Title: Henry’s Freedom Box Author: Ellen Levine Genre: Multicultural/Historical Fiction Picture Book Copyright: 2007
This book was absolutely fascinating to read, and I am so glad we chose this as one of our books because it is a book I will use with my students every year! This is the story of Henry, who is a slave and his family is taken away from him. He comes up with a brilliant idea to mail himself to freedom, and after a long, harrowing journey he makes it to the free state of Philadelphia. I think the most important thing about this book is that it is a true story! I read this to my students and I didn’t tell them it was a true story until the end, and they couldn’t believe it. The main character, Henry, is a very believable and multidimensional character. This book makes you really care for Henry because of all the horrible things he had to go through. Instead of his master setting him free when he passed away, he made Henry leave his family and work for someone else. Then, you begin to feel happy for him because he meets a wife and has three children, and then again his family is taken away from him. This really makes the reader’s heart break just thinking about losing your family twice! The author does a good job describing his pain and one of my favorite lines in the story was, “Henry twisted tobacco leaves. His heart twisted in his chest.” The emotion pours off the page. The setting of the story is incredibly important because you have to understand when and where the story is taking place to really understand what is going on. This story portrays the horrors of slavery, and how people were treated like property. The characters fit into the setting because they were slaves. The theme of this story is definitely worthwhile. Even though Henry was faced with the most traumatic challenges in his life, he did not give up and he made it to freedom. He could have given up any time, especially when he was in the box for 27 hours, but he didn’t. This is definitely a multicultural book because the main characters are African American and they are the central part of the story. The book describes what life was like for African Americans, although it does not delve to deeply into their actual culture because they book is based on only one part of Henry’s life. Another part of this book that is truly amazing are the illustrations. The details in the pictures are so real, and the emotion drips off the pages. The expressions of all the characters really enhance the text, and make the words come alive. You can even sense the mood by the darker colors the author used, and the pictures are visually appealing because of the smooth, curved lines. There is one picture that is a huge picture of Henry’s face that really captivates the reader. Also, the pictures when Henry is in the box are amazing because you can see what he looks like and how close he is to other people. Were any of the illustrations particularly meaningful to you?
I also enjoyed reading Henry’s Freedom Box. It was an amazing story that represented a lot of courage on the part of the main character. I was hoping he would be reunited with his family. Initially, I thought that was the reason he was trying to escape. According to Ellen Levine’s research, Henry never did find his family. Now that I have read a larger selection of books about slavery: Elijah of Buxton, The Old African, and Henry’s Freedom Box, I am finding that it is a rarity for families to come back together after being separated. Although in The Old African the husband and wife are reunited in the end, it is not real, it is magically, almost as if they are reunited after death. As much as the reader might want the characters to be reunited this was not what really happened in history. I believe if the author’s writing these types of stories rejoined the characters, they would be sugarcoating history.
The main character was a very brave and determined person. He even went as far as burning his hand to ensure that he had a good reason to be out of work. So he had to inflict more pain on himself in order to gain his freedom. That shows how valuable freedom is and to what extent people would go to, to gain their freedom. I think what Henry did was worth the risk. Living alone in slavery, stripped of your family isn’t living at all. So why not take the risk of getting caught, and possibly have the opportunity to really live?
The language in the story was very basic. I felt as though it wasn’t really authentic to the setting. This could be because a narrator told the majority of the story. There were a few lines of dialogue, but the style of the language was not representative of the dialect of that time period. After reading Elijah of Buxton and comparing the language of the two books, it seems as though the language in Henry’s Freedom Box doesn’t match to the way they spoke in the late 1800s. The author did include some descriptive language though that was beautifully written. The example you gave was a good one about the tobacco leaves twisting in comparison to Henry’s heart twisting. I also like the comparison of the leaves being torn from the trees as slave children are torn from their families.
The pictures completely reinforce the text. The expressions on the characters’ faces showed the grief and sadness throughout the stories. The heads’ of the characters were very often tilted downward, especially when being spoken to by their master. The illustrator used crosshatched lines to create texture. The use of perspective was interesting, specifically the way you could see what was going on from both the inside and outside of the box. I love the last illustration of Henry popping out of the box, flooded with happiness. The gentlemen surrounding the box looked just as happy as Henry. I liked how there were both white men and black men greeting him.
I watched a short video clip on scholastic.com with the author. She mentioned that in a classroom she visited a teacher had brought in a box with the exact dimensions of the box in the story. They allowed two or three children at a time to climb into the box to get a sense of what it must have been like to be inside the box for twenty-seven hours. This might complement your lesson when you read the book aloud to your students, allowing them to put themselves in the shoes of Henry.
I looked up some reviews of this story on Amazon, and one person wrote that the best part of this book is that the author does not force an emotional response from the reader because she doesn’t have to. All of the reviews mention how appealing this book is because it is based on a true story, and it is such an emotional story. They also talk about how apparent the grief and anger of Henry is which is conveyed through the pictures and the dialogue between the characters. I also looked up information on Ellen Levine. I realized that this name sounded familiar and my students have already read a book by her called, If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon, which was an informational text. According to Scholastic, she has won many awards, and her inspiration for writing this book was when she read an 800-page book about slavery. She definitely does her research before she writes a story. It mentions how she has worked with immigrant teenagers in special education programs. I feel she is truly a credible author because she researches her facts before she begins her books. I read this book to my students, and I had them come up with the theme of the story, and then they drew a picture of their favorite part. There are so many different ways to use this book. Next year, I will use this book when we do our historical fiction unit about slavery. I think it is very important to give students enough background about slavery so they will have a deeper appreciation for this story.
