Literacy Now

This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in May 2011.

Tired of filling all your classroom wall space with charts, construction paper, and poster boards and then wondering how to recycle all that paper when it gets replaced with new charts and posters? Have you considered the reasons for inviting students to represent their thinking through visual texts? And have you tried using Glogs as an alternative?
  A New Reason
  Consider some of these ideas for creating a Glog:

• Collaborative groups can create Glogs about books they are reading during literature circles. They can pose questions that they might like to ask the author or a character.
• Students can create reviews of books they are reading. When seeking a new book to read, students can access each other’s reviews and get acquainted with their points of view.
• Groups of students can each study an author, including books written, style, genre, etc. and then create an author study Glog to share the information. They might identify their concerns or share their insights about issues being presented by the author. For example they might ask Sharon Draper if she experienced a personal loss that allowed her to so deeply describe the feelings of Andy in Tears of A Tiger.
• Students can create Idiom Glogs, Simile Glogs, Homophone Glogs, and others about tricky literary concepts. They can then offer tips on how to use these.

Learning About Glogs

To get started visit http://www.glogster.com/.

Glog Projects

Here are a couple of instructional examples that illustrate students sharing their voices and perspectives through a Glog.
  3rd grade Reading/Language Arts: Teacher, Kelly Johnson

Purpose: Create a Glog of a fairy tale character that conveys perspective differently than implied in the original text.

Task: After selecting a fairy tale, students worked in groups of three to think and talk about each character’s perspective of what was, or had occurred in the tale, and the perspective the author was creating. They were tasked with selecting one of the characters and retelling the fairy tale from a different perspective. For example, Cinderella could have left her slipper at the ball because she had not really liked the Prince or had not wanted to go to the ball. The wicked stepsisters could have been shown as sisters who were always bullied by Cinderella because she was prettier than they were. Students were asked to also discuss how the readers would perceive these character changes: Who would be the hero, the empowered, and the victim?

Ms. Johnson had assigned this task because she was attempting, within the context of critical literacy, to encourage her students to understand that in every story and situation they should analyze whose position is being supported by the author and whose voice is being ignored or silenced. After selecting their tales and characters, and creating the new perspective, students were then invited to share the selected character’s new perspective within the context of a Glog. Each group was asked to include photos and other visuals representing the new perspective. In addition, students were asked to include illustrations representing the setting. Students were able to scan in their own sketches of the scenes. Students could also include current or classical music that best illustrated the complexity of the problem being faced by the character. The solution to the dilemma was also to be included in the Glog in the form of a video the students created, a written paragraph, or an audio recording from the students themselves.
  11th grade Social Studies: Teacher, Javier Vaca

Purpose: Create a Glog persuading support for the “home front” efforts during WWI.
 
Task: Students worked as partners studying one of the following topics (Building Up the Military, Organizing Industry, Mobilizing the Workforce Ensuring Public Support; view an example here). Using a chapter from their social studies text, and related articles found via the Internet, their task was to first identify text-based visuals and information that had promoted “Home Front” support for WWI. Next, they interrogated the texts to determine who was being either supported or forgotten and what views were being either promoted or ignored. They then figured out ways to entwine their perspective as a way to communicatively engage with the author, and, finally, to use visuals to persuade others to their stance. Before beginning, students decided that they could persuade and inform by using visuals as well as words, and that they could then persuasively share their information within the context of a Glog.
  Benefits to Learning

These Glog projects supported the students in comprehending and then synthesizing the text-based information. Working as partners/teams, students were identifying, locating, and interrogating texts, and then discussing their thinking in order to negotiate the images and slogans that would persuade the audience viewing the Glog to view “home front” war support through the stance of the creators, or to have new insights and feelings about a fairytale character. In addition to reading information and reporting it in their own words, these students were also creating visual texts representing the newly learned information through images designed to persuade or to illustrate a new perspective.

Diane Lapp, EdD, is a distinguished professor of education at San Diego State University and an English teacher and literacy coach at Health Sciences High and Middle College.



