Module 2: Classic Children's and Young Adult Literature

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Summary: Where the Wild Things Are is a story about a little boy named Max that drives his mother crazy with his behavior. She sends him to bed without his dinner.  Alone in his room and not very happy, his imagination takes over and he sees himself in a forest with a group of "wild thing" monsters, who crown him their king.  Soon he realizes he misses his home and decides to return.

My Impressions:   I have liked this book because it shows children that misbehavior has consequences and that children can have another chance to do the right thing after thinking about what they've done wrong.
Reviews: 
Author: Stephanie Zvirin

Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. Illus. by Maurice Sendak. 1963. 48p. Harper Collins.

 PreS-Grade 2. 

This simply written but subtle book became a classic not only because it legitimized children’s angry feelings—and their ability to use their imaginations to deal with those feelings—but also because it showed punishment and love coexisting in a parent-child relationship. When mischievous Max, wearing his wolf suit, romps around the house and drives his mother to distraction, she calls him “Wild Thing” and sends him to bed without his supper. But in the quiet of his room, a forest grows, where claw-footed monsters with horns, Wild Things just like Max, lurk and leap. Max joins their “wild rumpus” and is made “king of all wild things,” but still he misses his home. When he finally returns, he discovers his supper waiting, and it is still hot. Where the Wild Things Are, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964, has never gone out of print and is now available in several editions including paperback and a twenty-fifth anniversary remastered version. The year 2008 is sure to bring even more attention to this beloved children’s book: Dave Eggers will publish an adult novel based on the 338-word story at the same time that a combination live-action and animatronic movie, scripted by Eggers and directed by Spike Jonze, is released. How Jonze will translate Sendak’s exceptional crossed-hatched-watercolor artwork to the screen remains to be seen.

— Stephanie Zvirin

Library Use: This book can be used when discussing behavior expectations at the beginning of the year with kinder-2nd.  Students could take a piece of paper, fold it in half and draw themselves as a "wild thing" on one half and themselves normally on the other half with the words "yes" and "no" under the appropriate pictures.
Resource list:

Sendak, M. (1963). Where the wild things are. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Zvirin, S. (2007, October 26). Review of the book Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. Booklist Online. Retrieved from Literature resource Center.

 

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

 

Summary: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a story within a story.  A grandfather is telling his grandchildren about the town of Chewandswallow where  tasty food falls from the sky instead of rain.  The people don't mind at first, but then things change and gross foods start to come down and the food "weather" gets progressively more severe until the townspeople must escape.

My Impressions: This book is very entertaining and children love it.  It makes them laugh thinking about food falling from the sky. All elementary aged children enjoy the book. Younger children who can't read all the text can tell what's going on in the story using the pictures.

Reviews: 

Author: Barbara Elleman

Barrett, Judi (author). Illustrated by Ron Barrett. Oct. 1978. 31p. Atheneum, paperback. Grades 1-3.

In the tiny town of Chewandswallow, only food falls from the skies—“it rained soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and green peas. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers.” But one day the weather takes a turn for the worse, and the town is inundated with peanut butter and mayonnaise over brussels sprouts, a thick fog of pea soup, storms of pancakes, 15-inch drifts of cream cheese and jelly, and a tomato tornado. Conditions soon become so bad that life rafts are fashioned from stale bread, and the villagers set sail for a new land where rain and snow fall from the sky, and food is bought in supermarkets. Told as a story within a story (a breakfast of pancakes motivates Grandpa), this wildly inventive tall tale might work better without an extra plot topping the end and without going on quite so long, but the humor is proportionately heightened in straight-faced, closely lined pictures washed in exaggerated colors. Prediction: children dreaming up their own weather menus are sure to

follow up on the fun.— Barbara Elleman 

Library use: Have students think of other things that might fall from the sky [not cats and dogs], and think about what people would do? Younger children draw a picture. First graders a picture with a caption of one or two sentences. Older students 2nd grade up, write a story telling what falls from the sky and what happens next. The story can be done in story board form or on adding machine tape to make it a little more interesting.
Resource list:
Barrett, J. (1978). Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks. 
Elleman, B. (1978, October 1). Review of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett