Genre 4: How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?

How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?


Jenkins, Steve & Robin Page. 2008. How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?. Ill. by Steve Jenkins. New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-618-96634-9.

Plot Summary

How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly explores the adaptations of animals all around the world, and how they learn to survive with their interesting characteristics and ingenious solutions to problems. Readers examine how different animals might snare a fish, hatch an egg, use a leaf, eat a clam, dig a hole, and of course, catch a fly. Jenkins and Page even provide us with an encyclopedia-like glossary, which offers even more fascinating facts and figures at the end of the book.

Critical Analysis

One can't help but note the prominent role the number six plays in this book. The book is separated into six sections: How many ways can you… snare a fish? hatch an egg? use a leaf? catch a fly? dig a hole? and eat a clam? In each of these sections, Jenkins depicts six different animals using their unique adaptations to survive in their given environment. While some of these animals are well-known, students will not be familiar with many of the animals depicted in this book. Jenkins and Page look at animals from the familiar grizzly bear and dolphin to the lesser known anhinga, net-casting spider, and assassin bug. Through out the pages of this book, readers are treated to nuggets of knowledge that will surely pique the interest of even the most reluctant reader, such as the ichneumon wasp, who lays its eggs inside caterpillars. Once the eggs hatch, the wasp larvae devour their surrogate mother from the inside out!

Reluctant readers will enjoy this book as it can be read cover to cover or dipped into for interesting tidbits of information. At the back of the book, the authors provide two-page spreads of additional information on the thirty-six featured animals. Each detailed description is accompanied by a small image of the creature. The bibliography offers readers resources to gain even more information and adds credibility to the book.

Jenkins created his ingenious illustrations using cut and torn paper collage. Each animal is large enough to provide readers with intriguing detail. While all of the illustrations are accurate and detailed, a few seem to come alive on the page, including the soulful orangutan holding a leaf above his head to keep dry, the pouncing slender loris, and the clam-breaking raccoon.

Review Excerpts

Booklist starred: "An enthralling read-aloud, especially in small groups, where children can crowd up close to the images."

Kirkus: "Similar in format to their highly successful What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? (2003), this stunning creation combines Jenkins's gorgeous hand-made paper illustrations with an engaging text that's wonderful for both group reading or sharing one-on-one."

Library Media Connection: "The book is rooted in solid research, but is presented in such an appealing way that a child might be able to dip into it for answers but also devour it like a Mexican burrowing toad. It is a must for school and public library collections."

Connections

This book would be great to use when learning about adaptations and animals’ characteristics that help them to survive.

Related Books

What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? by Steve Jenkins
What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? (Caldecott Honor Book) by Steve Jenkins
Biggest, Strongest, Fastest by Steve Jenkins

Cover art from http://www.librarything.com/

Genre 4: Our Eleanor

Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life



Fleming, Candace. 2005. Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life. New York: Atheneum Books For Young Readers. ISBN 978-0-689-86544-2.



Plot Summary
Our Eleanor chronicles the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt fought social injustices in the world with a tough exterior while hiding her insecurities and loneliness. A child born to privilege, who was emotionally abused by her mother and neglected by her alcoholic father, Mrs. Roosevelt defied decorum and lived a life of purpose. When her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was stricken with polio, she traveled the world, becoming his eyes and ears. As such, she shaped our world in ways few others have been able to emulate. As interesting and influential as Mrs. Roosevelt was perceived by many, she was not liked or admired by all. While some of our more recent first ladies have tried to emulate her ways, it is interesting to note the negative reaction a few of immediate successors seemed to have of her. Our Eleanor, written as a scrapbook, presents a collection of illustrated photographs and stories representing the life and career of Eleanor Roosevelt.


Critical Analysis
In Our Eleanor, Candace Fleming gives readers an up close and personal look at the life of Eleanor Roosevelt, a woman who, many would argue, was one of the greatest women in our history. Our Eleanor is presented in a loose chronological manner, divided into chapters arranged both chronologically and thematically. By arranging the book in this manner, Fleming allows readers to focus more on the story of her life rather than dealing with date after date, which tends to become monotonous after a time.

Fleming's use of photographs allows readers to see Eleanor in action, from deep inside an Ohio coal mine to a Puerto Rican slum to Guadalcanal to Christmas with her family and playing with her grandchildren. In a successful attempt to break up the text, Fleming used a variety of fonts, separation lines, and hand-written letters. Readers are even treated to Eleanor's report card from school. By arranging the book in this manner, Candace Fleming was able to create a non-fiction book that reads as a story.

