Book review #2 for Spenser Morris

The book I chose to review was a rather interesting book.  Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus is a picture book with seven chapters.  The front cover displays the words, "a tale partly about life and partly about revolution and lots about hope for adults and others (including caterpillars who can read)".  I think these are the perfect words to describe this book.

Chapter 1
In chapter one we get introduced to one of the main characters.  His name is Stripe because he is a stripped caterpillar.  He is curious about what is out in the world so he starts to explore.  As he is searching, he runs into a pillar that goes into the clouds of other caterpillars who are climbing caterpillars.

Right off the bat I started to like the message of this story.  I think it is important to explore the world around.  Just like Stripe, we too get sick of the surroundings and the environment we live in.  Being curious is not a bad thing and that is part of the message in the first chapter.  The only way for us to grow as a people is to explore what options we have.  This is a very important idea that I believe children showed be exposed to early in life.

Chapter 2
This chapter starts with Stripe starting his climb to the top of this pillar.  Not knowing why he is climbing, he continues to because that is what everyone is after.  Along the way he meets Yellow, a female caterpillar.  Yellow is also questioning the climb but goes with the flow. Stripe has to eventually step on her to get by and this makes both of them sad.  They both decided together to cling together to fall to the bottom of the pile.

This chapter is starting to present a sort of "ladder of importance".  Both Stripe and Yellow believe friendship and teamwork is a much better value instead of stepping over each other to get ahead.  The two characters begin to fall in love as well.  These ideas are important for kids to understand.  I think, from experience, that childhood is a big popularity contest.  We often get lost in the competition of it all that we loose site of what we are really fighting for.  We all can gain from taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture.  This is a huge concept to understand but I think by presenting it with caterpillars, children are able to grasp the idea a lot better.

Chapter 3-4

In these next two chapters the reader gets to see the story from Yellow’s point of view.  Stripes has left to climb the pillar because his curiosity is killing him inside.  Yellow is alone and sad throughout these chapters.  She sets off on her own adventure to try to find the meaning of life.  She learns about cocoons and decides to make one.

These chapters really bring out some of the gender roles within society or rather the stereotypes some may have.  Once the man goes off the woman is left with nothing and can’t go on without him. What I liked is that this caterpillar does go on without him.  I think the strong woman figure was not a popular character of books from 1972.  It’s important for children to see that their life shouldn’t be run or ruled by a man or strong figure.  We are our own people with our own views of the world.  We need to keep that in mind.

Chapter 5-6

Stripes is now climbing to the top of the pile.  He is stronger than last time because he has had some rest and now he is ready to venture.  We soon find out that we makes it to the top to find nothing.  There is nothing there. The caterpillars up there say they are there because that is where everyone else wants to be.  He is greeted at the top by a beautiful Yellow butterfly.  He doesn’t know what this means but he climbs back down to find out.  On his way down, he tells everyone he passes there is nothing there

This is the heart of the book.  I think it is a beautiful metaphor for the social ladder and how we can get lost in the climb; the climb we can’t define.  The part about this section that I don’t like is that fact that Stripes ventured out to find the truth in something he was curious about.  He is then punished in a way when he discovers there is nothing there.  I think that kids might get the wrong impression and maybe not what to go after their dreams after hearing this message.  Even though that is not the angle the author was going for, I think it is another valid way of looking at it.

Chapter 7

This is the last chapter where everything finds its ending.  Stripes finds out who the beautiful yellow butterfly is and he decides to make his our cocoon. He hatches into an even more beautiful butterfly and both butterflies learn to love each other again.  We are then left with a couple of pages of pictures where there are now tons of cocoons and then the last page with tons of butterflies and flowers.

This is the expected ending for this kind of story but I don’t think that is a bad thing.  I think it’s a good message for kids to see that no matter what happens in life, there are some things that will always be there for you.  Love is an important thing, at least I think so, and relationship within people (friends, dating, family, etc…) are vital in the social world.  Life is not always about fitting in with the “in crowd” but finding those people who you fit with.  This is a great message that cannot be stated enough to children.   Other than the message, I thought the pictures were beautiful.  They were simple with only using the colors black, white, yellow and green.  This made it easy to focus and enjoy the beauty of the book as a whole rather than just the pictures.  Overall, I loved this book!   

Bob Benden Reviews

Bob Benden

Second Five Picture Book Reviews

Iwamura, Kazuo. Hooray for Fall. New York: NorthSouth, 2009. Print.

                This is a story about three squirrels who are outside enjoying the fall weather and the colors of autumn. The illustrations in this book are brilliant, with mostly red, yellow and orange coloration. The story helps to inform children about the natural processes of the fall (birds flying south, bears preparing for hibernation etc) and would be a great book to use with particularly young students in the fall. A great read aloud book with a small class, and it would definitely need to be passed around so students could enjoy the beautiful artwork.

McElligott, Matt. Bean Thirteen. Putnam, 2007. Print.

                This book is a great math teaching book. It is about two bugs trying to share thirteen beans between them, and eventually a whole party of other bugs, and finding out they cannot. Coupled with a math lesson about division or even perhaps prime numbers, this book would be a great tool to entertain the students and have them realize a semi-practical application of the math. The illustrations are fairly basic, as is the language but this book definitely serves as a great lead-in to a math lesson.

Curtis, Jamie L. Big Words for Little People. HarperCollins, 2008. Print.

                This book is all about big words such as “inappropriate” and “understand” and helps kids to use them and understand what they actually mean. It shows kids that though certain words may be awfully long, they’re very useful and necessary. I think this book does a good job of showing kids words they’ve probably heard before, yet just didn’t know what they meant exactly or what they even looked like. The book ends with small words like “love” and “family” and teaches their importance and how they’ve even more important than the big words. A great book to enrich children’s vocabulary, all while teaching them a great lesson as well.

Deriso, Christine. Dreams To Grow on. New York: Illumination Arts, 2002. Print.

                This book is about a little girl and all her dreams she has of what she wants to be when she grows up. The illustrations I found to be very good and imaginative at the same time. I think this story is great for children when you’re trying to discuss goals and dreams of young children when it comes to growing up. Not only that, but it can also lead into a great discussion about goal setting and how to realize all the dreams one has for themselves. The rhyme in the story makes the book go with a great rhythm and is definitely an easy, fun read for students.

Gomi, Taro. My Friends/Mis Amigos. Chronicle Books, 2006. Print.           

