It’s About Time, Max!-Book Review

Telling time is a skill everyone learns but the author Kitty Richards gets it right in her children story, It’s About Time Max! The story makes the old adage time flies when you’re having fun come true. This coming of age story deals with how to tell time, a topic that many people forget when they become adults. This story will have children wondering how an author can understand their feelings so well, and will have adults remembering their first experience with time.
Max is in control of his routine through the power of his digital watch. One morning his digital watch disappears and now his whole world is turned upside down. Max is in a hurry accepts a different watch from his sister, but unbeknownst to him it is a clock with hands. Max struggles with his transition from a digital clock to a clock with hands on it. Because of his struggle with time he is late to school and to a monster movie. That is until his family decides to come to his rescue and teach Max how to tell time with a game.
Understanding the normal routine of Max and how it gets so messy with misunderstanding of time is a great depiction of our society. Time is a crucial element to human life and the portrayal of this aspect of life in this story lets children understand how important it is to tell time. Some stories see to have the right premises but go wrong in their storytelling. The opposite occurred in this story, Kitty Richards, got this premise right and the story paid dividends for it.
Richards, Kitty. (2000). It’s About Time Max! New York: The Kane Press.

Zoom

I think the book Zoom is a neat to look at. I have a problem giving any literary merit to the book. I compare this book to a cake or ice cream. Zoom is sweet and goes great after another reading that has more nutritional value. Zoom is not a main course by itself, but is a good dessert.

Chapter 15

As a child I never saw a book that would be considered multicultural. I am glad to see the emergence and popularity of these type of books. It is not only a benefit to the students that the book targets but it also helps other students become more informed on other cultures besides their own.

Baby Mouse Craft Lesson

Many students can identify with a fear that they must face. This craft lesson is intended for a older audience of maybe 4th to 5th graders. In the story Baby Mouse overcomes her fear of dodge ball. I would read the book aloud and have the students discuss what they have a fear of and what they have done to overcome their fear. I would have the children write what their fear is and describe the feelings they get when they are encountering their fear. After they finish writing they can share the feelings that they go through.

Baby Mouse

I thought the book was extremely funny. I am not sure but to me it felt as if the book was a parody of super heroes and comic books. Also I thought the story was a bit chaotic and not easy to follow for a young reader.

Stuarts Cape Craft Lesson

The part of the book that I really enjoyed was when the exotic animals did not like that Stuart was pretending to be the them, so they come and live the day like Stuart does. I think that this is an important lesson for a child to learn. This could occur with the older kids of fourth or third grade. I would have the children to research on an animal of their choosing. They would need learn the way that animal lives and what that animal typically does during their routine. Like what they eat, where they sleep, do they live in packs. These are all questions the children need to be able to answer, because they then are going to write a paper about if they were a animal, what would their day consist of. The students paper would be in first person as if they are the animal, and write a story about what they did for the day. They would incorporate all the facts they researched.

Chapter 13

When I was a young reader my favorite reads were biographies. My favorite were sports figures and historical biographies. I think that young students can really enjoy a great biography especially like the book said trendy biographies. I just think that biographies may not offer up the most imagination especially if they are long reads. But there is much to benefit from in the books to read.

Stuart's Cape

Stuart's cape is a marvelous little book. One of the things that truly enjoyed out of the book is the humor. There are many instances of humor, but it is not silly slapstick humor. This is a smart book with many intelligent parts to it. I love the part where mad because they did not like that stuart pretended to be animals, but then Stuart said why not you can be me. The reverse role play to me was hilarious.

Craft Lesson Sidewalk Circus

I think that to fully appreciate Sidewalk Circus you must understand the details in the book. I would present this craft lesson to fourth graders in the context of art class. I would have them draw me a story with no words and show them sidewalk circus as an example. The students will be split into groups because hopefully each student will possess different talents. One of the main aspects of this assignment is for student to organize themselves into different tasks. There can be the artist and then storyboard designers. Someone needs to come up with the concept. All the roles that this assignment encompasses will be explained to the students. The art can be drawn, it can be taken from magazines clips. Anything can be used as long as a story is being told in a coherent manner.

