Bootleg: Murder, moonshine, and the lawless years of prohibition

Thanks, Donita Thomas, for one I want to remember to read. My great-uncles were involved in this kind of stuff.

Blumenthal, K. (2011).  Bootleg: Murder, moonshine, and the lawless years of prohibition.  New York:  Roaring Brook Press.

Genre:  Informational Text

Age Level:  Grades 8-12

Bootleg:  Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, is an informational text that chronicles the history of Prohibition in the United States—a period from 1920 to 1933 during which it was illegal to sell or drink alcohol.  The book, a lesson in social science, discusses how an era in our country’s history began, as a movement to heal social ills, became a burden on ordinary citizens and a boon to criminals. It began with the best of intentions. Mothers and civic leaders, worried about the effects of alcohol on American families, started a movement to outlaw drinking in public places. Over time, their protests, petitions, and activism paid off—when a Constitional Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol was ratified, it was praised as the end of public drunkenness, alcoholism, and a host of other social ills blamed on booze. Instead, it began a decade of lawlessness, when children smuggled (and drank) illegal alcohol, the most upright citizens casually broke the law, and a host of notorious gangsters entered the public eye. Filled with text features such as period art and photographs, anecdotes, and portraits of unique characters from the era, this fascinating book looks at the rise and fall of the disastrous social experiment known as Prohibition.

Blumenthal gives us a highly readable chapter book, well-shaped look at the Eighteenth Amendment, which she calls “the most radical and ambitious social experiment ever tried.” She provides concise, clearly written insights into the beginnings of the temperance movements in the late eighteenth century, which gained steam over the next century and finally reached a tipping point in the early twentieth century as an organized, powerful political movement. Of course, the “grand social revolution that was supposed to forever end drunkenness, reduce crime, and make life better for America’s families” did almost precisely the opposite, and the of the book section that discusses Al Capone will satisfy readers who are hungry for the gangster-warfare side of Prohibition. A closing chapter makes an argument that despite the mostly disastrous results, there were bright points to Prohibition—like the sharp plunge in alcohol-related diseases—and looks at the leftover effects such as MADD and school drug- and alcohol-awareness programs that we have today. Plenty of archival images with captions lend to the book’s engaging design, and a large bibliography as well as source notes closes out this wonderful resource, which will also help to initiate discussions on the current War on Drugs.

• o   CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
• o   CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
• o   CCSS.ELA-Lliteracy.RI.8.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
• o   CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints. 

High Order Questions

Was Prohibition a success or a failure?

What was the author’s opinion of Prohibition?

If we thought of Prohibition as a cause, what were some immediate effects that it had on the social scene?  What are some lasting effects that still exist today?

The hidden girl: A true story of the Holocaust

Thank you Julissa Sargent, for a biography reflection.

Kaufman, L., & Metzger, L. (2008). The hidden girl: A true story of the Holocaust. New York: Scholastic.

On September 17,1939 when Russian soldiers entered a small hometown of a young girl named Lola when she was only five years old.  Before she reached her 10th birthday, she lost her father, then her mother one right after the other as well as watched extended family and friends disappear. Yet Lola was one of the few “lucky” children because so many did not survive the devastation of Hitler’s regime that wiped out six million Jews living in Europe in 1939.  The book talks about how Lola’s grandmother entrusted Lola to a Ukrainian woman who hid her in a back room until the Nazi threat came too close. It then goes on to explain how Lola fled again to the home of another brave family, where she spent nine months buried in a dark hole beneath the family barn.  Throughout this time in hiding, Lola wore a hand embroidered dress that her mother made for her.   After her escape she and some extended family immigrated to America to start a new life.  It wasn’t until years later that she was able to share her haunting testimony with others.  This book is a heart wrenching journey that will allow older children and adults to understand one of the most tragic events in history.  According to the book, you will now find the hand embroidered dress that Lola wore in the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.

Literary Terms:
            This book is a biography, which means it was written by someone about another person’s life.  The really neat thing about this book however, is that the author used actual first hand stories and quotes from the person whom she was writing about.  The theme of this book has a huge significance in the history of our world.  It tells the story first hand of what it was like to survive the Holocaust, which was something very few were able to do.  This book is definitely worthy of attention from readers of all ages.  The imagery in the book will keep you coming back to read more, the author uses words that portray how things looked, smelled, and sounded for Lola during this miraculous journey.

