E-Mergency! (Word Play)

Title: E-Mergency!
Authors: Tom Lichtenheld and Ezra Fields-Meyer
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Year: 2011
Word Count: Unlisted
Top 10 Element: Word Play

I am participating in Picture Books 14:14, a challenge created by Christie of Write Wild that encourages bloggers to review 14 picture books in 14 days, starting on Feb. 14th.

As soon as I saw the topic of word play, I knew that I had to include E-Mergency!. Our school was lucky enough to have Tom Lichtenheld come for an extended author visit a few years back, and E-Mergency! has been a permanent favorite since then. My copy is so terribly battered that even the tape has been taped.

Analysis: Word Play

E-Mergency! tells the story of what happens when letter E came down the stairs a little too fast and had to be taken to the emergency room. All of the other letters realize that they must work together to lessen E's workload, and poor O is chosen to do the heavy lifting. This is when the word play really kicks into high gear.

In an effort to help E recuperate, O then replaces her. Get ready, because if you are sharing this book as a read aloud, you will want to have practiced beforehand. The letter A and the exclamation point kick off the official announcement:

A: E is injorod and can't work, so O must bo usod instoad of E.
!: Do! Not! Uso! E! Until! Sho! Rocovors! Or! You! Could! Inflict! Pormanont! Injury!!

See what I mean? And it just gets better from there. From store signs to newspapers to student lunch menus, the loss of E impacts everything. But E is still not getting better. Only after several false attempts do the letters discover the root cause - the narrator has continued to use the letter E. Once the fourth wall has been broken and the narrator chastised, then E is able to return to her usual, perky self.

The word play is constant throughout this book and even hidden in the illustrations. The letters are always arranged intentionally in every layout, and deciphering these hidden gems will keep kids returning to this book again and again. If you look carefully at the opening spread with the house, you will find D and C discussing comics in the attic, N and V eyeing I's kite, Z trying to sleep, F getting reprimanded for his report card, and more.

One of my favorite bits of word play happens in the scene when the paramedics are getting E bandaged up. Y asks, "Why isn't E even crying?" and O responds, "Sometimes she's a silent E." (Bonus, Y and O are standing on the stair case next to U, C, and H. Youch!)

My students' favorite hidden word play? In the opening house spread, The letter P is in the bathroom. And in the house party scene at the end of the book  who is in the bathroom? (The number 2.)

* Addenda! *

After tweeting out this post earlier today, author Tom Lichtenheld replied with a link to the original You Tube video by co-author Ezra Fields-Meyer that spurred this book:

Want more picture book analyses? Click here to read my other posts for Picture Books 14:14 or check out these other great posts for the Picture Book 14:14 Challenge going on the rest of this month.

A Chinese Twist on Favorite Tales

Fairy tales and folktales are a great way to learn about another culture. This post highlights a collection of my favorite fractured or twisted fairy tales that have been given a Chinese twist - or, in the case of Yeh-Shen, have a Chinese origin. Several of these stories are also based around the Chinese New Year which begins this year on February 19th.

A Chinese Twist on Favorite Tales

 

The Runaway Rice Cake and The Runaway Wok: a Chinese New Year tale by Ying Chang Compestine. These two retellings of the Gingerbread Man story feature some unexpected characters - a naughty rolling rice cake and a quickly-moving wok! Kids will love the humor and dialogue in these entertaining tales and might also learn something about Chinese culture and the Chinese New Year. Read more in my in-depth analysis of patterning in The Runaway Wok.

Lon Po-Po: a Red-Riding Hood story from China by Ed Young. The sparse palette of the illustrations adds to the doom and gloom in these Chinese version of the Red-Riding Hood story. This time there are three children visited by a wolf.

Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas (2014) by Natasha Yim and illustrated by Grace Zong (A Junior Library Guild Selection). Goldilocks is given a Chinese-American twist in this story set on Chinese New Year. Poor Goldy Luck is worried about being unlucky for another year. Her fear of bad luck (and her extreme tiredness) lead her into some predictable situations ... but at least she learns a valuable lesson in the end.

