Alice Yazzie's Year

Alice Yazzie's Year

Bibliography:  

Maher, Ramona. 1977, 2003. Alice Yazzie's Year. Ill. Begay, Shonto, 2003. Berkeley, CA. Tricycle Press. ISBN: 1-58246-080-9.

Plot Summary:

This is the story of the year Alice Yazzie is eleven. A poem is written in free verse format telling about what happens during each month of that year.  It is told from the viewpoint of Alice, what she sees and how she feels about what is happening around her. 

Culture Markers:

Both author and illustrator embark on making this picture book an authentic representation of Navajo culture and life.  Each poem begins with the name of the month in English and beside it the name that the Navajos call that month.  At the back of the book is a wealth of information titled "Notes about the Navajo Country and Ways of Life" written by Carl N. Gorman Director of Navajo Resources and Curriculum Development at the Navajo Community College in Arizona.  The illustrator, Shonto Begay was born and raised in the Navajo Nation community and is a descended from a line of medicine men.  

Reviews:

Booklist:  "Begay's paitings, impressionistic dabs and swirls of brilliant color, sometimes muddy faces and expressions, but like the words, the wild patterns and hues leave room for imaginations to fill in the spaces. Whether read alone or aloud, the poems tell an affecting story about contemporary Navajo life through an appealing young character with a strong sense of history and herself."

Connections:

www. shontobegay.com

Teachers could begin the school year having students work on a free verse poem about what they see and experience each month. Then put them together in a book at the end of the year for students to keep.

Jingle Dancer

Bibliography:

Smith, Cynthia Leitich. 2000. Jingle Dancer. Ill. by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publisher. ISBN: 0-8307-2852-2.

Plot Summary:

Jenna wants nothing more than to participate in the tribe's powwow and jingle dance, so she begins practicing the traditional dance by watching video tapes of her grandmother's past performances.  She has a problem though, she does not have a dress that "sings" to wear in the performance. She eventually has enough jingles for her dress and she is able to dance in the family powwow.

Critical Analysis:

This  is a wonderful story of family traditions and how family members can work together to support and encourage each other and pass down  traditons. It is also a great demonstration of how older and younger family members can come together and create strong relationships as well as memories and traditions to carry on. Although this story involves todays Native American family, any child could relate to the story of family members loving and encouraging one another.  There are various Native American terms used throughout the story giving it an authentic feel and introducing readers to those terms.  The illustrations are amazing and full of detail and color. They intertwine modern American life in the illustrations but also include a variety of Native American artifacts in the pictures as well. This would be a wonderful springboard for classroom discussions.

Review Excerpts:

School Library Journal:  "a welcome addition to stories about traditions passed down by woman of culture."

Connections:

www.cynthialeitichsmith.com    Cynthia Leitich Smith, Official author site and home of CHILDREN'S & YA LITERATURE RESOURCES.  This site includes teachers' guides for her books.

Native American Literature

Turtle's Race with Beaver

Bibiliography:

Bruchac, Joseph and Bruchac, James. 2003. Turtles Race With Beaver. Illustrations, Aruego, Jose and Dewey, Ariane.  Dial Books for Young Readers, NY, New York. ISBN 0-8037-2852-2.

Plot Summary:

This is a version of "The Tortoise and the Hare" adapted from the Seneca oral tradition. It is a classic story of wisdom versus physical strength.  This version is about a turtle and a beaver who both claim the pond is theirs. Instead of choosing to work together and share the pond, the beaver challenges the turtle to a race. Knowing she does not have any hope of winning the race, turtle accepts the challenge.

Crititical Analysis:

The Bruchac's use the familiar story of the Tortoise and the Hare but tell it in the Traditional Seneca oral version. Turtle lives in the pond and find the Beaver has built a dam. She offers to share the pond, but Beaver refuses and offers a race as the solution.  All the animals come out to watch, and surprisingly Turtle wins.  The illustrations are cute, showing a lot of detail in the scenery and animals as well as their faces.  Bruchac pulls on his Indian Heritage and uses stories from his Grandfather and other Indian elders.

