Love That Dog

This book is a 2002 Bluebonnet Book

Exposition: This story is a dialogue between young Jack and his teacher. This is written as Jack's journal and although we do not hear what the teacher writes back to him, we can infer quite easily. The class is beginning a unit on poetry and Jack is adamently anti-poetry.
Conflict: Jack begrudgingly enters the poetry unit with little enthusiasm. However, when poems and their authors are introduced he slowly becomes more interested. He enjoys some more than others and even writes some of his own. One of his poems seems to haunt him as it is about a car racing down the street. He is very emotional about the poem and the reader soon learns it's about his dog, Sky. He continues with other poems about his yellow dog.
Rising Action: When a poem by Walter Dean Myers is introduced Jack is finally able to finish his own poem. He writes to Walter Dean Myers to request a visit to his school.
Climax: The reader learns that Sky, Jack's dog, was hit by a car and died. And then something good happens! Walter Dean Myers came to visit Jack's class.
Falling Action: After the visit from Mr. Myers Jack is elated! The reader feels he has a new appreciation for poetry. He writes the author a thank you letter.
Resolution: Included in Jack's thank you letter was a tribute poem he wrote to his dog, Sky. It was also a tribute to Mr. Myers poems as it was "inspired by Walter Dean Myers."

This book is packed full of literary elements. Of course the poems use much figurative language and imagary.  Jack's own poem shows the element of rhythm such as "wag-wag-wagging," "slob-slob-slobbering," and "thud, thud, thud."
Creech, S. (2001). Love that dog. New York: Harpers Collins Publishing.

On My Honor

This book is a Newberry Honor book and also on the Challenged Book List. I am posting this as a Challenged Book.

Exposition: This story takes place over the course of one day. It starts out early in the day when two friends, Tony and Joel, decide to go for a bike ride out to the bluffs. Tony has grand ideas of scaling the bluffs while Joel is a much more timid soul. He asks his father if he can go, pleading inside that his father will say no. However, reluctantly the father agrees and has Joel commit that they will bike straight there and back. On his honor, he tells him.

Conflict: As the two boys bike toward the bluffs, Tony decides to take a detour. He tells Joel he would rather swim in the river now. Joel, conflicted between the promise he made to his father, and the relief of not having to scale the bluffs, decides he will join Tony.

Rising Action: Before diving into the river the boys get in a verbal argument resulting in a bet to swim to a sandbar out in the distance. Once they set out Joel can hear Tony splashing behind him. But when Joel arrives at the sandbar Tony is nowhere to be seen.

Climax: After searching himself and flagging down help, Joel realizes Tony has drowned. He must go back home alone.

Falling Action: We quickly realize that Joel has no intention of telling his parents or Tony's parents about what happened. He is pained as he goes about the rest of his day including his daily paper route.

Resolution: When the police arrive after Tony's parents grew concerned about his absence, the truth finally comes out. Everyone is devastated .Both father and son realize they will have to live with Tony's death the rest of their lives.

One of the literary elements this book has throughout is the tension between the characters. Even the two boys had tension in their relationship, getting into several verbal arguments and disagreements. Then there's the fact that Joel dared Tony to swim to the sandbar which results in internal tension and conflict. It is definately a book I did not want to put down. The author also gives Joel's guilt a sense of smell. After Joel returns home and showers he still "couldn't cover the stench of the river clinging to hs skin" and "as he rubbed his skin, the smell rose in his nostrils again, the dead-fish smell of the river."

Bauer M. D. (1986). On my honor. New York: Clarion Books.

The Snowy Day

This book is the 1963 Caldecott Medal Winner

Exposition: This is a sweet story that takes place during winter. It is about a little boy named Peter and his adventures he has the day it snows.

Conflict: Peter is very excited the morning he discovered it snowed the night before. He puts on his snowsuit and his adventures begin. He makes snowangels and snowballs and is a bit conflicted when he can't participate in the snowball fight with the older boys.