Curriculum Connections:
RI.5.1. Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RI.5.9. Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
After reading this book and having conversations about the events of the Holocaust in a class for upper elementary students, I think it would be great for the students to do more research on the events of the Holocaust.  They can use the internet, journals, other books, and possibly even interviews of any known survivors.  I then think the students could make a podcast to deliver a summary of their findings.  Students learn best when applying given content knowledge and teaching others, this would be a great activity to do so as well as incorporate technology too!

Big Questions:
How would you create a new life after so much suffering?
  Could you imagine living in fear for your life?

One World, One Day

Thanks, Shawnetha Watson, for another good photo essay book.

Kerley, B. (2009). One world, one day.  Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

Reading Level: Easy Non-fiction, K - 2nd grade

Summary: 
This photo essay book tells a story with a series of photographs.  The story tells what children around the world do in a day. The words are few, but the pictures speak for themselves. The photos tell a story about what children do from sunrise to sunset.  All children "get up, wash up, and celebrate a new day."  They all have breakfast, travel, go to school, head home, work, play, eat, spend time with family, and get ready for bed.  "Around the world, kids dream of tomorrow and all the possibilities of just one day."  By showing pictures of how one day is spent around the world, children can see how they are all different, yet all the same. 

Literary Terms:  

The illustrations are the most evident feature of this non-fiction book.  This book uses a total of sixty-three photographs to tell a simplistic yet powerful story.  Each photograph is mentioned at the end of the book with a title, location, and caption.  It is truly amazing to see where all of the photographs come from and how they all tie in with the story.  There are photographs included from the USA, Cambodia, India, Israel, Myanmar, Iraq, and China, just to name a few.  

The author of the book is able to connect children around the world with the use of photographs.  For example, the reader will see a series of photographs when the author is describing children having breakfast.  We see children eating different breakfast foods, such as churros, toast, hot sweet tea, pancakes, and porridge. By reading the explanation of the photographs in the index, you will see that the "Porridge" photograph is from Korea, the "Pancakes" photo is from the United States of America (taken in Sevierville, TN), the "Churros" photo is from Spain, the "Toast" photo is from Australia, and the "Hot sweet tea" photo is from Bangladesh. Our foods may be similar or different from other countries, but we all share the common thread of having breakfast.  This is just a part of the theme, which is that we all have much in common.  In the words of the author, "the more we can embrace our commonality, the more tolerant we can be of our differences."  

The captions in the index provide even more information about each photograph.  For instance, the caption of the "Hot sweet tea" photo from Bangladesh states "A boy helps his family by working in a restaurant pouring tea.  In South Asia, many people drink tea with milk and sugar."  Additionally, some photos like this one in particular include a photographer's note.  This note states "Roki makes tea in a restaurant in the main Bazaar in Azmiriganj, a remote town, in Bangladesh.  Roki studied up to grade four, but quit school to help his three sisters and his aging mother.  He described his day to me.  "I wake up at 6:00 am, brush, and wash dirty dishes in the river behind the restaurant.  Then I make tea until afternoon.  Later I have a bath.  For dinner, I have rice with potato.  After that I go back to work, usually until 9:00 pm, and then I go to sleep," Roki has stepped up to his responsibilities to his family, but I hope he will be able to continue his education someday." Captions and notes that go along with pictures like this one give an authentic insight into the life of a child who lives across the world.  

Curriculum Activity:

This photo essay makes me think about sharing diversity, culture, and tolerance in the classroom.  I think it would be a wonderful way to begin a new study on children around the world.  Groups of students could focus and research specific parts of a day around the world, such as "What children around the world eat for breakfast", "What school is like around the world", or "How children spend time with their families in different countries."  This book has so many possibilities when it comes to teaching students about diversity, culture, and tolerance.  

This website also has some great ideas for using this book in the classroom. 
http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/multicultural/one-world-one-day.htm

Common Core State Standards:   I teach a Basic English 12 class to 12th graders with disabilities.  If I were to use this book in my classroom, the following standards would be addressed.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.

BIG questions: Are we all that different from people around the world?  How can a photograph tell a story?  Do you have a photograph that tells a story? 

A Child Called "It"

I like the format Casey used in her reflection.

Pelzer, D. J. (1995). A child called "it": An abused child's journey from victim to victor. Deerfield Beach, Fla: Health Communications.

