The Joy of Children's Literature: Reflection

           The Joy of Children’s Literature highlights and emphasizes the important aspects of each genre in children’s literature. Denise Johnson gives the reader examples of activities and strategies to use in the classroom and with young readers. Reading portions and chapters from this book has opened my eyes to more genres to use in the classroom. I have learned the importance of each genre in relation to the lives of students and early readers.

The Joy of Children's Literature: Chapter 11 Diverse Perspectives in Children's Literature

               Diverse populations in children’s literature allows students to learn about historical and continuing events by the people of diverse cultures who live in the United States and the rest of the world. This form of literature fosters awareness, appreciation, and understanding of people of diverse cultures. It also teaches students about their own cultures. Students and teachers are able to observe and experience controversial issues in the past and today. Because most books covered in this form of literature have the main character’s engaged in critical thinking, students are able to learn and use their own critical thinking skills.

 The Buddha's Diamonds By Carolyn Marsden


Tinh, a Vietnamese boy who is coming of age, goes out to sea with his father every day to catch fish for their own food and the market. Tinh struggles with missing his childhood. He enjoyed the simple life of flying kites at the beach with his friends, but Tinh knows the importance of helping out his dad and he’s very proud to do so. One day a storm sticks and Tinh is given the task of securing the family vessel, but Tinh panics and runs away. Tinh is now faced with gaining his father’s trust and salvaging the family boat.

 The Origami Master By Nathaniel Lachenmeyer


Shima is an origami master who lives in the mountains of Japan. He never has any visitors and his little origami creatures are the only things that keep him company. One day a warbler, a type of bird, begins making a nest on a tree outside Shima’s house. The bird sings a song and watches Shima make his origami creatures. One day the warbler decides to make a better origami creature and leave it out for Shima to see. After a few more days of this occurring, Shima finds out the warbler is creating the origami creatures that are left for him, so Shima decides to capture the warbler and have the warbler create more creatures in a cage. But the warbler decided not to make any and he escaped. Shima thought he lost his only visitor, but the warbler did return. In the end, Shima realized how much he would miss the warbler if he had left for good, so he created a small origami nest for the warbler to live in.

The White Zone By Carolyn Marsden


Nouri and his cousin Talib can barely remember a time when tanks didn’t invade the streets of their city, Baghdad. They wish books once again ruled the streets, rather than bombs.  War has played a major factor of their lives. Iraq has been at war with the Americans, but now Iraq faces a larger problem. Iraq is also at war with itself. Shiite’s and Sunni’s are at a constant battle with one other. And to make the matters worse, the battle continues in their families. Nouri is a Shiite and Talib is half Sunni. These cousins face all sorts of battles, but things change when the dusty streets are covered with white snow. For once there is no battle, and the Sunni’s and Shiite’s forget their differences.

The Joy of Children's Literature: Chapter 8 Historical Fiction

             Historical fiction allows students to better understand history. Historical fiction books can teach any portion of history. Students are capable of better understanding history when it’s written in a story. Historical fiction creates another world that takes place in their setting, allowing students to understand and relate to the text. Historical fiction also allows students to realize they too will eventually be a part of history. Historical fiction allows for teacher to teach through novels rather than textbooks. Teachers can alter their lessons around the novel and apply the textbook to what they learned from the novel. This allows students to better understand the novel, the textbook, and most important, history.

 The Egypt Game By Zilpha Keatly Snyder

Melanie Ross doesn’t think she’ll fit in with the other sixth graders at school, especially after Melanie meets the crazy April Hill. But Melanie soon finds out she has a lot in common with April. Both really enjoy reading and playing imagination games. But what really gets their relationship going is their shared love for anything and everything that deals with Egypt. Melanie and April discover the storage year behind the A-Z Antiques and Curios shop. Before they know it, there are now six Egyptians playing the game. Everyone enjoys they game, until the Egypt game gets a little out of hand.

The Time Warp Trio: DaWild, DaCrazy, DaVinci By Jon Scieszka


This book explores the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. We all know he invented the Mona Lisa, but he also invented an early version of a helicopter and a tank, but he actually invented them to execute the Time Warp Trio for spying on his inventions.  Sam, one of the friends from the trio, decides he wants to look for the inventor of the book they use to travel through time.  The boy’s end up traveling to 15th century Italy and they meet Leonardo da Vinci. But the boys are now in a little trouble, and without bright ideas, magic tricks and inventions, the boys might be stuck in 15th century Italy.

We March By Shane W. Evans

This book allows the young reader to experience the march in our nation’s capital in August of 1963. The story begins with a family preparing their day to march the streets of Washington and listen to Martin Luther King Jr. speak about Jobs and Freedom for African Americans. You learn about people coming together to push for the same goals.

The final page of the book provides the reader with facts about the march and what occurred after the march in Washington D.C.                                                                                     

The Joy of Children's Literature: Chapter 7 Realistic Fiction

            Realistic fiction portrays life in a way that is relatable to children. Children are able to take comfort in their own problems by reading about stories that are similar or comparable to theirs. Students are able to make improvements to their lives through reading realistic fiction. Students are also taught to be aware of stereotypes and stereotyping. Realistic fiction can be used in each of the content areas and can be used with any lesson in a classroom. Using realistic fiction in the classroom allows for students to develop their own literacy.

How do you Wokka-Wokka? By Elizabeth Bluemle


“Some days you wake up and you just gotta wokka.” This book begins with a boy starting his day walking into the streets doing his wokka wokka dance. As the story continues you learn about many other charecters forms of wokka wokka dancing. In the end you learn that everybody has their own form of dancing and sometimes you just need to do what is fun to get your mind off of what’s going on in the world.

