Jill C. WheelerCritiques

very good - Lois Metzler

This is a very informative biography of Rosa Parks that details the many wondrous things she accomplished in her life. It discusses her beginnings as a young girl growing up in Alabama with her family on her grandfathers farm, to becoming a national figure and heroine. Parks was taught by her parents to value her education so that she would never have to cook or clean for someone else. In valuing her education, she received her teaching certification. She even registered to vote numerous times in order to ensure her voice and vote mattered. She fought past the prejudice surrounding her and became a figure of freedom and forward-thinking.½

A fun book about the 44th president Barack Hussien Obama. With all types of fun facts and great pictures of him throughout his life. The book is well put together documenting a lot of things most people don't know about the former president.

This biography about Walter Dean Myers is very similar to the other biographies by this author, Jill C. Wheeler. It is informative and has great, real pictures of Myers and places he lived. Reading his story, it is evident that he had a hard life. I enjoy seeing that he writes things that he could have related to as a child because other children may relate as well.
I have the same complaints about this book as the autobiography about Nikki Grimes by Wheeler. It is hard to follow and the words are sometimes complex for the age level. This book is very informative if someone is trying to find out more about Walter Dean Myers's life.½

This biography about Nikki Grimes is informative. It gives an insight into an author's life that faced struggles and tribulations all through childhood. It has real pictures of Grimes and the places she has been. I enjoyed reading it because Nikki has been through so much, and has an awesome coming up story.
This book is written in a way that may be difficult to follow for young children. It is slightly wordy, and the words are slightly complex. The story does go in chronological order, so it is easy in that sense, but it does not flow very well. Overall, it is a good read if the reader is doing research on Nikki Grimes.½

Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States. This book gave a look into his childhood, early adult life, and when he became president. There were a lot of facts that i did not know about Obama. This book is very interesting because they use all real pictures and it gives us a look as to what Obama was like earlier in life. I think this is an amazing book for children to read and learn more about our 44th president.

3-6, I have read some of Nikki Grimes work in the past and she is a great author. She was big on kids having representations of themselves in her work and i think she nailed it for her work. She is very detailed and her work helps inspire.

Nikki Grimes is an author who told stories about the life she actually lived. Her books and poetry are known to tackle tough subjects and that is good for kids to have. Grimes was disappointed that the books she read growing up didn't have any kids with her story. She vowed to tell her story and it has won her many awards. We talked in class about representation being important and i'm glad Ms Grimes was brave enough to represent the kids who struggle.½

As i always say when i discover a new person who had a great role in changing people's lives ( people who do the most good usually live in the shadows . Also there is a saying behind every great man there is a great woman, but i believe it should be behind every great man there is a greater woman. Mrs. Marie Eisenhower gave her husband all the love and support that he ever needed to become a successful man. She left the comfort of her home to be with him , suffered a lot lost someone very close, gave unconditional love , and i believe she is on the main reason her husband became president twice. I believe this will be a great read during social studies class to show the importance of women's support and love.

I can not believe i never heard of this amazing woman before. People who truly change the world for the better , usually remain in the shadows. An amazing woman who achieved in her life many great things and believed that sky is the limit. This book talks about Rachael Carson's path from small village to be awarded the presidential medal of freedom. This book will be a great read during either social studies class or even a science class.

This book was very informative about the dreams, challenges, and life of Mae Jemison. The book discussed how she was an excellent student in school and her many accomplishments throughout school. While at Cornell, Jemison was one of the only blacks in her class. In 1987, Jemison was one of the 15 out of 2,000 people chosen to travel to space. This is not so much a picture book and more less an informative book.½

This book is not for read aloud's, this would be for a student who finished their work early and is choosing to flip through it. Each page is packed with interesting information, facts, and pictures. As this is a information heavy book I would not recommend it often. This would be a book that a student could use as a resource when wanting to present information about Jemison.

Most of Obama's time as president, I viewed Michelle Obama as just the First Lady. But she's so much more than that. Growing up her family didn't have much but her parents raised her to be responsible and self-sufficient. Her grades in high school were good enough for her to accepted into Princeton. There she studied sociology and ran a literacy programs for kids. She graduated in 1985 with high honors. After getting accepted to Harvard Law, she studied hard and continued to succeed. After meeting Barack, they married a few years later for love and financial stability. She was nervous about Barack running for presidency but in the end they made history and influenced a large audience.

