Module 6- Duck for President

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Book Summary:
Duck for President begins with duck working on Farmer Brown's farm, and his chores include taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, and grinding coffee beans.  He soon decides that he is tired of his chores and that he should take Farmer Brown's place and run the farm, so he holds the farms first election.  After establishing the voter registration rules, Duck wins the election and is officially in charge of the farm, but he soon learns that running a farm is also hard work and decides he wants to run for governor instead.  He completed his campaign throughout the state and on election day duck won the election and was officially Governor.  Running a state is hard work, so Duck begins his campaign for President and after the votes were counted, Duck was the new President.  After running the country for a while, Duck decides that being President is hard work and no fun at all, so he checks the help-wanted ad and see a position for a duck to grind coffee beans and mow the lawn, so Duck returned to the farm to work on his autobiography.

APA Reference of Book:
Cronin, D. (2004). Duck for president. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Impressions:
Duck for President is a great book that teaches children a little bit about the campaign and voting processes.  While there is not a lot of detail involved, it is a great introduction and can set the stage for children to have a positive outlook on voting.  I read this book to my three year old little boy and he enjoyed it very much.  The repetition that was used with the wording made it easier for him to follow along that the same things were happening but it was for different jobs, or he knew that they would find more tickets somewhere when they demanded a recount.  He loves animals, so the fact that the main character in this case was a duck made it much more fun for him than if it has been a person running for President. There are many children in this age group that would also be interested in this book because of the animals.

Professional Review:

As previous adventures (Click, Clack, Moo, BCCB 9/00, Giggle, Giggle, Quack, 6/02) have shown, Farmer Brown's barnyard is filled with political animals. It's therefore not surprising that Duck, rebelling against his contribution to labor, decides that an election for the leadership of the farm should be held; nor is it hugely surprising, given the livestock-heavy electorate, that Duck trounces Farmer Brown in the election. Finding that running a farm is no fun at all, Duck decides to expand his ambitions and makes a gubernatorial run, successfully winning over the incumbent. Running a state's not much better, though, so he then campaigns for the White House, edging out the incumbent there; unsurprisingly, running a country proves to be just as tedious as the previous positions, so Duck hands over the reins to the Veep and heads back to the farm. This has even more adult-aimed jokes than previous versions (lots of evocations of specific campaigns in the text and classic images in the art), and in light of the 2000-esque jokes about recounts, it's a tad ironic (or pointed?) that the book relies on narrow popular-vote margins to get Duck into office. There's still plenty of humor for the pre-voting audience, however, such as lazy Duck's winning of all the elections and regretting it soon after and the regular request for a recount (always made by Duck's opponent, always resolved by the finding of ballots stuck to somebody or other, and always performed to the opponent's detriment). Lewin's thick lines have a homey irregularity in keeping with the slightly skewed reality of the world they limn, with washes of color (often election-year red, white, and blue) decorating the pages like bunting; Duck himself isn't all that charismatic a figure as a candidate (a compromise choice, perhaps?), but he hits his real dramatic stride when he's mournfully overworked. This will be a natural to liven up units on the democratic process or even to introduce classroom elections--or just as a read aloud antidote to the election-year plethora of paid political announcements.

Stevenson, D. (2004, May). Duck for president. Bulletin of the center for children's books, 57(9), 367-369. http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/

Library Uses:
Duck for President would be great to use during a story time event for preschool or elementary age children.  After reading the book, the children would receive a red, white, and blue Fourth of July play hat similar to the ones that can be bought from oriental trading, and would have their first voting experience to determine one of the biggest decisions at that age, what should we have for snack?  The children will get to vote on whether they would like one snack or the other such as blue kool-aid or red kool-aid, or cookies decorated with flags or cookies decorated with stars.  The children will be given a ballot with a red box  and a blue box for them to circle with their crayon which one they are voting for and will get to drop it in the decorated ballot box.  Then they will get another voting slip with a star and a flag for them to circle with their crayon which decoration they would like to have on their cookie.  After everyone has voted the results will be tallied and the snacks that the majority chose will be passed out.  After snacks, each child will also receive an "I voted" sticker to wear home with their hat.

