Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

By: Lois Ehlert

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers

Copyright © 1991 by Lois Ehlert

Genre: General fiction

Readability Lexile: 680L

Interest level: pre- k-3

Reading level: 3.3

Summary:

It starts out with a little girl showing off her maple leaf from her tree. The tree was there even before she was born. It goes through the seasons with her tree. Once spring comes nursery workers come and take roots from the tree. They transplanted the roots and took care of them year after year until they uprooted again. It was delivered to a garden center where the little girl picked out a new maple tree to plant at home. She took care of it through all the seasons. Her favorite season for the tree was in fall.

An evaluation of the text based on Donna Norton’s characteristics of high quality literature:

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf is a great story about how a girl loves and takes care of a maple tree. The plot is believable. When kids are younger they are usually really interested in things. And it so happened in this book that the girl was interested in trees. There is not much we know about the character other than she has a father, lives in a place where there are all four season, has a home, and loves trees. Showing of the setting was great. It went through all the seasons, and showed how the tree gets affected by it, and also the animals that live in or around the tree. It also shows how the tree grows over time. When reading it the characters sounded real. It felt like we got to know the tree almost like the little girl did. The theme about taking care of, nurturing, and growing was worthwhile in this story.

Three literary elements:

The three literary elements are plot, theme, and setting.  The plot of the story is a maple tree growing and being nurtured by a little girl. She watches it at night, and plants it. The theme of the story is about taking care of and helping nature. The little girl has a tree and from that tree they create many more trees. On the trees the seeds help the squirrels, and the bird food that she puts on it helps the birds. There is a distinct setting of the story as it goes through the seasons. It shows the tree grow, and get affected by the seasons.

Illustrations and their relationship to the text:

The illustrations are all related to the text and correspond with what the text is trying to say. Each pages background is a different color, but it is related to what the text is trying to say, and to what season it is. Whenever there is a new animal, or something that the reader might not know what it is, there is small print next to that illustration saying what it is.

Mini lesson:

 Theme

I picked to do a mini lesson on theme, because I thought that this book really pointed out taking care of, and helping nature as it grows. In the mini lesson I would read the book and have them decide with my help what the theme of the story is. Then we would plant a flower, or some kind of plant, and each day take care of it and water it. I would tell them how important it is to take care of nature. I would also tell my students to try not to use that much paper towels when they go to the bathroom, because when you use too much of them, more trees have to get cut down.  They might have connection with this thought because they just read about a maple tree that they have acquired a relationship with.

Target Audience:

The target audience is children in pre-k to 3^rd grade. It is also to kids who like trees, or the environment. At the end of the book there is an extra part where it talks about how to take care and plant a tree.

Stars Beneath Your Bed THe Surprising Story of Dust

Stars Beneath Your Bed The Surprising Story of Dust

By: April Pulley Sayre

Illustrated by: Ann Jonas

Greenwillow Books, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

Text Copyright © 2005 by April Pulley Sayre

Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Ann Jonas

Genre: Science

Interest level: k-3

Reading level: 4.6

Summary:

Stars Beneath Your Bed The Surprising Story of Dust explains what dust is, how it is made, and how it is connected to nature’s most beautiful sights; the sunrise and sunset. It shows us that dust can come from old or new skin, dirt, eyelash of a seal, burning toast, scale of a snake, ash from a volcano, crumbling of a leaf, salt from the sea, cosmic dust from outer space and asteroids, and much more. We also find out that dust never goes away, so the dust on our computer screen could have muddied a dinosaur, and that dust that made King Tut sneeze is still on Earth. The title of the book comes from when the author is making a connection between the dust under your bed and what it could have been from before it was under your bed. She uses the example that it could have been from Mars. At the beginning and end (beginning shows a sunrise and end shows sunset) of the book it shows us how we are able to see dust in the sky the dust of our day, and that it can color our sky.

An evaluation of the text based on Donna Norton’s characteristics of high quality literature:

This children’s book is considered a high quality literature book. This book relates to the lives of children everywhere. No matter where in the world you are there are days when you can see the sun rise and set. Also every child has also seen dust around their house, or outside. Dust is everywhere and it is something that all children can relate to. Also it is an informational book, but when you are reading it, it feels more like a book to read for fun, making it more interesting to children, which makes them want to keep reading. Stars Beneath Your Bed shows many different examples of how dust can be moved, or formed, and these examples are from all sorts of different places. At the end of the book there are two pages where it gives more information about Dust and Sunsets. This is very nice for students who want to learn more about it.

Three literary elements:

The three literary elements are setting, theme, and style. The book shows setting by having the book start out at sunrise, and end at sunset. That gives the book a certain time frame shown by the sun. The book also shows Theme. The theme of the book is dust. It shows how dust is formed, what dust is, and how dust moves. Also Stars Beneath Your Bed shows style. The book poetically talks about dust. Its style is a form of poetry.

Illustrations and their relationship to the text:

The illustrations in this book relate to the text as close as it is possible. For everything the book mentions there is an illustration to go along with it. For example: when it talks about the sunrise it shows a sunrise, when it talks about a tractor making dust from brushing the dirt up it show a tractor doing so with the dust flying. There are multiple examples on each page of different ways dust can form, or be moved, and on each page it incorporates the things together to form pictures within the big picture that can make sense being together.

Mini lesson:

Setting

Each page of the book shows the Sun getting higher in the sky after the sunrise, and lower in the sky right before the sunset. The pictures in the book relate and show the text, but in a way that shows setting. The first page is the sun rising. Then throughout the book it shows things going on involving dust throughout the day according to what time of the day it is. I would point this out to students before reading the book and show them how the illustrations show setting. I would have them make a short picture book just using drawings to show the different things they do during the day depending on what time of the day it is, and have the sun point out about what part of the day it is. I would tell them why this is important, and make my own book to show them to give them an idea of what to do for their book.

Target Audience:

The Target Audience for the book would be for students in kindergarten to third grade. Or with a reading level of 4.6.