Summary: "A Child Called 'it'" is a true story of Dave Pelzer.  When you read the book you will learn about his childhood and how it was filled with cruel events from his alcoholic and crazy mother.  He went through unthinkably events such as beatings, starvation, and locked in the bathroom with Clorox and ammonia fumes.  This is just a small selection of how her was treated.

Reflection:

Autobiography: An autobiography is a piece of writing about someone's life.  This book is about the childhood of Dave Pelzer.  When reading the book you will learn just how bad his mother treated him when growing up.  

Flashback: Chapter one "The Rescue"  tells us that "David Pelzer,' he says, 'you're free.'" In the following chapters he flashbacks to his life when his family was like the "Brady Bunch of the 1960s" to his childhood when the abuse started. 

Style:  The way the author tells the story is very touching for the intended audience.  It hooks the readers and creates an emotional bond.  Example: "My relationship with mom drastically changed from discipline to punishment that grew out of control. It became so bad at times, I had no strength to crawl away--even if it meant saving my life."

Questions:

How many types of child abuse did Dave suffer?
Why do you think Dave's mother abused only him and not his siblings?
Why do you think his father did not help him and just leave?
What would you have done if you were Dave?

Night

Compelling reflection by Kent Maikrantz. Thanks!
Wiesel, E. (1960). Night. Austin, TX: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston.

The autobiographical Night by Elie Wiesel is the first-hand account of the author's experience in Nazi-occupied Transylvania during World War II. The story is told in first person, through the eyes of the author. By telling the story through the point of view of the narrator, the emotional connection is amplified. The author is able to convey the actual emotion to the reader, such as when he describes the scene on the boxcar when they are en route to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. He describes the furious fighting over a piece of bread and how a young man actually beats his father severely in order to get the food. He then describes the feelings he experiences and the personal promise he makes to himself to take care of his own father.

Wiesel also makes use of sensory details when he describes the sight of the fire and sparks flowing out of the giant smoke stack as the train enters the camp. He also describes in detail the lingering, rancid smell of burnt human flesh and how the smell stuck in his throat. And he is constantly describing the sights of terror and despair as they unfold before him.

I would recommend using this book with older students, as the subject matter and descriptions are rather vivid. While my students can not make direct personal connections, some of them do relate on a lesser level. Some share how they have experienced similar conditions when they were evicted from their home, or when they were taken from their home by social services. So while they did not experience what it was like to live through the occupation of their homeland, they were still able to connect internally.

A 5 is Against the Law

Another suggestion from Yolonda Hicks.

            Buron, K. D.  (2007).  A 5 is against the Law! Social boundaries: Straight up!  Shawnee Mission, KS:  Autism Asperger Publishing Co.

This blog entry is a non-required bonus, but I felt the need to share this book after reading it.  This book calls itself "an honest guide for teens and young adults," and it is just that.  The book is written directly to the young person and doesn't pull punches about the trouble he or she can get into if behavior crosses the socially-acceptable line, regardless of whether or not the person did it on purpose or understands what was done wrong.  The book gives a 5-point rating scale for behavior, explains how to use the scale to view one's own behavior, when to get help for figuring out and dealing with problems, how to cope with "gray" areas, how to set up boundaries to protect yourself from unintentionally getting into trouble, and ideas for how to calm yourself when stress or anxiety are pushing you up the behavior scale.  Suggestions for further resources are included in the back.  The book is written at a low reading level in order to be accessible to the greatest number of students and is divided into "chapters" so that one aspect of the topic can be tackled at a time.  Real-life examples are given of other teens and young adults with ASD in various situations to make the concepts clearer.

I asked my son, a 21-year-old with Asperger Syndrome, to read the book as well and give me his opinion.  He said that, although he already knew and applied most of the ideas in the book at this point in his life, he believes that it would have been easier to understand than how some things were presented by his counselor.  He also felt that the information and gui

All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome

Thanks to Yolonda Hicks!

Hoopman, K.  (2006).  All cats have Asperger Syndrome.  London:  Jessica Kingsley
            Publishers.

This photo essay is one of the best books that I have seen for introducing Asperger Syndrome to children, or even teens or adults, as it makes the characteristics and issues very simple to understand.  Each page has a short statement about some characteristic of Asperger Syndrome, how someone else reacts to the person diagnosed with it, or how parents and caregivers need to deal with the child and a picture of a cat or kitten illustrating the concept.  Although personification should usually be avoided in informational literature, it works in this instance.  Most ASD children bond well with animals and seem to readily identify with the ones in the photos, making it easier for them to connect with the concepts.  One of the favorite pages for children with whom I have shared this book is the picture of the cat wrapped in bubble wrap to illustrate how protective parents can become.