TILE-SIG Feature: Create a Multimedia Poster Using Glogster

Engage: Plugged In

by Terry S. Atkinson

Children born this year will graduate from high schools in the year 2030. With this fact in mind, TVO has launched Learning 2030, a special on-the-road series canvassing citizens and experts about the future of education. Recently featured in this series is Douglas Thomas, co-author of A New Culture of Learning. Through his lens as a cultural historian, he argues that game-changing technologies including Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, smart phones, and YouTube have transformed the way that students think, learn, and make sense of the world. Thomas argues that university instructors must make radical shifts in their teaching to reach today’s students and challenge them to address tomorrow’s yet unknown problems and questions. While Thomas makes many points based on what he claims are the best historical tenets of education, several ideas are particularly intriguing for university instructors. These include:

• Shifting the teacher’s instructional role from dispenser of content to that of guide and mentor;
• Rethinking learning so that student passion, imagination, inquiry, collaboration, and a quest for greater understanding are foregrounded; and
• Valuing the notion of honing student intellect through challenging and substantive questioning, rather than providing right answers to teacher-generated questions. Such questioning may reveal no definitive answers and, therefore, has the potential to foster long-standing student interest and engagement.

Traditions in the academy often undermine such radical shifts in university teaching and learning. Perhaps no one understands that better than Roni Jo Draper, who launched an innovative cross-campus action research project among engineering, English, history, mathematics, music, science, theatre, and visual arts colleagues at Brigham Young University (BYU). In her quest to better understand her own role as a content-area literacy educator, this collaboration has led her to question a fundamental tenet of content-area literacy. She no longer imagines that she can suggest a body of cross-content literacy strategies appropriate for all teachers and disciplines. Participation in action research with her BYU colleagues has led her to conclude that participation in the intellectual discourse of specific disciplines must be the focus of content-area literacy instruction and can only take place in collaboration with content-area specialists.

Draper and her Brigham Young University colleagues offer one innovative model for collaborative professional development among university faculty. In rethinking their own roles and practices as teacher educators, their efforts offer inspiration for other higher education faculty to envision and create new cultures of learning within their own classrooms, departments, colleges, and universities.

Terry S. Atkinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Literacy Studies, English Education, and History Education at East Carolina University.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

We all have unique lives, experiences, and interests, no matter what age we are. These can be springboards for each of us to create stories that no one else can write. Students who comprehend this may write with more confidence and, perhaps, come to see themselves as authors too.

I regularly visit schools and give presentations on my children’s books and writing process. When students have an opportunity to ask questions, one invariably posed is, “Where do you get your ideas for stories?” I love answering this question, because by sharing the “sparks” for my stories, I hope to inspire kids to create their own. Starting points for stories may be found in relationships with family and close friends, personal interests, personal experiences, and even dreams. All of these have jumpstarted my fiction.

Another source of inspiration that I like to discuss in some detail with students is the great big world of ideas, happenings, and information that constitutes current events. These offer boundless opportunities for authors looking for story ideas.

I was browsing the Internet in early 2008 and read an online news article from the Alaska Dispatch about a cease and desist order issued to prevent an Anchorage, Alaska man from building a 25-foot snowman. There was a photograph of Snowzilla (built the year before), and I marveled at his enormity. He dwarfed people and nearby houses. The huge snowman had caused chaos in town; tourists clogged roads, and people claimed he might hurt someone if he collapsed.

So the town issued the order to prevent the second rising of Snowzilla. This struck me as a very sad commentary on our times. Legal action against a snowman? I ruminated for months before writing the first draft of SNOWZILLA, based on the true facts. But I write for children, and this version had an adult protagonist and a not-so-happy ending. After brainstorming with colleagues, playing “what if?” with the facts, and putting myself “in kids’ boots,” I wrote a fictionalized version in rhyme about a little girl and her brother:

It snowed without stopping for week after week.
When it ended, at last, Cami Lou took a peek.
She bundled and booted and zipped up her brother.
“Let’s build a huge snowman, unlike any other!”

Departing from fact to create fiction isn’t always easy, especially if you are basing your story on true facts within your life experience. But a good fiction writer must often depart from the facts to serve his or her story. For example, a character inspired by a cranky uncle might be more memorable if there’s a secret reason for his unhappiness. The same freedom to change and mix things up applies to plot. A good fiction author doesn’t limit him or herself to “how it really happened.”

