Module 3: Lockdown, by Walter Dean Myers

Summary: Lockdown is the story of Reese Anderson, a juvenile offender serving time at a facility called Progress. With good behavior, Reese has a chance of getting out of Progress early, but he’s having a hard time. When Reese tries to defend a smaller kid at Progress, the other guys pick fights with Reese, and the patients at the retirement facility where Reese works give him a hard time. And, just when Reese thinks he’s on his way to early release, he finds himself facing new charges, and in danger of spending several more years behind bars. Will Reese get a second chance, or will he be in lockdown for good?

Reference: Myers, W.D. (2010). Lockdown. New York, NY: Harper Collins Children’s Books.

Impressions: This book is a little slow, but I really liked the character of Reese, who wants to get out of Progress so that he can support his little sister, and help her go to college. Myers does a really good job of showing how young people get trapped in the justice system, and how those consequences influence not only a child’s future, but also their sense of self, and of self-worth.

Review: Maurice "Reese" Anderson is sentenced to 38 months in Progress, a juvenile detention center in New York, for stealing prescription forms for use in a drug-dealing operation. After 22 months, Reese, now age 14, is assigned to a work-release program at Evergreen, an assisted-living center for seniors. There he meets racist Mr. Hooft, who lectures him on life's hardships (having barely survived a Japanese war camp in Java), which causes Reese to reflect on his own choices. More than anything, he wants to be able to protect his siblings, who live with his drug-addicted mother, before they repeat his mistakes ("The thing was that I didn't know if I was going to mess up again or not. I just didn't know. I didn't want to, but it looked like that's all I did"). Reese faces impossible choices and pressures--should he cop to a crime he didn't commit? stick out his neck for a fellow inmate and risk his own future? It's a harrowing, believable portrait of how circumstances and bad decisions can grow to become nearly insurmountable obstacles with very high stakes. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

Lockdown (review). 2010. Publisher’s Weekly 257(2), 49. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2200/ehost/pdfviewer/.

Suggested Use:  This book would be good to include in a book talk about realistic fiction suggestions. Besides featuring believable, interesting characters, I think Myers does a great job of representing the perspective of a young person who feels defeated by the justice system, and some of the problems that might lead to such a state. I think it would be easy script a book talk that attracts young readers to this book, and could bring some valuable perspective to a discussion.

Module 2: Rapunzel, by Paul O. Zelinsky

Summary: In his retelling of the classic folktale popularized by the Brothers Grimm, author and illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky draws from sources older than the Grimms’ publications, reaching back to the story’s earlier Italian and French roots to tell the story of the girl imprisoned by a witch in a tower with no door, so that the witch must gain entrance by climbing the girl’s long, beautiful hair.  Zelinsky’s Italian Renaissance-style illustrations are inspired by Rapunzel’s Neopolitan history, and the book includes an author’s note, in which Zelinsky recounts the origins and evolution of the fairy tale.

Reference: Zelinski, P.O. (1997). Rapunzel. New York, NY: Dutton Children’s Books.

Impressions: Though Zelinsky does include elements from earlier versions of the Rapunzel tale, his retelling aligns pretty closely with the modern version: Rapunzel is tricked into lowering her hair for a prince, with whom she falls in love. When the witch learns of Rapunzel’s betrayal, she banishes Rapunzel and blinds the prince, who wanders the wilderness in search of his love. Zelinsky’s language is simple but elegant, and evokes the magic and darkness of the classic fairy tale. The Renaissance-inspired illustrations are lovely, mimicking the colors and textures of early Italian Renaissance art, and intricately detailed. The expressions on the faces of Zelinsky’s characters are especially striking, as is his use of light and shade. This is a really lovely picture book for older children. I also loved Zelinsky's notes on the history of the Rapunzel story, its beginnings and connections to other folk traditions. 

