Module 11 * Informational Books * March 31- April 6

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of the Macy's Parade

by 

Melissa Sweet

Bibliography: Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons over Broadway. New York, NY: HMH Books for Young Readers.

Summary: This is the story of Tony Sarg (rhymes with aarg) who is the mind behind the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons.  It tells about where he got his start (London), how he began (making marionettes) and how he came up with the idea for the huge balloons that have becomes iconic (he started with horse-drawn floats and real animals that were too scary for the  children).  It documents the creative process and stages he went through before the parade became the highlight of the Thanksgiving season that it is today.  

My Take: This book is fascinating!  The information is interesting and relevant and the way the book is put together- the mixed media art- makes you feel like you are looking at one of Sarg's idea books!  This is a great book to use to introduce informational texts to kids.  

Reviews: 

This bright, brimming picture biography commemorates Tony Sarg, a brilliant, self-taught artist whose innovative heliumballoons delighted legions of Macy's parade watchers from 1928 on.

Sweet sketches Sarg's career as a puppeteer and marionette-maker. Moving from London to New York City, where his marionettes performed on Broadway, Sarg engineered mechanical storybook characters for Macy's "Wondertown" holiday windows. In 1924, he created floats and costumes for the first Macy's parade, which celebrated both immigrant and American holiday traditions. When the annual parade's lions and tigers (borrowed from the Central Park Zoo) frightened children, Macy's commissioned Sarg to replace them. Ever innovative, Sarg eventually utilized rubberized silk and helium to create larger, lighter balloons that could be controlled from below. Sweet's charming mixed-media layouts form a playful bridge between her creative process and Sarg's. She fashioned whimsical toys from painted blocks, buttons and fabric, combining them in photo-collages with old books, cut paper, imagined sketches for Sarg's projects, watercolor images of parade scenes and much more. Endpapers inform and delight, too, with excerpts from a 1929 book about Sarg's marionettes and a front-page parade invitation in the 1933 New York Times. Backmatter is also a collage of treats, with an author's note appending further biographical details and comments about the art.

This clever marriage of information and illustration soars high. (bibliography of adult sources, quote sources, acknowledgements, period photo) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

Balloons over Broadway (review). (2011). Kirkus Reviews, 35(17), 1607.

Tony Sarg (1880-1942, "rhymes with aargh!"), the man who invented the giant balloons of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, has found a worthy biographer in Caldecott Honoree Sweet (A River of Words). With lighthearted watercolors, fanciful scrapbooking, and collaged typography, Sweet shows how Sarg, a self-taught immigrant, combined an indomitable curiosity with an engineer's know-how and a forever-young imagination. The story walks readers through each stage of Sarg's development as a master of puppetry--his childhood fascination with mechanics and marionettes, his first big break as a developer of window displays for Macy's, and his early earthbound parade creations (essentially air-filled rubber bags that were steered down the street). And then comes the light-bulb moment: "With a marionette, the controls are above and the puppet hangs down…" writes Sweet. "But what if the controls were below and the puppet could rise up?" The rush that comes from inspiration, the cliffhanger moments of creation, the sheer joy of building something and watching it delight the multitudes--Sweet captures it all in what is truly a story for all ages. Ages 4-8.

Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's parade (review). (2011). Publishers Weekly 258(32). 

Use in a School Library: It would be lots of fun to begin a unit on informational texts with this book right before Thanksgiving break.  The kids' "homework" over the break would be to watch the parade on tv and share some of the facts they have learned with family and friends who are there at the time.  Being the one to give the adults new information about the parade (there were lots of things I didn't know before I read this book) will be an awesome hook into the world of informational books!  Then, after the break, groups would share their experiences.  Looking through some good, interesting informational books that the librarian has selected would be next, and then they could choose one to create a presentation of information on.  These could be shared with others.

Module 10 * Historical Fiction * March 24-29

Goin' Someplace Special 

by 

Fred McKissack

Bibliography: McKissack, K. (2001). Goin' someplace special. New York, NY:Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 

Summary: Tricia Ann is excited to go to her "someplace special" by herself for the very first time.  She is a young black girl in the 1950's, somewhere in the south.  All along the journey she encounters what her grandmother knows she will have to contend with and has tried her best to arm her against- racisim and the Jim Crow laws.  She has to sit in the back of the bus, is told to leave the hotel she goes to to visit her friend the doorman and is not allowed to sit on a bench in the park that her stonemason Grandfather helped to build.  Tricia Ann remembers her Grandmother's wise and wonderful words through all of these challenges and realizes why she has been taught them, "You are somebody, a human-- no better, no worse than anybody else in this world", and "Hold yo' head up and act like you belong to somebody".  These are the thoughts that help her to get to her someplace special, where everyone is welcome- the public library.

My Take: I love this book.  It is a very real and personal look at one girl's first solo experience with the racist south and the Jim Crow laws that limit where she can go and what she can do.  The story lets the reader see what it was like, and how unfair it all was through the eyes of an innocent child.  By the end of the trip, Tricia Ann in not so innocent and understands why her grandmother has continually told her that she is important and not to let others take her happiness or make her feel she doesn't belong.  
  