Module 5- Bud, Not Buddy

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Book Summary:  
Bud has been living in and out of orphanages and foster care homes after the death of his mother.  He has never met his father and the only clue to who his father may be is a flyer that his mother had of a jazz band, Herman E. Calloway and the Dusky Devastators.  After being locked in a shed at a foster home for false accusations made by the foster parent's biological son Bud decides that he is done with foster homes and orphanages, and it is time to set out looking for his father.  He sets out with his suitcase that contains all of his possessions: a picture of his mother, stones his mother kept and treasured, the blue flyer with the information about who Bud believes is his father, and a blanket.  He attempts to jump onto a train to make the trip out of Flint, but after the authorities try to sneak the train out early Bud is not able to make it onto the train and is forced to return to Flint to the mission to get something to eat.  Since he was not able to make it onto the train he decides to try walking the 120 miles to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He sets off and soon finds himself outside of Flint and in the country, in the dark, where there are all sorts of strange noises.  He decides that he may need to hide from passing cars, but Lefty Lewis sees him while driving and stops the car to help Bud.  Bud attempts to steal Mr. Lewis's car, but doesn't make if far before the car stalls and Mr. Lewis is able to catch up to Bud, and is able to convince him to roll down the car window so they can talk.  After Bud is satisfied that Mr. Lewis is not a vampire the two set off back to Flint to a hospital to deliver blood that he is transporting.  During this time Bud tells Mr. Lewis that his mother is dead and that is father is Herman E. Calloway and Bud is surprised to learn that Mr. Lewis knows of his father.  After delivering the blood and resting for the night, Mr. Lewis brings Bud to Grands Rapids and to the club where Herman E. Calloway is practicing with his band.  Bud announces that he is looking for his father, Herman E. Calloway, and the band begin asking him questions about his mother, family, and life to try to determine what is going on.  Mr. Calloway denies that he is Bud's father, but he allows the band member Jimmy to continue talking to Bud to determine exactly what is going on.  As the band and Bud go to lunch at a restaurant  Bud is introduced to Miss Thomas, the band's singer.  She begins asking question of Bud and after learning of the treatment he received at the orphanages and foster homes she decides to bring him back to "Grand Calloway Station", Mr. Calloway's home.  Mr. Calloway wants to take Bud back to the orphanage in Flint, but Miss Thomas believes that Bud is telling the truth.  After working with the band and traveling with them, Bud finally learns the significance of his mother's stones and both he and Mr. Calloway soon learn that they are related, but not in the way that Bud originally believed.  Mr. Calloway is his grandfather not his father, Bud's mother was Mr. Calloway's daughter who had run away from home after a fight with her father.  Everyone in the band is devastated by the news of Bud's mother's death, but they begin to fully accept Bud as part of their family.

APA Reference of Book:
Curtis , C. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

Impressions:
This book is a great way for students to get a deeper understanding of the Great Depression and how this time affected everyone and African Americans in particular.  This story transforms the facts that students learn from the pages of a history book into a personal account of how the life of a boy was affected by this time.  Bud has to face many things that most children do not have to face, and he shows courage throughout the many different situations that he is faced with.  Readers of any race will be able to learn from Bud and his courage and determination that are shown throughout this book, and will enjoy a great story line that ends with a twist.

Professional Review:

Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Medal-winning Bud, Not Buddy (Delacorte, $15.95, 245 pp., age ten and up) is another novel radiant with charm, as embodied in a narrator just ready to exit childhood. The ten-year-old African-American Bud Caldwell is in flight from his Depression-era orphanage and latest abusive foster home. He sets out by foot from Flint, Michigan, in search of his father, who he believes is the legendary band leader Herman Calloway. With his goofy coping strategies, delayed epiphanies, and sweet impulses, Bud seems an utterly authentic boy. Because Curtis has created a perfectly rendered character rather than a sociological fact, he conveys, without a drop of the dreary or the maudlin, the loneliness, fear, and grief with which Bud has lived since his mother's death. Curtis also masterfully unfolds a portrait of the black working class in the Depression. And he beautifully captures the divide between young children and concerned adults, which sometimes, by great effort and grace, is bridged.