Yeh-Shen: a Cinderella story from China retold by Ai-Ling Louie. This Chinese version of the Cinderella story is perhaps the oldest-known recorded version, dating back to the ninth century. In this original Cinderella tale, Yeh-Shen finds help from the magical bones of the fish she had fed and raised who had been killed by the stepmother. There is also a tiny gold sandal and a dramatic end for the stepmother and stepsister. (Read other worldwide Cinderella stories from Asia, Africa, and Europe and from the Americas.)

Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes retold by Robert Wyndham and illustrated by Ed Young. This bilingual collection translates traditional Chinese nursery rhymes for English readers. A delightful addition to any youngsters' library!

Do you have a favorite Chinese twist that I missed?

54th Kid Lit Blog Hop plus Twitter Linky

Happy 3rd Wednesday of the month, which means Happy Kid Lit Blog Hop! I am always excited to read the incredible book reviews, posts, and activities that are a part of this fabulous hop.

Today is the 54th Kid Lit Blog Hop where we continue to develop a dynamic and engaged community of children's books bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists. So, you are always more than welcome to join us by popping in a post and hopping around to meet some of your fellow Kid Lit bloggers and authors!

This week, we are excited to be including a Twitter Linky Party to be held in conjunction with the Kid Lit Blog Hop. These linky parties are designed to give you the opportunity to connect with and grow your network of fellow kid lit bloggers, authors, and parents through your various social media platforms.

We are pleased to be welcome a new permanent KLBH host with us (you'll remember she co-hosted with us a few weeks ago!) - Rebecca from A Book Long Enough, a wonderful new book blog written by a librarian and Mom of three. Big welcome Rebecca!

Hostesses:

Mother Daughter Book Reviews

Julie Grasso, Author/ Blogger

Cheryl Carpinello, Author / Blogger

Stacking Books

BeachBoundBooks

Pragmatic Mom

Best 4 Future: Bringing Up Baby Bilingual

Reading Authors

The Logonauts

A Book Long Enough

Happy Hopping everyone and enjoy the Hop!

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Kid Lit Blog Hop & Linky Party Rules *Please Read*

1. LINKY PARTY: Add the link to your Twitter profile page in the Twitter Linky Party list below. Be sure to visit at least the two links directly before yours, say hello and retweet or follow as per your interests. If you do not have a Twitter profile, you are welcome to link up a different social media profile (Pinterest, Facebook, etc.).

2. KID LIT BLOG HOP: Link up any Kid Lit related post in the Kid Lit Blog Hop. This can be a link to a children’s book review, a discussion about children’s literature/literacy, or a post on a recently-read children’s book or one that you love from your childhood.

* Don't link directly to your blog, it must be a specific post.*

* For Authors, we prefer you to link to your blog if you have one. Please link unique posts each time ~ no repeats please. *

* Make sure you include an image relevant to the POST (e.g., book cover), not your blog button or photo of yourself.*

* Feel free to link more than one post.*

3. KID LIT BLOG HOP: Please visit AT LEAST the TWO LINKS from the Kid Lit Blog Hop directly ahead of your own and leave them some love in the form of a comment. We are trying to build a community of bloggers, readers, parents, authors, and others who are as passionate about children’s literature as we are so please CONNECT and follow any or all of the blogs that interest you!

4. If you like, grab the button above and put it somewhere on your blog, preferably the post you're linking up. If you'd prefer, you can just add a text link back to this Hop so that others can find it and check out all these great book links!

5. It would really help us get the word out about the Kid Lit Blog Hop if you would be so kind as to tweet, share, and spread the word about the Hop!

Happy Hopping!

TWITTER LINKY PARTY

(Please do not link up a post here - see below for the Kid Lit Blog Hop)

KID LIT BLOG HOP

The Runaway Wok - Chinese New Year and patterns

Title: The Runaway Wok: a Chinese New Year Tale
Author: Ying Chang Compestine
Illustrator: Sebastia Serra
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books, an imprint of Penguin
Year: 2011
Word Count: 1277
Top 10 Element: Patterns

I am participating in Picture Books 14:14, a challenge created by Christie of Write Wild that encourages bloggers to review 14 picture books in 14 days, starting on Feb. 14th.

The Runaway Wok is a Chinese New Year twist on a Gingerbread Boy-style story where a normally inanimate object (here, the wok) comes to life with consequences for all. In this tale, the wok shows the importance of kindness, sharing, and treating others equally. You can even celebrate yourself with a recipe in the back for Festive Stir-Fried Rice.