Since I had only read about Snowzilla and wasn’t wedded to his true story, it wasn’t that hard to turn on the “fiction switch.” How could I ratchet up the humor, the story, the size of this tall tale? I started with a spunky child protagonist who enlists her mom to plow the whole yard and her dad to place Snowzilla’s head using a rig. I thought of funny reasons for people to complain:

“Poochie is scared to go out the front door.”
Another said, “Views were much better before.
A lady warned everyone, “Make no mistake—
when temperatures rise, he’ll turn into a lake!

I changed the town ordinance violation into neighbors bringing lawsuits. And when I ruminated about how to save Snowzilla, my own life experience kicked in with a fact—in my New England town, the flattest, most open space is our community garden. What a perfect spot to move Snowzilla! Major scaffolding, many hands, a trip down Main Street, and marching bands helped complete the joyous move. And when the inevitable happened, Cami was ready for the challenge:

Weeks later, the sun became hotter and bright.
Snowzilla grew smaller and flowed out of sight.
Cami Lou waved, hardly shedding a tear,
because she had much bigger plans for next year.

My completed manuscript had grown into a humorous tall tale far different from the original news story I’d read. My creative journey can be a model for similar journeys in your classrooms. Consider encouraging students to use a news story as a starting point for writing fiction. Such assignments or exercises will introduce or expose them to journal and newspaper articles as a reading option. Interest in current events may be kindled. And opportunities abound for tailoring assignments to particular literacy goals.

For pre- or early literacy students, a teacher might propose a simple fact line drawn from the day’s news, or from the day’s events—“Principal Jones stood on the playground.” The class can brainstorm to invent a story, with the teacher saying, “What if?” or “What might have happened next?” This storytelling exercise, led by teacher prompting, can encourage all students’ creative juices while targeting specific skills. For example, the class story line might include, “Principal Jones ran away.” Students can brainstorm a “best word” for the verb “ran.” (Students might suggest, “He hopped away,” or “He dashed away,” “He hurried away,” or “He zoomed away.”)

For more experienced writers, a teacher might select and read two or three short news articles that would be of interest to kids. Students can write a fictional story, developing a story idea from the article. Teachers might model an example, creating a short fictional story. An article about a giant underground ant colony might lead to a story about a child using all his leftover dinner food to set up a soup kitchen for ants. Students could share their articles and brainstorm together to come up with story ideas.

For older grades, students themselves could select an article from a print newspaper, or online news source. That article would provide the story idea. A teacher might refine such an assignment to focus on specific traits or mechanics of writing, such as story arc, descriptive passages, hyperbole, active verb choices and tenses, etc. Students should tackle such assignments with enthusiasm—they will be reading and choosing an article that piques their curiosity. Some will be drawn to human interest stories; others may be drawn to science or medical writing. Still others may be fascinated by local, state, national, or international history or current events.

With a bit of guidance, students of almost any age can mine news sources for a story idea. Creating fiction out of real events will help students develop confidence as story tellers and provide myriad opportunities for teachers to present or reinforce numerous language arts concepts and literacy skills. Hopefully, students will soon see stories everywhere in the world around them—as do all good fiction authors.

Janet Lawler is the author of IF KISSES WERE COLORS (a Common Core Curriculum Map-suggested work for kindergarteners), A FATHER'S SONG, and A MAMA BUG'S LOVE. Her latest book, SNOWZILLA, was published this past October. OCEAN COUNTING is slated for a 2013 release by National Geographic. Learn more about Janet and her work at www.JanetLawler.com.

Being a teacher means embracing constant change. Yet all too often, teachers are told when, how and why to change. In this monthly column, Mrs. Mimi takes on creating change for herself by rethinking old practices and redefining teaching on her own terms.

Teaching is an emotional thing. There is the joy you feel when your students master a new concept, the frustration you feel when they look at you like you’re speaking in tongues, the nervousness you feel before the first day, and the relief you feel when their little fannies walk out the door on the day before a vacation. But you know the one emotion that doesn’t get enough attention as it relates to the lives of teachers?