Donnelly, D. (2000, April 07). Hey! harry potter has cousins!. Commonweal, 127(7), Retrieved from http://www.cweal.org/

Library Uses:
For Black History month, February, have a display table to display this book as well as other winners of the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors and illustrators.  Include information about the Award and the requirements of the award in the display, and have this set up in main area of the library close to the young adult section, but not strictly within the young adult section.

Module 5- Going Bovine

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Book Summary:

Libba Brays, Going Bovine, begins with Cameron, a Texas teenager, experiencing what he believes to be a marijuana induced hallucination during high school English class.  However, Cam is diagnosed with the human version of mad cow disease and soon encounters a punk-rock angel named Dulcie who insists that he go on a quest to find Dr. X who is the only one that has a cure and can save him.  The book details Cam and Gonzo’s (a hypochondriac dwarf Cam met in a stoner bathroom at school) journey to find Dr. X.  As hallucinations become stronger and harder to follow, the reader is able to recognize that the entire journey has been in Cam’s mind and the journey is simply the journey into madness.  Cameron, in a moment of clarity, recognizes that he has been his own worst enemy and upon dying, finds himself happy and sheltered by Dulcie. 

APA Reference of Book:  Bray, L. (2009). Going bovine. New York, NY: Random House Children's Books.

Impressions:
While the language of this book is how many teenagers of today talk at least with their peers, its use in this book may actually distract or even discourage people from finishing or enjoying the story contain within its pages.  I had a hard time with this book and I realize that was partially due to the language it contained as well as the ending of the book.  While I can recognize the literary merit of the book, and the reason for its Michael Printz Award, I did not enjoy the story itself.  This book will appeal to many teenagers as they are dealing with and experiencing many of these issues in their own lives, with one of the only exceptions being the diagnosis that Cameron receives.

Professional Review:

SOURCE:

School Library Journal 55 no9 151 S 2009

 Gr 8 Up-In this ambitious novel, Cameron, a 16-year-old slacker whose somewhat dysfunctional family has just about given up on him, as perhaps he himself has, when his diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jacob, "mad cow" disease, reunites them, if too late. The heart of the story, though, is a hallucinatory -- or is it? -- quest with many parallels to the hopeless but inspirational efforts of Don Quixote, about whom Cameron had been reading before his illness. Just like the crazy -- or was he? -- Spaniard, Cam is motivated to go on a journey by a sort of Dulcinea. His pink-haired, white-winged version goes by Dulcie and leads him to take up arms against the Dark Wizard and fire giants that attack him intermittently, and to find a missing Dr. X, who can both help save the world and cure him. Cameron's Sancho is a Mexican-American dwarf, game-master hypochondriac he met in the pot smokers' bathroom at school who later turns up as his hospital roommate. Bray blends in a hearty dose of satire on the road trip as Cameron leaves his Texas deathbed -- or does he? -- to battle evil forces with a legendary jazz horn player, to escape the evil clutches of a happiness cult, to experiment with cloistered scientists trying to solve the mysteries of the universe, and to save a yard gnome embodying a Viking god from the clutches of the materialistic, fame-obsessed MTV-culture clones who shun individual thought. It's a trip worth taking, though meandering and message-driven at times. Some teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way.

Gordon, S. (2009, September). Going bovine. School Library Journal, 55(9), 151. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/

Library Uses:
This book could be used in a book display of books, in the Young Adult section of the library, that have won the Michael Printz Award in Young Adult Literature.  The requirements for the award as well as information about Michael Printz would also be provided in the display.

