Cardenas 1

Elsa Cardenas
Professor Lancaster
LIS 527
June 24, 2016
Annotated Bibliography: Childrens Literature
Aardema, V. (1975). Illus. Dillon, L., & Dillon, D. Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears: A West
African tale. New York: Dial Press.
Traditional Literature. Ages 5-7. An African inspired story that begins with a mosquito
buzzing in an iguanas ear but the iguana has no time for such foolish talk and he puts
sticks in his ears. Snake is afraid that iguana has a scheme going on and jumps into a hole
that scares rabbit which starts series of alarming events with the animals thinking they're
in danger. This brings disaster to mother owl and the sun no longer comes out. The story
and illustrations are full of vibrant colors and African Inspired abstract art. The length of
the text is great for children with some tongue twister that make you think you are talking
African. There also lies a moral to the story that you must be responsible for your actions.
Curtis, C. P. (2007). Elijah of Buxton. New York: Scholastic Press.
Historical Fiction - The Development of Industrial Society, 1800 to 1914. Ages 11-14.
Elijah is a 11 year old boy that is one of the first black babies to be born free in Canada.
As Elijah develops and becomes older he does not stop being scared of snakes and
always fragile about everything. One day his fragile state all changes when he is forced to
defend his friend and help him recuperate the money that was stolen from him to buy his
parents out of slavery. Elijah always lived a comfortable life but he soon came to realize
that there is another life that his parents had to go through that leaves him in shock of all
the horrors blacks have to go through. This is a great story to read to the students during
Black History Month and the civil war unit.
Floca, B. (2009). Moonshot: The flight of Apollo 11. New York: Atheneum Books for Young
Readers.
Informational Nonfiction - Physical Science. Ages 6-9 The author goes step by step
explaining how the astronauts prepare for lift off to the shuttle, how the control room
prepares for lift off, how American families were excited and the final moments to lift
out. The colorful cartoon, pen and ink illustrations keep the reader wanting more visual

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images about what it was like to be in a rocket shuttle, walk on the moon and return
home. It includes some big text and medium text that does not overwhelm the read on
each page which gives it an easy style.
Katz, B., & (2004). Pocket poems. Illus. Hafner, M. New York: Dutton Children's Books.
Specialized Poetry Books. Ages 5-8. The book contains great watercolor and pen
illustrations used to describe each poem. It contains a context page and has 2-3 poems per
page. All are short poems that are great to use for National Poetry Month and Poem in a
Pocket. It contains a collection of well known poets and even a bilingual poem. These
great rhythmic poems express the world through a child's perspective at school, weather,
adventurous and home. Children and adults will love to read these humorous poems and
relate to each of them.
Khan, R.(2010). Illus. Blackall, S. Big red lollipop. New York: Viking.
Realistic Fiction - Families. Ages 4-8.
Lin, G. (2006). The year of the dog: A novel. New York: Little, Brown.
Diverse Society - Asian/Pacific-American Literature. Ages 8-11. The book explains many
Chinese traditions in the perspective of a young Taiwanese-American girl. Its the year of
the dog and that means its time for Grace to think about what she is talented in but she is
not sure. This is a great novel for young girls to relate to about school projects, family,
having a crush and making great memories with your best friend. It also gives visual hand
drawn illustrations of what some chinese object or events look like as well as how the
family speaks in Chinese, Taiwanese and English.
Martin, B., & Archambault, J. (1989). Illus. Ehlert, L. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Simon &
Schuster.
Alphabet Picture Book. Ages 3-6. With colorful illustrations for each letter of the
alphabet that captivate the reader in wanting to find out what will happen next to each
letter. Three pairs of letters want to make it to the top of the coconut tree but the coconut
tree is not big enough for all the letters and can not sustain them all. Eventually all the
lowercase baby letters fall and the upper case parent letters come and help them back up.
The story plays with rhyming and gives each letter a special personality. This is an all
time favorite to learn the ABCs in a humorous way.
Mass, W. (2009). 11 birthdays. New York: Scholastic Press.
Modern Fantasy: Supernatural Events and Mystery Fantasy. Ages 9-12. Two best friends
are born on the same day and end up sharing each birthday party together expect for their

