Destiny Warner Literature Annotations Traditional Literature Annotation Anansi Goes Fishing Retold by Eric A. Kimmel.

Illustrated by Janet Stevens. Published by Holiday House in 1992. African folktale. 28 pages. Summary: Anansi Goes Fishing is a story about a spider named Anasi who wants to learn how to catch large fish like his friend Turtle. Instead, Turtle tells Anasi what to do and then sleeps while Anasi does all the work. Turtle then further tricks Anasi into letting Turtle eat the whole fish as well, leaving Anasi no reward for his hard work. When Anasi tries to get justice for Turtle's trickery he is turned away for lying. The upside of the story is that Anasi and his spider decedents now know the secret of net making, spider-webs. Personal Response: I like the story and think that it a nice continuation of other Anasi stories I have read previously. It's interesting that it's Anasi that is tricked this time since he is usually a crafty sort of character. I liked that the lesson of the story could be interpreted as looking on the bright side of misfortune, a lesson I think is lacking in a lot of media. I also like the artwork and think that children could relate to the style of drawing. I'm curious as to what motivated the author to retell an African folktale since I tend to be drawn to folktales from other cultures as well. I also related to Anasi towards then end when Warthog didn't punish Turtle because he though Anasi was lying when it was really miscommunication. I remember similar situations as a child and I'm sure students would connect with that as well. Also, if children have read other Anansi books they might see the moral that people will stop believing you if you become known as a trickster. Strengths/Considerations: Relatable art and wording for children. Good moral. Older students would probably be bored by the book. Not very age-universal in terms of emotional response or interest. Before reading this book I would want to do some quick wordwork on words like "Anansi, riverbank, cheated, Warthog," and "disgrace" since some children may not be familiar with them. How this book might be used: I think that this book would be best used with children ages two through second grade. It would be good as a read-a-loud for the younger ages and would also work as a guided reading or independent reading activity for older students

depending on their ability. K-2 is also what the School Library Journal recommends for this book and I have found them to be reliable. Realistic Fiction Loser by Jerry Spinelli 2002 Scholastic Inc. Realistic Fiction 218 pages. Summary: Loser is about a boy named Donald Zinkoff, a boy who rarely wins at anything but never seems to mind. He has two loving parents and a baby sister but no best friends. Donald Zinkoff is that kid most other kids barely remember, except as a dork. Until the day he becomes a loser. Personal Response: I loved this book. I started reading it during lunch at practicum and got eight chapters in before I realized it. Zinkoff is a kid that is probably hard to understand by many but I found myself really liking him. He's just an odd kid, but he's happy and it's impossible for me not to love happy, odd kids. I read a couple reviews online and found that some people didn't like that Spinelli never wrote what was "wrong" with Zinkoff. Honestly, I feel the opposite. Maybe it's my experiences with my own son and his undiagnosed "oddness" but I really appreciated that author didn't give Zinkoff a diagnosis. I think/hope that maybe this book can help others acknowledge that someone is different while not knowing why and be okay with it. It would be nice if people could be accepted as people and leave it at that. Strengths / Considerations: Loser is a very easy and quick read in terms of sentence structure and length but there are some interesting vocabulary words thrown in. For example; constraints, heedless, sifting. It also includes some made-up vocabulary that is fun to sound out. The book is also funny and talks about "weird" things like candles made out of earwax that will probably do a good job of keeping student interest. One background thing that might be a consideration is that there is a background acknowledgement that the Zinkoff family and surrounding neighborhood is poor and that a teacher should be willing to talk about it if a question is raised on the subject.

