A Bus Of Our Own

A Bus Of Our Own

Written by Freddi Williams Evans

Illustrated by Shawn Costello

Zaner-Bloser, 2001

38 pages

Histoical Fiction

      This book was recommended to me by my CT. The main character is a little girl named Mable Jean who desperately wants to go to school. Black children con't have a bus to ride so it is a five mile walk to school. Mable Jean starts to inquire about a bus for them to ride. Her mother and daddy can't ask or they may "make trouble" and fear of getting kicked off the land. A cousin of theirs is able to buy two buses and has enough parts to make one of them run! They all work as a community to fix the bus up!

      The illustrations will break your heart! Mable Jean is so precious! The pictures are done in watercolors, I believe. They are very dream-like and the colors are soft and warm. They add to the story so much! If you couldn't see the emotion in this little girls face it wouldn't have the same impact!

      There aren't very many small communtities like this anymore, so you could talk to your students about what that would be like. What do they think it would be like? If I was using this book in my classroom, I would definitley talk about Brown vs. Board of Education. You usually don't learn about that until highschool, but I think that the older grades could handle that sort of discussion. 

Henry's Freedom Box

Henry's Freedom Box

By Ellen Levine

Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Scholastic, 2008

38 pages

Historical Fiction

      I chose this book because it is such an inspiring story. Henry was born a slave and as a young boy his mother explained to him that slave children are ripped from their families like the leaves are ripped from the trees. His mother was right and Henry was given to work in a factory after his master died.  He did find something happy though, he found Nancy, and they were married. After they had children of their own, Nancy started having the same fears that Henry's mother did. She worried that their children would be sold. She was right too. While Henry was at the factory he received word that his family had been sold on the slave market. After much sadness, Henry decided to get himself to freedom. His friend, a doctor, helped him mail himself to freedom! Henry has gone down in history as the most famous runaway slave. He is known as Henry "Box" Brown.

       The illustrations are done in pencil, I think. They are extremely integral to the story. Nelson shows all of the emotion into the characters faces and it is easy for you to try and imagine exactly what they are feeling. They are beautifully drawn in bright and sometimes somber colors, befitting the mood.

      When I was in elementary school we reenacted the under-ground railroad at a camp, but you could do this in your classroom, or school as well! You could also bring a wooden box in to let the students sit inside so they may gain a real-life perspective on what it must have been like for him to travel all that way in a box. Why not talk about how they would feel if they were separated from their family? 

Mama Went To Jail For The Vote

Mama Went To Jail For The Vote

By Kathleen Karr

Illustrated by Malene Laugesen

Hyperion Books, 2005

32 pages

Historical Fiction

      Wow, this is a powerful story! The title of this book and the cover art are why I chose this book. The turn of the twentieth century time period has always fascinated me! This is told in narrative form, and is told from the point of view of Susan Elizabeth, the main character. Where would we be today if not for the beautiful, strong-willed, made-of-steel women who came before us? I would hate to even peek a glimpse! This story is about one such woman, and her daughter. All little girls look up to their mothers and so does Susan Elizabeth, literally! She looks up at her while she rides a pretty white horse down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to protest Women's suffrage! In the story she compares her mother to an Indian Princess. Indeed! Susan's mother is a "modern woman" and dresses her in bloomers and takes her to parade rallies. I am partly amused and partly disgusted by the role her father plays in this story. First of all, they seem to be what would be considered "high society" and when her father returns home from work he condescendingly pats the mother and asks her "how many votes did she gather" that day? Sadly, there are still men today that think that women should be ornaments to men and only that. It amuses me because I know that we can overcome it today. They had to push against it back then. Susan's mother goes to jail for 6 months for protesting in front of the White House. At the end of the story, she is released from jail, but eludes to the many years that it took for women to receive the vote by the illustrations. You can see how Susan has grown and also how the fashions have changed as you see all of the women voting! One thing I learned is that every woman imprisoned for protesting for the vote was awarded a silver pin.

