RAWR!

Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings - Douglas Florian (author and illustrator)

Publisher: Beach Lane Books

Copyright: 2009

Number of Pages: 56 pages

Awards: Dinothesaurus received starred reviews in four major publications, Comet, Stars, The Moon and Mars, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and Horn Book Fanfare List selection. 

This book is great for students from grades 1-5 and it is an informational book about dinosaurs. 

Summary

This book contains dinosaurs left and right! There are herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores that are talked about in this book. These dinosaurs are brought to life through the images and poems that are used to describe them and talk about them. Students would love this hilarious and informational book.

Book Usage

In my classroom I would use this book to first introduce dinosaurs because it is witty and a lot of fun to look at. Students would have to listen and pick a dinosaur that they thought was cool. We will talk about it as we go through the book. Once they pick their favorite they will have to remember specific details of that dinosaur. Once these are written down, students will each be given a bag filled with marshmallows, pretzel sticks, toothpicks, and other types of candy that they will use to build their favorite dinosaur. They will have 10 minutes to do this individually and once they are done we will do a gallery walk so that everyone can see the dinosaurs and the traits that the dinosaur should have. This will get them to be creative and work on portraying the dinosaur they just learned about.

                                      <3<3<3                       <3<3                          <3                       No <3

Rating System
Theme	If the theme is well developed and the message is portrayed very clearly.	The theme makes sense; however, it could be more developed.	The message is hard to find in the story and there isn’t much of a theme to go off of.	There isn’t a theme at all.
Plot	The plot is very well developed and everything flows smoothly.	The plot has a few gaps, but the story still is capable of moving along.	The plot has gaps that makes it hard to move the story along.	There is no plot in this book.
Characters	All the characters are developed well in the story.	There is more detail that could be added to the characters.	Characters are very poorly developed.	Characters aren’t developed at all.
Setting	The setting is described in detail and is necessary for the story to make sense.	The setting is described alright and still is needed to help the story make sense.	The setting is described alright, but it isn’t needed to help the story move along.	The setting provided is not necessary for the story to occur.
Illustrations	The illustrations are very detailed and help move the story along.	The illustrations are good, but don’t help the story move along.	The illustrations aren’t the best.	There are no meaningful illustrations at all.

Theme <3<3<3 - The theme in this book was well developed and all of the dinosaurs were described really well. It is a great information dinosaur book.

Plot <3<3<3 - Even though this book is informational it does have a story line to it. It starts by how and where the dinosaurs originally lived and goes from there. It flows very smoothly.

Characters <3<3<3 - All of the dinosaurs are well developed and they really make this book fun to read.

Setting <3<3<3 - The setting is important to this book because it is where dinosaurs lived and it describes the habitats about them in a funny and easy to relate to manner.

Illustrations <3<3<3 - The illustrations that are found in this book are unique and really cute. They are drawn up well and are really kid friendly!

"Just Slip Away"

Pig-Boy - Gerald McDermott 

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Copyright: 2009

Pages: 32 

Awards: It doesn't say any specifically that this book has won, however, Gerald McDermott is a Caldecott Medalist for his illustrations in his books.

This book is a multicultural book that is a trickster tale from Hawaii. The grade level of reading for this book is preschool to third grade. 

Summary

This book is about a little Hog who loves running around the island, swimming, sailing, and climbing mountains. This little guy gets very hungry too. He starts eating and eating and he just still isn't hungry! Can he steal from the King without getting caught? Of course escaping trouble is what a trickster does, but will it back fire on him this time?

Book Use

I think that this book would be useful to use in the classroom because every student loves a good trickster tale. It can be used in a few different ways, but the way that I intend to use it is to introduce trickster tales into my classroom. We will go over why they are called trickster tales, what usually happens in one, and how we can recreate one. This will hopefully get students excited to want to write one of their own. This will be a writing assignment where they need to write me a trickster tale. They will be given a checklist of what a trickster tale includes to ensure they include that in their own story. 

                                         <3<3<3                      <3<3                   <3                           No <3

Rating System
Theme	If the theme is well developed and the message is portrayed very clearly.	The theme makes sense; however, it could be more developed.	The message is hard to find in the story and there isn’t much of a theme to go off of.	There isn’t a theme at all.
Plot	The plot is very well developed and everything flows smoothly.	The plot has a few gaps, but the story still is capable of moving along.	The plot has gaps that makes it hard to move the story along.	There is no plot in this book.
Characters	All the characters are developed well in the story.	There is more detail that could be added to the characters.	Characters are very poorly developed.	Characters aren’t developed at all.
Setting	The setting is described in detail and is necessary for the story to make sense.	The setting is described alright and still is needed to help the story make sense.	The setting is described alright, but it isn’t needed to help the story move along.	The setting provided is not necessary for the story to occur.
Illustrations	The illustrations are very detailed and help move the story along.	The illustrations are good, but don’t help the story move along.	The illustrations aren’t the best.	There are no meaningful illustrations at all.

Theme <3<3<3 - This book develops a main theme very well and it is portrayed clearly throughout the story. 

Plot <3<3<3 - The plot moves along smoothly and is very believable in the events that occur. It is well developed and there are no gaps within it.

Characters <3<3<3 - Characters are very well developed in this story and they really help this story move along. Even the additional characters, such as Pele the goddess of fire, react in the way that their personalities should and make it believable.

Setting <3<3<3 - The setting being in Hawaii, on an island, and about a pig is very important in this multicultural tale. Without it, the importance of the lesson/tale may be gone and it wouldn't be nearly the same.

Illustrations <3<3<3 - The illustrations were beautifully done and really drew the reader in. The colors are bright and vibrant which help engage the reader in the story. They definitely help the story to move along and add images to this lovely trickster tale.