This text would come under the subject heading of social science, and would be useful for informal bibliotherapy, in terms of initially helping young people understand themselves and their family's reactions following diagnosis.  My son has Asperger Syndrome, and the first time he read this book, his response was, "Hey, they get me!"  His little sister's reaction was similar:  "They sure pegged Zach."  The author's wonderful job of describing these concepts also makes it a great book to use for teaching text-to-self connections, as I did recently in an elementary FMD classroom.  With its clear pictures and simple text, even more limited students can recognize something of themselves in the book.  As a number of these characteristics are shared by students with other diagnoses, it can be useful for this purpose even in a classroom or group setting that includes more than just those with ASD.  Even those without any special needs of their own can find links in either themselves or their families; in the FMD classroom, even the aides were indicating self-connections.

In my opinion, every family and classroom with an ASD child in it should have a copy of this book.  The final pages are very encouraging, and its usefulness can far outlive the initial reading.  The book has been on our shelf for about two years, and my son is an adult now, but it is regularly pulled down to solve an issue.  Whenever Zach is driving his sister or me crazy without realizing it, one of us will go get the book, turn to the page, and just hand it to him, and he gets the point.  Of course, turn-about is fair play, and I've been handed the bubble wrap page a few times, as well.

Go Ask Alice

 Anonymous. (1998). Go ask Alice. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.

(I realize that Alice is already posted on this blog, but Shurree Clouse's reflection adds so much to what is already there. Thanks, Shurree!)

I know that this post is early, and that Informational Texts aren’t due for several weeks yet. I wanted to write this entry now, however, because I have Go Ask Alice fresh in my mind. We are coming to the end of the year, and I have done all the required texts with my juniors and so they are itching to get to choose their own reading selections. As a class they choose Alice and as a group (it’s a small class) they have devoured the book and finished it within just a few days of checking it out from the library. 

If you have never read Go Ask Alice, I highly recommend it. The narrative is told through diary entries of a young girl as she enters high school for the first time. Over the summer, the speaker stays with her grandparents and is invited to a party. At the party her new friends play “Button, Button, Who’s got the Button?” and slip LSD into her Coke. Quickly the speaker slips into a world of drugs and addiction. Her struggle to overcome addiction, insecurities, and various other trials throughout the book will keep kids and adults hooked.  I have had several students who are extremely reluctant readers come up to me in the hallway and say “Ms. Clouse, I love this book!” The positive reaction to this novel has been so welcome and validating. I am thrilled that they are enjoying it so much.

With a book like this, it can be difficult to walk the delicate line between the right and wrong way to teach it. You don’t want to run the risk of spending your class time doing little more than answering questions about drugs and their various street names.  After an exhaustive internet search, I did not find very much in the way of useful lesson plans. Since I am still working on this unit and the kids are going through it so quickly, I think it would be best to be used an a very short section in your informational text readings. Here are some of the things I am working on in my class:

Historical Context: Students know little to nothing about the time period that Go Ask Alice is set in. The 1960s is little more than a decade of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, and Hippies in their mind. (And that is if they even know that much about it.) I find it important to teach historical context in most cases where students haven’t had the opportunity to learn about a specific time period in their history or social studies classes. Here we talked about the differences in expectations of kids, slang/jargon of the time period, and the beginning of a drug culture in America. We even watched an episode of Dragnet (LSD story/Blue Boy) and listened to the song White Rabbit to introduce them to period. (Believe me; they had no idea what Dragnet was! As someone who grew up watching it on Nick-At-Night, it was a little shocking.)

Jefferson Airplane.

Banned Book List: As you can imagine, this book is often banned and is (from all the information I could find online) rarely taught as a part of the classroom. Our school library had a classroom set, but when I asked around, none of the other English teachers in the building said that they have ever taught it. Since students seem to love this book so much, it would be great to use as a part of teaching persuasion. Students could write an essay defending using the inclusion of Alice in school libraries and media center, or the opposite thereof. They could compare this book to other novels and the list and study what makes them controversial. 

Who’s Responsible Here: Go Ask Alice is published as an anonymous diary of a 15 year old girl. However it is found in the library in the fiction section By doing a little research you can find that the diary was written and/or edited by a woman named Beatrice Sparks. Ms. Sparks is also responsible for other cautionary tales such as It Happened to Nancy (about AIDS) and Annie’s Baby (teen pregnancy). We could spend some time talking about authorship and whether or not who wrote the book makes a difference in its meaning and effect on the reader. 