Module 4- Bridge to Terabithia

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Book Summary:  
Jess Aarons spends his summer doing chores, dealing with his sisters, and running around the farm so that he can claim the title of the fastest runner in the fifth grade.  He doesn't think that anyone will be faster than him, and it never occurs to him that a new girl in school named Leslie Burke would snatch that title away from him.  Even though he is originally annoyed by Leslie and the fact that she is a faster runner than him, the two neighbors soon become friends.  Together they venture into the woods behind Leslie's house and create their own magical kingdom named "Terabithia", where Leslie is queen and Jess is King.  The only way to enter their kingdom of Terabithia is by crossing a creek on a rope swing.  This kingdom offers the pair a retreat away from bullies, family issues, and chores in the real world and allow them to ultimately be in control to what happens to them.  Their kingdom seems to be complete when Jess gets Leslie a dog and he is named  Prince Terrien.  He accompanies them on their adventures to and within Terabithia.  Leslie soon tells Jess that she has never been to church and asks if she can go with them to church on Easter Sunday.  After the service, Jess, Leslie and May Belle get into a discussion about the Bible and Jess soon learns that Leslie does not believe that God damns people to hell if they don't believe in the Bible.  And May Belle is concerned about what will happen to Leslie if she dies.  Soon after Easter the Spring rains begin and soon make crossing into Terabithia tricky and a bit dangerous.  In fact, Jess does not want to go to Terabithia until the rain stops and the water in the creek goes back down, but Leslie is determined to reenter the kingdom regardless of the weather.  One day Jess is invited to a museum by his teacher Miss Edmunds, and he returns home from his trip to discover that Leslie attempted to cross into Terabithia without him and that she drowned in the creek.  Jess has a hard time accepting and even acknowledging her death.  He returns to Terabithia to have a funeral for the Queen with Prince Terrien, but he soon hears May Belle hollering for help and he must rescue May Belle from drowning in the creek.  Leslie's family soon packs up and moves back to the city since they had only moved to the country for her sake, and Leslie's father allows Jess to take the lumber that is on the back porch of the house.  He uses the lumber to build a bridge across the creek into Terabithia and when May Belle asks what he is doing he begins to tell her of Terabithia as he finished the bridge.  He tells her that she may want to tell their littlest sister of Terabithia one day and that she would have to train her to be a queen.  And with that he passes the magic that he learned from Leslie, that was Leslie, and that created the land of Terabithia, to his younger sister.

APA Reference of Book:
Paterson, K. (1977). Bridge to Terabithia. New York, NY: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc.

Impressions:
I was not expecting the ending of this book.  I was in tears throughout the end of this book.  The characters are very well developed and the author does a great job of explaining the bullies within the book and why they act the way that they do and allowing the readers to sympathize with everyone in the book.  The creation of Terabithia by Jess and Leslie shows readers how normal situations and circumstances and become magical with the use of a little imagination and without the limits placed on us by the world.  Even in the midst of the tragedy in the book the reader is still able to learn from Jess, and sees that even though their time together was cut short, that Jess had grown because of Leslie, as friends should.  Terabithia would never be the same for Jess and him telling May Belle of the magic of Terabithia, he is allowing her to enjoy this magical place, and allow the magic that he and Leslie created to live on.  Even though this is classified and a young reader book, I think there are many adults that would also like this book, and that would be reminded of the magic of their own childhood throughout the pages of this book.  There are many pre-teens and teenagers that would also enjoy this book, but it may get overlooked due to the book's age and since there may not be many teens talking about this book.

Professional Review:

* Paterson's Newbery-winning novel A becomes an entertaining and dramatic audiobook via Leonard's accomplished reading. Jess Aarons is eager to start fifth grade. He's been practicing his sprints all summer, determined to become the fastest runner at school. All seems to be on track, until the new girl in class (who also happens to be Jess's new next-door neighbor), Leslie Burke, leaves all the boys in the dust, including Jess. After this rather frustrating introduction, Jess and Leslie soon become inseparable. Together, they create an imaginary, secret kingdom in the woods called Terabithia that can be reached only by swinging across a creek bed on a rope. But one morning a tragic accident befalls Leslie as she ventures alone to Terabithia, and Jess's life is changed forever. Leonard deftly interprets the strands of humor, realism and heart-wrenching emotion woven into Paterson's fine tale. His careful and authentic handling of Jess's anger and grief in the aftermath of the accident is sure to touch listener s. Contemporary instrumental interludes featuring guitar, piano and drums signal the beginning and end of each tape side. Ages 9-up.

(2001). Bridge to Terabithia. Publisher's Weekly, 249(2), 33. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/

Library Uses:
I would use this book in a summer reading list for the young adults.  The summer reading program could have a pirate theme, and the reading list could be title "Buried Treasures in the Library".  This list would be one of the options for teens who are unable or unwilling to come to organized, scheduled summer reading events at the library, that would still allow them to participate and possibly win prizes, and get them reading.  Other award winning books that are rarely checked out because could be included in this list as well as titles from different genres such as poetry, nonfiction, etc.

