Blog Week 11

 This week I chose to do my blog on the children's book "Hopper" by Marcus Pfister. This book stood out to me originally because of the amazing illustrations. As you can see in the above picture there is so much detail in the artwork and it is stunning that all the illustrations are done in watercolor. There is just so much life in the images it is almost like looking through "fuzzy" binoculars. You can see that details such as the texture of the bunnies fuzzy fur.

The overall story of this book is that there is a baby bunny named Hopper and his Mother. They are going through the forest during winter as the snow falls gracefully upon the ground. Hopper does not want to go and look for food with his Mom like she requested but she tells him, "Do not be lazy...". I think that this thought of working hard to get the things you need such as food is really important. This concept is really good for younger students to understand, so this book would be great to either have in your library or have as an option for a literature analysis. The characters in this book are very simple yet the author really gets their personalities across. The Mother bunny is very caring and gentle while Hopper is very much a young happy bunny who wants to hang out with his buddies. 

  Marcus Pfister

This book would be a great addition to any Elementary class library. Many of the children that I have seen read this book are very interested and engaged in the reading process. The illustrations are one of their favorite parts of the book also. With so many new age books out there in the world of children's literature this is a nice classic book with valuable moral investigation!

Blog 10-25-2012

This week I chose to do my book talk on "The Vampire Diaries". Many people may know this title because of the hit series on the CW. This is a great story that consists of vampires and werewolves and is comparable to the also hit series Twilight. There are three main characters that drive this modern fantasy literature, Elena, Stephan and Damon. Elena is a high school student that is dealt quite a strange hand of falling in love with a vampire named Stephan. Damon and Stephan are vampires and also brothers that have lived since Victorian times.

These three have many adventures throughout this book that consist of danger and excitement. There is also the fact that there is a love triangle between Stephan, Damon and Elena. This was not the case always because Elena and Stephan had fallen in love before Damon and Elena developed feelings for one another. In the end Elena chooses Stephan and they begin to build their relationship back from the ashes.

This book honestly does not have any curriculum value unless you were teaching a fantasy literature lesson. This book would also be very age appropriate to have in a library in an upper elementary or middle school language arts class’s library. I am going to teach at a middle school level so this is a great choice due to the fact that students their age are infatuated with the series.  I would highly recommend this book!

Week 9 Optional Blog Post

This week I chose to do my blog on a book called "A Walk With Grandpa". The author is Sharon K Soloman and it is illustrated by Pamela Barcilla. I think that this book is a great classroom library addition. One of the mast important factors that make this book great for NM classrooms is the fact that it is a bilingual book. The illustrations are also very great because they show so much detail in the classroom. 

This book describes the relationship between a Grandpa and his Grand Daughter. The story is as simple as them going on a walk for the day. They walk through the forest  and talk about the things that they feel about each other. For example, one of the things they say to one another is, "You are my sunshine." and the other responds, "You are my moonshine.". This is a great book for a first grade level. There are many things in this book that the student can relate to the relationships they have with their grandparents. The bilingual or ESL learner can also read this book and feel like they fully understand the material. Overall I would recommend this book. I have read this to students in the elementary school I work at and the 1st graders really seem to like it. 

Blog Week 7

The book that I chose this week was The Ersatz Elevator. This is number six in a series called The Series of Unfortunate Events. The author of The Ersatz Elevator is Lemony Snicket. These books are great for upper level elementary through high school dependent on who the student is. A Series of Unfortunate Events in a series that describes deceit and despair. This is a story of three orphans who lost their parents in a fire. One of the main points in this series is that the orphans inherited a fortune and this will be given to them once they turn eighteen.

The oldest of the orphans in Violet and she is a great inventor. The middle orphan is named Klaus he is very smart and this helps them through a lot of their troubles. The youngest of them all is named Sunny, she is a baby with some useful teeth that also aide the crew in getting through their many despairing adventures. 

These orphans are forever doomed to a life of avoiding being killed by their foes, most of all their Uncle Count Olaf. He is strictly interested in their inheritance and will do anything to obtain it. In this story they are again effected by the looming idea of death. They encountered a darkened staircase, a red herring, some friends in trouble and a liar with a deadly agenda. At one point they are forced to help their friend that are triplets get out of a pickle. They are being sold at auction and smuggled out of the country. These books are an easy read and I believe that they will be an asset to any classroom library.