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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Olivia

By: Ian Falconer
 
Olivia is about a young girl pig who likes to wear everyone out, including herself. She lives at home with her mother, father, brother, dog and cat. She likes to do different things like dress up, build sand castles, and go to the museum. She likes to explore and try new things. She goes to the museum and sees all these painting. She wonders what the artists were thinking. She notices one that looks like paint just thrown everywhere. She says, "I could do that in 5 minutes". So when she gets home, she tries it on her bedroom wall. He mother is furious. Finally, it is time for Olivia to go to bed. Her mother reads her a book, gives her a kiss and tells her, "You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway".
 
I thought the book had incredibly cute illustrations with these accented red pieces everywhere and the rest was grey and white. This was very eye-catching and unique. It kind-of displayed her personality with the color. I thought the plot was simply about Olivia and how she likes to wear everyone out. This book sets up the character for the series of books that follow. Although I did enjoy it, I felt the pictures were more interesting than the plot. I would like to read other Olivia books to see the other mischief she gets herself into and to see it these books are needed for my classroom.


Monday, November 5, 2012

May I Bring a Friend?

Author: Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
Illustrator: Beni Montresor
 
The books starts off with a king and queen inviting a young boy to tea. The boy asks if he can bring a friend and the king and queen reply that any friend of the boy is a friend of theirs too. So the boy brings a friend and it is a giraffe. The queen and king are caught off guard but enjoy both their company. The king and queen keep inviting the boy to their palace and, each time, he asks if he can bring a guest. The king and queen have no problem and the boy brings a new animal each time. He brings an elephant one time and they do not have any place to eat so they decide to eat on top of the elephant. Finally, the king and queen invite to boy over and he says that, actually, him and his friends would like to have them over to their place. So they all have tea at the City Zoo.
 
I thought this book was incredibly cute! It was very repetitive and rhythmic. It was fun reading and I really liked the twist at the end with the king and queen drinking tea at the City Zoo. I might try and use this book during a poem writing lesson. I always hated writing poems but this book made it seem easy. I will definitely have this book in my classroom!