Journey To Freedom: Frederick Douglas 

by John Passaro

Nonfiction: Biography

Chapter Book

Journey To Freedom, is a valuable biography of the great African American leader, Frederick Douglas.  The book is divided into small chapters in which the reader can easily peruse through the book in order to find factual information.  The chapters include: Growing up in Slavery, Escape from Slavery, An Abolitionist, A Nation at War, and The Fight for Civil Rights.  The end of the book is completed with a wonderful timeline of Frederick Douglas's life, a glossary of terms, and a thorough index.  Each chapter informs its readers with a plethera of information covering his childhood through his hardships of being a slave to gaining his freedom and becoming an abolitionist, the chapters also include his role in the fight for civil rights in which he was oppressed to the extent of having his house burnt down. The book does a really great job of highlighting his failures and his accomplishments.  I find this book to be a great resource for students.  I would use this book in my classroom as a supplement to a social studies book.  The text is an easier read than most textbooks and the pages are filled with great paintings and photographs.  Each picture has a caption with information about the painting or photograph.  I would love to have this book in my classroom library because I believe this book offers a lot of factual information in an appealing way for students. 

Abraham Lincoln 

by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

Historical Fiction

This book tells the life story of one of the most beloved United States Presidents, President Abraham Lincoln.  The authors do a wonderful job telling the stories from President Lincoln's birth through the end of the Civil War.  As each page is turned, children are given more and more information of how President Lincoln became who he was, that he came from humble beginnings and later found himself as President of the United States.  Due to the narrative nature of this book, although it is considered a biography of Abraham Lincoln's life, it lends to more of a historical fiction piece.  Reading through the book I found that the authors would tend to embellish some of the events to make the reading more interesting for children and appeal to the audience in more of a story format rather than non fictional facts. For instance, the authors have Abraham Lincoln speaking to his parents when in reality these statements are not factual conversations.  However, I do believe the authors do a wonderful job by embedding so many facts about President Lincoln's life within the text that students are able to read this book with ease and learn a lot about one of the United States' most influential presidents.  I would use this book in my classroom to introduce President Lincoln and his influence as President of the United States during the Civil War. This book gives students the opportunity to learn a lot of great information about the president's life in a way that is more interesting and exciting for students.  

The Blue Jackal 

retold and illustrated by Mehilli Gobhai

Fable, Multicultural Fiction

This retelling of the ancient Indian fable, The Blue Jackal, is a story that has been passed down in Indian culture since 200 B.C. The story is a tale of Long Howl, a Jackal who is scared of many of the other animals and spends a lot of time hiding by himself. However, his one great quality is his long and loud howl.  One day he decides to go into the village marketplace to look for some food.  The village dogs sniff the Jackal hiding in the thicket and chase him into a vat of indigo dye.  The story progresses as each page is turned. The author chooses to illustrate the pages from the Jackal's perspective in black and white and the pages from the others' perspective as beautifully colored illustrations.   The Jackal is worshipped as King by the other animals because they fear his beautiful coat.  The other Jackals leave the forest because they do not want to have another Jackal as their King. One night, Long Howl hears the other Jackals in the distance howling, Long Howl cannot resist and howls a great big howl at the moon.  The other animals realize he his nothing more than a Jackal and chase him out of the forest.  I would use this story in my classroom to share a message: that you should be humbly confident in who you are and to not try to be someone you are not.  Another great use of this book would be to introduce Indian culture to the classroom.  Throughout the book the author includes Indian words within the text and at the end of the book offers a Indian vocabulary page.  I would place this book in my classroom library in the multicultural section because it allows children to step into another culture and learn valuable lessons along the way. 

The Egyptian Cinderella

by Shirley Cimo illustrated by Ruth Heller

Multicultural Fiction, Traditional Literature

This Egyptian version of the tale Cinderella is actually one of the world's earliest Cinderella stories.  This book is a retelling of the tale of a young girl named Rhodopis from Greece who though sold into slavery in Egypt, ends up marrying Pharaoh Amasis.  In this retelling of the story, Rhodopis is teased by the female servants because she is nothing more to them than a poor slave. They also are spiteful towards her because she is Greek and not a true Egyptian.  Rhodopis' master see her dancing one night and rewards her beautiful feet with rose-red slippers.  One day a falcon snatches one of her slippers, her prize possession.  The flacon takes the slipper to the Pharaoh and he decides the falcon was a sign from the gods that he is to marry the girl whose feet fit the slipper.  Rhodopis is the only girl in the kingdom who fits the slipper.  Pharaoh marries Rhodopis and makes her queen of the land.  I would use this story in my classroom as a comparison piece.  I would have my students read the traditional story of Cinderella and compare the story to various versions from different countries, including this particular version.  

