Megan Dowd LambertReviews

An introduction to inquiry based learning via the art of the picture book. I found this book to be a little simplistic in its approach but still insightful.

A Crow of his Own tells a story about Clyde being the new kid on the farm. He hears about the best rooster, Larry, and tries to be just like him, except he keeps failing, so he starts to act like himself. By finding out who he is and embracing his own character, Larry starts to make friends and had a much better time on the farm. This book could be really beneficial to middle schoolers, even though it is a children's book because it shares a theme of embracing who you are. Middle schoolers are changing every day, so I think this book would comfort them in standing out against the crowd. This could also specifically benefit ELLs and students of color because of bias already within schools.

The story presents ideas for how small people can help with the big problem of dogs and cats needing food and homes while also helping out at the local pet shelter. The girls in the story are good friends, one sells lemonade at a sidewalk stand to raise money for food while the other struggles to find the right words for a letter to the newspaper. The important thing is to be involved.
The illustrations by Briana Dengoue are fun, simple, and colorful.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, but especially to a school or your public library!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Charlesbridge via NetGalley. Thank you!

April and Mae attend book club every Monday: they always read the book, and they always bring a cake. But this week, one of them hasn't finished the book, so the other decides to read aloud while she bakes. Distracted, they accidentally leave the flour out, and while the cake smells delicious, it's sunken in the middle. They cover it with whipped cream and berries, and all's well that ends well.

April presents Black, Mae presents Asian or biracial. Simple and sweet, this is a step up from most early readers, but not quite chapter book length. There is one book for each day of the week.

April & Mae books are a series of seven easy chapter books by Megan Dowd Lambert for children who have moved up a step from picture books. Each book is about their adventures on a certain day of the week and celebrates a friendship between two girls who are quite different yet can reach agreements about anything, particularly the fact that they love being together. In April & Mae and the Animal Shelter, a new animal shelter has opened and April and Mae want to help the animals there. April and Mae find unique ways to provide assistance to the shelter that are warmly welcomed by the people who run the shelter. This is a wonderful book for beginning independent readers. It has a nice flow, contrasting the two girls and their particular talents, showing that anyone can do something to help if they put their minds to it. Gisela Bohórquez' illustrations are cute, colorful and joyful. The book is a feel-good book perfect for young readers. Many thanks to Megan Dowd Lambert, Charlesbridge Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Adoption into a lesbian family with children of color -- this book hits a lot of high spots for diversity -- it's also a really nice book about family, about siblings and about play.

This is a story of two sisters, who, as they play pretend princesses, talk about how adoption made them real sisters. The conversation, overhead by their two moms, is told in simple, yet moving, words.

theyre 2 adopted daughters that dont let anything or anyone tell them they arent sisters

The Whole Book Approach, developed by Megan Dowd Lambert at the Carle Museum, is a co-constructive storytime model (as opposed to a performative model). Lambert encourages storytime leaders to use picture books’ art, design, and production elements to prompt discussion and engagement during storytime. In order to do that, children must be equipped with the vocabulary of picture books (whether the orientation is portrait or landscape or square or shaped, what’s the trim size, how the artist uses or avoids the gutter, whether the art is framed or full-bleed, verso/recto or double-page spread, etc.). Be the “guide on the side,” not the “sage on the stage.” When misunderstandings or “aberrant readings” occur, turn them back to the group so kids can learn from their peers. Ask: What's going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find?

Chapters:
Trim size and orientation (portrait/landscape/square)
Jackets and covers
Endpapers
Front matter
Typography
Page design (gutters, etc.)
Nurturing visual intelligence
The benefits (and fun) of the Whole Book Approach

Notes on Whole Book Approach webinar: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z8K4qbJfbXDLXIbQhADImhdGjwVULrTHSsDZePjhnFs/...

