Review by Angelia Holmes
Lib 222
Chapter 8 Review
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The novel is presented in the form of a flashback of a man named Amir. Readers follow Amir as he recalls his boyhood in Afghanistan. Amir talks about his experiences with his young friend Hassan whose father is a servant for Amir and his father, Baba. We see some of the major events that take place during the time of the king being overthrown. One of the major turning points in the novel is during the kite-fighting tournament. Amir sees something extremely negative happen to Hassan and pretends that he didn’t see it happen. Young readers will see Amir deal with the guilt and follow him through the years and his escape from Kabal. This novel is great to read with news articles of the issues that were occurring at this time in Afghanistan. It is extremely important for students to have background knowledge of the vents that have occurred and having students connect news articles to the novel can be beneficial to their learning. Review by Angelia Holmes Lib 222 Chapter 8 Review
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The novel starts by describing to the reader the scene of a young boy looking upon his deceased father. This young boy is the main character; Sig. Sig is left at home while his stepmother and sister go into town to find someone to help with their fathers’ body. While Sig is home alone, a mysterious man knocks on the door. This man goes by the man of Wolff and declares that he had business with Sig’s father. However, now that the father is dead, his business is with Sig. Young adults will follow Sig, as he has to figure out what his father did and make it right. He is dealing with this mystery only with his sister; Anna for help after their stepmother abandoned them. Young readers will be excited by the story line and the consist flow of mystery. Personally I would only recommend for high school students because of some of the strong context that is described in the novel. Review by Angelia Holmes Lib 222 Chapter 7 Review Diary of a Wimpy Kid has become a phenomenon for young adult readers, particularly middle school students. The novel follows a young middle school student, Greg, as he faces the trials of being the middle child and dealing with starting the middle school life. At home, Greg has to deal with a younger brother who never gets in trouble and an older brother that seems to make it his personal mission to get Greg in trouble as much as possible. Many young adults will be able to identify with the issues that Greg deals with. Some of the themes that are seen in the novel include topics of bullying, dealing with homework, keeping friendships and handling family life all at the same time. Jeff Kinney keeps young readers interested with his illustrations and connections to the real world. This novel is a great recommendation to students because the novel was continued into a series that students can follow along with. Review by Angelia Holmes Lib 222 Chapter 6 Review Illustrated by George Ford
Ruby, a little black girl, starts a new school by declaration of the desegregation law. This would not be a big deal if this happened now but since in the 1960's in Louisiana it was a big deal. All the white people stood in a mob outside the school yelling at poor Ruby. The other students stopped coming to school. Ruby seemed fine. For weeks this happened, her teacher wondered how she could be so calm about all this. Ruby admitted she prayed for the people who yelled at her everyday. Eventually, parents realized how ridiculous not sending their children to school was. So the children came back. it shows a different ethnicity doing something positive. That alone should be really inspirational for children. The pictures are pretty but they do not really add or take away from the story. The book is definitely worthy of a collection. Definitely worth reading for any age. BIBLIO:1995, Scholastic Books, Ages 4-8, $5.99 REVIEWER: Kimberly Bowman FORMAT: Picture book biography ISBN: 0-439-59844-3 Rikki Cohen
This nonfiction book shows real articles and pictures from the Berlin Wall and Soviet Union, as communism was falling. This book is written in chapter format, and with tons of pictures and facts, making it an interesting read for young adults and older children. When The Wall Came Down would make a great reference book for projects, as the author was a journalist at the time and photographed all of these pictures himself- there isn't anything factious or bias. The book shows the war; the different countries involved and even has maps in every chapter to show how the war impacted each country as time went on. I would highly recommend this book, and push to have it in classrooms as a reference source. I thought it was very well written and can teach children a lot just by the photographs that were captured during this time. The Universe by Simon is an informational book on, well, the universe. It explains everything that we know about the universe in a kid friendly version. However, there could have been a lot more done to this book to make it more interesting and fun to kids. The way that the sentences are worded in this book will leave kids falling asleep within the first two paragraphs. The font and pictures don’t help much in this aspect. If the pictures were presented in a better way than just slapping them onto the page with a not to brilliant, but easy to read font right next to it, it might just make kids want to read more about the universe. This book, however, will do just the opposite and kill kid’s interest in the universe. The information in this book just drones on and on without any breaks. There is not a table of contents in the book to tell what information is presented in the book and where, so it forces you to read the whole book just to find what you were looking for. There is also no glossary for words that kids won’t know going into read this book. Overall, this is a book that I would not suggest to have in a children’s library collection. There are a lot of better and more interesting books out there about the universe for kids to read. BIBLIO: 1998, Morrow Junior Books, Ages 6 to 12, $6.99.
