Year of Impossible Goodbyes Anticipation Guide

Look at this picture and think of the feelings that it evokes. Compare the concept of our American childhoods to that of a child in a war-torn country.

A map of the area the book takes place in. Think for 30 seconds what you know about the country of Korea. Can you find important places on a map? Think about what life was like during the Japanese occupation of Korea during 1910-1945. What kinds of things were happening?

http://http//www.lifeinkorea.com/information/history2.cfm#1910

This conflict was (and is) a very controversial topic. What is your opinion of Japanese rule in Korea? Think about if you were a Korean child living during this war--how would it effect you?

Professor Emeritus Han Seung-Jo (한승조) of Korea University wrote, "The colonial rule of Korea by Japan was actually a stroke of good fortune, and instead of hating them for it, they should be thanked. There is no reason to rebuke, denounce or make criminals of the pro-Japanese activities of 35 years of cooperation without opposition." He also said in a later interview, "At the time, if Japan hadn't taken over Chosun, Russia would have, and if that had happened the Korean people would have been scattered under Joseph Stalin's racial dispersion policy." Furthermore, he states, "I see the colonial rule by Japan as having been not a bad thing, but instead an opportunity for the strengthening of the Korean people's awareness."[79] (Wikipedia)

Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle by Brian Dennis, Mary Nethery, Kirby Larson

This book was a heartbreaker. I was on break from work, in the Barnes and Noble reading children books when I came across this one. I love dogs and the cover was so adorable that I was drawn to it. When I saw that it was about a Marine and Iraqi dog, I sat down for a truly heartwarming story.

This story got me choked up inside because it was so real. Living in Iowa, thousands of miles away from war, I don't always get the gravity of the situation in Iraq. I mean, I read the paper and watch the news, but it is so foreign to me that it just doesn't seem quite possible. I know it is a horrific war, with innocent people killed everyday and this story of an American Marine and an abused dog made me really connect more personally.

We teach tolerance and respect. We teach children to reach out to those in need, but what if you had been abused? Would you be able to reach out or respect anyone again? This brave dog saw the good in the Marine squad stationed at his fort and went out of his comfort zone to pursue what he wanted most: companionship and love. The bond between this dog and man was amazing and made me almost want to cry. Nubs at one point walks over 70 miles in the desert with nothing to find the soldier--amazing. I think this book with its real photographs of the conflict area would be a good way to show some of the audacities of war to young children. By building an understanding of what war really is, we can hopefully keep the next generation from having to actively participate in any future conflicts. Love and companionship are vital to everyone and this book illustrated it beautifully.

Alpha Oops! The Day Z Went First by Alethea Kontis

This book had a unique concept of how the alphabet could be rearranged to allow letters at the end to be closer to the beginning. I thought the idea was clever, but didn't really enjoy this book's execution. As we talked in class during our genre presentations, learning the alphabet from conventional abc books isn't always helpful. In school, letters are often selected in a seemingly random way, without concern for order. The problem could be with a secret of mine: I like to alphabetize. Yep, I like it when student papers are in abc order, signs, books, whatever. I am very orderly and organized, so letting the letters go all over the place seemed wrong.

The illustrations were digital and interesting to look at. The use of bright colors and bold designs are certainly attractive to the reader. I did think certain parts of the book were funny--one was for the letter V. "V is for ohhh--V is for violence!" was uttered by a letter as other letters struggled to be next in line.

When Randolph Turned Rotten by Charise Mericle Harper

We all have fleeting moments of jealousy and can imagine what we would like to do to those causing these feelings. This book walks through the lives of two bffs who discover what it feels like when one of them is excluded. Randolph (a beaver) and Ivy (a Canadian Goose) love hanging out and sharing everything. This all comes crashing to a skreetch when Ivy is invited on an all-girls sleepover birthday party that Randolph is of course not invited to attend. Being a beaver, I'm sure lots of trees and sticks were chewed on during this frustrating time for Randolph.

