Cinder Edna

Title: Cinder Edna
Author: Ellen Jackson
Publisher: HarperCollins, September 24, 1998
Reading Level: 2nd and up
Pages: 29
Genre: Picture Book










Summary:

Here's another spin on the classic Cinderella story. Two girls lived by eachother, Cinderella and Cinder Edna. They both have two evil stepmothers and stepsisters that make them clean and cook and anything else they can think of. However, they both approached it differently. Cinderella would complain and not do anything about her hard life. However, Cinder Edna would sing and whistle and she even took on a side job of cleaning parrot cages to earn extra money. One day an announcement came out for a royal ball. The stepsisters had their sisters get them all ready and clean up after them when they left. Cinderella compained that she wished she had a fairy godmother to give her a beautiful dress and carriage so she could go to the ball. And poof! It happened. However, Cinder Edna used her saved money to get a dress and she took the bus to the ball. At the ball Cinder Edna met the prince but she was totally bored by him. Then she met his younger brother, Rupert, and they danced and told jokes and she even told him her 16 recipies for a casserole! Cinderella met the prince and they danced too. However, at midnight, both girls had to leave. (Cinderella's spell would wear off, and Cinder Edna knew the busses would stop.) The princes ran after them, but they ended up running into eachother. Rupert's glasses broke, and then they found the shoes of the girls. Rupert had gotten Edna's name, but the prince never asked. The prince decided to go to all the girls in the area and have them try on the shoes. Rupert went to to phone book and looked up all the Edna's and went to work. When they almost lost hope thye came upon their last house. The prince went in and the stepsisters couldn't fit into the dainty little glass slipper. However, the girl in rags could. The prince took her to the castle to be married to him. Rupert went into the house and wouldn't let the stepsisters try on the loafer because they were not named Edna. When Cinder Edna came up he did not recognize her because his glasses were broken. He asked her to name off the 16 casserole, but when she could only remember 15 he started to turn away. Then she told him a funny joke from the dance, he kissed her and asked her to marry him. Then they had a double wedding with the prince and Ella. Ella, however, did not like her life because she had to sit through lectures and listen to the prince talk about boring things. Edna, on the other hand, lived in a cute little cottage and her and Rupert lived happily ever after.

My Reaction:

This is my favorite twist on the Cinderella story! I love how Cinder Edna actually made something of her life instead of wishing for something better. I also like how Cinder Ella was there too and you could compare the two girls. It helped to see that Edna made the better choices in her life.

Potential Problems:

The only problems that could be in this book is that the stepfamilies are mean to the two girls. Other than that, I didn't recognize any problems.

Recommendations:

I think this is a great story to read to little kids. It would help teach them that they shouldn't wait around for their fairy godmother to come and grand their wishes. They need to work and make the best of their life, even if it's a bad situation.

Art & Max

Title: Art & Max
Author: David Wiesner
Publisher: Clarion Book, October 4, 2010
Reading Level: Any age
Pages: 37
Genre: Wordless Picture Book







Summary:

Arthur is an artist. While he is drawing a picture of another lizard Max comes barreling in. Max tells Arthur that he can paint too, but Arthur doesn't believe him. However, when Max walks away dejected Arthur lets him paint as long as Max doesn't bug him. Stuck, though, Max askes Arthur what he should paint. On Arthur's suggesting that he could paint him, Max starts to throw pain upon Arthur. Arthur is so mad that he yells at Max and then all the pain shatters off of him. Uh oh! When the paint shatters, Arthur is sill colored! So Max brings a huge fan and starts to blow all the color off of Arthur, but it doesn't work. He gets a drink of water, and then he really does lose the color. Arthur was colorless! He was so mad that he started to run away, but MAx grabs onto him and then he starts to unravel! Pretty soon Arthur is a jumble of string. Wanting to help, Max starts to reform Arthur, but it takes him a few tries to get it right. Max runs and grabs a vacuum and cleans up all the color and tells Arthur to wait. BAM! He shoots all the colors onto Arthur and now he's spotted AND colorful! When they start to pain again they throw it all over and have fun! Most of this story is portrayed through pictures. There are hardly any words, and through the pictures you can see how crazy it is and how upset Arthur gets. It's also fun to watch the other lizards that Arthur was paintint at the beginning. The two are usually fine with what's happening. However, the red one gets quite upset and frustrated at what's going on.

My Reaction:

When I first read this story I thought it was different, and I wasn't sure if I liked it all that much. However, when I read it again I loved it. I think this was because I paid more attention to the pictures and the emotions that were being portrayed.

Potential Problems:

I didn't recognize any potential problems with this story.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to have fun with a book. For me it brought back the memories of finger-painting and no drawing within the lines. I think kids would have fun looking at all of the colors on the pages, and with how they put Arthur together again.

