WEEK 5 READING RESPONSES

 READING RESPONSES 1:BEGINNING/TRANSITIONAL BOOKS

Book 1 : YANG, James. Stop! Bot!. illus. by James Yang. 40p. Viking Books for Young Readers. 2019. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780425288818

Place the title into one or more levels: LEVEL 1 
Identify and note any other features: A few of the words were not sight words i.e. Giraffe, Spoon, Trombone, usually, etc….

Book 2: FENSKE, Jonathan. A Pig, a Fox, and a Box. illus. by Jonathan Fenske. 32p. Penguin Young Readers. June. 2015. Tr $5.99. ISBN 9780448485102

Place the title into one or more levels: BETWEEN LEVEL 2 AND LEVEL 3 (Lexile level 210 L)

Identify and note any other features: The illustrations here do not function just as decorations.


Book 3: DICAMILLO, Kate and McGHEE, Alison. Bink and Gollie. illus. by Tony Fucile. 88p. Candlewick. 2010. Tr $14.95. ISBN 9780763632663


Place the title into one or more levels: TRANSITIONAL BOOK (Lexile Level 510)

Reading Response 2 - Graphic Novels


BOOK 1: CRAFT, Jerry. New Kid. illus. by Jerry Craft and Jim Callahan. 256p. HarperCollins. Feb 2019. Tr $22.99. ISBN 9780062691194

Newbery Medal winner Jerry Craft crafted an honest and genuine story about being the new kid in a place where everyone is seemingly different from you. Seventh grader Jordan Banks is all about going to art school to fulfill his dreams. But his parents have other plans for him. There is an upscale school: Riverdale Academy Day School, far away from Washington Heights Apartment where Jordan and his family live. The school offers so many opportunities. Jordan’s mom is convinced that attending this school will set Jordan up on the path to success. But it is Jordan who must navigate the two worlds he is now part of while trying to find out which of them he really belongs to. Can Jordan discover that even if on the outside we look different, deep down everyone craves the same attention and a sense of belonging? This graphic novel is organized in chapters. Using illustrations that fit in panels both single and multiple, detailed backgrounds, black and white as well as colored pictures, the author succeeds in conveying emotions that are known to us all: shyness, confusion, embarrassment, joy, happiness, empathy, and that defy color or social status. Children will understand a plot that speaks to all and as the author says is dedicated to the “the Jordans in all of us”. And if it seems Jordan has figured out a way to make friends in seventh grade at Riverdale Academy Day School, there are plenty more challenges along the way in this series that includes two more books: Class Act and School Trip.


BOOK 2: FERRY, Beth. Fox and Rabbit Celebrate. illus. by Gergely Dudás. 112p. Abrams Books. March 2021. Tr $12.99. ISBN 9781419746956




Ferry and Dudas created a graphic novel about a friendship between two animals most unlikely to be friends in reality. Is it any wonder that they have such opposite personalities? In five short stories, Fox and Rabbit’s friendship adventures take them through a self-proclaimed “amazing” overconfident Fox Fix-it-day yielding not-so-amazing results, planning a pizza party for Sparrow's birthday involving a sensitive and friendless dragon who has never been to a birthday party before and is delighted to learn, and to turtle who missed the best birthday party ever but still comes just in time for leftover cake, balloons, and a birthday hat. Berry and Dudas put together a happy, colorful, and engaging graphic novel series about friendship and inclusion. Using easy-to-follow panels (3 to 9), mostly oval speech bubbles (when bubbles are used), bright happy colors, expressive characters, background detailed elements, and clean and simple ink drawings, illustrator Dudas created an atmosphere full of joy and lightness. Fox and Rabbit have a beautiful friendship, not perfect as there are issues they always need to work out but it seems that their friendship is the happy constant that children will easily identify with. Kids will also love the full-page panels at the end of each story which captures these two characters' friendship.


BOOK 3: KIBUISHI, Kazu. The Amulet. illus. by Kazu Kibuishi. 192p. Scholastic Graphix. Jan 2008. Tr $12.99. ISBN 9780439846813


The first pages of this created novel created and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi are intense. Emily, her father David, and her mother Karen are on their way to pick up little brother Navin when they get in a car crash that kills David. Readers will witness the brutal separation between David and Karen and the tear-filled face of Emily as they must choose to let David die instead of risking both his and Karen’s lives. The family then moves on into a haunted house, the former home of her believed to be deceased great-grandfather. Here, the children lose their mother to a tentacled beast. Having been entrusted with a magical amulet by her great grandfather, Emily is determined to rescue her mother, and the children are propelled into the alternate world of Alledia where friends like Miskit, Cogsley, and their robots, work of their great grandfather, will help them defeat tentacled Rackers and a relentless enemy with shark-like teeth and scary eyes. Will the children succeed in their quest? Illustrations are used to help the reader get immersed in this book. The amulet, the central object in this book, is depicted in detail and often emits a bright light. The two children, mature beyond their age, are depicted with simple but expressive faces. Creatures and landscapes are depicted with that eerie feel, look, and outfits that fit with the other world theme used in this book. Kids who like to read scary books will enjoy this graphic novel and will understand this plot which is essentially a fight between good and evil and the courage to live up to a mission that is entrusted to you.

Comments

  1. Jen CJune 11, 2024 at 1:57 PM

    Very well considered comments. Any of these could be expanded for a solid formal review.

    ReplyDelete

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