Another way I might use this book in the classroom is to teach about similes and metaphors. The language that I mentioned previously would be useful examples of this. Although there are not a large number of them throughout the book, it would still be useful to point them out. Also, I might have students write a journal entry from the different characters points of view.
The book is an example of a specific multicultural book because shows what it is like to grow up during the times of slavery. The book definitely represents different cultural groups, but it doesn’t delve into the cultures of each. The fact that Henry is freed in the end and is greeted by black and white men show that diversity is being celebrated. It also shows that both blacks and whites were responsible for bringing slavery to an end. I think this helps children to see that although the white people were in the wrong, not all white people agreed with what was happening. Some children of color still feel that they are treated differently because of their skin color. It is difficult when staff members at schools are not racially balanced. Most of the children at the school I teach at are not white, but the entire staff with the exception of one staff member is white. It might be enlightening for them to see that white people and black people worked together to end slavery.
One last thing that especially surprised me as I read the book was that the slaves were allowed to get married and have children. As the book progressed I realized the children would benefit the slave owner because they would later be sold creating a profit for the master.
This book was a really interesting book to read, and I really enjoyed how the author intertwined so many different fairy tale stories! I think this would be a great book to use to read to my students when we learn about fairy tales because it mentions so many of them. It was a very interesting story, and the plot seemed to flow very naturally. I also liked that it was so easy to read because the text was pretty large, and I felt like I just flew right through the story. I would not consider this a multicultural book because it did not mention any specific cultures, and a lot of the characters were make-believe. One of the things I thought was very interesting in this story was the fact that the author never says the boy's name. He is always referred to as "the boy". I thought this was unusual because it seems so impersonal, and I think it's important for the main character to have a name because he becomes even more real. Even though he was nameless, he was a very likable character. You can tell he cares about others because he helped out so many characters in the story such as Little Red Riding Hood, and the woman who lived in a shoe. I wanted him to succeed in his quest to find Saint George, and I was so happy when everything worked out for him. I really liked the setting of the story because it was a fairy tale land, which was a very creative idea. Also, the setting was in a book, which was different from anything I have ever read. The fantasy aspect of the book was based on the fact that the boy went into a book and entered a fairy tale land with giants, talking wolves and Pinocchio. I do believe the theme of the story is valuable for children because in the story the boy helped other characters, and still accomplished his goal. The illustrations, though there were only a few of them, definitely helped enhance the text because they were so detailed and they really helped to paint a picture in my mind. I love the picture where al of the books are open in the forest and characters are walking in and out of them. They are also all black and white with lines in them to guide the reader's eyes to specific things.
The Magician’s Boy was a great book. It brought back a lot of memories of fairy tales I used to read as a child. It made for a very interesting story with the characters from different fairy tales crossing paths. Parts of this story made me think of the Wizard of Oz. The boy was following a path, but didn’t know where he was going. The signpost and other characters helped him to find his way to Saint George. Whereas in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy didn’t know her way either, but the Tin Man, the Lion, and the Scarecrow helped her to find her way back home. There was one main problem throughout the entire story, which was the boy trying to find Saint George. Of course, in the end everything worked out and the boy actually became Saint George.
I agree with you that it was interesting that the boy never had a name until the end. The magician ended up calling him George. It sounds as if he is not the magician’s son, so maybe the magician called him boy because he started off as a neighborhood boy who stopped by to help him. The magician giving the boy a name is a sign of maturity and now that he is capable of performing magic the magician feels that he deserves a formal name. The Magician didn’t have a name either, so the author obviously did this intentionally.
This book is an excellent example of modern fantasy. It contains the basic element of magic and it takes place in a secondary world. The story portrays good and evil characters. The wolf is an example of evil and Jack is an example of good. The boy encounters a mixture of these characters and the Boy tries to help the good characters escape from their evil counterpart. This makes the boy a hero on many occasions, saving little red riding hood from the wolf and helping the children back to the old lady that lives in a shoe. He survives all of these trials in this new environment. You also know it is fantasy because of the talking signpost. The signpost was like his guardian angel guiding him through his travels.
I have found this to be one of my favorite books that we have read so far. It was very clever the way the author incorporated the tales and how they interacted with one another.
This would definitely be a fun book to use in the classroom when we are doing our fantasy unit. There are a lot of fun activities that go along with this as well. I think it would be fun to have the students make puppets like the ones in the story and put on a puppet show. Also, I think it might be fun for them to add another part to the story and try to integrate another fairy tale that was not mentioned in the book. The reviews on Amazon were definitely very positive, and most people mentioned that they loved how imaginative the story was, and how suspenseful the book was. One person said that her sons begged her to continue reading because he wanted to know what happened next, and then he was disappointed when the book was over because he was looking forward to continue reading it. I think Susan Cooper really knows how to appeal to her audience, especially those readers with good imaginations! One of her books was even a Newberry Honor book. All of her books seem to revolve around the theme of fantasy, and they appear to be enjoyed by people of all ages.
The Magician’s Boy shows an element from traditional fantasy in the way it repeats, “Only a child can find the way to bring Saint George back to the play” throughout the story. Including the characters of Jack and the Giant and Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf into this story brought out the traditional aspects of this fantasy.
I liked that there was not any color used in the illustrations. I’m surprised the author and illustrator didn’t choose to make the cover black and white as well. I wonder why this is so. The black and white illustrations helped to emphasis that the setting was happening in a far away imaginary land. There were definitely a lot of lines. For example, the lines on the puppets often led your eyes to the Boy. The lines of the shoe were pulled straight to form a clothesline. What was the significance of the mouse at the beginning of each chapter? There wasn’t any reference to a mouse throughout the text.