Children's active participation in making meaning of all they see and hear during a picture book reading takes precedence over moving through the pages at the pace of the adult's oral reading of the text. (x)

...not only text and illustration but ALL design and production elements might contribute... (x)

Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), Abigail Housen and Philip Yenawine: "What's going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find?" (xix)

Central technique of co-constructive model is called PEER sequence: Prompts child to say something about the book, Evaluates child's response, Expands the child's response by rephrasing/adding, Repeats the prompt. This approach improves emergent literacy skills and expressive vocabulary. (xx)

Examples of picture book biographies:
Georgia in Hawaii: When Georgia Painted What She Pleased by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson (7)

Look at the whole book jacket (wraparound) before reading a book (16)

"make a color connection" between the jacket art and the color of endpapers (and/or boards/casing), e.g. If You Want to See A Whale by Julie Fogliano and Erin Stead (29)

Point out the different front matter pages by name (dedication page, title page, etc.) and let children respond to whatever catches their attention (35)

If a child who is learning to read must first understand that letters stand for sounds and that those sounds create words on a page, it follows that decisions around typography, or HOW the words are visually presented on the page - their typeface, their size, their placement on the page.... - will influence a reader's experience of the visual representation of speech. (e.g. A Visitor for Bear by Bonnie Becker) (40)

Just as children must develop print awareness and other skills to be able to decode text and achieve fluency in their reading of words, learning to read pictures is a skill that develops over time and exposure. (71)

Zones of proximal development (L.S. Vygotsky): we learn best from "collaboration with more capable peers." Steer "aberrant readings" back to the group. (73)

Children are learning to read pictures as surely as they are learning to read words, and providing them with the time and space to talk with one another about what they see can lead to richer picture book reading experiences for all of us. (80)

"Can't you just reeeead the book?"
"We ARE reading the book. We're reading the pictures, too." (100)

What's going on in this picture?
What do you see that makes you say that?
What more can we find?

How do I begin leading Whole Book Approach storytimes?
...your primary role is to open up the potential for making meaning, not to lead participants toward a certain idea. (108)

“I have a dog!” responses: Validate, then redirect to the picture. “The picture book is the common ground the group shares.” (111)

One-two-three page turn: “We’ve had so many interesting things to say about this picture, but I think we’re ready to see what’s going to happen next. Everyone count to three with me and we’ll turn the page. One, two three!” (Also: “Count to three and make a quiet sound with me. 1,2,3, shhhh”) (112)

“What a great job ___ is doing listening to everyone’s comments.” (Validates the listener, invites the chattier kids to open their ears.) (113)

“Is there anyone who has not spoken yet who would like to share an idea or who has a question?” (114)

“What information does the jacket give us about the story?” (120)

“What questions do you have after looking at these pictures?” (121)

“Why do you think some pictures are framed and some bleed off the edge of the pages?” (125)

Glossary

This book not only teaches adults how to read picture books to and with children but is an excellent text for adults to understand the actual physical book. The publishing and printing terms of the physical book production are explained and includes a very thorough glossary defining these terms.

Art appreciation in the young can begin with sharing picture books. The author shares techniques for encouraging observation and learning during a book sharing. She recommends providing the technical vocabulary so kids can learn and use the terms: gutter, verso, recto, endpapers, framing, etc. Parents, educators and librarians not only can use this approach with their children but also learn themselves how to appreciate the art and design that go into making picture books.

First thing that interested me the second I read this book was the fact that the entire story was in color-coded dialogue bubbles between the two sisters the interact of the sisters with this type of illustration gave joy to the story I feel. The second interesting thing in my opinion was the topic of the story which is Adoption which in a picture book is difficult to address but interesting enough with this book it I feel is best used for a starter tool for adopted children and outsiders who do not understand of adoption. Overall the use of not only topic but also the dialogue bubbles was able to engross the readers into this type of story.

I love reading and I love reading *with* children so this book was a natural choice for me.

While reading it I found both things that were familiar and things that were not. I've shared wordless books with children, specifically to draw them out and get them to tell me the story. And I've gone over the parts of the book on a mega-level. Which is to say that I've pointed out the elements of the title page, the page numbers, table of contents and index and that sort of thing. What I never thought to discuss though was the layout of a book. Things like the guttering and why the shape of the book, the color pallate and even the font might have been chosen.