      The illustrations are wonderful! I think that they are my favorite! The colors are so pretty and vibrant. The expressions on the characters faces are very telling and essential to the story. The illustrations brought me the closest to the mother, since I am probably the age that she is in the story. I would like to think that I would be that brave.

      This is best used in the classroom as a history lesson, probably for older grades I should think. Girls especially would adore this story. You could have a class discussion about how you think that you would react, feel, think if you were in this time period. This could evolve into a piece of writing. You could also have them do research and find out even more facts about the Women's Suffrage Movement. 

      

      

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise

Written by Jan Pinborough

Illustrated by Debby Atwell

Houghton Mifflin, 2013

38 pages

Non-Fiction

       I am in love with this story! This was recommended to me by a librarian and she obviously loves it as well! My paternal great grandmother was a librarian in Opelika, Alabama, so I felt a little bit of a personal connection to this story. My mother has many fond memories of visiting her library, and I have visited it too! I even have some of her books from her library! This is a story about a woman who was trail-blazer! She, along with a troop of other women, paved the way that changed the "status quo" in libraries when it came to the view of children in the library setting and children's literature. Anne Moore was a little girl from Maine whose father was a lawyer. At that time, little girls were not suppose to do much else but sit inside and sew. Anne wanted to travel ans see the world, but after her mother and father both died the same week of the flu, she had to stay behind and take care of her family. Eventually she was able to move to New York City, where she enrolled in a college for librarians. When she graduated, she got a job and was eventually promoted to oversee all of the libraries in NYC. At that time there were 36 different sections all over the city! A new library was to be built on Fifth Avenue to make one big library and Miss Moore vowed that the children's room was going to be fantastic! She planned it out herself and it was wildly successful!

      The illustrations are done in acrylic on paper, according to the inside cover. I really enjoy these pictures! They are very simply drawn and pleasing to the eye. The colors are bright and vivid. I feel like the pictures always add so much to the story, and for this story it is the same!

      This book is all about having a love of reading and learning! Making our classroom libraries more accessible and engaging for our students is the key and Miss Moore knew this! I would take a poll, or have the students fill out a questionnaire on how their classroom library, or even school library could be improved upon. Involving them not only makes them feel important and that their opinion is valuable, but if they see real change, the concept comes alive for them.

Sawdust and Spangles: The Amazing Life of W.C Coup

Sawdust and Spangles: The Amazing Life of W.C Coup

Written by Ralph Covert and G. Riley Mills

Illustrated by Giselle Potter

32 pages

Abrams Books, 2007

Non-Fiction

      I found this book at a Food World that was going out of business. I bought it for twenty-five cents! This is a story about a young boy named William Cameron Coup. The circus comes to his town and he falls in love! He ends up running away with the circus. He works really hard and eventually he is able to have a circus of his own! He came up with a really cool name with "style" that can be printed on posters, so that is where the "W.C" came from. With more hard work he created a successful circus, as well as a side show! He had a very famous clown in his act named Dan Rice. He even performed for President Lincoln! He loved to stand in the shadows of his circus amidst the piles of sawdust with sparkles, spangles and magic coming to life right in front of him! One day, he received a telegram from a certain gentleman by the name of P.T. Barnum. They became partners in New York City! Together they put together a circus with two rings and he had the idea to haul it all around the country by train so everyone could enjoy the show! Then, he came up with his best idea yet-an underwater circus! He spent many years looking for the most exotic marine life to have in his aquarium! He even transported a whale in the hull of a ship! When his aquarium opened in New York City, it was amazing! No one had ever seen any of these creatures and they were astounded!  His life really was amazing!

      I am pretty sure that the illustrations are done in watercolors. I think that they are essential to the story because they do a lot of the story telling, but the  pictures are very odd in my opinion. They just don't speak to me in the same way that others have. The colors are very pretty though. They saturated and very folk-arty.