Module 4- The Graveyard Book

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Book Summary:  
Nobody Owens, aka "Bod", finds safety and protection in a cemetery after his family is murdered in their own home.  Bod escapes from his home and from his family's murderer and finds himself in a cemetery, with ghosts willing to raise him as their own and protect him from the murderer who is still wandering outside of the cemetery looking for the one who got away.  It is decided by the inhabitants of the cemetery that Mr. and Mrs. Owens will be caretakers for Bod, then not yet two years old, and that he would have "Freedom of the Graveyard", meaning that he would be able to move within the cemetery as a ghost would.  Since there are items that a baby or child needs that are not within the property of the cemetery, the ghosts ask Silas, who is able to move outside of the cemetery, to become Bod's guardian and he accepts this task.  When Bod is four years old he makes his first friend who is actually alive, Scarlett.  They take an adventure within the graveyard to the cave of a Sleer, a creature who is guarding a treasure that is composed of a knife, a brooch, and a cup.  Their adventure takes so long that Scarlett's mother thinks that something has happened to her and she calls the police for help, and Scarlett only comes back to the graveyard to tell Bod that her and her family are moving to Scotland.  Another live human crosses Bod's path when Silas has to leave town for a while, and he entrusts Bod's care to Miss Lupescu.  After Bod is taken literally into Hell by ghouls, Miss Lupescu rescues Bod, and come to find out there is more to her than Bod ever expected, she is a werewolf.  After many other adventures that include helping a ghost who has an unmarked grave secure a headstone, being locked in the backroom of a pawn shop while the shop keeper calls Jack, the man who murdered Bod's parents and is still searching for Bod, attending the "Danse Macabre" where the living and the dead dance together, Bod enrolls in public school.  Up until this point he has been educated by the ghosts within the graveyard as well as Miss Lupescu.  Bod soon meets up with two bullies at school that make it hard to not draw attention to himself, and he ends up trying to scare them out of their mean behavior, but he ends up getting himself arrested in the process.  Once again Silas is there to save him.  Bod then meets up with Scarlett once again after her mother and her have moved back after her parents have separated.  Scarlett also meets Mr. Frost close to the cemetery and after he offers her a ride home, she introduces him to her mother and he begins getting close to both.  Bod and Scarlett are also getting closer during this time and he ends up telling her all about his family, how they were murdered and that his murderer is still on the loose. Scarlett decides to try to find out more about what happened to Bod's family and soon learns that his family was murdered in the house where Mr. Frost now lives.  She soon enlists his help to find out more information.  Mr.  Frost says that he has more information about Bod's family's murder and asks for her and Bod to come over so he can share the information with Bod.  After arriving they learn that Mr. Frost is actually the one, Jack, who killed his family and is now trying to finish the job and kill Bod.   There are soon four more Jacks in the house who are all part of a brotherhood who are determined to see Bod dead.  Bod and Scarlett escape the house and make it back to the graveyard while being followed by the five Jacks, and they learn that the Jacks want to kill Bod because if he was to live he would end the Jack's brotherhood.  The Jacks are defeated by one falling into a grave, three fall into the ghoul gate into Hell, and Bod meets the last in the Sleer cave, where Scarlett had been hiding.  Bod tricks Jack into saying he is the Sleer's master and the Sleer takes Jack, his life, and ends the brotherhood.  Scarlett is severely shaken by the night's events and Silas brings her home and erases her memories of the night and suggests to her mother that they return to Scotland.  With the danger of the Jacks gone, Bod is able to move about outside of the graveyard and begin life among the living.

APA Reference of Book:  Gaiman, N. (2008). The graveyard book. (1st ed.). New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Impressions:  
This book had been recommended to me shortly before I started this course, but I had not had a chance to read it and was excited when I saw it on the reading list so that I could finally read it.  But to be honest I was not sure how much I was going to enjoy the book, and I was a little unsure about the plot.  Now that I have finished the book, I can honestly say that it is one of the best books that I have read in a while, and may actually be one,of the best books that I have ever read.  As soon as I began reading this book, I was immediately drawn in and could not put the book down.  I loved the story line of this book.  Originally I thought that the story would be dark especially since it begins with the murdering of an entire family except an 18 month old toddler who escapes and is raised in a graveyard by ghosts, but it was a great story that was a new story.  This book was not the same old story retold with a few differences that seem to be so popular right now, especially in young adult literature.  I don't think this book has been given near the amount of attention as it should.  There are many readers that I think would enjoy this book, but it seems to be one of the many hidden treasures that are buried on the library shelves.  In fact, if this book hadn't previously been recommended to me by one of my Mom's friends, I don't know that I would have ever read it.  I think many teens and pre-teens would enjoy this book especially with the current interest in books that involve characters or elements of the supernatural.  The characters were very well developed and readers will immediately be interested in what happens to these characters in this story line.

