Below I will discuss from an educators point of view what makes a good children's book. I will use The Wild Robot by Peter Brown and What Makes a Monster? by Jess Keating as examples. Warning there are spoilers in this post!
Evaluating The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Peter Brown does an amazing job of making Roz the robot relatable. In the story Roz adopts a gosling and has to learn how to be a mother of an animal she unfamiliar with. I think that parents could relate to this and so could children if they were adopted. Roz grapples with the idea that no one likes her and will ever like her because she appears to be a monster. She learns from other animals how to better fit into society. Roz grows a lot as a character in this book. In the beginning she was a robot who only spoke english and did not know how to navigate the island. She learns from a stick bug the art of camouflage, which helps her throughout the book, she learns the art of acting from a opossum, which helps her become nicer and more gentle, she learns building from the beavers, she learns the art of gardening from the deers. All of these things she is taught by the animals in turn help the animals later on in the book. Due to all of her skills and her caring persona she gains friendships that keep her "alive."
This book takes place on an island and in a forest. The setting of this book is an important part of the book and reveals the certain types of animals that live there. For example the geese and the beavers live near the river. The bears live in a cave. The squirrels live in the trees. This book would be a great book to talk about ecosystems and discuss the importance and balance of the life cycle. The book also starts in the summer goes through fall and the leaves changing and winter and then ends in spring. It discusses all the different changes that the seasons bring. For example the book talks about how certain animals hibernate for the winter and also how certain animals migrate south for the winter.
13. In this book/story, who had the power to make choices for a better world? This is my favorite question on the list because I think that it is very important to discuss this with your students or children, especially when an opportunity presents itself in a book. When Roz's son Brightbill, a goose, migrates south for the winter she realizes that she will not have any friends without her son because he makes her seem kinder and more approachable. She decides to power down for a while but when she wakes up the winter has gotten out of control and she realizes that some of the animals that usually hibernate will not be able to survive this winter. She then chooses to make a choice that will greatly impact the lives of all the animals on the island. She invites all the animals to come to her house, a lodge, and sit by the fire to heat up. Although this helps at first it won't help the whole island due to how large it is. She starts teaching animals how to make fires and how to help make houses so that all animals can have a safe and warm place to stay for the harsh winter. Because of this small gesture she makes a huge difference amongst the animals on the island and saves several lives. This can be a good teaching moment to show your students that even thought Roz didn't think she would be able to make friends because of her willing to make the choice to better these animals lives they all had a new respect and it changed the whole atmosphere of the island.
This book offers a lot of material to teach lessons from. Like I said before you could teach a unit on ecosystems and habitats. You could also teach a lesson on the power of friendship and doing things for others. Because Roz helps the animals, even though the are mean and rude to her, she gains friendships and also help in certain situations. There is also room to teach a lesson on the power of team work when at the end they all have to band together to stop the evil robot.
I think the easiest and most material that this book has to offer is on the ecosystems and habitats.
These standards are pulled from the North Carolina State Standards for fourth grade at http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/curriculum/science/scos/support-tools/new-standards/science/3-5.pdf
4.L.1 Understand the effects of environmental changes, adaptations and behaviors that enable animals (including humans) to survive in changing habitats.
4.L.1.1 Give examples of changes in an organism’s environment that are beneficial to it and some that are harmful.
4.L.1.2 Explain how animals meet their needs by using behaviors in response to information received from the environment.
4.L1.3 Explain how humans can adapt their behavior to live in changing habitats (e.g., recycling wastes, establishing rain gardens, planting trees and shrubs to prevent flooding and erosion).
4.L.1.4 Explain how differences among animals of the same population sometimes give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing in changing habitats.
All of these objectives are talked about in the book. I would teach this lesson by introducing the book as a read aloud. I would have the students predict what they think the book will be about from the title and the cover. I would then stop at every animal and describe there characteristics and their habitats and would pull from those parts in the book to create mini lessons from.
For more information on Peter Brown and his process of writing The Wild Robot click here http://www.peterbrownstudio.com/uncategorized/the-wild-robot/
Evaluating What Makes a Monster? by Jess Keating
This book's use of pictures and cartoons and different fonts captivates the readers attention and played a role in conveying the information the author wanted the reader to know about each animal. Each page has the name of the animal, species name, size, diet, habitat, predators, and threats. Each title has a creative way of introducing the next animal. For example, Don't high-five the Aye-Aye. The reason for this title is because the Aye-Aye uses it creepy witch like fingers to capture its prey. Each page is organized the same way the left page introduces the animal with a creative title and a picture of the animal and the right page has some information about the animal and then a cartoon and an interesting fact and then separated on the far right side in a different color the name and habitat information I stated above. The separation of facts with pictures and different colors helps the reader easily navigate the page.
The last "monster" in the book is a human. The human is deemed a "monster" because of our intelligence and ways to create technology and weapons to help us escape threats and our prey. I think the whole point of the book is discuss the fact that even though some animals look scary they are harmless to the human race. In one of the animal's fact it states that due to the appearance of some of these "monsters" humans are killing them off and they are becoming endangered or because they are ugly humans don't want to raise money to prevent them from being extinct. The author is very knowledgable on each animal that she discusses in the book. It is evident that she conducted a good amount of research for this book.
This is a great book for boys to read and become interested in animals and science. I think this would be a good book to have on the shelf or out for students to read to introduce animals and their habitats. I would pare this book with The Wild Robot to introduce ecosystems and the importance of the life cycle.
