Two Books That Should be in Every Library Media Center

Day of Tears by Julius Lester

This is a story about the largest slave auction in US history. The story takes place on a plantation in Georgia in 1859. A gambling slave master sells a number of slaves to pay off his debts. Emma, a house slave, is the main character of the story. She cares for Butler’s (the master) daughters and is given the promise to never be sold. On the last day of the auction, however she is sold to a woman from Kentucky. She eventually marries and runs away to Canada where she gains back her freedom. This story portrays the sadness and anger that slaves felt during these trying times. This story contains historical events throughout.
This book should be included in every school library because of the facts and emotion it contains on teaching children the effects that slavery had on our nation. Diversity is addressed throughout the story. Students will learn the dehumanizing effects of racism and will become more educated of historical events by reading this touching story.

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E.B. White

This is a story about two little girls who develop a friendship despite a racial divide. The young African-American narrator, Clover is instructed by her mother to never climb over the fence that she lives beside. This fence is what segregates her town and her mother tells her that climbing over the fence is unsafe. She plays in the yard next to the fence everyday and one summer morning she notices a little girl looking at her from the other side. Throughout the story the reader sees how curious the little girls become of one another and eventually the two young girls gather the courage to introduce themselves. In order to follow the rules of the fence, they decide to just sit on top of it with one another rather than climbing over to one side and risking getting in trouble. Other children see this and stare at Clover because she is sitting next to a white child. Clover pretends not to notice the other children's strange reactions and over time the fence is out of place, not the friendship.

This book should be in every library media center because of the message it sends to children of all cultures. It is critical that children be taught at a young age not to "judge a book by its cover." Children should realize that just because someone looks differently than they do, they should still open up their mind and heart and get to know them. This book is such a heartwarming story about diversity to include in the library for elementary students.

Journey Home by Yoshiko Uchida, illustrated by Charles Robinson

This is a story about a Japanese American family who travels from a concentration camp back to their home in California during World War II. The little girl, Yuki, and her family suffer hardships during their journey. When they arrive Yuki feels scared and very unwelcomed because of the prejudices that people have toward Japanese Americans. Not only is Yuki unwelcomed, but she is also dealing with sadness from her brother's injury in the war as well as her best friend's change in attitude toward her. She longs to go back to the times before the war. Yuki is a prime example of a child with courage and determination.

I really like the fact that this story is such a heartwarming culturally diverse story, but also that it teaches children some history about one of the most difficult times that our world has ever seen. World War II changed the world and along with that changed people, families, and the feelings and relationships the human society had on one another. This story reflects the hatred and fear in some and the love and support in others.

My reaction to this book was influenced by my interest in history and historical events such as World War II. I have always been interested in reading stories about the Jews, Adolph Hitler, and the sadness that the war brought on so many people around the world. I had never read a book about the effect it had on the Japanese community until I read this particular story. I gained much insight into the hardships and challenges that this particular community had to overcome.

Yoshido Uchida has written several children's books. Some of the books he has writen are as follows: The Sea of Gold: And Other Tales from Japan, The Rooster Who Understood Japanese, The Bracelet, and A Jar of Dreams. Yoshiko Uchidna's stories reflect the Japanese society in a positive light. Her books tell Japanese folk tales as well as the events in history that have helped mold their culture. Journey Home is no exception. This story along with her other pieces provide historical content regarding her culture not only as a Japanese member of society but also as a Japanese American.

I learned much information about the Japanese American culture through reading Journey Home. This book would be a great book to read to younger students about diversity, but also to older elementary students about the history of our society and the critical role that events such as World War II have played on our society.

The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

This is a story about a little girl and her grandmother bonding through the creation of a patchwork quilt. The story begins with a little girl named Tanya complaining that she was ready to get rid of her cold so that she could go outside to play. When her mother told her that she would just have to be patient she decided to go talk to her grandmother. She immediately notices her grandmother sitting in her favorite chair with little scraps of fabric all around. When she asks her grandma what she is going to do with all of the stuff her grandma tells her that she is going to make a patchwork quilt. Throughout the story the little girl and her mother work hard to help her grandmother complete the quilt. When her grandmother gets sick it is up to young Tanya to work to help finish the quilt for her grandma.

I absolutely loved this story because it reminded me of my grandmother and me when I was a little girl. I'll never forget the Sundays we spent together after church working on the doll quilt and pillow that she helped me make. We used scraps of a red and white blouse to make the little quilt for my favorite doll. I was always very close to my grandmother, but I can remember in those hours spent making that doll quilt and pillow we had some of the best conversations together. Maybe it was because I was excited and eager to make that the best quilt ever or maybe it was just simply because that was a time in my life when I began to really appreciate my grandma and loved hearing stories about her and her grandmother. I still have that little quilt and pillow today and I can honestly tell you that when I look at those pieces I realy do feel like they tell the story of my grandmother and me.

There are many books written to tell the relationship a young child can have with an elderly person. One story that comes to my head immediately is Mr. George Baker. This is a story about a young boy who sits on the porch and talks with an elderly man each day. The two develop a strong bond and Mr. George Baker helps to mold the little boy into the person that he will become. This story, like The Patchwork Quilt teaches children that some of the most memorable moments in their lives can be of the most simplistic times in their lives such as sitting on a porch talking with a loved one or making a quilt with a grandmother.