                This book is written in both English and Spanish. It has simple sentences in it as the character goes out and meets many different animals and they teach her how to do things. The illustrations are done in primary colors and are fairly simple yet still nice. The book’s sentences help students learn a lot of useful Spanish, all the while making sure the reader is never overwhelmed with too much information. The same page English/Spanish format definitely helps kids learn but also allows them to practice seeing the Spanish and English next to one another therefore they are never intimidated. The story is pretty simple, but for its purposes the book is a great learning tool to create a bilingual classroom.

Monster Picture Book Review #2

I am once again writing about monster picture books because they are so utterly wonderful and I think it is interesting how monsters are used in literature for all kinds of different purposes; to understand something unknown, put the blame, or even see someone else's perspective. Monster books are really just fun for something that is perceived as so intense in our society I am a huge fan of how they try to make it more light hearted even if the monster is eating your classmates. 

Mike Thaler (1989) The Teacher from the Black Lagoon. New York: Scholastic Inc.

This book was a lot of fun and showed how scary the first day of school can be, to get a new home room, to be in a new school, and even get a new teacher that you aren't use to can be kind of terrifying for students. Especially if all they have ever heard are rumors that the teacher can be a real monster! In this story the the main character is going to a new class his teacher Mrs. Green is suppose to be a real monster, she ends up being green, having claws, breathing fire, and eating one of her students to teach fractions. Mrs. Green has all the kids worried they won't make it alive out of their first day.

Mike Thaler (1993) The Principal from the Black Lagoon. New York: Scholastic Inc. 

In this book the main character gets sent to the Principal's office for using his teacher's wig to sweep up the room. On his way there he tells stories and things he has heard of what the Principal has done to kids he knows that ended up in the office. Even the walk there is terrifying and he begins to talk about kids that go to her office and never return, kids that have gone there for chewing gum in class and all that is left of her now is a skull. When th main character gets there Mrs. Green (who again isn't a monster) gives him a fair punishment, he ends up leaving the office celebrating because the Principal didn't give him rabbit ears.

I found these books as a series of four and to not do all my book reviews on the same basic message (or at least I could pull out a reoccurring theme from the stories) so for the sake of not sounding redundant I will only type-up about the two I have given a brief summary of. I really found this theme of fear with the unknown and authority in these books, obviously when it came to school. It is a scary time for students when things change around them. Students also are afraid to be punished and of the people that have the ability to punish them, so for course they are going to make up stories and gossip of what happens when you get in trouble. I think that the author did a good job of capturing the essence of being in grade school and being afraid of the uncertain future, whether it being getting a new teacher or going to the principal's office because you did something wrong. 

I really enjoyed how the teacher and the principal in both stories were both focused around on the ongoing theme of being afraid of school. Especially how the author, in a way, reminded me of how I felt when I was going into a classroom for a first time or if I got in trouble and was sent to the principal’s office. Because the stories were so refreshing I do think that it would be good to use for parents to read to their children before a first day of school; just so they know that no matter what you think about your teachers they are there to help and when you think they are being really scary it’s most likely because they want you to do better.

Jack Kent (1975) There's No Such thing as a Dragon. New York: Random House, Inc.

This story is about a little boy that awakes and finds a dragon in his bedroom and when he tries to show his mother she doesn't believe him and just tells him, "that there is no such thing as dragons". As the little boy goes about on his normal day the dragon ends up eating things around him, like the boy's breakfast and as the dragon does this he grows bigger and bigger; until he is so big that he can make the house mobile and pretty much where the home as clothing. Once the dragon gets to be this size the mother finally admits he exists, then the dragon shrinks again back to the size of a small dog (which is the size he started as when the mother said he didn't exists). 

I think this story is trying to show that the little boy is trying to show his mother something and she refuses to see it, because dragons don’t exists. Because the mother doesn’t notice the dragon it grows to a crazy size so that his mother is forced to notice the giant dragon that now wears the house around his body as he runs after a bread truck. This story could be interpreted to show parents to pay attention to what children have to say before a problem could get out of control. It also could show that kids usually go unnoticed with problems they bring to their busy parents; the mother never noticed a smaller issue that her son was dealing with until it was staring her in the face and running around with her house on it’s back. The story is really more geared (in my opinion) towards parents, for them to take the time to realize what is going on in their kids life. The dragon (monster) in the story was just the issue the little boy wanted his mom to notice.

Tomie dePaola (1998) The Knight and the Dragon. New York: The Putman Berkley Group, Inc.

This story about a young knight and dragon that are both training to fight and kill one another. The two rivals had never met one another before, but just knew the other was bad; so they trained for the fight, make armor, practicing swinging a sword and a tail, until the big day. When the fight came both the knight and the dragon were so prepare that they kept missing each other and after they beat each other up, a young girl (who I think might be a princess) came by and gave the boys a book on how to barbeque. And then they became good friends and started (what looks like) a thriving business.

One of the messages I was able to get from the small text and many pictures in this book is that you should give everyone a chance, even those people that seem to be unlikely friends and with the help of those people you can even do amazing things with those people. Also another thought I drew from the text was how interesting that the author used a little girl to bring the dragon and the young knight together to be friends; it could seem that this young woman is a peacemaker. The boys worked hard on the battle day and the young girl comes to solve the boys’ issue by showing them they have something in common, and that seemed like a very motherly quality. It is a small moment in the book but it is still something I keep thinking about that she was the one; the two rivals didn’t come to the conclusion on their own but it took this young girl to show them the way.

Julia Donaldson (2004) The Gruffalo’s Child. Great Britain: Macmillan Children’s Books

This picture book is about a young Gruffalo that hears stories from her Dad about the Big Bad Mouse that her father has seen only once. The young Gruffalo decides she wants to go out to the woods and find the big bad mouse that guards the woods. Along the way she finds all kinds of animals that live in the woods; a snake, an owl, a fox and then she finally comes up to a mouse! She decides to eat the mouse because he doesn’t look that scary, when she goes over to eat the mouse the mouse asks her to wait because the Big Bad Mouse does exists and he would like to show her. The mouse climbs up into a tree and his shadow frightens the Gruffalo away, where she returns home a little less brave.

