Lilliput and Blefuscu

Author: Retold by Margaret Hodges
Title: Gulliver in Lilliput
Publisher: Holiday House, 1995

Grade Level: 4-5

Summary: A shipwrecked Englishman finds himself in Lilliput, a land full of people on 6 inches tall.

Strengths: I think the biggest strength of this work is Hodges' ability to retail a story meant for adults in a way that children can enjoy. The illustrations, vocabulary, and overall retelling of the story makes this story both enjoyable and appropriate for children. I think this book is best suited for older children, probably in 4th and 5th grade. Keeping that in mind, I really appreciated that Hodges divided the book into "chapters", which will also appeal to an older audience. I also found the illustrations interesting, particularly Kimberly Bulcken Root's decision to alternate between brightly colored pictures and duller pictures.

Concerns: My only concern is the interest of the intended audience. I found some parts of the story dry, which may make it even harder to get a elementary school student to read this book. Also, since this book is not intended for younger readers, it may be more difficult to grab a older student's interest since it is a picture book.

Classroom Use: I think this study would be a great supplementary resource for a unit on fairy tales. I also think older students might enjoy reading sections of Gulliver's Travels and comparing it to this particular retelling of the tale.

(image from Amazon.com)

"Oh Grandmama, what great teeth you have!"

Author: Jerry Pinkney
Title: Little Red Riding Hood
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2007

Grade Level: 1-5

Summary: Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf on her way to deliver food to her sick grandmother.

Strengths: The illustrations are absolutely beautiful in this version of the Little Red Riding Hood. Pinkney uses fluid lines and beautiful colors to depict this story. His use of pencil and water colors make the pictures come alive. Pinkney also uses great vocabulary that brings the story to life. For example the "crunch, crunch" the snow makes while Little Red is walking through the woods, makes you feel like you're too walking through the snow. He truly brings this classic fairytale to life.

Concerns: The most common concern for this book is the fact that Little Red and her grandmama are eaten by the wolf and that the woodcutter kills the wolf. While this are important events to keep in mind for young children, Pinkney does a great job at keeping those details without them becoming too upsetting for small children.

Classroom use: This book would be a great introduction to studying different versions of fairytales. Pinkney's illustrations may also encourage older students to create watercolor or pencil sketches of their favorite scenes in fairytales, such as Little Red Riding Hood.

*2008 Capitol Choice Award winner
(image from Amazon.com)

"Cackle, Cackle, Mother Goose, have you any feathers loose?"

Author: Sylvia Long
Title: Mother Goose
Publisher: Chronicle Books, 1999.

Grade Level: PreK-2

Summary: An illustrated collection of nursery rhymes filled with animal characters.

Strengths: Long is able to colorfully and creatively revamp familiar nursery rhymes. By using animals to illustrate the nursery rhymes, those rhymes that sometimes are scary or confusing are more easily understood by children. Long's double page illustrations are creative and relate wonderfully to the text. Also, Long has hidden illustrated connections from each page to the next which helps older readers have an added enjoyment of these rhymes. For instance the spoon in"Hey, diddle, diddle!" is the same spoon Little Miss Muffet uses to eat her curds and whey. They are a lot of fun to look for!

Classroom use: This version of the Mother Goose rhymes can be used in a study of other versions of Mother Goose rhymes. It is always interesting to see how authors and children interpret rhymes in different ways. This book may also inspire teachers to have children illustrate their favorite nursery rhymes as they visualize them.

(image from Amazon.com)

Are ethnic book awards discriminatory?

Click here to read a full discussion/debate about the role of awards such as the Coretta Scott King Award and whether these awards are necessary or discriminatory. There are some really fascinating comments and ideas about this issue!