Poems in the Attic Review by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grimes, Nikki. Poems in the Attic. Lee and Low Books: New York, 2015. ISBN 9781620140277

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
A seven-year-old girl stays with her grandmother while her mother is away for three days. She finds a box in grandma's attic that contains several short poems her mother wrote as a girl. Her mother's family moved a lot because her grandfather was in the military, and the poems reflected her mother's thoughts about every city they lived in during her youth. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Nikki Grimes does an extraordinary job using poetry to share life experiences from mother to daughter in Poems in the Attic. On the left-hand page, the daughter writes free verse poems in response to her mother's Tanka poems (featured on the right-hand side page) written about experiences she had living around the world as a girl.

Elizabeth Zunon provided the illustrations for this book, and they do a great job of linking the time jump between the present and the past and giving depth to the mother's history. What I found interesting was that illustrations of the daughter's experiences and thoughts are often inside while her mother's exploration of each place she's lived are primarily outside in nature. This is likely because the girl admits that she has always lived in the city, but it also represents a modern generational difference.

Grimes uses very carefully chosen words to paint pictures of each "home." "As we watched/ this dancing rainbow/ shimmy 'cross Alaska's sky" is a wonderful portrayal of the northern lights. But even more importantly than the vivid and colorful memories are the emotional depths that both mother and daughter feel about the experiences in the poems. Grimes sets the mood and tells a story with just a few perfect words, "I don't know how she did it,/ moving all the time./ I get dizzy thinking about/ all those goodbyes," depicts the daughter's empathy for her mother's constant change and the emotional upheaval she must have felt. The last poem she reads propels the daughter to action. In response, the daughter decides to record her own thoughts and create her own book of poetry interweaving her thoughts with her mother's work, and she presents the homemade book to her mother as a gift.

In the author's note Grimes said she moved a lot as child, although her parents weren't in the military. So when writing this book, she was able to channel that emotion into the poetry along side the experiences of those who grew up moving from one U.S. Air Force base to another.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee 2016
Arnold Adoff Poetry Award Honor
Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year 2016
CCBC Choices 2016
LA Times Summer Reading List
NCTE Notable Poetry List 2016
New York City Department of Education National Poetry Month Recommendation

From Booklist
"A book about discoveries, this celebrates poetry and the quixotic life of a military family. A young girl response in free verse to the poems she uncovers in the attic, poems her mother wrote in tanka (a form of Japanese poetry) about the wonder of her experiences living throughout the world." 

From School Library Journal
"Sweet and accessible but never simplistic, this collection captures the experience of a military childhood with graceful sophistication. Grimes uses different styles of poem for each voice (free verse for the daughter and tanka poems for the mother), a choice that she discusses in an explanatory note on poetry forms that will serve budding poets and teachers alike. Rendered in acrylic, oil and collage, Zunon's warm, vibrant illustrations complement the text perfectly. Readers with an especially keen interest in the locations highlighted can look to a complete list of Air Force Bases appended. VERDICT A gem of a book." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other books by Nikki Grimes:

• My Man Blue. ISBN 9780142301975
• One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. ISBN 978161963548
• Welcome Precious. ISBN 9780439557023

Other Poetry Picture Books relating to historical topics: 

• Hughes, Langston. I, Too, Am America. ISBN 9781442420083
• Weather ford, Carole Boston. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer. ISBN 9780763665319
• Wilson, Edwin Graves, PhD. Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou. ISBN 9781402720239

This selection of recommended poetry picture books for children all relate to American history, particularly the Civil Rights movement. Too often, Grimes notes on her website, children are exposed only to humorous poetry. Grimes has spent her life creating poetry that illicit deep emotional connections and can both stand alone and serve as a broader narrative, and she is not alone in this mission.

The books above present American heroes like Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer and Maya Angelou in presentations welcoming to children. Thus, making one of America's greatest struggles and the emotions of the Civil Rights movement accessible to our youngest citizens.

The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale Review by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Guarnaccia, Steven. The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale. Abrams: New York, 2009. ISBN 9780810989412

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Three brothers, who are pigs, set out to build homes modeled after the styles of three famous architects, but a bully of a wolf comes out of the nearby woods and proceeds to ruin their fancy artistic homes in an attempt to eat the pigs! 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale is a fractured fairytale version of a traditional Three Little Pigs story. The differences lie in the illustrations, which are both funny and functional, similar to some of the homes the pigs built, as well as the design of their housewares. This story is an ode primarily to Frank Lloyd Wright, as his concrete Fallingwater house is the one that withstands the most huffing and puffing, but also Frank Gehry and Philip Johnson. Each pig is drawn similarly to  these architects, wearing their particular style of clothing. In addition, the end sheets of the book are drawn to identify all of the household and architectural images (furniture, rugs, pieces of art) that are used, but not explained, in the story part of the book.