The commonalities between the two books:
The Wild Robot and What Makes a Monster? are very similar in their themes. What is a theme you may ask? It is simply wha the author is trying to convey or a life lesson learned through the book. Themes can be hard for children to grasp. For example in the book The Wild Robot the theme may be civilization vs. nature but it could also be spend more time helping others, or "don't judge a book by its cover." One book can have several different themes. In The Wild Robot Roz, the robot, is deemed a monster and is outcast by the animals on the island. Only after helping others and adopting her goose son, brightbill, do the animals start to change their perspective on Roz. This short summary bolsters Peter Brown's intentions on getting to know a person before judging them. In the book What Makes a Monster? the theme is relatively the same. Jess Keating writes about animals that in human's eyes are ugly or repulsing. In most of the descriptions of why the animals are endangered the reason is simply humans. At the end of the book, SPOILERS, the last "monster" is a human. The fact that we are more evolved than other animals and have brains to help us fend when we are in danger makes us the scariest monster of all. Throughout the book Keating mentions how humans have started killing these "monsters" due to their ugly appearance or just the sheer fact of being afraid of what they are capable of, even if they are harmless. These two books are perfect to read as support texts for each other to teach theme and the standards I listed before for ecosystems. Another book I would suggest reading as a support text is The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! by Carmen Agra Deedy. It introduces a similar theme and talks about the adaptation of human beings.
In Kelly G. Short's article, Story as World Making, she quotes Charlotte Huck in saying, "Literature provides experiences that go beyond entertainment or instruction by offering the potential to transform children's lives, connecting their hearts and their minds to integrate reason and emotion. Children find themselves reflected in stories and make connections that transform their understandings of themselves and the world."
This quote connects so beautifully to The Wild Robot and What Makes a Monster? because of the importance of having a diverse library that engages students by sharing differing perspectives and giving them access to relate to a situation or character or be changed by one.
***Huck, C. (1982). "I give you the end of a golden string." Theory into Practice, 21, 315-321.
Guidelines for Evaluating Children’s Literature: Questions to Consider...
1. How did the author make the book believable? In other words, how true is the emotional reality
of the story...
2. Discuss one of the main characters. How did the author make this character unique and
believable? What issues does this character grapple with? How does the character evolve across
the book? How were you able to relate to the characters? (You may wish to discuss the main
character’s relationship to other characters)
3. Discuss the setting. Was the setting essential to the plot of the book? Explain why or why not.
Does it add depth to the book?
4. What did you learn about the time period in which the book was set? Do you think the time
period was described accurately? How do you know?
5. What elements of the author’s style and language drew you into the book? Explain and give
examples. Examine the poetic or literary devices used in the text (i.e. simile, metaphor, flashback,
onomatopoeia, imagery, alliteration, personification, symbolism). What does the author draw
upon to write this story? Are there patterns, repeated phrases, predictable structures?
6. What factual information did you learn? Did anything surprise you? How do you know if this
information is accurate?
7. What does the book remind you of from your own life?
8. What special meaning or message does the book convey to you? Do you think this is a
worthwhile theme for elementary children? Explain.
9. What values were conveyed through this book? How were these values or social views/mores
conveyed to the reader?
10. How does the point of view affect your reading? Who is the implied reader or intended audience
of the book? Whose background knowledge is privileged in reading this text?
11. How does this story relate to the world as you see it?
12. Are any characters privileged or marginalized? How are critical social issues (race, gender,
religion, class, poverty, immigration, education, homelessness, etc.) dealt with? Does the author
foster social consciousness?
13. In this book/story, who had the power to make choices for a better world?
14. Does the author present cultural details and markers authentically and multidimensionally? Are
these cultural details integrated naturally?
15. Does the author present insider perspectives?
16. Does the author use details accurately and does this work avoid stereotypes?
Does the author use language authentically?
17. What experiences did the author bring that would help him or her represent the culture or
social/environmental issue fairly?
18. How does the author build tension in the book? How does the mood of the book contribute to the
tension?
19. What classroom connections/activities naturally link to this book (EVERY POST) Discuss a
specific resource, strategy, activity you would incorporate into your classroom.
20. What reading/writing mini-lesson could be taught through this book or passages from the book?
In this blog I will discuss some of these questions but not all of them. I posted the guidelines for future reference and for readers to be able to access them at any point.
Guidelines for Evaluating Picture Books: Questions to Consider...
Artistic Technique/Media: What artistic media or combination of media was used? How do
the illustrations support the text and the meaning of the story? Does the illustrator’s artistic
medium enhance the fit between text and pictures for this book? Is the art accessible and
interesting to the intended audience? Consider the elements of design (line, color, space,
shape, texture, perspective) incorporated in the artwork. Does the book incorporate a
horizontal or vertical layout or both, and is this important? What about font choices?
Interplay of Textual and Visual Images: Analyze the relationships between the text and the
illustrations. Does the text alone hold the reader's attention? What kind of gaps does the
author/illustrator leave for the reader to fill in? Are details purposefully left out to create
tension? How does the story flow from page to page? Are there borders that separate objects,
cross over in language and image from page to page, or tell a story within the borders? Are
there any stories within the main story? Are there parallel texts or ideas being presented?
Themes: Throughout the book, the author may develop a theme. Does the author have an
issue that he or she keeps raising? A point, motif, or idea that recurs throughout the book?
These are the author’s themes – arguments or life lessons that the author particularly wants
to emphasize.
Examine the Experience of the Author and Illustrator: Does the author/illustrator have
experience with the culture or population that he/she is representing? How qualified is the
author/illustrator to write the book?
Comments