Library Witch

1. Bibliographic- Salas, Laura Purdie. Book Speak! Ill. by Josee Bisaillon. New York: Clarion Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-547-22300-1 2. Summary- A fun collection of short poems all about books! Each poem personifies an aspect of books: characters, the index, the middle of a story, and so on. You’ll finish with a deeper appreciation for books themselves. 3. Critical analysis- Salas uses short lines and verses in each of her 21 poems to make poetry accessible and easy to read to a child with a short attention span. There are alternate line rhymes which make the poems flow nicely when read aloud. The personification of books and their elements is what makes this collection so special. In “On the Shelf and Under the Bed”, forgotten books beg to be remembered and read, and in one poem the index makes its case as the best part of any book. Each poem conjures distinct images and emotions that are further enhanced by Bisaillon’s mixed media artwork. A favorite fo...

1. Bibliographic- Singer, Marilyn. Mirror Mirror. Ill. by Josee Masse. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2010. ISBN 978-0-525-47901-7 2. Summary- This is a collection of fairytale themed poems telling 2 sides to each story by reading the poem top to bottom, then again bottom to top with a changed meaning. This style has been deemed “reverso” poetry by the author Marilyn Singer. Isn’t This A fairy tale? A fairy tale This Isn’t… 3. Critical analysis- In this collection, each facing poem tells a different side of the same story with alternating text color and background color. Similarly split paint-like illustrations by Josee Masse show the duality of the poems, and extra details are added to show the origin story the poems are referring to. Short lines, sometimes only a single word, create a staccato rhythm to these short poems that can change rhythm when read the opposite way. A few poems make use of end-sound rhyme, but it is not force...

1. Bibliographic- Sones, Sonya. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young People, 2004 2. Summary- Teenaged Ruby’s mother dies, and she is sent across the United States to live with her movie-star father whom she has never met. She begins telling her story on the flight from the east coast to LA and we get some real-time observations on her feeling s, as well as background stories about her mother, and learning about who her father is. The rest of the predictable tale is told as Ruby adjusts to her new life, new school, missing her old life and mom, and learns to accept her father. 3. Critical analysis- This novel in verse tells the story from Ruby’s point of view using short lines and verses that fit nicely with a teenage character telling a stream of consciousness tale. At times it feels very much like a diary, and other times emails from her friends back home are included. It felt to me like an attem...

Rapunzel by Paul Zelinsky 1. Bibliographic-. Zelinsky, Paul. Rapunzel. New York: Dutton Children’s Books/ Penguin, 1997. ISBN 0-525-45607-4 2. Summary- An expecting couple trade their future child for access to the herbs of a sorceress. The sorceress takes their daughter, Rapunzel, and raises her as her own until she locks Rapunzel in a tower at the age of 12. The old woman uses Rapunzel’s long, golden hair to access the tower, and soon a prince comes a long to do the same. The prince and Rapunzel “marry” and she soon becomes pregnant, to the horror of the sorceress. Rapunzel’s hair is cut, she is banished to the wilderness, and the old woman throws the prince from the tower, blinding him. He stumbles through the wilderness until he comes across Rapunzel and their twin children. Rapunzel cures the prince’s blindness with her tears and they live out their days happily in his kingdom. 3. Critical analysis- The brilliantly detailed oil paintings of Pau...

The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell and Jim Harris 1. Bibliographic- Lowell, Susan. The Three Little Javelinas. Ill. by Jim Harris. Arizona: Rising Moon, 1992. ISBN 0-87358-542-9 2. Summary- Three sibling javelinas (southwestern relative of pigs) set off on their own journeys to live life and make a home in the southwest desert. As each sibling attempts to build their homes - one of tumbleweeds, one of saguaros ribs, and the other of adobe- a trickster coyote follows them, trying to get a good meal. The coyote destroys the first two javelinas’ homes, and they run to their sister’s adobe brick house. Together they withstand the coyote’s attack, and send him howling into the desert. 3. Critical analysis- A twist on the classic three little pigs, the Three Little Javelinas teaches about patience, cleverness, and perseverance of the siblings running from a coyote. This tale is set in the Sonoran desert, and it moves quickly in its descriptions of t...

The Story of Lightning & Thunder by Ashley Bryan 1. Bibliographic- Bryan, Ashley. The Story of Lightning & Thunder. New York: Atheneum, 1993. ISBN 0-689-31836-7 2. 1 paragraph plot summary: Long ago, Ma Sheep Thunder and Son Ram Lightning lived in a village among the people of Africa, calling Rain down together to help the villagers.  As Son Ram Lightning grows, he be gins destroying things and disturbing people, and the king moves them farther and farther from the village, until they end up living in the sky where they still live today. Although, Son Ram Lightning still dashes down to earth and his mother chases him as the rain comes. 3. Critical analysis- Set “long, very long” ago in Alkebulan (modern day Africa), this is the story of how thunder and lightning came to live in the sky. Son Ram Lightning tries to follow the rules set by the king, and by his mother Ma Sheep Thunder, but causes destruction as he grows up. This tale is told...