This book would definitely complement a unit on fairy tales, as students will be able to pick out each one within the book. The Magician’s Boy could be read for entertainment, but it also conveys a message. It teaches the importance of helping others and shows that if you do kind things for others, they will do nice things in return.
As I scanned the reviews at amazon.com one reviewer commented, “It would have been helpful if she had given an explanation to the many American children who have never heard of St. George or the mummer's play referred to in the book.” Although I didn’t know that particular play, it didn’t affect my understanding or liking of the book. The many common characters from other fairy tales and nursery rhymes I had previously read made the story very familiar. I don’t thing that it is necessary that the author give an explanation of this play. I didn’t know of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, but I didn’t need to know who he was to understand the story. If you are a child who doesn’t have the background knowledge of the many tales and nursery rhymes, this book might not be as entertaining for you. In that case you might read some of the more common fairy tales before reading this book to students.
This was a very light-hearted book that was a collection of poems about books. Each poem was unique and different, and they all had a different purpose. For example, one poem was about Classic books that anyone at any age can enjoy, and another poem was about books with different names which was geared to entertain. The characters were different for each poem, and they were either animals or humans. Most of the poems had an interesting rhythm, and some of them rhymed while other didn’t. There was even an acrostic poem, and a haiku poem. I feel that they definitely encouraged the reader to enjoy the sounds of language. There was an interesting poem about a girl who loved big words, and I like how the author used interesting words in that poem. The subject matter was definitely geared towards a young audience, but as an adult I really enjoyed reading these poems. I didn’t really have an emotional response to these poems except for just enjoying them. I think anyone who really loves to read would be able to connect to this book. I would not consider this a multicultural book because it doesn’t describe any specific culture, and the poems are all based on books and not really individual people. I would use this book in my classroom when we study poetry because there is a nice variety of different poems that would be good examples to share with my students. Also, I think they would enjoy listening to the poems, and they would have a good time creating their own poems. I also really liked the illustrations in this book because they are very detailed with a mix of vibrant colors, and darker colors for more mysterious poems. Some of the poems reminded me of poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic because they are usually light-hearted and fun to read. Shel Silverstein was my favorite poet growing up, and this book really reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading poetry. I guess I can connect especially with the poem Bury Me in the Library because I consider myself a book worm, and I love getting lost in a really good book.
For me, Please Bury Me in the Library wasn’t that great. The cover looks very inviting, between the title and cover illustration, so I thought that it might be a really interesting book. The poem I liked the best was “What If Books Had Different Names?” It took the names of various books and modified the titles. I thought this was humorous. One of the modified titles was “Mary Had a Little Clam.” This would be a fun writing activity for student to select books from the library and try to recreate their own new titles. The collection of poems didn’t really capture my attention, but the wonderful illustrations did. They are filled with lively colors and have a combination of human and animal characters. I especially liked the picture with the paper airplane made out of white lined paper and the one with Frankenstein’s shadow in the background. Even though I didn’t particularly like this book, I do feel that it would be appealing to children. The poems are silly and students love anything that will make them laugh. The topics of the poems were all about the process of reading. It gives children great ideas about where they can read, like in bed, at the beach, or in the dark. This book of poems might generate excitement for a reader who doesn’t like to read. It is also a great model for the various different styles of poems as you mentioned already. After checking out the reviews at amazon.com they were mostly positive. Many thought this book should be in every classroom library. Again the illustrations came up often in the reviews. One person commented that the illustrations were similar to those of Tim Burton’s and that their students found them to be extremely appealing. Despite the fact that I am not crazy about this book, I will most likely add it to my classroom poetry collection because my student will likely fall in love with it.
Sarah, I do agree with you that this book was not exactly what I thought it would be, and the cover makes the book seem more exciting than it is, but I am adding it to my classroom library also because my students will like reading the poems. I did a little bit of research on the author and in his biography it says that he has written over 60 children's books, and he has won a variety of awards for his books. He has a lot of pictures of his family on his website which I thought was really neat. He also has many other books that are collections of light-hearted poems which seems to be what he prefers to write about. It might be a good idea to get other books that he has written, and have students to an author study. They could also compare his books and describe how they are similar or different. I really found this book more difficult to write about because there was not a lot of depth and it was hard coming up with things to discuss when each poem was really short. At least it will be good for modeling different types of poetry!
After reading the chapter on Poetry in Children’s Literature Briefly I found that many teachers do not teach poetry because they dislike it. In result, students dislike poetry as well. Many children dislike poetry because they are required to memorize poems or analyze the meaning of a poem. Why not just read poetry for enjoyment? In the chapter there are some great ideas of how to share poetry with students in an entertaining way. One suggestion was to simply post a different poem in the classroom each day. Another idea was to read a short poem to students daily. Having read this book, it has brought to my attention that I do not spend enough time reading poetry in my classroom. I plan on reading Please Bury Me in the Library to my student in the final days of school. I look forward to seeing their reactions and how they compare to mine. I think the poem titled Summer Reading at the Beach will be fitting as we approach the last days of the school year. As I have reread some of the poems in this book, they I have begun to take more of a liking to them. I agree with you that they are not very deep, but are entertaining.
