Irene Gach Lá

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Schmidt, Gary 2007. THE WEDNESDAY WARS. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 978-0-618-72483-3 2. PLOT SUMMARY Set amid the tumult of the Vietnam War, The Wednesday Wars takes place throughout the 1967-1968 school year of seventh grader Holling Hoodhood of suburban Long Island. As the only Presbyterian in his class, Holling Hoodhood is the lone Wednesday student in Mrs. Baker’s class as half the class attends Hebrew school and the other half Catechism class. As the year progresses, and the Wednesday Wars commence, Mrs. Baker and Holling form an unlikely alliance brokered by Shakespeare himself.  3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS This book is best for middle and high school students. Chock full of Shakespearean allusions amid the backdrop of America in turmoil, it would be a bit of a stretch for even the most sophisticated fourth or fifth grader. A theme which threads the story together is the Vietnam War, with many of the teachers, including Mrs. Bak...

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cushion, Karen 2003. RODZINA. New York, NY: Clarion Books. ISBN 0-618-13351-8 2. PLOT SUMMARY Rodzina is the tale of a gruff and hearty, yet soft-hearted, Polish immigrant girl. She’s trapped by tragic circumstances in 1881 America. The death of her parents sends her West from Chicago, the only city she knows, on an orphan train bound for California. Along the way, she learns to care for the orphans on the train and fight for her right to a family who loves her. The ending is foreseeable, but oh-so-satisfying. 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS This book is best for upper elementary and middle school students. Kids who have experienced loss will particularly relate to Rodzina’s matter-of-fact sadness. She can’t change her past, but she can move on and carry the memory and values of those she loved with her. The setting changes throughout the story, as Rodzina travels through the West to be matched up with a family. Her first match is short-lived and kids will ...

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Williams-Garcia, Rita 2010. ONE CRAZY SUMMER. New York, NY: Harper Collins Children’s Books. ISBN 978-0-06-076088-5 2. PLOT SUMMARY Set in 1968 America, three young, African-American sisters journey across the country to meet their mother, Cecile. Living in Brooklyn with their father, Delphine, Vonetta and Fern know little of who she is or why she left, except what Big Ma tells them. And Big Ma’s not fond of their mother! But is their mother really all those terrible things? When they arrive in Oakland, California, Cecile sends them to the Black Panther summer camp. Here, the girls learn about not only their mother, but themselves. In the end, this is not a story of abandoned children, but of understanding, love and embracing the culture of your family. 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Upper elementary and middle school students, especially African-American girls, will identify with these young characters, especially Delphine, the narrator of the story. She is s...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Krull, Kathleen and Paul Brewer. 2010. LINCOLN TELLS A JOKE: HOW LAUGHTER SAVED THE PRESIDENT (AND THE COUNTRY) Ill. By Stacy Innerst. New York, NY: Harcourt Children’s Books. ISBN 978-0-15-206639-0 PLOT SUMMARY Krull and Brewer explore Abraham Lincoln’s life from a new perspective: humor. Given the gravity of his presidency and his importance in American history, this book takes the unusual stance of presenting his life through his love of laughter. Beginning with his childhood, Lincoln’s life story is presented anew with anecdotes about his sense of humor and his love of jokes. Filled with quotes attributed to Lincoln, the reader gains a new perspective of this much-loved American icon. CRITICAL ANALYSIS “My father taught me how to work, but not to love it. I’d rather  read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh.”  Abraham Lincoln Thus begins the reader’s journey into LINCOLN TELLS A JOKE. Weaving quotes from Lincoln into the story ...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Jenkins, Steve. 2011. Just a second New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN 978-0-618-70896-0 PLOT SUMMARY What can happen in a second? A minute? An hour? A day, week, month or year? What about less than a second or more than a million years? Filled with quirky facts and bold illustrations, Steve Jenkins explores timely questions in JUST A SECOND: A DIFFERENT WAY TO LOOK AT TIME. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The first thing I noticed, as I read, was the page color. As the time markers change, the background colors change. The book begins with the second, which is illustrated against a royal blue background. This builds to the minute, which is against a teal background. As time progresses, the background changes. This change is a subtle reminder to the reader that the main idea of the page is also changing. For each time marker, Steve Jenkins chooses attention-grabbing facts to hook the young reader.  “ In one second, a rattlesnake shakes i...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Sweet, Melissa. 2011. Balloons over broadway New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN 978-0-547-19945-0 PLOT SUMMARY How did one boy get out of chores forever? Invent a chicken-feeding system, of course! From the moment he feeds the chickens to the arrival of Garfield in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, kids will love this biography of Tony Sarg. In BALLOONS OVER BROADWAY, Melissa Sweet details his journey from farm boy to puppeteer to balloon master. As the creator of the famed Macy’s floating balloons, Sweet explains both the life of Tony Sarg and his ingenious method for bringing puppets to life. Along the way, kids will love Sweet’s illustrations of Sarg’s ideas, especially the upside-down marionettes which grace the final pages of the book. CRITICAL ANALYSIS In BALLOONS OVER BROADWAY, Melissa Sweet triumphantly serves as both author and illustrator. Since BALLOONS OVER BROADWAY is a biography, it is organized chronologically over th...