Side Walk Circus

I did not like this book mainly because I really did not think it was suitable for children. Looking at the pictures takes intuitiveness I do not think that children will understand the book. I personally was a little bored by the picture book myself, I understood the premise but I did not find any literary merit in the book.

Poetry Folder

Introduction

There is a wide variety poems that I have included in this poetry folder. Every single poem that I have included does not make sense in my choice. There are some funny poems and then there are some that I chose because of the illustration that comes with the poem.
As a child I never fully appreciated poetry because it was thrown at me. The poems that I was forced to read were all the classics and although they have literary merit, as a child I did not find them interesting. As a teacher I will try not force the classics at students, and that is the reason why I picked some poetry that may not be considered a classic. There needs to be a diverse mixture of literature, because if there is only serious poetry students do not feel creative. My selected poems touch on a myriad of subjects and hopefully the attitude that I am trying to portray will be displayed when I become a teacher.
I also think it is important to select authors who share different point of views. I love Langston Hughes and Janet S. Wong, Karen English but they differ from the other authors that I chose, which creates the diverse point of view that I am so interested in.

Dinosaurs
By Valerie Worth

Worth, Valerie. (1976). More Small Poems. Illus. Natalie Babbitt.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


I like this poem because it invokes the imagination of all readers. I think it also explains the obvious in that no one has ever seen a dinosaur but still they are an important part of history. This poem I think describes very well the feeling of a young child.
I think that a teacher could use this poem as a preface to teaching dinosaurs. This would be a good start to explain to children that dinosaurs existed long ago and no one has ever seen a dinosaur but their bones exist. This is a good conversation starter for a dinosaur unit.

Open House by Aileen Fisher

Fisher, Aileen. (1965). In the Woods, in the Meadow, in the Sky. New
York: Scribner.

This poem introduces many animals that are not found in a city. Animals like the katydid, porcupine and bear are not common animals, and if a teacher is teaching about woodland animals this is a great poem. Also the idea of a tree having feelings and desires is good introduction for manipulating writing. Students need to know that their writing can take them anywhere and they can tackle any type of writing and still be in control. If they want to write about a stick or a pond and personify, that is okay because it is allowed.

Hand-Me-Downs
By Bob Zanger

Lansky, Bruce. (1994). A Bad Case Of The Giggles : Kids Pick the
Funniest Poems, Book #2. Illus. Stephen Carpenter. New York:
Meadowbrook Press

This poem caught my eye because of the humor. It is not typical humor that children may encounter. The idea of a boy receiving clothes from his sisters and the fact he wears them is a simple twist. I also want to instill in students not all literature needs to be serious. There is a place for humor in literature and I think this poem is done in a tactful manner. This is good for the students to embark on their creativity.

I Don’t Care [Tyrell]
By Karen English

English, Karen. (2004). Speak to Me: And I Will Listen Between the
Lines. Illus. Amy June Bates. San Francisco, California: Farrar
Strous, Giroux.

I love this poem because I feel that it represents today’s society. This is real and I see this in class rooms today. I think there are certain ways children are portrayed that are not characteristic of today’s kids. This poem can be shared with children, especially those who this poem affects. It can even inspire them to write poetry or to read because, they will feel that someone understands them.

The Dream Keeper
By Langston Hughes

Hughes, Langston. (1996). The Dream Keeper and Other Poems.
Knopf Books for Young Readers.

The flow of this poem sounds really beautiful. As short as it is it still has a dream world feel to it, which is what it is trying to do. I have never found felt as part of a poem as this one does for me. The positivity of this poem is great for students. This is a great poet and to have the students experience this would be great.