Title: The Hello, Goodbye Window Author: Norton Juster Genre: Realistic Fiction Picture Book Publication:2005
I really enjoyed reading this book because it brought back so many memories from when I was a child and I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparent’s house. This story is about a little girl who spends every day at her grandparent’s house while her parents are at work. There is a special window in the kitchen, which they refer to as the “hello, goodbye window” and a lot of magical things happen with this window. The little girl and the grandparents make faces at each other, look at their reflections, and even see pretend dinosaurs. I think this story is very appealing to children because many children have grandparents that play a significant role in their lives, and I think they would be able to make a lot of connections to this story. I loved when she said that her grandfather played “Oh, Susannah” on his harmonica because my grandfather used to play that exact song to all three of my sisters and I every night during the summer at his beach house. I didn’t think a picture book would be able to make me cry, but this one definitely did! This is another story where the character’s name is never mentioned, but you still become attached to her because she is such a likable character. She reminds me of my niece and nephew who are very similar to her personality. There is not a lot of depth to the characters, but you can tell how loving this family is, and how close they are to each other. I loved the illustrations in this book because they were all so colorful, and I liked how the illustrator painted without using perfect lines. It really looked like a child painted it, which I think was the illustrator’s objective. A lot of the colors blended together, but I was still able to see everything clearly. It looked like the grandfather was Caucasian and the grandmother was African American, but it was hard to tell. I would not consider this multicultural because it wasn’t based on a specific culture, just families in general. I would definitely use this book in my own classroom because I think it is a great read aloud to teach about connections, and the theme of family. One of our school goals every year is to teach children how to make good connections to the texts they are reading based on their feelings. This book really lends itself nicely to making good connections because of how it relates to childrens’ lives. I could model how I connect to the story, and then have my students create their own connections. Even if they do not have grandparents in their lives, they can connect to other people that they care about. I will definitely use this book in my classroom!
I adore this book so much. It also brings back so many memories for me. As a child I spent a lot of time at my grandparent’s house for the same reason as the main character in the story, to be cared for while my parents were at work. It was a safe and happy place where some of the best memories of my life were made. I was immediately able to connect to the story because the little girl called her grandfather “Poppy” and I called my grandfather that as well. Like the family in the story my grandparent’s house had a huge picture window off the kitchen, where you could watch all of the happenings. Still to this day we watch through the window. We might see the rabbit scurrying about or my grandma’s cousin tending her garden. It is also a good lookout to see who is arriving for a visit. At my grandparents, the goodbyes were always done from the front door though. As I read this story I could remember the delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs that my grandmother used to make for us, or the accordion we used to beg my Poppy to play. In a sense going to my grandparents was a paradise where you could do or have whatever you wanted. I think this is how the little girl in the story felt as she peered through the window and saw so many things with her imagination.
One of my favorite lines from the story was, “When I get tired I come in and take my nap and nothing happens until I get up.” I love this line because the little girl implies that the world stops while she is asleep. She does not want to miss anything that is happening while her eyes are shut, so she assumes everything is temporarily on hold.
I agree with you Allison that this book is not multicultural. I think the grandmother appears to be African American, but I think that is to just fill a quota. Therefore, I would definitely not consider this book to be multicultural. With respect to culture, it mentions that Nanna is English and that the Queen of England likes to come for tea. I know the Queen of England doesn’t really come for tea because she is talking about how the window is magic, but it sounds as if her Nanna really might be English. What do you think about this?
The illustrations are so beautiful. The colors are very warm and bright. They jump right out at you and grab your attention. The book was lying on a table in my classroom and several students throughout the day picked the book up, read the title, and asked, “What is this?” They seemed very interested in this book. The pictures definitely reinforce the text with Poppy playing the harmonica, cooking breakfast, and spraying the little girl with the hose. The illustrations demonstrate the togetherness and happiness of the family.
The reviews of this book on Amazon are all positive and the readers really enjoyed the relationship between the child and her grandfather, and they liked the child-like illustrations. Parents really enjoyed reading this book to their children because of all the connections they were able to make. Another person wrote how they really liked that the family was interracial because a lot of books aren’t, and it’s hard to find children’s literature with blended families. I agree with this person because I think we need more books where the families are interracial and more representative of today’s society. The author never mentions the race of the family members, and it is only conveyed through the illustrations.
I did look up some information about the author and I didn’t realize that he wrote the book The Phantom Tollbooth which is a book I used to love! He is an older gentleman who used to be an architect and a teacher, and he writes book based on his life experiences. He has a daughter and a granddaughter whom I think were the inspiration for this book.
The Hello, Goodbye Window is realistic fiction in that it tells a story that could really happen. It is easy for people to relate to the characters in the story, which is why this would be a great book to use with making connections. There is not a problem in this story so it might not be as useful in teaching the framework of a story. It would be a good example of a personal narrative that tells about a specific event or experience. I think the book also has a magical element because of the window. When the child looks through the window she sees things that no longer exist such as dinosaurs, but I think this is teaching the reader to use their imagination. The book shows the importance of family and the role grandparents play in our lives. It is more and more common for children to be raised by their grandparents nowadays, so it will most likely be a book many children can relate to.
The author’s name sounded very familiar to me as well. I looked up some other titles by this author and I realized I have read the following two books by this author in the past: As Silly As Knees, As Busy As Bees: An Astounding Assortment of Similes and As: A Surfeit of Similes. I used these books when teaching about similes. As I was searching for other books by this author I found that there is a sequel to this book called Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie. It confirms that the little girl is definitely biracial. This book has the same characters as The Hello, Goodbye Window, but there is now a bit of a problem. The little girls changing personality is expressed in the book, sometimes nice and sometimes naughty. I am interested in reading this sequel, as it might be interesting to get to know the character more in depth. The illustrator is the same, which I knew as soon as I saw the cover. There is only one review on the sequel since it was published in 2008. It might be fun for students to read the two books and do a character study to see how the little girl changes.
Title: Henry’s Freedom Box
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Ellen Levine
Genre: Multicultural/Historical Fiction Picture Book
Copyright: 2007
This book was absolutely fascinating to read, and I am so glad we chose this as one of our books because it is a book I will use with my students every year! This is the story of Henry, who is a slave and his family is taken away from him. He comes up with a brilliant idea to mail himself to freedom, and after a long, harrowing journey he makes it to the free state of Philadelphia. I think the most important thing about this book is that it is a true story! I read this to my students and I didn’t tell them it was a true story until the end, and they couldn’t believe it.
