Michelle LordCritiques

"Taking the high road may be arduous and long but it will lead to justice and triumph."

I have never heard of Patricia Bath, the first African American woman to receive a medical patent. A woman who cared about correcting eyesight and giving everyone the chance at sight. Excellent person to learn about!

This book would be great for read aloud in primary classrooms, as well as a good book to have in intermediate classrooms for discussion. The story dives into the ocean as a boat of friends look at the pollution that is floating around in the water. It has a rhythmic flow showing how the pollution effects the different types of sea life, as well as where all the pollution comes from. There is beautiful (yet sad) imagery throughout the whole story. The story concludes with a positive spin giving examples on how we can do our part as humans to help save our oceans and help the earth. After the story is over, there are a few more detailed pages that really dive into what the vocabulary is, and calls to action on this subject. I think those pages can help teachers create a more in-depth lesson on the subject if wanted!

This would be a wonderful book to use in an intermediate classroom. This story follows a group of friends as they explore the ocean and the pollution within it. It follows the impact of pollution from a fish swimming in it to the landfill that all the trash comes from. The story ends by providing solutions for how we can save the ocean by cleaning up our mess connected to a call to action. This book is a helpful representation of pollution connected with solutions for how to prevent pollution and attribute to the solution.

Recommended Ages: Gr.

Plot Summary: Patricia knew from age 6 that she wanted to be a doctor. Her parents knew how important education was and Patricia had a drive. When she got her first job as an ophthalmologist, her office was in the basement, next to the lab mice. Knowing it was because she was a Black woman, she spoke her mind and got her office moved. The other doctors gave her the more difficult cases and she rocked them all. Inspired by a situation when she was young, she hoped to solve the issue of cloudy eyes. Can she do it?

Setting: Born in 1942

Characters:
Patricia Bath

Recurring Themes: perseverance, doctor, eye doctor, value of education, race, women equality

Controversial Issues:

Personal Thoughts: This book was about vision - as in, Patricia had a vision to help those with vision loss. The cover is a little confusing because I thought it would be more about prescriptions! I spent the entire book waiting for that part! Since my mom just had cataract surgery, this book was interesting. However, I'm not sure how relevant it would be to young children.

Genre: information text, biography

Pacing: medium - picture book format, read it aloud to my 4&6 year old
Characters:
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity:½

Patricia Bath, born on November 4, 1942 in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, was the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology in 1973. In 1976, she co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, which established that "eyesight is a basic human right." In 1986, she invented the Laserphaco Probe, improving treatment for cataract patients. She patented the device in 1988, becoming the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent.

The author of this biography for ages 6 and up tells us that while other little girls played nurse, six-year-old Patricia played the doctor. She stitched and sewed her dolls, mending them and dreaming of helping people in the same way one day. The fact that she was an African American, a girl, and from a family without money didn’t phase her then, or at any time. Her parents stressed the importance of education and hard work, and encouraged her interest in science by buying her a chemistry set.

At the age of 16, Patricia became one of only a few students to attend a cancer research workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The program head, Dr. Robert Bernard, was so impressed by her discoveries during the project that he incorporated her findings in a scientific paper he presented at a conference.

After graduating from high school in only two years, Patricia headed to Hunter College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1964. She then attended Howard University to pursue a medical degree. She graduated with honors from Howard in 1968, and accepted an internship at Harlem Hospital shortly afterward. The following year, she also began pursuing a fellowship in ophthalmology at Columbia University. Through her studies there, she discovered that African Americans were twice as likely to suffer from blindness than other patients to which she attended, and eight times more likely to develop glaucoma. Her research led to her development of a community ophthalmology system, which increased the amount of eye care given to those who were unable to afford treatment; she convinced her former professors to operate on patients for free.

In 1975, she moved to California to join the famed Jules Stein Eye Institute; she was the first woman hired there. At first she was given an office in the basement, next to the lab animals. Patricia demanded an equal workspace upstairs, and got it. Then she continued her quest of trying to restore sight to the blind. She came up with the idea of using lasers in eye surgery, and traveled to Europe in 1986 to study the idea, eventually inventing a new tool called the “Laserphaco Probe.” The U.S. granted her a patent for the device in 1988.

