Module 15: The Things They Carried

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary: Tim O'Brien captures what life was like for a group of men out in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. The story goes in and out of present day for the narrator. He is reminded of certain things that happen, how he felt at the time, and the events that would trigger his memory for happier times. The men each have a specific item that reminds them of home and comfort. Whether it was a Bible or photographs, each man was able to recall a better time than the one they woke up to every morning. Through the experience, the men form a bond to each other that will last a life time for some. Filled with violence, bloodshed, heartache, and fear, the novel journeys down the winding road of the suffocating jungle of Vietnam as these men try to finish their mission and find their way back to a place to get them home. 

APA: O'Brien, T. (1990). The Things They Carried. New York, NY: Houghton.

Review: "'They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice.... Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to.'
A finalist for both the 1990 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Things They Carried marks a subtle but definitive line of demarcation between Tim O'Brien's earlier works about Vietnam, the memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone and the fictional Going After Cacciato, and this sly, almost hallucinatory book that is neither memoir nor novel nor collection of short stories but rather an artful combination of all three. Vietnam is still O'Brien's theme, but in this book he seems less interested in the war itself than in the myriad different perspectives from which he depicts it. Whereas Going After Cacciato played with reality, The Things They Carried plays with truth. The narrator of most of these stories is "Tim"; yet O'Brien freely admits that many of the events he chronicles in this collection never really happened. He never killed a man as "Tim" does in "The Man I Killed," and unlike Tim in "Ambush," he has no daughter named Kathleen. But just because a thing never happened doesn't make it any less true. In "On the Rainy River," the character Tim O'Brien responds to his draft notice by driving north, to the Canadian border where he spends six days in a deserted lodge in the company of an old man named Elroy while he wrestles with the choice between dodging the draft or going to war. The real Tim O'Brien never drove north, never found himself in a fishing boat 20 yards off the Canadian shore with a decision to make. The real Tim O'Brien quietly boarded the bus to Sioux Falls and was inducted into the United States Army. But the truth of "On the Rainy River" lies not in facts but in the genuineness of the experience it depicts: both Tims went to a war they didn't believe in; both considered themselves cowards for doing so. Every story in The Things They Carried speaks another truth that Tim O'Brien learned in Vietnam; it is this blurred line between truth and reality, fact and fiction, that makes his book unforgettable. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title."

Citation: N.A. (1990). "The Things They Carried" Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/The-Things-They-Carried-Tim-OBrien/pid=1614719.

Library Use: During Banned Book Week, this book brings in a lot of interest for young men. Quite a few of them are considering joining the military, and where there have been many medical and technological advancements since this book was written, there is still a lot of things that happen in the novel that can explain to young men and women what war does to people. This is a real life setting with, although O'Brien will not fully admit, real life situations. The pictures he paints are real and gruesome. This book can show students a reality of war, and by using it in a library as a center, they can recreate one of the vivid memories on paper or create a plot/timeline for the story.

Module 14: Make Lemonade

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary: Told in a series of 66 chapters written in free verse, young LaVaughn is determined to make money to help pay for college expense. She has her heart set on being the first in her family to go to college. When she answers a babysitting ad, she meets Jolly. Jolly is a seventeen-year-old mother of two who has dropped out of school to help support her two kids. LaVaughn and Jolly spend time together, and LaVaughn tries her best to convince Jolly to return to school in order to better provide for her young family. LaVaughn learns valuable life lessons about being a young, single mother. The book offers inspiration to those reading it in the sense that there is a way to succeed if you put your mind to it and dedicate your time to your goal. 

APA: Wolff, V. E. (2006). Make Lemonade. New York, NY: Square Fish.

Review: "Grade 7-12-Narrator Heather Simms brings to life 14-year-old LaVaughn, a powerful character in the novel by Virginia Euwer Wolff (Holt, 1993). Living in the projects but determined to be the first person in her family to go on to college, LaVaughn takes a job babysitting for Jolly, the teenage mother of two-year-old Jeremy and baby Jilly, whose life is the epitome of disorganization. With warmth, humor, and a voice blending street smarts and innocent naivete, Simms' melodious words draw listeners into the world of unwed parenthood, the struggle for a better life, and the deepening friendship between LaVaughn and Jolly. Written in the first person, the 66 short chapters of this powerful coming-of-age story portray life in all its gritty and sometimes heartbreaking reality, while at the same time conveying a message of inspiration and hope captured in the saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Wolff's writing leaves listeners with no option but to root enthusiastically for both LaVaughn and Jolly, and to rush to the shelves for the sequel, True Believer (Atheneum, 2001). This stunning work belongs in every public and high school library."