I thought it was interesting that in this story the Gruffalo is a little girl and you would never know it by her picture if it weren’t for the little trig doll that identifies the monster as a little girl. If the monster were a boy I wonder if the pictures would have had anything to show that it was a little boy, also would a little boy have gotten a scared of the mouse’s shadow. It is just something to think about because the text kept saying that the Gruffalo was a little girl and the picture showed it because of the little twig doll she carried around, and I think that it was wrong how they made it the little girl that wanted to prove how brave she was to go find the Big Bad Mouse and she also ended up just being afraid of a shadow. The picture of what the Gruffalo looked like could have been more neutral by not having the monster carry around a doll everywhere to constantly remind you she was a girl; I know that it is mentioned in the text but I feel like it was further stressed because of the pictures.

Second Picture Book Reviews - Katelyn Heath

For my picture book review I decided to use one book that is made up of a bunch of different fairy tales. I decided that I wanted to look at this book to see if there is some recurring themes or gender roles in the fairy tales we grew up with. The book has eighteen different fairy tales in it and I just decided to look at the first five. One thing that I noticed though about the book in general is that it is presented rather fancy. The edges of all the pages are gold colored, the cover is written in script, and all the pictures in the book are vibrant and colorful.


The first story in the book is Beauty and the Beast. Now the first thing that I realized after reading this version of Beauty and the Beast was that it was very different from the typical story. There was still a girl who loved a Beast who was under a curse but really most of the other details were different. I just felt it was odd that the story was so different yet under the same title. Also I know that it is common to rewrite fairy tales but it was strange to see a different version of the classic story in a book portraying that is a collection of what you think are classic fairy tales. As far as gender roles go in this story of Beauty and the Beast I felt like in general Beauty was not depicted badly. She found the beast to save her father and was portrayed as brave and not over powered by the beast or anything. However at the end the author chose to end it with something like the Beast took care of her forever and they lived happily ever after. I feel like the author could have just left that out and the story would not have reinforced the typical gender roles.

The second story in the book is Rapunzel. Now this story was also a bit different then the version that most people are used to. However, one thing that I noticed in this story was that even though the prince did rescue Rapunzel from her circumstances she still had a key in her own escape from the witch. It was not just the typical guy saves girl and girl gets everything she ever wanted story. The prince tried to save her but would have not succeeded if it was not for Rapunzel. I found that interesting that the author chose to give the women a little more helpfulness.

The third story in the book is Aladdin. Just like the other stories this Aladdin had the same backbone but very different details. I don’t exactly know how copyright and things work for fairy tales and things of that sort but it surprises me that the stories can go by the same name as other stories that are very different from one another. All these stories so far have even changed the name of the characters other then the main one. One thing that I did notice about gender portrayal in this story was that the princess was portrayed kind of dumb in this story. She gave away the magic lamp, was taken away, and cried a lot. The only contribution she had to help Aladdin find her was tying her hair ribbon around Aladdin’s mongoose, who came and found her. Also I feel like the author could have chose to have her tie a note to the mongoose or something that wouldn’t have made her seem so girlishly beautiful but not intelligent.

The fourth story that I read was Sleeping Beauty. One of the things that I noticed about this story was how the pictures portrayed the princess. She was very beautiful but in general seemed to have a kind of dumb look on her face. The story often referred to how beautiful she was and graceful and similar characteristics but not really to her intelligence. The story depicted her as the usual helpless princess. I just feel like since the author did take some time to rewrite Sleeping Beauty over they could have portrayed the character without the normal gender expectations.

The last story that I read was Cinderella. Like the others it was its own more unique version of the story. The story however did portray Cinderella as being rather intelligent. She used seemingly large words when she spoke and really portrayed an intelligent woman. Also the pictures really helped to create a somewhat majestic feel that often comes with the story of Cinderella.

I found that overall this book deviated sometimes from normal gender roles but not always. A lot of times it depicted women as unintelligent but then different times it gave them good distinguishable qualities. The pictures of the book seemed to add a little to the stories but not overall a whole lot. Then also I really found it interesting how far the author varied away from the general known fairy tale. I found it really different that they went under the same name but almost all the details in the stories were different.

Goldenberg, Dorothea, and Bette Killion. Treasury of Fairy Tales. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd., 1994. Print.

Second Picture Book Review ~ Ashley Parker

For this assignment I decide to 5 picture books that are seasonal books or that you can easily tell what season it is. I also decided that I wanted a book to cover each season. I decided to choose a book about Easter to represent Spring, two about Winter, one about Summer, and one about Thanksgiving a holiday that takes place in the Fall. I decided that since I really can't tell what season it has been lately that I would choose books that have something to do with that. So all my books are connected through the seasons.


The first book was:

Keller,Holly.Miranda's Beach Day.New York, New York:Greenwillow Books,2009.Print.


This books was about Miranda's first time or visit to the beach with her mother on a hot summers day. It goes through what she experienced that day from the hot sand, to the feeling of the water, to the crab she sees, and finally to the sandcastle her and her friends make. After all the excite of the day her and her mom go home together with the promise of coming back again. In this book all characters were female except for one, who was Miranda's male friend who helped build the castle. Also this book could be a good way to get children to talk about their first experiences with different events in their life.


The next book I read was: 


Rael,Elsa Okon.Rivka's First Thanksgiving.New York,New York:Simon & Schuster,2001,Print. 


This book is about a shared memory that the author and her cousins all shared about their first Thanksgiving. The main character Rivka comes from a family of Jewish immigrants who have come from Europe, and never heard of the holiday. So Rivka has to over come several obstacles to her family and others that Thanksgiving is for all Americans including Jewish-Americans. This book would be interesting to look at because it looks at a very American holiday from the viewpoint of immigrants that many people may not think about. I know I personally never thought about it in the way Rivka's mother and grandmother did so that was interesting to me.


My third selection was:


Harper,Lee.SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!.New York,New York.Simon & Schuster,2009.Print.


This was a cute story about 3 dogs, a father and 2 sons, enjoying a sleigh ride after it snowed a good deal the day before. They go down a large hill, get tossed into the sky, crash back on the ground, and the youngest dog wants to do it all over again. This book reminded me off being a kid again, and enjoying a snow day full of sleighing and snow ball fights. I loved the use of the dogs instead of humans to represent this past time that many have done or will do in their lives so that it was relatable to many audiences that unfortunately you may use by using people.


My fourth book was:


Hallensleben,Georg.What's Coming for Christmas?.New York,New York.Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,2009.Print.