The story is also a trickster tale. By the time the wolf gets to the third little pig with the concrete house that cannot be blown down, the pig uses many different tricks to evade the wolf and still get through his day, so he can't be eaten while he is out and about. He also shelters his two brothers at his home.

I'm not sure using this book in a fairy tale unit is a particularly great version for children unfamiliar or unenthused with 20th century architecture. It certainly can be complementary, as it follows the traditional huff and puff model, but for teachers planning a unit on building, architecture and different kinds of homes, it would make a decent addition to the library and reading time because the images also show the steps and materials used in building a home. There are blueprints, building samples, cement trucks, measuring tools, etc., that could all increase a child's vocabulary about how buildings are built. A teacher can also draw parallels between the pigs' identities and the real architects biographies.

The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale relies on the familiar fairytale story, and seeing the pigs in a new light may renew a child's interest in fairy tales. Like many fairy tales, good triumphs over bad in the end, which is comforting, and can also lead to a conversation about how to identify and deal with bullies in the world.

This is a great tale to use for younger children because there's no death, but Guarnaccia does a great job of drawing the bad wolf complete with leather jacket, leather boots, spiked hair and sunglasses. He even rides around on a motorcycle like a bad boy!

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
From Booklist
"As in Goldilocks and the Three Bears: A Tale Moderne (2000), Guarnaccia combines a delightfully fractured fairy tale with an ultrastylish, kid-friendly primer of twentieth-century design. Here, each of the three little pigs is a porcine doppelgänger for a world-famous architect: Frank Gehry (who lives in a house of scraps), Philip Johnson (whose house is of glass), and Frank Lloyd Wright, whose sturdy, bring Fallingwater becomes the pigs' refuge from the wolf." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other fractured fairy tales about the three little pigs to delight children:

• Sciesczka, Jon. The True Story of Three Little Pigs. ISBN 9780670827596
• Teague, Mark. The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf. ISBN 9780439915014
• Trivizas, Eugene. The Three Little Wolves and Big Bad Pig. ISBN 9780689505690

Other books about building for children: 

• Beatty, Andrea. Iggy Peck, Architect. ISBN 9780810911062
• Gibbons, Gail. How a House is Built. ISBN 9780823412327
• Newhouse, Maxwell. The House that Max Built. ISBN 9780887767746
• Ritchie, Scot. Look at that Building. ISBN9781554536962

While teaching pre-school, one of the always popular units with my students was building. We did it all the time in the block area, but any real life connections my students could make to adult jobs that they thought were important were always a hit. Fixing and building things was something my three-year-old students loved to do. So learning the vocabulary associated with building, seeing and using the tools, and learning about the trucks in all of our picture book reading was very exciting.

In addition to the usual blocks, train tracks and Duplos, we introduced the children to building structures out of toothpicks and marshmallows, which is a great way to work on fine motor skills at the same time. We built with different kinds of clay to build-up hand strength and creativity. We drew what the buildings looks like that we lived in and talked about structure (walls, floor, roof, windows). We took a tour of our school to see what else made up a good structure: closets, boiler room, bathrooms!

Children wore hard hats and tool belts around the class pretending to fix bookcases with tools. And, of course, we had lots and lots of trucks. Toy trucks in the sandbox, trucks to ride on, cardboard trucks that we painted and made out of old boxes and trips to Touch-a-truck events in our town. The pre-schoolers were fascinated by all the buildings that made up a town, and by the end of the three weeks, they would engage in side-by-side and interactive play by building a town out of blocks and moving the play people and cars around the town telling their own builder stories.

Rapunzel Review by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Zelinsky, Paul O. Rapunzel. Dutton: New York, 1997. ISBN 0525456074

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Long ago a young couple is expecting their first child when the wife gets a desperate craving to eat rapunzel from the garden next door. The garden belongs to a sorceress, but the pregnant woman cannot withstand the craving any more, so her young husband steals the rapunzel from the garden and gets caught! 

The sorceress gives him a choice between the life of his wife or relinquishing their child when it is born. Desperate to save his wife, the young father hands his only child, named Rapunzel, over to the sorceress. Rapunzel is raised by the sorceress, and she serves as an almost mother-like figure. 

