Feather Mountain by Elizabeth Olds (1952 Caldecott Honor book)

Feather Mountain by Elizabeth Olds (Caldecott Honor Book)

So we took time to look at the 1952 Newberry Medal winner and one of the Honor books for that year to compare them. (Ginger Pye and Charlotte's Web) So now I am going to do the same thing for the Caldecott winner for that year, and one of the honor books.

I already made a post about Finders Keepers so let's consider another book from that year, Feather Mountain. isn't an easy book to find, but it is worth taking the time to find it. You can't go to a store to find it unless it is a used book store, because it is out of print.

So what is the story about? Well, imagine a world where birds don't have feathers, but they still manage to be able to fly. That is the situation in this story. I had trouble finding out information about this book because it is from 1952 and it is out of print, but a search of the web gave me two helpful bits of information:

• Feather Mountain is an important part of Chinese mythology.
• The use of the Great Spirit indicates that the story might indicate a Native American origin.

Regardless of the source of the story, it is still a good one worth talking about, so let's talk about it.

Once upon a time, birds did not have feathers. Instead they were pink and funny looking. This was just the way that the world worked, and the birds didn't really notice or care until they realized that the other animals were laughing at them. This made them feel self conscious and desire a solution to their problem. After an appeal to the Great Spirit, they learn that their feathers are waiting for them at Feather Mountain.

The turkey buzzard offers to fly to Feather Mountain to bring back feathers for all of the birds. He is a strong, wise and good bird that is able to make the flight in the cold without feathers. When he arrives at Feather Mountain, he discovers that the trees are covered with feathers all for his fellow birds. Being a wise and practical bird, he picks a colorless suit of feathers for his return trip that will let him fly gracefully and the long distance home. He packs up all the feathers he can carry and returns home to his fellow birds.

As soon as he arrives, all of the birds attack the feathers trying to claim the prettiest ones, but turkey buzzard makes them stop and see reason about the matter. The birds take turns and consider what feathers would suit them best rather than the ones that they like most. They pick colors that will camouflage them if they are in vulnerable positions and they even get paint for their beaks and legs.

Near the end there is a splash page with pictures of dozens of birds so you can see what they look like with their new feathers. Then the birds fly away and revel in their new garments.

So what do I think of Feather Mountain? It is a nice read with beautiful art. I wish it were still in publication and available to readers, but that isn't the case. I recommend that you find a copy to see what you think. I won't list classroom uses because I can't guarantee that you will find it or be able to take it if you do get your hands on a copy. I was surprised when my library let me have it for a few weeks.

So, since I can't ask for ideas, let's ask another question:

What is your favorite book that references mythology? Answer in the comments below.

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (1952 Newberry Honor Book)

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (1952 Newberry Honor Book)

So last week, we talked about the winner of the 1952 Newberry medal, Ginger Pye, but this week we will be talking about what is probably the most popular book to come out in that year, and it was only an honor book. We'll get into all the reasons I think the committee that made that decision was wrong in just a moment, but first, let's talk about the story.

A litter of pigs is born on the Arable farm and Mr. Arable plans to kill the runt of the litter, but his daughter, Fern pleads for his life. She convinces her father, and gets to raise the pig, now named Wilbur, until he becomes too big to live at the house. They then sell Wilbur to Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Fern doesn't like the idea, but the Zuckerman farm is close so Fern is able to visit often.

Wilbur has a happy life on the farm even though there is some shadow of uncertainty around the farm. The other animals hint that there may be something to fear, but they don't get into details.

One night after a good cry about not having a friend, Wilbur hears a voice that promises to be his friend. She says that they will meet in the morning. Wilbur falls asleep, happy with what the future might hold.

In the morning, Wilbur meets a small spider named Charlotte. She is kind and gentle even though she does scare Wilbur with her carnivorous nature. When Wilbur realizes that his life will be cut short in the fall, Charlotte promises to find a way to save Wilbur.

That is when something strange starts to happen around the farm. The next morning, the words, "Some Pig" were found in the texture of the web. This causes a lot of excitement around the farm, and word spreads as more and more words appear.

