Speak

Bibliography:

Anderson, Laurie Halse., and Mandy Siegffied. Speak. New York: Random House Audio/Listening Library, 2000. ISBN:  978-0312674397

Plot Summary:

      Melinda Sordino is a new high school freshman who finds herself dealing with issues that go beyond the standard issues a high school freshman deals with. Melinda's horror began at a party during the summer and she finds herself trying to find her way for the rest of the year.  She tries to make sense of friends that don't want anything to do with her and sense of what it means to have a friend at all.  

Critical Analysis:
 
     Melinda Sordino's life changed at a party the summer before her freshman year of high school.  Melinda narrates the story and it is a story that could occur in any present day high school.  Melinda is also easy to relate to and the she connects with the reader through her feelings of being alone, hating school, and walking the reader through her daily struggles with parents, friends and teachers.  
    When Melinda is raped by a boy at a party, she seems to lose her drive to communicate with people outside herself.  As the reader or in my case, the listener, it is odd to know Melinda's every thought yet those around her are clueless to the constant battle she is going through even just to remember to shower.  Her parents are frustrated with Melinda's choice not to talk and her dismal grades.  They are not sure how to handle her.  Melinda's situation begins to change when she decides to finally tell someone the truth.  
    She now feels stronger even though she did not receive the response she expected.  Melinda comes face to face with her rapist in a locked closet and this is where Malinda takes a turn from being a victim to someone who takes charge of their destiny and won't just sit back and let things happen to her.  Melinda fights for her life in that locked closet and comes out a winner!  She yells, and uses her wit to break a mirror that is hanging behind a poster of one of her heroines.  Her screams are heard by the lacrosse team and they try breaking into the closet.
      Melinda struggles all year to draw a tree for her art class.  I think the tree in this story represents her.  At the end of the story when she has come to terms with the fact that she has been raped by the monster, Andy Evans, she sits down one last time to try and draw her tree.  This time she draws her tree with all the emotion in her being.  Emotion she was trying to hide before and didn't want anyone to know about.  She draws a beautiful tree that has scars and unusual curves and deformed branches yet it also has beautiful branches and gorgeous leaves.  She turns in her tree and the art teacher sits beside her.  The art teacher has connected with her all year and it is only now that Malinda is wiling to share her deep dark secret.  The book ends with Malinda saying, "Let me tell you". This is symbolic because she essentially doesn't hardly speak throughout the whole book.   The reader sees Malinda move from a wounded victim with no support, to a victim overcoming a horrible situation by Speaking out.  I loved this book, but it is definitely one for older readers, late junior to high school. 
     Listening to the book was wonderful because I felt as if I was actually listening to Melinda her self.  There was no need to hear different voices in different characters because the whole story was told by Malinda.  Malinda did however offer some voice fluctuation when she was talking about Heather or her parents. The audio version helps the story flow very nicely and I highly recommend the audio accompany the book. 

Review Excerpt:

Common Sense Media reviews the book as follows:

     "This is one of the most devastatingly true and painful portrayals of high school to come along in a long time. The cliques, from the Jocks to the Big Hair Chix to the Marthas (devotees of a certain Ms. Stewart), are pigeonholed to perfection. Outsider Melinda seems somehow familiar, too. Her witty, ironic commentaries can't cover up her pain at being excluded.
      Kids who are genuine outsiders stand to gain a lot from this compassionate novel. The author offers real solutions to Melinda's pain: Melinda's connection to a mentor, her artistic creations, and even her plans for a flower garden all feed her inner strength. When she's finally able to speak, readers will rejoice in her triumphs."