Citation: Lombardo, C., & Mandell, P. (2002). Make Lemonade (Sound recording). School Library Journal, 48(6), 73. 

Library Use: This book would be a great addition to any library to teach free verse. The librarian could set up a poetry and free verse section before STAAR to help students practice reading and understanding free verse. Since many students have issues with this particular TEK, in collaboration with a teacher, the librarian can create a center where students can create a foldable to help them better understand what they read.

Module 13: Trouble for Cecile

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary: Young Cecile is so excited for her summer. Her best friend, Marie-Grace, and her will be volunteering at a shelter, and her brother Armand has finally come home from France. She is sure that it is going to be an adventurous summer; that is until New Orleans is struck by Yellow Fever. The fear begins to mount when the Fever plagues her home. While it may not have been the summer she wanted, Cecile will still have an unforgettable one.

APA: Patrick, D.L. (2011). Trouble for Cecile. New York, NY: American Girl.

Review: "Meet Cecile introduces a dynamic and intelligent young character to the "American Girl" series canon. Cecile Rey, a free African-American girl, lives in New Orleans in 1853. Cecile's family is wealthy and the young girl is used to luxuries including taking singing lessons and eating pralines. Cecile cannot wait until Mardi Gras, when she will attend a fancy ball. She meets a new friend, Marie-Grace, who has recently moved back to New Orleans with her widowed father. The two girls study opera with Mademoiselle Oceane. One day Cecile learns exciting news; her brother Armand, who lives in Paris, will return home in a few months. Cecile cannot wait to see her brother again—and when he arrives she is surprised to see how grown up he appears. Mardi Gras turns out to be an exciting event, and Cecile has the chance to attend two balls. In this unique series, readers can experience the events from the joint perspectives of two best friends. This unusual storytelling feature allows readers to step back in time through two identities, gaining a wider understanding of historical events. "

Citation: Henshon, S. E. (2011). "Meet Cecile" Childrens's Literature. Retrieved from http://www.clcd.com/features/mai_patrick_denise_lewis.php.

Library Use: This book offers insight into the lives of young girls during real life events. This historical fiction follows a young girl in a budding New Orleans. Young readers can read about the life of Cecile and her living through the Yellow Fever Epidemic. They can then interactively immerse themselves in the study of how the plague spread through an iPad center that will allow them to create a timeline of events.

Module 12: Rosa

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary:  This book tells the story of Rosa Parks and her stand against injustice. She is considered a civil rights activist because she refused to give up her seat on the bus so that a white man could sit. This short story explains what Mrs. Parks was thinking about throughout the day, and what she felt when she was asked move. She was tired from a long day at work, and she was even more tired from being mistreated by people because of the color of her skin.

APA: Giovanni, N.. (2005). Rosa. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

Review: "Gr. 3-5. Far from the cliche of Rosa Parks as the tired little seamstress, this beautiful picture-book biography shows her as a strong woman, happy at home and at work, and politically aware ("not tired from work, but tired of . . . eating at separate lunch counters and learning at separate schools"). Her refusal to give up her seat on a bus inspires her friend Jo Ann Robinson, president of the Women's Political Council, and the 25 council members to make posters calling for the bus boycott, and they organize a mass meeting where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. speaks for them. Paired very effectively with Giovanni's passionate, direct words, Collier's large watercolor-and-collage illustrations depict Parks as an inspiring force that radiates golden light, and also as part of a dynamic activist community. In the unforgettable close-up that was used for the cover, Parks sits quietly waiting for the police as a white bus driver demands that she give up her seat. In contrast, the final picture opens out to four pages showing women, men, and children marching for equal rights at the bus boycott and in the years of struggle yet to come. The history comes clear in the astonishing combination of the personal and the political."

Citation: Rochman, H. (2005). "Starred Review: Rosa" Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/Rosa-Nikki-Giovanni/pid=1566882.