Me
By Walter de la Mare

De La Mare, Walter. "Descriptive". Online. Internet. 5 March, 2008.
Available:http://www.Encyclopedia.org/Descriptivepoetry.htm

The message that this poem gives is insightful. I like what de la Mare is trying to say and the individuality he gives. A fourth grader may not quite get the idea but I think with explanation that it can be good exposure to them.

You Enter A Poem…
By Robert Hirsch

Hirsch, Robin. (2002). FEG: Ridiculous Stupid Poems for Intelligent
Children. New York: Little, Brown.

I found it ironic that a poem describes how you experience a poem. It felt like there was depth to this poem even with the comparison to a bathroom. The comparison to the bathroom added comedic affect, and it did its job. This particular poem can be showed to students when teaching a poem. This can be a poem to show a fourth grader, so they can understand the nuances of a poem.

ON*O*MAT*O*POE*IA
By Robin Hirsch

Hirsch, Robin. (2002). FEG: Ridiculous Stupid Poems for Intelligent
Children. New York: Little, Brown.

This poem is very intelligent and plays on the concept of onomatopoeia. This is a great introduction for students who are learning about onomatopoeia. My favorite part is the last part where he puts all the words together to form ON A MAT O PIA.

Mountain/Volcano
By Janet S. Wong

Wong, S. Janet. (2007). Twist: Yoga Poems. Illus. Julie Paschkis.
Margaret K. McElderry Books,

I like the creativity of this poem. The comparison to a mountain and volcano is cool. This would also be a good poem to introduce for key terms for mountains and volcanos. Words like lava, ash, and steam are important key terms to learn.

The Lion and the Mouse
By Jane Yolen

Yolen, Jane. (1995). A Sip of Aesop. Illus. Karen Barbour. San
Francisco: Blue Sky Press.

The adaptation of Aesop’s Fables into a poem is awesome. This poem is intended for older children, but it puts a new age feel on the old story. Children can learn about this when they encounter fables and morals of stories.

When a Cop Stops You By Janet S. Wong

Wong, Janet S. “Poems and Stories”. 5 March, 2008. Online,
Internet. Available: http://www. Janetwong.com/poems
/cop.cfm.

I think this poem is appropriate for children because it lets them know that even adults get nervous around authority figures. Children will like this poem.

Moon
By Karla Kuskin

Kusin, Karla. (2003). Moon Have You Met My Mother? Illus. Sergio
Ruzzier. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

I ran across this poem during an episode of The Wire on HBO. It was not the real version of this poem, it was an urban version, but they gave credit to this poem. I looked this poem up and liked it. This poem is appropriate for young age groups and can be used to teach about the moon and the stars.

Appearances to the Contrary
By Sara Holbrook

Holbrook, Sara. (2002). Wham! It’s A Poetry Jam: Discovering
Performance Poetry. Boyds Mills Press.

I think much of what children say or do about literature is not expressive. This poem and specifically this whole book changes that point of view and allows children to be free in their writing. Sara Holbrook tries to teach children how to have a poetry jam and this is just one of her many examples. Also kids can relate with this poem.

Bug Show
By Calef Brown

Brown, Calef. (2006). Flamingos on the Roof. Los Angeles: Houghton
Mifflin.

This poem caught my eye along with illustrations of color. The illustration that goes with this poem helps to make it better. It is a fun poem with a cool flow.

A Hippopotamusn’t
By J. Patrick Lewis

Lewis, Patrick J. “Hippo Poems”. Online, Internet 5 March 2008.
Available:http://members.aol.com/HippoPage/hipppoem.htm#lewis1http://members.aol.com/HippoPage/hipppoem.htm#lewis1.

The creativity of J. Patrick Lewis is incredible and I love how his poems are put together. This is a great poem to show students that there are no limits in literature especially in creativity.

Invisible Boy
By Shel Silverstein

Silverstein, Shel. “Favorite Poems”. Online 5 March 2008.
Available: http:/ /www.cqsb.qc.ca/svs/434/poems.htm.