Kirkus Reviews the book as follows:
"A frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life, as real as today’s headlines. At the end of the summer before she enters high school, Melinda attends a party at which two bad things happen to her. She gets drunk, and she is raped. Shocked and scared, she calls the police, who break up the party and send everyone home. She tells no one of her rape, and the other students, even her best friends, turn against her for ruining their good time. By the time school starts, she is completely alone, and utterly desolate. She withdraws more and more into herself, rarely talking, cutting classes, ignoring assignments, and becoming more estranged daily from the world around her. Few people penetrate her shell; one of them is Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, who works with her to help her express what she has so deeply repressed. When the unthinkable happens—the same upperclassman who raped her at the party attacks her again’something within the new Melinda says no, and in repelling her attacker, she becomes whole again. The plot is gripping and the characters are powerfully drawn, but it is its raw and unvarnished look at the dynamics of the high school experience that makes this a novel that will be hard for readers to forget. (Fiction. 12+)"

Awards:

• 1999 National Book Award Finalist
• 1999 BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
• 2000 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Fiction
• 2000 Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year
• 2000 ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• 2000 Printz Honor Book
• 2000 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults
• 2000 Fiction Quick Pick for Reluctant Youg Adult Readers
• 2000 Edgar Allen Poe Best Young Adult Award Finalist
• 2001 New York Times Paperback Children's Best Seller
• 2005 New York Times Paperback Children's Best Seller

Connections:

Author's Website:  http://madwomanintheforest.com/
Author's Blog: http://madwomanintheforest.com/blog/
Lesson Plan from Novelinks http://novelinks.org/pmwiki.php?n=Novels.Speak
Lesson Plan from the author's website: CLICK HERE
Lesson Plan:  http://mshogue.com/ce9/Speak/speak.htm

Other books by Laurie Halse-Anderson:

ISBN:  978-0689848919

ISBN:  978-1416905868

ISBN:  978-0142405703

After Tupac and D Foster

Bibliography:

Woodson, Jacqueline. After Tupac & D Foster.  Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio, 2009.
ISBN: 9780399246548

Plot Summary:
       After Tupac & D Foster is a book that embodies the essence of friendship and what it means to have a true friend.  Three girls, Neeka, D Foster and the narrator, share three years together that bonds them tighter than any experience they could ever share.  They experience the issues that come with being 11 and blossoming into 13.  They lean on each other through family issues they experience and they find themselves clinging to each other during  times of loss as well. The girls love D Foster even though she is somewhat of a mystery to them and doesn't share much of her life.  The girls are deeply saddened when D moves back with her mother and their beloved Tupac is proclaimed dead.

Critical Analysis:
       I listened to the unabridged audio of After Tupac & D Foster.  The book was read by Susan Spain.  Spain did a wonderful job of identifying with each character being portrayed in the story.  I especially liked it when she would use the voice of John Jay.  Spain made it sound really deep compared to when she used the voice of Tash, Neeka's oldest brother.  Tash was a homosexual, but was very flamboyant and this was easily portrayed in listening to the book.  Spain made it easy to see Tash flipping his hair and his hands and bobbing his head when he was talking.
       I chose this book because I thought I would have a personal connection with the lives of these girls.  I too loved Tupac and remember when he was killed.  I however, did not absolutely identify with Tupac as did the Neeka, D and the narrator.  The girls reflected on Tupac surviving his first shooting and how everyone thought he was such a miracle.  D identified with Tupac's mommy issues and how he was strong and really wanted to empower those around him as well.  The girls also had dreams of marrying a gangster rapper that would buy them a house and take care of them someday.  Although I couldn't identify with these aspirations, I understood the pedestal they placed the famous singer.  
      There was not a major rise in action in this book.  There were no critical events that happened or changed the story until the very end when D Foster left Queens to live with her mother again and Tupac died.  These were major events in their lives and this is how they remember their time with D and listening to Tupac's music.  I really didn't like this book at all.  It was about regular life situations and how three girls dealt with them.  I did not find it interesting and frankly if it weren't for the book being on audio, I would have probably read a different book. I understand it is a Newberry Honor book, but it is not one I will be revisiting or recommending to young readers.