The main character, Henry, is a very believable and multidimensional character. This book makes you really care for Henry because of all the horrible things he had to go through. Instead of his master setting him free when he passed away, he made Henry leave his family and work for someone else. Then, you begin to feel happy for him because he meets a wife and has three children, and then again his family is taken away from him. This really makes the reader’s heart break just thinking about losing your family twice! The author does a good job describing his pain and one of my favorite lines in the story was, “Henry twisted tobacco leaves. His heart twisted in his chest.” The emotion pours off the page.
The setting of the story is incredibly important because you have to understand when and where the story is taking place to really understand what is going on. This story portrays the horrors of slavery, and how people were treated like property. The characters fit into the setting because they were slaves. The theme of this story is definitely worthwhile. Even though Henry was faced with the most traumatic challenges in his life, he did not give up and he made it to freedom. He could have given up any time, especially when he was in the box for 27 hours, but he didn’t.
This is definitely a multicultural book because the main characters are African American and they are the central part of the story. The book describes what life was like for African Americans, although it does not delve to deeply into their actual culture because they book is based on only one part of Henry’s life. Another part of this book that is truly amazing are the illustrations. The details in the pictures are so real, and the emotion drips off the pages. The expressions of all the characters really enhance the text, and make the words come alive. You can even sense the mood by the darker colors the author used, and the pictures are visually appealing because of the smooth, curved lines. There is one picture that is a huge picture of Henry’s face that really captivates the reader. Also, the pictures when Henry is in the box are amazing because you can see what he looks like and how close he is to other people. Were any of the illustrations particularly meaningful to you?
I also enjoyed reading Henry’s Freedom Box. It was an amazing story that represented a lot of courage on the part of the main character. I was hoping he would be reunited with his family. Initially, I thought that was the reason he was trying to escape. According to Ellen Levine’s research, Henry never did find his family. Now that I have read a larger selection of books about slavery: Elijah of Buxton, The Old African, and Henry’s Freedom Box, I am finding that it is a rarity for families to come back together after being separated. Although in The Old African the husband and wife are reunited in the end, it is not real, it is magically, almost as if they are reunited after death. As much as the reader might want the characters to be reunited this was not what really happened in history. I believe if the author’s writing these types of stories rejoined the characters, they would be sugarcoating history.
ReplyDeleteThe main character was a very brave and determined person. He even went as far as burning his hand to ensure that he had a good reason to be out of work. So he had to inflict more pain on himself in order to gain his freedom. That shows how valuable freedom is and to what extent people would go to, to gain their freedom. I think what Henry did was worth the risk. Living alone in slavery, stripped of your family isn’t living at all. So why not take the risk of getting caught, and possibly have the opportunity to really live?
The language in the story was very basic. I felt as though it wasn’t really authentic to the setting. This could be because a narrator told the majority of the story. There were a few lines of dialogue, but the style of the language was not representative of the dialect of that time period. After reading Elijah of Buxton and comparing the language of the two books, it seems as though the language in Henry’s Freedom Box doesn’t match to the way they spoke in the late 1800s. The author did include some descriptive language though that was beautifully written. The example you gave was a good one about the tobacco leaves twisting in comparison to Henry’s heart twisting. I also like the comparison of the leaves being torn from the trees as slave children are torn from their families.
The pictures completely reinforce the text. The expressions on the characters’ faces showed the grief and sadness throughout the stories. The heads’ of the characters were very often tilted downward, especially when being spoken to by their master. The illustrator used crosshatched lines to create texture. The use of perspective was interesting, specifically the way you could see what was going on from both the inside and outside of the box. I love the last illustration of Henry popping out of the box, flooded with happiness. The gentlemen surrounding the box looked just as happy as Henry. I liked how there were both white men and black men greeting him.
I watched a short video clip on scholastic.com with the author. She mentioned that in a classroom she visited a teacher had brought in a box with the exact dimensions of the box in the story. They allowed two or three children at a time to climb into the box to get a sense of what it must have been like to be inside the box for twenty-seven hours. This might complement your lesson when you read the book aloud to your students, allowing them to put themselves in the shoes of Henry.
I looked up some reviews of this story on Amazon, and one person wrote that the best part of this book is that the author does not force an emotional response from the reader because she doesn’t have to. All of the reviews mention how appealing this book is because it is based on a true story, and it is such an emotional story. They also talk about how apparent the grief and anger of Henry is which is conveyed through the pictures and the dialogue between the characters.
ReplyDeleteI also looked up information on Ellen Levine. I realized that this name sounded familiar and my students have already read a book by her called, If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon, which was an informational text. According to Scholastic, she has won many awards, and her inspiration for writing this book was when she read an 800-page book about slavery. She definitely does her research before she writes a story. It mentions how she has worked with immigrant teenagers in special education programs. I feel she is truly a credible author because she researches her facts before she begins her books.
I read this book to my students, and I had them come up with the theme of the story, and then they drew a picture of their favorite part. There are so many different ways to use this book. Next year, I will use this book when we do our historical fiction unit about slavery. I think it is very important to give students enough background about slavery so they will have a deeper appreciation for this story.
Another way I might use this book in the classroom is to teach about similes and metaphors. The language that I mentioned previously would be useful examples of this. Although there are not a large number of them throughout the book, it would still be useful to point them out. Also, I might have students write a journal entry from the different characters points of view.
