The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman

Gr. 4-8. In lush operatic style, Pam Munoz Ryan's picture-book biography When Marian Sang (2002), with beautiful illustrations by Brian Selznick, celebrated the triumph of the great African American vocalist in the face of the vicious segregation of her time. Now for middle-grade and junior-high readers comes this handsome, spaciously designed photo-biography. In his signature prose, plain yet eloquent, Freedman tells Anderson's triumphant story, with numerous black-and-white documentary photos and prints that convey her personal struggle, professional artistry, and landmark civil rights role. Everything leads up to her 1939 historic performance at the Lincoln Memorial, where, denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall, she thrilled a crowd of 75,000 and a national radio audience. Freedman reveals that Anderson never invited political confrontation, but with the support of such friends as Eleanor Roosevelt, she had a profound effect on the nation. Documentation is an essential part of her exciting story, with many pages of source notes as well as an enthusiastic, annotated bibliography, and, of course, a discography. Older readers and adults will want this, too. Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: Pairing this book with Ryan's picture book is a great way to make nonfiction texts accessible for the intermediate and upper grade classrooms. This book is an essential for biography studies and nonfiction reading.

Additional Information and Links on Marian Anderson

Skills and Strategies

• Determining Importance
• Fact and Opinion
• Retelling
• Scanning
• Summarizing

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Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Gr. 5-8. Twelve-year-old Moose moves to Alcatraz in 1935 so his father can work as a prison guard and his younger, autistic sister, Natalie, can attend a special school in San Francisco. It is a time when the federal prison is home to notorious criminals like gangster Al Capone. Depressed about having to leave his friends and winning baseball team behind, Moose finds little to be happy about on Alcatraz. He never sees his dad, who is always working; and Natalie's condition-- her tantrums and constant needs--demand all his mother's attention. Things look up for Moose when he befriends the irresistible Piper, the warden's daughter, who has a knack for getting Moose into embarrassing but harmless trouble. Helped by Piper, Moose eventually comes to terms with his new situation. With its unique setting and well-developed characters, this warm, engaging coming-of-age story has plenty of appeal, and Choldenko offers some fascinating historical background on Alcatraz Island in an afterword. Ed Sullivan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: This text combines adventure, historical fiction, and a young boy's perspective and serves up a great addition to a historical fiction book club selection. The author is meticulous about historical accuracies and inaccuracies. If used in a book club or literature circle, teachers can access this literature circle guide for discussion questions and activities.

Skills and Strategies

• Determining Importance
• Making Connections
• Fact and Opinion

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Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Kindergarten-5. A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both history and haunting metaphor in this exquisite picture book. Based on Woodson's own history, the unforgettable story tells of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present. The cut-out jacket design is impressive, as is Talbott's mixed-media artwork inside, which extends Woodson's clear poetic narrative with beautiful collages that make use of big triangles, squares, and curves to emphasize portraits and landscapes and show connections and courage. The first double-page spread is of anguished separation when Soonie's great-grandmother is sold "without her ma or pa." Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with signs that show the way to freedom. Time passes: Soonie's granddaughter, Georgiana, has twin girls who march for freedom in the 1960s. The final glorious spread shows Georgiana's granddaughter, Jacqueline Woodson, laughing at home with her own beloved daughter, Toshi Georgiana, whose picture is embedded in a quilt, connecting her with those who came before. A must for the classroom, this story will move many readers to explore their own family roots; link to the Booklist interview with Woodson , in which she talks about what she owes to those who came before her. Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: Woodson crafts a perfect text to introduce a study of family history in the classroom. This text inspires students to research their own family history. Tar Beach by Faith Ringold would make an excellent match with this text. This pairing opens the door to a parallel study on quilt making and community.

