Ilene CooperCritiques

Dog

Lucy the beagle takes off after a cat and her owner has to overcome his bashfulness to ask people around town if they've seen her. I much preferred this jaunty little adventure over the first book in this series. I hate to admit it, but this dog series really needed a cat to help it come alive.

An energetic beagle puppy helps a shy boy open up and make some friends in his neighborhood.

It does what it sets out to do, but there just isn't much to it.

Lucy likes to run. She likes to bark. She likes to chew and howl. But when Bobby and his family take her to a lake, she finds out there's one thing she doesn't like--the water!

6 copies

Independent Reading Level: Grade 2

This engaging informational text describes how women have participated in our House and Senate over the decades. Given that female representation in government is still low, these representatives’ and senators’ stories are particularly inspiring! Appendices, Bibliography, Websites.

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Grandpa explains that the golden rule is a simple statement on how to live that can be practiced by people of all ages and faiths, then helps his grandson figure out how to apply the rule to his own life.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: FIGHTER FOR JUSTICE by Ilene Cooper is a biography focusing on Roosevelt’s lasting impact.

Designed for intermediate and middle grade readers, this biography includes the basics of Roosevelt’s life. However this work of nonfiction places emphasis on her transformation into an advocate for social justice. The author uses a conversational approach to describe how Roosevelt overcame her own prejudices and used her powerful position to promote important causes such as the Civil Rights Movement. Historic photographs and other illustrations will contribute to the appeal of this title. The book includes a timeline, biography, and index.

Librarians will find their collection filled with books on Eleanor Roosevelt. What makes this book unusual is its emphasis on her national and international contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and other efforts related to social justice. Students doing reports on both Roosevelt and the Civil Rights Movement will find the book useful.

Published by Abrams Books for Young Readers on August 7, 2018. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

A biography of Eleanor Roosevelt tracing her early life, her marriage, motherhood, and devotion to various causes and activism as a first lady and beyond. An accessible, quick read. It was insightful, well researched, and had several primary sources and images sprinkled throughout.

The Golden Rule by Ilene Cooper is a multicultural and international book about The Golden Rule. The rule states, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," which can be found in all the world's religions and in every culture. It is a simple rule that is not always easy to follow. The book captures the importance and rewards of following this rule. The story is beautifully illustrated by paintings by Gabi Swiatlowska. This book would be good for nursery school children and elementary school children to teach them how to be kind to and respectful of one another.

This a delightfully illustrated book about the Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would want them to do unto you. A grandfather goes about teaching his grandson how to treat others and about how all (many) religions have the same rule. The child thinks about what he could do do adapt the golden rule giving readers ideas along the way.

A boy and his grandfather see a sign that reads 'DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU,' and the boy asks his grandfather what this means. The grandfather explains how many different religions preach this rule and that it's one that everyone ought to follow. He helps the boy to understand how he can practice this rule and how the world could be a better place if we all practiced it.

A young boy and his grandfather ponder the meaning of The Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'

What does Bobby do all day at school? Lucy wants to know! So when Bobby’s mom takes her there, Lucy takes off! She finds the lunchroom. She finds the library. But can she find Bobby?

Summary: This story is about a young boy and his grandpa. They see a sign with the golden rule written on it that says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". This sparks a conversation between the young boy and his grandfather about what this rule means and what it would look like if everyone in the world followed it. The grandfather also educates the boy on how other religions view this rule and gives examples for Christianity, Buddism, Hinduism and a few others.

Critique of Genre: Releastic fiction because it's showing life as it really could be. A young boy having a conversation with his grandpa. (Multicultural)

Age: Primary-intermediate.

Media: Not listed

An encyclopedia like book for Jewish holidays.

As former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe writes in the forward to this book geared to ages 10-14, “The total number of woman senators and representatives in America’s history is 296. That’s out of a total of 12,099 individuals who have served in Congress.”

Ilene Cooper takes readers from the first Congress in 1789 through the Congress of 2010; from the beginnings of the women’s suffrage movement to a Congress with a woman Speaker of the House. She tells you what life was like for American women in the early 1800s, and about the trail-blazing women who fought for women to have the right to vote. (The 19th Amendment, stating that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of sex, was passed in 1920.) She continues through the eras, first introducing a bit of the sociopolitical background and then highlighting the females who struggled against sexism and racism to serve in Congress.