I am a fan of Shel Silverstein and think highly of her poetry. For me this poem emits vivid imagery but what is strange is the imagery for me is invisible. Picture being able to see an invisible mouse in your head even though the author clearly says he is invisible. I think that the students would get enjoyment from this poem.

Creep and Slither
By J. Patrick Lewis

Lewis, Patrick J. (1998). Doodle Dandies: Poems That Take Shape.
Illus.Lisa Desimini. S&S Athenum.

This is not normally the way the poem is viewed. It is usually made in the shape of a snake. I like how J. Patrick Lewis has such intelligent poetry and it is done in a creative way.

In Mother's Shadow By Janet S. Wong

Wong, Janet S. (2001). The Rainbow Hand: Poems About Mother and
Children. Illus. Jennifer Hewiston. Simon & Schuster
Children's Publishing

I personally love this poem because of the duality of it. To me there is a literal meaning and an abstract concept. The girl is literally following her mother and her mother is protecting. Then there is the fact that the child is walking her mother’s shadow. This is a really cool poem.

Smart
By Shel Silverstein

Silverstein, Shel. (1974). Where the Sidewalk Ends. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publisher.

I was presented this poem in a math class and I found it to be very clever. The concept of more 5 pennies being more than 1 dollar because five is more than 1 is smart. This could be a cool activity to have kids do when learning about money.

Once
By Katie McAllaster Weaver

Weaver, McAllaster Katie. “Journal 21”. Online, Internet.
5 March 2008. Available http://kotapress.com/journal
/Archive/journal_issue5/journal21.htm

I love this poem because it talks about death in a interesting way. Imagination of stars representing people and when one goes away a person dies is neat. An older fourth grader I can see would find this interesting.

Read Aloud 2 - Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday

I read the book Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday, by Judith Viorst. This book has numbers in it and show a child who has a dollar and spends his money on various items and the book keeps track of his balance. The child vows he will not spend all of it, although he eventually does. This book mainly serves to children in 1st-2nd grade. I chose to read it to my nephew who is 2nd grade. He loves to have money and is similar to the boy in the book because he likes to save, but he buys items at the same time. I wanted my nephew mainly to look at the book and identify with the child a little bit, but also since the books uses numbers he could learn to manage money better. I don't mean make better buys, I mean for him to be able to keep count with the money better. After I finished reading the book he asked me if we could count the money he saved.

Craft Lesson 5: Yum! MmMm! Que! Rico!

§113.5. Social Studies, Grade 3.
(4) Throughout social studies in Kindergarten-Grade 12, students build a foundation in history; geography; economics; government; citizenship; culture; science, technology, and society; and social studies skills. The content, as appropriate for the grade level or course, enables students to understand the importance of patriotism, function in a free enterprise society, and appreciate the basic democratic values of our state and nation as referenced in the Texas Education Code, §28.002(h).

4th Grade
Discussion
Students do not always comprehend that the things they enjoy on a daily basis have a history. They may not understand that the foods they enjoy originate in another country and may be prepared differently or eaten a different way.

Teach It
After reading the story I would let the children pick a different food they enjoy. Examples could be peanut butter, pizza, chips, anything they enjoy and create a timeline of major events that has happened for their food. I would tell them to write a story that involves their food they pick and have something funny happen. We may be able to incorporate the story about bubble gum also to serve as an example. They would first study their food such as origin and intended use. Who invented it. This would all go in a report along with their timeline.

Chapter 12

I think that historical fiction is a really cool idea. Although I don't know if I have personally read any books regarding historical fiction. I think that reading this type of book to children can make history a more interesting topic. In history children aren't allowed to be creative when they study history. This can be a turn off for some, but with the introduction of ficiton books to compliment a lesson can make a lesson fun.

Yum! MmMm! Que Rico!

