Module 10 Book Blog 2: Heather Has Two Mommies

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Book Summary:  Heather loves things that come in twos.  She loves her two hands, her two feet, and her two pets.  Heather also loves her two mommies, Mama Jane and Mama Kate.  Her two moms take great care of her and help her do all the things she loves to do.  The time comes for Heather to begin school and she loves every part of it.  At school they build things, play dress up, have snacks and take naps.  They also discuss their families at story time.  Heather quickly realizes that she is the only student with two mommies.  Her teacher, Ms. Molly, has all of the students draw a picture of their families.  The students quickly realize each family is different, unique, and special, just like Heather and her two mommies.

APA Reference of Book:

Neman, L. (2015). Heather has two mommies. New York, NY. Candelwick Press.

Impressions: This is a sweet story about a little girl who has a family that loves her very much, just as she loves them very much.  Heather Has Two Mommies is a story that was originally written in 1989 but was redone for this 2015 addition with modern illustrations.  The love between Heather and her moms is the main theme of the story, and it is very noticeable throughout the book.

When Heather goes to school, the reader may worry that the fact that Heather’s family is a little different from the others, may cause Heather to feel bad.  However, it is wonderful that the teacher handles the situation in a manner that helps the students realize that they all have a unique family.  Some of the students have just one parent, others have grandparents who help raise them, and Heather has two mommies. 

Obviously, this could be a controversial book when used in a school setting due to the gay topic that is presented.  Teachers and librarians would need to check on campus rules about using this book in a lesson format.  If this were permissible, this would certainly be a wonderful book for teaching about the differences found in our families.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal -

PreS-Gr 2—This is a new edition of the now classic picture book, first published in 1989. The story opens with descriptions of Heather playing with toys in the tall grass behind her house. The child has two of many things including arms, legs, feet, and elbows. "Heather has two pets: a ginger-colored cat named Gingersnap and a big black dog named Midnight. Heather also has two mommies: Mama Jane and Mama Kate." As Heather enters school for the first time she observes that many of the students in her classroom have unique families. To illustrate, Ms. Molly asks the children to draw pictures of their families. Each drawing displays the differences found within each household, yet as Heather's teacher comments, "The most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other." The author's text is simple yet powerful in its ability to move readers of all ages. Cornell's fluid watercolor and gouache illustrations breathe life into this delightful story. Each page is artfully and distinctly rendered to be a visual depiction of the beauty and joy of diversity. VERDICT Readers will be warmed by this glimpse into Heather's family, whether revisiting the text or experiencing it for the first time.

Source: Moore, C. (2015). Heather has two mommies. [Review of the book Heather has

two mommies by L. Newman]. School Library Journal. 61(2).  Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2052/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=256569

Found Through: UNT Library Database – LexisNexis Academic

Library Uses: After reading the book, ask students to think about who lives at their home, or whom their family consists of. Then, give students a large sheet of paper and different art materials such as crayons, markers and paints.  Ask the students to create a drawing of their family like the students did in the story.  Make sure to allow some time at the end to discuss the pictures. Hang the pictures up around the room or have the students stand in a circle holding their picture out for the class to see. Let several students share and then discuss the differences that are seen in that particular class.  Make sure to emphasize the fact that all families are unique but each one is special.

Module 10 Book Blog 1: And Tango Make Three

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Book Summary:  This is the true story of a penguin family that lived at the Central Park Zoo.  Roy and Silo are male chinstrap penguins that discover each other as adult penguins and begin spending their time together, and eventually build their nest together.  As the other penguin couples around them hatch eggs, they realize they are unable to do this.  They try sitting on a rock but nothing happens.  One day, the zookeeper Mr. Gramzay had the idea to take a penguin from another nest that needed to be cared for and give it to Roy and Silo.  The two penguins take turns sitting on the egg until one day a baby penguin is born.  She is named Tango and is the first penguin at the zoo to have two daddy penguins.  They still live as a happy family at the Central Park Zoo, swimming around for visitors, to this day.

APA Reference of Book:

Richardson, J. and Parnell, P. (2005). And tango makes three. New York, NY. Little

Simon.

Impressions: This is really a precious story about a sweet penguin family that is a little different than the average penguin.  Geared towards young children it would certainly introduce the topic of the different kinds of families that exist.  Considering that this is a true story, it would definitely be interesting to present the topic to students.  Clearly this is a sensitive subject though as it implies that the penguins are two gay male penguins who fall in love with each other and have a family.