When Rapunzel reaches adolescence, the sorceress takes her to a beautiful tower in the middle of the woods and leaves her there. The only way into the tower is to climb Rapunzel's beautiful, red-blonde hair.  One day a young prince hears Rapunzel singing and wants to meet her. He fools her and calls for her to send down her hair. Rapunzel does not realize he is not the sorceress until it is too late. The prince appeases Rapunzel with compliments and the two fall in love and marry. Soon Rapunzel is pregnant and banished by the sorceress. Alone and pregnant, Rapunzel must find her way to her husband to earn this tale's happily ever after. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Rapunzel is a classic fairytale from the 17th century. According to Zelinsky's expanded note at the end of the book, many different authors have changed the details of Rapunzel's story through the ages, but the overall idea that Rapunzel is a stolen child, who is kept in a tower that only allows access by climbing her long, beautiful hair remains the same from story to story. In this variant, Zelinsky dove into setting the tale during the Italian Renaissance. His beautiful oil paintings are the highlight of the book and offer incredible detail into the time period both in terms of architecture of the town Rapunzel's birth parents live in and the tower she makes her home. The intricate paintings keep the reader's attention searching for details in reflections, a peacock's tail and vast sceneries of the countryside. I also found it fascinating how in his paintings, you never really see the characters meet each other's eyes. They're close, but often times to show expressions of distress or sadness, characters are looking away from each other in this tale.  

The passing of time is illustrated through Rapunzel's growth from infant to child to young woman.  I loved how she started life with a kitten who grew up along side her and was still with her at the end of the story. It gives the sense that even though the sorceress visited her and she and the prince were together, that she was never really alone in that tower. And although the story never shows her with her parents again, her happily ever after comes from starting her own family with her husband, the prince. Her cherub painted twins are well cared for and the story ends with a happy family portrait.

Although the emotional aspects of the story give it weight and even a moral lesson, the child I read it to wanted to know how Rapunzel got into the tower to be able to let her hair down in the first place. This is a story that does require some suspension of disbelief and acceptance of magic, but adults should be prepared for more logical examinations of the fairy tale. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Rapunzel is a 1998 Caldecott Medal Winner. 

From Publisher's Weekly
"The text, like the art, has a rare complexity, treating Rapunzel's imprisonment as her sorceress-adopted mother's attempt to preserve her from the effects of an awakening sexuality." 

From Kirkus Reviews 

"Suffused with golden light, Zelinsky's landscapes and indoor scenes are grandly evocative, composed and executed with superb technical and emotional command." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other Rapunzel tales:

• Berenzy, Alix. Rapunzel. ISBN 9780805012835
• Grimm, Brothers. Rapunzel. ISBN 9781530745869
• Isadora, Rachel. Rapunzel. ISBN 9780399247729

Caldecott Honor Books illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky: 

• Hansel and Gretel. ISBN 9780698114074
• Rumpelstitskin. ISBN 9780140558647
• Swamp Angel. ISBN 9780140559088

Many of today's modern Disney tales are adaptions of the traditional fairy tales and are often the only versions in which children are exposed. Introducing the traditional tales will introduce comparison and contrasting skills in young children. Be cautious though, as many traditional fairy tales can be gruesome, and younger pre-kindergarten children may not be ready for life or death consequences of protagonist's decisions.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble Review by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Steig, William. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Simon & Schuster: New York, 1969. ISBN 9781416902065

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
Sylvester, a young donkey, likes to collect pebbles. While he is outside one day, he finds a red pebble that grants him wishes. During his play, he comes across an angry lion, grows afraid, and wishes to camouflage himself as a rock and is unable to wish himself back into being a donkey. His parents search and search for him, but over a year's time are unable to figure out what happened to their son, until a chance picnic brings them all together again. 

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is the story of a child separated from his parents for magical reasons and how the members of the family cope during their separation. Sylvester Duncan is a curious child who enjoys being outside. His community is drawn as a peaceful place full of neighbors who are various animals. Steig's illustrations portray emotions that move the story from crisis, when Sylvester magically turns himself into a rock to escape an angry lion, to his parents spending a year searching for their son, who is nowhere to be found, and onto the climax, where they are reunited. Time is illustrated in two different ways, once from Sylvester's point of view as the seasons change in the meadow where he lays as a rock, feeling sad and tired and hopeless, and also as his parents spend a year looking everywhere for their son. The illustrations, although full of color and light (except in the middle of winter), make the book accessible to the very young and breed hope for the family's future.