There are also passing mentions of Vietnam, potential senility, and missing children. I don't think these are things any teacher should shy from, but they are good things for a teacher to consider beforehand. How this book might be used: Based on the content of this book, I would use it with fourth through sixth grade since those are the main years of strife Zinkoff's life and I feel that those are the ages that would most connect with the main character. It's also when "little eyes" turn into "big kid eyes," something discussed in the book. The book also includes some helpful literature discussion questions at the end as well as some activities that teacher could use. Historical Fiction Annotation All Alone Written by Claire Huchet Bishop. Illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky. Published in 1953. Scholastic, Inc. Historical Fiction. 95 pages. Summary: All Alone is a story about a ten-year-old boy named Marcel living in the French Alps. In this story it is time for him to act as a man and provide for his family by taking their four cows up the mountain to graze for the summer all alone. His family and town culture has a suspicious nature that makes the phrase "keep to yourself" a way off life for everyone in the area. The town might have continued on this way if it wasn't for a moment of kindness and a terrible storm that changed their little town forever. Personal Response: I thought it was a pretty good book. It did win a Newbery Honor in 1954 and I do see why. It's a fast read and enjoyable with supportive pencil drawings that add to the setting and feel of the story. Strengths / Considerations: It isn't a book that I would say people "must" read, but I think it would be good for children to read and learn more about how people of different cultures live. Many people do continue to raise herd animals in isolated locations far from what most Americans would consider normal. There is a great deal of interesting vocabulary in the way of adjectives and adverbs in this story that would make for interesting lessons. Punctuated, detour, torrent, heifer, recede, ominous, wrath, and heavy-hearted are all included and are words I think students should learn.

A consideration might be that children might have a hard time connecting with the character of this book because they would be focused on the cultural difference. It would be important to have a discussion about being alone and the responsibilities that students' parents might give them to help them respond more to the character. Some children will have an easier time of connecting with a child who has to spend long amounts of time alone and that could also be a good writing topic. How this book might be used: I think it would be interesting to read this book with a social studies section that discussed rural life, farming, coal-mining, and other similar topics. It's short, so it would be a good read-a-loud book, especially if I were able to make copies of the illustrations and put them up on an overhead/ELMO. All Alone would also be a good book to connect with science and social studies research. It would be fun to learn more about the plants and mountains mentioned in the story and would make for solid connections. This book would probably be best used with fourth and fifth graders due to the age of the main characters and the strength of the vocabulary. The vocabulary would be too difficult for younger students while most junior high students wouldn't want to read about a ten-year-old. Biography Annotation Su Dongpo: Chinese Genius by Demi. Published by Lee & Low Books Inc. in 2006. Biography. 56 pages. Summary: Su Dongpo is the story of a man many consider China's greatest genius. According to the book, "He was a statesman, philosopher, poet, painter, engineer, architect, and humanitarian who approached everything with joy and grace," (pg. 7). This book beings with Su Dongpo's birth as Su Shih to a family of scholars that raised him to believe, "As a little seed one day will become a great tree, as a flowing river can carve a mighty rock, neither of these can you see at work with your own eyes. But one day their effort will show! One day the work you do will show too!" (pg. 9). The story covers Su Dongpo's entire life. Raising to the top with his brother as great writers and calligraphers, an exile, a pardon, exile again, and finally dying at peace while his life is rejoiced by all of China. During his life he experienced great wealth and poverty and found inspiration wherever he went.

Personal Response: I think that Demi did a good job with this book except that the writing feels more like a reverential story instead of a non-fiction biography. Demi reveres Su Dongpo and that shows in his writing. It is an interesting book with beautiful illustrations but it feels a bit like propaganda. Strengths/Considerations: Strengths of this text would definitely be the illustrations and the inclusions of Su Dongpo's poetry on many pages. From cover to cover, Su Dongpo is a very artful and beautiful book. I understand that this book is based off of the myths and legends surrounding an important scholar in China's history, but a consideration for me would be that for a non-fiction book this text is very subjective in it's regards for Su Dongpo and I would want to do some additional research or provide additional texts to give a more balanced idea of what this man was like. It bothers me that the book makes no mention of the man's wives, concubine, or three children that he had during the course of his life. How this book might be used: I would use this book with third, fourth, and fifth graders. It's possible that the book could be used with older students but I think some would balk at listening to a picture book. I think that this text would be a good one to read to inspire research and discussions of two social studies standards in the Iowa Core. - Understand personal changes over time, such as those related to physical development and personal issues. - Understand that language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations are expressions of culture. Also, the book would be useful for poetry comparisons, discussion of text illustrations and how they contribute to a text, as well contribute to students experience with a broad range of text types.