A Tree is Nice

Udry, J.M. (1956).  A tree is nice.  New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.
                                      


This 1957 Caldecott Award winner explains the importance and uses of trees.  The illustrations are impressionistic and the natural appearances add understanding to the text.  The illustrations use simple lines and the simplicity of the drawings go well with the theme of this story.  The author uses personification in this story to help younger children to better understand the theme and to also make the trees seem more real.  An example of this is where Udry writes "The leaves whisper in the breeze all summer long", and "A tree is nice because it makes shade".  This was a very cute little book and I think that children pre-K through third grade would enjoy this book and be able to comprehend its meaning.

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Rathman, P. (1995). Officer Buckle and Gloria. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Officer Buckle and Gloria is a hilarious tale of a safety officer and his talented dog.  Officer Buckle loves to go to different schools to teach the students about safety, but he has a little problem...he's boring and the students fall asleep.  That all changes when he gets a partner, a dog name Gloria.  When Gloria joins the team, students take notice because she has a talent for acting, but Officer Buckle is clueless to her abilities.  Only after seeing one of his safety speeches that had been televised on the news did he realize that it was Gloria, not him, that were captivating the students of the schools he visited.

I love this story!  It was funny and interesting.  The antics of Gloria were laugh out loud funny.  You actually kind of feel sorry for Officer Buckle.  The illustrations in this book add to the story because they helped you visualize the words that were written on the page.  The cartoon illustrations are fun and colorful and make the book exciting and entertaining. Children from Kindergarten and up would enjoy reading this story.

A Story A Story

Haley, G. (1970).  A story A story.  New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.


This story is an African Folktale that explains how the Africans got their stories.  Ananse, the Spider Man, wished to buy the Sky God's stories.  After visiting Nyame, the Sky God, Ananse is given three impossible tasks to complete in order to win these stories.  The clever ways Ananse complete these tasks will entertain the readers of A Story A Story.

A Story A Story  won the Caldecot Medal in 1970.  It is written in rich text and is illustrated in the folk artistic style with mostly soft, neutral colors.  The illustrations compliment the text by enhancing the story. Gail Haley used repetition such as "So Ananse tied the leopard by his foot, by his foot, by his foot, by his foot" in several places in the book.  I found it interesting that there were no page numbers in this book.  The fact that this story is written in third-person omniscient and you knew what the characters in the story were thinking, made the story enjoyable.  The literary device onomatopoeia was used to describe sounds that the Sun God made when he chuckled("twe,twe,twe"), and the running feet of Ananse (" yiridi, yiridi, yiridi").  These fun sound will make it fun for the children to hear and repeat.