Review Excerpt:

Review by Booklist
“The summer before D Foster’s real mama came and took her away, Tupac wasn’t dead yet.” From this first line in her quiet, powerful novel, Woodson cycles backward through the events that lead to dual tragedies: a friend’s departure and a hero’s death. In a close-knit African American neighborhood in Queens, New York, the unnamed narrator lives across from her best friend, Neeka. Then D Foster wanders onto the block, and the three 11-year-old girls quickly become inseparable. Because readers know from the start where the plot is headed, the characters and the community form the focus here. A subplot about Neeka’s older brother, a gay man serving prison time after being framed for a hate crime, sometimes threatens to overwhelm the girls’ story. But Woodson balances the plotlines with subtle details, authentic language, and rich development. Beautifully capturing the girls’ passage from childhood to adolescence, this is a memorable, affecting novel about the sustaining power of love and friendship and each girl’s developing faith in her own “Big Purpose.” Grades 6-9. --Gillian Engberg 

Awards:

Newberry Honor Book

Connections:

Author's Website:  CLICK HERE
Lesson Plan for book:  CLICK HERE
Interview with author:  CLICK HERE

Other books byJaqueline Woodson

ISBN:  978-0142417065

ISBN: 978-0142415535

ISBN:  978-0399239878

Lunch Lady

Bibliography:

Krosoczka, Jarrett. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.  ISBN:  9780329714543

Plot Summary:

     This graphic novel written by Jarreett Krosoczka is one that will keep students guessing when it comes to unfolding the evil plan of the local librarians.  The children in the story are really looking forward to the unveiling of X-Station 5000.  The librarians have other plans when it comes to the X-Station 5000.  This novel is a laugh out loud read and the super heroes arrive in the most unlikely form with the most unlikely of gadgets to assist them in their efforts to uncover the librarians' plans for world domination.  

Critical Analysis:
     In the graphic novel Lunch Ladies and the League of Librarians, Krosoczka does a wonderful job of hooking the readers from the very beginning of the story.  League of Librarians is the second book in the Lunch Lady series.  The storyline gravitates around three students, the Breakfast Bunch, that are discovering some curious things going on in the library with the librarians. Their school book fair is about to start and the students are excited about the "Read-a-thon" competition that is soon to be starting. 
   Little do the students know that the Lunch Ladies have been watching the librarians very closely as well and they are very close to figuring out their plans.  The Breakfast Bunch is parallel to a sidekick role while the lunch ladies follow the stereotypical role of super heroes.  They are everyday people in an everyday familiar work environment that when their skills are needed to fight evil, they come to the rescue.  The book follows a traditional sequence of events with super heroes stories.  The super heroes and their sidekicks become aware of some evil plans put together by the villainous librarians and work together to make sure their plan does not succeed.  
    The illustrations for League of Librarians are in black and white with accents of yellow.  Yellow is present in each picture it is important for the author to point out a detail of that particular scene and different shades of yellow is sometimes used as background color. When the Breakfast Bunch goes back to the library to find the keys one of them dropped, the scene is done in black and white and the missing keys are yellow on the floor of the library.  When one of the librarians yelled at the kids telling them, "The library is CLOSED!" the students were accented in yellow, but the librarian took-up almost the whole page and had bright yellow sunbursts shooting out from behind her.  It showed the reader that the librarian was mean and the children were cowering below her and afraid of her because they appear small in this scene and fear is expressed on their faces.  Using just black, white and yellow in Krosoczka's Lunch Lady series provides the reader with an opportunity to see what the author wants the reader to notice in each scene of this graphic novel.  It is well thought out and is a book that all students will enjoy. 

