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Author: Nancy I. Sanders
Title: D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American AlphabetPublisher: Sleeping Bear Press, 2007
Grade Level: K-3Summary: An alphabet book that introduces different events and people associated with African American history.Strengths: This book is not only a great alphabet book, but a fabulous wealth of information on African American history and full of wonderful watercolor paintings. In its simplest form it a fantastic alphabet book that utilizes African American history to depict the alphabet. It is certainly a refreshing option to typical alphabet books. But the book is much more than an alphabet book. On each page there are a few paragraphs explaining the history behind each example. Everything from abolitionists to the Underground Railroad to the Civil Rights movement to important African Americans is covered in this book. Since the history is included, this book is appropriate for a wider audience. Younger children will be able to learn and practice the alphabet in a new way, while older children can use this book to study African American history. I have certainly picked this book as a touchstone book for me!Classroom Use: This book would be a great introduction to African American history. Younger children may enjoy making their own alphabet books outlining African American history. Teachers can certainly use this book as a model to create alphabet books of their own for different topics of study, helping children learn and remember important information. This book would also be a great introduction for older children to pick topics out of the book for further study. Teachers may also want to check out the other books by Sleeping Bear Press such as: A is for America, M is for Maple, D is for Drum, D is for Dancing Dragon, S is for Shamrock, P is for Passport, G is for Galaxy, and M is for Majestic, which will help to expand teachers’ and children’s knowledge about the world.(image from Amazon.com)
Author: Compiled by Catherine Clinton
Title: I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
Grade Level: 3rd grade & upSummary: A collection of African American poetry from the 1700s- 1900s.Strengths: What a wonderfully diverse collection of poems! From Langston Hughes to Angelina Grimke to Maya Angelou and Alice Walker, Clinton compiles a diverse and fairly complete collection of poems. Another strength of this work is the short biography of each poet prior to their poems. This information helps to provide background to the poems as well as provide all readers information on these poets. The poems allow for students to tackle tough issues such as slavery and racial discrimination as well as study great African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and introduce them to poems turned into songs such as “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing.”
Concerns: Each poem in this collection must be reviewed and evaluated on its own to understand if it is appropriate for your intended audience. Since these poems tackle many tough issues related to being African American in America not all of these poems are appropriate for all ages. I think some young audiences can appreciate these poems and even practice reading aloud with the poems. However, these poems are made for older audiences. Older audiences will be able to tackle the issues and look past the figurative language to truly appreciate the poets’ messages.Classroom Use: These poems would be great supplements or introductions to lessons about slavery, racial discrimination, the Civil Rights Movement, or racism in America. My hope would be that these poems would not be saved for February, but be celebrated as great works of American poetry. These poems can also be used for poetry read alouds, giving students an opportunity to study, rehearse, and perform these poems in front of an audience. The simple bios before the poetry also lend itself to author studies on these great poets and their work.(image from Amazon.com)
Author: Compiled by Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark
Title: The Oxford Book of Story Poems
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2006
Grade Level: 4th grade & up Summary: A collection of story poems.
Strengths: This is a diverse and complete collection of story poems. Poems range from Edgar Allen Poe to Edward Lear to Lewis Carroll. This book is full of adventure poems, Biblically based poems, and poems about princes and princesses. It is a great resource and anthology of poetry.
Concerns: This poetry anthology is certainly not meant for younger audiences. The difficulty of the poetry as well as the content matter makes this anthology suited for older audiences only. Even then, this book may be best used as a read aloud resource, as even older students may struggle with the poetry.
Classroom Use: This book would be used most appropriately as a read aloud. It would be a great resource to have in the classroom for children to explore different types of poetry and to challenge more proficient readers. (image from Amazon.com)
Author: Poems by Edward LearTitle: Nonsense!Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004.Grade Level: 1-5Summary: A collection of Edward Lear’s limericks.Strengths: Valorie Fisher’s illustrations! They are lively, fun, extraordinary and bring to life Edward Lear’s limericks in a new way. Fisher layers different pictures and mediums of artwork, bringing a whole new artistic style to children’s literature. Another strength of this work is the vocabulary and the incorporation of definitions of new vocabulary words in the illustrations. Throughout the illustrations definitions of tough vocabulary words are included. Vocabulary words include accomplished, induced, relinquished, remarkable, seldom, frequently, to delude, expansive, amiable, entranced, affable, associate, and vexed. This is a great way to not only introduce children to limericks, but to new vocabulary as well.Concerns: Younger children may not be able to understand or truly appreciate the style, vocabulary or limerick structure of Edward Lear’s poems. While children may find the poems silly, for this book to be used in an academic activity it may need to be reserved for older audiences. Regardless, this book is a fun read aloud for both young and old!Classroom Use: This book would be a great introduction for limericks. For older students, this might be a great book to use as an introduction to teaching about the structure of limericks. Children should then be challenged to write their own limericks. Valerie Fisher’s illustrations might inspire students of all ages to create collage like artwork to accompany their written work, especially poems.(image from Amazon.com)
Author: Poems Selected by William ColeTitle: Oh, Such Foolishness!Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, 1978.Grade Level: K-3Summary: A collection of silly poems by various poets.Strengths: These poems and rhymes are very silly and very entertaining for small children. This book would be a great way to introduce poetry to younger children and to show them that they are already familiar with poetry such as nursery rhymes and jump rope rhymes. The illustrations by Tomie DePaola are whimsical and may be familiar to young readers who are familiar with his book.Concerns: Many of the poems were so silly that they did not make sense and some of the poems are older poems and therefore use language or terms that are no longer “politically correct.” While, this should not be a huge concern readers should be aware of this characteristic to avoid getting caught off guard. I personally did not enjoy many of the poems, but it is an interesting collection that should be available to children to read.Classroom Use: This book lends itself to identifying poetry in students’ daily lives such as jump rope or hopscotch rhymes. This book can be a great introduction to jump rope rhymes or nursery rhymes and give students an opportunity to share or practice their favorites.
I found a really great non-fiction find for those students who are interested in science and learning more about animals. (Thanks Miss Rumphius Effect). Click here to check out the book and my comment!
Author: Mo Willems
Title: There is a Bird on Your Head! (An Elephant & Piggie Book)
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children, 2007
Grade Level: K-3Summary: Piggie and Elephant try to solve the dilemma of Elephant having birds on his head.Strengths: Both the text and the pictures are lively. The entire book is in a cartoon style, which is both entertaining and familiar for young children. When Elephant screams, "Aaaaaaaaaggghhh!" you really feel him screaming and running away. The illustrations also tell how both Elephant and Piggie feel, which livens up the text. I think young children would enjoy the story and beginning readers can feel the accomplishment of reading a whole book since the text is both limited and simple.Classroom use: Students who enjoy There is a Bird on Your Head will be happy to know there are more Elephant & Piggie books and even more books by Mo Willems. Your class might enjoy an author study on Mo Willems or a chance to create their own Elephant & Piggie story.*2008 Capitol Choice Award winner(image from Amazon.com)
