THE BOY ON FAIRFIELD STREET: HOW ED GEISEL GREW UP TO BECOME DR. SEUSS

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Krull, Kathleen. 2004. THE BOY ON FAIRFIELD STREET: HOW TED GEISEL GREW UP TO BECOME DR. SEUSS. Ill. by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. New York: Random House. ISBN 9780375922985

1. PLOT SUMMARY:
THE BOY ON FAIRFIELD STREET: HOW TED GEISEL GREW UP TO BECOME DR. SEUSS introduces the life of renowned children's author and illustrator Ted Geisel, popularly known as Dr. Seuss, focusing on his childhood and youth in Springfield, Massachusetts. It reveals how Ted Geisel enjoyed drawing and doodling as a child and how his passions was misunderstood by others. It goes on to detail what it was like for him growing up on Fairfield Street. He surprises many by attending Dartmouth College and writing for the college humor magazine and with Ted going to Oxford and meeting his future wife. Ted Geisel discovers that he can make a living writing and drawing. It ends when he is twenty-two and “his future looked bright.” Additional pages complete Ted’s life “On Beyond Fairfield Street” and provide a bibliography of works written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
THE BOY ON FAIRFIELD STREET is a great biography for students under-12 and is beautifully illustrated and tenderly written. The full page paintings by Johnson and Fancher further create the setting and a feeling of nostalgia begun by Krull’s well-written text. The soft, muted illustrations complement the visual created by Krull. The inclusion of Geisel’s own drawings adds a little Seuss-flavor to the tale of his life. It is written in smaller font to show it is an account of Dr. Seuss later years of life. This makes it easier for the reader to pick what he/she needs concerning the undertakings of Dr. Seuss. The front cover of the work of art looks like an attractive picture book because it is decorative and colorful. Children would find it enjoyable to read because how the text is written and the cartoon caricatures beneath the passages. The decorative paintings help to communicate his feelings, reactions, and what activity he was engaging in doing a moment in time. Krull presents the factual information in an entertaining and educational manner. This book is a tool that can be used to encourage children to read books written by Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss), who help to revolutionize the children book industry. This is a great book to share read with your students in your classroom!

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
*Review in BookList: “A delightful picture-book biography about Geisel that chronicles how he became an innovative writer and illustrator beloved by readers young and old.”
*Starred review in School Library Journal: “This picture-book biography is a winner...Krull’s work is a terrific look at the boyhood of one of the most beloved author/illustrators of the 20th century.”
*Review in Library Media Connection: “Kathleen Krull presents a touching view of the life of Ted Geisel from early childhood visiting the zoo to his young adult years at Dartmouth College, as well as the poignant events that shaped his life.”
*Publishers Weekly
Krull's (V Is for Victory) fond tribute to Dr. Seuss focuses on the well-loved author/artist's youth. Growing up in Springfield, Mass., Ted Geisel "feasted on books and was wild about animals" and "excelled at fooling around." The informal, anecdotal narrative explains that Geisel early on demonstrated a passion for drawing (even on his bedroom walls) "whatever popped into his head." He took only one art class, in high school, and quit when the teacher scolded him for "breaking rules" and told him he would never be successful. While attending Dartmouth, Geisel was admired for his "talent for silliness" and, Krull notes with comic irony, "He was clearly gifted, though no one knew at exactly what. It wasn't as if men could doodle for a living." The tale ends rather abruptly as the 22-year-old Geisel arrives in New York City to embark on his artistic career. A four-page addendum, presented in a smaller font, chronicles the highlights of Dr. Seuss's publishing career and provides intriguing tidbits about the creation of some of his beloved books. Johnson and Fancher's (New York's Bravest) representational, nostalgic paintings effectively evoke both the period and Geisel's appealingly puckish personality. Featured in spot art, familiar Seuss characters frolic through these pages, thematically complementing the illustrations while reminding readers why Geisel's life is worth celebrating. Ages 6-12. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
*Bluebonnet Award (NOMINATED) 2006North Carolina Children's Book Award
(NOMINATED) 2006New York State Charlotte Award

5. CONNECTIONS:
*Students may write a response to the story and draw caricatures, cartoons, or pictures to complement their response.
*Collective biographies by Kathleen Krull:
Lives of Writers: Comedies, Tragedies (And What the Neighbors Thought). ISBN 9780152480097
Lives of Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (And What the Neighbors Thought). ISBN 9780152001032
Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (And What the Neighbors Thought). ISBN 9780152008079
Lives of Presidents: Fame, Shame (And What the Neighbors Thought). ISBN 9780152008086

