has not won any awards, but Nancy Shaw is the author of 6 other books about sheep and one book about raccoons. I would recommend this book for young children.