This book was a different kind of Christmas story. It talks about how something is coming, and that you could feel i t in the air though nobody new what. The story went back and forth from inside the house to the animals outside. This story had nothing to do with gifts or Santa, but with life on Christmas. It made me think about what is important on Christmas, why do we celebrate, and how much I appreciate my family even more around that time of year.


My last book was:


The Easter Basket.New York,New York.Penguin Young Readers Group,2007.Print.


The author of this book was not given, which is why it was not in the bibliography. This was a cute pop-up book, though I didn't know that when I got it!, about a young bunny and several of her friends going to look the one who lost their basket so they can return it. In the end they find out it belongs to the young bunnies mother who is the Easter Bunny! I just really liked the book because it was a pop-up book. I think this book would be really cute for children in preschool and kindergarten to look and interact with since it's a pop-up book.

Picture Book Reviews - Katelyn Heath

For this assignment I chose five children’s books that I had enjoyed as a kid. There is no underlying theme between the books other than that they were some of my favorites when I was little.


The first book and probably my favorite of the five was The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It is a story where a reward is offered by the king for anyone who can find out where his daughters go at night.

What I was looking at most while reading this book was trying to find out exactly why I loved this book and story so much when I was little. What i determined was that it really captures my eye now and probably then was the illustrastions. Don't get me wrong the story is still a good story however its the way that the story is present that really sells it I think. First of all the sides of the pages all have a gold tint to them which stands out compared to other books. Another thing I noticed in the book which I thinks gives it such a strong appeal is how much kind of glimmer is put into the book. The artist seemed to put a lot of effort trying to almost get things to shine in the pictures. Gold and silver coloring is everywhere in this book. Also around all the pages there is a border which makes the whole story look just a bit fansy then other picture books. So since in today's society little girls often dream of being princesses, this book really played up to that idea. Also I found in interesting that all of the twelve princesses were blondes. So I think this book really tries to draw in young girls who just want to be that perfect, happy, beautiful princess.

The second book that I read also plays on the idea of social image somewhat like The Twelve Dancing Princesses did. My Second book was The Rainbow Fish which is a story about a beautiful some what self-centered fish who doesn't want to give up any of his beauty but yet wonders why he he has no friends.

One thing that surprised me actually while reading this book is that the rainbow fish is a boy. Generally I feel like when a character is played up to be really beautiful it is generally a female. This book I believe also tried to play up the sparkle aspect of the book to help draw in readers for each special fin of the fish is very sparkly. Shiney and sparkly things generally attract kids so understand why the chose to make the fins like that in the illustrations. Also I think that one of the best parts of this book are the illustrations. They are very colorful and use lots of soothing colors, which just makes you want to look at them. I feel like this book like my first book really tried to draw kids in with the illustrations but then at the same time was kind of challenging the idea that the main beautiful character has to be a girl. Boy's can also be over zealous about their own looks and not think of others too.

The third book that I reviewed was the Little Bunny Follows His Nose. This book is about a bunny who spends the whole day following his nose around and exploring different smells.

One of the main differences I think between this book and the last two books that I read were that this book did not seem to rely on illustrations as much as the last two. However, this book is a scratch and sniff book so that being said they did seem to try to emphasize the scent aspect of the book. Now the book did still have big colorful pictures I just feel like that weren't near as flashy as the last two, even though I do feel like they added something to the text. One gender sterotype thing is this book that I would like to point out though is that often in this book someone is cooking and it's always the mothers. There are three different mothers cooking in this book, never once is there a father mentioned. So even though books like these are both good for learning to read and identifying smells they also are putting gender roles into children's heads. Even though this book did pretty obviously lay out a gender sterotype I did like this book because I feel like it could be a beneficial book for a lot of ages. For kids could smell and see pictures before they could even read so this book does seem to engage a younger age without them needing to read.

The fourth book that I reviewed was Gregory, The Terrible Eater. Now this book is not a very flashy book by any means. It does not have overall artistic illustrations but it still had enough detail to aid the text. One thing that I noticed about this book is that is does address an everyday thing that kids can relate to. Kids are often picky eaters and I like that this book made a whole story around an everyday issue. No kids don't really go eat a bunch of tires and stuff but that just keeps the kids more engaged and interested in the story. Also I felt that this book was pretty good about not encouraging gender sterotypes. I felt this way because there was a mother in the father in the story almost the whole time who were not really given specific gender sterotyped roles. The only thing I can really say is that they did seem to make the father a little more gruff, and maybe even the bigger voice of authority but it wasn't written for that to be that obvious I don't think.

The fifth and final book that I reviewed was The Velveteen Rabbit, which is a story about a stuffed bunny who is loved by a boy and then finally is magically turned real.

The first and most obvious thing I got from the book is how long it is. The book would definitely have to be read to older children. The illustrations were good and detailed but they were not flashy like some of the other books I read. One thing that I liked about the book was that it was a boy who loved the bunny, not a little girl. One thing that I found interesting is that the book was set years ago even though it does not directly say that. For the boy has scarlet fever and they use candels as nightlights and such. So that was interesting to me and I think it could also make it interesting to kids if someone were there to point out these differences. Also it made it even a little more interesting that the main character who loved the bunny was a boy and it was set in the past. For generally I feel books that try and challange gender sterotypes a little have been newer series and set to date.

So those were just five books that I enjoyed as a child revistied. It is interesting sometimes to see gender sterotypes and things that you don't ever notice as a kid when you revisit a book later in life.

Works Cited:

Goldenberg, Dorothea, and Bette Killion. Treasury of Fairy Tales. Linconlnwood, IL: Publications International, LTD., 1994. Print.



Howard, Katerine. Little Bunny Follows His Nose. Racine, WI: Western Publishing Company, Inc., 1971. Print.


MacCombie, Turi. The Velveteen Rabbit. Morris Plains, NJ: The Unicorn Pubishing House, 1991. Print.


Pfister, Marcus. The Rainbow Fish. NY: North-South Books, 1992. Print.


Sharmat, Mitchell. Gregory, the Terrible Eater. New York, N.Y.: Four Winds Press, 1980. Print.

Picture Book Review "Friendship" Laura C Kremer

For this assignment, I wanted to focus on the theme of friendship.  The books I read discussed friendships between animals, children, siblings, and even a book that explained how you lose friends.

 My first book was:

Carle, E. (1995). Do You Want To Be My Friend? . Hong Kong: Harper 
          Collins Publishers.