Library Use: This particular book is a great asset for the Black History Month display. It shows the character of people at this time to make changes. It serves as a platform for change. Students could then take this concept and research the movement further. It is an excellent jumping off point for the beginning of equality.

Module 11: Tito Puente Mambo King, Rey del Mambo

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary:  This bilingual book details the life of Tito Puente. It starts with him banging on his parents pots and pans making music. It goes on to the rest of his life. His move out of Spanish Harlem to create what he loved most. He even won a Grammy for his music. His life is beautifully depicted by Rafael Lopez.

APA: Brown, M. (2013). Tito Puente Mambo King, Rey del Mambo. New York, NY: Rayo.

Review: "“¡Tum Tica! ¡Tum Tica! The dancers twirled, the lights swirled, and the mambo went on and on.” Like so many of Brown’s biographies, such as Waiting for the Biblioburro (2011) and Side by Side/Lado a lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La historia de Dolores Huerta y César Chávez (2009), Tito’s story introduces readers to a vibrant Latino figure. As a baby, Puente made music with pots and pans, and he later grew up to fulfill his dreams as a musician and beloved bandleader. Award-winning illustrator López brings Tito’s story to life in vibrant acrylic salsa reds and oranges, which are splashed behind every shake of Tito’s hips and wink of his eyes. The swirling, whirling compositions add to the text’s rhythmic beat. To continue the rumba after Tito’s story has ended, the last page of the book offers a simple melody to play on its own or alongside the book. An author’s note (in both English and Spanish) sheds more light on Puente’s life. Grades K-3."

Citation: Zapata, A. . "Tito Puente, Mambo King el Rey del Mambo." Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/Tito-Puente-Mambo-King-Rey-del-Mambo-Monica-Brown/pid=5733875.

Library Use: This is a great book to add to a library to show students what hard work and driving towards your goals could lead to. His life is a great depiction of starting and sticking with a love of music.

Module 10: Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary: Barefoot, an escaping slave, must rely on the elements to help him find his way out of harm. He is on his way north to be free. In this stunning illustrated book, Barefoot goes through the adventure to become a free man.

APA: Edwards, P. D. (1998). Barefoot: escape on the Underground Railroad. New York, NY: Katherine Tegen Books.

Review: "The story of one slave's escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad, as seen from the perspective of the watchful creatures of the night who speed him on his way. The ``Barefoot'' refers to the slave who has taken flight through dark woods, ``fearful of what lay before him [and] terrified of what lay behind.'' Heron, squirrel, mouse, deer, and frog see and hear the slave, and close behind, the Heavy Boots who pursue him. The creaking frog leads the Barefoot to fresh water, a hungry field mouse shows him which berries to eat. Finally he comes to a ``stop'' on the Underground Railroad--a cabin he recognizes by the quilt that is hanging out front. Readers will need some suspension of disbelief to determine whether the night creatures are ``helping'': Mosquitoes bite only the Heavy Boots, the deer leads the pursuers far away, lightning bugs show the Barefoot the quilt when the moon goes under a cloud. Nevertheless, Edwards and Cole (Some Smug Slug, p. 528, etc.) create a moving story that conveys the terror that drove slaves to flee plantations, risking their lives for freedom."

Citation: N.A. "Barefoot." Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/pamela-duncan-edwards/barefoot/.

Library Use: The book would be a great addition to a library, especially during February's Black History Month. It is a strong showcase of the danger that slaves went through to find safety.

Module 9: The Dollhouse Murders

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary: Amy finds a beautiful dollhouse in her aunt's attic. She loves playing with the dolls, until she starts to hear noises and notices the dolls move around. Her and her sister, Louann, and their friend, Ellen, do their best to try to figure out what the dolls are trying to tell them. They seem to be acting out something, but could it be how the people died? The book begins to answer that question of the 30 year murder mystery.

APA: Wright, B. R. (1983). The dollhouse murders. New York, NY: Holiday House.