Charlotte is obviously the source of the words. She gets them from a rat named Templeton. In the end, Wilbur is taken to the state fair. It seems like his only chance is to win the pig show at the fair, but there is also a large pig known as Uncle. Uncle wins the contest, but the committee has decided to give Wilbur an award because of Charlotte's messages. Wilbur's life is saved.

Charlotte is not able to return to the farm because she is about to die. She has laid her egg sack, and her life is spent after weaving one last web for her friend. Wilbur convinces Templeton to retrieve the eggs by offering the first choice on the scraps in the morning.

All winter, Wilbur waits to meet Charlotte's children, but when the eggs hatch in the spring, most of the spiders spin chutes and fly away, but three of the spiders are too small to fly away. Wilbur welcomes them and gives them names-Joy, Arenea, and Nellie.

The story is well known and well loved by everyone. Now let's talk about using it in your classroom.

• Charlotte has an excellent vocabulary, so look through the book for some great words to teach your kids. Use a variety of methods to teach these words-a jigsaw puzzle, a word search, whatever you like to do.
• Have discussions about how friendships work. Wilbur and Charlotte are very different creatures, but their friendship is genuine and strong. How does this work?
• Why does Fern spend less time with Wilbur as she gets older?
• How is Wilbur saved by simple words in a spider web?

As always, you can come up with plenty of great ideas on your own. Let your imagination go wild. Don't miss out on sharing this story with your students.

Leave your ideas in the comments below.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1964 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1964 Caldecott Medal Winner)

There is something about a book or part of a book not having any words that makes me experience the story more. This is the case with Where the Wild Things Are. The wordless section is made more important in my mind by the text at the beginning and the end of the book.

You ought to know the story of this book. Just in case, though, here you go.

Max is a young boy who does not like to do what he is supposed to do. His mother dubs him "Wild Thing" and sends him to his room without dinner after getting frustrated with his antics. Max doesn't care (much like another Sendak character called Pierre.) He has his wolf suit, and that seems to be enough.

Max's room changes and becomes a giant forest with an ocean and a private boat for young Max which takes him for a journey that lasts almost an entire year to the place where the wild things are.

The wild things act threatening and display their terrible roars, terrible teeth, terrible eyes, and terrible claws, but this does not impress Max. He tells them to "be still" and stares into their eyes until they submit. That is when Max is made the king of all the wild things.

Then comes the wild rumpus. The rumpus consists of 3 full page spreads of the book showing Max and the wild things doing wild things. This is probably one of the best parts of the book because the art says so much, and you don't need words to know the story.

After the rumpus, Max sends the wild things to bed without dinner, and while they are all sleeping, Max realizes that being the king of the wild things isn't all it's cracked up to be. He decides to go back home and ignores the pleas of the wild things begging him to stay.

Max sails the year back home and finds his supper waiting for him.

This story is filled with potential for class room activities. Let me give you a few:

• Create your own wild thing. Create your wild thing in 3D or 2D. Use marker, crayons, clay, or whatever you like.
• Have a conversation about not listening to your parents. Why did it happen? What should you have done?
• Tell the story-make cards with parts of the story, and organize them in the correct order.
• Have a wild rumpus!

There are certainly plenty of other ideas you can come up with if you let your imagination run wild just like Max does.

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (1952 Newberry Medal Winner)

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes

This book makes me mad. 1952 was the year when another, much more deserving book, was also eligible to win the Newberry Medal, but it was given to Ginger Pye instead. It may seem like a small detail, but the one of the honor books that year was Charlotte's Web. Even if you haven't had a lot of exposure to children's literature, you must have heard of this story, but who has heard anything of the adventures of Ginger Pye in the years since that book won the medal?

Next week I'll talk about what makes the honor book so great, but for now, let's talk about Ginger Pye.

My biggest problem with this book is that it cannot decide who the story is going to be about. When it starts, it seems like it will be the story of how Jerry Pye saves the money to get a dog that he really wants, but that part of the story ends very quickly. Maybe it will be the story of what a great dog Ginger Pye is. Or perhaps it is a mystery about where Ginger Pye has been taken.