Sector 7

Title: Sector 7
Author: David Wiesner
Publisher: Clarion Books, September 20, 1999
Reading Level: Any age
Pages: 45
Genre: Wordless Picture Book









Summary:

Yay for field trips! And this class gets to go to the Empire State building! They run to the elevator and go to the top. A little boy goes off on his own and runs into some fog, and what happens!? It takes his hat and scarf! When he looks around there's a cloud wearing his things and he won't give them back. The cloud shows the little boy what he can do and then he takes him for a ride. They fly and fly until they arrive at a place in the sky called Sector 7. Soon they are surrounded by other clouds and they go inside. However, the boy isn't allowed there sothe clouds hide him and take him to the assignment station. Here they look at the blueprints which show ordinary clouds. However, the clouds are upset because they can do so much more! They show the boy the different shapes they can make, and then the boy sits down to draw his own blueprint. He draws all sorts of fish and passes them out to the clouds. All of a sudden the people in charge notice something is going wrong. They head out and take all the blueprints and demand tha the clouds return to their normal shapes. This is when they find the boy and they take him away to the taxi station. A big cloud then takes him back to the Empire State building and drops him back off at the top. His little cloud from the beginning came with them too! So they hug, and then the teacher calls him. In a hurry, the cloud hides beneath the boys coat and they head to the elevator. The little boy floats because of the cloud, and then they are outside. The little cloud spreads his arms to show the boy what's hapening. The sky is alive with sea life!! The clouds are in the shapes of the blueprint that the boy drew and the world things it's amazing! The crew back at Sector 7 isn't very happy though. However, the clouds keep making shapes, and the little cloud goes home with the boy. This is another picture book that is wordless. The pictures take up the whole page, and you are able to see people's expressions very well. When the clouds decided to become different shapes they look like real life... except white. It's fun to see the different sea creatures and the reactions of the people when the clouds show up so different.

My Reaction:

I love wordless picture books. It's fun to create your own story and to be able to find new things in pictures no matter how many times you look at it. It reminds me of the ISPY books where there's always something different.

Potential Problems:

I didn't recognize any potential problems in this story.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this book to anyone with an imagination. How many of us have looked at the clouds to find shapes? This book is a total play on that, and it's fun to see the shapes that they do create. Little kids will have fun looking at the pictures, and older kids will have fun creating a more advanced story with their imagination.

Flotsam

Title: Flotsam
Author: David Wiesner
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Reading Level: Any age
Pages: 36
Genre: Wordless Picture Book







Summary:

There was a little boy who went to the beach with his family. He had microscopes and magnifying glasses and containers to explore. When he goes to look at a crab a huge wave crashes into him. After he recovers he sees a camera sitting on the beach. He grabs it and runs to his parents. They head to the lifeguard, but he's never seen it before, so they take it back and take out the film. The boy goes to the 1-Hour-Photo Shop and waits and waits for the film to be processed. When it's finally done he goes back to the beach and looks at them. They are some crazy picture! Octupi sitting on furniture that came from a truck that suck to the bottom of the ocean, little aliens taking pictures of sea horses, giant starfish and more. However, the last picture gets his attention the most. It's a little holding a photo of another child who's holding a picture of another child and it goes on and on. The boy grabs his magnifying glass and looks at the picture more closely. He notices that the picture goes back to olden times with black and white photos. His parents come to get him, and while they are packing up he decides to take a picture of himself holding the photo. He takes it, and throws the camera back into the ocean. Different sea creatures grab on to it and take it far away where it washes up on shore and a little girl picks it up. This book is also a wordless picture book. The pictures are big and show great detail. You can see the boys excitment when he finds somethings and his awe when he looks ate the photo after photo after photo inside of one photo. The pictrues of the sea life are very detailed. You can see every spike on the sea horse and the suction cups on the squids. It shows a life under sea that nobody has ever seen before, and the last page shows that the pictures wil continue to be taken.

My Reaction:

I found this book fascinating. I kept wanting to look closer at the photos to see what secrets were hiddden within. It was fun that the sea creatures in the pictures were personified, and I could look through it forever!

Potential Problems:

I didn't recognize any potential prroblems in this story.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this book most definitely! It is fun for kids to see the pictures and make up there own story. It would be fun to have them read it when they were little and then see what they think when they read it again. It's always different! You notice different things and you learn more!

Tuesday

Title: Tuesday
Author: David Wiesner
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 1991
Reading Level: Any age
Pages: 29
Genre: Wordless Picture Book







Summary:

Around eight on a Tuesday weird things begin to happen. The frogs asleep on their lily pads are soon awakened as their lily pads begin to raise up. However, they are not in shock for long. They fly into town and scare all the birds, then they start heading to the houses. A man is shocked as he sits eating his sandwich as frogs fly past his window and one actually waves at him, but the frogs keep going. They fly into the laundry hanging up to dry and some of them are de-lily padded. The rest grab some towels and use them as capes as they continue their adventure. The frogs arrive at a house where a grandmas is sleeping in front of her television. They grab the remote and most of them sit glued watching a show. Another frog starts to be chased by a dog, but soon recruits come and the odds are switched, but then, as they are flying around, frogs begin to fall all over the place. Morning has come and their flying powers with it. They hop back to the pond, much to their dismay. When the people wake up they find lily pads all over town, and the man who was eating a sandwich is reporting to a camera. However, they don't know what happened. However, next Tuesday something odd starts again... what happens when pigs fly? What's unique about this book is that there are almost no words. A few here and there show what time it is, but other than that it's only pictures. This is exciting because it adds so much more to the story. Since there aren't hardly any words you focus more on what's happening in the pictures. The frogs show facial expressions, and you see how much fun they have as the night continues. My favorite is when they are back in their pond and they are upset that they can't fly anymore. It is fun to look for all the frogs and see what each on does.

