Entry #5

Entry #5 Reviews of Children’s Books

            The first book I reviewed was The Painter and the Wild Swans by Claude Clement.   It is about a Japanese painter that sees some beautiful wild swans fly overhead and he can’t paint until he sees them again.  The components in this book that might affect an ELL’s comprehension because of cultural aspects would be:

• The fantasy genre and that at the end the painter turns into a swan
• Years ago there were no cameras so people had a portrait made by a painter
• Vocabulary:  captivated, bitter cold, capsized
• The location of Japan
• The Japanese writing represents a poem that is translated at the end of the story

            This book would be a good read aloud for ages nine and up.  I would introduce this book as a fantasy and explain that something happens at the end of the story that would not happen in real life.  Then, we would talk about how a long time ago there were no cameras so people had their portraits made by painters.  After that, I would explain that this story takes place in Japan and I would show the location of Japan on map or globe.  Next, I would show the students the Japanese writing on the pages and explain that it represents a poem.  There are a few vocabulary words I would introduce just before I read the book aloud.  I would write the words captivated, bitter cold and capsize on the white board.  We would talk about captivate first and how it sounds like capture so it would be like capturing the imagination.  Then, we could all hug ourselves and shiver to demonstrate bitter cold.  Lastly, I would have a little boat that I would turn over to demonstrate capsize.  I would then read the book aloud.

            The second book I reviewed was This Is the Turkey by Abby Levine.  This book exemplifies a family celebrating Thanksgiving with guests in a rhyming format.  At one point the turkey is dropped but they don’t mind because the important thing is to spend time with family and friends.  I feel the components that would need to be clarified for ELL students would be:

• The Thanksgiving tradition
• Typical food for Thanksgiving
• The meaning of Thanksgiving
• Vocabulary:  kneading and roasting

            I would use this book to read aloud to my kindergarteners.  First, we would talk about what people do on Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it.  Then, I would show the students pictures in the book of typical Thanksgiving food and we could talk about typical meals shared during celebrations of students’ families.  Finally, we would discuss vocabulary.  We could all pretend to knead dough to demonstrate meaning and then I could show a picture of an oven to show roasting a turkey.  I would then read the book aloud.