Joyce Milton (1946–2008)

Note: I'm totally biased about this book, since bats are my most favourite animals in the world...

I really loved the pieced-paper style of the illustration, and I adored how it was all so accurate and detailed, yet perfectly suited for kids.
Especially the page about the bats giving birth, because that's something that usually is omitted.
The illustration of the barn owl on page 30-31 was amazing.
And I learned something I didn't know yet: seeing a bat means good luck to the Chinese. The show more funny thing about this is, bats have been my personal good-luck charm for years; whenever I see a bat flying by in the evening, the next day is always exraordinary good (receiving a bonus at work, winning a raffle, acing an exam...). show less

Summary:
This was a very interesting biography that does a good job bringing the text down to a young child's level. Some biographies can be very cut and dry, but this one had a lot of details that I had never heard before, such as Lewis tried to adopt Sacagawea's son, Pomp, when he was two years old, but she said no. This story also spoke more in detail about how she ended up with Lewis and Clark on their expedition because of her husband. It also said how valuable she was to the trip based show more on the fact that she knew things about the Shoshone tribe and their language because she was raised with them. All in all, this was a very interesting book that children can relate well to, and I enjoyed reading it as well.

Personal Reaction:
I used this story as a read aloud for the class I was visiting, and they enjoyed it very much. Sacagawea is someone that second graders are supposed to study in History according to the Oklahoma PASS Skills, so I chose this story to read as part of my classwork and also something that would be beneficial to the students. They really enjoyed all the details about her and her son (plus Lewis and Clark), and I did as well. I would definitely recommend reading this again to future classes.

Classroom Extension Activities:
1. A compare and contrast activity between this Sacajawea story and the story: Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President.
2. A biographical presentation using her as the subject.
3. Use her story as a writing prompt. What do the students think happened to her? Did she really die when they thought she did, or do they believe the Shoshone people who believe that she lived to be almost 100 years old? show less

Informative and surprisingly not sensationalized given the topic.

This book was extremely informative to the reader. I really got to know who Ronald Reagan was not only as a president of the United States, but as a person. This book focuses a lot on what made Ronald Reagan who he was, focusing on his childhood and background before he ever became president, focusing on three main phases of his life: his college years as a lifeguard, his years being an actor in movies, and his years as president. The book is extremely detailed and doesn’t miss anything show more that happened in his life, however it was not boring to read or repetitive. The writing is light and humorous and although Ronald Reagan is not the one telling about his story and life, it seems as though the author knew him personally, almost as a close friend: “But Dutch always looked back on his days as a lifeguard as one of the best times of his life.” We are able to get really familiarized with the subject of the book. Finally, I really enjoy that even though this book is a chapter book, the book still includes many pictures to help younger readers focus on the information being given and be able to visualize what is going on in the story. show less