My Reaction:

I love this book! You can find so many stories within it. I absolutely love looking for the frogs that are doing something other than the main thing on the page. It made me laugh to find new things the more I looked through the story.

Potential Problems:

I didn't recognize any potential problems in this story.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this book to any age. Little kids who can't read, as well as adults who can, are able to use their imaginations with the pictures and come up with their owm story. It would be fun to use in a class and have the students come up with what the frogs are saying as they have their night adventure.

Wemberly Worried

Title: Wemberly Worried
Author: Kevin Henkes
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, July 25, 2000
Reading Level: 1st and up
Pages: 30
Genre: Picture Book










Summary:

Wemberly worries about EVERYTHING. Whether is be about her little doll, Petal, or about her parents missing. Nothing her parents say can stop her from worrying. That's when school decides to start. Wemberly worries that she'll be the only one to bring a doll, or the only one with spots, or the only one wearing stripes. Her paretns, and her grandmother, keep telling her not to worry so much, but she does. When she gets to school she hides behind her parents while they talk to the teacher, Mrs. Peachum. When her parents leave, Mrs. Peachum introduces her to a young girl in the class, Jewel. Jewel has a doll, and Jewel is wearing stripes. At first they just look at eachother, but soon they introduce their dolls to eachother, and then they start to play. Before she knows it, it's time to go home. When Mrs. Peachum tells them to come back tomorrow, Wemberely tells her not to worry, she'll be back. Not only does this story have text to tell you the story, there are pictures to add to it. In every picture you see Wemberly's big worried eyes, and when she's with her parents you see them be worried that she's so worried. My favorite pictures are with the grandma. She tells Wemberly that she worries too much, but the picture is worth a bunch of laughs. Her grandma is wearing skates while holding a cane and sporting a t-shirt saying 'Go With the Flow.' However, Wemberly does keep worrying and then she goes to school. Once she makes friends with Jewel, her facial expressions change. Instead of big worried eyes, she smiles big and has fun with what she is doing. The pictrues are colorful, and even the text is sometimes included in the art work. It will be BIG or small, and on one page it even takes up more space than the picture!

My Reaction:

I loved this story! The pictures were fantastic; they helped you to see just how worried Wemberly was, and just how shy she was at school, and how much fun she had when she made a friend. I love how colorful the pictures are too! A child would love to sit and look at the pages.

Potential Problems:

I didn't recognize any potential problems in this book.

Recommendations:

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. Especially to parents who might have a worrisome child. This story can show a child that they don't have to worry about everything and that they should have fun.

Love That Dog

Title: Love That Dog
Author: Sharon Creech
Publisher: HaperCollins, March 1, 2001
Reading Level: 3rd and up
Pages: 86
Genre: Realistic Fiction










Summary:

Jack loves poetry, and that is how he always writes. This book is written as a journal entries by Jack and they are written in short lines... like a poem. Jack writes poetry for his class but he's never sure if it really is poetry. However, his teacher asks him if she can put his work up on the board for everybody to see. At first he says ok, but he doesn't want his name put on it; just in case somebody doesn't like it. As more and more of his poems are put up, he becomes brave. Yes, you can put it up, and if you think it's good, you can put my name on it too. Kids congratulate him and tell him that they like his poems. In his journal entries, Jack also writes about the poems they read in class. One day they read a poem called Love That Boy by Walter Dean Myers. Jack loves it so much that he writes his own secret poem inspried by Walter Dean Myers. His teacher encourages him to write Mr. Walters and ask if he would come visit their school. At frist he didn't want to, but once he did he was scared because he didn't think he would ever come. Then he heard back from Walter Dean Myers and he was coming to his school! He came and Jack loved it. He wrote a thank you letter to him, and he included his poem imspried by Walter Dean Myers, Love That Dog.

My Reaction:

It took me a little bit to get into the flow of the writing. Where it's written in the shorter lines my brain doesn't seem to process it as fluently. However, after a few pages I got the hang of it and I was able to make more sense out of the story. I really liked how he had such an inspiration for poetry and he kept at it even when he wasn't so confident.

Potential Problems:

The only potential problem that I recognized is that Jack writes about his dog, Sky, getting squished by a car. It might be sad for little kids, but overall it's a really good book.

Recommendations:

I think this would be a great story for introducing poetry into an elementary class. It can show students that poetry can be about anything, and it doesn't have to be compicated.