      First I would tell my class that they better not get any ideas- no one is running away to the circus! I would give them the opportunity to "design" their own circus. They would have to decide what animals, and how many animals would they have in their show? How would they transport them? This would promote forward thinking and organization. You could start a discussion about why they think people ran away to the circus? How was life different at that time, than it is now? 

Abe Lincoln: The boy who loved books

Abe Lincoln: The boy who loved books

Written by Kay Winters

Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

Scholastic, 2005

36 pages

Non-Fiction

      I chose this book because I have always been fascinated by Abraham Lincoln. This book goes through Abe's, often tough, life. He is inspiring, because in a time when not many people put a big price on education, even as a young child, he did. In his day, they had to live off the land to survive, and surviving trumped learning how to read. Abraham Lincoln did both, and that is what makes him one of the most influential and famous of all the presidents!

      The illustrations are done in oil paints onto canvas, and I love that you can clearly see the canvas texture in the pictures! I knew what it was without even looking. I think that it gives it a very earthy, simplistic feel. The pictures themselves are very simplistic, but this goes very well with the subject matter. Nearly every illustration has Abe holding a book, or a book is somewhere nearby. I thought that was a nice touch and good attention to detail.

      If I were reading this book aloud to my class, I would be sure to excitedly emphasize that Abe loved books! He wanted to write on everything he could get his hands on! Challenge your class to be like Abe, because it is a good way to be! This book could also be used as a history lesson about his life! For a writing lesson for younger grades I would bring in those tiny chalkboards and let them see what it would be like to only have that to write on, like Abe did!

     

The Hello, Goodbye Window

The Hello, Goodbye Window

Written by Norton Juster

Illustrations by Chris Raschka

Scholastic, 2005

29 pages

Multi-Cultural

      I ordered this book off of Amazon, along with an arm-load of others. One night, I arrived home and it was waiting for me in its crisp, brown packaging on my kitchen table. I had to know which book it was (like Christmas!) so I ripped it open to find this precious little book. I instantly remembered seeing it on Amazon. However, I ordered stuff like a crazy woman, so I didn't remember actually ordering it, but I am so glad that I did! I opened it up and read it right there in my kitchen...and bawled like a baby! I had a very special relationship with my Dad's mother, my Ma-Ma, just like the little girl in the story has with her Nanny and Poppy. The Hello Goodbye Window is everything to her, the beginning and the end. As a child, you remember small moments, but they are so big at the time! The simplicity coupled with the symbolic nature of a window is genius in this book! Honestly, you have to read it, because no summary that I can write will do it justice! The child-like way it is written, just like a child who is so excited that they can't wait to get the words out, along with the illustrations-just fantastic! I would like to point out that the mom and dad as well as the grandparents are multi-racial. The mom and Nanny appear to be Black and the dad and Poppy appear to be white. I should also mention that this book won the Caldecott Medal in 2005, and it was the first Caldecott winning book to feature an interracial family and a multiracial child. One of my favorite parts of the book is when she is sitting in the kitchen watching the window and "waiting for people to drop by." Her Nanny told her that it is a magic window and that anyone could come by, so naturally she is waiting for a T-Rex, and the pizza guy, and even the Queen of England. She mentions that her Nanny is English, so "the Queen like to come for tea."

      The illustrations are, once again, my favorite!! This Chris Raschka is my kind of illustrator! They are all over the place, but is is great! The pictures, to me, seem like they are done in some watercolors, a little crayon and colored pencil, and maybe oil-based paints for the deep colors. I think that the illustrations are perfectly paired with the style of writing by Juster.

      Almost every child has a relationship with a grandparent, so this would be an easy way to get them writing! Have the students write a letter to their grandparents to tell them about their favorite things to do together. Show your students the illustrations and explain to them that an "adult" drew them. Have a painting day and encourage them to use all colors, and as well as pencils, and crayons. Every child is an artist! You could even talk about why and how you can see your reflection in a mirror for a science lesson!