The book is really neat. I think children will love the illustrations. The text on the other hand was not something I think children will like. The text did not flow easily of the tongue. It was sort of hard to say out loud, and for some reason it felt tiresome. The words were great description but the way they were put together made the flow hard. I did love the history of each food. I found it very interesting. I don't know if children will find it interesting? Overall the book is cool to look at and is worth reading to children, but the only hang up I have is the flow of the text.

Read Aloud Plan

The book that I plan to read is What Baby Wants, by Phyllis Root. The age group targeted is around five to six years old. This book could work in kindergarten or early first grade. The book has some word play and has many animals that make many sounds. The book is entertaining and will keep the children’s attention. The book keeps the children guessing when the baby will calm down. It becomes sort of a guessing game for the children. Also the kids understand that in books it is okay to make words out of sounds. There are also parts of the book where the children are able to participate, so I expect children to have fun participating in the book.
I read the book to some my two nephew’s one who is six and the other is five They followed along and were having fun with the book. They liked that they were able to anticipate when the baby would cry. If I paused when the baby was to cry in the book, they would do it for me.

Chapter 11

I never thought about contemorary realistic fiction as a genre. This chapter has made me realize this genre exists, and also is the most popular for children. I can understand why this genre is the most popular. It lets children identify with realistic plots that they can imagine as themselves. They can compare the characters to themself, and this is extremely important to kids. Kids want to read about people who have similar interests as themselves.

Craft Lesson: My Many Colored Days

TEKS
(4) Listening/speaking/communication. The student communicates clearly by putting thoughts and feelings into spoken words. The student is expected to:
(A) learn the vocabulary of school such as numbers, shapes, colors, directions, and categories (K-1);
(B) use vocabulary to describe clearly ideas, feelings, and experiences (K-3);
Grades To Teach: Kindergarten

Discussion
Children can find it difficult to understand why they are upset or why they are happy. Understanding their emotions is not an easy task. My Many Colored Days does a great job interpreting the emotion linked with a color and an animal. The concept of understanding one's emotion is easier when you can link it with a color. Everyone's interpretation of color and emotion is different and the student's will be different. It will show expression and will show a grasp of emotion.

How To Teach It
I would set up stations each with a different color. I would also give the student as many choices for animals as possible. Each student would choose a color and an emotion; such as happy, sad, etc. The student will then relate the color with the emotion and an animal and give an explanation what it means. The student would pick three in all and color the animal. The teacher will help them write the expression they want.

