PICTURE BOOK - What REALLY Happened to Humpty?: From the Files of a Hard-Boiled Detective by Jeannie Franz Ransom

Illustrated by Stephen Axelsen

2009 Charlesbridge

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.90

My rating: 5

Endpapers

Title Page

Illustrations

1^st line/s:  "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall./ Humpty Dumpty had a great fall./Humpty Dumpty was pushed."

My comments:  This book cracks me up every time I read it (I love all the word play) and it works perfectly as an introduction to the mystery genre for my fourth graders.  This goes into my picture-books-with-a-little-more-intricateness/intricativity (how's that for taking a little touch of freedom with words? Try saying intricativity three times fast!)

Goodreads:  Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Or, as his brother Detective Joe Dumpty thinks, was he pushed? This case isn't all its cracked up to be. Suspects are plenty (as are the puns) in this scrambled story of nursery rhyme noir. Was it Little Miss Muffet? There's something not right about her tuffet. Or could it have been Chicken Little, who's always been a little cagey? Or was it the Big Bad Wolf, who's got a rap sheet as long as a moonless night? Joe's on the beat and determined to find the truth. Readers of all ages will delight in the word play and hilarious illustrations in this mystery of what really happened to Humpty Dumpty on that fateful day. 

Fire Up With Reading - Toni Buzzeo

Illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa
Upstart Books, 2007
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: White

Mrs. Skorupski, the Liberty School librarian, has come up with a great idea to get the whole school reading - a 6-month competition to end on March 2nd, Read Across America Day. Her theme is based on fire-spouting dragons. Kids earn a dragon scale for every 30 minutes of reading...and the whole school starts to read, read, read, including Patty Lee and her 4th grade class.

Colorful, fanciful, simple illustrations cover the entire page. But do you like the cover? I don't.

67. The Corn Grows Ripe - Dorothy Rhoads

Newbery Honor Book
Illustrated by Jean Charlot
1956
90 pgs.
For: Middle Grades
Rating: Much better than I ever expected

Dionisio, called Tigre (meaning Jaguar) lives in a primitive village in current-day Yucatan. At 12 he is lazy and somewhat spoiled, but takes over his family's milpa (cornfield) when his father is badly injured. This corn is the family's sustenance. Yes, they have a few chickens, but it is the corn that feeds them. We get to observe the full cycle, from cutting and preparing the milpa, to the wait for rain, the sowing, the wait for rain again, and the harvest. During that time we get a glimpse into the life of modern-day Maya that is still tied to those of the ancient Maya.

Full of description, Maya and Spanish words (and a wonderful glossary), stories of gods and ceremonies and a way of life, this book was appreciated by almost all of my 27 fourth-graders. They are creating a map of the setting that has them VERY excited. A codex of 27 of the Maya words and terms will follow. This was a great novel for our Maya unit.

Mexico & Central America - Mary C. Turck

A Fiesta of Cultures, Crafts, and Activities for Ages 8-12
Chicago Review Press
$14.95
148 p.
Published 2004
A must have if teaching Mexico or Central America - you could base your entire unit on this book

40+ Projects
3 Short dramatic plays
Maps and loads of information about past and present, culture, history, politics
Don't be decieved by the format, this looks like a craft and activity book. Yes, it's full of both, but it's also chock full of information and history written in a clear, informative, INTERESTING way!

Chapter titles:
1. Ancient Roots (particularly Maya and Aztec)
2. Country by Country (informative map and information about each):
....Mexico
....Belize
....Costa Rica
....El Salvador
....Guatamela
....Honduras
....Nicaragua
....Panama
3. Life Above the Clouds (Contemporary lifestyle)
4. On the Atlantic Coast (African and Indian influences)
5. Going to school (looks at schools in Honduras, Mexico, and Guatemala)
6. Art and Poetry
7. Daily Grind: Corn and Coffee (Food, Agriculture)
8. Celebrating Life (family celebrations)
9. Religious and Patriotic Holidays

SPANISH lessons and vocabulary throughout (at least once per chapter)
Much information about Hurrican Mitch (Oct. 1998)
Quincenareas
Border crossings and immigration
Large resource list

Some activites I plan to do in the first month of school:
Creating an Aztec calendar
Creating a hieroglyphic name for yourself
Map-making
Soap carving
Music makers: Drums/maracas/guiros/claves
Making a mola
Yarn Painting
Murals - and Diego Rivera
Poetry writing
Tree of Life (I've seen some beautiful ones, this gives ideas for making one...)
Papel picado (cutting paper)
Making a pinata
Luminarias !Ojo de Dios (God's eyes)

Ancient Maya Civilization

NONFICTION NONFICTION NONFICTION NONFICTION NONFICTION

The Ancient Maya
by Lila Perl
Franklin Watts/Scholastic, 2005
Gr. 5+
PCPL 972.81016 P42a
Full of photos
This is the book that gave me the most historical data in the easiest form to digest and enjoy. Beginning my Maya unit each year with a reread of this book will refresh (and interest) me perfectly. Recommended.

