Review: THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN by George Ella Lyon.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Lyon, George Ella. 2010. The Pirate of Kindergarten. Ill. by Lynne Avril. New York: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books. ISBN-10: 1416950249

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Ginny is a kindergartner who loves books and story time. The only problem is that she sees two of everything; the chairs in the reading circle, the words on the pages, and everything else. Ginny is not sure which chairs are real and which ones are not, so she sometimes runs into them. She sees all of the words written on the page twice, and even though her teacher tells her to just read them once, Ginny reads them twice just to be sure. When the vision screening is conducted for the school year, the school nurse discovers that Ginny has double vision. Ginny’s mother took her to the eye doctor, who prescribed glasses, exercises and a special patch to wear to fix her double vision. Thus, Ginny becomes the “pirate of kindergarten” with her eye patch. Now Ginny sees one of everything just like the other kids, and she can “read, read, read.”

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

George Ella Lyon used the format of a picture book to create this fictional story about a little girl with vision problems. In a way which kindergartners will be able to understand, he explained the difficulties that Ginny had and explored her feelings about being different from the other kids. Lyon has created a character who enjoys school, “Ginny loved Reading Circle” but is frustrated by seeing two of everything, “She knew only half of them were real, but which ones?” The character of Ginny is easy for children to relate to, because she loves some aspects of school and is frustrated by other parts. The book is set in the kindergarten classroom, which is a familiar environment for young children. Children who might be afraid to say that they weren’t able to see clearly or don’t know how to describe what they are seeing will be encouraged by this book. Cultural authenticity is maintained in this story by the representation of characters from a variety of ethnicities with varying skin tones and hair color. The illustrations also show a male nurse which is not a stereotypical gender role. Another cultural marker is the way the student with a visual disability is portrayed; not as someone who is to be pitied, or is not as smart as the rest of the class, but as someone who is just as good as everyone else, but with a problem which needs special assistance. Lynne Avril’s colorful mixed media illustrations allow the reader to see the world through Ginny’s eyes. The illustrations add to the words of the text and bring it to life. The pictures show a brightly colored and lively classroom, while the text tells the story in short sentences which are easy for a young child to follow along with, making this an excellent book for a read-aloud.

Children who might be afraid of going to the eye doctor and having their eyes checked, or of getting glasses will be reassured when they read about Ginny getting her eyes checked and see the equipment the eye doctor uses. Ginny’s relief at being able to see just one of everything and her new ability to do the things all the other kids can do will also be encouraging. The kindergartners through 2^nd graders for whom this book is recommended will enjoy reading or listening to this story.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

School Library Journal Review: “Kindergarten-Grade 2—Ginny suffers from undiagnosed double vision, and seeing two of everything is causing her difficulties in school. On vision screening day, a nurse discovers the problem, and the prescribed eye patch gives Ginny a new identity—the pirate of kindergarten.”

Booklist Review: “Created with pastels, acrylics, and colored pencils, Avril’s bold and wonderfully vivid mixed-media illustrations sometimes portray the classroom through Ginny’s eyes, with overlapping images of chairs, books, and people, though they usually present an outside perspective. Based on Lyon’s own experience, the sensitively written story radiates empathy and good humor. Even children who have not experienced Ginny’s problem will understand her occasional frustration and find it intriguing that one person can literally see the world differently from another.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Other books about children with visual problems:

Kostecki-Shaw, Jenny Sue. My Travelin’ Eye. ISBN-10: 0805081690

Shaw, Beth Kobliner. Jascob’s Eye Patch. ISBN-10: 1476737320

Other books by George Ella Lyon:

Lyon, George Ella. All the Water in the World. ISBN-10: 1416971300
Lyon, George Ella. Trucks Roll. ISBN-10: 1416924353
Lyon, George Ella. Which Side Are You On?: The Story of a Song. ISBN-10: 1933693967

Review: ASK ME NO QUESTIONS by Marina Budhos.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Budhos, Marina. 2006. Ask Me No Questions. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781416903512