The story then skips to Patricia’s retirement years, when she traveled to Tanzania, visiting a school for the blind, where the kids did not even have braille books. She sent them braille-computer keyboards, calling it “computer vision.” The author writes, “Dr. Patricia Bath saw possibility wherever she went.”

Dr. Bath died on May 30, 2019 at the age of 76 at a University of California, San Francisco medical center from cancer-related complications. She was granted many honors and awards during her lifetime, including the 1995 NAACP Legal Defense Fund Black Woman Achievement Award. She was inducted into the American Medical Women’s Association Hall of Fame in 2001.

The book concludes with a timeline, Author’s Note, more background about Dr. Bath, and a guide to further resources.

Alleanna Harris uses bright colors and a style reminiscent of animation to illustrate Patricia’s story.

Evaluation: This book highlights a little-known pioneer in African-American history and in medical history. Readers of all ages will find her story inspiring; she was an amazing person whose confidence and dedication are well worth emulating.

In this interesting account of the inventor of the Laserphaco Probe, young readers will learn how perseverance, belief and an unrelenting drive to help the blind lead Patricia Bath to become a hero to so many. From humble begins and a strong-willed family, Patricia found the courage to become something others could only imagine. Neither social norms of the times or unfair treatment could stop her from becoming a doctor and inventing a technology that has helped so many people regain their sight.

I especially loved the extra information about Dr. Bath in the back matter and suggested titles for further reading that will give children further information about women in STEM.

This book goes through a variety of animals and explains how each animal recycles and then says "what ever animal recycles, how about you?" at the end of each page. I love how this empowers children to take a hold of their own actions. This book really empowers students to take ownership of the earth. This would be a great book to incorporate into any animal or life science unit. This book could also be a great resource for Earth day, or when talking about how to be responsible for the Earth. Overall, I love how this book positioned students in a way that made them responsible for recycling. This book was entertaining and had a great read aloud value. I would totally include this in my classroom library. I also think this book could lend it self easily to an integrated literacy lesson. There were some great literacy devices that were used within this book. This book would make a great mentor text for students writing.

not as hopeless as most pollution picture books seem to be

Through rhyme and beautiful artwork of the sea, awareness of the problem trash has caused hits a clear note before gliding in with several solutions.

This is a book with a purpose: to raise awareness of the large trash problem currently ruining our oceans and seas. The author uses a repetitive (and very familiar) rhyming to bring the point home. It's not only easy and catchy for young listeners to join in on, but cleverly builds...much like the garbage situation. But simply showing a problem doesn't round things off. This book also ends with hope and offers solutions along the way.

The illustrations are beautiful...if not bitter-sweet, since they do clear drive the point of ocean pollution home. While the rhyme makes each moment clear, the illustrations really touch the heart. Especially the sea life is wonderfully depicted and invites for gazing, among the garbage, of course. It's a well-balanced mix, which makes sure the message hits with full strength.

Not only does do the last pages of the book show a light at the end of the tunnel and illustrate that it's not a lost situation, but there are extra pages at the end, which give more detail. Each scene (or poem line) is give more information on how it affects the environment. Then, a suggestion is offered as to how each specific problem can be helped.

For anyone wanting to raise awareness concerning ocean pollution, this is a wonderful book to grab up and use.

I received a complimentary copy and found the book beautifully done. So, I'm leaving my honest thoughts.

This book talks about Classification in animals. With lots of content to help determine what is important.

This book is all about asking questions about its content, asking the children what the author could have meant by a specific word or phrase. Classifying animals will always bring up questions and answers. I would use this for a 1st grade lesson.

This book is really fun for a science lesson on animal classification. Deciding on which class is who and what is the most important class to have on the earth. The illustrations depict a great picture for the students. 1st grade.

This book shares information on different classes of animals through poems and rhymes as well as detailed and graphic images. Having this book in the classroom could serve as a resource for children that allows them to enjoy nonfiction reading in a more interesting way.
Genre - Picture Book.

