Lenka

Bibliography of Picture Books Edu 786 Created by Lenka Wendland May 2008 Alderman, Daniel. **__Africa__** **__Calling Nighttime Falling__**. Illus. by Kimberly M. Alderman. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing, 1996. **Summary:** This simple book written in a free verse poetry format descriptively portrays what happens when one dreams of far away places. The African animals appear, comforting, protecting you and calling your name. The book ands in a surprise as the reader finds a little girl sleeping in bed surrounded by African stuffed animals. **Endpapers: **Cool colors are used in the watercolor illustrations of African animals that lead the reader directly into the story and the nighttime on the African savannah. **Art Element - Texture: **The illustrator created texture and a three dimensional effect by painting a base plate in watercolors. She also painted watercolor cutout animal that she layered on top, along with rocks, dried flowers, herbs, leaves and number of other objects serving as the setting. The paper used is glossy which is distancing the reader from the paper and creating even more depth. Anderson, Laurie Halse. **__Thank You, Sarah__**. Illus. by Matt Faulkner. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2002. **Summary: **A brave and determined woman called Sarah Hale writes many letters to three different presidents for thirty eight years asking them to make Thanksgiving a holiday. Finally, thanks to Sarah and her determination, President Lincoln declares Thanksgiving to be a national holiday. **Gutters:** The illustrator leaves enough open space between the pages so that there is an uninterrupted flow in the pictures and the gutter does not interfere with the illustrations. **Art Element - Line: **The main character Sarah seems to be the focal point on each page. The illustrator always draws Sarah in a spot where implied lines or lines that appear ray like point to Sarah and her determined nature. Borden, Louise. **__America__** **__Is…__**. Illus. by Stacey Schuett, New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2002. **Summary: **This story, written in a poetic format, describes very patriotically what America stands for. It’s the fifty states between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, the flag, various parts of the country, the many different people, their stories, and freedom for all. **Text Layout: **The author positions her words at various parts of each page to help the reader move across the page quickly. The bold illustrations really seem to bring the author’s words to life. **Art Element - Line: **The illustrations are completed on a diagonal line on many pages which helps the eye move swiftly through the pages. Brett, Jan. **__Gingerbread Baby__**. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999. **Summary: **A young boy named Matti and his mother bake a gingerbread man. However, Matti opens the oven too soon and out comes a gingerbread baby that leads Matti, his family, and a crowd of animals on a wild chase around the village and into the countryside. Even though this gingerbread baby is very smart and even outsmarts the fox, he is eventually trapped by Matti himself and put into a beautiful gingerbread house Matti made just for him. The story has a happy ending for the gingerbread baby. **Borders:** The borders in this book are very intricate. They are symbolically shaped like cookie cutouts and serve as windows into what the main character is doing. The author/illustrator is able to put two different images on each page this way. **Art Element - Texture: **The illustrations in this book create an amazing texture and depth. The reader must search through each page in detail to discover what Jan Brett has hidden throughout her outstanding drawings. Calhoun, Mary. **__Henry the Sailor Cat__**. Illus. by Erick Ingraham. New York, NY: Morrow Junior Books, 1994. **Summary:** Henry, a Siamese cat jumps onto a sailboat and stows away. After a little bit of queasiness, Henry comes out to the cockpit occupied by the Man and the Kid. Soon, Henry enjoys the sailing experience of being moved in the breeze and seeing dolphins in the ocean. Henry watches the Man give the Kid a sailing lesson and thanks to that he is able to save the man’s life, when the Man falls overboard. He is able to use his amazing vision and stop the boat in order to rescue the Man who is quite thankful to him at the end. **Wraparound Cover: **A picture of the sailboat and the three main characters is portrayed on the cover beginning on the front and wrapping around the back cover. The reader is able to view the entire image and imagine the vast ocean that the sailboat is heading into. **Art Element - Value: **The sky and colors of the Man’s face are very light when they are not in trouble. However, as soon as danger appears, the darkness of the colors is portrayed in the sky and on the Man’s face. Falconer, Ian. **__Olivia and the Mission Toy__**. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2003. **Summary: **Olivia, a young pig, is asking her mom to make her a red soccer shirt, even though her team’s color is green. Suddenly, she discovers that her very best toy is missing and she spends much time looking for it. During a stormy night, she hears scary sounds and discovers her dog Perry chewing her toy to bits. Olivia is very angry but by nightfall, she is falling asleep with her toy that she mended and her dog Perry. **Single - Image Covers: **A single image of Olivia is displayed on the front with a stormy background symbolic of the climax of the story. It was during the stormy night that Olivia discovered where her best toy had been. **Art Element - Value:** Most of the illustrations are done in black, white and some shades of gray. The pages get completely dark (black) when Olivia is about to discover what happened to her toy. Through that, we ca see the mood changing and fear setting in. Flournoy, Valerie. **__Tanya’s Reunion__**. Illus. by Jerry Pinkney. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995. **Summary: **Tanya, one of the characters from __The Patchwork Quilt__ goes to visit a farm in Virginia where her grandmother grew up. She and her grandmother travel there to plan a large family reunion. However, Tanya is very disappointed with the old farm, until her grandmother helps her see it through her eyes and her memories. **Dual Image Covers: **The back cover of this book reveals a picture of a quilt which comes from its sequel titled __The Patchwork Quilt__. **Art Element - Color:** The soft yellow and brown colors add warmth to pages that depict the joyous closeness of the family and the power of memories. Few pages are slightly subdued and depict what one might see as the current state of things without happy memories of the past. Gag, Wanda. **__Millions of Cats__**. New York, NY: The Putnam & Grosset Group, 1996. **Summary: **An old man and his wife decided to get a cat. The woman sent the man to go on a search of the prettiest cat of all. However, as he was searching, he ran into “hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions, and trillions” of cats and since he could not decide which one to bring home, he brought them all. At home, his wife pointed out that they could not support all of them and made the cats decide which one should stay. The nicest cat stays, after all the other cats disappear. **Vignettes: **The story keeps moving right along with these small illustrations. The small pictures also add clarity to the story. **Line: **The diagonal lines created by the black and white drawings seem to move our eyes right across the page. We seem to also get a feeling that the main character has a difficult time making the decision of choosing the right cat. Gerstein, Mordicai. **__The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.