"Year Of Impossible Goodbyes" by Sook Nyul Choi

I thought this story was somewhat depressing, but realistic. I was amazing at the drastic measures Sookan and her family had to take in order to get through Japanese occupation. The realism of the conflicts in the Korean area really sets in when Sookan describes the extent of which she had to go in order to blend into the Japanese. At one point, in Chapter 5, Sookan was sent to a Japanese school in which she would be punished if she spoke Korean. I tried to put myself in that situation, and I just can't even believe it. You are supposed to go to a school where you cannot speak your native language, or else you will be punished. It's just unreal. She even had to get called by an alternative Japanese name, and learn the Japanese anthem to recite in class. Aside from learning an entire different culture in order to blend, Sookan had unfathomable responsibility for a child of her age. Almost every decision she made weighed upon life and death. Overall, I thought this was a great book that really gave insight to eastern world conflicts.

"How The Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Suess

Since the holidays are coming up, I thought it would only be fitting to do this last Suess review on "How The Grinch Stole Christmas." As crazy as it sounds, I have never read this story of Suess'. This story pretty much talks about how the Grinch disguised himself as Santa, and stole everyone's presents. However, he realized that on Christmas everyone still celebrated, despite being robbed of their presents. Similar to many of Suess' earlier children's stories, he uses only one or two basic colors in his story. In this particular story, he uses the color red, and in almost every page he uses the red in the Grinch's eye to symbolize his malicious intentions. However, by the end of the book the Grinch is so humbled by everyone's holiday spirit, that he, himself becomes overjoyed for the holidays.

Although this story is a holiday classic, I think it teaches children some great basic lessons. That is, you shouldn't need presents to be happy (many children may still argue that concept). But in all reality if you choose to read this to your class, you should be very careful what lessons you extract from the story, and how you introduce the story. Many students may not celebrate Christmas, so you want to make sure you somehow introduce the story in ways that every student can relate.

"The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Suess

I haven't read this book in over a decade, but so far this is my favorite new Suess book I can recall. It's amazing the different things you see in stories as you age, and gain new knowledge. This story is fantastic, in that it is about two different towns who "spread their butter on toast" differently, thus they are separated by a wall to stay away from one another. Throughout the story, they continuously threaten each other with newer and newer technology, until finally at the end of the book they invented a little weapon that would completely clear out the opposing town. At the end of the story, both sides are holding this "little weapon" over each others town, waiting to see who will drop these little magic eggs first.

Although this story was adapted to children's literature, it seemed almost completely paralleled to the Cold War. I checked the publication date, and it was in 1984 (which was still around the cold war). Obviously the "little eggs" in the story that could destroy each others' towns symbolized nuclear weapons, however, little kids would most likely not pick up on that concept. I think this story is fantastic to read in the classrooms because it shows the consequences of not negotiating and accepting others' differences. I thought Suess did an excellent job in adapting realistic global issues into a children's story to help teach children the importance of tolerance and negotiation.

"Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Suess

This was an extremely bizarre story (as are most of Suess' stories). It talks about a young boy who comes to a kingdom, and a king is unhappy with only rain, snow, and fog coming from the sky - and wishes other things fell from the sky. Eventually, the king is so fed up with routine and sameness that he orders his magicians to conjure up something new to fall from the sky. Suddenly, green goo called "oobleck" begins to fall from the sky, covering everything and making everyone's lives miserable. By the end of the story, the king wishes it was gone - and he is forced to apologize to Bartholomew, even though it makes his skin cringe.

Even though this story was rather long and arbitrary, it teaches a few lessons. I guess the first lesson is "the grass is always greener on the other side." The king wanted so bad for change, but then realized when there was change, it wasn't change for the better. The change he wished for caused everything to go anarchic, and disturbed the environment. Although kids would not pick up this concept, as a teacher you could ask students their thoughts on the book. Also, at the end of the story the king did not want to apologize and admit his mistakes for bringing the oobleck to town. Eventually, he owned up to his mistakes - despite not wanting to do it. He believed that because he was the king, he should never have to apologize. This teaches students that even people in power make mistakes, and should be expected to own up to their mistakes (although in the real world many of them still don't).

"Fox in Socks" by Dr. Suess

"Fox in Socks" is another Suess book that encompasses the concepts of rhyming schemes and tongue twisters. Although it is similar to "One Fish, Two Fish...," "Fox in Socks" may be a little more difficult in that it uses a lot of the same rhyming schemes (such as words that use the letters "X" and "S" to rhyme interchangeably. I think students that were beginning readers would really enjoy this story, not only for its illustrations but for the tongue-twisting vocabulary. As a teacher you could challenge students to see who can read it the fastest without getting their tongue twisted in a knot. Or even, you as the teacher could read it to the class and progressively read it faster and faster, and show the kids how difficult rhyming words can sometimes be if read too fast. Students would most likely find it comical if the teacher was getting all twisted up in rhyming words.

The illustrations are very similar to those from "One Fish, Two Fish..." The story uses simple colors, nothing vibrant or extravagant. The story follows two fictional characters, a "Knox" and a Fox in socks. Throughout the story Fox is trying to teach the Knox tongue twisters, and the Knox is having trouble with them. Overall, this story is simple and comical, and if integrated the right way, it could be a very fun reading for students.

"One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" by Dr. Suess

For these next five posts I have chosen to do them all on my favorite all-time Children's author: Dr. Suess. This Suess story is typical of his many stories, in that there are many rhyming schemes and illustrations are very simple and engaging. He uses very basic colors throughout the story, nothing too drastic or vibrant. After reading this story I think it would be great for students who are in grades K-1, in that it helps reinforce new, simple vocabulary, as well as adjectives and verbs. It also aids to re-emphasize different colors (although by this point most children will know their colors). I think this story would be excellent in an elementary classroom in that the teacher can use it to teach what rhyming is to his/her students. Although most Suess books contain rhymes, this book uses very preliminary words - thus it would be easiest for students to comprehend the concept of rhyming if the most basic of words are used.

A/P/I - Chris Van Allsburg

I did my API study on Chris Van Allsburg. I chose Van Allsburg because I have always loved Jumanji and the Polar express, and I wanted to further investigate his past and where he gained his inspiration for his works from. After reading Van Allsburg's biography from http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/biography.html I had formed a greater appreciation for his works based on quite a few similarities I had with him. Similar to myself, Chris grew up in the midwest and was extremely interested and talented in math and science. Although he enjoyed both math and science, he had a great appreciation for the arts. After attending a Big 10 University and majoring in Sculpturing, he began drawing and writing in his free time. Not thinking of these drawings as anything more than his hobby, his wife and others thought they were extremely detailed and special. Thus, Van Allsburg began writing/illustrating children's books.

Throughout most of Van Allsburg's books, he uses common themes throughout. Many of these themes manifest in the form of common illustration techniques (such as soft colors, realism, etc.). One of the things I have found fascinating about his works is his ability to convey a story through only the use of illustrations. This method of telling a story is unique in that it gives the reader the opportunity to openly interpret what is going on in the story. Thus, there may be a variety of ways different readers may interpret what is going on in the story, consequently making every reader's experience with his stories unique.