Chapters 6-8

Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Sadle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.

Chapter 7 "Picture Books"

I love picture books!! Not only do I have wonderful memories of being read the Bernstein Bear books before bedtime when I was a child, I also have the pleasure of making those memories come alive when I read aloud to my preschoolers everyday. It is refreshing and rejuvenating when I read childhood stories of my past and see the looks on the kids as they escape in the story.

I found it surprising that "alphabet books are not well suited to teaching the ABC's along with their phonic generalizations and are not intended to serve such a purpose" (62). However, after looking back on ABC books I've read aloud to kids and reading the criteria that makes a good ABC book along with phonic sounds, I realized that it does make sense and it is very common for ABC books to teach the kids letter recognition but not sounds.

I will admit that I never heard of or had seen a wordless picture book before this class. I'm not really sure why! I think it's a great idea to have a wordless picture book and have kids make up the story as they look at the pictures. We've all heard the phrase, "A picture's worth a thousand words" and well, these books prove it to be true! My favorite that I've looked at so far is Tuesday by David Wiesner. I was in 1st or 2nd grade when it won the Caldecott, and yet I had never heard of it until now.

Chapter 8 "Poetry"

As I was reading the first paragraph on how young teachers have a distant dislike for poetry, I couldn't help but feel guilty. I am one of those young teachers who does not like poetry. That is all about to change though! I still love the poetry I was introduced to as a child, and what took away the fun for me was what the text referred to as "playing the 'I know the true meaning of this poem; it's your job to discover it' game with" my teacher (80). I have made a vow to myself right now that I will read a poem to my class everyday out of my favorite poetry book: Where the Sidealk Ends by Shel Silverstein. This way, the kids will have a built appreciation for poetry before they enter middle school, and hopefully that will help with all the assignments that are thrown at them. The poetry collection assignment for this class will no doubt help me learn to love poetry again.