Children's LitBlog Ch 6-8 and Minn and Jake

Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Sadle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.
Chapter 8
Chapter 8 was a chapter that caught most of my attention for this weeks reading. The subject of poetry is one of my interest. I have learned to love poetry from my great grandmother since I was a child. The subheading about "why children may learn to dislike poetry" discussed the main reasons why children have learned to dislike poetry. Bernard Lonsdale and Helen Mackintosh (1973) stated, the importance of preference for children. Poetry allows for preference. Student's many times tend not to enjoy readings because they are forced to read something. However, poetry links into engaged and unengaged reading. Poetry having several forms allows for students to have a preference of types of poetry they like. Poetry ranges from telling stories, to songs, to being humorous allows for someone to relate to a poem or just enjoy it. The chapter continues to discuss poetry and ends with "building a poetry collection." A teacher putting the effort and finding a range of poems that children may appreciate could lead a child to appreciate poetry.


Wong, Janet S. Minn and Jake. Illus. Genevieve Cote. New York, NY: Frances Foster Books, 2003.
Minn and Jake Part 1
Minn and Jake could be one of my favorite children's books. Minn is very tall and Jake is the opposite on the other hand and is very short. Minn and Jake met on Jake's first day of class. Jake wasn't able to reach the shelf that had a book on it and this led him to ask the tallest person in class for help, Minn. Recess came and the teacher asked for Minn to hang out with Jake since he was new. However, recess wasn't great for Minn because Henry ate her worms. She didn't think there was any way for the day to get worse, but it did. The story continues by Jake having to take Minn home and they are forcefully hanging out with each other. By the end Minn is teaching Jake to catch lizards and Jake is making money by selling his belongings and others.
The book is a simple and fast read. However, I believe that kids could easily relate to this book. Parents are always trying to have kids be friends and you never know who your going to be friends with. The illustrations are one of my favorite things about the book. My favorite is page 10 where Jake is picturing all the kids in class as certain animals. The picture shows the kids normal but their shadows are outlines of the animal that he is picturing them as. The picture on page 33 is another favorite were it shows Soup with one of his boots with spurs flying in the air when they crashed the fish tank. Janet Wong did a fabulous job with this book and I can't wait to finish reading it.