This biography gives us many interesting facts that we didn't know about our 44th president. I though this book was very interesting and will give kids an easy way to learn more about Barack Obama and how important it was for him to become the first African American President. All the pictures in the story were real pictures and I loved seeing all the pictures from when he was young to older. One thing that I found interesting is how Barack would not like to study and rather play sports, but could write a paper the night before and still get an A. That's something I wish I could do. Also, I see how hard he had to work to get to the position of being the president.

My favorite part of this biography of Barack Obama is the way it is set up. I love that each page is dedicated to a specific topic, there is a table of contents, and real image of him are used. In my opinion, the real images and set up made me focus more and relate to Barack, as I was reading. I was able to see and imagine him doing everything, feeling how he was feeling.

If only Jill C. Wheeler had had such high aspirations as a Lloyd Alexander character. They, at least, wanted to do great things.

This is a children's biography, and of course we shouldn't expect either the depth or the documentation of a biography intended for adults. But consider: If anyone is reading a bio of Alexander, there is at least an 80% chance it's because the young person read and loved the Chronicles of Prydain, which stand head and shoulders above Alexander's other books. And each volume of the Chronicles is, I would guess, at least five times the length of this book, and collectively the series is more than two dozen times as long. The Chronicles are also written at a higher reading level. And even Alexander's lesser works are generally longer and more demanding than this biography.

In other words, anyone interested in Alexander could have appreciated and used a fuller, more serious biography. If nothing else, tell about all the scrapes he got himself into. And his war experiences. And don't just say that his wife was French; tell us how he became involved with this older, foreign woman! As well as about Alexander's interesting opinions about how the world could be a better place.

Alexander was not the major literary figure that, say, J. R. R. Tolkien was, despite many deep similarities between their most important works. Books about him and his work aren't common -- there is a "bio-bibliography," and Michael O. Tunnell produced The Prydain Companion. There are a few histories and books of criticism which place his works in the context of the history of fantasy, and he has been the subject of a few articles in Mythlore. A thin corpus of criticism -- far less than has been written about, say, Tolkien or C. S. Lewis or Ursula K. LeGuin. There are, as best I can tell, just two biographies -- this and Jill P. May's volume in the Twayne's United States Authors Series (cleverly entitled Lloyd Alexander). The latter didn't impress me either -- but at least it's a real biography, with index and a bibliography of sources cited and a (very small) set of endnotes. I didn't notice anything in Wheeler's book that isn't in May's, except for a few books that Alexander published after May published her book. (This was probably the last chance for a real Alexander bio; it was written when Alexander was alive but in his seventies. But there is absolutely no quality research or insight to this book!) So it's simple. Don't get this. If you want an Alexander bio, get May's. End of story.½

I'm falling in love with this book series by Jill C Wheeler. She's got the facts. This series is substantive but fun! For starters, holy cow! I did NOT remember that C.S. Lewis wrote "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe." Adding on to that, the C.S. stands for Clive Staples--what a name! He was born in Ireland, however, so it's probably a traditional name. C.S lived a long life of academia and writing. I highly recommend this book to young children, as it sheds light into C.S. Lewis's personal life and many good deeds. For example, his best friend died in combat while they were both at war. They promised one another to care for the other's family in case one dies, and the promise is kept.
Something else I appreciate about these books is that if a word isn't common, it's probably bold, meaning its definition is in the back--which is quite helpful because I had to reference something in a third grade book! Apparently a governess is essentially a nanny. The more ya know...

Jill C Wheeler has done it again in her Checkerboard Biography Library. This book concisely hits the most important facts in a naturally fluid way but still doesn't lack detail. A seemingly social recluse, Elwyn Brooks White spent a majority of his time outside and around animals. He had a distaste for school but loved school work and learning. His affinity for reading and writing made him an instant success. He was but ten when he was published in a magazine targeted at women. This inspired him to keep writing. Success after success, EB White, who in college decided to go by "Andy," struck chords with readers across America. He won the hearts of his readers through his endearing stories, mostly about animals, which he loved dearly. I knew White had written Charlotte's Web; however, I was unaware it came from a personal experience with a spider in his very own barn. Additionally, I honestly had no idea he also wrote Stuart Little! Furthermore, he got that idea from a dream he had about a mouse in clothes! Ha! I enjoyed getting to know this good soul who's works still affect today's youth.