Skills and Strategies

• Descriptive Language
• Symbolism
• Point of view
• Characterization
• Timelines of text

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Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Grade 6-9–The author of the popular All Alone in the Universe (HarperCollins, 1999) returns with another character study involving those moments that occur in everyone's life–moments when a decision is made that sends a person along one path instead of another. Debbie, who wishes that something would happen so she'll be a different person, and Hector, who feels he is unfinished, narrate most of the novel. Both are 14 years old. Hector is a fabulous character with a wry humor and an appealing sense of self-awareness. A secondary story involving Debbie's locket that goes missing in the beginning of the tale and is passed around by a number of characters emphasizes the theme of the book. The descriptive, measured writing includes poems, prose, haiku, and question-and-answer formats. There is a great deal of humor in this gentle story about a group of childhood friends facing the crossroads of life and how they wish to live it. Young teens will certainly relate to the self-consciousnesses and uncertainty of all of the characters, each of whom is straining toward clarity and awareness. Allison Gray, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: Noted for its unique writing style and narrative voice, this text brings a welcome new energy to vitalize classroom libraries. It contains illustrations and photographs, as well as presents two narrators of the story. This book may take some scaffolding around the author's style, but once students get the hang of it, they won't want to stop reading this story on teenage life.

Skills and Strategies

• Point of View
• Characterization
• Author's style

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Rules by Cynthia Lord

Gr. 4-7. "No toys in the fish tank" is one of many rules that 12-year-old Catherine shares with her autistic younger brother, David, to help him understand his world. Lots of the rules are practical. Others are more subtle and shed light on issues in Catherine's own life. Torn between love for her brother and impatience with the responsibilities and embarrassment he brings, she strives to be on her parents' radar and to establish an identity of her own. At her brother's clinic, Catherine befriends a wheelchair-bound boy, Jason, who talks by pointing at word cards in a communication notebook. Her drawing skills and additional vocabulary cards--including "whatever" (which prompts Jason to roll his eyes at his mother)--enliven his speech. The details of autistic behavior are handled well, as are depictions of relationships: Catherine experiences some of the same unease with Jason that others do in the presence of her brother. In the end, Jason helps Catherine see that her rules may really be excuses, opening the way for her to look at things differently. A heartwarming first novel. Cindy DobrezCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: This is a great story that embraces diversity, instead of parading it in front of the reader. The characters are developed deeply and complexly rather than defined by their disability. This would be an excellent book club book around disabilities/abilities and social issues.

Skills and Strategies

• Characterization
• Conflict
• Making Connections

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Hattie Big Sky by Kirbie Larson

In this engaging historical novel set in 1918, 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks leaves Iowa and travels to a Montana homestead inherited from her uncle. In the beautiful but harsh setting, she has less than a year to fence and cultivate the land in order to keep it. Neighbors who welcome Hattie help heal the hurt she has suffered from years of feeling unwanted. Chapters open with short articles that Hattie writes for an Iowa newspaper or her lively letters to a friend and possible beau who is in the military in France. The authentic first-person narrative, full of hope and anxiety, effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a young woman with limited options, a homesteader facing terrible odds, and a loyal citizen confused about the war and the local anti-German bias that endangers her new friends. Larson, whose great-grandmother homesteaded alone in Montana, read dozens of homesteaders' journals and based scenes in the book on real events. Writing in figurative language that draws on nature and domestic detail to infuse her story with the sounds, smells, and sights of the prairie, she creates a richly textured novel full of memorable characters. Kathleen Odean Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: A historical fiction text that speaks to students using dramatic characterization, illustrative setting, and riveting internal conflict--a perfect book club choice!

Skills and Strategies

• Descriptive language
• Setting
• Conflict
• Characterization
• Theme
  

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Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm

Grade 5-7–Penny Falucci, 11, lives with her widowed mother and maternal grandparents, but her father's large, Italian family is tremendously important to her, too. It frustrates her that no one talks about his death, but as the summer of 1953 progresses, several events occur. First, her mother begins dating the milkman, and, when Penny's arm goes through the wringer on the washing machine, things come to a head. Finally, the secrets behind her father's death come out. Aunt Gina tells her about a minor incident that had horrifying consequences for him because of the restrictions placed on Italian Americans during World War II. Penny and her world are clearly drawn and eminently believable, made up of seamlessly interwoven details from everyday life. The period is lovingly re-created, from the fear of catching polio to Penny's use of the word swell. An author's note with photos is included. –Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: Students reach back into life in the 1950's and find themselves in an Italian-American family in Brooklyn. This sparks an immediate discussion around setting and time periods. This book also provides the space for much work to be done around the rich characters in the text. The time line of the text tends to be more episode-driven rather than plot-driven, therefore students will use a different set of skills to negotiate the text (i.e. focus on retelling and interpreting skills).

