Sarah HeimanCritiques

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Japan ABCs: A book about the People and the Places has a very interesting twist to your standard ABC’s book. For each letter, it relates back to an aspect of Japanese culture or geography. I loved how it was a simple book for a child to learn their ABC’s but also allows older children to understand Japan and its culture and people. It was very intriguing how the book was laid out. On each page was a letter of the alphabet, a fact on what the letter connects to and then different facts about that concept. There were also pictures to go along with the facts that made it easy to turn into a visual aid for younger children. This is a book that will be used in my future classrooms.

A book about people and places of Australia

I would use this book with 2nd-4th graders because 2nd graders would be able to understad it as a read loud and 4th graders would be able to read it independetly.

Genre- Alphabet Book
Age- P-I
This would be such a great book with which to begin a unit on Mexico. While I was reading it I was envisioning a project where students pick a random letter, then have to give a presentation on the subject of that letter. For example, the student who picks A must study and present on Mexican art, and the student who picks D will study the Day of the Dead. The illustrations were fun and colorful which made the book seem more exciting, despite its straightforward topic. Some of the choices for the letters seemed a little odd to me, occasionally bordering on stereotypes, but for a first introduction into a very complex race and culture, I think it was alright. I would make sure that this isn’t the only book about Mexico that children are exposed to though, because as I said, it’s a complex place with a deep history and cultural tradition, which deserves more than just a short blurb next to the letter. As long as this book isn’t considered a be-all-end-all encyclopedia of all things Mexico I think it’s a really good addition to a unit about North American countries.

Describes the people, the culture and animals of Kenya. For example, L s for lion and D is for drums.

Carmen