Professional Review:

 When a toddler fortuitously escapes the murder of his family by "the man Jack," he is taken in by the ghostly denizens of a local graveyard, renamed Nobody Owens, and ushered through childhood by the kindly Mr. and Mrs. Owens and the enigmatic Silas. (As "Bod" soon learns, there are more kinds of people than just the living and the dead, and Silas falls outside those categories.) Growing up in this strange setting entails many adventures, from getting kidnapped by ghouls, to procuring a headstone for a shunned young woman who was "drownded and burnded" as a witch, to, most dangerous of all, attending school with other living children -- all of which prepare Bod for a final showdown with the man Jack, who has never stopped hunting him. Lucid, evocative prose ("'Look at him smile!' said Mrs. Owens... and with one insubstantial hand she stroked the child's sparse blond hair") and dark fairytale motifs imbue the story with a dreamlike quality. Warmly rendered by the author, Bod's ghostly extended family is lovably anachronistic; their mundane, old-fashioned quirks add cheerful color to a genuinely creepy backdrop. McKean's occasional pages and spots of art enhance the otherworldly atmosphere with a flowing line, slightly skewed figures, and plenty of deep grays and blacks. Gaiman's assured plotting is as bittersweet as it is action-filled -- the ending, which is also a beginning, is an unexpected tearjerker -- and makes this ghost-story-coming-of-age-novel as readable as it is accomplished.

Gross, C. (2008, November/December). The graveyard book. The Horn Book Magazine, 84(6), 703-705. Retrieved from http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/

Library Uses:
Have a display table set up during the month of October with this book.  I would have the table set up as a graveyard complete with headstones, with the names of the ghost characters out of the book, sticking up out of the "grass" (moss from a crafting store).  I would also have a couple copies of this book, or more if available, standing among the tombstones looking like tombstones themselves.

Module 3- Saint George and the Dragon

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Book Summary:

            In this tale, Princess Una’s kingdom is besieged by a fire-breathing dragon and Saint George is sent to aid the princess of ridding the land of this fierce dragon.  The book details the journey of St. George and Una throughout the countryside, over mountains, and through woods in order to confront the dragon.  George repeatedly meets the dragon in battle and appears to be facing defeat several times, but always manages to collapse in the right place for a miraculous healing, such near an ancient spring.  Each time George recovers and returns to battle, the dragon appears to lose confidence until finally George is able to vanquish him.  As reward for saving the kingdom, George is offered Una’s hand in marriage, which he gladly accepts.  And so Una and George were married and lived happily ever after.

APA Reference of Book:
Hodges , M. (1984). Saint George and the dragon. Little Brown and Company: Boston, MA.

Impressions:
The illustrations of Saint George and the Dragon are amazing and will capture the attention of readers of any age.  Most of the story can be determined strictly based on the intricate details provided within these illustration.  The story of Saint George and the Dragon has all elements of a classic fairytale.  From the deadly dragon that is threatening a village, to the damsel in distress and the knight in shining armor who comes to rescue those in need.  This book is the perfect vehicle for teaching perseverance and determination in standing up for what is right despite the odds.

Professional Review:

Excerpt: "At her romantic best, Hyman illustrates this classic tale . . . with paintings of a marvelously fierce dragon, an impeccably heroic knight, a dazzlingly lovely Princess Una. Notable for their color and composition, the illustrations are framed by borders that often have a Tiffany look. The adaptation by Hodges is capable, simplifying Spenserian language but not abandoning it altogether."

Spenser, E. (1984, October). Saint george and the dragon (book review). 38, 27. Retrieved from http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/

Library Uses:
Have a Renaissance Day at the library where the children are encourage to dress as their favorite Renaissance character.  Have a story time reading of this book.