Children's Literature Autobiography

I relate literature to a roller coaster. I have had so many up and downs in my life. There are times where literature was a fun activity and then there were times when reading was a chore. As I grew older I innately began to distinguish two types of literature, one where I do on my own time and the other which is required. Over a period of time my leisure reading continually waned whereas my required reading began to increase.
My experience in literature stems from my parents. My mother would read to me nightly. I remember the first book I loved was the Ugly Duckling. I loved the book so much that I memorized the words to the book and tricked my family into believing that I could read at age four with no training. When I entered school I was exposed to books and reading, so it was an easy transition when I entered school. I picked up reading easily and was the top reader in my class for first, second, and third grade. I was constantly complimented on my reading by my teachers and it felt good to have such positive reinforcement in my reading. I was encouraged to go to the library on my own to check out books as a reward for finishing work early. I do not remember much of the books that I read early, but there are certain books I do remember. Willy Wonka and Space Travel, Matilda, and tons of biographies on athletes were some of the literature I was reading.
One of the best literary moments in school came on a read aloud in the fifth grade. My teacher read, Where the Red Fern Grows aloud. This book reached me as well as others in the class. If the class was acting up our teacher would threaten to not read the book to us in class. This would actually work on most of the class because we were so encaptured in the book. To be honest I do not remember the plot or many characters, but I do remember the impact the book had me and my classmates. It was my first experience with a book that grabbed hold of me. I had never felt that feeling before. I also remember in the same grade, that the teacher would let us read silently every Friday for one hour to our selves. She would let us choose any book we wanted and eat a snack and a clear liquid. This was my only teacher that I can remember that allotted time for the whole class to have free reading time. She had the most impact early on in my development as a reader.
The next year the only type of reading that our teacher did was in the form of book reports. Most of the time I did not even read the book I would just copy from the back of the book, and I received my passing grades with no problem. This was pretty much the theme for most of middle school. We did read from the text aloud in class and then answer some questions after we read. One creative idea was the construction of a diorama and then the creation of a documentary from biographies that we could choose. Those were the highlights from middle school.
The beginning of high school began the trend to Advanced Placement classes. This entailed the reading of many fine classics and then doing some sort of literary analysis. Teachers always harped on thinking deeper, delve deeper, or analyze this book. Use a yellow highlighter for diction and a green one for imagery. This was what happened in most of my literature classes in High School. The author that appears over and over again, and is not a welcome sight for any teenager is William Shakespeare. To this day I can not read Shakespeare. Two reasons I do not like Shakespeare is first I can not understand his plays and second it is irrelevant to teenagers. The worst book that was assigned was The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner. I did not understand this book and I do not think that I got past the second chapter.
There were a few good books that I read in High School that I really enjoyed, but they only let me down. My favorite book was Wuthering Heights. I really enjoyed it and I read it over Christmas break. I finished the book way ahead of schedule and I was looking forward to actually knowing something about the book in class. The teacher began by analyzing some theme about the book, which I really did not get. The theme she went over was not something I was interested in. I thought that since I did not get the same feeling as she talked about, that I did not fully understand the book myself. I felt that I was not smart because I did not think intelligently like the others in the class. Now I realize that just because I did not pick up the same theme does not mean that I am any less intelligent. I had my own thoughts hers were from literary analysis book she bought. There was also no major discussion or feeling from the class. This was extremely disappointing because I really enjoyed the book and was looking forward to discussing the book for it not to happen. Another book I really enjoyed was The Good Earth. This was another book that I really enjoyed, but the teacher did not really care much about it. So all we did was just skim it and move on to some other book.
Overall I do enjoy reading but I suffered a rough patch during the high school years and it took a while to regain some sort of mild passion for books. Nowadays I read John Grisham books, historical books and my favorite type of reading is fantasy books. In writing this I have learned that I do enjoy reading and I started off well in my early years reading. In middle school I continued to read a little, but in high school my reading declined significantly. During college reading was not on priority list and now that I am trying to obtain my teachers certification I started to read again. I did feel discouraged about reading at one time, but no longer can I let negative experience influence what I do.

My Many Colored Days

The aspect of this book that I really like is the use of color and expression. The book does not explicitly relate mood and color, but relates color with adjectives that describe animals; which in turn describe the mood. To me it is sort of ingenious. It makes me think why couldn't I come up with that. The book is also good to teach many concepts. Color, emotions, and animals can all easily be taught.

Chapter 10

I love the defense of fantasy in this chapter. I think that many people look down upon the genre of fantasy. Fantasy is one of my favorite types of reads, and I think that many times this genre is well written. In the upper level books such as Lord of the Rings there are underlying themes regarding the human condition. In this chapter I also like the motifs they classify in fantasy. It is interesting to read about all the different types of fantasies there are.

Craft Lesson: Minn and Jake

TEKS
(H) analyze characters, including their traits, motivations, conflicts, points of view, relationships, and changes they undergo (4-8);

Discussion
I think that most children can relate with the characters in Minn and Jake. The friendship they share and the events that shape their relationship are totally credible to children. Children may not be aware of their relationships and how important it is, whether it is their family or a friend. Children need to be made conscious of their social development.

