Oh! The Places You'll Go: Best Gift for Really Anyone

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Oh! The Places You'll Go

By: Dr. Suess

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Copyright: 1990

Genre: Fiction, Character Education, Picture Book

Grade Level: Any Age

Brief Synopsis:

Illus. in full color. "Don't be fooled by the title of this seriocomic ode to success; it's not 'Climb Every Mountain,' kid version. All journeys face perils, whether from indecision, from loneliness, or worst of all, from too much waiting. Seuss' familiar pajama-clad hero is up to the challenge, and his odyssey is captured vividly in busy two-page spreads evoking both the good times (grinning purple elephants, floating golden castles) and the bad (deep blue wells of confusion). Seuss' message is simple but never sappy: life may be a 'Great Balancing Act,' but through it all 'There's fun to be done.'"--(starred) Booklist.

About the Author:

Dr. Seuss- It s difficult to imagine the children s book landscape without Dr. Seuss, who is, almost half a century after The Cat in the Hat, the best-recognized children s book writer in the country. But until Dr. Seuss -- a.k.a. Theodor Seuss Geisel -- reinvented the genre with his colorful and exuberant Sneetches, Grinches, Zaxes, and Zooks, children s books were often little more than literal-minded lessons and cautionary tales intended to transform young readers into productive citizens.

Themes: - Inspiration for life

- Helping to guide a person's path in life

- Encouragement to reaching your goals

Pre-Reading Activities:

- Have students write a list of their goals in their journal.  They can be long term or short term.  For the short term goals have them set a date and try to reach it by the end of the year.

Post Reading Activities:

- Have students try to write a story like Dr. Seuss. They can try to use inventive, silly words in their stories.  After they are finished they will read it aloud to the class. Drawings should be included as well with their writing portion.

Reflection: This is another classic book that I could not leave out of my blog.  It is an inspiration for many people and is a very popular baby and graduation gift.  I actually quoted the last line of this book in my graduation speech in front of thousands.  Dr. Seuss creates very fun and educational books for children, but they are also something that adults still enjoy.  Definitely a book that needs to be kept in my classroom at all times.

Links:

Book Info. and author bio.

The Blacker the Berry: Loving the Skin your In

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The Blacker the Berry

By: Joyce Carol Thomas

Illustrations By: Floyd Cooper

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishing

Copyright: 2008

Genre: Poetry, Multicultural Literature, Character Education

Grade Level: 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th

Brief Synopsis: The book is a rich collection of poetry that celebrates the beauty we can find in everyone.  Black is dazzling and distinctive, like toasted wheat berry bread; snowberries in the fall; rich, red cranberries; and the bronzed last leaves of summer.  In this lyrical and luminous collection, Coretta Scott King honorees Joyce Carol Thomas and Floyd Cooper celebrate these many shades of black beautifully. 



About the Author:

Joyce Carol Thomas- Internationally renowned author received National Book Award for Mark by Fire and Coretta Scott King Award for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea.  Ms. Thomas lives in Berkeley, California.

Floyd Cooper- Coretta Scott King Award for his illustrations in Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea and I Have Heard of a Land.  He was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  In 1984, he came to NYC to pursue a career as an illustrator of books and now lives in Easton, Pennsylvania with his wife and two sons.

Themes: -Finding the Beauty in Everyone

- The use of Similies and Metaphors

- Poetry to describe Oneself

- Storytelling through Poetry

- Rhyming and the Flow of Words

Pre-Reading Activities:

- Explore the beauty in all colors.  Have students complete a graphic organizer, in which they think of things that remind them of a certain color.  Have them come up with an adjective to go with each noun they choose in each color category.

This will get them to start thinking about the meaning of colors in objects around them.  This will help build into the significance and meaning of different colors in people in the book.

- Have students get with one partner.  Have them interview their partner, touching on what is special and unique about them.  They will then have to present to the class about their partner with a picture and information to display.  They will take pride in their projects about their classmates.

- Have a mini-lesson on Similies and Metaphors.  What are they?  Give some examples.  Have children give their own examples.

Post Reading Activities:

- Have students go through the similies and metaphors in at least two poems from this book.  For each metaphor or simile have the students write it out and then explain what it is comparing, and what the deeper meaning might be in their own words.

- Discuss some of the poems as a whole class.  What are they trying to say?  Why is it important to see beauty in everyone? ... etc.  After this have students write a poem about themselves and the skin that they are in.