Analysis: Patterns

There are many patterns at play in The Runaway Wok. The first is the overall patterning of the story. As it is based on a format familiar to readers of The Gingerbread Boy, you already have some expectations about how this story is going to play out. The second level of patterning, however, is the way that the story skips back and forth between the houses of the Zhang family and the Li family.

The story begins in an unassuming way: a poor family is at the market trying to buy eggs to make fried rice to share with the neighbors for Chinese New Year. But once the boy hears the wok talk and agrees to bargain for it, the patterning begins.

Each round begins with the wok proclaiming, "Skippity-hoppity-ho! To the rich man's house I go." At the rich Li family's home, the wok is filled with all manner of good things, before it signals its departure by announcing, "Skippity-hoppity-ho! To the poor man's house I go." The poor Zhang family is then astounded by the wok's treasures and immediately seeks to share them with their neighbors.

This pattern begins with food from the kitchens, followed by toys from the rich man's son and gold coins from the rich man. After these three times following the proscribed pattern, the four and final time is different. Now, when the wok returns, the greedy family has caught on and attempt to chase it (again, a callback to the Gingerbread Boy patterning). But alas, the family finds themselves caught in the wok, and the wok declares, "Skippity-hoppity-ho! To far away I will go," and they are never heard from again.

Thus are the poor and generous rewarded and the wealthy and greedy punished, and the wok is off on to its next adventure.

Want more picture book analyses? Click here to read my other posts for Picture Books 14:14 or check out these other great posts for the Picture Book 14:14 Challenge going on the rest of this month.

One Green Apple - thoughts on theme

Title: One Green Apple
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: Ted Lewin
Publisher: Clarion Books
Year: 2006
Word Count: 958
Top 10 Element: Theme

I am participating in Picture Books 14:14, a challenge created by Christie of Write Wild that encourages bloggers to review 14 picture books in 14 days, starting on Feb. 14th.

I love One Green Apple. I picked it as my top choice in my Picture Book 10 for 10 Must Haves last year, and it is one of the first books that I share with my students each year. This powerful story follows the second day of school for Farah, a newly arrived immigrant to America, whose dupatta and lack of English set her apart.

Analysis: Theme

Theme is the underlying message of a story, and themes can be direct or indirect; they can be blatant or subtle. In One Green Apple the theme develops slowly and powerfully, and every year I am astounded at how much symbolism and metaphor my third graders catch on to when we discuss the story.

One Green Apple takes place on a field trip, where Farah joins her fellow students in apple picking. The story is told from her first person perspective, so we experience this "all-American" activity (as American as apple pie, perhaps?) through her eyes in a way that highlight the similarities and differences to what is familiar to her.

Farah finds a classmate, Anna, who is willing to smile and introduce herself, but there are others who are less friendly. When the students arrive at the orchard to pick apples, Farah pulls away from the rest of the group and picks a small green apple that contrasts with the large, bright red apples chosen by her classmates.

When it comes time to combine their apples into cider, a boy attempts to stop Farah from adding her green apple, but he is too late. Together, the students enjoy the cider, and on the hay ride back they discover some other things they have in common. This quote, for me, really drives home the theme of the book:

"Laughs sound the same as at home. Just the same. So do sneezes and belches and lots of things. It is the words that are strange. But soon I will know their words. I will blend with the others the way my apple blended with the cider."

The story ends with a message of hope and a promise of integration and progress. (You really have to read the last few pages for yourself, I cannot bear to spoil them.)

When I discuss this book with students, they are able to draw out amazing insights into the key themes. It is a story about belonging. It is a story about being welcoming. It is a story about similarities that also celebrates our differences. It is a story about how I always want my classroom community to be, which is why we open our school year by sharing it.

Want more picture book analyses? Click here to read my other posts for Picture Books 14:14 or check out these other great posts for the Picture Book 14:14 Challenge going on the rest of this month.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/16/15

It's Monday! What are you reading? was started by Sheila at Book Journey and was adapted for children's books from picture books through YA by Jen of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee of Unleashing Readers. You can visit either site for a round up of blogs sharing their weekly readings and thoughts or search Twitter for #IMWAYR.