TEAM MOON HOW 400,000 PEOPLE LANDED APOLLO 11 ON THE MOON

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Thimmesh, Catherine. 2006. TEAM MOON: HOW 400,000 PEOPLE LANDED APOLLO 11 ON THE MOON. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780618507573

1. PLOT SUMMARY:
Catherine Thimmesh writes about a few of the people and organizations that made the project possible. She begins with pictures of hundreds of people gathered to watch the grainy black & white TV pictures beamed back live from the moon. She includes the seamstresses who sewed together the 22 layers of the spacesuits to the team that designed the parachute system that lowered the capsule into the ocean. Each chapter details one particular segment of the Moon landing, its central challenge, and the solution to that challenge.
Illustrated primarily with archival photographs, the book includes extensive back matter, an author's note, pictures and quotes from an assortment of team members, bibliography, chapter notes, additional sources (including many Web sites and other media), starting points for further exploration, information on other missions, an index, and a glossary.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
With outstanding photos and a lively text, TEAM MOON will hold the attention of even the most reluctant reader as it relates behind-the-scene stories of Apollo 11, in which the United States first successfully landed men on the Moon and returned them back home safely. The photo illustrations also bring the story to life, especially the idea of how so many people had a hand in the mission. Gathering direct quotes from some of these folks who worked behind the scenes, Catherine Thimmesh reveals their very human worries and concerns. This is a very inspiring book!

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
*From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up–In infectiously hyperbolic prose that's liberally interspersed with quotes and accompanied by sheaves of period photos, Thimmesh retraces the course of the space mission that landed an actual man, on the actual Moon. It's an oft-told tale, but the author tells it from the point of view not of astronauts or general observers, but of some of the 17,000 behind-the-scenes workers at Kennedy Space Center, the 7500 Grumman employees who built the lunar module, the 500 designers and seamstresses who actually constructed the space suits, and other low-profile contributors who made the historic flight possible. Despite occasional contrast issues when the white-on-black text is printed over blown-up photographs, this dramatic account will mesmerize even readers already familiar with the event–and also leave them awed by the level of care and dedication it took to surmount so many daunting technological challenges. Drawn from personal interviews and oral histories as well as a wide array of published sources, this stirring, authoritative tribute to the collective effort that left ...footprints, crisp and clear, pressed purposefully and magnificently into the lunar dust belongs in every collection.–John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Publishers Weekly
This behind-the-scenes look at the first Apollo moon landing has the feel of a public television documentary in its breadth and detail.The book opens with several photographs of people huddled around TVs to view the event (one shows Italians watching a small set at an outdoor cafe). The author then delves into the back story of the organizations and hundreds of thousands of people who made the 1969 mission possible. Readers meet 24-year-old "computer whiz kid Jack Garman," who helped work through worrisome computer glitches during the Eagle's landing, as well as one of the seamstresses who sewed the spacesuits ("We didn't worry too much until the guys on the moon started jumping up and down. And that gave us a little bit of an eyebrow twitch"). The 16 chapter-like segments flow chronologically, from John F. Kennedy's 1961 speech to Apollo 11's splashdown. Thimmesh (Madame President) peppers her lengthy, fact-filled narrative with folksy adages (e.g., "Here they were, less than 500 feet from the moon, and just about plumb out of fuel"). The colloquialisms sometime seem at odds with the myriad of engineering acronyms and jargon. But the author maintains a conversational tone, and tackles and explains tough topics such as "cluster interference" in parachute deployment and a bit of the chemistry behind developing the astronauts' dramatic photographs, many of which illustrate the story. Even if the jargon gives readers pause, the little-known facts will keep their interest level high. Ages 9-up. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

5. CONNECTIONS:
*Integrate into a Social Studies or History lesson, in which the students would write a report on the history of Apollo 11.
*Other Apollo 11 titles:
Green, Carl R. Apollo 11 Rockets to First Moon Landing. ISBN 9780766051645
Hehner, Barbara. First on the Moon: What It Was Like When Man Landed on the Moon. ISBN 9780786804894
Mason, Paul. The Moon Landing, July 20, 1969. ISBN9780739852361

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS?

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Jenkins, Steve. 2003. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS? Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0618256288

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Steve Jenkins goes through and describes each sense and informs about different types of animals. He says what do you do with eyes like these and goes on to show and describe different types of animals that use their eyes for different things. You are able to explore the many amazing things animals can do with their ears, eyes, mouths, noses, feet, and tails in this interactive guessing book.