Show Way 

by Jacqueline Woodson illustrated by Hudson Talbott

Historical Fiction, Multicultural Literature 

Show Way is a beautiful narrative in which the author tells the stories of her female ancestors from slavery to the Civil Rights movement.  The book begins by telling the story of the author's earliest female ancestor she knows of, being sold into slavery at the age of seven.  She is given hope that one day freedom will come, so she sews patterns into a quilt that will one day lead slaves to the north for freedom, the Show Way.  The quilt sewing is passed from generation to generation.  In the end of the story, the author explains how now women in her family have become teachers and even she has become a writer.  This story offers hope and shares a wonderful story about the path African American women have taken  to freedom and what opportunities have come.  I would use this book to integrate social studies and literature by reading this while learning about the Civil War or the Civil Rights Movement, or possibly during Black History month as well.  

Zathura

by Chris Van Allsburg

Science Fiction

Two quarrelsome brothers find themselves in a game where they are forced to work together to survive.  The story begins with Walter wrestling his younger brother Danny. Their parents instruct them to play nicely as they leave to go to an event that night and are left alone.  Danny finds a game called "Jumanji" tucked under a nearby tree in their backyard and as he opens the game finds another game called "Zathura." As Danny rolls the dice the two brothers find themselves in a world galaxies away from Earth.  The brothers are forced to keep playing the game together if they are going to survive meteor showers, robots, and aliens. At the end of the book, Walter is swallowed by a black hole and then finds himself back wrestling with his brother. Walter realizes what happened and when Danny finds the game once again, Walter decides to throw the game away.  Walter embraces the fact that he loves his brother and asks him to go play ball in the backyard.  Allsburg does a great job by allowing readers to blend science and fiction in a way that maintains children's interest as science is mixed in with the fictional story.  I would use this book by integrating literature and science.  Although this book is science fiction, some of the terms are scientifically accurate and reading this story to the class would allow discussion about meteor showers and gravity.  Furthermore, this story offers a great lesson to readers of all ages: that life is precious and we should show others how much they mean to us.  This would be a great book to add to my classroom library. 

Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk 

an Irish tale told and illustrated by Gerald McDermott

Folk Literature, Multicultural Fiction

This Irish tale tells the story of Tim O'Toole and his wife, Kate.  The story begins with describing the extent of poverty that this couple is experiencing and how Kate demands that her husband go and find some work.  Tim eventually goes out to find some work when he luckily finds a group of little people and demands their treasure.  The little people tell Tim to go home with his treasure, but he ends up staying with the McGoon family for the night. The McGoons trick poor Tim by switching his golden egg laying goose with one of their own. Tim is astonished when he realizes his goose does not lay golden eggs. He finds the little people and angrily demands their treasure, they again tell him to go directly home. However, Tim once again stays at the McGoons home and is tricked by them a second time. The following day the little people tell Tim of the evil McGoons and how he should have listened to them by going directly home. The little people raid the McGoons house and Tim is given is treasure back.  The end of the story closes with the O'Toole family resting happily with their treasure.  I would use this book in my classroom as a piece of folk literature.  Children enjoy stories where the main character is given opportunity for fortune, especially when the characters do not have much. This story is exciting for many young readers because it includes mystical tales of little people and a golden egg laying goose.  The illustrations are vivid and allow children to really put themselves into the story.  Furthermore, this story offers a great lesson to teach children: to always listen to directions. The little people again and again tell Tim to go directly home and he continually goes to stay the McGoons who end up tricking him.  I would certainly place this book in my classroom library.  

Mike Fink 

retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg

Folk Literature

This retelling of the tall tale, Mike Fink, is quite an exciting and captivating story.  The illustrations coupled with the text give readers a clear picture of the elaborate tale of this rugged American frontiersman.  The tale tells the story of Mike Fink who is a strong and superhuman boy who sets out to become a Keelboatman. Keelboatmen were cargo men notoriously known for their strength and rowdiness.  This tall tale like every tall tale, is larger than life and tells stories of impossible occurrences, such as Mike being "hurled hundreds of miles into the heart of the Rocky Mountains." I would use this piece of literature to integrate literature with social studies in the classroom.  Tall tales are great ways for children to become familiar with historical events through an over-the-top fictional story.  Tall tales also allow children to use their imagination by allowing them to think about the impossible.  Yet another way I could use tall tales in the classroom is to use it as a platform for descriptive and creative writing.  I may have students read Mike Fink and then have them write their own tall tale to explain a historical event.  

The Bicycle Man

by Allen Say

Multicultural Fiction

This book gives readers a chance to step into the lives of a post World War II Japanese school house.  The school house sits high upon a mountain in a south island of Japan.  As the students are eagerly awaiting a school sporting competition, two American soldiers interrupt the event by casually walking up to the school playground.  The students are unsure how to react because they have never seen American soldiers.  The soldiers begin to put on a show for the children by performing amazing bicycle tricks. The children are amazed and the principal awards the soldiers for their performance.  This book is a great way for children to see how though America and Japan had just been at war with one another, the children did not show hatred towards the American soldiers. Although the children were hesitant, they welcomed the Americans in their competition.  I would use this book in my classroom to show how hatred is not the answer, that each person on this earth is valuable and we are to be accepting of one another.  I would also use this book to offer my students a different point of view by placing themselves in a different cultural mindset.