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11th birthday. On their 10th birthday Amanda overhear her best friend Leo talking to his
guy friends and she is disappointed and that was the end of their friendship. When their
11th birthday comes around and it's time for them to celebrate birthdays separate Amanda
can not get out of this so called dream that seems to repeat itself until she begins to make
changes in her routine.
Myers, W. D. (2010). The Cruisers. New York: Scholastic Press.
Diverse Society - African American Literature. Ages 10-14. Great book for reluctant
readers. It is very relatable to what 8th graders would go through especially if you a
minority student. A group of Gifted and Talented friends from the lower parts of town are
given an opportunity to go to a great school Da Vinci Academy in Harlem but they soon
find themselves on the verge of becoming expelled if they do not straighten up. They are
given a chance to participate in a school project and be peacemakers during the civil war
but they end up creating their own war on the campus against the blacks and the whites.
The Cruisers are the friends newspaper on campus and they begin to publish articles that
begin to shake up the school and community to know that freedom of speech is not
always right.
Rex, A. (2006). Frankenstein makes a sandwich: And other stories you're sure to like, because
they're all about monsters, and some of them are also about food... Florida: Harcourt.
Specialized Poetry Books. Ages 9-12. These are great classical characters that tell a story
fit for a humours child of this time. Who doesn't want to see the softer side of
Frankenstein, Dracula, Bigfoot, The Phantom of the Opera and Witches. Theses funny
versions of the new and improved scarey monsters allow the children to see that as
interesting monster either looking for food or escaping It's a small world after all.
The illustrations are full of graceful strokes of water colors and rhythmic funny rhythms.
There are also small message in the background that you will not want to put the book
down until you have read everything.
Ryan, P. M.(2010). Illus. Sis, P. The dreamer. New York: Scholastic Press.
Biography. Ages 9-14. This is a beautiful story that demonstrate the harshness of society
and even one's family.This fictional biography of Pablo Neruda that talks about a boy
Naftali whose father is not to kind to him and is very strict. His father is not pleased that
his son likes to daydream and he is sure to put a stop to it. This story has a serious tone
and will tug a the heat because you want to leave the dreams with Neftali. Ryan does a
great job at playing with words and bring the pages to life with the pen illustrations. This

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book is not for every young person because they may not be able to keep up with the tone
of the story but it sure will make you reflect on the harshness that many unknown
children have to go through.
Simon, S. (2005). Guts: Our digestive system. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Informational Nonfiction - Biological Science. Ages 9-14. Children may often wonder
how exactly their digestive system works and this books offers curious minds a glimpse
as to what they can not see but what they can feel and hear move within them. The text is
big and contains x-ray photographs and microscopic photographs as to what the digestive
system looks like and the different parts involved. It also explains and demonstrates the
stages that food goes through and how it is broken down. I like the fact that it gives
advice on who to talk to about nutrition and if you feel your body not acting right. After
reading and seeing the images the readers is left with wanting to know more about their
other body parts.
Slater, D. (2006). Baby shoes. Illus. Nakata, H. New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books.
Interactive Picture Book. Ages 1-3. After mama buys baby their first pair of white shoes
baby goes around town on an adventure with colorful objects that add a new color each
time to his shoes. This is a great book for babies and toddlers to show them all the great
things they can do with a pair of shoes. When baby says Uh-Oh! mama says Oh-No!
but that does not stop baby and mama from having a good time around town. Great
illustrations with watercolors demonstrating the joys of exploring and creating rhythms
that toddlers will love to repeat.
Smith, L. (2011). Grandpa Green. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
Picture Book. Ages 8-11. Grades K-3. A trip down memory lane is always good for the
soul and to know the history of your family. The great grandson of Grandpa Green begins
to explore his grandfather's garden and tells a story of his childhood, adolescence and
adulthood. Grandpas garden is able to remember many memories that grandpa may
forget. This is a touching beautiful story and illustrations of what keeping up a beautiful
garden can demonstrate throughout the generations of lush and lavish greens, bushes and
imagination can create. Children will spend more time looking at all the beautiful pages
of illustration after reading.
Weeks, S. (2004). So B. It: A novel. New York: Laura Geringer Books.
Realistic Fiction - Physical, Emotional, Mental and Behavioral Challenges. Ages 10-14.

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At a week of being born Heidi finds herself in her mother's arms and at the front steps of
a stranger. With time Heidi realizes that her mother is mentally ill and the lady Bernadette
that took them in is agoraphobic. Heidis mom only knows 23 words and can not tell their
neighbor Bernadette or Heidi anything about who they are or where they come from
which leaves Heidi in need of finish answers. She finds old photos and is determined to
know who her father and family are and goes on a adventure to find the truth. Weeks does
a great job at express the challenges a family goes through with a loved one who is
mentally ill and how it affects an adolescent growing up.