Module 3 The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Summary: Hugo is an orphan, an clock keeper, and an occasional thief, whose father died in a fire while repairing his invention.  He now works on clocks at a Paris train station. He collects his paychecks under his uncle's name who has also passed away.  He is especially fascinated by a mechanical human figure that he saved from the museum fire and that he keeps within the walls of the train station. He truly believes that if he fixes it, he will discover a hidden message from his deceased father.

Selznick, B. (2007).  The invention of Hugo Cabret. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. 

My Impressions:  At first, I was very intimidated by the size of this book and was pleasantly surprised on how much I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only is it very well written, but the illustrations, which make up about half of the book, were a great addition to the flow of the story. The author does an excellent job in keeping the reader interested in Hugo's story and the intriguing plot. The story's final twist is a very nice touch and very unexpected.


Professional Review:
Gr 4-9 — With characteristic intelligence, exquisite images, and a breathtaking design, Selznick shatters conventions related to the art of bookmaking in this magical mystery set in 1930s Paris. He employs wordless sequential pictures and distinct pages of text to let the cinematic story unfold, and the artwork, rendered in pencil and bordered in black, contains elements of a flip book, a graphic novel, and film. It opens with a small square depicting a full moon centered on a black spread. As readers flip the pages, the image grows and the moon recedes. A boy on the run slips through a grate to take refuge inside the walls of a train station-home for this orphaned, apprentice clock keeper. As Hugo seeks to accomplish his mission, his life intersects with a cantankerous toyshop owner and a feisty girl who won't be ignored. Each character possesses secrets and something of great value to the other. With deft foreshadowing, sensitively wrought characters, and heart-pounding suspense, the author engineers the elements of his complex plot: speeding trains, clocks, footsteps, dreams, and movies-especially those by Georges Méliès, the French pioneer of science-fiction cinema. Movie stills are cleverly interspersed. Selznick's art ranges from evocative, shadowy spreads of Parisian streets to penetrating character close-ups. Leaving much to ponder about loss, time, family, and the creative impulse, the book closes with a waning moon, a diminishing square, and informative credits. This is a masterful narrative that readers can literally manipulate.

[Review of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by W. Lukehart]. (2007). School Library Journal, 53(3), 218-218. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Library Uses: The book could lead into lessons about robots, movie making, or Paris. As a follow up activitty students could then illustrate their own movie or create their won robot.

Module 2 Green Egss and Ham

Summary: The story is about Sam and his numerous attempts to get his friend to try green eggs and ham.  Sam tries locations and scenarios to make the green eggs and ham more appealing, but his friend continues to refuse his offer, Until he finally gives in and to his surprise, he decides that he does indeed like green eggs and ham.

Seuss, T. (1960). Green eggs and ham. New York: Random House.

My Impressions: I'm a big Dr. Seuss fan, so this book is definitely one of my favorites.  I love the humorous illustrations and the rhyming repetition.  I like how it teaches not only kids but also adults that we need to try different things even if we think we won't enjoy them.  Reminds me of my sons' saying, "If you try it, you may like it."


Professional Review:

Would you like them anywhere? -- Well, try them before you finally refuse... Only Dr. Seuss could break down the resistance, and he does it with a contagious use of repeat words and phrases- and winds up with complete capitulation. Here's a tale with a moral- but done so engagingly and absurdly that the reluctant beginning reader may find himself hoist by his own petard. Try for yourself. Here's a book an adult will use -- that will be taken over by the young fry until the oldsters cry for mercy. Line and wash- three colors flat.

[Review of Green Eggs and Ham.] (2011, October)  Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/childrens-books/dr-seuss-16/green-eggs-and-ham/

Library Use: Like most of Dr. Seuss books, this book has lots of rhyming and repetition.  Librarians and teachers could use this book to help with reading fluency for beginner or struggling readers. It would make a great read for Dr. Seuss week at school. 

Module 2 The Cat in the Hat

Summary: The story is about a brother and sister that are left home alone on a rainy day with nothing to do.  All of a sudden, a cat shows up at their house ready to have some fun.  Of course, all this fun leads so come chaos and creates a disaster that the kids must clean up before mom shows up.

Seuss, Dr. (1985). The cat in the hat. New York, NY: Random House.

My Impressions: I have always thought this book to be a great classic. It's a fun read with great illustrations that add to the story. I think that the cat gets to get away with a lot while the kids and Thing 1 and Thing 2 are left to clean up after his mess.