The Maya: Activities and Crafts from a Mysterious Land
by Arlette N. Braman, 2003
Gr. 3-8
118 pages
John Wiley & Sons
PCPL Library, read 0709
972.81016 B7318m

This book is both full of information and loaded with activites and projects. Chapters and projects include:
Daily life: at work, at home, and at play (There's a great board game, Bul!, and an animal whistle that looks pretty complicated
Society: farmers, warriors, and kings (planting an aluminum pan herb field, making a jaguar shield and macaw headdress
Food: sacred food, fire food, and food of the gods (with recipes for corn cakes, chicken chili, and a chocolate drink
Art and Architecture: weaving, mask making, pottery, and building a temple/pyramid
Science, Math, and Writing: with math activities, personal glyph rubbing, making a code book, and a glyph amulet

A good glosssary and index are also included.

See the projects one girl created using this book

Mexico & Central America
A Fiesta of Cultures, Crafts, and Acctivities for Ages 8-12
by Mary C. Turck
See the separate review I wrote for this great activity/information book.


Your Travel Guide to Ancient Mayan Civilization
by Nancy Day, 2001
Gr. 4-8
96 pages
Runestone Press, Minneapolis
PCPL Library, read 0709
972.81016 D3329y
Excellent source.

Lots of information, presented as if you were to be a traveler to the civilization during the period of 600-800 AD. It doesn't mince the sacrificial aspects of the culture, and includes some facts kids would consider gross---and love----like cures for sickness: "If all else fails, have him remove one sandal, urinate in it and drink the urine." There's trivia that kids (and adults) would love, explanations of jewelry, tatooing, clothing (or lack thereof), their writing system, still existing pyramids and how they were used, games.... I read almost every word, and I am definitely a nonfiction skimmer, not reader.

Illustrations: Photographs of Mayan antiquities, including pyramids, carving, and reddish-orange paintings.

Mystery of The Maya
Peter Lourie, 2001
Gr. 4-7
48 pgs.
Boyds Mills Press
PCPL Library
972.75016 L934m

Peter Lourie accompanies American archeologist Ed Barnhart who is uncovering the ancient Maya city of Palenque, located in the Mexican state of Chiapas on the border of Guatemala. Filled with photographs of the site, flora, fauna, and contemporary Mayas who are helping with the excavation, his first person narrative is interesting, reading like a story. Here's a nonfiction to read from beginning to end, without skimming. Very interesting and informative.

FICTION FICTION FICTION FICTION FICTION FICTION FICTION

Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow
by James Rollins
Gr. 5-8
402 pages
Fantasy/Adventure

See my review from July 2009.

Opening lines:"The man fled down the steep slope of the jungle mountain. His boots slipped in the muck of wet leaves and slick mud. Clinging branches and snagging thorns sought to catch him, but he ripped straight through them."

The Corn Grows Ripe
by Dorothy Rhoads, 1956
Gr. 4-7
90 pgs.
Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Dionisio, called Tigre (Jaguar), takes over the preparing, sowing, and harvesting of his family MILPA (cornfield) when his father gets hurt. This worked really well in my fourth-grade classroom. The setting is richly described and we get a close look at the culture of a primitive contemporary Maya village that still has ties to the "old ways" of the ancient Maya.

The Most Beautiful Place in the World
by Ann Cameron, 1988
Gr. 2-4
46 pages
Contemporary realistic fiction

A look at life in modern-day Guatemala. See my review from April 2009.

Beginning lines: "My name is Juan. I live in Guatemala, in the mountains. My town, San Pablo, has three huge volcanoes near it, and high cliffs all around it, and steep, bright green fields of corn and garlic and onions growing in the hills, and red coffee berries growing in the shade of the big trees in valleys."