Skills and Strategies

• Setting
• Characterization
• Interpreting
• Retelling--episode driven vs. plot driven
  

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The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Grade 4-6–When Lucky's mother is electrocuted and dies after a storm, Lucky's absentee father calls his ex-wife, Brigitte, to fly over from France to take care of the child. Two years later, the 10-year-old worries that Brigitte is tired of being her guardian and of their life in Hard Pan (pop. 42) in the middle of the California desert. While Lucky's best friend ties intricate knots and the little boy down the road cries for attention, she tries to get some control over her life by restocking her survival kit backpack and searching for her Higher Power. This character-driven novel has an unusually complicated backstory, and a fair amount of exposition. Yet, its quirky cast and local color help to balance this fact, and the desert setting is fascinating. Lucky's tendency to jump to conclusions is frustrating, but her struggle to come to terms with her mother's death and with her new life ring true. Phelan's cover and line drawings are simple and evocative, a perfect complement to the text. Fans of novels by Deborah Wiles and Katherine Hannigan will be happy to meet Lucky.–Adrienne Furness, Webster Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: Despite the nationwide controversy over this pick, LUCKY is filled with beautiful language, rich characterization and dynamic plot. This is an excellent text for intermediate and young adult (YA) readers to follow a character journey to find a place for her in the world. Patron provides a much needed text to support critical literacy in upper grade classrooms.

Skills and Strategies

• Setting
• Characterization
• Envisioning
• Making Connections
• Questioning
  

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Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems

PreS-Gr. 2. This comic gem proves that Caldecott Medal-winner Willems, the Dr. Spock and Robin Williams of the lap-sit crowd, has just as clear a bead on pre-verbal children as on silver-tongued preschoolers. On a father-daughter trip to the Laundromat, before toddler Trixie "could even speak words," Daddy distractedly tosses her favorite stuffed bunny into the wash. Unfortunately, Trixie's desperate cries ("aggle flaggle klabble") come across as meaningless baby talk, so she pitches a fit until perceptive Mommy and abashed Daddy sprint back to retrieve the toy. Willems chronicles this domestic drama with pitch-perfect text and illustrations that boldly depart from the spare formula of his previous books. Sepia-tone photographs of a Brooklyn neighborhood provide the backdrops for his hand-drawn artwork, intensifying the humor of the gleefully stylized characters--especially Trixie herself, who effectively registers all the universal signs of toddler distress, from the first quavery grimace to the uncooperative, "boneless" stage to the googly-eyed, gape-mouthed crisis point. Even children who can already talk a blue streak will come away satisfied that their own strong emotions have been mirrored and legitimized, and readers of all ages will recognize the agonizing frustration of a little girl who knows far more than she can articulate. Jennifer Mattson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt:


Classroom Implications: Great for non-verbal children, this book is a welcomed addition to primary classroom libraries. Educators can focus on non-verbal communication strategies with non-verbal and verbal children. This text encompasses the genre of realistic fiction by the plot and the illustrations.

Skills and Strategies

• Point of view
• Verbal and non-verbal cues
• Setting
  

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Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson (Author) and E.B. White (Illustrator)

K-Gr. 3. As in their award-winning picture book The Other Side (2001), Woodson and Lewis tell a moving historical story of longing and separation. The setting here is the home front during World War II, and Ada Ruth's mama leaves to find work in the city ("They're hiring colored women in Chicago since all the men are off fighting in the war"). At home with Grandma, Ada Ruth holds on to memories of Mama's love and writes to her. Times are hard, and for a long time "no letter or money coming." Ada Ruth takes in a stray kitten, and even though Grandma says they can't keep it, Ada Ruth does, and its purring softness is big and warm on her lap. The race, class, and gender struggle is part of the larger drama ("A colored woman working on the railroad!"), but for Ada Ruth, it's the waiting, quietly expressed in her simple, poetic first-person narrative. Lewis' beautiful watercolors establish the setting, not the South this time, but a spacious rural landscape with snow and icy storms, and inside, the loving portrayals of the women in warm, neat rooms with an empty chair. Period and place are wonderfully specific; the yearning is timeless. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: This book stands out for its pairing of historical fiction with award-winning illustrations. Woodson writes a story within a story; upon reading, the reader notices the internal story of the characters that occurs simultaneously with the external story on the pages. For this reason, this would be an excellent text to use when teaching personal narrative or short story.