So Megan Lambert opened up a whole new jungle of ideas that could be shared. As well as new ways that I could 'step back' and let children use their own imaginations so that we could have new kinds of discussions.

~
I really enjoyed this book and will revisit it as I begin to more fully utilize the author's suggestions, but I should warn you up front that the author is an evangelist for this approach to books and you need to brace yourself not to put off by her marginalizing of 'the old way' of sharing books. When she says that she's put off by those who succumb 'to a descent into some fuzzy platitudes about the magic of reading' I know there are going to be some of you who are put off.

But I hope you aren't for long. I think there are some really good ideas in this book. Not just for moms/dads and teachers reading to early elementary aged children, but for art teachers and English teachers to share with older children and young adults. Analyzing how media effects us is an important part of understanding how we are being manipulated. And the challenge of converting what we understand on a gut level into words so that others can grasp what we are saying has great benefits.

I think of Lambert's approach as being an extension of McLuhan's (medium is the message) and Korzybski's (the map is not the territory) work on media and communication. And I think this book holds some great clues on how to share these concepts with very young children. As well as some hints to aid us to step back to let children observe, organize their thoughts, and find their own voice.

~review copy
~book #16 for 2016

Clyde is the new rooster at Sunrise farm. His predecessor, Larry, the prize winning rooster, has moved onto bigger and better things, leaving some big cockadoodledo’s to fill. Initially the barnyard animals are not impressed by this scrawny newcomer. Except Roberta, a motherly goose, who tries to take Clyde under her wing. As Clyde tries to live up the Larry’s reputation, he fails miserably. But when Roberta convinces Clyde to forget about Larry and do his own this thing, he finally finds his own unique and magnificent crow. Lambert’s creative word play, using words like “stammered” and “mused” in place of “said” or “asked” raises this story to a new level. Costello’s colorful illustrations, done in watercolor, are the perfect compliment to Lambert’s text and fill out the story. The creative use of speech bubbles give voices to the barnyard animals and add humor to the story. A refreshing and funny reminder to be yourself.

Fantastic addition to any storytime, recommended for pre-K to 3rd grade.

New rooster Clyde finds it hard going to follow his predecessor, the legendary Larry, but eventually finds his own voice. A good message amusingly conveyed.

(ARC was provided to read and review.)

Sunrise Farm needs a new rooster for the daily wake-up call, as their old one, larger-than-life Larry, has moved on to bigger things. Larry made quite a spectacular show of his early morning duty and is now a star, traveling the country and visiting talk shows.
The farmers Jay and Kevin have bought a new cockerel, Clyde. Sadly, he fails to impress from the start, as he's small in size and rather shy. The farm animals are very disappointed and wish Larry was back. Just Roberta the goose is friendly and helpful.
Clyde decides, his best option is to copy Larry, but that doesn't work out particularly well, as he studies all night how to crow like Larry and in the morning he is so tired, he oversleeps.
The animals are upset and angry. Who has ever heard of a rooster sleeping in?
But Clyde is not prepared to give up that easily and tries his best to be exactly like Larry. It never works, things keep going wrong all the time and eventually he's close to giving up, but kind Roberta has a good advice. He should simply crow his own crow. Will it work? Will the other animals accept him, if he's just himself?

A Crow of His Own is a very funny and warm hearted story of being yourself, as we are all special, just the way we are and that it's important, to find your own voice.
I read the book with my preschoolers and they rooted for the cute rooster right from the word go. You can't help, but feel for Clyde.

The farm animals talk to each other in comic style speech bubbles and the younger children found the smaller print in the bubbles a bit more challenging to read, as are some of the words in the book, as very few young readers will know expressions like: distress, crescendo, choreographing, But the author has made quite an effort to find a wide variety of verbs, instead of the normally constant "said" and "asked" and it works rather well. Also the vivid illustrations are completely splendid, with lots of small details (like little mice to look out for, etc.), and they created with my group a lot of fun and kept them engaged with the story throughout.