The Cats in Krasinski Square

Hesse, Karen. The cats in Krasinski Square. Illustrated by Wendy Watson. New York: Scholastic Press, 2004. ISBN: 978-0439435406.

Author Website: None

Illustrator Website: http://www.wendy-watson.com/

Awards: Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2005. California Young Readers Medal, Picture Books for Older Readers, 2007.

Media: Watercolor Paint on Paper

Use of Rhyme: (p. 8) “I have no food to spare. / The cats don’t care.”

Use of Personification: (p. 15) “the big room dances with light.”

Use of Repetition: (p. 11, p. 19) “I wear my Polish Look, / I walk my Polish Walk.”

Special Notations: Poem

Curricular Connection: History Social-Science Content Standards for California, Grade Five, Standard 10.8, Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II: 5. Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jewish civilians.

Annotation: A young Jewish girl manages to pass as Polish and live just outside the Warsaw Ghetto walls. The girl befriends numerous stray cats that eventually play a role in a Jewish Resistance effort.

Personal Reaction: “I wear my Polish Look, / I walk my Polish Walk.” (p. 11) says the young, Jewish narrator passing for Polish in this moving story about the Warsaw Ghetto. In late 1939, the Jewish population in Warsaw was forced to live in an area just over one square mile in size, divided by a wall from the rest of Warsaw. During the next few years, the Gestapo committed atrocity after atrocity against the Jewish population in Warsaw. The Jewish Resistance fought back in spite of food shortages, overcrowding and disease in the Ghetto. Newbery Medal award-winner Hesse uses poetry and the viewpoint of a young girl who manages to pass for Polish and live just outside the Ghetto to tell this heartbreaking story. The girl has befriended dozens of stray cats and comes up with a plan to use the cats to disrupt the Gestapo’s (German police) efforts against the Jewish Resistance. The girl’s older sister, Mira, and her friends have coordinated a large-scale food smuggling scheme to help the people in the Ghetto. The girl gathers the cats and lets them loose in a train station to prevent the Gestapo from interfering with the food distribution to Ghetto residents. I was touched by the poetic quality that Hesse uses to tell a story that references a period of great horror. Watson’s watercolor illustrations in gray, red, orange and yellow hues support the beauty in the young girl’s actions and the bravery of the Jews who fought back against the Gestapo. An author note and historical note at the back of the book provide details about a real life incident involving cats in Warsaw that inspired Hesse to write this story, as well as factual background data about the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Composer is Dead

Snicket, Lemony and Stookey, Nathaniel. The composer is dead. Illustrated by Carson Ellis. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-06-123627-3.

Author Website: http://www.lemonysnicket.com/ (Snicket)

http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&composerId_2872=3094 (Stookey).

Illustrator Website: http://www.carsonellis.com/

Media: Ink and watercolor.

Use of Simile: (p. 14) “making you act like birds.”

Use of Alliteration: (p. 22) “battered the band, agitated the audience, rattled the roof.”

Use of Repetition: (p. 6) “I will find them if they are lurking,” is repeated four times. (pages 11, 13, 16, 21) “AHA! The Inspector cried.” (p. 26) “Beethoven—dead! Bach—dead! Mozart—dead! Haydn—dead!”

Use of Personification: (p. 9) “second violins, who are more fun at parties.” (p. 11) “Don’t be ridiculous! The violins said.” (p. 12) “Everyone forgets about us,” said the violas bitterly.”

Special Notations: 2009 Students’ List, Personal Top Ten

Annotation: An amusing and theatrical police inspector attempts to solve the mystery of a deceased composer. Snicket introduces readers to instruments in an orchestra and includes a CD of an original composition by Snookey played by the San Francisco Orchestra.

Personal Reaction: The Composer is Dead is a special book from cover to cover; the front cover is illustrated as a theater marquee and the back cover is the stage door. Once I opened the book and stepped into the theater, I found a CD of music composed by Stookey and performed by the San Francisco symphony. Lemony Snicket added to the entertainment with a humorous mystery, reminiscent of the Pink Panther. Snicket’s trademark humor and writing style will be welcomed by The Series of Unfortunate Events fans; Snicket even offers a definition of the term, “composer.” The narrator is a police inspector with a murder to solve. Snicket injects plenty of humor into the inspector’s dialogue: “very handsome and intelligent, not unlike myself,” comments the inspector (p.8). Readers are treated to an introduction to the different parts of an orchestra as the inspector accuses each of killing the composer. The inspector repeatedly shouts, “AHA!” and whirls around in anticipation only to find that the violins, brass, violas, strings, and others have valid alibis. Ellis’ artwork plays well with Snicket’s text as she uses ink lines to convey swirling motion around her watercolor drawings of the inspector and his accusatory finger (p.13). This book would make a fantastic read aloud for a music teacher of first time orchestra members.