Click here to access a Booklist Interview with J. Woodson on her book Coming on Home Soon, African American women in her family, and her writing process.

Skills and Strategies

• Summarizing
• Setting
• Dialogue

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Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman (author) and Beckie Prange (illustrator)

Kindergarten-Grade 5-Seasons set the stage for this celebration of the diverse life of ponds. The book begins with the poem, "Listen for Me," in which spring peepers wake from their winter hibernation and sing out, "Listen for me on a spring night,/on a wet night,/on a rainy night./…Listen for me tonight, tonight,/and I'll sing you to sleep." The melodic verse continues through summer with a cumulative poem that highlights the food chain of a pond, cattails in all seasons, and late fall when a painted turtle settles into the mud. Sidman employs several poetic forms, such as haiku and rhymed and unrhymed verse, and varied line structure, and her arrangement of the 11 poems is natural and exact. Each one is accompanied by a paragraph that provides scientific information about a specific creature, plant, or aspect of pond life. Prange's woodcuts are a natural accompaniment to these poetic compositions. The dark lines naturally contrast against watercolor hues that reflect the changing seasons. Beginning with subtle pastel shades of spring, tones gradually deepen through the lush colors of midsummer and conclude with subdued earthy browns and violet sunsets of early winter. Perspectives in illustrations shift from one poem to another, providing a unique depiction of the life below the water, on shore level, and in the surrounding reeds and trees. An organic union of poetry and science, this book encourages readers to ponder the minutiae and magnificent life of the natural world.-Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: This makes a wonderful read aloud for first-fourth grade classrooms studying ecosystems. It is especially hard to find a specific science-based book for primary grades. This book solves that problem! It combines poetry and a content-area story, and manages to include delightful images worthy enough for the Caldecott. This text would pair nicely with Fleishman's Joyful Noise: Poems in Two Voices due to the similarity in both poetry and science.

Skills and Strategies

• rhythm
• rhyme
• haiku--syllables
  
• free verse
  
• nonfiction reading

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Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman

PreSchool-Grade 3-Inventive illustrations depict the true story of the duck, sheep, and rooster that were "ballooning's first brave passengers" when the Montgolfiers tested their hot-air balloon in 1783. The first three spreads set the stage with lively conversational descriptions of the scene before the balloon takes off. A dramatic shift on the fourth page turn reveals the befuddled animal passengers as they ascend. Most of the remaining text is wordless, with occasional "quacks," "baas," and "cock-a-doodle-doos." With vibrant colors and varied use of panels, full-page illustrations, and spreads, Priceman paces the tale perfectly. An early four-panel scene showing the balloon at various heights while the animals try to figure out what's going on is priceless. So is the spread in which all three become attached to windblown laundry. The voyagers' progress is easy to follow, and events along the way are delightfully rendered. A time line on the endpapers fills in some of the historical data, but this "(mostly) true" version (which the author "heard…from a duck, who heard it from a sheep, who heard it from a rooster a long, long time ago") is just the way it should have happened. Sarah Wilson's Three in a Balloon (Scholastic, 1990; o.p.) covers the same event nicely, but this intriguing historical episode stands up to varied presentations, as Priceman's dynamic visual storytelling ably demonstrates.-Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: Nonfiction meets fiction in this book. Historical data is paired with imaginative illustrations and wordless pages to provoke thought, predictions and inferences around the nonfiction. A non-traditional historical nonfiction text, this book blends nicely into a library that includes a section on flight.