Review Excerpt:

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5–When not serving up French fries and gravy to students, Lunch Lady escapes to her secret kitchen lair to lead the life of a crime fighter. Using an assortment of lunch-themed gadgets (created by her sidekick Betty), she is definitely a quirky superhero. Tipped off by the Breakfast Bunch (three students who discovered Lunch Lady's crime-fighting alter ego in Book 1), she attempts to foil the plans of the evil League of Librarians, who seek to destroy all video games. The black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations have splashes of yellow in nearly every panel. The clean layout, featuring lots of open space, is well suited for the intended audience. Terrence, Hector, and Dee become more developed in this second installment in the series, especially Dee, who asserts herself as the strong-willed leader of the group. The winking references to book fairs, read-a-thon enrollment, and media specialists fit well with the story line. With its appealing mix of action and humor, this clever, entertaining addition to the series should have wide appeal.–Travis Jonker, Dorr Elementary School, MI END

Awards:

Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices - 2010

Connections:

Lesson idea:  This book would be great to use as an introduction into reading graphic novels.  Teachers and librarians can use the book as a read aloud and take the students panel by panel through the book.  This book also offers teachers and librarians an opportunity to show how authors connect with other books.  League of Librarians has a connection to some characters from classic literature that all students should be familiar with.  Students could write their own stories using characters from stories they are familiar with or are their favorite stories.
Author's Website:  CLICK HERE 
Author's Blog:  CLICK HERE
Lunch Lady Series Website:  CLICK HERE


Other books by Jarrett Krosoczka 

ISBN:  978-0375870354

ISBN:  978-0375860959

One Crazy Summer

A. Bibliography

Williams-Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer. New York: Amistad, 2010.  
ISBN:  978-0060760908
 
B.  Plot Summary 

  Delphine is the main character in the book One Crazy Summer.  Delphine is a strong young lady who lives with her father, Big Ma, and two sisters, Vonetta and Fern.  Delphine remembers her mother and knows that mother is just a word to describe who gave birth to her, but her mother is no mom, mommy, ma or mother to her and her two sisters.  The story develops when in the summer of 1968, Delphine and her two sisters are forced to travel from Brooklyn, New York to Oakland, California to stay with their mother, who abandoned them.  Delphine, a responsible older sister, tries as best she can to watch out for and protect her two sisters.  It becomes very difficult because she is located in a part of Oakland that is thriving with the revolutionists known as the Black Panthers.  In fact, in order for the girls to get breakfast and stay out of their mother's hair, they attend a summer camp put on by the Black Panthers and the girls receive a radical new education.  

C. Critical Analysis 

     In One Crazy Summer, Delphine, who is only 11 finds herself being a caretaker,  a determined little girl and a protector of her younger sisters.  The only thing Delphine fears is her mother. Throughout the story Delphine refers to how crazy her mother is and we see this through how quiet Cecile is and how much she doesn't want to be bothered by her 3 daughters.  The girls have been sent to live with their mother for four weeks and at the beginning of the book the days seem to go by slowly, but towards the middle, the girls seem to have found their niche.  They begin to make friends at the Black Panther summer camp and they even find themselves helping the "cause".  
     Set in the 1960's, the three sisters find themselves in what seems to be the heart of the revolutionary movement with the Black Panthers in Oakland, California.  The girls live in a world of struggles and feelings of abandonment.  This feeling is the strongest when the girls come home from an adventure in San Francisco to find their mother, Cecile, being arrested.  When asked about her kids, Cecile replies, "kids... I ain't got no kids".  This rocked the girls to their core.  Delphine being the protector, quickly told the girls that Cecile, their mother, was merely protecting the girls from being taken into custody.  The girls experience the benefits of friendship when another Black Panther member shows-up at their house and takes the three girls in and cares for them until their mother's return.
     Though the three sisters struggle to find their identity and figure out what their roles will be for the next four weeks in Oakland, the 3 sisters manage to create new friendships, learn about a revolution, learn to stand-up for what is right and they also learn that family and friends are important.  I also found it catching that Cecile, the mother, would never say the youngest child's name because she didn't pick it.  Fern, the youngest, always corrected her saying "my name is Fern".  It wasn't until the end of the book that the mother actually called the youngest sister Fern and it was after Cecile saw that her daughter Fern was much like her, a poet.  The end of the book was a bit sad to me because it seemed there were some unresolved issues between the children and their mother, but I guess that is what makes this book realistic.  Children will be able to relate with this book and will easily be able to put themselves in the sisters' shoes. 
     I believe the book is for more advanced readers with some understanding of the time period of 1960.  It was a tumultuous time and one that came with heavy situations that are still not taken lightly today.   Older children will enjoy learning about the back story of the Black Panthers in Oakland, California.  I must admit, after finishing reading this book the first thing I did was begin to research.  I loved the book and think it will be appealing to older children interested in a strong female character surrounded by obstacles of abandonment and sisterhood. 