Panic.

Yeah, I said it. Panic. Teachers feel panic. And you know what? I think a little panic makes us better teachers. A little panic never hurt anyone.

We have a huge responsibility as teachers. You know, we work to create thoughtful citizens, we instill a love of reading and help children curate an identity as readers, we expose children to new ideas, we encourage teamwork and inventive problem solving….all while holding our pee for eight solid hours and never sitting down. That is INTENSE!

I begin the year with energy, with plans, with enthusiasm, with ideas, with the calm that only comes from a few weeks spent on the beach. As the year progresses, and September becomes October, I feel accomplishment as my little friends are settled into our routines nicely and are shaping up to be a lovely group. As October slips into November and then December comes out of nowhere, the panic begins to set in. I have to get my students to hit what benchmark as readers? And why has that particular group of friends seemed to stall in their progress? What happened to my organized conferring notes? Where should I go to find new and exciting titles? And has anyone seen my To-Do list…I thought I put it right here…you can’t miss it—it’s five pages long and double sided.

photo: net_efekt via photopin cc

Panic.

Just yesterday, I sat with a group of teachers who were deep into their annual panic. They were hungry for new titles to share with their classes, for ideas to use to ramp up the effectiveness of their reading conferences, and for new tricks to better organize their mountains of notes and data. And that’s when I realized—the panic made each of these teachers better than they ever imagined they could be. The panic created a sense of urgency that did not consume these teachers; rather, it pushed them to work harder to see results and improve their own practice in significant ways.

So as the holidays approach and your own sense of personal and professional panic come to a jolly head, take a breath and recognize that this panic is making you a total rock star.

Mrs. Mimi is a pseudonymous teacher who taught both first and second grades at a public elementary school in New York City. She's the author of IT'S NOT ALL FLOWERS AND SAUSAGES: MY ADVENTURES IN SECOND GRADE, which sprung from her popular blog of the same name. Mimi also has her doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

With the holidays quickly approaching many families have begun decorating their homes, shopping for presents and making plans for the new year. Two important presents teachers give their students each year are a book filled classroom and the love of reading. In theses last few weeks of school continue sharing the gift of books by reading aloud a title from this list. The International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) wishes everyone a happy holiday!

GRADES K-3

Alko, Selina. (2012). Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Young Sadie launches the family holiday season with her declaration, “I am a mix of two traditions.” In simple text but vivid and playful gouache, collage and colored pencil illustrations the author describes how this household celebrates Christmas and Hanukkah. Father is Christian and mother is Jewish, yet the reader will find dad making latkes (for Santa, no less!) and kugel dressing for turkey dinner. He hangs candy canes from the menorah on the mantel. As relatives arrive and dinner is served, the extended family share stories about holiday traditions. This unique family situation provides a great conversation starter for those interested in a truly multicultural look at the holidays. Learn more about the author and her books at her website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Andreasen, Dan. (2012). The twelve days of Christmas. Mankato, MN.: Sleeping Bear Press.

Though there are numerous book versions of this traditional Christmas song, author/artist Dan Andreasen has created a new volume specifically intended for young readers. A baby partridge begins the story song and each day a new cast of characters arrives illustrated with playful animal characters that prove to overwhelm the young partridge. Funny-looking turtledoves, cats that are milkmaids, rabbits performing as dancing ladies and tortoises banging on drums start the mayhem. Though the words remain the same, this is a fresh look at a traditional English carol for young readers counting the days toward the Christmas holiday.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Black, Birdie. (2012). Just right for Christmas. Illus. by Rosalind Beardshaw. New York: Nosy Crow Publisher/Candlewick.

