Little Red Writing

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Chronicle  Books
(pub.9.24.2013) 36 pages 

A True Tale with 
A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Joan Holub
           and Illustrator: Melissa Sweet

    

C haracter:  Little Red Writing (a pencil)

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "Once upon a time in pencil school, a teacher named Ms. 2 told her class, 'Today we're going to write a story.' 
     'Yippee!' said the birthday pencil.
     'Slammin'!' said the basketball pencil.
     'Sharp!' said Little Red.
     So begins a hilarious and exuberant retelling of 'Little Red Riding Hood,' in which a brave little red pencil finds her way through the many perils of storytelling, faces a ravenous pencil sharpener (the Wolf 3000) ... and saves the day."

T antalizing taste: 

"Once upon a time in pencil school, a teacher named Ms. 2 told her class, 'Today we're going to write a story!'

[On the blackboard]
STORY PATH

1. Idea, characters, setting
2. Trouble
3. Even bigger trouble
4. Fix the trouble 

and something more: Oh! I would have so loved to have used this book, Little Red Writing, when I taught 5th grade writing workshops! It's a story about how to write a story, and the first page sums it up: idea, character, setting, and TROUBLE. I often reminded my students that they needed to write about a conflict, a problem, and not just a list of occurences.  

This book is wonderfully illustrated by Melissa Sweet with her unique, whimsical style. The book has terrific teacher material, and I thought these were fun pencil facts:

"Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil in 1858.

The majority of pencils made in the United States are painted yellow.

Author Roald Dahl used only yellow pencils. He had 6 sharpened pencils ready at the beginning of each day and when all 6 pencils became unusable, he sharpened them again."

  
Thank you to Chronicle Books for providing me with a copy of this book!

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Nelson Mandela

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Katherine Tegen Books (Harper Collins)
(pub. 1.2.2013) 40 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor and Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

    

C haracter: Nelson Mandela

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "One day when Nelson Mandela was nine years old, his father died and he was sent from his village to a school far away from home, to another part of South Africa. In Johannesburg, the country's capital, Mandela saw fellow Africans who were poor and powerless. He decided then that he would work to protect them. When the government began to keep people apart based on the color of their skin, Mandela spoke out against the law and vowed to fight hard in order to make his country a place that belonged to all South Africans.

        Kadir Nelson tells the story of Mandela, a global icon, in poignant verse and glorious illustrations. It is the story of a young boy's determination to change South Africa and of the struggles of a man who eventually became the president of his country by believing in equality for people of all colors. Readers will be inspired by Mandela's triumph and his lifelong quest to create a more just world."

T antalizing taste: 

"Speaking out was against the law
and Nelson was arrested and jailed
for a fortnight with a hundred men.
They danced and sang,
calling the ancestors
to join the fight for freedom

Amandla!
Ngawethu!

... On a small island off the coast
of the southern tip of Africa,
Nelson sat in a tiny cell.
Every day
the world passed him by.
Cold mealies, thin blankets, hard labor.
Nelson hammered rocks into dust, and
read, studied, and educated fellow prisoners.
Days turned into weeks, months, and years.

and something more: I learned from Kadir Nelson's note at the back of the book that Nelson Mandela "was born with the name Rolihlahla, which translates as 'troublemaker.' However, his birth name was changed to Nelson on his first day of school." 
        During his presidential inauguration address to South Africa, "Nelson spoke proudly: 'We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success... Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water, and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind, and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves... Let freedom reign.'"  Powerful words!

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