I was bewildered to find so little good information or plans for teaching Go Ask Alice available. I just wanted to write this entry so that if anyone wanted to incorporate this into their curriculum, they would have some possible options of where to go with the book.

Kids at Work

Thank you Cindy Wilson.
Freedman, R. (1994). Kids at work: Lewis Hine and the crusade against child labor.
     New York: Scholastic, Inc.

Genre: Informational
Age Level: 10 and up

Summary:  Kids at Work is an informational text in the form of a photo essay.  The focus of this text is the incredible pictures taken by Lewis Hine.  No one before him had captured such vivid pictures of children working in factories, cotton fields, coal mines, etc.  These children were doing the work of adults and barely being paid. 
     Child labor was a cheap way to increase production, no matter what the job opportunity was.  Lewis Hine did not agree with the use of child labor and set out on a mission to prove to others that this needed to be stopped.  Children were losing their lives to these jobs and he could no longer ignore this fact.  So, he went all across the country taking pictures of children as they were working.  The author, Russell Freedman, compiled these pictures into this book so that others could see what was actually happening during this time period.
     This book is written very clearly.  The author made sure to stick to the point and focus on the fact that children were doing the work of adults.  The information was presented in a way that was known to unknown.  Most people knew that some children had to work, but no one really knew to the extent that child laborers were being used.  Kids at Work shows how children were being mistreated and abused as they were working these jobs.  The photographs prove that child labor was a fact.  There was no opinion that this was happening, but fact in the proof of the photographs.

Reflection:  To be honest, when I first borrowed this book from a fellow teacher, I did not think that I would want to read it at all.  However, once I started the book, I wanted to finish it.  I had heard many times of how children had to work, even from my own parents.  I didn't realize that there was so much use of children as laborers in our country, nor how harshly they were treated.  I was truly saddened by what I read and saw in the pictures of this book.
     I think this would be a good book to share with students in the classroom.  I know that some of them would have a tough time grasping how different the lives of the children in the pictures was from their own lives.  However, I think it would be good for them to realize how much better they have it than those children did.  We live in a "me" society and students need to realize that it isn't always about them.  I think that I could incorporate this book into character education activities and possibly Social Studies as well.

The Burn Journals

Thanks, Michelle Czepyha for one I need to read myself.

 Runyon, B. (2004). The burn journals. New York, NY: Random House Inc.

Age Level: 15 and up (debatable, due to vulgar language use)
Genre:  This is Non-Fiction piece.
Summary:

            A fourteen year old boy douses his bathrobe with gasoline, puts it on, and sets it on fire. Burns covered 85% of his body. Even so, he lives. He’s given a second chance. This memoir, told in first person and set in a journal format, allows the reader to enter the mind of a 14 year old boy as he contemplates suicide, attempts suicide, and recovers mentally and physically from the harm he caused himself and others. 

Reflection:

POWERFUL! I have always asked myself, where are these people mentally that commit suicide? What are they thinking? How do they actually do it? This memoire is POWERFUL! Entering the mind of this young boy as he struggles in school and life really opens my eyes. I found myself on many occasions as I was reading thinking of my own students and wondering if I am missing any signs. It is amazing that he tells people he is going to commit suicide and they do nothing about it. While reading I constantly asked myself, if when I was a teenager someone told me they were going to commit suicide, would I actually believe them enough to do something about it? Probably not! I couldn’t fathom suicide. It wasn’t part of me or my up bringing.

            This book would be a great read for a young adult to teach them to look for warning signs. To let them know that they exist. To make them aware that if someone says they might hurt themselves, they actually might.

            This book also teaches a nice lesson on healing and strength. He got another chance. A chance to heal and appreciate the life he has.  The year he spent in the hospital is presented nicely to the reader. It is full of emotion.

            Here is the part I struggle with. The language used from the very first chapter is very vulgar. As a teacher I am not sure I would be able to recommend this to a student. That being said, it’s a great read for teachers and adults. It taught me a lot about looking for warning signs and made me aware of some of the stresses the school created for the teenager. I am very glad I got to read this haunting and powerful non-fiction book. 

Picture of Brent recovering.....

 

13 Photos Children Should Know

One I want to get! Thanks, Christa Osborne, for your reflection.