This is a controversial issue that many families would be opposed to having their kids read.  Other families would enjoy and applaud the message this book gives.  If permissible for students to read, this would be a great way for them to read about and think about this topic.  It is not graphic or inappropriate in any way.  The story is an enjoyable read but definitely one that would have to be approached in a careful manner to respect different families wishes for their children in a school setting.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal -

PreS-Gr 3 –This tale based on a true story about a charming penguin family living in New York City's Central Park Zoo will capture the hearts of penguin lovers everywhere. Roy and Silo, two male penguins, are “a little bit different.” They cuddle and share a nest like the other penguin couples, and when all the others start hatching eggs, they want to be parents, too. Determined and hopeful, they bring an egg-shaped rock back to their nest and proceed to start caring for it. They have little luck, until a watchful zookeeper decides they deserve a chance at having their own family and gives them an egg in need of nurturing. The dedicated and enthusiastic fathers do a great job of hatching their funny and adorable daughter, and the three can still be seen at the zoo today. Done in soft watercolors, the illustrations set the tone for this uplifting story, and readers will find it hard to resist the penguins' comical expressions. The well-designed pages perfectly marry words and pictures, allowing readers to savor each illustration. An author's note provides more information about Roy, Silo, Tango, and other chinstrap penguins. This joyful story about the meaning of family is a must for any library.

Source: Roach, J. (2005). And tango makes three. [Review of the book And tango makes

three by J. Richardson and P. Parnell]. School Library Journal: The Book Review. 81.  Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2052/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=256569

Found Through: UNT Library Database – LexisNexis Academic

Library Uses: After reading the book, focus on the way that Silo and Roy love Tango.  Discuss ways that students feel loved by their families.  As a group, have students share ways they feel taken care of by their families and actions that make them feel that their parents love them.  Next, pass out a template of an egg to represent the egg Tango was in in the story (this can be on cardstock to make it more sturdy).  Have the students “cut” their egg into different sections by drawing lines.  They should have at least 5 sections, but more would be permissible.  In each section they should write one of the ways they feel loved by their family and draw a picture in that section to represent what they have written.  If time permits students can share their eggs with each other.

Module 9 Book Blog 2: Once I Ate a Pie

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Book Summary:  Several poems, told from the perspective of different dogs, is what you will find in Once I Ate a Pie.  With every turn of the page, readers will find a new dog, and a new poem.  Each dog tells a short synopsis about themselves and their thoughts about others around them.  None of the poems in this book rhyme, and all are told in first person perspective.  Also notable, is the fact that these poems contain a variety of fonts.  Sizes and shapes of word are change for emphasis.  This book provides a view into the mind of the dog while also introducing free verse poetry.

APA Reference of Book:

MacLachlan, P. and Charest, E. M. (2006). Once I ate a 

pie. New York, NY. Joanna Cotler Books.

Impressions: Once I Ate a Pie certainly provides young readers with a new view of poetry.  Designed for the elementary aged reader, this book differs from the common rhyming poetry children are used to reading.  By using dogs to write/tell the poems, MacLachlan and Charest have done a good job of finding something young children will enjoy and relate to.  By using humor and common dog traits, such as eating human food, playing with human items, napping on couches, etc, readers will definitely enjoy hearing from each dog’s perspective.

By not using rhyming words or rhythm in this book, MacLachlan and Charest are introducing readers to a very different kind of poetry.  This may not appeal to all readers as they may enjoy the more common beat and pattern found in a rhyming poem.  However, this book would also be a great example of poetry that does not rhyme and could be used for teaching this in a classroom setting.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal -

PreS-Gr 3 -Free-verse poems about 14 individual dogs sprawl across oversize spreads accompanied by large oil illustrations. The poems and paintings together delightfully capture each distinct personality in few words and with broad strokes of the brush. The fonts change often and reflect the poet's words-rising and falling, sometimes in bold type, growing larger and smaller and dancing over the pages. The format allows for plenty of white space, emphasizing the postures and personalities of the pups and helping the playful fonts to stand out. The overall result is an entertaining visit with some very appealing canines, and a book that perhaps could serve as an inspiration in the classroom for young poets trying to describe their own pets. One wishes that the breeds were listed somewhere, but all in all, this title is still a real treat.

Source: Constantinides, J. (2006). Once I ate a pie.[Review of the book Once I ate a pie

by P. MacLachlan and E. M. Charest]. School Library Journal: The Book Review. 114.  Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2052/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=256569

Found Through: UNT Library Database – LexisNexis Academic

Library Uses: This would be a wonderful book to use when discussing free verse poetry.  Read the book as a class and discuss what the differences are in free verse poetry.  Ask students what they notice and what makes this type of poetry unique.  Then provide students with paper to write their own free verse poem.  Have them model their poem after what they have seen in the story.  They can tell their poem from the perspective of any animal.  Students should be encouraged to use different fonts and font sizes.  Once they are finished students can use watercolor paint to create a picture of their animal, similar to the paintings used for the illustrations in the story.