Pink and Say

Polacco, Patricia. Pink and Say. New York: Philomel Books, 1994. ISBN: 0-399-22671-0

Author / Illustrator Website: http://www.patriciapolacco.com/

Media: Watercolor.

Use of Alliteration: (p. 35) “war whoop.” (p. 41) “heap of hate.”

Use of Onomatopoeia: (p. 12) “hard branches snappin’ back in my face.” (p. 35) “they thundered off.” (p. 35) “whoop.”

Use of Personification: (p. 29) “paper talks.”

Curricular Connection: California Social Studies Standards, Grade 8, Standard 8.7: Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in the South from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced.

Annotation: Polacco recounts a family story about her great-great grandfather Sheldon (Say) Russell Curtis who was wounded during the Civil War and befriended by a black soldier named Pinkus Aylee. The two young soldiers are captured by Southern troops.

Personal Reaction: I enjoyed Polacco’s masterful ability to weave facts about slavery and the Civil War into her great-great grandfather’s story. Polacco’s great-great grandfather, Say, asks Pink, “How come you have his last name?” and Pink responds, “Boy, when you owned, you ain’t got no name of your own,” (p. 22) and readers learn that slaves take their master’s names. There is a particularly touching illustration (p. 34) in which Say and Pink shake hands one last time before Southern soldiers hang Pink. Pink asks to shake the hand that shook Lincoln’s hand one last time, referencing a story that Say has shared about meeting Abraham Lincoln. Polacco incorporates her own black and white family portraits into her artwork (p. 48) and ends her story by instructing readers to remember Pinkus Aylee.

Grandfather's Journey

Say, Allen, and Egolf, Robert L. Grandfather's journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993. ISBN: 0-395-57035-2

Author Website: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/allensay/

Media: Watercolor on paper

Award: Bulletin Blue Ribbon,
Caldecott Medal Book,
ALA Notable Book,
Booklist Editors' Choice,
Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, Horn Book Fanfare, Selection School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year.

Use of Simile: (p. 8) “Deserts with rocks like enormous sculptures.” (p. 11) “towering mountain and rivers as clear as the sky.” (p. 26) “Bombs fell from the sky and scattered our lives like leaves in a storm.”

Use of Personification: (p. 14) “the lonely seacoast.”

Detailed Artwork Discussion: Say is a gifted artist who uses watercolor in a way that is often evocative of the richness of oils. The illustrations in Grandfather’s Journey have a depth that is particularly impactful in Say’s drawings of the landscapes of his native Japan and his travels in the United States. Say paints the California coastline where the Sierra Mountains meet the sea using a dark brown color for the foremost land and utilizing a faint, gray with purple undertones for the most distant mountains (p. 14). Details show the mountains varying from rocky soil to sheer facing (p. 14). When Say’s grandfather visits an industrial city, the artwork tells the story: this city is polluted and gray with smoke and dirt (p. 10). The following page’s illustrations are a stark contrast; the sky above a mountain range is a watery, clean blue (p. 11). Another illustration shows a group of children in the aftermath of a bombing. The expressions on the children’s faces convey devastation and grief in a way that precludes the need for text (p. 27). Say’s art tells much of the story in Grandfather’s Journey as Say uses color ranging from light sepia watercolors to rich, earthy colors and painterly qualities ranging from barely there to painstakingly detailed.

Special Notations: 2009 Students’ List, Detailed Artwork Discussion

Annotation: Author Illustrator Allen Say writes about his grandfather’s travels from Japan to the United States. Say’s grandfather eventually yearns for his homeland and returns, but then finds that he misses aspects of his life in California.