Summary

            In this book, a little mouse goes on an adventure to find a friend. On each page he encounters a different animal until he finally finds another mouse who becomes his friend.  

Review

            One of the first things that caught my eye about this book is the lack of text.  The only line on the first page is, “Do you want to be my friend?”  This book is unique because it allows teachers and children to add their own dialog to the story. When we read this book in class at the child care center, our children loved to add their own voices to the book.  Some children echoed what the mouse asked each animal, while others tried to guess the animal the mouse has asked to be his friend. The younger toddlers pretended to be the different animals and growl like a lion or neigh like a horse.  In the end, they loved when he found a friend right before he met the snake.  It is interesting how in each picture you see the tail of the snake at the bottom of the page.  It definitely feels like the snake is lurking waiting to meet up with the mouse. The illustrations of the animals are so colorful and bold. The ways the animals are painted almost gives texture to them. It really brings the story to life.

My second book was:

Wilson, S. (2008). “Friends and Pals and Brothers, Too.” New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Summary

            This book is about two brothers who look different from each other in size, but enjoy doing all sorts of fun activities together. 

Review

            What I love about this book is that the author talks about a friendship between siblings.  The author shows children that they can form special relationships with their siblings.  The title of the book is great because the two boys are friends and pals but most importantly, they are brothers too.  That is an important lesson to teach children. The author symbolizes this togetherness by having pictures of things that go together in the background on almost every page of the book.  There are two balls, two little ducks, two eggs, and two sets of boots. Another fun thing about this book is that it is a rhyming book. Another way the author shows togetherness is by connecting the pages.  The end of each line on a page rhymes with the last line on the next page.  This aspect of the book also makes the book perfect for reading aloud to children.  Children would enjoy the rhymes, and the reader could also ask the children to guess what rhyme word is used on the next page. Another lesson taught in the book is that being different is not a bad thing.  In several of the pictures the younger brother does the same activity as his brother, but he does it a little different because of his size.  One example is when they go skiing; the younger brother goes tubing down the hill instead of skiing but still has the same amount of fun.

 My third book was:

Carlson, N. (1994). How to Lose All Your Friends. New York: Viking.

Summary

            Nancy Carlson jokes about what children can do to lose all their friends.  She lists 6 different ways you can act to make all your friends not want to play with you. In the end she shows how lonely you will be if you have no friends and she makes the children realize how much they like having friends.

  

Review           

            This book puts a funny twist on friendship.  The first page of the book states, “If you don’t want to have any friends, follow theses simple instruction.” It is interesting how the author lists the instructions. The instructions are the only text on the following pages and they are in big bold purple print. It definitely makes the instructions stand out from the rest of the text.  This is a great way to directly communicate to children why you shouldn’t behave like this. This book also uses facial expressions to depict the lessons. The book shows how unhappy the other children are to be around someone who never shares, whines all the time, is a bully, and so on. Even the cover of the book shows a child hogging all the toys and all the children below him have frowns on their faces. In many of the illustrations the children who are acting out are not smiling as well. They seem to be doing theses things because they are unhappy and they think by making others unhappy it will make them happy. Many of the other children are shown running away from the child.  The author brought expressions to the animals in the book.  Many of the animals reflect the same feelings as the children in the story. They have a sad look when one of the children is acting out. When the child decides to share the children are happy as well as the pets.

My fourth book was:

Kolar, Bob. (1999). Do You Want to Play?  New York: Dutton Children’s Book.

Summary

            Bob Kolar looks at friendship in several unique ways.  The two main characters look at the idea of friendship through a number of ways such as jokes, a game, and even a story within a story.  

Review

            I absolutely loved this book!  I kept re-reading this book because there was so much detail in each of the illustrations.  You have the main friendship between the two characters, but there are so many interactions between the other characters in the book. It was interesting because all the characters in the book are different objects, food, people, and even houses.  All the characters have bold patterns to them. These aspects make the book very imaginative.  Each page is a new adventure, but the author keeps some consistency through the book.  Each page teaches children a different lesson. There is a little box and a little ladybug with a friendly tip on each page.  Throughout the book the author uses all kinds of font.  The font stays the same between the two main characters, but all the sub-conversations use a variety of fonts and sizes. It adds to the creativeness of the book.  The artwork also fills the entire page.  It seems like there is so much detail that the author needed the entire page.  Each page presents friendship in such an extraordinary way. The author presents friendship through a diagram of what a friend should be, a story within the story, and a board game.  This aspect makes the book interactive. The child reading the book can play the game with friends.  This book would work better for children to read individually, or with a friend, instead of a teacher reading it at story time.   For a child to really enjoy this book and understand all the different parts of friendship they need to be able to read the book at their own speed. This book is just full of creative lessons about friendship.

 My fifth book was: 

Jahn-Clough, Lisa. (1999). My Friend and I. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 

Summary

            This book is about a little girl’s friendship with a little boy.  They love playing together until the boy gets a new toy that he does not want to share.  In the end, their friendship is renewed when the toy breaks and they have to work together to fix the toy.

Review

            The first thing that caught my eye about this book was the race of the two friends.    This point is accentuated by the fact that the author never mentions race in the story.  Instead she focuses on the friendship between the children.   This book uses color to help show the different emotions of their friendship.  At the beginning of the book, the background is red and pink when the little girl is happy.  The whole page is black when the two children are fighting over the toy bunny.  After the two children make up on the last page, the background is red and pink again.  Some of the pages lack color all together. To fix the toy, as well as the friendship, the little girl uses a bandage.  The author uses the bandage physically as well as emotionally.  Another interesting aspect of this book is that the children do not have names. The little girl tells the story to us. We are introduced to the two main characters as my friend and I, which of course is the title of the book.

5 Picture book reviews - Spenser Morris

The Cow on the Roof

 Maddern, Eric. The Cow on the Roof. New York: Frances Lincoln, 2006. Print.

     The Cow on the Roof is the story about Shon and Sian and the roles and chores they take on everyday. Despite Shon’s accusation, he learns that Sian’s chores are just as hard.

     The book right off the bat goes into defining male and female roles. Where Shon works all day in the hot sun doing the “hard work” outside, Sian gets to enjoy staying home and doing the “easy jobs”. I am glad the story ends with Shon understanding Sian’s job is not as easy as he thought it would be, but this only reinforces the idea of gender roles. A man cannot do the work of a woman is one of the messages of this story. I thinking defining these roles is inappropriate for a child because I believe they have the right to do anything they want to pursue; why should the messages of these books stand in their way?