Reflection: This poetry book is full of beautiful and moving words that are from the heart.  The reader is pulled into each poem with the flow of the language, and then leaves the poem changed from the meaning in the words.  We are put into the narrator's shoes when they describe themselves in such a postive way, and each stanza provokes emotion.  The illustrations pefectly fit in with the elegant language, and they create the picture of the person to help understand the comparisons being made in the words of the poem.  The light and expressions on the children's faces help the book alive.  This book of poems is really helpful to get students to find the beauty in everyone and themselves.  Our world is full of different colors, shapes, and sizes of people.  When we can look and find the beauty in those around us, it will help to make the world a more accepting and harmonious place.  Remember that the world would be such a boring place if we were all cookie cutter and the same with no variety and personality. 

Links:

Book Info.

Joyce Carol Thomas Bio.

Floyd Cooper Bio.

Yoko Writes Her Name: Learning to Appreciate Others

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Yoko Writes Her Name

By: Rosemary Wells

Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children

Copyright: 2008

Genre: Fiction, Multicultural Literature

Grade Level: Kindergarten- 3rd grade

Brief Synopsis: The main character, Yoko, is a young cat who is very excited to be starting Kindergarten.  Her excitement quickly fades when two girls from class make fun of her Japanese writing of her name.  This happens right after the teacher tells Yoko how beautiful her writing is.  The girls tell Yoko she will never graduate Kindergarten, and Yoko becomes very worried that she is doing something wrong.  A fellow classmate takes an interest in Yoko and he begins teaching her English writing in exchange for her to teach him Japanese.  After this the whole class, except the two girls, becomes interested in Yoko. Her Japanese writing becomes a big hit in her classroom.  In the end everyone has a successful graduation that includes both English and Japanese language.

About the Author:
Rosemary Wells- She is a multiple award winning author of children's books.  She has written other stories in this series called Yoko and Yoko's Paper Cranes.  She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.  This video is an interview with Rosemary as she describes her life growing up and what inspires her.

Interview with Rosemary Wells from Weston Woods on Vimeo.
- Japanese calligraphy in the story is done by Masako Inkyo.

Themes: - Feeling left out or different from a group

- Getting to know and appreciate people around you

- Celebrating our differences

- Offering a helping hand to those who need it.

Pre-Reading Activities:

- Students will interview a partner and then present the information to the class.  Make sure the students partner up with someone they don't normally work with.  In conclusion have a discussion with the students with the focus being getting students to realize that by getting to know each other will help them better work together.  They will learn to appreciate each other based on their similarities AND differences. 

- Give a mini-lesson on how the author and illustrator work together to produce the characters' emotions.  Examples to discuss would be : emotions expressed through facial expressions and words that show us feelings.  Walk through a book together and model what to look for.  Have students quickly practice finding character feeling and emotion a short book with a small group. 

Post Reading Activities:

- After finishing a read aloud of the story have students focus on the feelings that Yoko experiences throughout the story.  Have them fill out a graphic organizer of when Yoko experiences specific emotions.

- Have students experiment with Japanese language.  Give them simple expressions to practice writing.  They can be creative with this and decorate their Japanese expression to be displayed around the room.

- Have students respond to Yoko Writes Her Name, and include how they felt the teacher could have responded differently in the story?, How could the class have made Yoko feel more included into their classroom from the very beginning?

Reflection:
I really enjoyed this story to introduce students to thoughts about tolerance.  I am a huge advocate for making sure my classroom is always accepting and tolerant of everyone, and that everyone feels just as safe and open to expressing themselves and participating.  Yoko shows us her Japanese culture and is more comfortable with writing in her Japanese language because she is not familiar enough with English.  A Kindergartener can relate to this because school is so unfamiliar to them even with having English as their first language.  ESL students would feel connected to this story even more because they may experience very similar situations as some people may not know how to act around new languages.
Yoko feels lows and highs when participating in school activities, and a lot of her feelings are based on how she is treated by those around her.  By having Yoko and classmates drawn as cats help to make students critque the book and what happens without feeling like it is highlighting their own behaviors.  It helps to put the story at a distance for the students.
Students can learn a lot about accepting others no matter what differences they may have.  I would talk about celebrating our differences instead of looking down on them...just like Wells does in this book!!!
I love the Japanese caligraphy that is added on each page of this book.  They can be used in my activity of introducing simple Japanese expressions to have students practice writing.  I believe students would be very excited to try this activity because it is different from what they are used to, and those that do practice the Japanese culture will take pride in the whole class taking notice to their language.