Many notable women are introduced to the reader: from Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to serve in Congress (in 1917); to the women who came to Congress to finish out the terms of their husbands or fathers; to Margaret Chase Smith, who served in both the House and the Senate; to Patsy Mink, the first woman of color and first Asian American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives; and Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to serve in the Congress.

Older readers may remember the colorful Bella Abzug of New York, known for her hats and her courage in taking on powerful men, and Millicent Fenwick, considered the inspiration behind Lacey Davenport, a fictional character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury.

In 1992, four women won Senate races, bringing the total number of women in the Senate to six, the highest number ever serving at one time.

From recent times, readers may recognize the name of Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president from one of the two major parties. Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Elizabeth Dole, Elizabeth Warren, gained national reputations as did Olympia Snowe and of course Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gabrielle Giffords was a well-known representative from Arizona even before she was shot in 2011 at a meeting with her constituents in Tucson. Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay U.S. Senator, and Mazie Hirono the first Asian American female senator.

The position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, one of the most important positions in the U.S. government, went to a woman in 2006, Nancy Pelosi, currently serving as Minority Leader of the House.

The author concludes:

“Today, most American women have choices about how to spend their lives. They can be at home taking care of their families. They can also be out in the working world. Many, many women do both. For some of those women, their work will be in political office, helping to shape and make the laws of the United States.”

Illustrations by Elizabeth Baddeley include both pictures and quotes accentuated by a comic-books style manner.

The book also features photographs, an appendix that explains terms, institutions, and procedures mentioned in the book, bibliography, and a chart highlighting every woman who has served in the U.S. Congress.

Evaluation: This valuable compendium full of photos, entertaining facts, and catchy artwork is an excellent addition to histories that are so heavily weighted with a focus on famous men. Young girls will be inspired by all of their foremothers who worked hard to break the governmental “glass ceiling” (an unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities).

this was a good quick read

A Woman in the House (and the Senate):How Women Came to the United States Congress, Broke Down Barriers, and Changed the Country by Ilene Cooper and Elizabeth Baddeley As suggested by the title, this book chronicles the history of women in politics in the United States Congress. Beginning in the House of Representatives and eventually getting seats in the Senate as well, women have been working in politics for far longer than we get credit for. Granted, many of those first seats were obtained through special elections and appoints where the women filled their husband's seats, not all of them did. In fact, the first one got there all on her own. Even those who did follow their husband's did good work and often stayed well passed the initial appointment/special election. 
I enjoyed the demographics that our pointed out right at the beginning that in the whole history of the United States, we still have not had enough women serve to fill the house of Representatives alone. And some believe that we have equality, not with those numbers. We still just over half, after all this time. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the overall numbers to eventually even out, men are over 12,000 seats ahead of us. All the same, the book brings to life women who have served, how they got there, and how they moved the progress forward, which glass ceilings have been broken or shatter or merely dented. 
There's a lot of information packed into a tiny book!
The illustrations by Elizabeth Baddeley were gorgeous and gave beautiful touches to the stories of the women mentioned in the book. If you get the Kindle edition, as I did, bear in mind that the formatting doesn't sit well for phone reading. At least it didn't for me. It was really only readable on my tablet or computer, which was fine, but just know going into it. Overall, a great book for anyone who is interested in the Herstory of U.S. politics, especially for the children it was written for. It's great that we get taught the history of our nation and get that government class in high school, but schools often leave out the accomplishments that lean toward equality unless their spefically the Civil Rights Movements and the Equal Rights Amendment. There's a long, slow road that gets us to those things and the people who work on and build that road need to be remembered too. 

A boys grandfather tells him about the golden rule in life, treat others as you wish to be treated. He explains how this rule has been adapted over time by different religions and cultures all over the world.

Jake our hero loves to suck on his left thumb, he did it every day everywhere. until bullies started to tease him then he started to give some thought about it to let go with help of his kindergadeners friends.