     The other idea I wanted to go into that I believed was inappropriate is the section talking about the homemade brown ale. This book goes into detail explaining the “dark colour, a frothy head and a smell that made his mouth water”. I think they could have chosen a different beverage to use. Not all kids know what ale is and if they do not know then you have to explain it to them which could produce certain problems. Assuming a child knows what an ale beverage is probably is not the best idea.

     I did appreciate the colorful illustrations. They were very neat looking. I love when picture books give an abstract sort of view on life and this book did just that. It seems to be more interesting.

Bubble Trouble

Margaret., Mahy,. Bubble trouble. New York, NY: Clarion Books, 2009. Print.

     Bubble Trouble is the story of this baby boy whose sister blows a bubble and the boy gets stuck inside. This bubble explores the town and everyone beings to chase it until a young lad uses a sling shot to pop the bubble, hurling the baby towards the ground. With the help if the towns people, they are able to catch the falling baby in a quilt.

     The really nice thing about this story is it is told in a rhyme. I personally like books that rhyme because they add a “sing-songie” kind of feel to the story. As a child, I remember liking poems and rhyming books because they seemed more exciting and I could not wait to get to the next page. The other nice thing about this book is all of the wording is done in waves. This makes the book more interacting as your eyes flow along the peaks and valleys of the text. The story is simple, but you meet a ton of different characters along the way. This give a child more chances to relate with a character and to see the interactions amongst different people in a society. The last thing I want to comment on are the illustrations. It seems like Polly Dunbar used different mediums to create these pictures and I really appreciate that. As a kid, the pictures where extremely important to the story. I could stare at the pictures and find new things every time. Using different mediums and putting them all together, to me, is very appealing to the eye. Overall, this book was pretty fun and I did enjoy it.

I Stink!

McMullan, Kate, and Jim McMullan. I Stink! New York, NY: Joanna Cotler Books, 2002. Print.

     This is the story of the life of a garbage truck…that’s it.

     What drew my attention to this book were the exciting illustrations. They look to be made out of water colors and I think they are really neat. The colors fill the pages from side to side leaving only enough blank space for the words. There was one section of this book I particularly enjoyed. In this section, it explains what is in this garbage truck in alphabetical order starting with A and ending with Z. I always liked when books did that. Some of the responses were really creative and the illustrations only added to this stimulating tool.

     As far as the overall story, it wasn’t my favorite. A day in the life of a garbage truck just does not seem all that exciting to me. I did not see a nice message presented in this book. I am not sure what kind of literary merit a child could earn from reading this piece. Although it was really cool to look at and the colors blew my mind, I find the story to be an important part and this book seemed to fall short. It did not hit on any topics a child could remotely relate to, unless they have thrown away a dirt diaper or ugly underpants.

Down by the Cool of the Pool

Mitton, Tony. Down by the cool of the pool. New York: Orchard Books, 2002. Print.

     This is the story of a animals dancing down by a pond and how each one dances differently.

This was another rhyming story which I personally like. The rhymes provide a nice rhythm which makes the story even more enjoyable. This book hits upon the issue that we all do things differently, for example dancing, but just because it is different does not mean we cannot all still have fun. In fact, the dancing of all of the other animals adding to the frog made the event more fun. This is a great lesson for kids and a lesson you can always refer back to if you were doing another activity and your students are not seeing eye to eye. It is important to remember that everyone has their own way of participating in different activities but that does not mean a certain individual is wrong.

     I also appreciated the illustrations in this book. There are tons of colors on page and lots going on. I could spend a long time just looking at the expression and body moments of each animal on each page. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It would be a good choice to read to a kindergarten classroom or have on the shelf of a 1st to 2nd grade room.

Freckleface Strawberry

Moore, Julianne. Freckleface Strawberry. New York: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, 2007. Print.

     This story is the story of a young lady struggling to hide freckles from the other children because she thinks she is different.

     I think this book is a great learning tool for children because it shows them that it is ok to be different. Even though the main character tries to hide the fact that she is covered in red dots, she learns that these things are part of everyday life and it’s kind of cool to be unique.

     I really liked the illustrations in the book. They reminded me of a comic book style where following the action takes place all over the page. I think this is this visually stimulating for children. The pictures also represented all different races within the illustrations. This is important for the children. This allows them to identify and relate to the children in the book. The colors used in this book were also very unique. They did not have to fill the page with colors in order to keep it interesting. Having some white space within the different “comic frames” made it easy to follow and simple.

     The vocabulary in this book also provided easy understanding and is appropriate for kindergarten through 3rd grade.

     It was nice to see all of the children “missing” the main character at the end of the book. This shows self worth and provides a sense of want that the kids can all hope to have in their lives. This book for sure has the best message of the 5 books that I read for this assignment.

My Five Picture Books- Ashley Parker

For this assignment I decide to just pick 5 picture books at random. I decided to choose a wide range of books for ethnicity, human and animals characters, to topics,to the setting of the story, and finally artistically. I decided I wanted to have fun with this first book assignment to see if I could find connections in a obscure way that most people would not think about on a day to day basis, and I was able to link all the books together by the theme of the books which is enjoyment and happiness with where and what life has to offer.

The first book was:

Kasza, Keiko.Ready for ANYTHING!.New York, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2009.Print.

Ready for ANYTHING! is about a Duck and a Raccoon who are supposed to be going on a picnic. The day of the picnic Duck shows up only to find that Raccoon has changed its mind about going. This is because Raccoon has thought of several different senerios of things that could go wrong on this picnic each on worse than the last. So Duck then gives Raccoon several more senerios of how the picnic could turn out in a positive manner. Duck is able to convince Raccoon to still come on the picnic because of all the good things that may be. In ready for anything Raccoon had to look for the positivies and adventure he could have instead of looking at the bnegativies that could be. After Raccoon did this he was able to have a enjoyable afternoon with Duck.

My second book was:

Perez, Amada Irma.My Very Own Room.San Francisco, California: Children's Book Press, 2000.Print.

My Very Own Room is based on the authors own family history and story. It is about her getting her own room by finding a place in the house that could make it work. She goes to her mother with the idea and is first rejected, but seeing the disappoint ment in her childs eyes she and the rest of the family work together to make it possible to have her very own room so that she no longer has to share a room with her five brothers. Thought the whole book was about her wanting her room it showed the fun and enjoyment that she as well as her family had in the process of setting up and getting what she need for her new room.