Module 9 Book Blog 1: A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Froms

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Book Summary:  A Kick in the Head:  An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms contains a creative route to breaking down poetry.  The book includes an introduction to poetry, why there are rules, and many different forms.  The book follows with 29 examples of different forms of poetry with each section containing a selected work by the author of this form of poetry, an illustration hinting to the poems essence, and a brief description of what makes this form unique.  The page also includes in the top corner a colorful title of the form.  After the 29 forms of poetry section another section called “Notes on the Forms” follows.  Here the author gives three columns per page, with title, summary of each form for further learning.  For example the author explains, that a couplet is named that way due to the meaning of the word couple, and the rhyming pattern displayed in the poem that was read in the section named couplet among the 29 forms. 

APA Reference of Book:

Janeczko, P.B. (2005). A kick in the head:  An everyday guide to poetic forms. New

York, NY. Candelwick.

Impressions: This book provides an engaging, creative, artistically fresh, and hip way to study poetry.  Typically, when I think of studying poetry flashbacks of high school days of white pages,  black font, and somewhere around page 600 in the Reading and Language Arts textbook come to mind.  Studying war poetry was fine form some, but not quite engaging enough for me.  This book takes a fresh look at studying poetry.  Most of the sections are short, concise, and easy to move through for our easily distracted cultural norms.  The illustrations are colorful and someone mysterious when attempting to link them to the poetry as the author suggests we do.  The different forms and authors selected add variety and surprisingly quite a bit of comedy too.  Janeczko’s book is impressive in its simplicity, summaries, hints on each page, and works selected.  It gives the reader an added bonus of artistic touch to help us learn about poems.  Without his sectioning, illustrations, and brief poems added in, for many studying poetry can be tedious and uninteresting.  It is also impressive in the brevity of explanations, hints, and end of book additional summaries to help even the most knowledgeable poet who could have trouble explaining differences in forms.  The information given also keeps the reader engaged.  For example, I read a poem without reading the form, or explanation, and was clueless.  I typically would have turned the page and never glanced at that poem again, but the author provided the title Riddle Poem in the bottom corner with a simple explanations.  Then I reread the poem with a lot of intrigue and a little dedication to solving the riddle.  So for me this totally turned the poem around and made it exciting instead of an “Oh well that was probably over my head or something symbolic I did not understand, next poem.” My only criticism is that some of the vocabulary could be too technical from certain readers without help from teachers or parents.  Regardless, the book is great for anyone teaching poetry or wanting to know more about the subject. 

Professional Review:

School Library Journal -

Gr 3-9 –Following on the heels of their delightful introduction to concrete poetry, A Poke in the I (Candlewick, 2001), Janeczko and Raschka now join forces to explore poetic forms. An introduction presents an easy-to-swallow rationale for the many rules to follow, likening the restrictions to those found in sports: in both cases, rules challenge the players to excel in spite of limits. The repertoire then unfolds to showcase 29 forms, one to two poems per spread, building from a couplet, tercet, and quatrain to the less familiar and more complex persona poem, ballad, and pantoum. The selections are accessible without being simplistic; they span an emotional range from the tongue-in-cheek humor of J. Patrick Lewis's "Epitaph for Pinocchio" to Rebecca Kai Dotlich's moving "Whispers to the [Vietnam] Wall." Each page is a tour de force of design, the pace and placement of art and text perfectly synchronized. Raschka's characters and abstractions emerge from torn layers of fuzzy rice paper, intricately patterned Japanese designs, and solids, decorated and defined by quirky ink-and-watercolor lines. The expansive white background provides continuity and contrast to the colorful parade. The name of each form resides in the upper corner of the page, accompanied by a wry visual. A definition (in an unobtrusive smaller font) borders the bottom; more detail on each form is provided in endnotes. Readers will have the good fortune to experience poetry as art, game, joke, list, song, story, statement, question, memory. A primer like no other.

Source: Lukehart, W. (2005). A kick in the head:  An everyday guide to poetic forms.

[Review of the book  A kick in the head:  An everyday guide to poetic forms by D. Cronin]. School Library Journal: The Book Review. 230.  Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2052/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=256569

Found Through: UNT Library Database – LexisNexis Academic

Library Uses: This is a great book for teaching poetry to students in the library or classroom.  One way I will use this book is to get tables of three to four students.  Let each table select 2 forms of poetry provided in the book.  Have them read the author’s selection of their form, including its summary in the back section of the book, and create their own poem of this form following the guidelines presented with an illustration.  Each table will have a designated poet or two, illustrator, and presenter.  Once the poem is presented with the smartboard technology, I will ask students seated to discuss with their group if they could figure out which form this is.  Once they have discussed and looked through the book I will let them guess from a multiple choice list which one they believe it is and to write down that choice on a piece of paper.  Then they can hold it up when the teacher says to, and the table with the most correct answer near the end of class gets a reward.