Links:

Rosemary Wells Bio.

Kira-Kira "A Glittering Outlook"

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Kira-Kira

By: Cynthia Kadohata



Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

Copyright: 2004

Newbery Medal Winner 2005

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: 5th or 6th grade

Brief Synopsis: Katie Takeshima, a young Japanese-American girl, and her family have to leave their home in Iowa in order for her parents to find work in rural Georgia.  Her parents both get jobs in a chicken sexing factory in order for their family, including her, her older sister Lynn, and her younger brother Sammy, to survive from day to day.  Katie looks up to Lynn in every way from her knowledge of school work to her knowledge of the racism in the world around her.  When Lynn starts getting sick the whole family is affected.  They try everything to keep her healthy and happy, including buying a house that Lynn has always wanted.  This story is very moving and covers a lot of different topics that evry person can learn and grow from.
Glittering. That's how Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people's eyes.  It is up to Katie to find a way to remind them all that there is always something glittering -- kira-kira -- in the future.

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About the Author:
Cynthia Kadohata- Cynthia Kadohata is a second-generation Japanese American.

Even though she hailed from Chicago, most of her childhood was spent on the road. The wandering Kadohatas moved from Illinois to Arkansas, where Cynthia's brother was born, then on to Georgia, Michigan, and back to Chicago, where her sister was born. When Kadohata was fifteen years old the family put down roots in Los Angeles, California—although by that time her parents had divorced and established separate households.

Her father became a chicken "sexer" in a poultry plant, which greatly inspired one of her themes in this story Kira-Kira.  She felt as an outsider because she noticed that the "sexers" in the plant were only Japanese-Americans. 

At the age of 21 Kadohata was hit by a car and this gave her a new perspective on life, and this was that it could be gone in an instant and to make the most of it. 

Themes: Stuggling to Survive
Coping with a family member's illness
Trials and tribulations of growing up
Losing your childhood innocence
Dealing with racism
Always being there for your family
Finding the little things in life that are truly beautiful

Pre-Reading Activities:
- Students will create a Kira-Kira bookmark for unknown vocabulary words.  They will be able to decorate the bookmarks with glitter pens and glue to stick with the meaning of kira-kira being "glittering."  While they read each chapter they will write down the unknown vocabulary word and page number.  They will then be responsible to go to their vocabulary sheets (that will be printed for them) and write down the word again and a definition that makes sense in its context.  They will be required to have at least 40 words by the end of the book.

- Have a lesson on character traits and character development.  Give the students a short story and have them create a graphic organizer with the character traits of each character.  

After they finish they will get into a small group and discuss their ideas.  I will them have them discuss how the main character develops throughout the story.  By doing this activity with a short story the students get the practice with it before having to do it with a chapter book.

Post-Reading Activities:

- Have students create a picture of something they think is Kira-Kira.  This can be anything to them that they think is "glittering" in a sense.  It is finding beauty in anything, but they will have to explain why their picture is Kira-Kira to them on the bottom.
- The students will fill out the same graphic organizer as in the Pre-Reading activity, but this time instead of the short story they will use Kira-Kira to fill out the characters and the character traits.  They can work in small groups for this and then discuss how the main character, Katie, develops throughout the book.
- In their journal they will react to how they liked the book.  What did they like or didn't like?  Would they recommend the book to others? Why?  They are free to include whatever else they felt about the book in this reflection as well.

Reflection:

I had an immense emotional reaction to this book.  Kadohata writes in a way that gets a reader very emotionally attached to the characters, and thus creates a reaction much like the charaters in the book as you are reading.  Although this story is full of very serious and deep themes it is told in the perspective of a young girl, which allows young readers to relate to her as she tells her story.  Kate, the main character, also experiences some prejudice, and would allow the teacher to address this topic with the whole class.  Katie's build many relationships with others while growing up, and these relationships can also be compared to relationships students have with others.  I love this book because it is so rich in morals and teaches students to take the time out to find what is really important in life.  It also lends itself to teach literary skills as well.  I would use Kira-Kira as a book for a literature circle because students could have great discussions while reading through this, and really express themselves.

Links:

Book Information
Book Synopsis
Author Biography
Cynthia Kadohata's Website