Claire's Literary Lounge

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Singer, Marilyn. (2010). MIRROR, MIRROR: A BOOK OF REVERSIBLE VERSE. Ill. by Josee Masse. Penguin Group. New York, New York. ISBN: 9780525479017 PLOT SUMMARY In this book of poetry, Marilyn Singer has created reversible poems based off of many classic fairy tales such as Goldilocks, Rapunzel, and The Frog and the Princess. Each poem in this collection is written two ways, forwards and backwards, along with an accompanying illustration by Josee Masse. The dual point of views of these classic tales provide a new interest in young and old alike. CRITICAL ANALYSIS This book of reverso poetry created by the author is a simple enough idea that creates a mesmerising story. The poems can be read both forwards and backwards and are written in a simple format that provides unique perspectives to multiple classic fairy tales. The only thing the author changes is the punctuation in order to help create the different perspectives and in some instances gives different meaning to w...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Hoberman, Mary Ann. (2006). THE LLAMA WHO HAD NO PAJAMA: 100 FAVORITE POEMS. Ill. by Betty Fraser. Clarion Books. New York. ISBN: 9780152055714 PLOT SUMMARY In this collection of poetry, Mary Hoberman writes about everything ranging from family to winter time to animals. The lengths of the poems are mixed with short, medium, and long alike. Each poem is accompanied with delicate illustrations by Betty Fraser that help give context to the story.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS One of the benefits of this collection is the varying lengths of poems as it allows the reader the option to pick what to read either to themselves or an audience. The shorter ones could also be memorized or recited easily, leaving the listener with a take-away. The nonsense words like “eggular”, “wumberly”, and “higgly” make the reading fun for both the reader and the listener. This also helps with child development in understanding sounds and pronunciation.  The distinguishable styles of poetry i...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Grimes, Nikki. (2020). ONE LAST WORD: WISDOM FROM THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE. Ill. by Cozbi A. Cabrera, R. Gregory Christie, Pat Cummings, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Ebony Glenn, Nikki Grimes, E.B. Lewis, Frank Morrison, Christopher Myers, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, Shadra Strickland, and Elizabeth Zunon. Bloomsbury Children’s Books. New York. ISBN: 9781681196022 PLOT SUMMARY This book contains a collection of poetry inspired by the Harlem Renaissance. With original poetry written by Nikki Grimes and a handful of poets from history such as Jean Toomer, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Gwendolyn Bennett provides insight into a cultural movement that spanned two decades. Each of Grimes’ poems provides a unique picture created by an African American illustrator that takes the emotion and turns it into imagery. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The structure of this novel is compelling as it offers alternating poetry from the author and a different poet from history. ...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Frost, Helen. (2011). HIDDEN: A NOVEL. Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN: 9780374382216 PLOT SUMMARY Frost tells the story of a little girl being accidentally kidnapped during a robbery and the implications that this event had on both of the family’s lives. Writing between a free-verse style for Wren’s point of view and a unique paragraph style for Darra’s, she writes about both of the girls meeting at camp years later and how they navigate their path towards friendship. They both grow emotionally from this experience and understand each other better and the roles that they played. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The differing viewpoints accompanied by the different styles of poetry adds an aspect that allows the reader to better understand the characters. Wren has a more lyrical flow that the author depicts with free-verse and with the formatting of the stanzas. The spaces allow for the passage of time to be shown without being told, and the indents give the speech a more “train of thou...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Wiesner, David. (2001). THE THREE PIGS. Clarion Books a Houghton Mifflin Company Imprint. ISBN: 0618007016  PLOT SUMMARY Wiesner’s story starts out as the classic three little pigs tale, however quickly takes a turn when the first pig gets blown out of the story. He helps the other two pigs escape and they meet some friends along the way, a cat and a dragon who are from their own stories. The group returns to the pigs’ story and helps them defeat the big bad wolf and they all live happily ever after. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The illustrations are set in a comic strip style, which allowed the author the creative freedom to depict their characters outside of the story. When the pigs leave their own comic strip and find others, it’s detailed in a 2D versus 3D format. Even when the pigs are hanging half in and half out of their own comic strip, they become much more realistic with coarser hair drawn and more details on the snouts and hooves.This provides an easy to see tra...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Bryan, Ashley. (2003). BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780689847318 PLOT SUMMARY The author Ashley Bryan shares a folktale from Zambia that explains how different birds got their unique markings. Blackbird is the only black bird in the whole flock and all the other birds want to look like him. He decides to paint some markings on them so that he can share some of his “black”. Blackbird uses all his “blackening brew” to draw rings, circles, dots, and lines on the various birds and they all look different in the end. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The cadence of the sentences helps create an engaging story that the reader wants to continue. Along with its various rhyming patterns that satisfy the reader every other sentence, the story produces its own rhythm that is easy to follow. The songs woven into the story add another element that is enjoyable for readers and listeners alike. The frequent use of the phrase “uh-huh” and “black, black, black” helps...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Trivizas, Eugene. (1993). THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG. Ill. by Helen Oxenbury. Margaret K. McElderry Books an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division. ISBN: 9780689815287 PLOT SUMMARY In this version of the classic tale of The Three Little Pigs, there are three little wolves trying to stop a big bad big pig from blowing down their house. Following the classic storyline, they build three houses, but each one is foiled by the pig. They start with brick, move to concrete, and finally metal, but on each one the pig finds a way to demolish it. The last house the three wolves build is made of flowers and when the pig smells the flowers, he decides he wants to become the big “good” pig. The story ends with the wolves and the pig becoming friends. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig stays true to some elements of the original fable, but diverges from the very beginning. The species swapping creates an interes...

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Pinkney, Jerry. (2009). THE LION & THE MOUSE. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN: 9780316013567 PLOT SUMMARY The Lion & the Mouse is an Aesop’s fable retold in pictures. In the book, a little mouse escapes death twice, once by skill and the second by the kindness of a natural predator, a lion. After the lion lets the mouse go, he accidentally springs a trap set up by hunters and gets caught. The mouse hears his distress and chews through the rope to cut him free, forming an unlikely friendship in the process. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The pictures really do paint the story in this retelling of a classic fable. There are very minimal words used throughout the book. The only details he gives through words are the sounds of various animals: the “screech” and “who” of an owl, the “roar” and “grrr” of a lion, the “squeak” and “scratch” of a mouse, and the “putt, putt, putt” of a car driving through the safari. These sparsely used onomatopoeias enhance the apprehens...