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Fourteen-year-old Nadira is the narrator of this fictional story of a family of illegal aliens living in New York City. Nadira’s family came to America from Bangladesh several years ago and disappeared into the masses of New York, staying after their visa expired. As Nadira explained “everyone does it.” But after 9/11 things changed. All Muslim men over the age of 18 from certain areas were required to register and were subsequently either thrown in jail or kicked out of the country. When the book opens, they are fleeing to the Canadian border seeking asylum, because Nadira’s father says, “Why should we wait for them to kick us out. I want to live in a place where I can hold my head up.” After Nadira’s family is turned back at the Canadian border, her father is taken into custody awaiting trial, and her mother stays there to be with him. Nadira and her sister, Aisha, must go back to Queens alone, stay with their uncle’s family and pretend that nothing has happened. Everyone thinks that Aisha is the star of the family, “the smart one”, but it is Nadira who comes up with the solution to their problem and holds her family together.

 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 

Marina Budhos, an award winning author, did an excellent job writing this novel from the perspective of Nadira, the 14-year-old narrator who tells what it is like to be a Muslim teen living in America post 9/11. Ask Me No Questions highlights the issues facing the illegal aliens within the borders of the United States, especially in the wake of 9/11 and the institution of the patriot act. The characters are believable, and have multi-faceted personalities. Budhos also explores the tensions within the family structure. Nadira and her sister Aisha are opposites. Aisha is the one who always knows what to say in any situation, is popular at school, and gets straight A’s. Nadira, on the other hand, is more of a home-body. It is she who curls up at the feet of her elders and listens to their stories. The main character, Nadira grows significantly from the beginning to the end of the book. She grows from a girl who is shy, average, and doesn’t want to be noticed, to the one who holds her family together and has decided that the answer to their problem is to stop blending in, “sometimes you have to tell them who you are. What you really think. You have to make them see us.”

Cultural markers are apparent in this novel. Budhos draws attention to the issues of the large population of illegal students, “We’re not the only illegals at our school. We’re everywhere. You just have to look,” and Nadira sums up the unwritten policy at their school as “ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.” Her father has told her that “the most important thing … was not to stick out. Don’t let them see you.” Budhos makes the reader think about the scope of illegal immigration in the United States. She not only exposes the issues of new Muslim immigrants, she also talks specifically about those from Bangladesh such as Nadira’s family. One example of this is when Nadira gives a brief historical account of Bangladesh and its geographic location, and relates some of their family’s personal history.

The narrative discusses the religious practices of the Muslims such as Ali-Uncle who works at a discount electronics store, prays faithfully five times a day, and explains the Koran and Bengali literature at the local mosque. Nadira also refers to the feast of Ramadan and that it has been a long time since her father has pulled the prayer rug out of the closet. Gender roles and how they vary between their native Bangladesh and America are also referred to. The author contrasts the traditional male-female roles with modern ones. For instance, Nadira’s Uncle is upset that his wife has a job, and says that “I didn’t come to this country so that my wife could work” and “Daughters are not daughters, and wives don’t act like wives.”

Teenagers and adults will not only enjoy reading this informative novel, but will gain insight into the problems facing new immigrants and their struggle to gain citizenship.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

BOOKLIST REVIEW: Gr. 7-10. “What is it like to be an illegal alien in New York now? In a moving first-person, present-tense narrative, Nadira, 14, relates how her family left Bangladesh, came to the U. S. on a tourist visa, and stayed long after the visa expired (Everyone does it. You buy a fake social security number for a few hundred dollars and then you can work. ). Their illegal status is discovered, however, following 9/11, when immigration regulations are tightened.”…”Readers will feel the heartbreak, prejudice, kindness, and fear.”

VOYA REVIEW: Budhos's descriptive writing style helps the story seem more realistic. Nadira's conflicting emotions are portrayed in such a way that even though teens might not identify with her situation, they can easily relate to her feelings. The topics addressed in this book are very relevant in today's society, and teens will quickly be able to make real world connections.

5. CONNECTIONS

This would be a good novel for students to read when studying about immigration in the United States, and could be used in conjunction with learning about Ellis Island. Students could gain perspective of the hardships faced by new immigrants when the country was first founded and compare them to those faced today.