Personal Reaction: I was struck by the spare text in contrast to the depth of Say’s story. With very few words, Say shares a circular story of a fictional version of his grandfather and himself and their yearning for their homeland and adopted countries two generations apart. Say tackles the loneliness of immigration, the awe of travel and the strong pulls of family and culture, as well as the devastation of war in this short picture book. Say’s illustrations are vital to the storyline. Say draws himself as a young boy holding a rifle during the outbreak of war (p. 26) and that is all the reader needs to infer the events of this time period. At another point in the story, Say uses brief and accessible language to share life-changing events. “The he brought his bride to the new country,” (p. 15) lets the reader know that grandfather has married and made the decision to live in the United States. Grandfather’s Journey is a wonderful example of how a picture book with meaningful illustrations and carefully chosen text can tell a big story with a limited number of pages.

The Little Prince

Sfar, Joann. Adapted from the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The little prince. Color by Brigitte Findakly. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-547-33802-6

Author / Illustrator Website: http://www.joann-sfar.com/wpen/

Media: Watercolor

Award: Youth Essential Prize, Angoulême International Comics Festival, 2009.

Use of Onomatopoeia: (p. 9) “I wish that he’d stop bleating on,” (p. 23) “Craaaaack!”

Use of Simile: (p. 22) “They’re big as churches.”

Use of Personification: (p. 30) “Flowers are weak. They’re naïve. And they’re insecure. They think their thorns make them look terrifying.”

Use of Alliteration: (p. 9) “Scritch! Scratch! Scribble!”

Special Notations: Personal Top Ten, 2010 Copyright, Graphic Novel

Annotation: A solo pilot is stranded in the desert. He meets a wise and inquisitive little boy, supposedly from another planet, and the two have a conversation that ranges from amusing to profound while the pilot attempts to fix his plane.

Personal Reaction: The Little Prince, originally written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1943 has been translated and update before, but never Sfar’s treatment is something new altogether. This classic book, which most would be afraid to touch, is reinvented as a graphic novel by acclaimed comic artist Joann Sfar and I was delighted and impressed by the results. Somehow, the essence of the original work is not lost, but enhanced and instead of feeling like a new version, Sfar’s work feels like The Little Prince for this generation. The watercolor illustrations are vivid and lively in contrast to the original drawings published in 1943 and yet, these new graphic novel style illustrations suit the content perfectly in the 21^st century. I highly recommend this book and believe it is a wonderful example of how a classic can be given new life for a new generation.

Constitution Construction

Boyd, Bentley. Constitution Construction. Williamsburg, VA: By Chester Comix, 2003. 24 pag es. ISBN: 0-9729616-2-3

Awards: Virginia Council for the Social Studies Friend of Education Award, 2003

Author and Illustrator Website:

http://www.chestercomix.com/comics/

Media: Black ink and colored markers on paper.

Graphic Novel: Comic book style book with multiple chapters.

Use of Metaphor: (p.22) The ship from Star Trek is a metaphor for the United States government.

Use of Onomatopoeia: (p.3) “Wam” enliven the action as Locke fights for his rights against the gorilla and a tiger.

Use of Personification: (p. 5) A gorilla personifies the concept of a monarchy government.

Curricular Connection: California History / Social Science, Grades 5, 8 and 10

Annotation: Chester the Crab has a dream about the United States Constitution. The dream is in the form of a comic book and explains the plan for the government of the United States.

Personal Reaction: So many kids, particularly reluctant readers, love reading comics. Chester Comix is a great way to engage students in grades 5, 8 and 10 in the content of the California subject standards for American history. In just 24 pages, Bentley Boyd, under the guise of Chester the Crab, covers a lot of material related to the construction of the United States Constitution. John Locke shares his ideas about life, liberty and property from a perch in a jungle wearing a loincloth. Newspaperman John Peter Zenger fights for freedom of speech and freedom of press after transforming into Superman. An especially funny comic featuring Thomas Jefferson proves that comics can make complex and contentious subjects such as religious freedom easy to digest for students. Chester’s last dream turns the creation of the Articles of Confederation into a comic spin on Star Trek. Chester Comix are colorful, action-packed and fact-filled and the result is a fresh approach to teaching history to students ages 9 to 15 years. Boyd succeeds in succinctly presenting an important period of American history in an easy to understand format that will entertain and educate. The book includes a comic-free index that will allow students to review key points of information with ease. A website for Chester Comix features teaching guides and information about state education standards covered in Boyd’s creative work.