The third book I selected was:

Banks, Kate.That's Papa's Way.New York,New York: Frances Foster Books, 2009.Print.

That's Papa's Way is about a little girl going on a fishing trip with her father. Starting with them waking up in the morning and digging up worms, to them fishing, to them having a picnic with the family, and ends with them on the porch hugging. This book also talks about their different way of doing things, father and daughter. This story showed a daughter enjoying a day of fishing with her father even though they did things differently she still had fun and enjoyed their day together.

The fourth book I read was:

Rylant, Cynthia.All In A Day.New York, New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2009.Print.

All In A Day is all about the day. It is about enjoying the day and discussing what the day could bring. It talks about the wonder of the day and how once it is gone it can not come back and tomorrow isn't here yet so enjoy what you have today. All In A Day was all about being happy and enjoying the present day and what you have today because yesterday is gone forever tomorrow hasn't arrived yet so live in the moment.

My last book was:

Wilson, Karma; Chapman, Jane.Don't Be Afraid Little Pip.New York, New York: Margaret K. McElderry.2009.Print.

Don't Be Afraid Little Pip is a story about a young penguin bird named Pip who is supposed to be learning how to fly but is scared of what is in the ocean. She instead wants to learn how to fly instead because Pip feels that birds are supposed to fly in the sky not swim. Pip finds herself in the water by accident and her friend helps her to learn that swimming is what penguins do. Pip had a hard time with the idea of not being able to fly but instead having to swim. She was scared and so she didn't want to do it. When she finally was forced into the water though she had fun and enjoyed being able to swim, and was even able to relate it back to flying.

E.Gurnowski: Monster Picture Book Reviews

My absolute favorite books when I was little were books that had monsters in them because my cousins would always make me watch horror movies, which made me absolutely terrified of monsters. So, when I read stories about monsters and how they are just almost ordinary people with feelings I wouldn’t be as afraid of them anymore. So I felt it was only right to do my picture book reviews on monster themed stories.

Rex Adam (2008) Frankenstein Takes the Cake. Florida: Harcourt Publishing Company
There are so many different monster picture books, so for my first five I wanted some variety and I found one that I felt was out of the ordinary. Frankenstein Takes the Cake is something I haven’t really read before in a monster book. The story is about Frankenstein and his bride’s wedding day, as they go to his future in-law’s home to make arrangements for the wedding. While the happy bride-to-be is discussing what they are going to for the wedding her mother asks, “Are you inviting many monsters?”(Adam Rex, 7). After she tries to tell her mother that they aren’t dangerous at all, the book then goes into a series of poems about all of the monsters and people around them.

My favorite poems were about Frankenstein’s friend the Headless Horseman; Rex sets up the poems as an online journal. There is this one blog that stuck out to me, where the Headless horseman’s pumpkin head is starting to rot and he has to start looking for a new pumpkin for his head. From what I interpreted from the poem, I believe it is a message to embrace something new but holding on to what makes you unique and different (Adam Rex, 11-14).

Sendak Maurice (1963) Where the Wild Things Are. New York: Harper Collins Publishers

One of the most loved books of all time; this is my brother’s favorite childhood book and I even remember my mom reading it to us when we were younger. The book is about a young boy who causes mischief of couple of kinds, and gets sent to his room without his super because of his bad behavior. Once his mom calls him’ “Wild thing” he goes and travels in and out of time to place where the wild things are. While there he starts a rumpus with the wild things and grows tired of it all and becomes lonely, so he travels back home where his super is waiting for him.

The story to me refers to homes where children feel left out from their parents and want to get away, or even just get more attention from their loved ones. Max causes mischief as a way to get attention but just ends up in trouble and then travels to a world where he is surrounded by wild things just like him that love him for the way he is and even make him king of the wild things.

Mayer Mercer (1968) There’s a Nightmare in My Closet. New York: The Penguin Group

It is one story that we have gone over in class but I like how the over theme fit into my reviews. This story is about a boy that knows there is a monster [nightmare] hiding in his closet, so one night he decides to take care of his nightmare once and for all! When he confronts his monster he sees the monster’s softer side and comforts him and apologizes for shooting him. At the end of the story the little boy welcomes the monster into his bed and even tucks him in.

Mayer Mercer (1988) There’s Something in My Attic. New York: The Penguin Group

This story is very similar to There’s a Nightmare in My Closet, but this story is about a little girl who knows there something in her attic. She goes and tries to tell her parents but they don’t believe her, so she decides to go and catch whatever is up in her attic. She lassos the monster and drags it down from the attic to show her parents, once she turns the lights on in her parents room the monster escapes. So she is sent to bed, a little angry but determined to try to do it again tomorrow night.

I was really intrigued by the illustrations in these two books, because the little boy is afraid of the nightmare; however he never goes to his parents for help. The little girl in a similar story feels like she needs to prove to her parents that there is a monster in the attic. The little is more aware of his parents sleeping and the little girl is willing to wake everyone up and show what she has accomplished, almost like she has to. It really bothered me the gender difference in these two books and as I keep looking into the pictures and the text in general, I really that it is showing the little boy as a more stable level headed individual.

Mayer Mercer (1987) There’s an Alligator Under My Bed. New York: The Penguin Group

After reading the first two stories by this author I wanted to look into more of Mayer’s work so I was able to come across this story. Again, it is about a little boy who knows there is an alligator under his bed, but every time he wants his parents to check it out they can never find anything there. So he takes matters in his own hands and sets up a line of food to the garage to lure the alligator out of his room. The plan works and he is able to sleep in peace, and doesn’t forget to leave a note for his Dad so that he won’t be terrified in the morning.

I didn’t think this story was as ‘gender bias’ as the other two, however it is still a little boy taking matters in his own hands and solving the problem without proving anything, just leaving a cautionary note. It could be that I was so thrown off by There’s Something in My Attic because I felt it was a poor representation of strong little girls, because she seemed more hostile to lasso her monster instead of setting up a trap to lure him out of the attic or even make friends with the monster after being violent. For my next five books I am going to look into more Mercer Mayer books hopefully to see more trends of gender.

Bob Benden - Theme focused book review.