For teachers looking for a read aloud about the joy of giving, this new book from Birdie Black is just that right book including repeating phrases that young readers will want to join in with the teacher, especially “That cloth is so red and soft and Christmassy!” This phrase opens the book as the king strolls through the market on Christmas Eve and sees a bolt of red cloth that he knows is just right for a grand cloak for his daughter. When the king’s seamstresses finish the cloak, they put the scraps outside the back door. The kitchen maid walks by and sees the discarded red scraps and she immediately decides to make a jacket for her ma. When she discards the scraps, along comes a badger who sees that he can make a hat for his pa; then a squirrel gathers the scraps to make gloves for his wife; and from the last bits of red cloth a mouse makes a beautiful red scarf for her son. The final pages bring all the characters from the book together at the ice skating rink and readers will see all the red gifts sported around the ice rink. The mixed media illustrations use cloth and patterns and sewing items that add a touch of homespun storytelling to the story. Pair this with Simms Taback’s Caldecott winner, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. A quick book talk of this book can be found at YouTube.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Bryan, Ashley. (2012). Who built the stable?; a nativity poem. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Told in rhymed couplets and illustrated with the brilliantly familiar artwork of Ashley Bryan, this story of the nativity brings new thought to the original story of Christmas. The narrator is a young boy apprenticed to his father and training to be a carpenter. When Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem, the young apprentice invites them to stay in the stable. As Ashley Bryan was traveling in an open Jeep across Africa, the bumpy terrain reminded him of the bumpy journey Mary made all those years ago to Bethlehem. Throughout this new book, Bryan has illustrated the pictures with a strong African influence including background pictures of a giraffe, a zebra, a monkey, and an African drummer. Some observers might question these artistic details, but it brings universality to this glorious birth. After the young carpenter boy has cared for Mary and Joseph’s comforts for the coming night, he greets them in the morning and meets the new babe. He proclaims that this child will also be a carpenter and a shepherd. This vibrant new book brings a new slant to the Biblical version as young readers enjoy the story told in rich language with beautiful illustrations. This would make an excellent family story or gift for Christmas. Listen to a podcast on the illustrations of Ashley Bryan. 

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Carpenter, Tad. (2012). Sad Santa. New York: Sterling Children’s Books.

It is December 26, and Santa is sad. The presents are open, the cookies are eaten, and everyone is forgetting about Santa. He has the blues. Mrs. Claus tries to cheer him up and suggests going on a beach vacation but this doesn’t work as he just doesn’t feel wanted or needed any longer. Then, one day, a letter arrives from a young boy who is starting on his Christmas list for next year. He is asking for gifts for his brother and his parents. Santa’s enthusiasm returns and he heads for the North Pole to begin the new season’s extra-special gifts. Though he is back to work, the end of the book concludes with Santa’s thought about sharing and the spirit of giving and caring every day of the year. The author got the idea for this book after his recent marriage. The planning of the wedding took months and months and then was over so quickly, it made him think of Christmas in the same way. Enjoy the website dedicated to this book.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Kelleher, Kathie. (2012). The night before Christmas, deep under the sea. Illus. by Dan Andreasen. New York: Holiday House.

For those collectors of all the parodies and varieties of Clement Moore’s poem, “The Night Before Christmas,” here is a new addition/edition. Narrated by a jolly old lobster, readers will find the undersea marine setting a humorous touch to the traditional poem. Mermaids replace peeking children in this tale of underwater Christmas. When Santa finally arrives, readers will see that he is a blue walrus and sea horses with their own marine names pull the conch-shell sleigh. Using oil and digital artwork the illustrations are often double page spreads that add a luminescence for underwater effect in addition to humorously supporting the text that stays admiringly close to Moore’s original.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Matteson, George, & Ursone, Adele. (2012). The Christmas tugboat: How the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree came to New York City. Illus. by James Ransome. Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin Books/Clarion Books.

Many young readers will cherish this book that explains how the huge Christmas tree that graces New York City's Rockefeller Center at Christmas arrives at its destination. Although the story does not cover the selection and the cutting of the tree chosen for this honor, it describes its watery journey along the Hudson River. Based on their own experiences, the authors relate how one family ventures out in a tugboat along the river to guide the tree to its rightful place of honor. The story highlights family love and how the three family members take note of everything along their path while the acrylic illustrations paint the city and its surroundings in eye-catching style, making the route back to NYC seem almost like a parade attended by passengers in boats. Although many readers will be familiar with the lighting of the tree at the Rockefeller Center, few of them will have considered how the tree would be transported. This is a perfect read aloud as the holiday season draws nigh. 