D. Review Excerpt

From School Library Journal

"Starred Review. Grade 4–7—It is 1968, and three black sisters from Brooklyn have been put on a California-bound plane by their father to spend a month with their mother, a poet who ran off years before and is living in Oakland. It's the summer after Black Panther founder Huey Newton was jailed and member Bobby Hutton was gunned down trying to surrender to the Oakland police, and there are men in berets shouting "Black Power" on the news. Delphine, 11, remembers her mother, but after years of separation she's more apt to believe what her grandmother has said about her, that Cecile is a selfish, crazy woman who sleeps on the street. At least Cecile lives in a real house, but she reacts to her daughters' arrival without warmth or even curiosity. Instead, she sends the girls to eat breakfast at a center run by the Black Panther Party and tells them to stay out as long as they can so that she can work on her poetry. Over the course of the next four weeks, Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, spend a lot of time learning about revolution and staying out of their mother's way. Emotionally challenging and beautifully written, this book immerses readers in a time and place and raises difficult questions of cultural and ethnic identity and personal responsibility. With memorable characters (all three girls have engaging, strong voices) and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading."—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review listed by:  Amazon

E. Awards

2011 Coretta Scott King Award Winner

2011 Newbery Honor Book

2011 Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction

2010 National Book Award Finalist

Junior Library Guild Selection

Texas Library Association Best Book for 2010

F. Connections 

Author's Website:  CLICK HERE

History of the Black Panthers:  http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/

Lesson Plan connection:  This lesson plan is intended for older grade levels seeking a deeper understanding of the purpose of the Black Panthers and their movement in the late 1960's, early 1970's. http://www.usd116.org/ProfDev/AHTC/lessons/Goerss10/LessonPlan.htm

 Lesson Plan connection:  http://classroombookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-coretta-scott-king-author-award.html

G. Other Books by Rita Williams-Garcia

ISBN: 0688162479

ISBN:  978-1416961413

ISBN: 978-0140385618

ISBN: 978-0060760939

Lilly's Crossing

A. Bibliography
Giff, Patricia R. Lily's Crossing. New York, NY: Yearling, 2005. ISBN:  0329086014

B.  Plot Summary 
   
     Lily's Crossing is set in 1944 right after D-Day has occurred. The story follows Lily's adventures while she seeks to understand the constant change in her life with one friend leaving and another arriving.  Lily is also forced to spend her summer in Rockaway with her grandmother because her father is forced to go over seas as well.  Even though Rockaway is her favorite place, she finds it hard to be there without her best friend and her dad.  It is Lily's friendship with her new friend Albert, a Hungarian boy who escaped the Nazi's, that helps Lily realize how fortunate she is to have a grandmother that cares so deeply for her and a friend like Albert that truly enjoys her company.  It is one lie that threatens Albert's life that Lily may not ever forgive herself for if she doesn't help her new friend escape the roar of the ocean.

C. Critical Analysis

     Patricia Reilly Giff beautifully constructed a novel that children will be able to relate to.  World War II and the loss that came with it effected the lives of Lily, Margaret and Albert.  Well, in all actuality, it effected everyone in this story.  The setting of the story is at Rockaway Beach.  At Rockaway, Lily can see the boats heading to Europe and she can also watch the boats patrolling the waters in defense of the coastline.