This book is almost all of these story, but still none of them. In fact, it never really figures out what it is trying to do. There only a few moments that I really enjoyed while I was reading, but there were even more confusing moments.

Confusing/pointless moments?

• The kids go swimming at the quarry, and there is one boy that engages in "vertical swimming." What is vertical swimming? Well, you might think that this boy likes to dive down as far as he can go, but no, vertical swimming means that he likes to swim under water. This is a huge deal for some reason. The boy also loses swimming races because even though he is the fastest swimmer, you can't win if you go underwater. This has no purpose in the rest of the story.
• Ginger is abducted after Thanksgiving dinner because the dog is put outside, but the children are the only ones that are interested in doing anything about finding Ginger.
• The story is filled with the children trying to find Ginger, but they never really do anything to solve the mystery. All they know is that the culprit might wear a yellow hat. They find a yellow hat in the woods one day and make a crayon mark inside the hat. (Big deal.)
• At the beginning of the book Jerry's biggest dilemma is if the cat will be upset if the family gets a dog.

Good points?

• There is an entire chapter devoted to Ginger trying to figure out where Jerry goes during the day. Ginger manages to track Jerry by following his nose and even finds Jerry's pencil that was dropped while hanging in a tree. Once Ginger finds the school he also manages to climb the fire escape to the classroom window. This chapter is great because we get inside Ginger's head. We get to follow the dog and get inside its mind. Why couldn't the entire book be like this?
• When Jerry is trying to raise money to get his dog, he takes a job cleaning the church pews, and the brother, sister, and toddler uncle figure out how to shuttle the uncle across the pews to clean them quickly.
• Um, that's honestly all I have.

So, I don't think there is a lot of mystery about my feelings on this book. I can't conceive of using it for a class of students, so I won't give a list of ways to use it with your students. Next weekend I'll talk about one of the 1952 honor books, Charlotte's Web, a much better book.

Finders Keepers by William Lipkind (1952 Caldecott winner)

Finders Keepers by William Lipkind

While this is a much older book, it still holds a valuable lesson about sharing over greediness. Two dogs find a bone, and spend much of their time arguing over who the bone belongs to. They ask for advice from several passers-by and never get an acceptable answer to the question. After all, Nap saw it first, and Winkle touched it first.

A farmer, a goat, an apprentice barber, and another dog are all asked their opinions, but the four that are questioned have their own ideas and plans, so the dogs don't get any answer worth receiving. In fact, the results put the two dogs in a worse position than when they started. (Especially when the other dog ends up with the bone.)

The story is clever and engaging and the art is appealing to young eyes. It does anthropomorphic characters correctly (animals with human characteristics) because the dogs seem like dogs. They are fighting over a bone, and they have simple reasons why that bone belongs to them.

So what can you do with this book in your classroom? Well, I would suggest:

• Predictions about which dog will get the bone, and which one deserves it.
• Talk about the deals that the dogs are making. Are those good choices?
• Have you seen dogs fight over something? What was the result?

As always, there are plenty of other ideas that you can use, so go crazy with it.

Next week is 1952 review. I'll be looking at a couple of honor books for 1952, and consider if the committee made a good choice. 1952 Caldecott Honor book-Feather Mountain by Elizabeth Olds, and Charlotte's Web by E. B. White.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1979 Newberry Winner)

I enjoy a good mystery novel, and this one certainly pays off with lots of twists and turns, but it just wasn't as engaging as I would have liked.

A mysterious man, Sam Westing, who is also the man behind the Westing Paper fortune, returns from his self-imposed exile only to be killed on the night he returns.

The next day a group of 16 people are assembled to hear the will of Sam Westing. What's most strange about these 16 people is that they recently moved into a new apartment complex called Sunset Towers. In fact, it seems that they were specifically chosen and enticed to rent the apartments where they live. This group of heirs is very diverse and don't seem to have many connections, but they are now a part of the Westing Game.

