Babushka's Doll

Babushka's Doll, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. So I love this story, because of how mischievous each of the characters behave. This is a story about a little girl, of course, and her Babushka. Sound familiar? So the premise is that the little girl is a little bit of a brat, nagging and whining at her Grandmother to do various tasks for her amusement. Where things get interesting is when the little girl notices a doll belonging the Babushka. When the little girl decides to play with the doll while Babushka leaves for the market, the little girl discovers why Babushka only played with the doll once before retiring the doll to its' shelf in the kitchen. This story is a bit different in that it is more in the style of an old Slavic folk tale. This is a great book to tell a class of rowdy kids, it's funny and magical; very high energy. If nothing else it's a book that when you read it to kids, they'll have a great time acting out what they would do with a magic doll, and be able to make great text to self connections. I hope that my giant dose of Patricia Polacco works has given you a good insight on Polacco as a writer; she is very strong in her notions on tradition and relationships, especially family. I'm still unsure about the illustrations, but as I have said before to each his own, my anti-Norman Rockwell style is a personal taste that I have developed over the years. Polacco is a great writer and illustrator, and if you like the sounds of the books I have told you about, I would encourage you to go ahead and share these books with your classroom kids, they'll really enjoy them.

Thunder Cake

Thunder Cake, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. Okay, do you remember the movie Poltergeist? Well that is kind of what I think of with this book, you know the scene where the boy is afraid of the storm, so the father tells him to count the seconds in between the lightning and the thunder? Well this book has that same notion of storm tracking, but with time that is much better spent, making a cake! During the storm Babushka takes her Granddaughter around her farm to gather all the ingredients to make a homemade thunder cake. I like this notion, because kids can see where their food comes from, something kids miss out on knowing more and more as urban sprawl begins to take over our lives. I remember in forth grade we read this story during our science unit on storms. We used the counting in between lighting and thunder hypothesis, and explored the mathematical formula that was used to actually track the eye of the storm. In traditional Polacco style, Thunder Cake is told from the perspective of a girl of about ten or so, who is having the experience with her Grandmother. There is of course the ever present goat who watches over the Polacco characters, and a reason for the character to become stronger and overcome her fears of thunder.

The Keeping Quilt

The Keeping Quilt, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco, is a story about heritage. This story is pretty cool, the first immigrants of Patricia's family come to America and create a quilt out of the leftover fabrics worn by lost family members still in the old country. The quilt is passed down through several generations, including Polacco's own children. This is a good book for discussing family heritage and traditions, providing a wonderful opportunity for text to self connections for the kids. What's really interesting about this book is that it's a prefect example of Polacco's work, taking influences from family, tradition, and of course, goats! I find that the more I read Polacco's books, the less I have to say, it just all sounds the same. I suppose what I could talk about is the illustrations, as they are very evident of her artistic influences from Norman Rockwell. Personally, I am very afraid of Rockwell's style, it just sticks me as a bit unnerving. It's not necessarily the rough pencils sketches that are allowed to remain on the finished piece, but more of the texture of how the skin is portrayed, it reminds me of a ghost or maybe a zombie. I know that things can't all be visually perfect, but maybe that's all in the eye of the beholder, to each his own!

The Lemonade Club

The Lemonade Club, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco, is a story based from true life, specifically Polacco's daughter, Traci, when her best friend, Marilyn, gets Leukemia. The teacher of the two girls has a basket on her desk full of lemons, so that when kids have a bad say, she tells them that lemons may be sour, but then you can make lemonade. So when Marilyn finds out she had cancer, her classmates all group together to make lemonade out of the seemingly impossible situation. Obviously this would be a good book to talk to kids about cancer and illness of loved ones, but I worry that the ending was too perfect. I know it is a true story and all, but after losing my father last year to cancer, it seems too perfect an ending for a diagnoses that ends hundreds of others lives every year. I think that any kid who has ever gone through this disease before will know that things don't always go that perfectly and smoothly, that some times it's scary, and all to often, it ends in tragedy. I remember a kid from my elementary school who had cancer in Kindergarten, he preferred to leave that detail of his life out of conversation. I don't blame him, that's a huge obstacle for a small child to try and overcome, especially during his first year of formal education. I think I would use this books to talk to kids about issues of illness and death of loved ones, but I would want to be very clear that things don't always go as smoothly in real life as they did in the book, and then have a real and honest conversation about death and dying. It's a difficult topic in general to talk about with kids, but I think if it's one that needs to be talked about, then it should be talked about and the adults should be ready for any questions they might have, kids will surprise you if you give them the chance.