I appreciate many styles of books, and this A.A. Milne book by Jill C. Wheeler is something I can get behind. It neatly and sequentially categorizes the life and experiences of A.A. Milne, who's famous for his writing. What did he write? Mostly adult plays and stories for adults... until his son, Christopher Robin, was born. Does that name ring a bell? I think everyone knows about the little boy in the hundred acre woods who befriends none other than Winnie-the-Pooh and all of his unforgettable friends. That's right! A.A. Milne created Winnie-the-Pooh based on a teddy bear he and his wife gave to his son. I was so happy to learn so many interesting facts about the origin of this beloved legacy and even his other pieces of work, too! A.A Milne had a very eventful, successful life--including being a soldier in World War One. Who knew?!

I read a book about Dav Pilkey. I learned that he didn't just write Captain Underpants and he wrote The Paperboy. Some interesting facts about Dav is his name is spelled Dave but the name tag maker for his job misspelled his name to Dav and it stuck. He was diagnosis with ADHD at a young age, and he incorporates characters with ADHD in his books. He was a Caldecott Honor Award recipient. The Adventures of Captain Underpants: An Epic Novel was published in September 1997. (This is my birthday month and year) One of his teachers told him he would never make money writing books, look at him now. The details in the story were accurate. The author wrote this story in chronological order.

This book spoke about how Mary Pope Osborne became a famous children's book writer. She mentioned that prior to writing those books she traveled a lot and got her inspiration from the people she met along with where they came from. Osborne is the author of the book series, "Magic Tree House". The interesting thing about this book is that it has a few words in bold print and at the end there's a glossary for them.½

This book tells the biography of C.S. Lewis. It explains the life he had, and the rough patched he went through, especially the death of his mother when he was on five years old. It tells of his education including the time he spent at Oxford, not only as a student, but also as professor. I did not know much about C.S. Lewis, and I did not know that he was the author of The Chronicles of Narnia. I found that interesting because I enjoyed the movies that were based on his books. I would recommend this to students who are interested in learning about different authors.

This biography is about the author Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket. Handler is not amused by "normal" children's books. He thinks that children enjoy scary stories or "unfortunate" stories. In college, he had fainting spells and one day he fainted into a fellow classmates lap (who resembled Wednesday Addams) and later they married. His first novel was rejected 37 times. Publishers told him to consider writing for children but he opposed it because his writing was too dark for children. As a joke, he went along with it and thats where A series of Unfortunate Events came from!

Elwyn Brooks White lived in Mount Vernon, New York. His family called him En and he was the youngest of six. Once all his siblings grew up he entertained himself and spend time with their animals in the barn, taking in the sounds, sights, and smells. At 10 years old, he had a poem published in a magazine and soon more of his work was published. Once married and had a son the family purchased a small farm in Maine which brought back childhood memories for White. On a train he dreamed of a mouse but dressed as a human and soon wrote Stuart Little. While in his barn he watched a spider spin a web and shortly after wrote Charlotte's Web which was published in 1952. White wrote many other stories and received many awards in his lifetime. He died at the age of 86. I love White's stories and this book was a good story of his life. I find it interesting that many of his stories are from his experiences and his farm life helped him write.

Garth Williams is one of the most famous illustrators for children books. Many books he illustrated was now classics such as Charlotte's web and Stuart Little. He studied art and architecture in many countries. Garth started drawing at a very young age and his father knew he was going to be an artist. He attended art school and earned a four year scholarship to London's Royal College of Arts. He graduated and took a job as a headmaster at an art school but soon resigned because he did not have time to draw himself. He entered a contest and won and went to school in Italy. He began working as a red cross ambulance worker during the time of Hitler. He was injured during his work and was forced to resign and worked with companies about camouflage for the war. Then went back to art and illustrated Stuart Little. From then Williams had many successful illustrations. He died on May 8, 1996. This book does a wonderful job of outlining Williams life through ups and downs and successes.