     Lily was so excited about spending the summer at Rockaway, but soon after she arrives, she is broadsided with the news that her best friend Margaret is moving to Detroit so her father can find work.  It seems to get worse when she is told that her father is joining the cause and heading to Europe.  The only light that her summer is bringing is a boy who is a Hungarian refugee.  He escaped the Nazi’s and is now in Rockaway.  Lily doesn’t form an instant friendship with the boy, but overtime they understand that they both have something in common.  Neither one of them ever got to say goodbye to the people they love very much.

     Throughout the story, Lily also learns that it is important to tell the truth and she feels comfortable telling the truth to Albert.  In fact she confesses all the lies she has told except for one which could be the worst lie of all.  It could get Albert killed.  When Lily finally has enough courage to tell Albert she lied to him, he still swims out to try and reach the boats so he can go to Europe and find his sister.

     Albert of course does not make it to the boats and Lily does a daring rescue to save his life.  Albert leaves Rockaway and Lily goes back to school for the Fall.  Although Lily’s father returns home safely, the reader is left with wonder and sadness for Lily because we are unsure if she will ever see her best friends again.  Giff pulls through at the end of the book and crafts a realistic ending for this story.  Lily returns to Rockaway with her grandmother and father.  Margaret is still gone to Detroit and Margret's brother is still “Missing in Action”, but she notices Paprika, Albert’s cat.  Could it be that he is back in Rockaway?  She couldn’t wait to find out.   Lily is not only reunited with Albert, but she meets Albert's sister, Ruth, as well. 

     In Giff’s letter to the readers at the end of this story, she tells the reader about how the Second World War was a part of her childhood and how this story had been in heart for sometime.  She felt connected to Lily's world because she could identify with Lily's experiences growing up watching the ships sail to Europe. Not only was the story about World War II, it was about friendship and this is how she closes her letter to the readers,  “I wanted to tell readers that even though the times are different now, people have always worried about the same things…. loss and separation, the future, and sometimes war.  I want readers to know that love and friendship make a difference.”  

D. Review Excerpt
    Kirkus Review says the following about Lily's Crossing, "In 1944, Lily's eagerly awaited summer vacation becomes a time of anxiety when her widower father, Poppy, announces that he's off to Europe with the US Army Corps of Engineers. Lily's lonely in Rockaway with both her father and her summer friend, Margaret, gone, until she meets an orphan from Budapest living temporarily with her grandmother's neighbor. At first she responds coldly to Albert, but is soon drawn to him by his awkward dignity and his tragic tale of dead parents and ill sister, Ruth, left behind in France. As they care for an abandoned kitten together and wistfully watch ships passing on the horizon, a solid friendship develops, and by the time they part, Lily and Albert have helped each other through difficult times. Much of the plot, characters, and premise is conventional, but Giff (Shark in School, 1994, etc.) really pulls readers' heartstrings with Albert's memories of his family, the loss of Margaret's well-liked brother in the war, and Lily's joyful reunion with Poppy. Pull out the hankies for the final scene, in which Lily returns to Rockaway the following summer to find Albert--and Ruth--waiting for her. It's a strong ending to a deftly told story. (Fiction. 10-12)"
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/patricia-reilly-giff/lilys-crossing/#review
 
E. Awards

Newbery Honor 1998

F. Connections 

Author's Website:  CLICK HERE
Lesson Plan for Lily's Crossing:  CLICK HERE 
Interview with the author:  CLICK HERE

G. Other Books by Patricia Reilly Giff

ISBN:  978-0440415787

ISBN:  978-0440425571

Turtle in Paradise

A. Bibliography

Holm, Jennifer L. Turtle in Paradise. New York: Random House, 2010.
ISBN: 978-0375836909
 
B.  Plot Summary 

Turtle in Paradise provides readers a glimpse into the lives of those people living in 1935 during the Great Depression.  Jobs were hard to find and so was money.  Turtle, an 11 year old girl, is forced to live with family she has never met before in Key West, Florida.  Through Turtle's adventures in Key West she discovers a grandma she was told to be dead, builds relationships with her cumbersome boy cousins and discovers what the word family really means.  This sweet story is surrounded by adventure, laughs and even cries all the while giving tidbits of information about the historical events surrounding the story.