Review: "Wright's taut, suspenseful novel proves a solid choice to kick off the Live Oak Mysteries audio series. The attic is always a great place to look for nuggets of one's family history, but when 12-year-old Amy explores her great-grandparents' attic, she uncovers clues to a chilling family secret. As Amy and her Aunt Claire sift through clothes, trinkets and other memorabilia, Amy comes across Aunt Claire's long-forgotten dollhouse, a finely crafted replica of the house they are in. Aunt Claire seems unusually distressed about the dollhouse and Amy is determined to find out why. The real fun begins when Amy learns that the dolls in the dollhouse move of their own will--and that they seem to be trying to tell her something. After a little sleuthing at the local library, Amy learns that her great-grandparents were murdered years ago and that Aunt Claire's fianc (who died in a car accident that same night) was the prime suspect in the unsolved case. Before long, Amy unravels the mystery, helping Aunt Claire to resolve her feelings about the past. A subplot about Amy's relationships with her parents, younger sister and best friend adds depth and warmth to this crisply paced tale. Stewart handles the narration with aplomb, using her voice to give listeners a hint of each character's personality. Her portrayal of Aunt Claire, who delivers a few chillingly snappish retorts to Amy, is particularly strong. Ages 8-up. (Mar.)"

Citation: N.A. "The dollhouse murders." Publishers Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87499-523-7.

Library Use: This book is a great addition to the mystery section. This can teach students to search for clue and make inferences as to what is going to happen. They can then test out their inferences as the book unfolds.

Module 8: Howl's Moving Castle

[Photo courtesy of Amazon.com]

Summary: A young girl, Sophie, was the eldest of three daughters which is really bad luck for her. The fates have left her with the taks of failing miserably if she ever decides that she wants to leave home. The Witch of the Waste has an interest in her, and she is turned into a little old woman. She must track down the Wizard Howl's castle. She must complete several tasks like make a deal with a fire demon and ultimately deal with the witch. She learns a lot about herself, and Wizard Howl, in her quest.

APA: Jones, D. W. (2012). Howl's moving castle. New York, NY: HarperCollins, Inc.

Review: "Sophie Hatter reads a great deal and soon realizes that as the eldest of three daughters she is doomed to an uninteresting future. She resigns herself to making a living as a hatter and helping her younger sisters prepare to make their fortunes. But adventure seeks her out in the shop where she sits alone, dreaming over her hats. The wicked Witch of the Waste, angered by ``competition'' in the area, turns her into a old woman, so she seeks refuge inside the strange moving castle of the wizard Howl. Howl, advertised by his apprentice as an eater of souls, lives a mad, frantic life trying to escape the curse the witch has placed on him, find the perfect girl of his dreams and end the contract he and his fire demon have entered. Sophie, against her best instincts and at first unaware of her own powers, falls in love. So goes this intricate, humorous and puzzling tale of fantasy and adventure which should both challenge and involve readers. Jones has created an engaging set of characters and found a new use for many of the appurtenances of fairy talesseven league boots and invisible cloaks, among others. At times, the action becomes so complex that readers may have to go back to see what actually happened, and at the end so many loose ends have to be tied up at once that it's dizzying. Yet Jones' inventiveness never fails, and her conclusion is infinitely satisfying. Sara Miller, White Plains Public Library, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted"

Citation: N.A. "Howl's moving castle." School Library Journal Review. 2010.

Library Use: This book is a great addition for students to see the different styles of fantasy writing that there are. This is also a great book to show the comparison of a book to a movie.

Module 7: The Fault in our Stars.

(Photo courtesy of Amazon.com)

Summary: Hazel is a 17 year-old girl who is battling thyroid cancer, and her mother has decided to have her to go to a cancer patient's group for therapy. As much as she is reluctant to go, she complies. While there, she meets a boy, Augustus Waters who is now in remission after having his leg amputated because of osteosarcoma. The two are able to kindle a friendship, and they build a relationship. Hazel asks Augustus to read a book, An Imperial Affliction. She explains how the author, Peter Van Houton, fled to Amsterdam shortly after the books success. Augustus is able to track down the assistant, Liedwij, to Houton. This opens up a correspondence via e-mail between Hazel and Houton. He invites her to visit him should she ever find herself in Amsterdam. This gets the wheels rolling to get Hazel to meet this reclusive author. Who else could possibly manage to get her to Amsterdam but Augustus, who has used his charitable foundation wish to grant Hazel hers. And he does it in a very romantically themed Dutch picnic. What will happen on her trip? Will she get her answers about the young girl suffering from cancer in the novel?