Last Week's Posts

• Reviewing the 2015 Charlotte Zolotow Winners - The Charlotte Zolotow Award honors excellence in picture book writing, and these five honor books and one winner are a great collection!

• Poetry Friday: Valerie Worth - celebrating Animal Poems by Valerie Worth and illustrated by Steve Jenkins

• New Shoes - new book alert and analysis

• Rain School - analyzing beginnings and endings

Picture Books

As Fast As Words Could Fly (2013) by Pamela M. Tuck and illustrated by Eric Velasquez. A Lee & Low Books New Voices Award Winner. This inspirational story is loosely based on the author's father's experiences as a child during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Though the focus is on the typewriter and the main character's skills, a lot of other critical moments are also address or alluded to, including discrimination, sit-ins, school desegregation, and more. A great addition to any study of the Civil Rights Movement.

Middle Grade

The Terrible Two (2015) by Jory John and Mac Barnett and illustrated by Kevin Cornell. * Full disclosure: I have not actually finished this book. * I was about four chapters in when one of my students came over to ask about the book. I handed it over, and he devoured it, taking it home and finishing it that evening. He then insisted that another classmate read it, and the book has been making the rounds since. So I will let that stand as its recommendation for now.

Young Adult

The Crossover (2014) by Kwame Alexander, winner of this year's Newbery Award and a Coretta Scott King Honor Award. This novel-in-verse features the inside perspective of eighth grade Josh Bell. Josh and his twin brother are basketball stars and take after their father. I really loved this book, and even though Brown Girl Dreaming still has my heart, I think this was a powerful choice for the Newbery.

Teen

This One Summer (2014) by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, winner of a Caldecott Honor Award. This graphic novel was shelved in the teen section of my public library and is definitely geared towards high school or later middle school students, so I can see why it was a contentious choice for the Caldecott (aimed at readers 0-14 years old). Admittedly, I do not read a lot of teen or YA fiction, but this book did not do a lot for me, and I was not particularly blown away by the artwork side of it either. I have seen a lot more interesting graphic novel art, such as George O'Connor's Olympians series. I would be curious to hear the arguments 'for' this book and its Caldecott honor.

Award-Winning Books Reading Challenge update: 8 books, 1 dedicated post (2015 Zolotow winners)

Dive into Diversity Challenge update: 24 books, 10 dedicated posts (New Shoes and Rain School)

Happy Reading!

Rain School - analysis of beginnings and endings

Title: Rain School
Author and Illustrator: James Rumford
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Year: 2010
Word Count: 451
Top 10 Element: Beginnings and Endings

I am participating in Picture Books 14:14, a challenge created by Christie of Write Wild that encourages bloggers to review 14 picture books in 14 days, starting on Feb. 14th.

Rain School highlights some of the struggles that children face in getting an education, as well as the great lengths that people will go through to go to school - even if involves building the school itself! The story was inspired by the author's own experiences in Chad as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Analysis: Beginnings and Endings

Rain School is a bit of a circular story, which makes it an ideal candidate for studying the importance and interrelationship of beginnings and endings. The story opens with the first day of school.

"In the country of Chad, it is the first day of school. The dry dirt road is filling up with children. Big brothers and big sisters are leading the way."

Children can easily imagine themselves in this situation, due to the familiarity of experience first days of school, and this connection is drawn out by the constant questions young Thomas asks as he walks to school for the very first time.

The big twist is revealed on the third spread, "Thomas arrives at the schoolyard, but there are no classrooms. There are no desk. It doesn't matter. There is a teacher. 'We will build our school,' she says. 'This is the first lesson.'"

The story continues from there and documents the process of building the school and some of the lessons that the children learn. The last day of school coincides with the beginning of the rainy season, and the strong winds and heavy rains demolish the mud brick school. The story then ends, back where it began.

"Come September, school will start over. Thomas will be a big brother then, leading the children on their first day to school. They will all stand in front of their smiling teachers, ready to build their school again."

As the end-is-the-beginning concludes, it helps students to see the impact and importance of this yearly process and how hard these children work for their education. Powerful stuff.

Want more picture book analyses? Click here to read my other posts for Picture Books 14:14 or check out these other great posts for the Picture Book 14:14 Challenge going on the rest of this month.