I think kids would be able to relate to this story because we have all pined for something only to have a friend receive it instead--sometimes not so graciously. The thing I liked about this story, is that Randolph does something about it, but not in a malicious way. He wanted to ruin Ivy's party, but didn't really do anything that would harm her (except maybe her arms from carrying the extras in her bag). The feeling of jealousy quickly turns into guilt and then remorse. Even though we may be really jealous of someone, if they are truly a friend, being friends should be more important than that job, husband, new house, etc. that they have instead of you.

I really liked the pictures and how the book was put together. The pictures were made from acrylic paint on illustration board (the colors and details are great). One of my favorite illustrations was when Ivy and her cousins (also Canadian Geese) play duck-duck-goose with a couple ducks, crab, and sea gull. Adding to visual interest, the format was different on each page, matching text with pictures in various ways. There were really almost two stories going on at the same time--the narration and dialogue bubbles.

Creepy-Crawly Birthday by James Howe

As I learned doing my Author Study on James Howe, he has written a lot of books! I was excited to find several more examples of his books about the characters in Bunnicula. Delighted to have found one of the Harold and Chester chapter books, I settled in for a good read. I was not disappointed.

The same crazy paranoia of Chester is alive and well, along with the easy-going nature of Harold that keeps the characters a bit grounded. Again acting as the writer, Harold tells about a special birthday for one of the Monroe boys that was disrupted by the crazy antics of their adored pets (Harold, Chester, and Howie--Bunnicula doesn't contribute to the frenzy).

This is a simple beginning picture book with lots of illustrations to supplement the text. The Monroe family is trying to have a normal birthday party, but the pets are too preoccupied with the "surprise" and wondering if another pet is on its way into their family.

Reading the story, I kept guessing what the surprise was and was unhappy about turning the page and seeing a huge snake head slithering out of the boxes. I'm not a reptile fan and it was a big snake head! The chaos these loose animals created was similar to last week's episode of Desperate Housewives where all the children went running and screaming (that was due to a monkey that had attacked a clown) and in the book due to the animals bum-rushing the kids. This was a cute story with a sweet ending and happy times again for the Monroe family.

Splish Splash by Joan Bransfield GrahamI

I was immediately drawn to this book (which is a collection of poems about water's many forms) by the cover. The illustrations were made from Adobe Illustrator 5.0 and reproduced in full color. Something about these pictures made me want to read more.

Along with the short poems about the various forms of water, there were illustrations that were integrated in meaningful ways. The one I really liked was called Crocodile Tears and the text made the shape of a crocodile in a pond. I thought it was clever and a fun surprise.

I think kids would really like to read along with this collection of poems. The illustrations work well together with the subject, thus creating a more cohesive product. This could be a great trade book to use when studying water in science (connecting seldomly read poems with content areas). Using this as a read aloud or choral reading would be fun with younger students. I think this would be fun to use as a way to introduce students to publishing poetry in unique ways.

Circle Dogs by Kevin Henkes

I was a big fan of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse back when I was student teaching (my kiddos signed a copy of it for me as a going away gift), so I was excited to see a different style of book from Kevin Henkes. I think he is a great author who usually creates characters that give us insights into our own behaviors while also being entertaining.

This story used creative text placement to show movement and action. The format is different for almost every page. The illustrations in this story are very geometrically aware (I'm not sure that is a word). What I mean is that there are lots of purposeful circles, triangles, squares, and half circles used in the illustrations. Since the main characters are circle dogs, they inhabit a home that caters to all sorts of shapes from the recctangular doors, circular baby mouth as it cries, and square pieces of toast. The end papers also keep with the shape theme as the information is written in a circular format.

I think this would be a fun book for kids to read when they are learning about their shapes because there are lots of fun examples scattered throughout. The colors are bright and fun to find. The story is very simple and unfortunately not too exciting. There is a good smattering of rhythmic writing and word repetition that could make it fun to read aloud. I think it is really the illustrations, made from Gouache paints, that make the book special.