APA: Green, J. (2012). The fault in our stars. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Review: This is easily one of the biggest titles of the year — six starred reviews! Big time buzz! John Green! Previous Printz winner! Nerdfighters! — so we’ve been thinking about it for a while. Since this is a book from a former Printz winner and honoree, we knew we’d be reading it with our Printz glasses on. When you add the serious subject matter, the thoughtful treatment of said subject matter, the memorable characters, and the five-hanky tear-jerker of a plot, you know there’s a lot to talk about in terms of Printz-worthiness.

Hazel has terminal cancer. Augustus is a cancer survivor who has lost a leg to the disease. They meet in a teen cancer support group. It’s complicated and baggage-filled love almost at first sight. She doesn’t want to die on him; he wants to save everyone. It’s clearly a recipe for heartbreaking disaster. Their mutual love of (fictional) Peter Van Hauten’s (fictional) An Imperial Affliction gives the two an excuse for a road trip, but plot happens and PLOT PLOT PLOT.

When you read a John Green book, you know that the writing is going to be shiny and sharp. The dialogue will be rapid-fire and dramatically intelligent. Fault does not disappoint. Augustus and Hazel engage in electrifying debates (he fears oblivion; she choses to ignore it) and hilarious reparte (“The day of the existentially fraught free throws was coincidentally also my last day of dual leggedness,” Augustus says).

Actually, that second quote is pretty magnificent: intelligent, wry, but wrapped in sadness. Gus, Hazel, their friend Isaac: all of them casually shrug off Cancer Perks (trips to Disneyland, autographed basketballs) while attempting to grapple with the pitfalls of teenagerdom and, you know, also mortality. The teen characters are smart, funny, and determined to maintain their dignity and kindness. Hazel describes the horrible awareness kids with cancer have: “There is only one thing in this world shittier than biting it from cancer when you’re sixteen, and that’s having a kid who bites it from cancer.”

Green’s depiction of friendship is dead-on (as usual, although of course that has nothing to do with Printz conversation). Hazel, Gus, and Isaac, as a threesome, are sarcastic, honest, and loving with each other. Minor characters, like Gus’s parents and Hazel’s friend Kaitlyn, have very limited page time, but are still memorable and well drawn. This is a teen book with really (like, really) fantastic parental characterization.

Hazel and Augustus’s weighty conversations and observations allow Green to weave many themes together. The idea in the title, the fault in our stars, the harmatia that lives in all of us shows up in so many different ways and through different images (people as grenades; broken, drunk and abusive Van Hauten; cancer itself) and doesn’t feel forced or false. There is a lot in this book to love.

Unfortunately, there is a problem. Van Houten, the author of An Imperial Affliction, the person Gus and Hazel travel to Amsterdam to see, comes back for the [REDACTED EVENT, in case you live under a rock, but know that comments are fair game for spoilers]. So much weaksauce. Early on in the novel, Hazel tries to describe her love for An Imperial Affliction:

“But it’s not a cancer book, because cancer books suck. Like, in cancer books, the cancer person starts a charity that raises money to fight cancer, right? And this commitment to charity reminds the cancer person of the essential goodness of humanity and makes him/her feel loved and encouraged because s/he will leave a cancer curing legacy.”

But the decision to bring Van Hauten back makes this book suddenly feel like A Cancer Book — full of lessons and realizations and Important Character Growth. It’s cliche and I believe it severely weakens the integrity of the book.

I still cried, believe me. The eulogies on command scene? Tears. The last letter at the end? Tears. This book is powerful, strongly written, and has so much good stuff going on. But Van Hauten’s reappearance occurs at a crucial moment in the book, and feels too pat and perfect. It changes Fault from something that is transforming the cliches of a cancer book into a Cancer Book. Printz winners are books that move beyond what we expect, and the Van Hautening has the opposite effect.

However, there is so much good in this book, so much that is extraordinary. Is the flaw forgivable? Is that small portion of the plot forgivable? Oh, to be a fly on the wall of the Printz room!