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Patricelli, Leslie. (2012). Fa la la. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

As is often the case for little ones, Baby is beyond excited as Christmas approaches. Eager for Christmas to come, he seizes every chance to get involved in the festivities, even draping tinsel and lights around himself while his parents attempt to decorate the tree. Parents reading this board book to their own little ones will smile at the less-than-desirable but heartfelt presents that Baby makes for his own parents since they may have received similar gifts themselves. It's all lots of fun, accompanied by vividly-hued acrylic illustrations, and Baby's irrepressible joy for life. Readers will chortle as Baby belts out Christmas carols in a decidedly off key fashion to the annoyance of the family's pets who seek solace from the noise. It’s a good thing the holiday comes only once a year.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Schuette, Sara L. (2012). A Christmas cookbook; simple recipes for kids. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.

Christmas also means cooking! This cookbook is especially designed for young children to enjoy as the subtitle indicates: simple recipes for kids. Large print, simple step-by-step instructions, and color photographs makes this an ideal Christmas cookbook for young readers. Starting with an introduction on Festive Foods that provides a metric conversion chart, kitchen tools and techniques (crush, drizzle, fold, measure, spread, sprinkle, stir, toss) recipes for snacks and drinks will make apprentice child cooks proud of the kitchen products they produce. Recipes include: North Pole Pie, Blitzen’s Bagels, Hawaiian Snowball Salad, Santa’s Salsa Rolls, Stuffed Sleigh Sammies, and of course, Mrs. Claus Cookies and a Popcorn Garland. A glossary and index help with definitions of specific cooking terms. Yummy! Good news for Santas everywhere!

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Whelan, Gloria. (2012). Smudge and the book of mistakes; a Christmas story. Illus. by Stephen Costanza. Mankato, MN: Sleeping Bear Press.

Fifteen-year-old Cuthbert is sent to live at the monastery of St. Ambrose on the Irish island of Moracrrick. Living in the Middle Ages and small for his age, his father thinks Cuthbert will never be a warrior and the life of a monk is more suited to him. When he is assigned to the scriptorium to learn the art of writing and creating illuminated letters, Brother Cuthbert is delighted. He loves writing and creating the beautiful letters, though most of the time he is a bit sloppy and quickly earns the nickname “Smudge.” A special project is started at the monastery and is designed to bring fame to the church but due to a mistake in assignments, Cuthbert is selected over the best writer/calligrapher at St. Ambrose to be the illuminator of the Christmas story project. Smudge?? Brother Gregory lends Brother Cuthbert guidance and confidence that he can, indeed, complete this project. Through hard work, diligence and many hours of practice, Cuthbert works his way through this momentous task. When a mistake at the very end of the manuscript threatens to completion of the project. Brother Gregory shows Cuthbert how to turn a mistake into something creative and beautiful. Check out "5 Questions With... Gloria Whelan" on the Engage blog. Teachers might like to try teaching students to practice making an illuminated letter.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

GRADES 4-6

Kalz, Jill. (2012). Christmas chaos: Hidden picture puzzles. Illus. by James Yamasaki. Mankato, MN: Heinemann/Picture Window Books.

Fourteen puzzles created around a holiday theme give readers a chance to test their patience and enhance their visual literacy and puzzle-solving skills as they try to locate various hard-to-find objects such as a rocking horse, a candy cane, and mistletoe, among others. Although finding them might seem easy, some of the puzzles require combing over the images slowly and patiently several times since the colors blend together. This entertaining book will keep young readers busy as they try to spot all the objects, but don’t be surprised if they ask older readers for some help. Despite the book's title, it also features puzzles about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's as well as a puzzle about the winter season. Many of the pages feature friendly figures enjoying the lighted houses and ice sculptures in their neighborhood as well as standing in line to visit Santa Claus. Successful puzzle solvers can return to the puzzles to look for even more objects, including a cupcake, a mermaid, and a lizard, of all things. While reading this book is great fun, looking at the multi-hued pictures for too long can be headache-inducing.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Reading Today Online.