With source notes and related readings listed at the end of the book, Fleming gives readers ample opportunity to learn more about Eleanor Roosevelt.


Review Excerpts
Horn Book starred review: "This richly rendered account of the life and accomplishments of Eleanor Roosevelt is both unabashed tribute and absorbing history."

School Library Journal: "This presentation does for the longest-serving First Lady what Russell Freedman's Lincoln: A Photobiography (Clarion, 1987) did for an earlier inhabitant of the White House."

Kirkus Review: "Had Eleanor Roosevelt kept a scrapbook-an incredibly well-organized and thorough scrapbook-this is how it might feel to look through it."


Connections
This book would be beneficial for lessons pertaining to women in politics, American history, civil rights, human rights, or people who have made a difference in the world.


Related Books
Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
My Day: The Best of Eleanor Roosevelt's Acclaimed Newspaper Columns, 1936-1962 by Eleanor Roosevelt
Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's Life by Candace Fleming

Cover art from www.librarything.com

Genre 4: Nonfiction

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

Armstrong, Jennifer. 1998. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: the Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. New York: Crown. ISBN 1413136478.

Plot Summary

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World chronicles the voyage of Sir Ernest Shackleton as he leads his crew of twenty-eight men on an ill-fated Antarctic expedition.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set sail from England on August 8, 1914, aboard the Endurance, Shackleton's 4-deck ship. By October, they were at port in Buenos Aires. Here they replaced crew members as needed and added "sixty-nine half-wild sled dogs from Canada". Setting sail on October 26, 1914, Shackleton and his men planned to be the first team to ever cross the Weddell Sea, make landfall, and set out across the continent of Antarctica.

Their dreams of glory, though, began to wither when on January 19, 1915, Endurance became trapped in pack ice. After waiting months for the ice to break apart enough to once again set sail, the unthinkable happened and the Endurance was crushed by the ice. Stranded on the ice, the men had no option but to take only what was necessary for survival and set out on foot across the frozen sea. The men find themselves in a life and death race toward civilization.

After surviving an Antarctic winter and a treacherous 600 mile voyage to the uninhabited Elephant Island, Shackleton was forced to leave his men behind, when he and five others set out in a 20-foot open boat on April 24, 1916. Their destination was a whaling station on the tiny South Georgia Island, an 800 mile trip across the southern Atlantic Ocean. Remarkably, they were successful in their journey over the ocean and the unmapped mountain range they were forced to zigzag across once they reached the island.

In April, 1916, 19 months after the Endurance became trapped in the ice, Shackleton led a rescue party back to Elephant Island to retrieve his men. Defying all odds, every crew member survived.

Critical Analysis

Jennifer Armstrong brings this unbelievable journey to life with amazing attention to detail. Her story unfolds in chronological order and with such dramatic style that it reads more like an adventure story than a typical work of non-fiction. One of the most important criteria for non-fiction is accuracy. Armstrong based her book on the personal accounts of the men who lived the tale. Shackleton, Worsley, McNeish, Hurley, and others kept diaries during the harrowing journey. Armstrong used these diaries as well as newspaper and journal articles to write her story. Also, she included maps of their journey, which I often found myself referring to as I read.

The black-and-white photos found throughout the book help to tell this perilous story. Many were take on glass plates by the expedition's photographer, Frank Hurley. Though he was forced to leave many behind on the ice, most survived are of exceptional quality. It's interesting to note how numerous the photos are at the beginning of the book and how few there are toward the end as the situation becomes increasingly more deadly. In a situation few of us can even imagine, these candid photographs offer realism to the reader. They illustrate the dire circumstances and brutal conditions these men not only faced but survived.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: "Filled with intriguing details and written with dramatic style, this riveting account of the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition reads like an adventure novel."

Kirkus: "This unbelievable story is enhanced by the vigorous prose; from the captivating introduction through the epilogue, it is the writing as much as the story that will rivet readers."

Publishers Weekly - starred review "Armstrong's absorbing storytelling, illustrated with dramatic black-and-white photographs, makes this an enthralling adventure."

Connections

This book could be used in teaching lessons on people who have triumphed insurmountable odds. It could also be taught in connection with other adventure/survival stories as a non-fiction pairing.

Related Books

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

The Shackleton Expedition by Jil Fine

Sir Ernest Shackleton: By Endurance We Conquer by Patricia Calvert

Ice Story: Shackleton's Lost Expedition by Elizabeth Kimmel

Cover art from www.librarything.com