Citation: Couri, S. "You may have noticed John Green wrote a book this year." School Librarians Journal. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/printzblog/2012/09/16/you-may-have-noticed-that-john-green-wrote-a-book-this-year/

Library Use: This book shows how people deal with grief, friends, families, boyfriends/girlfriends. It deals with disappointment, sadness, loss, and upset, but it also shows how to enjoy life no matter what it offers.

Module 5: Chato's Kitchen

(Photo courtesy of Amazon.com)

Summary: Chato is a stereotypical cat from East Los Angeles. He has decided to invite his neighbors over for a dinner, they are a family of ratoncitos (mice). Chato, along with his cat friend Novio Boy, plan the meal as the mice plan their meal. The mice bring along a friend from their old barrio, Chorizo, and dachshund dog.

APA: Soto, G. (1997). Chato's Kithcen. New York, NY: Puffin Books.

Review: Soto (Too Many Tamales) commands a poet's gift for defining characters quickly, densely and, in this case, with hilariously choice words. Paired with Guevara's (The Boardwalk Princess) wickedly funny, urban paints, Soto's story of Chato, a cool, ``low-riding cat'' of East Los Angeles, is a scream. Chato and his friend Novio Boy plan a dinner for (and, they hope, of) the new mice next door. But the mice bring a surprise guest named Chorizo (sausage), who turns out to be a truly low-riding dachshund. Foiled, the cats resign themselves to mouseless fajitas. It's a basic enough tale, but close to brilliant in its execution. Guevara's cats are delicious send-ups of barrio characters, and Soto's words glisten with wit: ``We brought Chorizo,' Mami mouse called./ Sausage! Chato and Novio Boy danced, and with clean paws they gave each other a `low-four.'"" Salud to this magical pairing of talents. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

Citation: N.a. "Children's book review: Chato's Kitchen." Publisher Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-22658-8

Library Use: This book would be a great edition for librarians to talk about animals and even customs and cultural aspects of Latino families. Although slightly stereotypical, it is still a fun representation.

Module 4: Sarah, Plain and Tall

(Photo courtesy of Amazon.com)

Summary: When a widower writes a letter for a wife to help on his farm and with his family, he receives a response from "Sarah, plain and tall." This novel shows how they they learn to accommodate their lives around each other and become a family. Set at a time that people were still trying to settle America, Jacob, the father, is trying to keep his farm afloat and make sure that the crop will be sufficient for his family. Written from the perspective of the daughter, the novel dives into what kids would worry most about. Can Sarah and Jacob fall in love? Will this relationship work?

APA: MacLachlan, P. (2015). Sarah, plain and tall. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Review: Parents need to know that Patricia MacLachlan's Newbery Medal-winning novel Sarah, Plain and Tall -- set in the rural Midwestern prairie during the 19th century -- is the simple story of a widower called Jacob; his children, Anna and Caleb; and Sarah, the woman from Maine who answers Jacob's newspaper ad for a wife. After letters are exchanged between father, children, and Sarah, Sarah journeys from the east coast to their farm to get to know them and decide whether she'll marry Jacob and join the family. The story highlights everyday life on a farm, the children's growing attachment to Sarah, and their wariness that she will find their home too small or too big a change and decide to return to Maine. There's very mild violence in the story itself (a lamb dies), though readers learn that the children's mother died before the book begins. The main source of tension is the children's yearning for a mother and their uncertainty about whether Sarah will choose to stay.

Citation: Schultz, B. "Sarah, plain and tall." Common Sense Media. Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/sarah-plain-and-tall

Library Use: This book would be a great edition for librarians to explain what times were like when America was just becoming a nation. It is a great time to discuss droughts and expectations of crops for survival.

Module 6: The Day the Crayons Quit

(Photo courtesy of Amazon.com)

Summary: This book is from the perspective of the crayons! They are writing to their owner to let them now how they are being mistreated. Each color has something that they would like to say, so they write their letter to explain what they want. Each crayon even attaches examples of what they are upset about. So what can the owner possibly do?