Comeback Kid's: Safe at Home By Mike Lupica


Nick Crandall was in a foster home until he was adopted at the age of 9. He loved baseball, but his parents did not understand sports. Nick felt did not fit in at school, his friends, or even his parents at home. Nick was looking forward to being the catcher on the junior varsity team at school, but when the varsity catcher became injured Nick needed to step up and catch at the varsity level. At first Nick did not belong, he was missing catches and his teammates made fun of him for it. It took a while for the team to trust Nick. In the end, the varsity team won and Nick finally found his place.

Vincent Shadow: Toy Inventor By Tim Kehoe


Vincent Shadow isn’t very good at sports. Vincent is constantly faced with the bullies who pick on him at his school. But Vincent has a talent and creative mind that really separates him from the other kids his age. Vincent is able to think of a toy and it will be created. But Vincent loses his talent once his mother passes and his father moves the family to Minnesota. Vincent finally gains his talents again when his new art teacher gives him a challenge. Vincent also faces the troubles of an evil-stepmother and a father who almost seems absent. 

The Joy of Children's Literature: Chapter 6 Modern Fantasy

        The Harry Potter series has played a large role in the lives of children over the past 15 years. These books have caused students to engage themselves into the story, such as role playing. The Harry Potter series is world famous and there is now a Harry Potter world in a famous amusement park. The amusement park has caused students and readers alike to reread the series before the experience the world of Harry Potter for themselves. The Harry Potter series fits into the genre of modern fantasy, and this genre is a very popular  for children who read today.
Modern fantasy teaches children and readers about friendship, sacrifice, selfishness, and death. It also provides children with the framework of the literature, drama, and art they will later encounter in their schooling. Modern fantasy provides a strong rhythm , rhyme, and repetition of patterns. Teachers can use modern fantasy to have students study stories from other countries. Students will be able to compare and contrast other cultures. Teachers can have students study complex patterns, library devices, and metaphorical language that allows them to think abstractly and make inferences.

Robot Zot By Jon Scieszka

Robot Zot, a small toy, has come to take our planet captive. The reader quickly learns that Robot Zot is smaller than you think. He begins his attack in the kitchen. Zot then takes his battle elsewhere in the home, here he discovers the princess, a child’s toy cell phone. Zot now has to become a hero to save the cell phone and allow them to live happily ever after.

 The Magical Ms. Plum By Bonny Becker


Every student at Springtime Elementary wants to be in Ms. Plum’s class. Students are not only interested in the unusual ways she teaches, but they are interested in her mysterious supply closet. If a student is asked to receive something out of the closet, they would return with something that wouldn’t usually belong in a closet. Students aren’t sure whether or not the magic comes from her or her closet.

Earwig and the Witch By Diana Wynne Jones

Earwig is a crafty and interesting orphan. Earwig was left at St. Morwald’s as a baby. Unlike the other orphans, Earwig really enjoys being at the orphanage, mainly because she’s able to get what she wants by persuading people. The very strange Bella Yaga comes to the orphanage, but Earwig doesn’t like anything about her. So Earwig decides to do some very strange things, but this backfires. Bella Yaga loved Earwig and her strange habits, so Bella Yaga adopts Earwig. Now that Bella Yaga is Earwig’s ‘mother,’ Earwig begins to realize her mom is a horrible witch.

The Joy of Children's Literature: Introduction

        The Joy of Children’s Literature, by Denise Johnson, is a great resource for future and current teachers. The book teaches teachers to become observant readers and knowledgeable of children’s literature. The teacher will learn how to teach students to enjoy and capture the pleasure of reading. Reading, writing, discussing, comparing, criticizing, evaluating, and finding pleasure in children’s books are covered throughout The Joy of Children’s Literature.
My four favorite chapters in the book, The Joy of Children’s Literature, are Chapter 6 Modern Fantasy, Chapter 7 Realistic Fiction, Chapter 8Historical Fiction, and Chapter 11 Diverse Perspectives in Children’s Literature. I chose these chapters because I feel they cover the forms of literature that children enjoy most, they teach students, through fictional stories, about important moments in history, and it covers the aspects of diverse literature. Each of these chapters present important factors in children’s literature.

Author Study: Mike Lupica

It is dire for students to feel a connection to what they are learning in any subject, especially reading. I chose Mike Lupica for my author study because of his knowledge and history in writing about sports in the United States. I know not all students will enjoy sports, but I feel this is one topic that can be easily included into a classroom and can be relatable to students who enjoy sports.

Mike Lupica was born on May 11, 1952 in Oneida, New York. Mike has been a part of the sports profession for most of his life. He is one of the most prominent sports writers in America.  Mike attended Boston College. He began his career in writing about sports at the age of 23 as a columnist in New York writing about the basketball team, the New York Knicks. Mike was the youngest columnist ever to write for a New York newspaper.  Lupica launched “The Sporting Life” column in Esquire magazine in 1987. He has published various articles in World Tennis, Golf Digest, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, among many others. Over the years Lupic has been a regular on CBS Morning News, Good Morning America, and The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. Mike has also made frequent appearances on Imus in the Morning, a radio show.

Today, Lupica lives with his family in Connecticut. Lupica has three sons and a daughter. He considers himself a “serial little league coach,” a youth basketball coach, and a soccer coach for his children. Lupica works with ESPN and ESPN 2 as an anchor delivering the latest news in the world of sports and hosting his own program, The Mike Lupica Show.