Steig's story depicts the lengths that parents love their children, no matter how long they are separated, and the feelings of sadness and despair by a child alone in the wilderness. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble teaches children that appreciating what you have is better than whatever magical development you could wish for, and the author uses a variety of diverse adjectives to describe emotions. The unifying theme of the story is how the feeling of love within a family gets the Duncans (and the readers) through difficult times. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is a 1970 Caldecott Medal Winner. 

From Kirkus Review
"Sylvester's 'only chance of becoming himself again was for someone to find the red pebble and to wish that the rock next to it would be a donkey' -- surely the prize predicament of the year and, in William Steig's pearly colors, one of the prettiest. How Mother and Father Duncan (donkey), despairing of finding their son, do eventually break the red pebble's spell and bring back Sylvester is a fable of happy families of all breeds."

From Horn Book 

"A remarkable atmosphere of childlike innocence pervades the book; beautiful pictures in full, natural color show daily and seasonal changes in the lush countryside and greatly extend the kindly humor and the warm, unselfconscious tenderness." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other books about getting lost:

• Freeman, Don. Corduroy Lost and Found. ISBN 9780670061006
• Gami, Taro. I Lost My Dad. ISBN 9781929132041
• Raschka, Chris. Daisy Gets Lost. ISBN 9780449817414

More from William Steig: 

• Brave Irene. ISBN 9780312564223
• Doctor De Sota. ISBN 9780312611897
• Pete's a Pizza. ISBN 9780060527549

Getting lost is an unfortunate risk with children, but reading books about feeling lost and finding your way home to love again can engage children to talk about experiences they might have had being lost or fears they have about being lost. 

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed Review by Dana G. Williams

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Willems, Mo. Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. New York: Hyperion Books, 2009. ISBN 9781423114376

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
In this story, Wilbur, the protagonist, is a naked mole rat who is supposed to be -- naked. Instead, Wilbur enjoys wearing all kinds of clothes and costumes. His individual style attracts negative attention from a group of three other naked mole rats. The antagonists argue with Wilbur that wearing clothes is unacceptable. When Wilbur will not back down and instead takes their sarcastic suggestion to open a clothing store to heart, his peer group takes him to see Grand-Pah, the community's elder, for his opinion. After much consideration, Grand-Pah makes his proclamation that clothes do not hurt anyone and wearing them should be up to the individual. The news of his approval of clothes, and of trying new things, makes the community more accepting of differences.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Children are very observant to the world around them. Often they see that what is similar is socially acceptable. However, in Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Willems explores the importance of self-expression and individuality in society. The story addresses a common childhood problem where one child is considered "weird" by a group of peers. When the young mole rats are unable to solve the conflict themselves, they approach an adult, the elderly Grand-Pah, for a resolution at the climax. 

Willems' written theme is illustrated well. Life in the naked mole rat tunnels is very plain. The mole rats are pink; the background is light brown. Willems' uses simple, rounded lines to illustrate the mole rats' underground city and the only colors in their world comes from the vibrant clothing that Wilbur wears. Willems uses omniscient point of view to tell the main narration of the story and highlights the word proclamation in heavy set, large, bold type to visually impress the importance of Grand-Pah's words in his decision on the reader. In the end, children can understand that no matter how someone is different, they can all get to know each other, respect each other as individuals and have a great time together.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
From School Library Journal
"Willems has a talent for creating funny lines, verbally and visually. Beige backgrounds provide an uncluttered stage for his pink creatures with their oversize rectangular heads, each conveying a distinctive personality. Much of the humor resides in the subtle changes in Wilbur's eyes and, of course, in his colorful costumes."

From Booklist
"Willems’ art follows the simple style of his Elephant and Piggie books, and is dominated in color by (no surprise) naked-mole-rat pink. An ongoing horizontal line lends continuity to most of the pages, occasionally curving to add simple architecture to the scenes. But mostly it is Wilbur’s guileless observations that will have young readers feeling good about individual expression."

5. CONNECTIONS
Other books about the importance of individuality, self-expression and acceptance:

• Drescher, Fran. Being Wendy. ISBN 9780448456881
• Munsch, Robert. Stephanie's Ponytail. ISBN 9781550374841
• Seuss, Dr. The Sneetches. ISBN 9780394800899

More from Mo Willems:

• I am a Frog. ISBN 9781423183051
• I Love My New Toy. ISBN 9781423109617
• Knuffle Bunny. ISBN 9780786818709

Use as a playful and comedic way to introduce preschoolers and early elementary children to the importance of self-expression and tolerance within a caring community.