Reviews: 

Young Tricia Ann is off to Someplace Special — and about to "burst with excitement" because her grandmother is letting her go there alone for the very first time. The journey is not an easy one: she must face the indignities of life in the Jim Crow South. She has to sit behind the sign on the bus that says "COLORED SECTION," She is not allowed to sit in the park by the Peace Fountain her stonemason grandfather helped build. She visits her friend the doorman at the elegant Southland Hotel and is asked to leave. "What makes you think you can come inside? No colored people are allowed!" the manager says. Despite these humiliations, Tricia Ann is strengthened at every turn by people who care about her and who bolster her with reminders to "Carry yo'self proud" and "Don't let those signs steal yo' happiness." Soon she reaches her beloved Someplace Special — the public library The words carved in stone proclaim: "Public Library: All Are Welcome." Jerry Pinkney's illustrations place Tricia Ann at the center of each page, willing to face the challenges the outside world throws at her. Whether Tricia Ann is in her grandmother's kitchen (surrounded by bountiful fresh fruits and vegetables and the love they symbolize) or fearfully looking over her shoulder on the bus, Pinkney makes it clear that she will triumph. Though this story takes place in an unnamed Southern city, the helpful author's note states that McKissack was raised in Nashville, where, unlike many other Southern cities of the 1950s, the public libraries welcomed African Americans. The library pictured on the final pages, bathed in hopeful lemon sunshine, is the downtown library of 1950s Nashville. There are many books about a child's first trip alone, and many books about racism and the struggle for civil rights, but this book is about more than either: it is the story of a child facing a difficult time sustained by the support of the adults in her life. McKissack and Pinkney strike just the right balance in a picture book for young readers and listeners: informative without being preachy; hopeful without being sentimental.

Smith, R. Goin' Someplace Special (review). (2001). Horn Book Magazine, 77 (6), 736-737.

In times like today, where young African American children can not image being denied entry into McDonalds, Red Lobster, or Pizza Hut, we need a story and visual aid to teach the lessons of the past. Hurtful signs and painful comments are overcome by Tricia Ann as she makes her way to one of the only places in the city that welcomes her with open arms: the public library. Prepared and fortified by her grandmother, she ventures outside her community for the first time. Sitting in the back of the bus behind the Jim Crow sign this young girl's full of love, pride, and respect.

Remembering her grandmothers words "You are somebody, a human -- no better, no worse than anybody else in this world" Tricia Ann now the adult Patricia McKissack was able to heal and chronicle an aspect of an aspect of her personal journey from a childhood in Nashville.

Jerry Pinkney, four-time Coretta Scott King winner, works magic in watercolor illustrations. Each page has soft portraits of this young African American girl as she braves the indignities and obstacles of the 1950s. His technique of sketching pencil illustrations and then transferring the design to watercolor, adding a mix of shades and jewel-like colors makes Jerry Pinkney's work distinctive.

Pinkney's attention to detail and McKissack's remembrance will certainly help our children to begin understand growing up in the segregated South.

Abif, K. Goin' Someplace Specail (review). (2001). Black Issues Book Review, 3 (6), 76.

Use in a School Library: This would be a stellar and powerful book to use as a read-aloud for kids during February's Black History month.  You could print a list of the Jim Crow laws that ruled life in the south at that time.  Then give different scenarios of things kids do now that are easy and commonplace- going to McDonald's and playing in the PlayLand, Going to Main Event and bowling with their family, etc. and talk about how those Jim Crow laws would make things more difficult and degrading.  

Module 9 * Mystery * March 17-23

Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?

by 

David Levinthal 

Bibliography: Levinthal, D.  (2012). Who pushed Humpty Dumpty?  New York, NY: Schwartz & Wade Books.

Summary:

This humorous take on a fifties private-eye story is set in the forest of fairy tales and stars Detective Binky, a frog who solves fairy tale crimes.  He solves the mystery of who vandalized the Three Bears' house, a missing candy-house witch whose sister is looking for her, and the death of Humpty Dumpty, a member of a rock and roll band, among others.  All are based on classic fairy tales and all have a predictable ending that goes with the tale that kids are familiar with.  Each "case" ends with a Case Closed stamp when the culprit is caught or the mystery is solved.  

My Take: 

This book is hilarious!  I love that Detective Binky's dialogue is written with the classic cadence and verbiage of the classes private eye movies/novels.  The stories are fun and familiar, most with a newly discovered twist that keeps the reader interested and engaged.

Reviews: 

Did Humpty fall or was he pushed? Why was Snow White missing the morning of the beauty pageant? No mystery is too great for Officer Binky, who is on the scene searching for clues, following leads, and convincing suspects to confess as he solves five classic fairy tale crimes. Not since The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Viking, 1989), has there been such a perfect marriage of author and illustrator. Told in first person from the fedora-capped toad detective's point of view, Levinthal's descriptions read like vignettes from noir detective novels. Larger than life acrylic illustrations steal the show, capturing the emotions of both victim and suspect as Binky works relentlessly around the clock. Sure to have children laughing out loud, classes introduced to this title will be inspired to write spin-offs of their own to traditional fairy tales.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Presser, H. B. Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? (review).  (2013). Library Media Connection, 31(4), 90.

