Non-Fiction Review #3- WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?

What To Do About Alice? by Barbara Kerley

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kerley, Barbara. What to Do About Alice? Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008.

ISBN 978-0-439-92231-9

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

“Theodore Roosevelt had a small problem.” Barbara Kerley introduces us to Alice Lee Roosevelt, the oldest daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. As a child, Alice rode her bicycle, roamed the streets of Washington, and even joined an all-boys club, (until her father found out). Alice was 17 when her father became president, and continued to defy the rules of social conventions by riding a bike, driving her own car, betting on horse races and dancing until the early hours of the morning. Despite all of this, she grew up to became one of Theodore Roosevelt’s most trusted advisors and represented him as a goodwill ambassador in Cuba, Puerto Rico, China and many other countries. Alice married a congressman, and continued to be active in the political activities of Washington for the remainder of her life.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

From the first look at this book's cover, one wants to read the book. The back cover of the book has a quote from Teddy Roosevelt saying, "I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both." This sets the tone for this picture book biography.
The illustrations throughout the book are detailed. From the way the illustrator depicts motion to the smallest of details, the illustrations are on point with the story. The actual printed text of the book is interesting. Some words are in bold type, some words are capitalized, and others are in different fonts or italicized. The interest the author has in Alice is transferred to the reader as I found myself wanting to learn even more about her. While the book was written for young readers using a language and vocabulary they can easily comprehend, older students and adults are left satisfied as well.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Sibert Honor Book

ALA Notable Children’s Book – Middle Readers Category – 2009

School Library Journal Best Books- 2008

Texas Bluebonnet Book 2009-2010

From School Library Journal: “This book  provides a fascinating glimpse into both a bygone era and one of its more interesting denizens as well as a surefire antidote for any child who thinks that historical figures are boring.”

From Publisher’s Weekly: “It’s hard to imagine a picture book biography that could better suit its subject than this high-energy volume serves young Alice Roosevelt.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather read-a-like books to read such as:

Winter, Jonah, Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx, ISBN: 978-1-442-40303-1 

O’Connor, Jane, If the Walls Could Talk: Family Life at the White House,

ISBN: 978-1-442-49782-5

Gather other Barbara Kerley books to read such as:

With a Friend by Your Side, ISBN:  978-1-426-31905-1

The World is Waiting for You, ISBN:  978-1-426-31114-7

Alice Roosevelt's adventures were frequently reported in the newspapers of the day and Fotheringham depicts several headlines in his artwork. Using illustrations from the book, ask students to create newspaper headlines or captions that describe the action portrayed.

Ask students to re-enact an imagined conversation between Teddy Roosevelt and Alice when Teddy decides that she should attend Miss Spence's boarding school to learn to be a "proper young lady." Have students consider why Teddy thinks Alice should attend this school. What reasons does Alice give for not wanting to go?

Non-Fiction Review #2-INSIDE THE ALAMO

Inside the Alamo by Jim Murphy

 1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Murphy, Jim. Inside the Alamo. New York: Delacorte Press, 2003.

ISBN 978-0-385-90092-8

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

Jim Murphy gives a brief, but exciting look at the events leading up to the Battle of the Alamo, the people involved, and the aftermath of the battle and its effect on the territory of Texas. Names such as Santa Anna, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Travis are brought to life through short biographies that are interspersed throughout the book.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

I found this book very informative and interesting. Jim Murphy did a good job creating visual images with his very descriptive wording. I grew up in San Antonio and went on many field trips to the Alamo but I really enjoyed Murphy’s interpretation of this famous piece of history. The added feature of the illustrations and actual photographs will make the book more interesting for children.  Murphy has done a remarkable job in presenting a well-balanced view of the events and the characters of the Alamo.  He offers differing viewpoints that exist amongst the eyewitness accounts of the time and of historians. For example, in relating the death of Jim Bowie, Murphy carefully recounts four different versions of Bowie’s death. He writes, “Which is true? As with many conflicting details about the siege and attack of the Alamo, there is no definite answer.”  Each story in Inside the Alamo contains a map, photograph, sidebar with interesting or pertinent information, painting, essay, or biography. The main text includes excerpts from letters and diaries of participants. Murphy’s biographies are just as well balanced as his narrative of the events of the Alamo.  The book has an index to pinpoint specific information that can help navigate the book.  This book would be appropriate for middle school children.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2004

From School Library Journal: “Murphy gives it his best shot and the  result is an absorbing, interpretive, highly readable account of a two-week period in American history in which a couple of hundred independent Texans (Anglo Texians and Hispanic Tejanos) played a major role in U.S. expansionism.”

From Publisher’s Weekly: “A compelling behind-the -scenes look at the defeat that, ironically, helped create the state of Texas.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather read-a-like books to read such as:

Atkinson, Rick, D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy, 1944, ISBN:978-1-627-79111-3

Leyson, Leon, The Boy on the Wooden Box, ISBN: 978-1-442-49782-5

Gather other Jim Murphy books to read such as:

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, ISBN:  978-0-395-77608-7

The Great Fire, ISBN:  978-0-439-20307-4

Making a model of the Alamo is a popular project for students interested in the history of the site. 