Skills and Strategies

• Nonfiction reading
• Questioning
• Inferences
  

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Zen Shorts by Jon Muth

Kindergarten-Grade 4 - Beautifully illustrated in two distinct styles, this book introduces readers to a Zen approach to the world, wrapped in a story about three siblings and their new neighbor, a panda. One by one, the children visit Stillwater, enjoying his company and listening to him tell a brief tale that illustrates a Zen principle. Each time, there is a link between the conversation shared by Stillwater and his visitor and the story he tells; it's somewhat tenuous in regard to the two older siblings, quite specific in the case of Karl, the youngest. The tales invite the children to consider the world and their perceptions from a different angle; for Karl, the panda's story gently but pointedly teaches the benefits of forgiveness. Richly toned and nicely detailed watercolors depict the "real world" scenes, while those accompanying the Zen lessons employ black lines and strokes on pastel pages to create an interesting blend of Western realism and more evocative Japanese naturalism. Taken simply as a picture book, Zen Shorts is interesting and visually lovely. As an introduction to Zen, it is a real treat, employing familiar imagery to prod children to approach life and its circumstances in profoundly "un-Western" ways. An author's note discusses the basic concept of Zen and details the sources of Stillwater's stories. Appealing enough for a group read-aloud, but also begging to be shared and discussed by caregiver and child, Zen Shorts is a notable achievement. - Coop Renner, Hillside Elementary, El Paso, TX Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: This book captivates audiences with beautiful images and messages conveyed throughout the text. The simplistic images match the simple Zen-Buddist messages of the story. These lessons span ages, so the book can be used with multiple age groups. A perfect book to work on themes and main messages of texts. This book would also work cross-curricularly with a history class on non-western cultures and thought.

Skills and Strategies

• theme/main message
• symbolism
  

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Rosa by Nikki Giovanni and Bryan Collier

Grade 3-5–Rosa Parks's personal story moves quickly into a summary of the Civil Rights movement in this striking picture book. Parks is introduced in idealized terms. She cares for her ill mother and is married to one of the best barbers in the county. Sewing in an alterations department, Rosa Parks was the best seamstress. Her needle and thread flew through her hands like the gold spinning from Rumpelstiltskin's loom. Soon the story moves to her famous refusal to give up her seat on the bus, but readers lose sight of her as she waits to be arrested. Giovanni turns to explaining the response of the Women's Political Caucus, which led to the bus boycott in Montgomery. A few events of the movement are interjected–the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the aftermath and reactions to the murder of Emmett Till, the role of Martin Luther King, Jr., as spokesperson. Collier's watercolor and collage scenes are deeply hued and luminous, incorporating abstract and surreal elements along with the realistic figures. Set on colored pages, these illustrations include an effective double foldout page with the crowd of successful walkers facing a courthouse representing the 1956 Supreme Court verdict against segregation on the buses. Many readers will wonder how it all went for Parks after her arrest, and there are no added notes. Purposeful in its telling, this is a handsome and thought-provoking introduction to these watershed acts of civil disobedience.–Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: "...She was tired. Not tired from work, but tired of putting white people first..." This line captures the essence of this book; a book that not only captures Rosa's political role, but illustrates her life as a woman. Giovanni and Collier are a must for an in-depth study of African American history and the civil rights movement. Not just a book for February, Rosa is a must for library shelves throughout the grades.

Skills and Strategies

• Nonfiction reading--biography
• Determining Importance
• Predicting
• Questioning
  
• Note-taking
  

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The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster (Author), Chris Raschka (Illustrator)

PreS-Gr. 2. Two well-known names come together in a book that speaks to the real lives of children and their experiences. The young narrator visits her grandparents, Nanna and Poppy, in their big house. They explore Nanna's garden, and Poppy plays his harmonica. The narrator rides her bike and takes a nap, "and nothing happens till I get up." Looking out the picture window, the "hello, goodbye window," she sees the pizza guy, and, more fancifully, a dinosaur. She also spots her parents coming to pick her up. The curly-haired girl is happy to see them, but sad because it means the end of the visit. The window imagery is less important than the title would make it seem. More intrinsic is Juster's honest portrayal of a child's perceptions (a striped cat in the yard is a tiger) and emotions (being happy and sad at the same time "just happens that way sometimes"). Raschka's swirling lines, swaths, and dabs of fruity colors seem especially vibrant, particularly in the double-page spreads, which have ample room to capture both the tender moments between members of the interracial family and the exuberance of spending time in the pulsating outdoors, all flowers, grass, and sky. Ilene Cooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: This book speaks to the children's experience of play and family. A great book to introduce students to a family-themed study, this text embraces diversity as it paints the image of a family. This text also works well to describe inter-generational relationships. The window image creates a teachable moment around symbols and symbolism in literature.

