Kaliana Ewaskow's Blog

For my final inquiry post in this course I have decided to review “What Happened to YOU?” by James Catchpole and illustrated by Karen George. This book encompasses many important topics such as embracing imagination, recognizing our differences, and learning how to use our words wisely. But mostly importantly this book teaches kids about people with disabilities at a very simple and appropriate level. This is a topic that is evidently not spoken about enough in all areas of our society, not just in schools.

This story is about Joe. Joe has one leg (as the illustrations show the reader). They are found playing by themselves on the playground, using their wild imagination to act out a scene on a boat in which they are a pirate fighting sharks. All of a sudden, another child on the playground shouts “you’ve only got one leg!” Joe is annoyed – he doesn’t want to have to explain the story another time. Instead he makes the children ask him what they think happened to him. They ask him if it fell off, if it was stolen, and even if Joe is hiding it. Joe becomes very frustrated and screams “NO” while walking to the other side of the playground. The other kids notice that Joe doesn’t want to talk about his one leg, instead he just wants to be a kid and play pirates. So they join in asking “is that a crocodile down there?” By the end of the book, Joe’s peers realize that it doesn’t matter if Joe has one leg and it also doesn’t matter if they know WHY Joe only has one leg. What matter is he is a good friend and fun to hangout with – and that is good enough for everyone.

I first appreciate the realism of this book. I think it is quite common for a child to shout “you’ve only got one leg!” to someone with one leg as that child probably has two legs. I also think it’s great that the author acknowledges Joe’s emotions through all of this – he is annoyed and he is frustrated every time someone brings up his one leg. This shows readers that people with disabilities don’t always want to explain “what happened” to them, and this would be a great opportunity to ask your students “how do we think Joe feels when Simeone asks him what happened to his other leg?” Above all, this book is a great resource when talking about diversity and disabilities because it not only shows them how the disabled person feels, it also reflects why it shouldn’t matter what happened to them in the first place. We are all lovely humans, regardless of how many legs we have. What mattered in this story is that Joe was a fun, cool person to be around, and the story ends with that.

The author of this book (James) is a disabled person and so is his partner (Lucy). Together they have their own blog where they talk about living with disabilities, disability sport, disability pride, disabled parenting, and ultimately bringing awareness to the entire topic itself. They have many amazing resources ready to share with teachers who want to normalize discussions around disabilities in their classrooms. This includes more picture books written by other authors about disabilities. I’m really glad to see more authors creating books like this one. (P.S. Lucy also writes other children and family picture books AND James even states in his biography that he may be available for school visits…something to look into for sure.)

This week I decided to review “What We’ll Build” By Oliver Jeffers, which discusses healthy parent and child relationships. You may notice that I also reviewed one of Oliver’s books last week – I really like his writing style because it is light, funny, and meaningful altogether. I wanted to explore a bit more into his work.

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This book follows a parent and their child as they explore what they can do and create together using their imaginations. It demonstrates the love and admiration the parent has for their child and the hope and dreams they carry. The illustrations and storyline tell of problem solving strategies, overcoming fear and trial, finding success, and knowing you are cared for and loved in this life. It is a wholesome story that expresses the bond between and their child.

I chose this book because I wouldn’t necessarily put it in my classroom, but I think it is a great resource for parents. I’m wanting to learn more about books I can put in a “parent library” for my students, not just my own classroom library. It is always important for teachers to have good connections with their student’s parents and book suggestions can be a promising way of doing that.

Critique: Probably not a great addition to a classroom library just because of the language used. Another thing to consider is that not all kids in your class may have a healthy relationship with their parents so this book may be a bit uncomfortable for them. That is why I’d recommend putting it in a parent newsletter or on your classroom blog.

For this week’s review I am looking at the story of “Stuck” by Oliver Jeffers and it’s representation of problem solving and determination.