C. Critical Analysis 

     Turtle is a 12-year-old girl who lives with her mother and doesn’t know who her father is. When her mother begins working for a woman who hates children, Turtle is forced to live with her mother’s sister whom she has never met.  Turtle is a perfect name for this character because she is tough on the outside and sometimes sensitive when it comes to things of the heart such as meeting her grandmother she thought was dead. 

     The setting of the story is during the Great Depression in the Florida Keys where life is hard, but somehow the kids seem to have a wonderful time and seem to be unaffected by the struggles of the adults around them.  The kids in the story create a gang called the “Diaper Gang”.  “We watch the bad babies….The crying kind,”  says Pork Chop.  Nicknames are used heavily in the story and this goes hand-in-hand with the real life Key West traditions of the residents giving nicknames to everyone they meet. 

     The “Diaper Gang” offers a sense of relief for the women going through the struggles of the “Great Depression”.  Many were stressed because their husbands had left to find work and this left the women home alone to care for the house, kids and cook.  The story gives readers a real sense of family and how you don’t have to be related to someone to consider them family enough to help them. The “Diaper Gang” faithfully helped women with their children who were not well behaved and also helped clear-up diaper rashes with their secret formula. 

     It is evident that the author did extensive research to make this story as authentic as possible.  Young readers will love the adventure of treasure seeking and they will also be enticed by the mishaps the gang has throughout the story.  In the Author’s Notes, Holm provides pictures and background information to help the reader more fully understand the time period in which the book is written.  I loved seeing the photographs of the neighborhood and the “Real Kermit”.  Holm also offers Websites and Resources at the end of the book.  This book is a wonderful book depicting the struggles of the people in Key West during the Great Depression from the perspective a young girl who is living through it.

 


D. Review Excerpt

"Eleven-year-old Turtle is not one to suffer fools gladly. And she runs into a lot of fools, especially the no-goods her starry-eyed mother meets. So it's a tough little Turtle who arrives in Key West in June of 1935. She's been sent to Florida to stay with relatives because her mother's latest housekeeping job doesn't allow children. Unfortunately, Mama has neglected to tell Aunt Minnie she's coming, and Turtle gets the stink eye from cousins with monikers like Buddy and Beans. As Turtle soon learns, everything is different in Key West, from the fruit hanging on trees to the scorpions in nightgowns to the ways kids earn money. She can't be part of her cousins' Diaper Gang (no girls allowed), which takes care of fussy babies, but when she finds a treasure map, she hopes she'll be on Easy Street like Little Orphan Annie. Holm uses family stories as the basis for this tale, part romp, part steely-eyed look at the Depression era. Reminiscent of Addie in the movie Paper Moon, Turtle is just the right mixture of knowingness and hope; the plot is a hilarious blend of family dramas seasoned with a dollop of adventure. The many references to 1930s entertainments (Terry and the Pirates, Shirley Temple) will mostly go over kids' heads, but they'll get how much comics and movies meant to a population desperate for smiles. An author's note (with photos) shows Holm's family close-up. Grades 4-6." --Ilene Cooper
Review by booklist.com


E. Awards

2011 Newbery Honor Book

ALA Notable Book

Booklist Editor’s Choice

Texas Bluebonnet List

Kirkus Review Best Children’s Book of 2010

F. Connections 

Lesson Plan Connections:  Students could study the Great Depression as they read this book.  Students could also study the area Turtle is living.
Author's Website:  CLICK HERE


G. Other Books by Jennifer L. Holm

ISBN: 978-1442436633

ISBN: 978-0064408561

ISBN: 978-0375836893

Dogs and Cats

Dog cover for the book

Cat cover for the book

A. Bibliography
Jenkins, Steve. Dogs and Cats. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.  ISBN:  978-0618507672

B.  Plot Summary

     In the book Dogs and Cats, Steve Jenkins creates an informational book that offers readers two books in one.  If the reader would like information about dogs, they simply turn to the side of the book with the dog on the cover.  If the reader wants information about cats, the reader simply turns to the side with the cat on the cover.  This book is intended for readers seeking information about the origin of cats and dogs, the different breeds and other interesting facts about these two kinds of animals.  Jenkins also relates the books to reader by explaining how and why these two types of animals get along with humans.