The 16 people are broken into pairs and given a check for $10,000, but it is only valid if each person partakes in the game. The goal of the game is to find the man or woman that killed Sam Westing. They are given clues that are part of a complete clue that is broken up. The winners of the game will inherit the complete $200 million dollar fortune, and the Paper Factory.

There are plenty of twists and misdirections, but it really didn't draw me into the mystery. Sure we are told that Westing was killed and that the killer may kill all of the heirs, but I never felt that anyone's life was in danger. The characters, and the interactions are very good though, and the ending is worth reading the entire book.

How can you use it in your classroom?

You can talk about how to solve a mystery/riddle/challenge.
You can explore how the characters interact in the story.
You can ask about the whys of the story. (Why does this happen or that?)

If you're looking for a good book, this is a good place to look. Don't be worried about it not catching my attention as much as I would have liked. It's still a great read.

Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster (2006 Caldecott Winner)

This is a story where a little girl explains why the window of her Nanna and Poppy's kitchen is more than just a window. It is a place where magic happens. Through this window you can play games, see the stars, and say your hellos and goodbyes.

The story explores all of the ways that the girl and her Nanna and Poppy use the window for their own entertainment. I don't want to give these entertainments away, so I'll wrap things up with uses of the book.

Here are some ideas on activity sets you can use with this book:

• What is the difference between a window and a mirror?
• What can you see through different windows?
• How can you communicate without words?
• What does it mean to say hello and goodbye?

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM by Robert C. O'Brien (1972 Newberry Medal Winner)

This is one of the books that I had always wanted to read, but for some reason, I was never able to do more than pick up a copy. I had tried at least half a dozen times, but I never even got past the cover on most of those attempts. I don't know what was causing the block, but I'm glad that I got over it because this is a great book.

Unlike some of the earlier Newberry Medal books that have animals that live and act like people, the characters in this book seem genuine. I can believe in these animals.

Mrs. Frisby is the widow of Johnathan Frisby. She has a very nice winter home in a mostly buried cement block in a field owned by Mr. Fitzgibbons. Her youngest child, Timothy is sick, and the spring is coming soon. It is very likely that Timothy will not survive the cold trip to their summer home.

Mrs. Frisby obtains medicine from an old friend of her husband, Mr. Ages. On the way home, she is saves the life of a crow named Jeremy from Mr. Fitzgibbon's cat, Dragon. Jeremy suggests she visit a wise old owl for advice and even offers to take her there.

After seeing Timothy again, Mrs. Frisby works up the nerve to visit the owl in his home. It is a dangerous endeavor to visit a predator in its own home, but after the owl learns that her husband was Johnathn Frisby, he advises her to go and visit the rats that live near the rose bush and ask them to move her house a safe location.

Mrs. Frisby is more nervous about going to the rats since mice and rats are natural enemies, but since she doesn't have a better plan, she decides to risk that as well. Once again, the name of Johnathan Frisby sparks recognition and gains her aid she didn't really expect.

The rats formulate a plan to pull the block out of the ground using a pulley system and then use sticks to create a crude wheel system. Mrs. Frisby is amazed at the intelligence of the rats, and the world they have created under the rose bush.

This story has two stories to tell which adds to the interest. You see the rats were part of an experiment ran by an organization simply known as NIHM. They were seeing if they could increase the intelligence of mice and rats, but the experiment worked better than they expected, because the animals organized an escape. Only two mice managed to escape, Mr. Ages and Johnathan Frisby. The rats had several adventures and learned much before arriving at Mr. Fitzgibbon's farm where they have been stealing electricity to create their rat utopia.

The rats also have a plan to break free of dependence on stealing from the farm. They want to see if it is possible to create their own society that doesn't depend on being rats any more. They have grown beyond that lifestyle.

I won't tell you if the plans succeed, because you should read the book for yourself. Don Bluth made an animated movie in the 80's that is entertaining, although not completely faithful to the book. Both are worth a look.

So what can you do with this book in the classroom? Let's look at the differences between mice and rats. what about considering predators vs prey. You can also look at the technology that the rats use, and how it works.

This book has plenty of applications to the classroom, and would be a great fit for your students.