Review Excerpts:

"Polished, cohesive, and energetic...the story begs to be told."  School Library Journal

"The illustrations extend the humor of the text perfectly...a winner." Kirkus

Connections:

Joseph Bruchac's webpage:  www.josephbruchac.com

www.josephbruchac.com/bruchac_biography.html

First People-The Legends  www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TurtlesRaceWithBear-Iroquois.html

Native American Legends

Module 3

Baseball in April and other Stories

Soto, Gary.  Baseball in April and other Stories. 1990.  Harcourt, Inc. Orlando, Florida.  ISBN:0-15-202567-7.

Plot Summary:

This is an amazing collection of eleven short stories centered around everyday life of Hispanic teenagers growing up in Fresno, California.

Critical Analysis:

I think Soto does an amazing job of presenting life in the Hispanic culture in these stories. He intertwines Spanish words in the text of the story, sometimes explaining with context clues, other times leaving the reader to figure out the definition themselves. He paints a clear picture of the characters, describing their dress, homes, family values, etc in great detail. I love how while reading this book I could picture myself in the kitchen watching a mother make tortillas, or a grandpa "bribing" his favorite grandson to make a phone call for him.  Although the stories take place in a poor area, the stories are those of teenagers everywhere.

Review Excerpts:

School Library Journal:  Young readers should easily identify with the situations, emotions and outcomes presented in these fine short stories.

Connections:

www.garysoto.com

A few of Gary Soto's titles that sound interesting to me.

Mud Is Cake

Bibliography:

Ryan, Pam Munoz. Mud Is Cake.  2002. MacPhail, David. Ill.  Hyperion Books for Children. New York, NY. ISBN 0-7868-0501-3.

Plot Summary: 

This story is told in a childlike voice about all the things you can pretend, starting with mud is cake.  The pictures are gorgeous, water-color type illustrations and add to the creativity of the story.

Critical Analysis:

Although Munoz-Ryan writes a variety of books this one is not geared towards a particular ethnicity.  The boy and girl in the story are fair skinned, the girl has blondish, puffy hair and the boy has a very short dark haircut.  The animals are realistic, but are dressed in clothes and costumes that a child might imagine. The language is easy to follow and understand and simple English words.

Review Excerpts:

School Library Journal: An excellent choice for storytimes and one on one sharing.

Connections:

http://pammunozryan.com/

Riding Freedom

Esperanza Rising

Moses Goes To A Concert/Module 6

Bibliography:

Millman, Isaac.  2002.  Moses Goes to a Concert. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN: 0374453667.

Plot Summary:

Moses and his classmates attend a concert together. All of the students are deaf, and surprisingly so  is the percussionist.  The students use balloons to "hear" the vibrations of the instruments.  

Critical Analysis:

At first glance of the cover of the book I thought Moses had a problem with his eyesight. The glasses he is wearing are very thick and I wonder why the illustrator chose to draw the main character that way. Nothing in the story mentions him having poor eyesight.  Through out the book there are signs for various parts of the context and words to describe the ASL. The pictures are colorful and fun, the story is an easy read, but also full of information on children with a hearing disability. For example, the teacher provides a balloon for each student so that they can "hear" the concert by vibrations. I thought that was a wonderful addition to the story, it is also discussed how people with hearing loss can "hear" through the vibrations in their feet. (something I did not know)   The over all story is that of being able to do or accomplish anything you want despite obstacles you may have to face. This is the first in the Moses series.

This story would be wonderful to use in a classroom or library to help students understand more about people who are hearing impaired.  I feel it would also be a fun way to begin teaching students basic signs to enable them to communicate with a deaf person. It would also help to take out the "mystery" of a student who was deaf and help children to see that a deaf student is just like them.

Reviews:

School Library Journal excerpt: "Cheerful watercolor illustrations show the multiethnic children enjoying themselves at the concert, while smaller cartoon strips feature Moses' additional comments in sign language. 

Connections:

http://my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php

Activities for before, during and after reading "Moses Goes to a Concert".

Music connections: http://www.playmusic.org/

Marimaba! Animales from A to Z

Bibliography:

Mora, Pat. 2006. Ill. Cushman, Doug. !Miramaba! New York, NY: Clarion Books. ISBN 0-618-19453-3

Plot Summary: Once a year, at night when the zoo keepers are asleep the animals get together and have a party.