Create a mini-play and have students act out the story told in the book.

Non-Fiction Review #1- ALMOST ASTRONAUTS-13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM

Almost Astronauts- 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press, 2009.

 ISBN 978-0-763-63611-1

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

This non-fiction multiple award winner documents the “Mercury 13″ women. These women won admission to the astronaut training program in the early 1960’s.  The opposition they received is brought to light through their journey. In learning about these women you will experience how they proved to be tougher than the men of “Mercury 7”, and how they were brave enough to take on the world.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Today many women have gone into space, and they owe a debt of gratitude to the women who first attempted the program and proved women could do the job too. The book tells how life went for the “Mercury 13” women after not getting to go to space, and what they are doing today. It concludes by discussing why there are still fewer women in the space program than men, but that it is now wide open to women who dream of becoming astronauts.

Photographs of the people and places discussed in this book help bring the book to life. Stone’s passion for the subject of the book is evident in her writing, so it is easy to feel the joys, disappointments, and frustrations the women in the book must have felt. This book is highly informative and a must-read for any child interested in space, becoming an astronaut, or women’s struggles for equality in America.  

Probably the most interesting piece of information to me was the discovery of how Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson handled a plea for help to get these women into the program.  Hidden for 40 years was a comment he said to Jerrie Cobb where he said “if we let you or other women into the space program we’d have to let blacks in.  We’d have to let Mexican Americans in, and Chinese Americans. We’d have to let every minority in, and we just can’t do it."  This is very upsetting, but a very good example of prejudice against women and minorities in the 60s.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Flora Stieglitz Straus Award
ALA Notable Children's Books - Older Readers Category: 2010
Amelia Bloom Lists - Middle Grade Nonfiction: 2010
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2010

From School Library Journal: “Stone adopts a tone of righteous indignation in chronicling the quixotic efforts of 13 women to win admission into NASA's initial astronaut training program in the early 1960s.”

From Publisher’s Weekly: “A gripping narrative surfaces in Stone's text, as the women are repeatedly thwarted by NASA, discriminated against and patronized by society.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather read-a-like books to read such as:

Farrell, Mary Cronk, Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific, ISBN: 978-1-419-71028-5

Gibson, Karen Bush, Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures, ISBN: 978-1-613-74844-2

Gather other Tanya Lee Stone books to read such as:

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black 
 Paratroopers, ISBN: 978-0-763-65117-6

Amelia Earhart, ISBN:  978-0-756-62552-8

Discuss with children what skills it takes to become an astronaut. Do you have the “right stuff?”

Set up an obstacle course, explaining that astronauts need to be very fit.

Poetry Review #3- WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW

What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sones, Sonya. What My Mother Doesn't Know. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2001.

 ISBN 978-0-689-84114-9

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

Through a series of poems, the teenage narrator, Sophie, tells the story of her first experiences with love.  She shares with us her relationships with family, friends, and boys as she struggles to reach adulthood. Sophie moves through her first relationships with the support of her childhood friends Grace and Rachel. In addition to the stress of maintaining relationships with friends and boyfriends, Sophie struggles to understand and be understood by her mother, an overly emotional woman. The distance that she feels from her family mirrors her feelings of isolation from the rest of society.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This book is a verse novel by Sonya Sones that expresses the feelings of a teenage girl. Each poem has a different title and describes one moment in Sophie’s life. The story keeps moving in order to keep the readers connected to the main character. The book is not set as a rhyming poetry but is more like reading a journal in which Sophie describes how much she loves her friends, her relationship with her family, and her search for true love. My favorite poem in the book was “I’m Dreaming”. Sophie is dreaming about a man in a painting that she saw and he morphs into her friend Murphy whom she is not attracted to but really likes.  The poem is a little sexual and while the man in the painting is unbuttoning her blouse he becomes Murphy and she writes “And in my dream this only makes me want him more.”  This book can be enjoyed by teenagers and adults who can easily connect with the story and discover little pieces of themselves in Sophie. The shape of the poem and the use of fonts compliment the story perfectly.

4.  REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - 2002

YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: Fiction: 2002

Booklist Editors' Choice - Books for Youth - Older Readers Category: 2001

From School Library Journal: “Sones's poems are glimpses through a peephole many teens may be peering through for the first time, unaware that others are seeing virtually the same new, scary, unfamiliar things.”

From Publisher’s Weekly: “Drawing on the recognizable cadences of teenage speech, Sones (Stop Pretending) poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather read-a-like books to read such as:

Green, John, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, ISBN: 978-0-142-41847-5

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert, Dairy Queen, ISBN: 978-0-618-86335-8

Vizzini, Ned, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, ISBN:  978-0786851973

Gather other Sonja Sones books to read such as:

What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, ISBN:  978-1-442-49384-1

One of Those Hideous Books Where My Mother Dies, ISBN:  978-1-442-49383-4

Have students pick one of the poems in the book and adapt it to be true for themselves by changing the necessary parts of the poem. Students may practice adapting more than one poem until they feel comfortable with the format.

A discussion on the safety of internet chats and dating could be initiated.