Beautifully illustrated with Jenkins's and Page's unique cut-paper collages, What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? poses questions that readers can answer by turning the page to discover what animals such as a giraffe, a chameleon, a gecko, and many other fascinating creatures do with their amazing body parts. The papers were perfect colors and even textures. You can tell some were cut and some were torn or wrinkled to get that perfect look.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS? is a great simple text book to use with any grade level. The text is big and readable and gives facts that do not overload the young reader. The reader can see the crinkles in the paper and the velvet-like quality in some of them. I also really liked how it went through as a picture book and at the end of the book it ended up with definitions and a little background on each animal in the book. This was a great book, especially when it can be integrated into other subject areas, such as Science and Art.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
* Starred review in BOOKLIST: "Jenkins' handsome paper-cut collages are both lovely and anatomically informative, and their white background helps emphasize the particular feature, be it the bush baby's lustrous, liquid-brown eyes or the skunk's fuzzy tail. This is a striking, thoughtfully created book with intriguing facts made more memorable through dynamic art."
* Starred review in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "Jenkins, this time in collaboration with his wife, has created yet another eye-opening book. Children will learn that lizards can completely break off their tail as a defense and that it will grow back. And, they'll find out that crickets' ears are on their knees."

5. CONNECTIONS:
*Integrate into a Science class discussing animals and have the students pick one of the animals in the book they found interesting and have them do a research on it. *Integrate into an Art lesson, in which the students would create a collage with the fabulous pictures from the book.
*Jenkins has another book similar to this called, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMETHING WANTS TO EAT YOU? This book also uses the same cut and paste illustration techniques, the two-page approach: identifying the animal on one page and then describes the defense mechanism on the next.
Jenkins, Steve. 2001. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMETHING WANTS TO EAT YOU? Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0618152431.

OUT OF THE DUST

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hesse, Karen.1997. OUT OF THE DUST. New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN: 0590371258

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
OUT OF THE DUST is an outstanding story about a young girl named, Billie Jo, who experiences living through the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Fighting against the elements on her Oklahoma farm, Billie Jo takes on even more responsibilities when her mother dies in a tragic accident. Her valiant struggle to help her family cope during these extremely lean years makes OUT OF THE DUST a wonderful tale of strength and courage.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Written in poetry form, Karen Hesse's lyrical poetry brings readers deep into the trials and tribulations that a young girl deals with. Set in Oklahoma's Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, the story exposes the raw emotions of a young girl as she struggles to survive the most haunting experience of her life. This story is told through the eyes of Billie Jo which will allow young readers to understand the complexity of life for children their own age and also be able to make a connection between the issues of the time and the ones they are dealing with today. This beautifully written book is an excellent introduction to the Great Depression. This great poem cycle reads as a novel, which is an instant classic.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
School Library Journal
Gr 5 Up--After facing loss after loss during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, Billie Jo begins to reconstruct her life. A triumphant story, eloquently told through prose-poetry.

Publishers Weekly
This intimate novel, written in stanza form, poetically conveys the heat, dust and wind of Oklahoma along with the discontent of narrator Billy Jo, a talented pianist growing up during the Depression. Unlike her father, who refuses to abandon his failing farm ("He and the land have a hold on each other"), Billy Jo is eager to "walk my way West/ and make myself to home in that distant place/ of green vines and promise." She wants to become a professional musician and travel across the country. But those dreams end with a tragic fire that takes her mother's life and reduces her own hands to useless, "swollen lumps." Hesse's (The Music of Dolphins) spare prose adroitly traces Billy Jo's journey in and out of darkness. Hesse organizes the book like entries in a diary, chronologically by season. With each meticulously arranged entry she paints a vivid picture of Billy Jo's emotions, ranging from desolation ("I look at Joe and know our future is drying up/ and blowing away with the dust") to longing ("I have a hunger,/ for more than food./ I have a hunger/ bigger than Joyce City") to hope (the farmers, surveying their fields,/ nod their heads as/ the frail stalks revive,/ everyone, everything, grateful for this moment,/ free of the/ weight of dust"). Readers may find their own feelings swaying in beat with the heroine's shifting moods as she approaches her coming-of-age and a state of self-acceptance. Ages 11-13.