“Stuck” follows the story of young boy Floyd, who seems to find himself in a progression of unfortunate scenarios, one after another, as he gets his kite stuck in a tree. He attempts to use objects around him to get the kite down, but everything he uses just ends up in the tree. As these things keep happening, he continues to grow more and more frustrated. You can see Floyd actually change to different shades of color as he tries to solve all of his problems. By the end of it, Floyd has collected as much as a bathtub, a bicycle, a ladder, a kitchen sink, a semi truck, a lighthouse, a cat, a house, and a whale in the tree. Suddenly a firetruck passes by with a crew full of firepeople ready to help, but Floyd gets them stuck in the tree as well. When all seems lost, Floyd comes up with an idea. He collects a saw, and in a non-anticipated fashion, he throws the saw up into the tree which knocks the kite down. Floyd has retrieved his kite and he goes to bed.

This book definitely takes on a humorous approach at the end, but I think there are also some deeper meaning and encouraging idea hidden in the story. We can teach students that, like Floyd, things may come up in our day that make us feel overwhelmed or like we can’t seem to get anything right. But we can handle these things by taking a step back and finding someone or something to help us. In the book, Floyd continues to add things to the tree that make it harder and harder to get the kite down. Finally he realizes he should get a tool that is small enough to get the kite down, instead of all the large objects he had on-hand. The audience would think that he would’ve used the saw to just cut down the tree, but in reality he just solved his problem using a small tactic. This can teach kids that we can solve our problems in small ways, and we don’t always have to get angry and do what we think is right immediately. Instead, we should take a step back, find someone to help us, or find resolution in small and respectful ways.

I like this book because it can spark a really good conversation with students and it features engaging illustrations. It is also a funny book, and I haven’t reviewed many of those, so I was happy to have found this one for this week’s post.

I found myself relating to Floyd in some ways this week because I feel, in a certain sense, sort of “stuck” too. I feel like my tasks and plans continue to come up and I can’t seem to reach my end goal or sort things out. I think it is definitely the time of the school year to start feeling this way, I know that if I just take things slowly and one at a time, I’m feel less overwhelmed in the long run.

Critique: I think it would have been nice to see Floyd solve his problem in a more literal way (ie. cut down the tree with the saw), but this can always be a discussion with students after they read the book. However, down the tree is also bad for the environment so maybe the ending was purposeful. So, I’m on the fence.

Here’s a TEDTalk that embodies what this book talks about:

My post this week is a review of Sometimes People March by Tessa Allen. The storyline of this book teaches readers the importance of standing up for what is right and what that looks like for many people in many situations. Allen chooses to discuss a variety of situations in which people may face injustices. Some of these topics include: climate change, gender inequality, war, racial inequality, and many more. The author also portrays the many ways people many choose to stand up for what they believe in – marching is only one example.

The book goes through many different scenarios where individuals may face injustice. It begins discussing how ants, bands and people “march.” I believe the author chooses this introduction in order for children to make a connection to what they already know, and they may be able to understand more of what is discussed in the rest of the book. I particularly like how the story puts big ideas and more complex issues into a perspective that a child could understand. Problems like climate change as seen as “something that needs to be fixed” and the fight for gender and racial equality is needed because “we care about others and their freedoms.” Most of all, each page shows people working together to stand up for what they love, value, and believe in.

This book is important to education because it gives children the opportunity to decide what they value and where they see changes needed. I think every child can find something in this book that they feel effects them or those around them. The author doesn’t touch on words like “protest” or “fight” – language that could infer violence or aggression. It is important for students to know the difference between standing up for what is right and acting out on anger. I believe it is also important to remember that although we may have the opportunity to “stand up” that should not come at the cost of someone else’s health, freedom, and overall life. We should always be striving to put others before ourselves, and we must take a step back when we realize that our movements towards justice are not healthy for everyone. I think there are many examples of unpeaceful, unwelcomed, and uncontrolled “marching” and this is why we must teach those who are the voices of the future, how to properly handle situations in which they may face injustice.

I would love to include this book in my own classroom library. It embodies very much of where we should be headed in the future.