ReplyDeleteThe book is an example of a specific multicultural book because shows what it is like to grow up during the times of slavery. The book definitely represents different cultural groups, but it doesn’t delve into the cultures of each. The fact that Henry is freed in the end and is greeted by black and white men show that diversity is being celebrated. It also shows that both blacks and whites were responsible for bringing slavery to an end. I think this helps children to see that although the white people were in the wrong, not all white people agreed with what was happening. Some children of color still feel that they are treated differently because of their skin color. It is difficult when staff members at schools are not racially balanced. Most of the children at the school I teach at are not white, but the entire staff with the exception of one staff member is white. It might be enlightening for them to see that white people and black people worked together to end slavery.
One last thing that especially surprised me as I read the book was that the slaves were allowed to get married and have children. As the book progressed I realized the children would benefit the slave owner because they would later be sold creating a profit for the master.
Title: The Magician's Boy
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Susan Cooper
Illustrator: Serena Riglietti
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Copyright: 2005
This book was a really interesting book to read, and I really enjoyed how the author intertwined so many different fairy tale stories! I think this would be a great book to use to read to my students when we learn about fairy tales because it mentions so many of them. It was a very interesting story, and the plot seemed to flow very naturally. I also liked that it was so easy to read because the text was pretty large, and I felt like I just flew right through the story. I would not consider this a multicultural book because it did not mention any specific cultures, and a lot of the characters were make-believe.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I thought was very interesting in this story was the fact that the author never says the boy's name. He is always referred to as "the boy". I thought this was unusual because it seems so impersonal, and I think it's important for the main character to have a name because he becomes even more real. Even though he was nameless, he was a very likable character. You can tell he cares about others because he helped out so many characters in the story such as Little Red Riding Hood, and the woman who lived in a shoe. I wanted him to succeed in his quest to find Saint George, and I was so happy when everything worked out for him.
I really liked the setting of the story because it was a fairy tale land, which was a very creative idea. Also, the setting was in a book, which was different from anything I have ever read. The fantasy aspect of the book was based on the fact that the boy went into a book and entered a fairy tale land with giants, talking wolves and Pinocchio. I do believe the theme of the story is valuable for children because in the story the boy helped other characters, and still accomplished his goal.
The illustrations, though there were only a few of them, definitely helped enhance the text because they were so detailed and they really helped to paint a picture in my mind. I love the picture where al of the books are open in the forest and characters are walking in and out of them. They are also all black and white with lines in them to guide the reader's eyes to specific things.
The Magician’s Boy was a great book. It brought back a lot of memories of fairy tales I used to read as a child. It made for a very interesting story with the characters from different fairy tales crossing paths. Parts of this story made me think of the Wizard of Oz. The boy was following a path, but didn’t know where he was going. The signpost and other characters helped him to find his way to Saint George. Whereas in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy didn’t know her way either, but the Tin Man, the Lion, and the Scarecrow helped her to find her way back home. There was one main problem throughout the entire story, which was the boy trying to find Saint George. Of course, in the end everything worked out and the boy actually became Saint George.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it was interesting that the boy never had a name until the end. The magician ended up calling him George. It sounds as if he is not the magician’s son, so maybe the magician called him boy because he started off as a neighborhood boy who stopped by to help him. The magician giving the boy a name is a sign of maturity and now that he is capable of performing magic the magician feels that he deserves a formal name. The Magician didn’t have a name either, so the author obviously did this intentionally.
This book is an excellent example of modern fantasy. It contains the basic element of magic and it takes place in a secondary world. The story portrays good and evil characters. The wolf is an example of evil and Jack is an example of good. The boy encounters a mixture of these characters and the Boy tries to help the good characters escape from their evil counterpart. This makes the boy a hero on many occasions, saving little red riding hood from the wolf and helping the children back to the old lady that lives in a shoe. He survives all of these trials in this new environment. You also know it is fantasy because of the talking signpost. The signpost was like his guardian angel guiding him through his travels.
I have found this to be one of my favorite books that we have read so far. It was very clever the way the author incorporated the tales and how they interacted with one another.
This would definitely be a fun book to use in the classroom when we are doing our fantasy unit. There are a lot of fun activities that go along with this as well. I think it would be fun to have the students make puppets like the ones in the story and put on a puppet show. Also, I think it might be fun for them to add another part to the story and try to integrate another fairy tale that was not mentioned in the book.
ReplyDeleteThe reviews on Amazon were definitely very positive, and most people mentioned that they loved how imaginative the story was, and how suspenseful the book was. One person said that her sons begged her to continue reading because he wanted to know what happened next, and then he was disappointed when the book was over because he was looking forward to continue reading it.
I think Susan Cooper really knows how to appeal to her audience, especially those readers with good imaginations! One of her books was even a Newberry Honor book. All of her books seem to revolve around the theme of fantasy, and they appear to be enjoyed by people of all ages.
The Magician’s Boy shows an element from traditional fantasy in the way it repeats, “Only a child can find the way to bring Saint George back to the play” throughout the story. Including the characters of Jack and the Giant and Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf into this story brought out the traditional aspects of this fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI liked that there was not any color used in the illustrations. I’m surprised the author and illustrator didn’t choose to make the cover black and white as well. I wonder why this is so. The black and white illustrations helped to emphasis that the setting was happening in a far away imaginary land. There were definitely a lot of lines. For example, the lines on the puppets often led your eyes to the Boy. The lines of the shoe were pulled straight to form a clothesline. What was the significance of the mouse at the beginning of each chapter? There wasn’t any reference to a mouse throughout the text.
This book would definitely complement a unit on fairy tales, as students will be able to pick out each one within the book. The Magician’s Boy could be read for entertainment, but it also conveys a message. It teaches the importance of helping others and shows that if you do kind things for others, they will do nice things in return.