Booklist
Gr. 6-9. "Daddy came in, / he sat across from Ma and blew his nose. / Mud streamed out. / He coughed and spit out / mud. / If he had cried, / his tears would have been mud too, / but he didn't cry. / And neither did Ma." This is life in the Oklahoma dust bowl in the mid-1930s. Billie Jo and her parents barely eke out a living from the land, as her father refuses to plant anything but wheat, and the winds and dust destroy the crop time after time. Playing the piano provides some solace, but there is no comfort to be had once Billie Jo's pregnant mother mistakes a bucket of kerosene for a bucket of water and dies, leaving a husband who withdraws even further and an adolescent daughter with terribly burned hands. The story is bleak, but Hesse's writing transcends the gloom and transforms it into a powerfully compelling tale of a girl with enormous strength, courage, and love. The entire novel is written in very readable blank verse, a superb choice for bringing out the exquisite agony and delight to be found in such a difficult period lived by such a vibrant character. It also spares the reader the trouble of wading through pages of distressing text, distilling all the experiences into brief, acutely observed phrases. This is an excellent book for discussion, and many of the poems stand alone sufficiently to be used as powerful supplements to a history lesson. (Reviewed October 1, 1997)Susan Dove Lempke.

5. CONNECTIONS:
*Coombs, Karen Mueller. (2000). Children of the Dust Days. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books. ISDN: 1575053608
*Stein, R. Conrad. (1994). The Great Depression. New York: Scholastic. ISDN: 9780516466682
*Hesse, Karen. (1999). Come On, Rain! New York: Scholastic. 32pp. Illustrated by Jon J. Muth. ISDN: 9780590331258
*The students will be able to write about their own experience relating to the text.
*The students to create a mural relating to the text.

A PIZZA THE SIZE OF THE SUN

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Prelutsky, Jack. 1996. A PIZZA THE SIZE OF THE SUN. Ill. By James Stevenson. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN: 0688132367

2. PLOT SUMMARY:
Jack Prelutsky has written another wondrously rich, varied, clever, and always funny collection. He starts his first poem with the title of the book and uses various themes for his collection of poems. Some of the funny and witty poems are; I Did a Nuttty Somersault: “When you try out your roller blades, don’t do it on the ice”; I am dangling by my knees. …Grandma takes a closer look-whatever made you faint?” and I Got out of Bed. He also uses ample amount of rhythm and rhymes; I often repeat repeat myself: “I don’t I don’t know why know why…I often repeat repeat myself”; Frenetica Fluntz: “I eat as I drink and I drink as I shout and I shout as I think and I think as I draw and I draw as I walk and I walk as I read…”; and Dixxer’s Excellent Elixir. Most of all, there is something that makes his poem unique and attractive to children; I AM YOUR MIRROR IMAGE, Backwards Forwards Silly Rhyme and Reverso Is Name My (backwards and mirror writing); I’m All Mixed Up (mixed use with a capital and small letters); Zeke McPeake (small characters); and A triangular tale and I Was Walking in a Circle (concrete poems). Whether you begin at the beginning or just open the book at random, you won’t stop smiling.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Jack Prelutsky has written a single poet collection that is great, funny, and enjoyable. It deals with various themes and forms of poems that any student will enjoy, even those students that weren’t interested in poetry. The students of all ages will be able to enjoy Prelutsky’s poems with abundant of funny expressions, word sounds, and word play. Verses range from the short and sweet poems to poems of silliness. This book is perfect for reading aloud or for independent reading as students will reach for this book again and again. It is great to use as part of an assignment in the class room.

James Stevenson’s black ink sketches are witty and touched with a gray wash that makes it enjoyable to read. He wrings a wealth of humor and emotion out of a few dashes of ink. It’s a delightful addition to poetry collections that all children will enjoy for a long time.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Horn Book Guide (March 1, 1997)
“Fiction: NF Age: K-3 Prelutsky and Stevenson have again produced an appealing collection of short poetry. Spirited line and wash drawings effectively convey the tone of the jaunty, usually funny, often silly, sometimes gross, and always childlike poems. Poems in varied typeface and placement in an open format combine with the economical line of well-placed sketches to create a fast-paced collection that's loads of fun.”

School Library Journal (September 1, 1996)
“K-Gr 6?Yet another masterful collection of poems by the prolific Prelutsky, filled with zany people, improbable creatures, and rhythm and rhyme galore, all combining to celebrate the unusual, the mundane, and the slightly gruesome ("Eyeballs for sale!/Fresh eyeballs for sale!/Delicious, nutritious,/Not moldy or stale.").”

5. CONNECTIONS:
*Prelutsky, Jack. The new kid on the block. Illustrations by James Stevenson ISBN: 0688022715
*Prelutsky, Jack. Something big has been here. Illustrations by James Stevenson ISBN: 0688064345
*The students will be able to write a response to the poetry.
*The students will discuss new and interesting words.