Rising Action: After his big day out he makes a snowball and puts it in his pocket. He then goes into his house.

Climax: As Peter taks a bath he thinks about his day. When he checks for his snowball it is gone and he is left feeling sad. We get the impression that he is missing the snow already.

Falling Action: That night, as Peter sleeps, he dreams the sun has melted all the snow away.

Resolution: Aha! Peter awakes to find not only is the snow still there but it is also snowing new snow. He goes back outside with his friend for another adventuresome day.

The illustrations it this fun little story are interesting. They look to be torn or cut paper, perhaps even fabric like sack cloth. The illustrations are very simple to go along with this simple tale yet there is a quality about them that shows much care was put into them. Ther are three pages, two at the front of the book and one at the end, that are filled with stencilled snowflakes. The illustrator really used a unique medium. 

Keats, E.J. (1962). The snowy day. New York: Puffin Books.

The Biggest Bear

This book is a 1953 Caldecott Medal Winner

Exposition: This story takes place on a farm way back in the day. This was when young boys roamed the forest in search of bears. In fact, Johnny Orchard hopes to meet a bear. He wants to shoot a bear and nail the bearskin to his barn. For that is how it was done back then. Eveyone had a bearskin nailed to their barns except Johnny's family.
Conflict: Johnny decides he will go bear hunting. He takes his gun and does indeed meet a bear. But this is not the bear Johnny had been expecting for it was only a cub. Instead of shooting it Johnny feeds him maple sugar candy and brings him home.
Rising Action: His parents were surprised that Johnny had brought home a live bear. Apparently the family allowed him to keep it and it ended up eating everything. Not only that but the bear got into the neighbors barns and made some really big messes. The neighbors were not happy and Johnny's father told him it was time for the bear to go.
Climax: Twice Johnny tried to bring the bear into the woods and twice the bear was back again the next morning. The third time Johnny put the bear in a boat and brought him to an island. The bear was back the next morning. Finally his father told him that Johnny would have to shoot the bear.
Falling Action:  As Johnny leads the bear into the woods they are both caught off guard when they become trapped in a bear trap.
Resolution: The trap had been set by people who were collecting animals for the zoo. Johnny was happy that the bear would have a nice place to live. He was told he could visit as often as he wished. And bring maple sugar candy!

The illustrations in this book are beautiful. They are black and white but I would actually descibe them more sepia in color. They are very detailed and the expressions of the people and the bear are well captured.
Ward, L. (1952). The biggest bear. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Good Enough to Eat

This book is from the Notable Books for Children List

Exposition: This fairy tale takes place in a gated town to protect the citizens from an evil ogre. Our hero of the story has no name, is homeless, and the townspeople consider her a pest. She is referred to Scraps-and-Smells, Skin-and-Bones, and Sweets-and Treats. She sells stale buns or begs or starves. The mayor will not allow the townspeople to throw her out of the city.

Conflict: The day the ugly ogre came to the city demanding a bride was the day the citizens voted to send the girl to him. They did vote and Scraps-and-Smells, Skin-and-Bones, and Sweets-and-Treats were the only girl(s) to get votes. So away our young hero went.

Rising Action: The first time the girl was sent out she told the ogre she was Scraps-and-Smells. She was rejected with great force and the ogre retaliated by eating several farm animals. The second time she was sent out with a dowry. After calling herself Skin-and-Bones the ogre again rejected her and again raided the town's farm animals. The third time she was sent with swords and called herself Sweets-and-Treats.

Climax: Calling herself Sweets-and-Treats certainly got the ogre's attention. He picked her up declared her "good enough to eat" and swallowed her whole. Then she takes a sword, slashes the ogre's belly, and he dissolved into ash.

Falling Action: Once she returns to the town with the farm animals intact the townspeople offer her the lame reward of a barrel to live in and a sausage to eat.

Resolution: After the paltry reward is offered the young lady goes off on her own with the dowry, the swords, and the farm animals. She declares her new name will be Good-Enough-To-Eat.