Review: Reduced to its plot, the story of "Rapunzel" is the ultimate melodrama: a hapless child, because of her mother's longing for a particular herb, is given to a sorceress to be raised in a formidable tower until an undaunted prince breaches the defenses. Pregnant, she is banished; he is blinded by a fall. Both must wander through a desolate wilderness until their final triumphant reunion. But, as Zelinsky's extensive notes reveal, the tale is far more than a folktale version of a long-running soap opera. Dating back to Basile's Il Pentamerone (1637), it underwent several meta-morphoses before being included by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of their Household Stories (1812). Various retellers obviously knew a good story when they found one-and "Rapunzel," with its roots in the human psyche, is all of that. But it takes a scholar's mind and an artist's insight to endow the familiar with unexpected nuances-which Zelinsky does with passion and dazzling technique. Given the story's Italian origins, his choice of a Renaissance setting is inspired, allowing for many allusions to the art and architecture of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Yet these are not slavish imitations of masterpieces; rather, he has assimilated the sources and transformed them, giving depth to the characters and endowing the story with an aura of otherworldiness that enlarges upon the historical references. There is both love and menace in the sorceress's face; the landscape through which Rapunzel and the prince wander is both beautiful and desolate. Simply put, this is a gorgeous book; it demonstrates respect for the traditions of painting and the fairy tale while at the same time adhering to a singular, wholly original, artistic vision.

Burns, M. M. (1998). Rapunzel (review). Horn Book Magazine 74(1), 85-86. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu.

Suggested Use:  This book could be the center of a really fun art activity for older elementary school-aged kids (2^nd-4^th) grade. After reading the book and studying Zelinsky’s sumptuous artwork, kids could design an illustration for their own favorite folk or fairy tale. Activity leaders could explain why Zelinsky chose to use Renaissance-style artwork, and kids could be urged to illustrate their fairy tales in whatever style they feel best suits the story. In addition to colored pencils and markers, scrap paper and old magazines could be provided, for kids who want to use collage. I’m sure the kids would come up with some really fun, original artwork for classic stories! 

Module 2: Shark vs. Train, by Chris Barton. Illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld.

Summary: In Shark vs Train, a toy shark and train face off in a variety of increasingly far-fetched competitions. Who can run the best lemonade stand? Who will beat whom at bowling, or high diving, or tightrope sword fighting? The shark wins at pie-eating, while the train is a master marshmallow-roaster. They’re both pretty bad at video games, what with the lack of thumbs. The text of this book is simple, but the illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld depicting bizarre battles are bright and silly, and the action portrayed in them tells as much of the story as the words. In addition to the narrative, speech bubbles convey the toys’ verbal sparring.

Reference: Barton, C. & Lichtenheld, T. (Illustrator). (2010). Shark vs. Train. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

Impressions: I found this picture book really entertaining! This book is a wonderful example of the way that good illustrations work together with narrative to make a stimulating story time for children. The pictures are amusing, and the toys’ verbal asides, shown in speech bubbles, will make kids giggle, as well. The toys, personified with smirky grins and rolling eyes, are illustrated in bright, saturated colors that will be visually stimulating for very young children, and older ones will get a kick out of the snarky one-liners and ridiculous situations.

Review: “A pair of spiky-haired preschoolers ransack a toy box in the opening panels, grabbing up their favorite tokens of aggression. By the time we reach the title page, their chosen toy shark and train have anthropomorphized, and they are trash-talkin' with backs arched and teeth bared: "'I'm going to choo-choo you up and spit you out.' 'Ha! I'm going to fin-ish you, mackerel-breath.'" As Barton quickly demonstrates, though, the arena determines the victor: in the ocean Shark has the upper fin while Train sinks like an iron ingot; in a marshmallow roast-off, however, Train rules, toasting the treat over his glowing smokestack as Shark drips on his pathetic little stick fire. The set-ups run on and on with excessive length—longer, perhaps, than audience enthusiasm may last—and listeners are apt to forget that there are human buddies directing the action. Intergalactic travel, sword-fighting on a tightrope, and distance jumps off of ramps even begin to weary the protagonists: "'Okay, this is getting ridiculous.' 'Now would be a good time for a break. . . . '" Then it's lunchtime, the little guys reenter the scene, and toys are tossed back in the box awaiting a postprandial rematch. Lichtenheld renders some of the most comically muscle-bound entities since McMullan's trucks and tugs (I Stink!, BCCB 6/02, et al.) and the pugilists' clever adaptation to each preposterous new setting mitigates the daunting largeness of the number of smackdowns. Time to raid the toy chest and make some noise.”

Bush, E. (2010). Shark vs Train (review). Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 63(9) 370.

Suggested Use:  I love the depiction of imagination in this book: in it, the shark and train are actually being wielded by a couple of rowdy little boys who make up stranger and wackier situations as they go. I think it would be fun to have a bring-your-favorite-toy day for kindergarten or first-grade aged kids. After reading this story, kids could be encouraged to make up stories about their own toys. This would be a great exercise in creativity!

Book Trailer: Lockdown, by Walter Dean Meyers

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