My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother

My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco, is a cute story about sibling rivalry. In the story a little girl seemingly the persona of the author, tries to find something that she can do better than her rotten redheaded older brother. In the end it is her brother who helps her after a merry-go-round accident, ending in the typical heart warming ahh moment. I remember reading this story as a kid, I think I liked it because it was silly, and I had experience with sibling rivalry with my younger sister. It is kind of fun to talk to kids about the kinds of relationships that kids have with one another, but I am unsure that it would be a great book for anything other than a 'just for fun' book, I would still include this book in an author study, if nothing, but to show the fun and wacky side of Polacco's writing style, goats and all.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Year of Impossible Goodbyes, written by Sook Nyul Choi, is the same war that dictates the story events of, So Far From the Bamboo Grove, however, instead of the story being told from the point of view of a Japanese family,Choi speaks from a voice often left out in the history books, the Korean nation which was under the Imperial Japanese rule. It was so interesting after reading So Far From the Bamboo Grove to hear the story from the Korean point of view. The best part about this book was that it did not stop with the Japanese surrendering to America, but went on to talk about how the Russian Marxist parties essentially claimed North Korea as their territory. If I were teaching this book I would want to point out what the Russian people were experiencing during this time, so they get a better understanding of how extremist such as the Reds were only a small number of people, and that the Russian people were actually starving and trying to escape out of Russia. I believe that by showing kids a broader view they will see a consistency tied to war and conflict as being initiated by a minority, and is not representative of the nation as a whole. There is so much to discuss about the multi-sidedness of war, there simply is not enough time or words to describe the impacts. What I can discuss immediately are some of the comparisons I made with this book and Watkin's. Near the end of Choi's book she describes escaping across the 38th parallel; I just remember Watkin's account of how her and her sister and mother crossed the same rail road track to freedom, and how later her brother had to swim the river to get across. What's really interesting is how the rails are described as being so far apart; it's uncanny how similar both authors felt about that railroad track. It's funny how in Watkin's book, from the Japanese perspective, the Koreans were so joyful and almost riotous, but that must have been further south, because Choi paints a picture of scared caution followed immediately by the invasion of communism. I think after reading both books I would want my students to read both and see the differences and similarities of the two "sides", and also to show again that the purposed "bad guy" of the war isn't an entire nation, but merely a few extremists, that these kinds of wars destroy the people and families on both ends, maybe then they could do better than the past and try to see things from other point of views.

The Wall

The Wall, written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Richard Himler, is a story about a father and son who go to Washington D.C. to visit the Vietnam Veterans' memorial. The father and son are looking for the son's Grandfather's name, but trying to find the name among the hundreds of names lined up on the wall proves to be an overwhelming task. The Vietnam War is a definite challenge to talk about with children, especially considering how none of the Americans at home understood the deception and mind tricks that the American Soldiers based their decisions on. I know that I have always said that the best way to talk to kids about war is to be direct, but after talking so heavily about World War II, it seems that the results of Vietnam is more important, but that may be because that is what the government wishes the country to focus on, because of America's defeat. It might be interesting to see the kids opinions on Vietnam after look at World War II; will they see this war as unnecessary? will they create any connections to the war in Iraq? the topic of war is very dense, and deserves as much class discussion as the class deems as necessary. It's part of our humanity, and we need to learn our children to learn what's at stake with this kind of fighting.