As I scanned the reviews at amazon.com one reviewer commented, “It would have been helpful if she had given an explanation to the many American children who have never heard of St. George or the mummer's play referred to in the book.” Although I didn’t know that particular play, it didn’t affect my understanding or liking of the book. The many common characters from other fairy tales and nursery rhymes I had previously read made the story very familiar. I don’t thing that it is necessary that the author give an explanation of this play. I didn’t know of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, but I didn’t need to know who he was to understand the story. If you are a child who doesn’t have the background knowledge of the many tales and nursery rhymes, this book might not be as entertaining for you. In that case you might read some of the more common fairy tales before reading this book to students.
Title: Please Bury Me in the Library
ReplyDeleteAuthor: J. Patrick Lewis
Illustrator: Kyle M. Stone
Genre: Poetry
Copyright: 2005
This was a very light-hearted book that was a collection of poems about books. Each poem was unique and different, and they all had a different purpose. For example, one poem was about Classic books that anyone at any age can enjoy, and another poem was about books with different names which was geared to entertain. The characters were different for each poem, and they were either animals or humans. Most of the poems had an interesting rhythm, and some of them rhymed while other didn’t. There was even an acrostic poem, and a haiku poem. I feel that they definitely encouraged the reader to enjoy the sounds of language. There was an interesting poem about a girl who loved big words, and I like how the author used interesting words in that poem. The subject matter was definitely geared towards a young audience, but as an adult I really enjoyed reading these poems. I didn’t really have an emotional response to these poems except for just enjoying them. I think anyone who really loves to read would be able to connect to this book. I would not consider this a multicultural book because it doesn’t describe any specific culture, and the poems are all based on books and not really individual people.
ReplyDeleteI would use this book in my classroom when we study poetry because there is a nice variety of different poems that would be good examples to share with my students. Also, I think they would enjoy listening to the poems, and they would have a good time creating their own poems. I also really liked the illustrations in this book because they are very detailed with a mix of vibrant colors, and darker colors for more mysterious poems. Some of the poems reminded me of poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic because they are usually light-hearted and fun to read. Shel Silverstein was my favorite poet growing up, and this book really reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading poetry. I guess I can connect especially with the poem Bury Me in the Library because I consider myself a book worm, and I love getting lost in a really good book.
For me, Please Bury Me in the Library wasn’t that great. The cover looks very inviting, between the title and cover illustration, so I thought that it might be a really interesting book. The poem I liked the best was “What If Books Had Different Names?” It took the names of various books and modified the titles. I thought this was humorous. One of the modified titles was “Mary Had a Little Clam.” This would be a fun writing activity for student to select books from the library and try to recreate their own new titles.
ReplyDeleteThe collection of poems didn’t really capture my attention, but the wonderful illustrations did. They are filled with lively colors and have a combination of human and animal characters. I especially liked the picture with the paper airplane made out of white lined paper and the one with Frankenstein’s shadow in the background.
Even though I didn’t particularly like this book, I do feel that it would be appealing to children. The poems are silly and students love anything that will make them laugh. The topics of the poems were all about the process of reading. It gives children great ideas about where they can read, like in bed, at the beach, or in the dark. This book of poems might generate excitement for a reader who doesn’t like to read. It is also a great model for the various different styles of poems as you mentioned already.
After checking out the reviews at amazon.com they were mostly positive. Many thought this book should be in every classroom library. Again the illustrations came up often in the reviews. One person commented that the illustrations were similar to those of Tim Burton’s and that their students found them to be extremely appealing. Despite the fact that I am not crazy about this book, I will most likely add it to my classroom poetry collection because my student will likely fall in love with it.
Sarah, I do agree with you that this book was not exactly what I thought it would be, and the cover makes the book seem more exciting than it is, but I am adding it to my classroom library also because my students will like reading the poems. I did a little bit of research on the author and in his biography it says that he has written over 60 children's books, and he has won a variety of awards for his books. He has a lot of pictures of his family on his website which I thought was really neat. He also has many other books that are collections of light-hearted poems which seems to be what he prefers to write about. It might be a good idea to get other books that he has written, and have students to an author study. They could also compare his books and describe how they are similar or different. I really found this book more difficult to write about because there was not a lot of depth and it was hard coming up with things to discuss when each poem was really short. At least it will be good for modeling different types of poetry!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the chapter on Poetry in Children’s Literature Briefly I found that many teachers do not teach poetry because they dislike it. In result, students dislike poetry as well. Many children dislike poetry because they are required to memorize poems or analyze the meaning of a poem. Why not just read poetry for enjoyment? In the chapter there are some great ideas of how to share poetry with students in an entertaining way. One suggestion was to simply post a different poem in the classroom each day. Another idea was to read a short poem to students daily.
ReplyDeleteHaving read this book, it has brought to my attention that I do not spend enough time reading poetry in my classroom. I plan on reading Please Bury Me in the Library to my student in the final days of school. I look forward to seeing their reactions and how they compare to mine. I think the poem titled Summer Reading at the Beach will be fitting as we approach the last days of the school year. As I have reread some of the poems in this book, they I have begun to take more of a liking to them. I agree with you that they are not very deep, but are entertaining.
Title: The Hello, Goodbye Window
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Norton Juster
Genre: Realistic Fiction Picture Book
Publication:2005
I really enjoyed reading this book because it brought back so many memories from when I was a child and I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparent’s house. This story is about a little girl who spends every day at her grandparent’s house while her parents are at work. There is a special window in the kitchen, which they refer to as the “hello, goodbye window” and a lot of magical things happen with this window. The little girl and the grandparents make faces at each other, look at their reflections, and even see pretend dinosaurs. I think this story is very appealing to children because many children have grandparents that play a significant role in their lives, and I think they would be able to make a lot of connections to this story. I loved when she said that her grandfather played “Oh, Susannah” on his harmonica because my grandfather used to play that exact song to all three of my sisters and I every night during the summer at his beach house. I didn’t think a picture book would be able to make me cry, but this one definitely did!