REVIEWER: Alyssa Daney FORMAT: Middle Reader Spot A Dog is a nonfiction children’s book designed to introduce them to the world of art. It’s a relatively short book, with thirteen famous works of art. The author is allowing for children to look at art in a new and creative way. She has the children reading simple bolded sentences that have them look for a dog in the different art pieces. Each work of art contains a dog somewhere and the children reading are able to search for the dog, while reading and looking at the art. Each artwork has a caption below that describes who’s being depicted, what’s going on, or the name of the work. It’s a great introduction into art, and allows for kids to do something fun at the same time. There are a wide variety of artworks depicted to introduce to children. Its simple sentences are also good for those children that are just learning to read, or for those looking for easy readers. Well thought out, and good for introducing art to children, while giving them something fun and easy to read.
Published: 1995 Price: $37 - $65 New Ages: 3-6 Category: Nonfiction 750 Reviewer: Natalie Hoeksema A Drop of Blood is a book that is short enough that it doesn’t overwhelm a curious child, but long enough that it actually allows for the reader to learn something (in this case ALL about blood). This book explains everything that a child could possibly ever want to know about blood in the simplest terms possible. Red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and the journey that food as well as oxygen take through the bloodstream are all explained. There is the explanation of how a scab is formed which nearly every child will find interesting since it is something that they have all experienced themselves. This book does well in answering the questions of “why” and “how” on everything having to deal with blood. There are absolutely no difficult to understand or diagrams that children would find difficult to understand. The illustrations are simple and they do the job of explaining what they have to explain in the simplest way possible just like the text does. The illustrations include a dog and his boy as they figure out everything about blood along with the reader. Even though the illustrations are simple they show the expressions on both of the characters quite well (the dog looks shocked/worried when the boy cuts his finger). This book does what it sets out to do, which is teach the reader about blood. This book (the older version) is perfect for any library with curious readers (even if it looks a bit outdated).
Category: Books for the Young--Nonfiction year 1989 published by HarperCollins prices $15.99, $16.89, $4.99. for readers K-Gr. 2. -Andrea Dow This book begins with Alice sitting outdoors with her older sister, when all of a sudden, Alice sees a white rabbit with a pocket watch and decides to chase after it. She follows the rabbit until she falls down a deep rabbit hole and finds herself in a room full of doors. She sees a tiny locked door that leads to a beautiful garden. She eats and drinks things that make her change in size, until she is able to get through the door into the garden. As Alice travels through the garden she meets several good and bad characters such as the Caterpillar who gives her great advice, Chesire who tells her to beware of the angry things ahead of her, and of course the Mad Hatter, and Queen of Hearts. Alice travels to the Queen's castle where she has to handle many obstacles. Eventually Alice wakes up from her dream. She then finds herself sitting under the tree where she fell asleep. This book is a timeless classic, and is great for many different ages. PUBLISHER: Templar; Slp edition GENRE: Fantasy AGES: Kindergarten-12, $20-24.99 (hardcover) REVIEWED BY: Crystal Scott This story takes place in 1959, a time when the South had separate water fountains, entrance doors, service counters, bus seats, and schools for blacks and whites. Bobby and his family begin by traveling to see the Civil War battlefields, while Jacob and his family travel to visit family in the country. As both trips veer off course and eventually collide, the bitter injustices of segregation reverberate through the lives of the travelers. Both family's then have to take the bus and Bobby's naively prejudice feelings begin to change when he starts to identify and question his assumptions about race. Bobby witnesses an incident that threatens to deny the black family seats. What they don’t know is the reason for the family’s desperation to be on that bus is that a few towns away, their child is missing. This book is written to highlight the Jim Crow Laws during the time period. It is also written from different perspectives of each character, to allow the reader to understand the characters feelings. PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus and Giroux GENRE: Historical Fiction AGES: 10-14, $16.99 REVIEWED BY: Crystal Scott |
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AuthorStudents from Kutztown University enrolled in LIB 221 and LIB 222
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