This book was very well illustrated. I loved the  pictures more than the story. They were brightly colored and cartoon-like. When the text has vivid language such as "he had rats in his hair instead of lice," the illustrations really capture it. It looks to be watercolor and ink. It is a perfect style for such a far-fetched little story.

Cole, B. (2007). Good enough to eat. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux

The Funny Little Woman



This book is a 1973 Caldecott Medal Winner

Exposition: This story takes place "long ago, in Old Japan." (p. 2.) Our main character is a funny little woman who enjoys making rice dumplings. She lives up on a hill in  a little house.

Conflict: One morning one of her rice dumplings rolls down a hill. She chases and falls into a deep underground tunnel filled with talking statues that warn her of the evil "oni."

Rising Action: Once discovered by the evil "oni" she is taken to his house and forced to make rice dumpings for all the evil "onis." She is given a magic paddle that produces a pot full of rice from only one grain.

Climax: One day she decides to escape. She takes the magic paddle, hops in the boat and paddles away. However, only halfway across the evil "onis" discover her and, because they don't swim, the slurp up all the water in the river.

Falling Action: The funny little woman was left stuck in the mud where she made quite the funny little sight.

Resolution: Stumbling around in the mud made the evil "onis" laugh out loud, in turn, releasing all the water back into the river. This allowed the funny little woman to hop in the boat and go back home. And since she had the magic paddle she was able to make many, many rice dumplings.

The illustrations in this book are lovely. They are exquisitely detailed with a blend of watercolor and ink. I love when the funny little lady is underground that her home on the hillside is still portrayed in black and white. It seems to be a lonely little house waiting for it's owner to return.



Mosel, A., & Lent, B. (1972). The funny little woman. New York: E.P. Dutton.

Go Ask Alice

This book is on the Challenged Book List

Exposition: This personal account of a young girls spiral into drug addiction begins with her first diary entry. She is a typical teenager, adjusting to school, struggling with friendships, noticing boys, and concerned with finding her place in high school. It is written in a typical teenage voice that could be the voice of any teenager until she finds out the family will be moving.
Conflict: Although we don't know the girl's name the reader can relate to her excitement and fear about the upcoming move to a new school. Once there she has to begin making new friends all over again. She finds herself feeling isolated and her mood shifts between typical hormonal ups and downs of adjusting to her new situation. She returns to visit her grandparents for the summer and is introduced to drugs. Her daily entries are, at times, difficult to read. She is conflicted on so many levels. She has a love/hate relationship with drugs and at the heigth of her internal struggle she chooses to run away with another girl struggling with the same demons.
Rising Action: Once the girls are in their new city, they vow to stay away from drugs. They get jobs and find an apartment. We are really rooting for them but their lives are difficult. When they are invited to a party they jump at the chance to go and are once again inundated into the drug world. After a month our girl realizes she can't continue on this path and calls her parents who are elated to have her home again.
Falling Action: Basically our girl does a repeat performance, staying clean, finding drugs once again, and running away. After months of being on the street she once again calls home and is accepted with open arms. She vows that it will never happen again until she is slipped some bad stuff and is hospitalized.
Resolution: After getting out of the hospital she is once again comitted to staying off drugs. The last of her diary entries shows a committed, happy, young lady that is not going to let drugs rule he life. Sadly, the book notes this at the end: "The subject of this book died three weeks after her decision not to keep another diary." No one knows if it was an accidental or premeditated overdose.


This was a very hard book for me to read. It was very sad. I checked several times if it was indeed considered a young adult book. Indeed it is and was actually required reading for many high school students in the 70's. Supposedly students would be "turned off" to drugs after reading this account. Literary elements such as personification of the diary is used throughout. Examples are "Oh Dear Diary, I'm sorry I've neglected you."
Annonymous. (1971). Go ask Alice: A real diary. New York: Simon & Schuster.