Professional Review:
CAT IN THE HAT TURNS 50! In celebration of 50 years of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat, Random House is releasing a pair of books to commemorate the occasion (see Children's Bookshelf, January 11). The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats by Philip Nell begins with the catalyst for Seuss's project, the article "Why Can't Johnny Read" in a 1954 Life magazine article. He then offers a brief biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel, before launching into a page-by-page analysis of The Cat in the Hat. Nel's commentary may center on one book, but along the way he offers a broader context of children's book publishing and education in the 1950s. The paper-over-board The Cat in the Hat Party Edition by Dr. Seuss features a glistening metallic blue cover and an opportunity for readers to participate in a campaign for literacy with First Book, as well as Project 236 (so named for the 236 words in the text of Cat), which culminates with the national read-aloud day on March 2, sponsored by the NEA's Read Across America. (Random, $30 192p ages 10-up ISBN 978-0-375-83369-4; Party Ed. $8.99 72p ages 5-8 ISBN 978-0-394-80001-1; Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

[Review of Cat in the Hat]. (2007, January 22). Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved from www.publishersweekly.com

Library Use: This book could be used to help readers identify and use rhyming words.  It would also help struggling readers build their vocabulary.  This book could lend itself to numerous writing prompts for both beginning and intermediate readers.

Module 1 The Giving Tree

Summary:The story is about the love between a tree and a boy that continuously takes and takes from the tree until one day the tree has nothing more to give. The boy returns once he is an old man and he is reunited with the tree.

Silverstein, S. (1964). The giving tree.  New York, NY: Harper and Row.

My Impressions:
The Giving Tree is definitely a thought provoking story.  I initially thought that the story taught a good lesson on generosity and unconditional love. On the other hand, after giving it more thought, the story also seems to teach the selfishness of mankind and how we continuously take away from nature.

Professional Review:
"Look Shel," I said, "the trouble with this ‘Giving Tree' of yours is that it falls between two stools; it's not a kid's book -- too sad, and it isn't for adults -- too simple." This was in 1963; I was working at Simon & Schuster; Shel was Shel Silverstein, and the manuscript was "The Giving Tree," which Harper & Row subsequently published, and which has sold over 150,000 copies. Kurt Vonnegut must have some kind of philosophical saying for the way I feel now.

Shel Silverstein first came to prominence as Playboy's roving cartoonist. He published a number of children's books and the outrageous "Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book," and just a few years ago turned up as a song-writer with Johnny Cash's hit "A Boy Named Sue." Even more recently, he had a hit, singing in his own raucous voice his "Freakin' at the Freaker's Ball," and we'll soon see in November a large collection of his poems for children, "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

When I called this paper and said I'd like to do a piece about "The Giving Tree," they said, fine, but would I also look into two other surprise sellers, "The Velveteen Rabbit," and "Go Ask Alice"? Very good.

"The Giving Tree" begins, "Once there was a tree..." (Dots are Shel's) and goes on for 50 more pages with a simple tale, illustrated in graceful cartoon style by the author. There was a boy who played in the tree, gathering its leaves, swinging on its branches, eating its apples. When the boy grew older he lay in the shade of the tree with a girl and carved initials in a heart. Yet older, a young man, he took the tree's branches to build a house. As an old man he needed a boat to get away from it all, so the tree said cut me down and make a boat. So we have a stump. Along comes the boy, now an old, old man, and the ex-tree says, "Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest." And the tree was happy.

My interpretation is that that was one dum-dum of a tree, giving everything and getting nothing in return. Once beyond boyhood, the boy is unpleasant and ungrateful, and I wouldn't give him the time of day, much less my bole. But there's a public out there who think otherwise, and Harper & Row expects to sell another 100,000 this year. And this month they are bringing out a version in French, "L'arbre au Grand Coeur." I called Ursula Nordstrom, who has been Shel's editor at Harper & Row, and asked how this all came about. Ursula, noted for finding and encouraging such artists as Maurice Sendak and Tomi Ungerer, had long ago noted Shel's "simple and direct drawings" in Playboy, and tried to get him to do a book. Shel, the hardest man in the world to pin down, didn't react until Tomi Ungerer said, "Go see Ursula." There was tremendous disagreement in the office over "The Giving Tree," one editor saying "That tree is sick! Neurotic!" They did a small first printing in 1964. Nothing much happened. Then, as Ursula says, "The body twitched". Apparently, it had been taken up by the great word-of-mouth underground with an assist from the pulpits; where it was hailed as a parable on the joys of giving, and from Shel's disk-jockey friends, a strange pairing. The book, to me, is simply a backup of "more blessed to give than to receive." My wife's interpretation, not surprisingly, is that the tree represents a mother, giving and receiving with not expectation of return. Whatever it is, it touches a sensitive point clearly and swiftly, as do other recent phenomena of Segals and seagulls.
Cole, W. (1973, September 9)). About Alice, a rabbit, a tree...

[Review of the book The Giving Tree]. (1973, September 9). New York Times Book Reviews.  Retrieved from http://shelsilverstein.tripod.com/Books/NYTBR-GT.html


Library Use: Librarians and teachers could use this book in the spring semester as a nice way to talk about Mother's Day or Earth Day and have discussions on how unconditional a parent's love is or how good mother Earth is to human beings.  Then have students use their letter writing strategies to write a letter of appreciation to a loved one who has made sacrifices for them.