Finger, B.  (2011).  13 photos children should know.  Munich:  Prestel Publishing.

"Hey Mom...what's that a picture of on the front of that book?" 

Informational books must appeal to a child.  Check!  As I was preparing to write my blog post this week, my daughter was sitting across the living room staring at the book I was reviewing.  She was immediately drawn to the photograph of the fireworks over Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.  The colors were so brilliant that she thought it was a picture of the sun.  Since I had her attention, I thought why not ask her opinion of the photos in the book.  (She is eleven and the days where she wants to converse with me are becoming few and far between!)

As we read the pages of the photo essay book together, she was brimming with questions.  How long ago did that happen?  Who is that person?  Why would anyone do that?  Do you really think we walked on the moon?  She asked all of the questions that this book should make a child ask.  It not only showed excellent photographs of historical moments, it gave explanations of the events surrounding the pictures.  While she was familiar with many of the photographs such as the Moon Landing, Martin Luther King and the Oil Spill in the Gulf, she didn't always know the story behind the picture.

This book combined social science and humanities in a way that made it appealing to my daughter.  It was not a 'history' lesson as much as it was an album of events.  The descriptions of the photos, as well as the quizzes throughout the book gave it a very different feel.  The crisp, clean photographs coupled with font that was clean and easy to read made the book appear more like a magazine article about the subject. 

In the forward of the book, the author explains the way this book is put together.  It will show 13 photographs of some of the most important events, people and places over the last 100 years.  This is when we are also introduced to another fabulous aspect of this book:  the glossary.  While the descriptions are straightforward, the author has asterisked some words that the meaning of may be more difficult for younger readers.  The asterisked words are located at the back of the book with complete definitions.  Additionally, each photo topic has a timeline at the top of the page.  It gives the reader some of idea of world events that occurred at the time of the photo or during the life of the subject.  It helps to give a 'big picture' view of the history of the photo.  While this book is listed as ages four and up, the subject matter focuses on world events that might be confusing for a younger child.  I would recommend this book for older children, third grade and up.

Reading this book with my daughter was also a great reminder for me of how many things that happened in my lifetime are foreign to her, just as it was for my parents' generation and so on.  While 1989 doesn't seem all that long ago to me, in my daughter's time frame, that was forever and a day ago.  But what was even more interesting was the fact that she could put that '20 something' years ago information into a very real field of knowledge and realize that it wasn't really all that long ago...at least not in a historical time line.  Although let's face it, forty is almost ancient in the human time line...at least in my daughter's eyes.

Night

Thanks to Heather Conley - I have never wanted to read this book, but I believe I will go get it now.

Wiesel, E. (1987) Night.  New York:  Bantam.

Night is a very touching and true story of one teenager's experience during the Holocaust.  Elie was a young boy when his family was forced to leave their home in Transylvania and become prisoners in Auschwitz.  Wiesel was silent about his experience for ten years before he was able to put the tragedy in writing.  It is no wonder that due to the book, Wiesel has so many awards such as the Nobel Peace Prize.

Night is an excellent book for male and teen readers. Even through his horrific experience, Wiesel must go through many of the trials and challenges that many teenagers today go through.  Night is a great book for teaching internal conflict; Wiesel struggles throughout with his own feelings about God and his father.  The relationship between Wiesel and his father is easily tracked with many events that teenagers can relate to with their own parents.

Although Night is a piece of nonfiction, it contains many literary devices as well.  The imagery is astounding when Wiesel sees his mother and younger sister for the last time.  He describes the coat that his sister is wearing in a way that the audience visualizes it along with him.  Wiesel also uses several analogies, comparing the prisoners to walking corpses.

This book is definitely meant for middle/high schoolers due to the content and themes.  It is completely heartbreaking, but in the end, students tend to list Night as one of their favorite required readings.  It's very difficult to read and not feel emotionally connected to Elie Weisel.  This is a book that I have taught in class.  Not only does it have literary merit, but it is a book that truly speaks to the students.

Questions the readers may ask:  Could I be as strong as Elie if I had to go through the Holocaust?  What would I do if my parent and I were in the same situation?

Sneeze!

A different take on this book by Laura Beth Menser.

Siy, A.  (2007).  Sneeze!  Watertown:  Charlesbridge.

