Yoshiko Uchida - Journey Home

Journey Home tells the story of Yuki, a young girl whose Japanese ancestry forced her and her family into an internment camp during World War II. Journey Home depicts the feelings and hardships faced by Yuki and her family as they are permitted to return home to California from internment. The bombing of Pearl Harbor caused many Americans to fear and distrust the Japanese Americans living among them. Yuki is scared and saddened by this fact. She feels unwelcomed at the place she once called home and unwanted by even her friends.

Although Yoshiko Uchida was a second generation Japanese American, she lived in America during World War II. Like many Japanese Americans at this time, the bombing of Pearl Harbor forced Japanese Americans into internment camps. Uchida taught school in the internment camps for three years until she was released to attend graduate school. Uchida based many of her writing on her own experiences.

Other books by Yoshiko Uchida include:

• New Friends for Susan
  
• The Magic Listening Cap: More Folk Tales from Japan
  
• The Promised Year
  
• Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese American Evacuation

Laurence Yep - Hiroshima

The book Hiroshima describes the aftermath of the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima, Japan. The story describes two sisters. One of the sisters dies along with her father. The sister who survived was badly burnt and disfigured. In 1955 she traveled to the United States for plastic surgery to correct the disfiguring burns. This book would be helpful to use in understanding the devastation that occurred in Hiroshima. Both the American and Japan sides are explored and related to one another.

Laurence Yep is an award winning Chinese-American modern author. Yep is known for writing about race, ethnicity, culture, war, peace, families, and challenges. Yep writes realistic fiction, science fiction, and fantasy for children, young adults, and adults.

Other Books Yep has written include:

• Golden Mountain Chronicles
• Dragon Series
  
• Chinatown Mysteries
• The Magic Paintbrush
• The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale
• The Butterfly Boy

Jerry Pinkney - The Ugly Duckling

The book I read that was illustrated by Jerry Pinkney was called The Ugly Duckling. The illustrations were very realistic and detailed. It was obvious that Pinkney spent endless amounts of time on each illustration. Even the most basic item such as a shirt someone was wearing had intricate detail. The reader was able to see each and every dot that he made to fill in the color of the shirt. The feathers on the duck were composed of I'm sure tens of different colors. His use of color and detail make the illustrations come to life. Some of the pictures also look like he used watercolors, they all blend together nicely. Jerry Pinkney's eye catching illustrations are unique and absolutely priceless.

Other Books he has illustrated include:

• Songs of the Trees by Mildred Taylor
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
  
• The Man Who Kept His Heart in a Bucket by Sonia Levitin
• In for Winter, Out for Spring by Arnold Adoff
• John Henry by Julius Lester
• Mirandy and Brother Wind by Pat McKissack
  

Julius Lester - Shining

Julius Lester is a wonderful storyteller and has written books based on folktales, true stories, and legends. Shining is a wholly imaginative creation of Lester's. Shining is a story about the journey of a soul who learns that our most important connection to others is not in talking but in listening. The story begins in a mountain village where a black girl was born and named Shining. Shining was silent and did not cry, laugh, or speak. All she did was listen. The villagers feared and shunned her. Shining remained silent and waited for the right moment, that won her place as their leader of the village. This story is much like the story of the ugly duckling who is rejected by the other ducks but then becomes a leader.

Other books by Julius Lester include:

• How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have and Other Tales
  
• The Long Journey Home
• John Henry
• The Knee-High Man and Other Tales
  
• All Is Well
• Black Cowboy Wild Horses
• This Strange New Feeling
  
• Sam and the Tigers

The Cat in the Hat and The Lorax

The Cat in the Hat, is one of most well recognized books ever written by Dr. Seuss. Children can relate to the constant tension created between good sense and bad sense in the story. The tension continues to escalate throughout the story as more and more things go wrong and chaos is caused by the Cat in the Hat.

A contemporary book with similar tension is If You Give a Moose a Muffin, by Laura Numeroff. In the story, the moose starts out with a simple request which continues to escalate with each page. Each time the moose asks for something, a bigger mess is made, or more problems occur. Chaos continues to escalate until the story comes full circle once more.

The Lorax, was considered by Dr. Seuss to be his best work. The story is controversial today because of its didacticism. It is considered didactic because of the way environmental and ecological issues are pushed on the readers. The book teaches children how important it is to take care of the environment.

I believe there are very few didactic children's books today. More current books are not as forceful. They voice all sides and allow the reader to make a decision. Today, more learning is done by self discovery. We want students to be presented with information and to be able to make their own decisions.

Children's Book to Feature Film # 3- Matilda

The book Matilda by Roald Dahl is a story about a gifted young girl who taught herself to read and strive to do more than her dishonest and self-centered parents. Matilda's father sold second-hand cars for high prices and did not follow the law. Matilda' s mother also did not pay any attention to her. When Matilda was six, her uncaring and rude parents sent her to school at Crumchem Hall Primary School. The principal of this school, Miss Truchbull hated Matilda and all 0f the other kids. Miss Honey was Matilda's loving and caring teacher. She recognized all of Matilda's strengths. Eventually, Matilda discovered that she had special powers that allowed her to move things with her mind. Miss Honey supported Matilda and loved her as her own daughter. Matilda was able to scare Ms. Trunchbull out of town using her powers. Lastly, Matilda's parents allowed Miss Honey to adopt her and they lived happily together.


In 1996, a feature film was made. This movie was modernized and Americanized retelling of the book. Instead of taking place in England, Matilda was raised in the United States. Also, more modern foods and settings were used then in the book. I also noticed that the violence that Ms. Trunchbull forced was not as harsh. When she threw the girl out the window she landed on her bottom unlike the book where she fell on her face and was hurt. The book was definitely tweeked and changed in a way that would appeal to the American consumer without dramatically changing the story line to make the feature film.

Children's Book to Feature Film # 2- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was written in 1964 by Roald Dahl. This story is about a young boy by the name of Charlie Bucket from a poor family and how he became the luckiest boy in the entire world. Willy Wonka opened the largest chocolate factory in the world. He decided to allow 5 children to visit his secret factory. To be able to enter the children would have to find one of the five golden tickets hidden beneath the wrapping paper of Wonka bars. Charlie found a Wonka bar and won tickets and visit the factory. Once in the factory, all of the other four children made greedy mistakes and ended up in trouble at the factory. Charlie was the last one left and had won the prize. Wonka offered the factory to Charlie. He told Charlie he could live there with his family and when he was old enough he would be able to take over and run the factory.

In 1971, Roald Dahl's story was made into a feature film. There were some small differences in the film. The film was not a musical but did have six musical numbers where were not included in the book. Also, in the film Charlie's father did not appear and was assumed dead, and the children were accompanied by only one parent throughout the factory. In addition, the personalities of the children were dramatized and explained in much more detail than in the book. Besides these small changes and additions the film was very similar to the book. This film is solid and is one I would definitely share with my students to make comparisons to the book.

In 2005, Tim Burton released another film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This film was different in that it greatly expanded Willy Wonka's personal backstory and the descriptions of the personalities of the other four children. It has a more futuristic, up to date, and imaginary feel and setting.