I'm Gonna Like Me

I’m Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell is another one of those “I love me, I feel good” books, but hey, we could never use enough of those. I thought the book was adorable with awesome illustrations-one of the most colorful books I have ever read. Each page has a different paragraph starting with “I’m gonna like me when….” and then the rest of the paragraph rhymes at the end of each stanza. Since each page is predictable and rhymes, I think it would be a great book to work with lower elementary students that are just learning how to read. In addition, it also sends good messages to children including: returning something when found, sharing your lunch, not getting down on yourself when you are wrong or make a mistake, and much much more.

Speak

This book is about the main character, Melinda, whom now is friendless and an outcast because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Melinda uses her art as an escape from the reality (how she was rapped from an upperclassman). Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and then achieves a measure of vindication.
I remember reading this book sometime in junior high, but I could not recall much from it. One thing I did remember was the main character was a freshman, and she got raped by a senior "hot-shot" and there was some sort of big secret at the end. This is a very powerful book because it deals with rape and emotions of the victim after. The main character's life is basically ruined after, and she feels like there is no one to turn to. Even though it may hard for many audience members reading this book to relate to her extreme, I'm sure many can relate to her in some way. The book deals with many side issues that numerous high schoolers go through, and even thought it might be a little awkward and uncomfortable to have your students read, I think it would be a great book to introduce to the classroom.

Porkenstein

I chose Porkenstein because I knew it would be a spin on some sort of fairytale (perhaps Rumplestilskin?!). From working with young students and reading, I know many just love spins on fairytales they know, I think it’s funny for them to hear different versions and think they are “silly”. Porkenstein is about a pig that is lonely on Halloween because his two brothers were eating by a wolf (which they kind of glance over do not make a big deal about, which I thought was interesting) so he decides to invent a new friend in his lab. After making many mistakes (a fish, a bat, etc), he finally makes a pig, but the pig is HUGE and wants to eat everything. The main character is very sad the pig turned out this way.
Since it is Halloween, people are obviously trick-or-treating. The big bad wolf comes to the pig’s house because he heard there was a HUGE pig at the house and thinks he would taste great. However, the surprise is that the huge pig ends up eating the big bad wolf. I thought this book was funny and most kids would love it. The illustrations are in a dark, gloomy color because the book takes place at night the whole time and during Halloween time. I definitely would incorporate this book in my future classroom around Halloween time. I think it would also be a fun activity to have my students write their own fairytale with a spin at the end.

Good-Bye Tonsils

Getting your tonsils out, especially at such a young age, is obviously no fun. However, Good-bye Tonsils by Juliana Lee Hatkoff and Craig Hatkoff shows that getting your tonsils out is not all that bad, and could actually be pretty fun! We follow this little girl as she goes to her doctor’s appointment and finds out she needs to get her tonsils out. The authors explain what tonsils are and why they need to come out in terms that young children are able to understand. We are taken through the preparation steps, the operation, and then after. She little girl tells us about her emotions through each step, and in the end we learn that the operation is not all that bad.

This book would be great to read either to your child who just found out he or she has to get his or her tonsils removed, or if a student in class was getting his or hers removed, it would be neat to read this book to the class and have the student tell the class about the experience. I think books like these are important because it jus reassures the child that the operation will go smoothly and there is nothing to be affair of. The illustrations are done in light water color and are very detailed. I definitely want to keep this book around for my future classroom.

The Color of Us

Another great book dealing with different skin colors, The Color of Us by Karen Katz has been one of my favorite books about diversity I have read thus far. The book starts off with the main character, a young black girl, telling us how her mom is a painter and told her if she mixes all different colors (dealing with skin), she will come out with the right shade of brown for herself. The main character tells her mom that "brown is brown" and her mom goes on to show her how there is all differeny shades of brown. They go for a walk and the little girl explains how all the people she sees are different colors-comparing them to colors of certain foods.

What really caught my attention first is how colorful, bright, and inviting the the cover was. I know you're not supossed to judge a book by its cover, but I couldn't help to pick up the book and sift through the pages. The illustrations are sort of in this futuristic looking. I think this is a great book to introduce to lower-elementary students when discussing race and how everyone looks different and we should celebrate that.

The Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Ten-year-old Sookan tells of her Korean family's experiences during the Japanese occupation as World War II ends. The Japanese commit cruel, fear provoking acts against this proud, hopeful family and against the young girls who worked in a sweatshop making socks for the Japanese army. Relief, hope, and anticipation of the return of male family members after the Japanese defeat is short lived as the Russians occupy the country, bringing their language, their customs, and communism to the village. Equally as insensitive to the pride and possessions of the Koreans, they are as bad as the Japanese. Plans are made for Sookan, her mother, and younger brother to escape to South Korea. However, their guide betrays them, causing the children to be separated from their mother, and the two begin a daring and frightening journey to cross the 38th parallel to safety. Through Sookan, the author shares an incredible story of the love and determination of her family, the threatening circumstances that they endured during occupations by two totalitarian governments.
These two books told from a child’s point if view from opposing sides of the war has been so interesting. I think it is a great idea to compare them because we see a story from both sides. When reading this book, I gained hatred towards the Japanese for doing that to Sookan and her family, thinking they were so terrible. But then I remembered So Far From the Bamboo Garden and how it was the Koreans that were the “bad guys”. This experience definitely opened my eyes and made me realize that a situation (the war) definitely has two sides of it and it is important to hear both sides before making assumptions. I really liked this book and felt for Sookan as she endured on her rough journey.

So Far From the Bamboo Grove

I love how this book is told from a children’s perspective during WWII. It was so neat to hear about the war through a child’s eyes because it deals with emotions and the struggles that Yoko, the main character, had to go through, which students to not learn about in textbooks. Yoko is a child growing up in Korea during the end of World War II and since she is Japanese, Yoko and her family are forced to flee Korea when the Korea Communist army comes to kill the entire family. Her family is constantly in danger because Yoko’s father works for the Japanese government. The book takes us through her struggles on the journey with her family.

The cover of this book is a colorful picture portraying Yoko, her mother and her sister huddled in a bamboo grove trying to hide from the Korean Communist Army. The writing is straightforward, and surprisingly easy to read since English is Yoko’s third language. It is safe to say that the writing in this book was vivid and riveting, I did not put this book down for more than a minute. The writing was suspenseful and flowed from one point to the next. This book delivers intelligence, adventure, sadness, love, and horrifyingly violent accounts without dwelling aimlessly on the past.