Critical Analysis:

The story is so much fun to read silently and orally to a group.  The illustrations are bright, colorful and full of details.  Each page focuses on a different letter of the alphabet and has a variety of animals. Mora uses Spanish words that are similar in spelling to the same word in English. She is very clever in the use of them and those words are in a different color to make them more visable to the reader.  Within some of the illustrations other Spanish words are placed, adding more of a "Spanish lesson" for readers.

At the end of the book she provides as translation and pronunciation guide for readers. Mora has an illustration of the animal, the word, the phonetic spelling and the English word. This is a wealth of information for readers, both young and old.

Review Excerpts:

"This infectiously cheerful alphabet book includes both Spanish and English animal names(that are easily recognizable in both languages)." School Library Journal

Connections:

www.patmora.com  

This site has wonderful information about Pat Mora, her books, appearances, and ideas for using her books in the classroom or library.

Uno Dos, Tres/One, Two, Three  by Pat Mora

The Honest-to-Goodness Truth

McKissack, Patricia C. 2000. The Honest-to-Goodness Truth. Ill. Potter, Giselle. New York, NY. Aladdin Paperbacks. ISBN: 0-613-61627-8

Plot Summary:

Libby Louise tells a fib. She feels remorseful and that outweighs the punishment given by her mother for fibbing. When Libby Louise decides she should be completely honest all the time, she ends up losing friends and causing problems along the way.

Critical Analyis:

I feel this book would be appropriate for any age to teach that "honesty might not always be the best policy", or "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".  The illustrations are childlike and depict everyone as individuals. The African Americans have similarities in their appearances and have some traditional African American hairstyles and but nothing that makes the illustrations appear stereotypical.  All the children in the story are dressed similar regardless of race and/or color.  The text and dialogue are those that any child might use.

Review Excerpts:

The story is very much a lesson, but it's a subtle one, and Potter's colorful, naive-style illustrations capture innocence and eagerness....

Booklist Jan. 2000

Connections: (other books by McKissack)

Mirandy and Brother Wind

Bugs!

Flossie and the Fox

Run Away Home

Miracle's Boys

Bibliography:

Woodson, Jacquelyn. 2000.  MIRACLE'S BOYS. New York, NY: Penguin  Books. ISBN: 0-698-11916-9.

 Plot Summary:

Everything has changed since their mother died. Lafayette is full of questions, and spends a lot of time feeling sad, lonely and guilty. His brother Charlie, or "New Charlie" is angry and mean, and older brother Ty'ree is working to keep the boys together and support them financially. 

Critical Analysis:

Miracle's Boys made me feel as if I lived in the apartment with these three boys. I cried even though I had read the book previously, it just really grabbed me.  I feel that Woodson did a fantastic job describing the living conditions and area they boys lived in. Each boy had his own physical description and I did not feel they were stereotypes. "New Charlie" spoke like a boy who had become hardened due to circumstances and events and his behavior depicted that as well. Ty'ree spoke eloquently and sounded educated, and Lafayette sounded like a small, hurt boy.  The names are those of African American men and we were given reasons for some of the name choices. 

Review Excerpts:

The fast-paced narrative is physically immediate, and the dialogue is alive with anger and heartbreak.  Booklist

Connections:

Winner of the Coretta Scott King award.

Other books by Jacqueline Woodson

If You Come Softly

Last Summer with Maizon

The House You Pass on the Way.

Module 2 African American Literature

Bibliography:

McKissack, Patricia C.  Ill. Pinkney, Jerry. 2001. GOIN' SOMEPLACE SPECIAL. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing.  ISBN 0-689-81885-8.

Plot Summary:  

Tricia Ann ventures out to the one place in her Southern town where everyone is welcome in the 1950's.  She endures rude remarks and hurtful events, but also encounters friendly people along the way.

Critical Analysis:

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous, they appear to depict African Americans as individuals by varying skin tones, body type and facial features.  The African Americans in the story are prominent in the illustrations where as the other people are more muted and have less color. The mode of transportation is walking and the city bus which would be appropriate for a young girl in the 1950's.  

Language seems to be appropriate for the era and age of the characters. Jim Crow Laws are the focus of the book and how African Americans were treated, but also how they managed to respond with dignity and pride.

Review Excerpts:

Adler, David A. A Picture Book of Rosa Parks.

Bridges, Ruby.  Through My Eyes.

Connections:

Texas Bluebonnet Nominee 2003-04

Examples of Jim Crow Laws:   http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02jcrow02.htm