Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story book talk (historical fiction)

Bunting, E. (2000). Dreaming of America: an Ellis Island story.  New Jersey: BridgeWater Books.


     Imagine being fourteen years old and going on a big trip with two little brothers.  Now imagine leaving the only home, family, and friends that you have ever known.  How would you feel?  Now imagine doing this all on your own, without any grown ups to help you.  Would you be afraid? I sure would.
     In the story, Dreaming of America, that's what Annie had to do. Her parents had moved to America and left Annie and her brothers with their Auntie and uncle.  Annie's parents worked hard to earn enough money to send for the children. She left her home in Ireland with her two younger brothers, Anthony and Phillip, to come to America.  They had to travel on a big ship with lots and lots of other people and it was very crowded on the ship.  It was noisy and hot and when they hit bad weather, and people got very seasick and threw up alot because the weather made big waves that made the ship move all over. They were on the ship for a very long time.  They even spent Christmas on the ship so there was no Christmas tree or delicious dinner.  There were no presents either.  Will Annie and her brothers make it to America to find their parents? Will she ever see Ireland and her family and friends again?  You'll have to read Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story to find out! 

Poetry for Young People

Hughes, L. (1994).  Poetry for young people.  New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.



 

The poems in this collection are all written by a single poet, Langdon Hughes.  The collection features narrative poems, with intriguing titles, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and "Walkers of the Dawn".  Many of Hughes's poems talk of slavery and the struggles of African Americans throughout history.  Hughes uses simile in many of his poems.  One example comes from his poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" where he writes "My soul has grown deep like the rivers".  He also uses dialect in his writing by using the word "I's" which means I have or I am, and also "de" for the, and "ma" for my because that is the way the characters in his poems would actually speak.  His poems are mainly written in free verse,
but one example of rhyme is "Genius Child", on page 32, in which it says "This is a song for the genius child. Sing it softly, for the song is wild". 

 

Hughes's poetry is sometimes dark and moody, reflecting the struggle he sometimes felt.  His poems reflect the African American culture, and he was probably the best know African American  poet from the 1920's until his death in 1967.  Because his poems are mainly written in free verse, I would recommend this book for older students between grades 7-12.  I feel that this would not hold the attention of younger readers, although the illustrations are great.

 



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.

Pepita Talks Twice

Lachtman, O.D. (1995).  Pepita talks twice.  Houston, TX: Arte Publico Press

 

In this realistic fiction, multicultural picture book, Pepita gets tired of always having to translate English into Spanish and Spanish into English for people in  her neighborhood who are not bilingual.  She decides that she is only going to speak English from now on, but there is a problem.  She can no longer ask for her favorite foods (because they have Spanish names), and her dog Lobo only responds to his Spanish name.  When Lobo almost gets hit by a car because he would not respond to the English version of his name(Wolf), Pepita decides that speaking two languages is a good thing.  We can see that Pepita's personality is frustrated at the beginning of the book, and through dialogue between Pepita and others in the story we can understand why.  The conflict in the story can be person-against-self due to the way she is struggling with herself about the decision to speak only one language.  I feel that it could also be person-against-society because she is always being asked to help others in her community to translate for non bilingual members.  It is a fun book with very nice illustrations. 

Piggies

Wood, A. and Wood, D. (1991). Piggies. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company


The naughty and nice piggies in this book helps us learn to count from 1-10 in an entertaining, fun way.  Told from a child's perspective, children of all ages will enjoy reading and looking at this book.

This is one of my favorite books to read to small children.  The vivid, colorful illustrations help create the light, fun mood of this book.  The different piggies that are assigned to each finger such as "two fat little piggies" for the thumbs, and "two long little piggies" for the middle fingers, and "two wee little piggies" for the pinky fingers make it easy for small children to relate their fingers to the illustrations.  The book uses a double spread page layout with an illustration of each hand on the seperate pages.  The child can look at his or her hand and see the corresponding hand on the pages they are viewing.  I have read this book to every child in my family since 1996 and also used it in my Head Start class.  Even my 3rd graders love to read it, and will periodically pull it off the shelf to share with each other.  The hardcover makes it durable, although the paper pages would be easily torn for small children, so I would suggest keeping it out of reach of toddlers and share it at bed time. 

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.