ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Caraballo, S. (2004). Mis Abuelos y Yo. Houston, TX: Piñata Books.
This story, written in both English and Spanish, is the ideal book for both ESL students and children who strive to learn a new language. Mis Abuelos y Yo tells of a boy’s time spent with his grandparents, and the love he has for them. This story teaches simple metaphor to children through the boy’s expressions of his love for his grandparents with phrases such as “[My grandparents] are my rosy bouquet, my favorite musical verse, and my most prized treasure.”
Eastman, P.D. (1960). Are You My Mother? New York: Random House.
This story, written by a protégé of Dr.Seus, tells of a hatchling that has left his nest to search for his mother. The hatchling travels throughout the forest, asking several animals and machines if any of them happen to be his mother. A crane, which the hatchling refers to as a “snort”, returns the hatchling to the nest from which he fell. Then, he finally meets his mother. This story teaches children several different animals and can be used to teach memorization as well. The story employs a building technique wherein the hatchling recalls all of the previously asked animals that are not his mother in a list form.
Gordon, E. (1938). I Wonder Why? Skokie, IL:Randy McNally & Company.
I Wonder Why? consists of 29 children’s poems, each employ rhyming, that are eight stanzas long, and are written in iambic tetrameter. This collection of poems facilitates curiosity and deeper thinking among children by using detailed imagery and asking questions about children’s surroundings. These poems use more sophisticated language than many of the current books for children of the target age group; this is probably due to the fact that the original version of this book was published close to 100 years ago.
Hänel, W. (2001). Little Elephant Runs Away. New York: North-South Books.
Little Elephant Runs Away tells of a brave elephant cub that decided to run...