In the historical fiction picture book "Little Sap and Monsieur Rodin", it is about a little girl named Little Sap who tries out for Princess Soumaphady's dance troupe in the Royal Palace in Cambodia. After years of practice and becoming an excellent dancer, the princess decides to bring the dancers to France for an exhibition. Monsieur Rodin is then introduced and he draws the dancers and their movements. Little Sap shows to be his favorite and they form a bond over the dances and drawings. This shows to motivate Little Sap and makes her feel like a great dancer. This book captures the style and fashion of Cambodia and France in 1906 and the years following it. This book is also a great story to show children that they can follow their dreams, no matter how big they are.½

This book introduces students to the five classifications of vertebrates; reptiles, fish, mammals, birds, and amphibians. It uses rhymes and colorful illustrations to keep children interested. I think this too would also be another great book for a read aloud. Not only does it introduce students to classifications of vertebrates, but also gives information about different animals in the classifications.½

Heartbreaking. You can see the emotion on this boy's face throughout his terrifying journey. Bravery and courage and hope.

This is a great informational picture book. There are poems about the different classes of animals with beautiful illustrations. There is a chart in the back that gives the characteristics, some of the species and "exception examples." There is also pictures of different classes of animal skeletons on a page labelled "Vertebrates have Spines," that is very well done. It is a beautiful book that I want to have in my library.

This book has nice illustrations and is composed of many short, fun poems illustrating the characteristics of different animal groups.

Great book, with solid lessons of life, Cultural Emphsis, adventure, Illustrations, picture book, drama. Story of war and peace. Imprisonment and rescue.½

Great introduction to animal classifications, superbly illustrated.

This was a very interesting book to read. It was a little bit intense and heavy to use with younger students so even though it is a picture book, I would definitely gear it towards older elementary school students who could handle the maturity better. I absolutely loved the illustrations in this book-they reflected all of the different tones found in the book, from happiness to sorrow. Arn volunteered to play music in his work camp which ended up changing his life, and I love how that was included. The main character was very well developed, and the reader felt very connected to him. The main idea of this story is to persevere through whatever you are going through, because if you stay strong you can make it through anything.

I enjoyed this book a lot but I felt that the plot was long and drawn out. I lot interest part way though the book. The illustrations were nice but they did not fulfill everything I wanted them too. They sometimes depicted sad situations like child labor and labor camps but this part of history is very important to not be over looked. I thought they were a great addition to the story. The central message was quite sad because is was discussing that of which music can help you though very tough times of war and oppression. It took place during a time of war in Cambodia and the main character Arn was in a camp where he was taught how to play a special instrument. The characters were very believable and I could see these characters being based off of real people with ease. Arn’s story was beautiful with an ending that let you with a smile. He was found in a flood by an American who took him back to the United States and gave him a new start on life but at the same time I feel like they did not address exactly how lucky he was. What happened to all the other children?

I had mixed feelings about “A Song for Cambodia”, the central message of which was that music can serve as an escape in even the most desperate of situations. I did not like the plot of the story, which was about war and oppression, however, I did feel that the characters, such as Arn, were well-developed. Arn’s story was very believable, and surely told the story of many other young children who lived in Cambodia during this time. I also felt that the writing of the story was engaging. As a reader, I felt invested in Arn’s story, and was eager to find out whether he was triumphant by the end of it. In addition to the content of the story, I did not like its illustrations, which depicted very sad instances such as child labor; these are not pictures I like to see in a children’s book. I did like, however, that the tides of Arn’s life changed when he was saved from a flood by an American man. I enjoyed reading about this noble and selfless act by an American, and I greatly appreciated how he took Arn under his wing and ultimately brought Arn to live with him in America. While there were certain aspects of this book that I liked, I do not think this is a book that I would want to have in my future classroom library, as I would prefer for my students not to read about war and oppression at such a young age.

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because the story was very detailed and gave a lot of background knowledge. For example, the author explained, on page six, why there was fighting in Cambodia; “While Cambodia remained neutral, the war between the United States and Cambodia’s neighbor Vietnam had often spilled across the border”. But I didn’t like how “dark” the book was. I was surprised that the author included a scene in the book where the teacher and not talented khim players were killed. In my opinion, that scene makes the book directed toward older readers. The big idea of the book is music can bring people together and can save a dying culture.