Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword

• author & illustrator:  Barry Deutsch  http://www.amptoons.com/
• medium:  pencil, ink, digital color

•  year of publication: 2010
• publication city:  New York
• publisher:  Amulet Books
• ISBN:  978-0-8109-8422-6

Annotation:  Spunky, strong-willed eleven-year-old Mirka Herschberg isn’t interested in knitting lessons from her stepmother, or how-to-find-a-husband advice from her sister, or you-better-not warnings from her brother. There’s only one thing she does want: to fight dragons!

Personal Thoughts:  This book was funny, expressing the universal discontent of being 11 years old, but shown here in a traditional Orthodox Jewish family, in a closed off to Gentiles society.  I really enjoyed the artwork.  Deutsch illustrations are so expressive and alive, they could easily be translated to animation and Mirka would easily make a popular protagonist of her own show.  This is essentially a retelling of  a fairytale structure where the young girl learns to become a warrior.  It's fun and fast and it begs for a sequel!  

Goal!

Goal!

• author:  Mina Javaherbin  http://minajavaherbin.com/
• illustrator:  A.G. Ford  http://www.agfordillustration.com/
• medium:  oil
• year of publication:  2010
• city of publication:  Somerville, Massachusetts
• publisher:  Candlewick Press
• ISBN:  978-0-7636-4571-7

Annotation:  In a dangerous alley in a township in South Africa, the strength and unity which a group of young friends feel while playing soccer keep them safe when a gang of bullies arrives to cause trouble.

Personal Thoughts:  This book succeeds in both story and artwork.  I liked how the narration came through a play-by-play of the street football game, sounding just as it would if heard by a radio announcer.  The story is simple.  Basically the protagonists outsmart the bullies while playing their favorite sport.  The illustrations are big, often spread over 2 pages and the colors representing the South African township are gorgeous.  The lover of soccer really comes through and I could see this book making fans of some older readers. 

***Curriculum Connection- 6th Grade Social Science, South Africa, International Sports, Football

Ubiquitious: Celebrating Nature's Survivors

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors

• author:  Joyce Sidman  http://www.joycesidman.com/
• illustrator:  Becky Prange  http://www.beckieprange.com/
• medium: linocuts, hand-colored with watercolors

• year published:  2010
• city of publication:  Boston
• publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
• ISBN:  978-0-618-71719-4

Annotation:  Comibining poetry and science, readers learn about different species of plants and animals and the skills they have developed to survive throughout time. 

Pesonal Thoughts:  This book is a curious amalgam of gentle nature poetry and to the point factual science writing.  The artwork is very nice, presenting nature as small as protozoa to grander scenes of cities and planets.  A nice glossary is placed at the end that helps clear up some of the difficult scientific vocabulary.  The book is useful to older readers learning about life sciences.  Reading the book is sort of like watching a nature documentary where you learn new facts, while at the same time feel emotional about the world around you. 

***Curriculum Connection:  5^th and 6^th grade Life Sciences.  Flora and Fauna, Nature in Urban Environments, Social Colonies

***Lesson Plan – Walk your class to the school field and take turns reading the book in a circle.  Separate in groups and explore grass areas, trees and fields to try and find different animals and plants listed in the book.  Regroup and discuss what things the students found.

Seeds of Change

Seeds of Change

• author:  Jen Cullerton Johnson  http://www.jencullertonjohnson.com/_jen
• illustrator:  Sonia Lynn Sadler  http://www.sonialynnsadlerarts.com/
• medium:  rendered in scratchboard and oil

• year of publication:  2010
• publication city:  New York
• publisher:  Lee & Low Books
• ISBN:  978-1-60060-367-9

Annotation:  A biography of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Wangari Maathi, a female scientist who worked in the struggle for women’s rights and her own Green Belt Movement, an effort to restore Kenya’s ecosystem by planting millions of trees.

Personal Thoughts:  This book took me by surprise!  I really liked it.  I didn’t realize when I started reading that the story if a nonfiction biography.  I thought it was fiction.  The more into the story I got, I thought this book has great transition, from a story of a young African girl getting an education to that girl fighting for women’s rights and starting a major environmental movement re-planting trees where greedy corporations had deforested huge areas of once fertile forest.  The further along I read, I realized there was no way author Jen Cullerton Johnson was making this up.  It’s too believable!  Sonia Lyn Sadler’s illustrations are rich with color and look like traditional African imagery. 

I would recommend this book for its multi-faceted dimensions.  It promotes equal access to education.  It promotes the struggle for women’s rights.  Finally, it describes how environmentalist movements can help repair the damage done by deforestation and general destruction of the environment.

***Curricular Connection – 9^th grade World History, Nobel Prize Winners, African Deforestation, 20^th Century Environmentalism

12^th grade Civics, Women’s Rights Movements, Gender Politics in Africa