Other Books by Marina Budhos:

Budhos, Marina. Tell Us We’re Home. ISBN-10: 1416903526

Budhos, Marina. Remix, Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers. ISBN-10: 1556356102

Budhos, Marina. The Professor of Light. ISBN-10: 0399144730

 

Review: IN OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE by Patricia Polacco

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Polacco, Patricia. 2009. In Our Mothers’ House. New York: Penguin Group Inc. ISBN ISBN-13: 9780399250767

 2. PLOT SUMMARY

In Our Mothers’ House, is narrated the eldest adopted daughter of this nontraditional family. The family is different because there are two mothers; Marmee, and Meema who have created a household which is full of love and laughter. The narrator tells how each of the siblings was added to the family, from a variety of geographic locations and ethnicities. The family lives in a large house with a staircase, a spacious kitchen where Meema cooked, and a large brick fireplace which was “the heart of their home.” Together with a large group of extended relatives they had noisy holiday celebrations which always began in the kitchen with the cooking. The family was raised in a friendly, supportive neighborhood where they worked together to build a backyard tree house, held block parties, tea parties, and went trick-or-treating in homemade costumes. Although there was one family who “just plain didn’t like us”, the narrator says that they “always tried to be respectful and friendly, the way our mothers taught us to be.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Patricia Polacco has featured an untraditional in this lively picture book. Not only does this family have two mothers instead of a mother and father, the children are all adopted.  Cultural markers in this book would be the fact that instead of being a family with a mother and father, this family has two mothers. Instead of focusing on the differences of this lifestyle, however, Polacco has chosen to focus on the ways in which the family created by the two females is similar to traditional families: it is full of love; they all have different personalities, they get sick, go to school, and celebrate holidays with extended family members.

The colorful pencil and marker drawings by Polacco depict the features, while the text tells us the narrator’s memories of how each child was added to the family. It is obvious that the children come from different ethnicities: the eldest child is black, one sibling is Asian, and the other is a red-headed Caucasian. The skin tone of the characters is varied according to their ethnicity, and accurate according to the race being depicted. The colors and drawings created by Polacco add to the energy and liveliness of the text. There are brighter tones used in the illustrations when the children are young and there is a lot of activity in the house, and darker tones as mothers get older and the story draws to a close. For example the statement “We watched our mothers grow old together in that house” is set against a dark background and picture of the aged parents.

Although the representation of the mothers is sometimes stereotypical, “We had never seen either of them in a dress…ever!,” it also portrays them as individuals, “Our mothers were so different from each other that all of us often wondered how they found each other at all.” This story will help students with same-gender parents feel more accepted, and help children from traditional families better understand those who are not traditional.

 4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

CHILDRENS LITERATURE REVIEW: “The family ‘in our mothers' house’ is like many others, filled with love and fun, clearly seen in the smiling characters on the jacket. It is unusual only in that there are two mothers. The narrator is the eldest of three adopted children. She tells the story of her adoption and that of her brother Will and sister, Millie. The children play, sing, and dance together, catch the flu, and celebrate holidays with the extended family.

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW:” Eventually, the children grow up, marry heterosexual spouses, and return home to visit their aged parents with their own children. Is this an idealized vision of a how a gay couple can be accepted by their family and community? Absolutely. But the story serves as a model of inclusiveness for children who have same-sex parents, as well as for children who may have questions about a "different" family in their neighborhood. A lovely book that can help youngsters better understand their world.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Other picture books about families by Patricia Polacco:

Polacco, Patricia. Christmas Tapestry. ISBN-10: 0142411655

Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. ISBN-10: 0153052120
Polacco, Patricia. The Blessing Cup. ISBN-10: 1442450479

Other picture books about family diversity:

Adoff, Arnold. Black is Brown is Tan. Ill. by Emily Arnold McCully. ISBN-10: 0064436446

Polacco, Patricia. Chicken Sunday. ISBN-10: 0698116151
Richardson, Justin. And Tango Makes Three. ISBN-10: 0689878451