Module 3- The Three Pigs

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Book Summary:
This book starts as the classic tale of the three little pigs, but soon takes a different route when the pigs leave the pages of their story.  The first little pig is blown out of the story by the big bad wolf as he is huffing and puffing and blowing the house down.  This little pig then goes to the other pigs in their houses on the other pages of the books and they join him out of the pages and safe from the big bad wolf.  The soon visit the pages of other books and meet Hey Diddle Diddle and a dragon from two different stories that decide to join the pigs on their venture out of books.  They soon find a page from the pigs story, and it is agreed that the pigs and their new friends will return to their story to the brick house of the third pig.  They all work together to straighten out the pages of the story and put the words back where they belong before enjoying supper.

APA Reference of Book:
Wiesner, D. (2001). The three pigs. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

Impressions:
This was my first exposure to the work of David Weisner, and I was unsure about having picture pages in a book without words for me to read, especially since I have been reading the books from our reading list to my three year old.  I was unsure how exactly to handle these pages when I got to them while reading the books to him, but he immediately talked through those pages and was excited to have a chance to tell me what was occurring in those pages.  Even though I was apprehensive, my son thoroughly enjoyed it.  He was familiar with the story of the three little pigs, and he and I both enjoyed the familiar characters in the same story with a little twist.  The pictures are amazing and are very engaging for the readers and they tell the story themselves without much help from written words.

Professional Review:

David Wiesner's postmodern interpretation of this tale plays imaginatively with traditional picture book and story conventions and with readers' expectations of both. (Though with Wiesner, we should know by now to expect the unexpected.) Astute readers will notice the difference between the cover's realistic gouache portrait of the threepigs (who stare directly out at the viewer with sentient expressions) and the simple outlined watercolor artwork on the title page. In fact, the style of the illustrations and the way the characters are rendered shifts back and forth a few times before the book is done, as Wiesner explores the possibility of different realities within a book's pages. The text, set in a respectable serif typeface, begins by following the familiar pattern--pigs build houses, wolf huffs and puffs, wolf eats two pigs, etc. But while the text natters on obliviously, the pigs actually step (or are huffed and puffed) out of the muted-color panel illustrations without being eaten. Escaping their sepia holding lines and the frames of their predictable storybook world, they enter a stark white landscape where they are depicted realistically with more intricate shading. The now-3-D-looking pigs, released from the story's inevitability, explore this surrealistic realm. The perplexed wolf remains behind in the two-dimensional pages, which, when viewed from thepigs' new vantage point, stand vertically in space, looking altogether like paper dominoes waiting to be knocked down. And that's what the three pigs do, with glee. The pigs' informal banter appears in word balloons in a sans-serif font; a few striking wordless spreads feature the pigs flying (this is Wiesner, after all) across blank spreads on a paper airplane made from a page of their story. Obviously, there's a lot going on here, but once you get your bearings, this is a fantastic journey told with a light touch. The pigs encounter other freestanding story pages; they enter and exit a nursery rhyme and then a folktale, morphing into and out of each one's illustrative style. Saccharine, cotton-candy illustrations cloy "Hey Diddle Diddle" ("Let's get out of here!" one pig exclaims); precise black-and-white line drawings dignify a folktale about a dragon who guards a golden rose. The cat and its fiddle as well as the chivalrous dragon join the pigs in full-color, realistic definition, and eventually the five friends end up back at the pigs' story. After shaking the type off the pages, the animals re-enter the tale--but this time on thepigs' own terms. The last page shows them all happily ensconced in the full-page watercolor illustration, using letters of text to write their own happy ending while the wolf sits outside at a nonthreatening distance. Wiesner may not be the first to thumb his nose at picture-book design rules and storytelling techniques, but he puts his own distinct print on this ambitious endeavor. There are lots of teaching opportunities to be mined here--or you can just dig into the creative possibilities of unconventionality.

K.F. (2001, May). The three pigs. The Horn Book Magazine, 77(3), 341. Retrieved from http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/

Library Uses:
I would use this book on a display table within the children's section that included books such as this one that take familiar characters and stories and retell them with a twist.  Other titles that could be included are the True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Lon Po Po, and etc.