APA: Daywalt, D. (2013). The Day the Crayons Quit. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Review:

It is possible to read too much into a picture book. A funny statement since what were talking about is literature for people who haven’t even seen a decade of time pass them by. But historically picture books have been places where prejudices are both intentionally and unintentionally on display. Yet for every Denver by David McKee (a picture book about the beauty of trickle down economics) you’ll find fifty people reading WAY too much into something like Rainbow Fish(Communist propaganda) or Click Clack Moo (inculcating kids into unionism). The thing is, picture books are meant to teach and inform our children. Yet along the way a parent or gatekeeper might be worried about the unintentional messages getting pushed along the way. At the end of the day you have to weigh your reactions carefully. You can’t be pointing fingers left and right, claiming authorial intent where there is none. Okay. So round about now you’re trying to figure out what the heck any of this has to do with The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. I mean, talk about an innocuous title. Why am I going on and on about unintentional messages in works of children’s fiction in preface to talking about this book? Well, here’s the trouble. I have a major problem with this story and it’s entirely possible that it’s just in my own head. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to lay out the facts as they stand and you can judge for yourself whether or not this book does indeed make a major you-can’t-do-that-in-the-21st-century mistake, or if I’m simply suffering from a case of Reading Too Much Into It. Either way, it sure makes this Daywalt/Jeffers collaboration into an interesting point of discussion.

Duncan’s your average kid. Not the kind of person who’s going to expect that when he reaches for his crayons at school he is, instead, going to find himself with a bundle of letters. Each letter is from a different crayon voicing their complaints. Says gray, “I know that elephants are gray but that’s a lot of space to color in all by myself.” Or pink saying, “Could you please use me sometime to color the occasional pink dinosaur or monster or cowboy?” Red and blue need a rest, white feels empty, yellow and orange both claim the sun, and all black ever wanted in life was, for once, to color in a rainbow or a beach ball. By the end of the letters Duncan wants to make the crayons happy. And that’s when he comes up with the perfect solution to everybody’s woes.

Now let’s talk crayon history for a bit. This is fun. In 1962 the U.S. Civil Rights Movement was underway. America was going through big changes. Assumptions that had lain dormant for years were finally getting challenged and even crayons were getting a double glance. You see 1962 was the year that Crayola decided to officially change the crayon known as “flesh” to “peach”. You see where I am going with this, I suspect. While white children certainly would use the color as flesh, it wasn’t exactly on the up and up to assume that white was the de facto skin color. Fast forward to 2013 and the publication of The Day the Crayons Quit. Peach does indeed make an appearance in this book and in that section complains vociferously that its wrapper has been removed. “Now I’m NAKED and too embarrassed to leave the crayon box. I don’t even have any underwear!” That Daywalt is linking peach to flesh again is no crime. Interestingly, on the previous page the pink crayon has been making a very different complaint about never being allowed to draw cowboys or dinos or monsters. The monster that it HAS drawn is covering its private parts, obviously believing itself to be naked as well, as the dinosaur points and laughs. So. Pink and peach are clearly equated with flesh tones.

Then what’s the deal with brown?

There is only one vaguely brownish crayon in this book and it is the much maligned beige. The official brown does not make an appearance it would seem. Beige’s sadness is the fact that while “Brown gets all the bears, ponies and puppies . . . the only things I get are turkey dinners (if I’m lucky) and wheat.”

Mmm hmm.

This is precisely where the difficulty comes into play. How much am I reading into this through my own prejudices? Let me give you a bit of comparison. This year is also seeing the publication ofThe Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers. In that particular book a little white rabbit keeps seeing a “scary” big black rabbit that he runs away from. The black rabbit is, in fact, the little rabbit’s own shadow and at the end he comes to love the big black rabbit after all. A librarian recently commented to me that it would have been far preferable if the little rabbit had been brown or some other color. Otherwise you have a book where a white character fears a big black one. At first I was inclined to agree, but after thinking about it I wasn’t so sure. After all, the white rabbit’s fears are entirely in its own head. There’s also the fact that the book, I believe, is originally Australian, so the author wasn’t working with a lot of the codes and keys common in American culture. I was even reminded of the huge brouhaha surrounding The Rabbits’ Wedding by Garth Williams. In 1958 the Alabama state library system removed the book from circulation because it featured a black rabbit and a white rabbit getting married. But sometimes a rabbit is just a rabbit.

