Final Class Reflection

I have to say that I have really enjoyed Children's Lit Class. I am so glad I had the opportunity to take part in making a blog. It has been fun to blog every week and read my classmates blogs as well. I am glad I did not have to physically turn in book reflections ever week.I liked how some weeks we had requirements for the types of books that we were supposed to read and other weeks we had a choice. It is so neat that I will be able to use my blog as a resource for my future classroom. My favorite project in the class was the glog. I like learning about new technology because I know that it is going to play a huge role in my future classroom. I think that the author/illustrator glogs would be a good way to introduce a new unit to my students. The books that were chose as required text for the class were also very good. I enjoyed reading every one of them. I liked how we had in depth discussions about each book as small groups during class time along with large group discussions. Most importantly, throughout the semester I have learned a lot about children literature. I now have a much better knowledge about the types of literature that is available to students and I am very excited to put into play what I have learned from this class. Overall, I have really enjoyed this class and I am glad I had the opportunity to take it!

Love That Dog By Sharon Creech

When I first began reading this book I was not sure if I was going to enjoy it because it is unlike any book that I have ever read. After the first few pages I began loving the main character, Jack. I was able to paint a picture of Jack in my head. I know there are many students out there that feel exactly the same that Jack does about poetry. I also like the teacher in the book. Both of the characters personalities came through strong in this book which really made the book fun to read. I loved how the book was written all in poem stanzas. I liked it because it was the first book that I have read that is written that way. I also like that it was written that way because it helped the book flow very well. At first I thought the book was going to be hard to follow since it was all written in stanzas, but it actually just made for a faster read. I do not know if all copies of the book are written in navy blue print, but I know that mine was. I have never seen a chapter book that is written in any color other than black, so I thought that aspect of the book really stood out. My favorite part of the book is at the end when the poems that are discussed throughout the story are actually shown. I was a little leery about this book at first but after the first few pages I really loved it. I started reading the book and didn't put it down until I was completely finished. This is definitely a book that I would recommend to people of any age. It is also definitely a book that I want to have in my classroom.

Winter Friends By: Mary Quattlebaum

This was a fun picture poem book to read. The books is broken up into different poems, but in a way it is like a story is being told with all of the poems. The pictures are really neat and they made me really feel like I was in the middle of winter when I was reading the book. My favorite picture in this book is the very last page. It is night time and the snow is falling. There are two like kids looking out the window at the snow falling. The poem on this page reads
Listen!
The wind
is
whispering
a thousand
tiny
promise.
I love this. The picture and the poem are beautiful.
I like how the poems are placed in different spots on each page. For example, there is one poem this about sledding and the words are place at a downward diagnole like a sled. This was a really fun book to read. I think i would really enjoy reading this book to my class as a read aloud.

Scranimals By: Jack Prelutysky

I did not really like this book. The poems used big words and were really in depth. I do not think that children would like to listen to poems that have so many big words. For example in a a poem consisting of 8 lines the words parrotters, cormorants and prattling are all used. Those are all words that are difficult for the target audience. The pictures in this book are kind of bland. There is not much going on in any of them. The colors are also very dull. The crab colors did not make me excited to read the book or want to to continue reading. This is not a book that I would read again. It is not a book that I would suggest for my students to read.

A City Is By: Norman Rosten

This is a pretty simple, but at times complex picture poem book that explains what a city is. I like how all aspects of a city are explained. Another neat thing is that the pictures take up the whole page, so there is no white space. I say that the book is simple because many of the pictures have people in them, but the people's faces are very plain. The pictures are at the same time complex because there is a lot going on in each picture. There are also some complex words in each poem. This book is intended for 4-8 year old. The book does not rhyme which I think is a good thing. Children of this age often think that all poems have to rhyme, or at least I did when I was younger, so I am glad this book does not rhyme. This was a cute book and a good way to view the highlights of a city.

Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme By: Jack Prelutsky

This poem picture book is very cool. The book is separated into different categories such as dogs, birthdays, bugs, and etc. On each page there are a variety of poems about each subject. Along with all of the poems is a picture. All of the pictures are very colorful. On each page there is also help writing a poem of your own. The author has given the read a poem to start with and than some ideas on how to finish the poem. I have never seen a picture poem book where the author helps the reader learn how to write their own poem. It is a really neat idea. Another really cool thing about this book is that the poems that are in the book are all from many different authors. It was neat to see the different writing styles from a variety of writers.

