Children's Literature for 10/20

These books are from the Magic Tree House Club, they are just in time for Halloween, you can find more info on the author on this link:  http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/authors/results.pperl?authorid=22894
                                            

A Good Night for Ghosts by Mary Pope Osborne



Jack and Annie are on their second mission to find—and inspire—artists to bring happiness to millions. After traveling to New Orleans, Jack and Annie come head to head with some real ghosts, as well as discover the world of jazz when they meet a young Louis Armstrong!

Ghosts by:
Mary Pope Osborne (Author) and
(Author), Natalie Pope Boyce                    Fact and fiction meet--for Halloween!

What are the origins of some of the famous ghost stories in Louisiana? Why do people believe in ghosts? Do most cultures have some kind of ghost stories? Find out the answers to these questions and more in Magic Tree House Research Guide: Ghosts, Jack and Annie's guide to ghost stories from all over the world.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman — a 176-page story about a young girl who discovers another dimension through a mysterious door in her new home. Inside this dimension, she finds a replica of her own house, but with one significantand creepy — difference: instead of her own parents, Coraline finds her “other mother and father” dwelling inside this “other home”. These other parents would resemble her own if not for their black button eyes and long crooked fingers. Coraline soon discovers that her other mother’s devious plan: to steal her real parents and keep Coraline all to herself.

Author Profile

This book "The Three Horrid Little Pigs" by Liz Pichon (who is very nice) is really funny, it is fractured literature of "The Three Little Pigs". These pigs get kicked out of their house by their own mother, because they are so lazy! In this story the wolf is really nice. The three little pigs are the ones who are absolutley horrid! Each pig tries to make their own house to live in but they are so lazy that they can't even do that right! This is a really cute story to read to kids of any age. Here is a site with the some of the author's other books and info: http://www.lizpichon.co.uk/books/books.htm

"Stone Soup" retold by Heather Forest, is one of my favorite books of all. I remember reading this book when I was little. The story is about two hungry travelers who come upon a village and knock on everyone's door in the village asking for some food, but everyone in the village tells them they don't have any food and closes their door on them. The travelers felt so bad that the villagers did not have food for themselves so they end up making "Stone Soup" for the villagers. The villagers came together and helped the travelers. This is a great story of what can happen when people come together. Here is a link about the author and her books: http://www.storyarts.org/heather.html

"Cinderella Latina, La Cenicienta Latina "  by Bobbi Salinas is another version of the original story "Cinderella" but its not all magical, it is pretty realistic. The illustration is very colorful and well detailed. The name of Cinderella Latina  is Serena. Serena's father meets Serena's stepmother at the "pulga" (flea market).\, she ends up losing her "huarache" (mexican leather sandal) instead of a glass slipper, it is funny. In the end Serena gets her medical degree and her love "Emiliano", he becomes a teacher (yay!) I enjoyed this book because of the realisticness and the Tex-Mex language used throughout the story. This book is bilingual, it is written in both Spanish and in English. I could not find a website for this author.

Response to "Path of Needles or Pins: Little Red Riding Hood"

Wow, I couldn't believe how much the story has changed over time. Now, I will never see the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" the same. I remember the story I read when I was little, was that the wolf gobbles up Little Red Riding Hood in the end of the story.
Having read the story "The Path of Needles or Pins: Little Red Riding Hood", I think I liked it most from all the other stories of Little Red Riding Hood, because it has a lot of significance to a young girl becoming a woman. for example, decisions she must make in choosing the right path in life. It also tells that she will always have her "backup" laundresses if she ever gets into a certain situation throughout her journey in life. Her future dude better be good to her if not he better watch out because her  posse "the laundresses" just might drown him too! I was doing a little reasearch and I found some more stories of Red Riding Hood with various authors and different titles. Here is the link: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0333.html#perrault They are pretty interesting.

My Thoughts...

What a woman! Maya Angelou brought out a lot of emotions in me. I was in awe by her words of wisdom, her concern for children, and for humanity. I just loved how she recited the poems and her comments and how she related the poems with different people and situations. She made me think of ways I would be able to connect to children by using poetry. I use to always feel like poetry is not for me, just because I couldn't interpret it in the way that it said it was in in the book or what others thought the poem meant. But what I have concluded is that its not about what the author says it should be or how others interpret it, its about what the reader gets out of the poem, how they related to the poem, and their own feelings, that is what I want to teach my students. Poetry is very powerful when it hits you in the heart, just like the poem Maya Angelou recited Sympathy by Paul Lawrence Dunbar.