Mama Miti

Mama Miti
Written by Donna Jo Napoli and Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
 Publisher:Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
January, 2010
Grade Level:K-3
Themes: Love and Multi-cultural

Summary: Wangari listened to the stories of how creatures suffered, plants wilted and people fought. Men held ceremonies under the Mugumo, a sacred fig tree. The tree helped them to find peace during a tough time in Kenya. Wanagari knew she could do something for the people of Kenya. Women came to Wangari for help with problems such as little food, if they couldn't find firewood, their cows were sick or their goats were starving. She gave each woman a seed. The women were instructed to plant the seed and a tree would grow to help them with their problems. Wangari knew what tree would help with each of the women's problems. The trees brought peace to the women's lives, but also helped with the deforestation in Kenya.

Reflection: This is a great multi-cultural book! This book is based on a tree story. Wangari Muta Maathai was the first African American woman to win the Noble Peace Prize. She started the Green Belt Movement to combat the deforestation in Kenya. This landed her in prison. In 1976, she came up with the idea of planting trees for peace to Kenya citizens. 30 million trees were planted in Kenya. In the back of the book the author will find more information about her life. Kadir Nelson is the illustrator, he is a Caldecott Honor Winner. His illustrations are so life-like. They are beautiful. I highly recommend this book. It is very touching!

Pre-Reading: Talk about the different problems in Kenya especially deforestation

Post-Reading: What problem would you like to fix? What seed would you plant to help this problem? It does not need to be a real seed. You can make one up. The children can answer these questions in their journal. They need to be creative and draw a picture.


About the Author:

Dona Joe Napoli lives with her husband and children. She is an award winning author of children's books. A number of her books have been selected as ALA Best Books. She is head of the Linguistics Department at Swathmore College.

The Tiny Seed

The Tiny Seed
Written and Illustrated by Eric Carle
Publisher: Little Simon
March, 2009
Grade Level:Pre-K-2
Themes:  Life cycle of a flower and seasons (Science)

Summary: A strong wind carries flower seeds through the land. One by one many seeds are lost, burned by the sun, fallen into the ocean or eaten by a bird. Only one seed survives the long cold winter. Spring comes and the tiny seed begins to sprout. It grows and it grows, but once Autumn comes the flower begins to die and it's seeds are sent into the air and the process starts all over again.

Reflection:This is a great book for teaching about seasons and what happens in each season. Along with that you could talk about how flowers grow and what they need to grow. I also like how there is a story about what happens to the seeds. This makes it fun for the children to guess what is going to happen next. The illustrations are great and the children could mimic them using crumpled up tissue paper.

Pre-Reading: Talk to the class about what happens in each season and make a seasons chart.

Post-Reading: Talk about what happend to each seed, how the flower grew and what the flower needed to grow. Have each child plant a marigold seed in a cup and discuss what that seed needs in order to grow.

About the Author:

Eric Carle was born on June 5, 1929. He is an author and illustrator. He has had many best-selling books. His most famous book. The Very Hungry Caterpillar has been translated into more than 30 languages. Some of his other books are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Quiet Cricket.

The Umbrella

The Umbrella
Written and Illustrated by Jan Brett
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
September, 2004
Grade levels: K-3
Theme: Multicultural and Rainforest

Summary: A young boy named Carlos enters into the Cloud Forest in hopes to finds all sorts of animals. He leaves his umbrella at the base of the Fig Tree and climbs up it to get a better look. Carlos doesn't have much luck at the top of the tree. He can't seem to find any animals because they have all one by one hoped into the umbrella.The umbrella then toples over because there are so many animals trying to fit and they all run away. Carlos climbs down the tree gets his umbrella and heads home, but he is determined to try again the next day.

Reflection: My favorite part of this book are the illustrations. The colors are beautiful and there is so much detail. There is not much of a plot, but I think this book is great way to begin teaching children about a Cloud Forest and the animals in it.

Pre-Reading: We will begin by talking about somethings you might see in a Cloud Forest. I will explain to them that a Cloud Forest is like a Rainforest. I will show the students some of the pictures in the book and we will talk about what they notice.

Post-Reading: We will be making our own Cloud Forest in the classroom. Students will have a choice to either make animals, plants or flowers. To make our plants, animals or flowers we will use all different colors of paper.

About the Author:

Jan Brett lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. As a child Brett loved drawing and reading. She was a student at Boston Museum school. She loves traveling with her husband and gets many ideas for her stories. Brett has over thirty seven million books in print.

Fly, Monarch, Fly

Fly, Monarch, Fly
Written and Illustrated by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Publisher: Scholastic
2008
Grade Levels: K-1
Theme: The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly

Summary: A rabbit family goes on a hunt for Monarch Butterflies at Butterfly Place. Along the way they observe eggs, larva, pupa and of course Monarch Butterflies.

Reflection: This is a colorful and fun book for children, but there are also many sidebars of informative material about the Monarch Butterfly. Did you know a butterfly smells with its feelers and tastes with its feet? In the back of the book, there is a pattern for a Monarch Butterfly Magnet, so children can make their own. There are also hints on planting your own butterfly garden.

Pre-Reading: I will make a chart with the children about the life cycle of a Monarch Butterfly.

Post- Reading: I will give each child a large index card. They will also get pictures of the egg, larva, pupa and butterfly. They will color each picture and glue them onto the index card in the correct order of the life  cycle of a Monarch Butterfly.

About the Author:

Nancy Elizabeth Wallace was born in the Bronx, NY. Currently she is living in Branford, Connecticut with her husband, who is a high school physics teacher. Before becoming an author and illustrator she worked at Yale- New Haven Hospital and worked with children and teenagers. She was a Child Life Specialist. She is a full/time author and illustrator now. She loves visiting schools, libraries and museums. Some of her books include Pumpkin Day, Recycle Everyday and Shells, Shells, Shells.