So is a crayon just a crayon? I think the difference may lie in what a kid gets out of reading this book. In the case of The Black Rabbit, few kids are going to equate themselves with fluffy bunnies. Even if they do, the black rabbit is ultimately the hero of the story. There’s a bit of a difference with crayons. Kids are constantly coloring themselves and the people they love with the crayons they have on hand. Crayola, knowing this, even released a brand of multicultural crayons of varying brown tones in response to the public’s desire for that very product. So to produce a book where pink and flesh are equated with skin tones and that possibility isn’t even considered with beige or brown makes for a complicated reading. It’s an easy mistake to make if you’re not thinking about it at first, but you would have thought that someone in the course of editing this thing might have brought the point up with Mr. Daywalt. Heck, they might have brought it up with Jeffers too, since he’s the one who came up with the naked monster picture in the first place.

Getting away from brown, beige, and peach crayons entirely, let’s look at the book in terms of its other merits. When I was a kid I definitely ascribed personalities to inanimate objects. Not just dolls and toys, oh no. I could turn a game of War into a long drawn out romantic epic, thanks to the personalities ascribed to various playing cards. And crayons were no exception. Each one had a different part to play. They dealt with jealousies and romances, the whole nine yards. So in that frame of mind, The Day the Crayons Quit speaks to something very real. Kids like to believe that the objects that they play with are as invested in the experience as the kids themselves. So Daywalt has clearly found a unique but necessary niche. If he follows the book up with a story of playing cards we’ll know he’s on the right track.

This is also an epistolary picture book. I don’t know if Daywalt knows this, but a common assignment given by a variety of different elementary school teachers requires kids to read epistolary books (Dear Mrs. LaRue, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman, etc.). As such, The Day the Crayons Quit is no doubt destined to remain on multiple children’s book lists for decades and decades to come.

Which is a bit of a pity since the book itself is tailor made for an adult readership. Sure, some kids are going to get a real kick out of it. But as I read through the book I kept thinking that were it not for the art of Oliver Jeffers, this title would be a difficult read. After all, it’s pretty much all about the words. Jeffers does what he can to give as much life and vitality as he can to the text, but there are twelve letters in here and around the orange and yellow crayons you’ll be forgiven if your attention starts to wane.

That’s why the success of the book (and success it indeed is) can be ascribed primarily to its illustrator. I began to notice that the childlike style of the art can really, believably be the style of a kid. This is undoubtedly why Jeffers was picked for the project in the first place. Aside from David Shannon it can be difficult to find artists that replicate children’s art styles without coming off as half-cooked. Jeffers has also taken great pains to put in as many small clever details as possible, and it makes for a very rewarding rereading. At first you wouldn’t notice. His Santa on a fire truck is straightforward. The dragon accidentally burning a clump of grapes is cute but for me the book really picks up with (no surprise here) the moment when Jeffers gets to draw a penguin. Even the paper he chooses for each crayon is interesting and significant. Admittedly I was a little surprised that the purple crayon’s letter wasn’t written on lined paper (since it’s such a stickler for staying inside the lines) while the gray crayon’s was. His faux coloring books are fun in and of themselves but it’s the final picture that’s worth it. There are a lot of hat tips to the crayons’ demands to be found here, from black rainbows to white cats. I think the character of Duncan still totally forgot to pay heed to blue’s request, but otherwise it’s on the up and up. You could even ignore that all the humans are drawn with pink or peach or white crayons, if you had half a mind to.

That’s sort of what makes the problems I have with the book such a bummer. There’s really good stuff going on here! Oliver Jeffers is fun to watch no matter what he does and Daywalt has the makings of a fine author for kids. The troubles come when you look at what the book is saying. Fans of a certain stripe are sure to disregard my concerns with a wave of their hand. “She’s reading WAY too much into this”, they might say. Probably. But it seems to me that you cannot write a book about crayons and mention peach and pink as naked without acknowledging that not every kid in the world thinks of those colors as a flesh tones. I mean, that’s just obvious. Here’s beige again: “I am BEIGE and I am proud.” Beige power, eh? Come on, little crayon. Time for you to think outside the box.

On shelves now.

Citation: Bird, E. (2013, August 5). Review of the Day: The day the crayons quit. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2013/08/05/review-of-the-day-the-day-the-crayons-quite-by-drew-daywalt/

Library Use: This book would be a wonderful addition to any library, and it could help in teaching students about how hungry little caterpillars become beautiful butterflies. It works as a science book or as an introduction to colors, shapes, foods, and insects.