Skills and Strategies

• Character relationships
• Symbolism
  

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Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford (Author), Kadir Nelson (Illustrator)

Grades 2-5 (and beyond) Weatherford's handsome picture book about Harriet Tubman focuses mostly on Tubman's religious inspiration, with echoes of spirituals ringing throughout the spare poetry about her struggle ("Lord, don't let nobody turn me 'round"). God cradles Tubman and talks with her; his words (printed in block capitals) both inspire her and tell her what to do ("SHED YOUR SHOES; WADE IN THE WATER TO TRICK THE DOGS"). Nelson's stirring, beautiful artwork makes clear the terror and exhaustion Tubman felt during her own escape and also during her brave rescue of others. There's no romanticism: the pictures are dark, dramatic, and deeply colored--whether showing the desperate young fugitive "crouched for days in a potato hole" or the tough middle-aged leader frowning at the band of runaways she's trying to help. The full-page portrait of a contemplative Tubman turning to God to help her guide her people is especially striking. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Sample Page


Classroom Implications: A critical addition to any library, this book uses poetry and call and response format to paint an accurate portrayal of Tubman's journey. The illustrations and language team together to create a teaching tool that spans audiences.

Skills and Strategies

• Nonfiction reading--historical and social action
  
• Poetry
• Call and Response
• Descriptive language
• Character study

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Gone Wild by David McLimans

From School Library Journal Grade 3 Up–Although organized as a conventional alphabet book, the letters here are far from ordinary. McLimans has created a black-and-white iconic representation of 26 endangered animals, and his art is striking. For example, the newt's eyes protrude slightly from the sides of N, while its tongue emerges from the lower point. An accompanying box on each page includes a small, stylized red-and-white image of the animal plus information about its class, habitat, range, and threats to its survival. Back matter includes a paragraph about each creature along with a list of Web sites for organizations that help endangered animals and books for further reading. This title will serve more as a tool to raise awareness and a place to begin searching for information rather than as a source of facts. However, the arresting graphics and clean design will hold viewers' attention and create interest in the topic. The book could also serve as a starting point for art and design projects for students well above elementary school age.–Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: This book has an innovative approach to the traditional alphabet book. It operates as an alphabet book and nonfiction text that advocates around the critical social issue of protecting endangered species. Students can not only use this text to learn the alphabet, but students can learn about the animals and organizations that support the preservation of the species. This text is also an important tool to support English language learners and special education students in the upper grades.

Skills and Strategies

• Letter learning & symbol making
  
• Nonfiction reading
• Social action

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Flotsam by David Weisner

Summary: PreS-Gr. 2 (and beyond). As in his Caldecott Medal Book Tuesday (1991), Wiesner offers another exceptional, wordless picture book that finds wild magic in quiet, everyday settings. At the seaside, a boy holds a magnifying glass up to a flailing hermit crab; binoculars and a microscope lay nearby. The array of lenses signals the shifting viewpoints to come, and in the following panels, the boy discovers an old-fashioned camera, film intact. A trip to the photo store produces astonishing pictures: an octopus in an armchair holding story hour in a deep-sea parlor; tiny, green alien tourists peering at sea horses. There are portraits of children around the world and through the ages, each child holding another child's photo. After snapping his own image, the boy returns the camera to the sea, where it's carried on a journey to another child. Children may initially puzzle, along with the boy, over the mechanics of the camera and the connections between the photographed portraits. When closely observed, however, the masterful watercolors and ingeniously layered perspectives create a clear narrative, and viewers will eagerly fill in the story's wordless spaces with their own imagined story lines. Like Chris Van Allsburg's books and Wiesner's previous works, this visual wonder invites us to rethink how and what we see, out in the world and in our mind's eye. Gillian Engberg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: Never underestimate the power of words...or lack of words. This wordless picture book provides a fascinating narrative for children to explore without the constraints of a text written with words! This book allows children to dive into the complex concept of multiple perspectives by using an accessible visual text. In addition to the text being accessible, it is visually stimulating, imaginative and beautifully done. This text also lends itself well to English Language Learners in the classroom, as well as a mentor text for special education students in the upper grades.

Skills and Strategies

• Point of View
• Perspective
• Storytelling
  
• Narrative writing

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