__** New York, NY: Roaring Book Press, 2003. **Summary: **This is a true story of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the World Trade Center Towers. The author describes how Petit planned this adventure in 1974, his walk, and the feeling of freedom while he was in the air before the police captured him. **Shape of Books:** The rectangular vertical shape of the book is perfect for bringing the reader right into the action taking place in this book. The illustrator is able to give the reader a bird’s eye view experience of Philippe’s tight rope walk, especially on his two fold page scenic view. **Art Element - Line:** Vertical lines used in the illustrations of the World Trade Center towers bring the reader straight up from the bottom of the page. Giovanni, Nikki. **__Rosa__**. Illus. by Bryan Collier. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 2006. **Summary:** Rosa Parks was a young black hard working seamstress. One day, she was able to leave work early. She got on her bus and sat at the “neutral section.” However, when more people got on, the bus driver demanded her to give up her seat for the white passengers, which she refused to do. She was arrested but soon after that, twenty five black women came together at Alabama State to offer her support. Martin Luther King Jr. also came for support and a year after that segregation became illegal. **Copyright Page:** This page includes the author’s and the illustrator’s special notes to the reader. They both use incredibly descriptive language honoring Mrs. Parks. The illustrator includes an explanation behind his research and his trip to Montgomery. **Art Element - Value: **The illustrations in this book are mostly done in dark colors to represent the sadness of the realities of segregation. In contrast to that, Rosa’s face is always painted with a yellow glow, almost illuminating each page. It seems to send a message of hope.

Rosenthal, Amy Krouse and Lichtenheld, Tom. **__The OK Book__**. New, York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2007. **Summary:** The main character OK tries many different activities from skipping to bug catching. He sends the message that trying new things and being just OK in them is perfectly fine. He has fun figuring out what it is that one day he will really be really excellent at. He lets the reader know that being OK just made lead to finding out what makes one great. The wording is simple but quite powerful. **Flaps: **Unique back flap uses the work OK overlapped twice and in its upside down version a short bio is included about each author. **Art Element - Line:** The main character is a stick figure made out of lines. OK is made out of OK tipped on its side. The head of OK is the O and its arms and legs are the K. There is very little scenery and background, except for a black horizon line on many pages. All the drawings are done by simple lines. Shannon, David. **__The Bad Case of Stripes__.** New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 1992. **Summary: **Camilla Cream desperately worries about what everyone thinks of her. Her skin and body undergo many colorful changes representing things around her. This is only until she admits who she is and what she likes, which are lime beans. **Single Page Illustrations:** Most of the illustrations in this book are confined to one page. Even though, they are done in frames, they portray much energy and action. **Art Element - Color: **While the illustrator uses bright, aggressive colors to depict Camilla’s skin condition, he uses very dull and subdued colors to depict everyone else in the story. The bright colors seem to emphasize the uniqueness of each person and the dull colors seem to imply how boring life would be if all were the same. Sis, Peter. **__The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Curtain__**. New York, NY: Frances Foster Books, 2007. **Summary: **In this autobiographical picture book written as a graphic novel, the author describes his growing up in the former Czechoslovakia under the Soviet rule. He portrays life behind the iron curtain and the lives of the people that once were free and after 1968 became completely oppressed. He describes how his artistic nature was also oppressed. **Panels: **The author uses panels to record powerful memories of his childhood and growing up. He uses his personal journal as an inspiration. **Art Element - Color/Hue: **Most of the drawings in the book are black and white pencil drawings portraying sad, dark life that people under Communism had to endure. Dramatic pure red color is added to all corrupted Russian symbols and flags, symbolizing danger and fear. Van Allsburg, Chris. **__ The Polar Express __** __. __ New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985. **Double-Page Spread: **The realistic looking paintings spread across both sides of the open book. The illustrator is able to create a much more panoramic view of the countryside and the layout of North Pole. **Art Element - Value/Hue:** The illustrator is able to use oil pastels to create lights during the nighttime. He mixes color complements to create hues of colors depicting low light. Williams, Karen Lynn. **__Galimoto__**. Illus. by Catherine Stock. New York , NY   : A Mulberry Paperback Book, 1990. ** Summary: **  A young boy named Kondi living in Malawi, Africa sets out to make a wire car, called //galimoto//. In spite of the fact that his brother laughs at him and does not believe he can do it, Kondi spends the entire day gathering things to make his special galimoto. It is not until the light of the moon comes out that Kondi finishes his galimoto and is ready to share it with his village friends. ** Typeface: **  The title of the book is spelled with lettering that is made of wire letters which are symbolic to the supplies the main character needs to create his galimoto. ** Art Element - Shape: ** The soft watercolors and rounded shapes of the illustrations add a sense of comfort and stability to this simple African village. The village appears very peaceful and stress free.
 * Summary:  ** A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a young boy to the North Pole. After a very eventful journey to the North Pole, the boy receives a special gift from Santa Claus. Unfortunately, he discover that ‘the bell gets lost on his way back home, just to be miraculously found under the Christmas tree.