         Sneeze!, by Alexandra Siy, is a children’s informational book that informs readers about the different reasons that causes people to sneeze and how the body’s nervous system works to produce a sneeze.  The format of this informational book is a photo essay because the photos are equally balanced between the text and illustration.  Our textbook, Essentials of Children’s Literature by Brown, Tomlinson, and Short, describes qualities of a photo essay to have, “Excellent, information-bearing photographs and crisp, condensed writing style…” (pg. 199).  The crisp photos, by Dennis Kunkel, are electron micrographs that were taken with either a scanning electron microscope or a transmission electron microscope.  The magnified objects were colored to create beautiful images that highlight various features.  Next to each micrograph, there is the symbol x which indicates magnification and a number which tells how many times the actual size has been magnified.  The information included with the caption in each photograph helps to describe the multiple concepts that are presented. 

         Siy uses the cause and effect structure throughout the book.  Each child interacts with something (pollen, pepper, mites, mold, dust, down, disease, hair, sunshine) that causes him or her to sneeze (effect).  The author explains why the object caused them to sneeze through scientific explanations and micrographs.  The theme or main point of the book is to inform readers that there are numerous reasons that can cause a person to sneeze.  Siy’s style includes technical vocabulary words (i.e., bronchiole, alveolus), micrographs with labels and captions, conversational tone, and a variety of sentence length and complexity.

I used the checklist from our Week 8 notes to evaluate this informational book. 

1.  The writing is clear and easily understandable. 

Although there are many science words that children might not understand (i.e., axon, dendrite, synapse, myelin sheath), the author presents these unfamiliar words with familiar words and comparisons that helps children easily understand the concepts. 

2.  Make sure facts are accurate and current – is the author an expert in this area?

The facts in this book are accurate and current.  The author, Alexandra Siy, listed a resource page (pg. 43), which includes up-to-date information and facts about sneezing and the neuroscience behind it.  Siy teamed up with Dennis Kunkel, PhD whose micrographs have been named award winning.  Siy has also written several informational and non-fiction children’s books, one of which received the Orbis Pictus Honor Book Award and another that received the Parents’ Choice Nonfiction Silver Honor Award. 

3.  Be wary of books with old copyright dates.

The copyright date on this book is 2007, which was only five years ago.  I would not consider this an old copyright date.

4.  It must distinguish between fact, theory, and opinion.

         The book does distinguish between fact, theory, and opinion. There is more information about sneezing (pg. 40) that includes how the custom of saying “God bless you” after a person sneezes originated, the theory of sneezing associated with superstition, and the fact that during a sneeze, air travels at 100 miles per hour. 

5.  Personification should be avoided.

         I did not find any examples of personification in this book.

6.  The cover and book should be attractive to a child.

         The cover of the book has colorful, neon photographs of objects that have been magnified pop against the black background.  The use of capital letters for the title goes perfectly below the picture of a young girl on the verge of a sneeze.  The book not only appeals to children who enjoy science, but also for curious children who want to know why and how people sneeze.

7.  Presentation of information should be from known to unknown, general to specific, or simple to more complex.

         The book presents the information from known to unknown.  For example, the book shows a child with a pepper shaker (known) and explains the reason which pepper makes the child sneeze (unknown).  (pg. 10-11).

8.  Stereotyping must be avoided.

       I did not find any evidence of stereotyping in this book.

I would recommend this book for students in 4^th and 5^th grade.  The book included a page of resources that teachers and students can use to further examine the topic of sneezing (pg. 43).  I have listed some of the resources I found particularly interesting below:

American Treasures of the Library of Congress:  A Sneeze Caught on Film

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr018.html

Learn more about Thomas Edison’s historic motion picture of a sneeze.

Dennis Kunkel’s Educational Website

http://education.denniskunkel.com/

Browse the image library, use the interactive features, and find additional information about microscopy.

Neuroscience for Kids

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html

This website by Dr. Eric H. Chudler, PhD explains more about the nervous system.

Some BIG questions you could ask your students are, “After reading this book, what are the reasons that cause you to sneeze?  What evidence can you give to support your answer?”

This book did not include any bolded words to use for the Mark the Bold bookmark strategy, but it did include a glossary with forty scientific words.  I would have students choose four words from the glossary to use for this strategy.  They would write the words on the front, then turn it over and write what the word means in their own words on the Talk the Bold side.  I would instruct students who have not written the same words to partner up and discuss the words they had written.  This way, the student may be able to help their peer better understand the word they recorded.

          Check out Sneeze!, by Alexandra Siy.  It is sure to BLOW you away!!!