CET Writes

Image from goodreads.com In Knuffle Bunny, Willems expertly manipulates the readers’ response by maximizing his use of the book’s composition to relate the story of a trip to the laundromat that turns unexpectedly dramatic. On the dust jacket flap, the reader is greeted by a brief plot summary that alludes to Knuffle Bunny’s fate. The end pages establish the book’s signature illustrative style--“a melding of hand-drawn ink sketches and digital photography”--by repeating one image over and over again: Knuffle Bunny as seen through the window of the washer door at the laundromat watching his family walk away. The plot begins prior to the title page with a series of family photos that depict the wedding of Mommy and Daddy, Trixie’s birth, and an early family outting which have been hung so each successive picture progresses not only time but also space and encourages the reader to follow the pictures to their logical conclusion--a large framed photo of Trixie hugging Knuffle Bun...

Image from goodreads.com Wiesner’s nearly wordless tale begins with a disclaimer on the book jacket that “the events recorded here are verified by an undisclosed source to have happened somewhere, U.S.A., on Tuesday. All those in doubt are reminded that there is always another Tuesday.” An establishing scene prior to the title page depicts three frames in which frogs placidly enjoying their lily pads find themselves, surprisingly, beginning to levitate. Following the title page is a formal text arrangement that belies the surreality of this enchanting tale. Three large panels appear on the recto, zooming in on a turtle in a body of water being startled by the frogs who are happily flying overhead like UFOs. They continue their adventure throughout the night startling beast and man alike as they traverse alternations of double-page, full-bleed spreads that contain vignettes which highlight the antics of individual frogs; double-page spreads within frames; single-page spreads ...

Image from goodreads.com Among the chief goodwill ambassadors of Class Insecta, the ladybug is a beetle of which most have a good opinion. Playing against type, Carle’s protagonist has a chip on its several shoulders. After encountering and threatening another ladybug over a morning leaf of aphids, this grouchy ladybug flies off looking for a fight. A big one. The die-cut pages typical of Carle books soon come into play as the first page of his adventure is very narrow, just big enough for itself and the yellow jacket it challenges to a rumble. Deciding that an insect only three or four times its size is an unworthy opponent, it finds a bigger creature to pick on and then another and so on as the page and typeface size grows, the sun rises higher and higher on each opening, and the clock which appears in the upper right of each two-page spread ticks forward an hour with each proposed and abandoned showdown. Full-bleed collage illustrations crafted from cut paper add an expressive d...

Image from amazon.com Much like its protagonist, The Very Hungry Caterpillar metamorphoses. As its story begins and as it ends, it is a nature book featuring the life cycle of the butterfly from egg to adult; in the middle, though, it becomes a counting book featuring a tactile hook. Starting with the larva-eaten endpages, the copious whitespace allows for easy focus on the little caterpillar as it sets out on its journey through a series of die-cut pages. Beginning with a single hole in a single apple on a very short page, each opening in this section becomes longer and longer, with more fruit and more holes. Therefore, a child learning to count has multiple signifiers of increasing amount and quantity: the simple visual of the brightly-colored cut-paper fruit; the hole in each piece, which he or she can feel as an individual item; and the size of the page, which scales in direct proportion to the the number represented. The days of the week are also taught as these feats of ...

The Space Race  is one title among many in the  World History Series .  This book is an illustrated informational book that explores the history of rocketry and explains America’s race against the Soviet Union to be the first to land a man on the moon.  The books illustrations are largely comprised of photographs through which readers can understand the scope and depth of the concept.   The Space Race  pairs nicely with a study of President John F. Kennedy’s persuasive speeches, especially  “The Decision to Go to the Moon.”     CHRISTINA E. TAYLOR The Space Race [World History Series] b y by  Nathan Aaseng Middle School     Lucent Books 110 pp.  Published 2015  ISBN 978-1560068099 $28.70

Civil Rights  is an informational book in the  Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons  series. Beginning with a lengthy preface detailing the history of African-American civil rights from the early 19th to the late 20th century, it then features four chapters which proceed roughly chronologically beginning in the 1960s. Each chapter contains a preface to its topic and one or more  political cartoons  accompanied by analyses for each. With cartoons chosen to represent opinions across the political spectrum, this book presents the contemporary controversy while maintaining an authorial voice at once evenhanded but free of false equivalence. As a brief but engaging introduction to historical and current issues in civil rights, this book could serve well as background to teaching  Martin Luther King Jr. 's " I Have a Dream " speech.  CHRISTINA E. TAYLOR Civil Rights [Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons series]  Ed...

Zora Neal Hurston : Southern Storyteller  is an illustrated informational book in Enslow Publisher’s  African-American Biographies  series.  It explores the career and life of this anthropologist and influential writer, spanning her entire life beginning with her childhood in Florida and concluding with her emergence as an author of significance.  The book’s illustrations are largely comprised of photographs of Hurston that allow the reader to build an increasingly complex image of this powerful African-American writer.  This text pairs nicely with a study of Hurston’s  Their Eyes Were Watching God  by providing biographical information about the author and a context for the novel.  CHRISTINA E. TAYLOR Zora Neal Hurston: Southern Storyteller [African-American Biographies series]  by  Della A. Yannuzzi Middle School  P Enslow Publishers, Inc. 104 pp.  Published 1996  ISBN  978-0-8 949-0685-5 $26.6...