This is another story where the character’s name is never mentioned, but you still become attached to her because she is such a likable character. She reminds me of my niece and nephew who are very similar to her personality. There is not a lot of depth to the characters, but you can tell how loving this family is, and how close they are to each other. I loved the illustrations in this book because they were all so colorful, and I liked how the illustrator painted without using perfect lines. It really looked like a child painted it, which I think was the illustrator’s objective. A lot of the colors blended together, but I was still able to see everything clearly. It looked like the grandfather was Caucasian and the grandmother was African American, but it was hard to tell. I would not consider this multicultural because it wasn’t based on a specific culture, just families in general.
I would definitely use this book in my own classroom because I think it is a great read aloud to teach about connections, and the theme of family. One of our school goals every year is to teach children how to make good connections to the texts they are reading based on their feelings. This book really lends itself nicely to making good connections because of how it relates to childrens’ lives. I could model how I connect to the story, and then have my students create their own connections. Even if they do not have grandparents in their lives, they can connect to other people that they care about. I will definitely use this book in my classroom!
I adore this book so much. It also brings back so many memories for me. As a child I spent a lot of time at my grandparent’s house for the same reason as the main character in the story, to be cared for while my parents were at work. It was a safe and happy place where some of the best memories of my life were made. I was immediately able to connect to the story because the little girl called her grandfather “Poppy” and I called my grandfather that as well. Like the family in the story my grandparent’s house had a huge picture window off the kitchen, where you could watch all of the happenings. Still to this day we watch through the window. We might see the rabbit scurrying about or my grandma’s cousin tending her garden. It is also a good lookout to see who is arriving for a visit. At my grandparents, the goodbyes were always done from the front door though. As I read this story I could remember the delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs that my grandmother used to make for us, or the accordion we used to beg my Poppy to play. In a sense going to my grandparents was a paradise where you could do or have whatever you wanted. I think this is how the little girl in the story felt as she peered through the window and saw so many things with her imagination.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite lines from the story was, “When I get tired I come in and take my nap and nothing happens until I get up.” I love this line because the little girl implies that the world stops while she is asleep. She does not want to miss anything that is happening while her eyes are shut, so she assumes everything is temporarily on hold.
I agree with you Allison that this book is not multicultural. I think the grandmother appears to be African American, but I think that is to just fill a quota. Therefore, I would definitely not consider this book to be multicultural. With respect to culture, it mentions that Nanna is English and that the Queen of England likes to come for tea. I know the Queen of England doesn’t really come for tea because she is talking about how the window is magic, but it sounds as if her Nanna really might be English. What do you think about this?
The illustrations are so beautiful. The colors are very warm and bright. They jump right out at you and grab your attention. The book was lying on a table in my classroom and several students throughout the day picked the book up, read the title, and asked, “What is this?” They seemed very interested in this book. The pictures definitely reinforce the text with Poppy playing the harmonica, cooking breakfast, and spraying the little girl with the hose. The illustrations demonstrate the togetherness and happiness of the family.
The reviews of this book on Amazon are all positive and the readers really enjoyed the relationship between the child and her grandfather, and they liked the child-like illustrations. Parents really enjoyed reading this book to their children because of all the connections they were able to make. Another person wrote how they really liked that the family was interracial because a lot of books aren’t, and it’s hard to find children’s literature with blended families. I agree with this person because I think we need more books where the families are interracial and more representative of today’s society. The author never mentions the race of the family members, and it is only conveyed through the illustrations.
ReplyDeleteI did look up some information about the author and I didn’t realize that he wrote the book The Phantom Tollbooth which is a book I used to love! He is an older gentleman who used to be an architect and a teacher, and he writes book based on his life experiences. He has a daughter and a granddaughter whom I think were the inspiration for this book.
Also - I forgot to post this book under the next blog! I will post the Arrival under the 7 - 10 blog.
ReplyDeleteThe Hello, Goodbye Window is realistic fiction in that it tells a story that could really happen. It is easy for people to relate to the characters in the story, which is why this would be a great book to use with making connections. There is not a problem in this story so it might not be as useful in teaching the framework of a story. It would be a good example of a personal narrative that tells about a specific event or experience. I think the book also has a magical element because of the window. When the child looks through the window she sees things that no longer exist such as dinosaurs, but I think this is teaching the reader to use their imagination. The book shows the importance of family and the role grandparents play in our lives. It is more and more common for children to be raised by their grandparents nowadays, so it will most likely be a book many children can relate to.
ReplyDeleteThe author’s name sounded very familiar to me as well. I looked up some other titles by this author and I realized I have read the following two books by this author in the past: As Silly As Knees, As Busy As Bees: An Astounding Assortment of Similes and As: A Surfeit of Similes. I used these books when teaching about similes. As I was searching for other books by this author I found that there is a sequel to this book called Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie. It confirms that the little girl is definitely biracial. This book has the same characters as The Hello, Goodbye Window, but there is now a bit of a problem. The little girls changing personality is expressed in the book, sometimes nice and sometimes naughty. I am interested in reading this sequel, as it might be interesting to get to know the character more in depth. The illustrator is the same, which I knew as soon as I saw the cover. There is only one review on the sequel since it was published in 2008. It might be fun for students to read the two books and do a character study to see how the little girl changes.