Bob Benden

First Five Picture Book Reviews

For my five picture books, I simply picked five books at random from the bookstore and read through them. I looked for an overall theme in the book and analyzed how well it related to the kids reading the books (or having it read to them) and what sort of issues or ideals the book can bring to the forefront for discussions (with the exception of Thesaurus Rex, which I found to be simply entertaining and educational in a different way). I feel the most important aspect of most kids’ books is to educate kids on social issues, and not necessarily academia.

Franco, Betsy. Zero Leaves Nothing on the Tree. New York, New York: Tricycle, 2009. Print.

                Zero Leaves Nothing on the Tree is the first counting book I’ve ever encountered that dealt with the number zero. Often counting books start at one and proceed from there, however this one simply only discusses the number zero and what it looks like in different scenarios. I liked this book a lot because while it could be interpreted as depressing (just look at the title) I think it has a very uplifting tone to it. In addition, the illustrations are very simple (mostly primary colors) and show children of many different cultures and races. The book deals with the number zero in areas of kids’ everyday lives, and I think it’s a really interesting concept and the book was a very entertaining read.

Steinberg, Laya. Thesaurus Rex. New York: Barefoot Books, 2005. Print.

            Thesaurus Rex is a very educational story about a T. Rex and his journey through a fun day with his mom. The story rhymes well and has quite a bit of alliteration in it as well. The book covers many different synonyms for the main word on each page (i.e. sip, slurp etc.). Thus teaching kids many different ways to say the same thing. This book could be exceptionally useful with younger kids since the language is relatively simple, yet vocabulary can be greatly expanded just by reading a handful of pages. The illustrations are very simple and done in a pastel style pallet. While fun, this book is very educational and would be a great way to teach students new vocabulary or to teach them what synonyms are.

Verroken, Sarah. Feeling Sad. Enchanted Lion Books, 2009. Print.

                Feeling Sad is a generally uplifting story about a duck with a negative view on the world around her and her teddy bear. It is raining throughout the first half of the book until she meets a frog who totally changes her views on life and the rain stops. The pictures are done in black and white, until the duck finally turns her attitude around and she is shown in color. This book helps children learn that sadness is a part of everyone’s life, however it can take just one small thing to start turning your mood around and put everything back into a better lens. I think this book could be very useful to use in a class since many kids are learning emotional expression and finding the vocabulary to convey their emotions while inside the age range of those for whom these books are intended.

Chodos-Irvine, Margaret. Best Best Friends. New York: Harcourt, 2006. Print.

                Best Best Friends is about a pair of friends, Clare and Mary who’s friendship is tested at an early age by an unknown feeling. Mary’s birthday party (and all the attention being on Mary) brings about jealousy in Clare, and she is forced to realize what it is she feels. She eventually gets over it and they become best friends again. I think this book is very helpful for kids to understand what the feeling of jealousy is, as it is a very complex and strange emotion to be feeling. I think this really helps kids understand what it is, and more importantly gives a word or a label to an emotion they’ve probably felt yet couldn’t express nor understand. In addition, it shows kids the importance of friendships and how despite uncomfortable situations, they’re very important to maintain. Most importantly, I feel this book really focuses on jealousy in an interesting and very relatable way to kids.

Janisch, Heinz. "I Have a Little Problem," Said the Bear. North-South, 2009. Print.

                This story is about a bear who has a small problem and a very big problem by the end. He keeps trying to tell different members of his community about them, yet they keep interjecting and trying to solve it without actually listening. I think this books theme of listening and the importance of hearing and truly understanding someone’s problems is a very good one to cover for children of this age. Especially when students of this age have no idea how to go about telling people their problems, it’s important they see how much of a difference simply listening can make, instead of rushing to solve based on an immediate judgment. The artwork in this book I found to be very captivating with the different styles on each page and its creative interpretations of the area around the bear.

A Review of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis is a brilliant example of quality literature that takes the form of a graphic novel, a medium that can enrich a student’s vision of his or her world in a new and exciting way.  Persepolis is particularly relevant in our classrooms during this century because it can help students gain a deeper understanding of what it means to live with war, especially as the wars currently being fought abroad have taken such a toll on the global youth.  

            Persepolis is the unique memoir of Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman who comes of age during the tumultuous regime changes of the latter part of the 20^th century. Persepolis is a graphic novel done exclusively in black and white, written originally in French and in four volumes.  Persepolis 1 and 2 chronicle Satrapi’s childhood in Iran as the Shah’s regime is forced to an end and an Islamic revolution ensues.  These first two volumes of the story are ideal for ages 13 and 14, and would translate easily into a middle school English curriculum.

            The content of Persepolis makes it particularly valuable to our modern classrooms.  After September 11^th, 2001, children who have come of age within the last decade have had an exposure to a partisan view of the Middle East.  This is where Persepolis begins to separate itself as a truly valuable piece of literature and an asset in the classroom.  Not only does the reader of Persepolis end the story feeling very close to Satrapi, a woman unflaggingly devoted to the spirit of her county, but they can also closely relate to her as a growing woman in a turbulent time.  As a heroine, Marjane challenges us to see the world in a new way, a world in which, “One can forgive but one can never forget” (Satrapi Introduction).  This theme of forgiveness, for our enemies, our loved ones, our country, and ourselves is reoccurring in the graphic novel, and can be a powerful source of discussion in the classroom.  Students may begin to question how a child in Marjane’s position, a child who may have just been a face on the nightly news to them, actually feels to be in a country during a time of war.  The intimate details of Marjane’s life are expressed in a universal way that is often both comedic and heartbreaking. Persepolis is also written with an on going narration by Marjane that accompanies the dialogue bubbles you see in traditional comic strips.  This may help new readers of graphic novels to make the transition into other graphic novels that are exclusively done in dialogue. The visual design of Persepolis is exquisitely unique in its simplicity.  The author never strays from her black and white palate and needs no more colors to create a Tehran, and an Austria, that are all her own.  The visual perspective moves through the graphic novel as Marjane does.  Her experiences begin to look different as she is alone in Austria during her teenage years.  The reader senses her pain as she sticks out among her Austrian peers, as more characters begin to have light eyes and light hair.  The use of color in Persepolis can be a tool for activities in which students can draw how they sometimes feel when they are put into situations in which they feel uncomfortable, as Marjane does in Austria.  There is great power in the honesty of Persepolis and it can become an excellent first exposure to a new media in the graphic novel.   

Works Cited:

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. 1st ed. New York City: Pantheon Books, 2004.