Officer Binky, a laconic and rumpled frog detective, investigates the events of fairyland: "The Three Bears" is a breaking and entering; "Snow White" is an attempted murder; Hansel and Gretel present a self-defense plea. Levinthal has a good time with scene-of-the-crime details, forensics, and witness testimony. Nickle's dramatic, hard-edged paintings, with their hint of grotesque misanthropy, are just the ticket. 

Ellis, S. Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? (review).  (2013). The Horn Book Guide, 24(1), 34. 

Use in a School Library: 
This book would be a blast to use in a genre study of fairy tales along with twisted fairly tales like The Stinky Cheeseman and Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.  This type of writing that is based on the familiar is of great interest to students and can really open their minds to using well-known stories and creating something new from them.  Groups could write their own fairy tale case with another classic tale and share with the class/school.

Module 8 * Fantasy and Science Fiction * March 3-9

Uglies 

by 

Scott Westerfeld

Bibliography: Westerfeld, S. (2005). Uglies. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

Summary:

Tally lives in a world/time where it is seen to be of the utmost importance that everyone be equal. especially in looks.  At sixteen each child is given a free surgery that changes their body and their face in order to make them a "pretty"- equally pretty to all the rest of the pretties.  Just before her long-awaited turn when she is looking forward to joining her best friend who had the surgery months before her in Prettytown, Tally meets a girl named Shay who has other ideas after meeting a revolutionary boy in an off-limits old town from the time of the "Rusties".  Shay makes Tally think about the surgery differently, but her life is changed forever when Tally is forced to act as a double-agent against Shay and the others who live in the Smoke- a town where no one is pretty and they live without the technology and ease of those in Prettytown, but they accept all as they are and find purpose in work for the community.  When Shay decides to stay in smoke and with the boy she loves, all hell breaks loose when the secret government agency find them and kill and capture her new friends while destroying the life they have created for themselves. Shay joins whole-heartedly with the Smoke folk and try to rescue their members and their way of life by sacrificing herself.  

My Take: 

I liked this book a lot.  Shay was a shallower character than she needed to be, but I loved the transformation of Tally throughout the story.  I cannot wait to read the sequels to this book and find out what happens next!  What the government does is bone-chilling.  The changes to the citizens' brains that are made to make them more compliant, happy and easy to manage is terrifying in its twisted logic.

Reviews: 

Gr. 7-10.  Fifteen year-old Tally's eerily harmonious, postapocolyptic society gives extreme makeovers to teens on their sixteenth birthdays, supposedly conferring equivalent evalutionary advantages to all.  When a top-secret agency threatens to leave Tally ugly forever unless she spies on runaway teens, she agrees to infiltrate the Smoke, a shadowy colony of refugees from the "tyranny of physical perfection".  At first baffeled and repulsed by the rebels' choices, Tally eventually bonds with one of their leaders and begins to question the validity of institutionalized mutilation- especially as it becomes clear that the government's surgeons may be doing more than cosmetic nipping and tucking.  Although the narrative's brisk pace is more successful in scenes of hover-boarding action than in convincingly developing Tally's key relationships, teens will sink their teeth into the provocative questions about invasive technology, image-obsessed society and the ethical quandries of a mole-turned-ally.  These elements, along with the obvious connections to reality programs such as Miami Slice, will surely cause this ingenious series debut to cement Westfeld's reputation for high-concept YA fiction that has wide appeal. 

Mattson, J. Uglies (review). (2005). Booklist, 101(14), 1287.

With a beginning and ending that pack hefty punches, this introduction to a dystopic future promises an exciting series. Tally is almost 16 and breathlessly eager: On her birthday, like everyone else, she'll undergo extensive surgery to become a Pretty. She's only known life as an Ugly (everyone's considered hideous before surgery), whereas after she "turns," she'll have the huge eyes, perfect skin, and new bone structure that biology and evolution have determined to be objectively beautiful. New Pretties party all day long. But when friend Shay escapes to join a possibly mythical band of outsiders avoiding surgery, Tally follows--not from choice but because the secret police force her. Tally inflicts betrayal after betrayal, which dominates the theme for the midsection; by the end, the nature of this dystopia is front and center and Tally--trying to set things right--takes a stunning leap of faith. Some heavy-handedness, but the awesome ending thrills with potential.

Uglies (review).  (2005). Kirkus Reviews, 73 (4), 237 

Use in a School Library: 
This book would be great to be recommended to a teacher to use as a unit in class.  It is a powerful story of acceptance of others as they are and the value of hard work.  It is also a great way to introduce to young people the fact that they have the right to question authority and government so they have all the facts.  I would recommend this book to kids having trouble fitting in with their peers for those same reasons.