How To Teach It
I would ask the children to read the book but not write any papers or present any material. I would ask them questions about the relationship of Minn and Jake, and then have them relate it personally. As the class is reading their book I would like to have them create a journal and update regularly with their own thoughts about the book. I would also like for them to mix their own experiences in, so they can compare with the book. They would turn in their journal. The point of the journal is to try and get them to analyze characters, traits, relationships, and motivations, but not by purpose. It will happen by trying to relate themselves to the characters in the book. When a person reads a book for fun, they do not intentionally analyze the book, but they think to themselves and compare to their own experiences. That is what I want to accomplish in this assignment.

Minn and Jake

This was a great book about how two kids can become great friends. I especially loved the end of the book about how much they were going to miss each other. My favorite part was when Minn realized that Jake was a great friend and she did not want to lose him. To me Minn seemed like her friends were disposable, but the thought of Jake leaving upset her. She learned what true friendship is.

Chapter 18

I love chapter 18 and how it describes a trade book as an important part of learning. I remember when I was in school, I never felt that I had the freedom to be creative. Learning has always been structured and there was never any room to deviate from textbooks or lessons that the teacher was learning. After reading the chapter I have learned that trade books are as essential to learning as textbooks or references.

Chapter 6-8

I found interesting in chapter 8 how it describes the fragileness of teaching poetry. Poetry is not an easy form of literature to understand and if you rush kids into it, it may have negative effects on the kids. I also like that the text points out that children have a natural affinity for poetry because of nursery rhyme books. Another topic the books speaks about is haiku. Honestly I don't even remember writing haiku myself. If you asked me about that today, I couldn't even tell you how to write haiku.

Minn and Jake

This story has amazed me. This is the kind of book I would have read in my childhood. So far with Janet Wong she provides great meaning to stories and teaches children lessons in her stories. Specifically the concept of creating two different people and have them become friends is creative idea. I am also liking that the book is separated in chapters. This gives kids a feeling that they are reading a mature book like an adult, which encourages them to keep reading.

TEKS Used
(2) Listening/speaking/culture. The student listens and speaks to gain knowledge of his/her own culture, the culture of others, and the common elements of cultures. The student is expected to:
(A) connect experiences and ideas with those of others through speaking and listening (K-3); and
(B) compare language and oral traditions (family stories) that reflect customs, regions, and cultures (K-3).

Teaching Level 2nd Grade
Discussion
In the short story Apple Pie American Pie the main character is Chinese-American and is upset that her family does not celebrate Fourth of July like a normal American family. She goes on to describe all the activities her family does on the holiday. In this story there are cultural cues that distinguish her from other American families. For example her family owns a Chinese restaurant and her father said they invented fireworks. Many children do not know they are different in the foods they eat or traditions they celebrate. Children need to know that it is okay to be different and to embrace their culture in the school setting.

How To Teach It
First I would start by reading the book aloud and point out to the students that her family is Chinese and they have different cultural foods to eat, and I would also point out the fireworks comment. As I read the book I would ask the kids if they ever have eaten Chinese food or used fireworks. This would be to show that the kids have done activities inspired by the Chinese. After the read aloud I would ask the children to write a paragraph about what they did on Fourth of July. Then I would ask some of the children to orally share what they wrote. In the end the children will see differences in other kids cultures and the teacher will emphasize that it is okay to have different customs.

Chapters 1-5

Before starting this class I never really took notice of how important children's books are. I remember liking books as a child and I was read to many times, but there is depth to these books that I never imagined. What really impresses me is the illustrations inside these books. I believe they are as equally important as the text. Chapter made me realize just how important the illustration are.

Buzz

Buzz was a good book. The repetiveness of the word "Buzz" created a rhythm to story and can keep a child's interest. It also helps children to identify the word "Buzz". The story can also make children aware of their environment. They may start to notice things that they never noticed before.

American Pie Fourth of July

American Pie Fourth of July was a great book. I thought the book has a great meaning of being who you are. I think the book has a continual meaning that grows, depending on the maturity of the reader. As I read the book I got the message of appreciating hard work and keeping a part of you.