Transitional Books and Graphic Novels - Week 5
We Are Growing is a delight to read and fits into Level 1 easy reading for beginning readers. There is an average of 4 words per line, with one line having 5 words. Point type averages at 18, filling up to 1/4 - 1/2 of a page. Throughout the text the one syllable adjectives turn into multisyllabic adjectives with two to three syllables by adding -est at the end. My not-a-big-fan-of-reading son, always requested this book to read at bedtime and his face lit up when he saw I pulled it out to do this assignment, maybe I'll upgrade his reading likeness to becoming-sort-of-a-fan reader, sometimes.
Mo Willems, (copyright Elephant and Piggie text and illustrations), and Keller, Laurie. We Are Growing! Hyperion Books for Children/ New York, 2016. 64 pages. Hardcover Tr $9.99 ISBN 9781484726358.
Friends Bink & Gollie go together just as peanut butter and pancakes! This book falls into Level three reading for ages 6-9 or entering 3rd - 4th grade. Illustrations and text differ from the typical level three, where there is about 50 % text and illustration each throughout the book, as in a level two read. Illustrations appear on each page as opposed to alternating as is suggested for level three. There may be more of an average of 5-6 words per line differing from the 8 words per line for level three. Due to the longer sentences, it still appears to fit a level 3.
DiCamillo, Kate and McGhee, Alison. Bink & Gollie. Illustrations by Tony Fucile. Candlewick Press, 2012. 88 pages. Tr $6.99. ISBN 9781484726358.
New Kid is the first realistic fiction in graphic novel format in this series in which Craft tells his experiences from his own personal life growing up in New York in a prestigious middle school versus the art school he really wanted to go to. Ugh, another thing to do that Jordan really didn’t want to do. But Jordan appears optimistic and ready to meet new friends anyway by the first day of school. As any new middle schooler, Jordan is dizzy trying to find classes, find a seat in the cafeteria, and not be late to the next class. He does not appear to have trouble fitting in, however, teachers mistake him and Drew for last school years students or getting looks when financial aid or race issues are brought up in discussions. His homeroom teacher confronts him with being angry after she reads his private sketchbook. Jordan does have a few wrinkles to iron out this school year, will he accomplish it?
The text is mostly in white bubbles overhead the characters with the background mostly in primary colors. About every other chapter, black and white sketch pages from Jordan’s sketch book erupt. However, Craft chooses pink to stand out often on the majority of pages as to interject a popular color he remembers most classmates wearing. Illustrations are busy, some pages may be not as easy to follow the conversation, but that might attract an average middle schooler, as their life may be unorganized just like the bubbles on the pages.
Parts
of the plot may be over a middle schooler’s head, like understanding why
financial aid might be directed at a person of color or why the need to be sensitive
when discussions involved race or different ethnicities and cultures. The next
books in the series, Class Act and School Trip, continue with
Jordan’s school adventures including growing pains of the teen years and surviving high school.
Fox & Rabbit by Beth Ferry with illustrations by Gergely Dudas for grades level 1-4.
For this fable, we learn about friendships. Remember a time when playing with friends outside was to explore the big world away from your bedroom and without mom or dad telling you to do chores? Fox & Rabbit is a story of fiction in a graphic novel format that will delight most 1st to 4th grade children and want to share adventures with their own friends. Fox and Rabbit are two great friends that are complete opposites except when it comes to their friendship, they know who to count on in a jam, go on adventures with or just to relax and name the clouds in the sky.
The text compliments the illustrations well, both are simple
for younger readers to use this book as a transitional book in preparation of
chapter books. Sentences vary in length and illustrations are telling the story
along with the text, but they do not appear to “take over” the story. Readers
may gravitate to the text most of the time. The illustrations were created with
graphite and ink and colored in digitally leaving bright primary colors making
the woods stand out in greens and browns and the oceans an inviting blue or
sunsets in purplish to reds to orange.
Fox & Rabbit
is the first in the series with Fox &
Rabbit: Make Believe and Fox &
Rabbit: Celebrate to follow. Ages 6 to 9 years old are sure to displace
with their own adventures, challenges, and triumphs of a friendship and relate
it to Fox and Rabbit with similar occurrences they may have had with their own
friends.
Ferry, Beth. Fox & Rabbit. Illustrated by Gergely Dudas. Abrams Fanfare, 2020. 96 pages. Tr $8.99, ISBN 9781419740770.
Be sure as you blog that you are covering both summary and evaluation for each title. Something to remember for Early Readers is that while the industry has some standard for the levels, publishers ultimately decide how to label a book, and it can be subjective. The GN reviews have a better balance. Your observations about content are important to consider when making recommendations to a child, as their backgrounds could vary significantly. Is the content over their head? Would they benefit from seeing the world through a new lens?
ReplyDelete