The Bravest Flute
by Ann Grifalconi
The Story of Courage in the Mayan Tradition
Published 1994
Little Brown & Co.
My review can be found here.

I haven't found too many picture books out there (as yet) that are primarily about the Maya. This one is about a contemporary Maya village and gives some insight into the current traditions of the Maya.

FOLKTALES FOLKTALES FOLKTALES FOLKTALES FOLKTALES

How the Peacock Got its Feathers
Based on a Mayan Folktale
by Sandy Sepehri
Illustrated by Brian Demeter
Published Sept. 2006
Rourke Pub. (Vero Beach, FL)
32 pgs.
$28.50 ! ! ! (Library Bound? Small Press?)
PCPL has ONE COPY of it

Peahen has a beautiful voice, but wants the beauty of Chaac's (the rain god) feathers. So she steals them, and is punished by having to live with them permanently - and now only squacks instead of singing. Five highlighted vocabulary words and pronounciation of Mayan words in the glossary.

Illustrations are big, colorful, bold - not too detailed, but they appeal to my love of a "stained glass" look in art.

21. The Most Beautiful Place in the World - Ann Cameron

Illustrator: Thomas B. Allen
1988
RL: 3.7 (age 7-10)
Perfect for beginning of 4th/Latin America
Rating: Good

Juan lives in the mountains in San Pablo, Guatemala. He is very poor and his story makes me so sad - seventeen-year-old mother, father abandons them, they go to live with grandmother and huge extended family in tiny home. Mother remarries and doesn't want him. Strict grandmother teaches him to shine shoes and at 7 years old earns a dollar a day working full time. He longs to go to school but is afraid to bring it up to his grandmother, so with the help of customers, teaches himself to read.

There's a shift in the story here. When he finally talks to his grandmother about school, the reader gets to see her a little differently, a little closer look, and the story becomes one of devotion and love while still working hard to survive.

Easy to read. Lots to think about. Poverty. Culture.

This could be a read aloud, create a picture book or mural or montage--endless possiblilities.

Looking for Jaguar and Other Rain Forest Poems - Susan Katz

POETRY
Illustrator: Lee Christiansen
Published: 2005
For: Anyone interested in rainforest plants and animals
Rating: very nice, 4
Endpapers: Olivey green





In the Flooded Forest

The river carries us to the sky,
Where a tiny catfish spends its life in a tree.
Neon tetras dart among leaves,
And a sting ray ripples beneath a branch.

We paddle through the treetops
Past a colony of dangling, woven nests.
Orchids grow within our grasp,
And a monkey leans from a nearby limb to spy.

Here we see the forest twice.
Banana blossoms kiss their own reflections
A dolphin leaps past a parrot's perch
As we drift between worlds.

Mmmmm. Nice. Nineteen poems about rainforest animals and plants, some in free verse, some rhyming. I enjoy every one of the free verse poems. The rhyming poems don't leave me feeling quite so satisfied:

Walking Tree

More than anything else, I think I'd like
To watch this palm setting out on a hike.

Its long, skinny trunk isn't planted in ground,
So (unlike other trees) it can walk around.

Instead of legs, it grows roots like stilts,
And it edges along as each of them wilts.

Yet I've stood here peering for half a day,
And even the fronds at the top didn't sway.

I can't see it move though I stare and stare,
But ten years from now, It will be over there.

Fascinating information. But her imagery, alliteration, and cool word choices are so much more evident in her free verse.

The pictures cover the full page and are green, green green. The jaguar peeks out from amongh different leaves, The okapi turns back to look at you so you get a full view of it's interesting and very different stripes, the goliath frog looks.....round and big and froggy.

Time for one more poem. Years ago, when I was teaching fourth grade in Maine, I found a picture and explanation of a huge jungle flower that is supposed to smell like rotten meat or dead carcasses. There was a poem and an illustration in this book reminded me of this (and this rhyming, I'm happy to say, worked for me....):

Rafflesia

World's biggest flower, the giant rafflesia
Isn't a plant that tries hard to please ya.
Inside a vine, it grows from a thread
To be three feet across, a speckled bright red,
And sends out the fragrance of something quite dead,
Which gives it the nickname of stinking corpse lily.
It scatters its four million seeds willy-nilly
Till a pale orange cabbage (a bud in disguise)
Bursts through the vine, grows to basketball size
(To the vast admiration of beetles and flies),
And finally opens up with a hiss.
This is a flower you might want to miss.