Exploding Gravy By: X.J. Kennedy

This is a really neat picture poem book. It is full of funny poems that have great pictures to go along with each poem. This book is different because all of the pictures are in black and white. I think that if the pictures would have been in color then it would have helped paint a better pictures of what the poem was trying to say. But on the other hand I like how I can paint a picture in my head with my own colors. All of the poems are very funny and entertaining, but here is one of my favorite ones:
Alarm

Mother come quick!
Robert looks sick!
He opened the shoe polish, took a big lick!

His face is all weird!
He's grown a brown beard!
All four walls, the floor, and the ceiling are smeared!

Come look and see!
Don't you wish he
Was never a trouble to people, like me?

Year of Impossible Goodbyes By: Sook Nyui Choi

Comparing this book with So Far From a Bamboo Grove I would have say that both books were very good, but I did like So Far From a Bamboo Grove more. I think part of why I liked it more was because I read it first. Another reason why I liked the book more was because I was able to get a clearer image of the family in my head. Overall, Year of Impossible Goodbyes is a very good book also. There were many times while reading the book when I felt like I was right there in the action. I think that the story does a good job or portraying the life of many Korean families that lived during this time period. I also think the book did a great job of describing the historical events that happened during this time period. I think that this book is a very good book to have in a classroom. I know that there are some uncomfortable events that take place in this book, but children will learn a lot from this book. I think it is awesome idea to pair this book with So Far From a Bamboo Grove.

What's the Matter, Davy By: Brigitte Weninger and Eve Tharlet

This was another book that I chose because of Easter. I assumed that it might have something to do with Easter because it has a bunny on the front of it, but it doesn't really have anything to do with Easter at all. There is no doubt that my favorite part about this book are the pictures. It look like there were water colors used for the pictures. The colors look as though they are smeared together to make a blend of colors that looks really neat. I think that the text could have been a little larger because on many of the pages the text not come anywhere close to touching the pictures. There is also one page where this is black front on top of a blue background which makes it hard to read. The story is cute and really easy to follow. Tho story flows well and the pictures go along well with the text.

The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolves By: Eugene Trivizas and Helen Oxenbury

I have always been a fan of fractured fairy tales. The three little pigs and the big bad wolf is one of my favorite stories so this book is really neat to me. I think it is funny how the pig is much bigger that the wolves. Even though the wolves are supposed to be the innocent ones I still find them very creepy in this book. I like how the whole story is changed and not just the characters. I am glad that it is not the same exact story as The Three Little Pigs. I think it would be very fun to do a whole unit on stories such as The Three Little Pigs and the the story flipped around. I know there are other stories that have been flipped around as well, so I think think it would be a fun project to look into. I found this book to be very amusing.

Pigsty By: Mark Teague

This is one of my all time favorite children's books about a young boy who has a very messy room. His mom tells him to clean his because it is a pigsty. The next time he goes into his room there are actually pigs in his room. At first the boy likes the pigs, but then they start ruining his things, so he get rid of them. I live the very first page because the first word id Monday and the illustrator used a sock to create the letter M. I really like how the sock look s real. There are many other images that seem real in the book. For example, on one page there is a train and the illustrator made the train look like it was driving off the page. I enjoyed how the one some pages the pictured would take up the whole page, but on on other pages there would be some white space. I will always love this book. I think the story is great and so are the pictures.

Bootsie Barker Bites By: Barbara Bottner

This is a cute story about a little girl who always wants to play game with her friends where she is a dinosaur and she pretend she is going to eat her friends. Her friends do not like, so one say that tell their friend that they are paleontologists who hunt got dinosaur friends and finally their friend is scared of them. The text in this book is pretty simple and plain. I think that there could have been a neat font type to go along with the story. The one good part about the text is the parts where the reader is supposed to read with more excitement are in bold all caps text. There is a lot of white space on each page. I also think that the pictures could have been created, so that that covered more of the page. I find it interesting that the name of the main character is Bootsie, it is not a name that you hear for many little girls. This story was pretty good and kind of funny, but not one of the best books that I have ever read.

More Bunny Trouble By: Hans Wilhelm

I chose this book because it made me think of Easter. I really like this books because one of my favorite sports is soccer and in the his book the bunny is playing soccer. I really like the picture of the bunny painting all of the Easter eggs to look like soccer balls. I remember reading this book when I was little and wishing I could paint all of my Easter eggs to look like soccer balls. This a very quick read. I found it interesting how the reader is quickly introduced to the readers, there is a problem, and then there is a solution to the problem. I really enjoyed how the colors on each page really blend well together. The character in this book are rabbits, but their facial expression make them seem like human beings which is kind of a neat aspect.