C. Critical Analysis

     Dogs and Cats is an informational book written by Steve Jenkins.  The book is divided into two separate sections and even though they are separated, Jenkins does a great job of offering dog and cat comparisons throughout both portions of the book.  Jenkins has written many non-fiction books and this is just one of his many kid-friendly books in his collection.  The reader will be enthralled with Jenkins use of headings, illustrations and facts on every part of the page.  The book will attract readers from all ages and backgrounds.

     In the dog portion of the book, Jenkins adds in little tidbits of information about cats on almost every page and does the same with the cat portion of the book.  There are dog tidbits of information on each cat page.  Each fact is a comparison to the facts being offered about the dog or cat on that page.  This is a unique way to get readers to look at each species at the same time even though he has put them in two different sections.  In most of the book, Jenkins starts each piece of information with a question like, “Whose the boss?” in the dog section or “What’s so special about a cat?” in the cat section.  This offers insight to what the writing to follow is going to address.  I also think it helps draw the reader in and build suspense for answering the question.

     Jenkins is also the illustrator of this book.  He uses torn paper to illustrate the book.  At first glance, it is not noticeable that the illustrations are with paper because he does such a wonderful job of making each of the different types of dogs and cats look completely identifiable to their different types of breed.  I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to find all of the different types and colors of paper he would have to use to make these illustrations so accurate.  Jenkins mentioned in a note at the beginning of the dog section of this book that he used paper from Egypt, France, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines, and the United States.  The illustrations of this informational book bleed off the pages and also vary in size.  The illustrations are proportional to the breed of the animal.  He does mention in the book that domestic cats do not vary in size like domestic dogs do.  Every page is different from the last and keeps readers interested in what is coming next.

     My favorite part of the book is where he marries both portions of the book.  It occurs in the middle of the book where the dog portion meets the cat portion.  The section is titled the same on both pages, “Friends or enemies?” and information about both cats and dogs being friends or enemies in written on both pages.  The illustration is of a cat and dog laying on a rug and they seem like they are playing.  This book is one that readers will return to time and time again.  Through their exploration of this book, they will learn more and more about the different characteristics of dogs and cats.

D. Review Excerpt

Kirkus Revies posted this about the book Dogs and Cats,

"A turn-it-around-and-flip-it-over volume delivers from ends to middle the straight goods on the world’s most popular house pets, a cleanly innovative design allowing interaction between the two parts throughout. Jenkins’s usual striking collages of cut and torn paper create his subjects in all their textures as he describes their prehistoric passages to domesticity and various and sundry facts about our canine and feline friends. The two narratives mirror each other, essentially following the same structure and at times asking the same questions (the answers to “Are dogs smarter than cats?” and “Are cats smarter than dogs?” for instance, hedge their bets diplomatically). Each double-paged spread features one thematic discussion, images arrayed on a clean white background and smaller sidebars providing additional information. Nothing new here, but the addition of icons at the bottom of each spread shows the other animal and gives one small, related fact, adding an element of interactivity that both teases and pleases. Sure to see plenty of use. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-10)"

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https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steve-jenkins/dogs-and-cats/

E. Awards

School Library Journal, Best Book of the Year

F. Connections

Author's Website:  Steve Jenkins

Meet the Author Movie on "Teachingbooks.net" 

http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=10682

G. Other Books by Steve Jenkins

ISBN: 978-0545046510

ISBN: 978-0547512914

ISBN: 061896620X