One thing that I learned from reading this book was that children's literature is an excellent way to not only teach underlying themes, but to also include culturally diverse characters and story plots to express this theme. Throughout this story the author does an excellent job at representing this particular family's traditions and cultural diversity through the language used throughout.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, published in 1971 is a story that chronicles the destruction that human society can have on the environment. The Lorax which is a mossy man like creature speaks up for the trees against the selfish and greedy Once-ler. The book is symbolic in that the Lorax represents the environment and the Once-ler is a representation of the industrialized society.

This book is considered one of his best by Dr. Seuss himself. However, it did not go over very well when it was first published. In fact, according to Wikipedia, it is still controversial today. In 1988 a small school district in California kept the book on a reading list for second graders, though some in the town claimed the book was unfair to the logging industry. Eventually several timber industry groups sponsored the creation of a book called The Truax. This story presented a "logging-friendly" perspective to a tree known as the Guardbark. This book, just as in The Lorax, presents an argument between two people. The logging industry representative expresses their efficiency and re-seeding efforts whereas the Guardbark, a personification of the environmentalist movement much as the Once-ler is for big business, refuses to listen and repeatedly causes problems.


The line "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie" was removed more than fourteen years after the story was published after two research associates from the Ohio Sea Grant Program wrote to Seuss about the clean-up of Lake Erie. The line, however, still remains in the DVD release of the special.

The Lorax is most definitely a didactic book. The dictionary defines this as "teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson." This book was written by Dr. Suess to clearly teach a lesson to society about protecting the environment. The personification and representation used throughout the story with the characters definitely presented an underlying theme. This theme is what made this book so controversial. Didactic literature can also be described as the author trying to teach the readers too much. In this case, I definitely do not think the author was trying to go over board or teach the public too much about this environmental issue. This book can be used in conjunction with the book sponsored by the logging company to distinguish the difference between using the Earth's resources wisely compared to being wasteful with the Earth's resources. It presents a very critical issue in the world today in a kid friendly manner that is easy for a child to understand.

There are still some didactic children's books published today, but I think the number has decreased dramatically over the years. When trying to brainstorm some recent children's book titles that use didactic literature, I kept coming to the conclusion that most of the books today that have underlying themes and lessons, do not have the same effect as Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. That may be the difference between his books such as this one that uses strong didactic literature and literature written today with underlying themes and lessons to be taught. It seems like books today take on a more "open-minded" less forceful side when trying to prove a point or teach a lesson to children. Dr. Seuss was an amazing author and one thing that made him such an amazing author was his ability to write books such as The Lorax and The Sneetches that taught important morals to children in a fun and humorous way.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

This is probably one of Dr. Seuss's most memorable pieces of work. It was written in 1957 after an article was written in Life magazine by a man named John Hersey. The article focused on the problems associated with children's literature and the readers used in public schools at that time. Hersey presented the idea that schools should use readers that have pictures that "widen rather than narrow the associative richness children give to the words they illustrate."

Dr. Seuss took this idea into his own hands and saw it as a challenge that he would work on. Nine months later he had completed the famous book called The Cat in the Hat. This story has so many clever elements. First of all, it is a very catchy story line with interesting characters to excite any child. This story also uses 236 distinct sight words to teach children phonics through rhyme and repitition. This book not only uses sophisticated rhyme and rhythm, but it also manages to keep the vocabulary simple enough for young readers.

This book was revolutionary to its time and remains a favorite among children to this day. This is probably because of the tension between the fun of the imagination and the anarchy of the main character himself. There are not many books that come to mind that truly have the wit and tension that this book contains. However, the closest book to having this type of tension happens to be from Dr. Seuss himself and that is the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In this particular story the Grinch is the anarachist character who is constantly doing wrong throughout the story. His goal in life is to make others miserable but then, just as the Cat comes around in the end of the story to do right, he too comes to the conclusion that he doesn't want to behave badly anymore. His heart warms up and he actually tries to do good.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Children's book produced as a feature film review #1

This story, which was originally written in 1957 by Dr. Seuss is about the Grinch who hates Christmas so he devotes his life to ruining Christmas for all of the Whos in Whoville. In 1966 a TV movie was created based on the book. Then in 2000 a feature film was made. Because the film is based on a children's picture book many additions had to be made to the storyline to bring it up to feature-length.

The original Grinch featured in the book was actually not green. Like everything else in the book, he was black and white with some red and pink splotches. In the movie, however, the Grinch is featured as a bright green character who is played by the hillarious Jim Carrey. The Grinch costume was actually created by sewing yak hairs, which were dyed green, onto a spandex suit. The hairs were sewn on one by one.

Although Max, the dog, was somewhat of a minor character in the book, he was made into a more significant character in the feature film in order for him to "represent the audience... the one you wanted to rescue."

The original book, set in the 1950's, in many ways, celebrates the joys of simple living. The costume director of the feature film did indeed go for the 1950's look, getting ideas from old cookbooks and decorating the Who's costumes with vintage buttons. The detail of the costumes in the movie along with the vivid set however, symbolizes the change in our society from simple living to complexity in that it cost more than $115 million to make! The live-action movie actually features more than 52,000 Christmas lights, about 8,200 Christmas ornaments, and nearly 2,000 candy canes. As for the costumes and make-up, no other movie has featured so many characters and heavy make-up since the Wizard of Oz in 1939.

Adults and children around the world have considered the book to be one of Dr. Seuss' most well-known stories of all time. When the feature film was created in 2000, it actually received mixed critical reaction, but did end up spending four weeks as the #1 film in the U.S., eventually earning $260 million at the US box office.