Picture Book File

Author: ​Jan Brett

Title: ​The Mitten

Publisher: ​G.P. Putnam’s Sons-New York

Summary: ​After begging his Baba to make him white as snow mittens and promising not to lose them,
Nicky loses one mitten. While Nicki doesn’t yet notice his mitten is missing, it has an adventure all of its
own, becoming the temporary home of all kinds of animals. From the smallest field mouse to a big brown
bear.

Evaluation

Plot: ​The plot of this story is that when Nicki drops his mitten in the snow he doesn’t realize it. However
one by one many forest animals find it and are forced to share as each animal is scared of the one that
follows.

Believability:​ 4

Comment: As an adult it wasn’t very believable simply because I know that these animals wouldn’t
normally coincide with each other so freely. I think even small children understand the idea of predators.

Major dramatic question​: Yes

Comment: You could tell from the beginning of the book the question was on Nicki and his mitten;
whether he would make it home with it or not.

Other: ​8

Comment: The book not only had a clear conflict; would Nicki realize his mitten was missing before he
made it home to his Baba who was sure to check him. It also had a satisfactory ending when it was just
his luck that the bear would sneeze and float the mitten right up in his view.

Style and Language: ​9

Pacing: ​8

Character: ​9

Comment: I enjoyed how the book stayed true to the Ukrainian culture. Especially with the cultural detail
to the clothing.

Setting: ​9

Theme: ​7

Other Considerations: ​7

Well Rounded: ​8
Overall Rating: ​9

Comment: Overall this book is engaging and paints a clever picture for children. They feel worry when
Nicki losses his mitten, joy at all the animals squeezing into it and excitement when the bear sneezes and
Nicki gets his mitten back.

Author: ​Janell Cannon

Title: ​Stella Luna

Publisher: ​Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary: ​Stella Luna is the story of a young bat who got separated from her mother bat during an
escape from an owl. Stella Luna all alone, ends up in a bird nest. She is taken in by the mother bird only
after making a promise that she would act like a bird as not to be a bad influence to the birds. However,
Stella couldn’t not live like a bird forever as she found it hard to eat bugs, stay awake all day and not
sleep upside down. Stella Luna soon finds out she is not meant to live like a bird. She was a bat, and
should live freely as a bat.

Evaluation

Plot: ​The plot of this story is a young bat gets lost from her mother and is taken in by a family of birds.
However, the young bat tries her best to adapt and become a “good bird” but she couldn’t keep from
being who she truly was.

Believability:​ 7

Comment: Stella Luna has a high believability not only for children but also for myself as an adult. From
the owl attacking to the book showing how different the birds and Stella Luna were. They could land on
their feet and eat bugs, but she as a bat could see at night and hang upside down.

Major dramatic question​: Yes (slow but emerging)

Comment: You could see story was emerging slowly but surely. You really weren’t sure if Stella would
ever be reunited with her mother. The book seemed as if she would simply always live the life of a bird.

Other: ​8

Comment: Stella Luna had a clear conflict in the book. Would Stella Luna adapt to being a “good bird” as
she promised Momma Bird she would. It also had a very satisfactory ending in Stella Luna finding her
family but still staying connected to her bird friends in spite of their differences.

Style and Language: ​9

Pacing: ​8

Character: ​10

Comment: The Characters were my favorite part of Stella Luna. They showed such emotion from
Momma Birds anger, to the curiosity of the baby birds wanting to be like Stella Luna. Also the exitment
that Momma bird felt when she finally was reunited with her Stella Luna and the relief that was felt by all
that she made it through the owl attack.

Setting: ​9

Theme: ​9

Other Considerations: ​7

Well Rounded: ​8

Overall Rating: ​10

Comment: Overall Stella Luna is a wonderful book from beginning to end. It truly is a book that you do
not know what will happen. The book never tells you if Stella Luna’s mother made it so you assume he is
going to be a bird from then on. However, when the book ties it together and Stella Luna is reunited with
her mother she feared was gone forever you truly feel the book comes together well.

Author: ​Margaret Wise Brown

Title: ​Goodnight Moon

Publisher: ​Harper & Brothers

Summary: ​A baby bunny tries to avoid going to bed by saying goodnight to anything and everything that
he sees in his room.

Evaluation

Plot: ​The plot of the story is the little bunny is doing everything to avoid sleep. She describes everything
in the room and then says goodnight to them all.

Believability:​ 9

Comment: The book has a high believability in the sense that we can all relate to a young child doing and
asking for anything they could get just to avoid going to bed.

Major dramatic question​: Yes

Other: ​7

Style and Language: ​9

Comment: The book has such descriptive language from the first page you read. Such descriptive words
allow you to focus and allows for children to notice detail.

Pacing: ​9

Comment: The book is paced out very well. It is paced in a way that is very slow and steady. Perfect for a
night time story.
Character: ​7

Comment: Baby Bunny was a very curious character but also very smart. She uses every little thing she
can lay her eyes on to draw out her time to go to bed. And calm momma Bunny is like so many mothers
just sitting shushing and waiting for their little ones to finally succumb to their own sleep.

Setting: ​8

Theme: ​7

Other Considerations: ​9

Comment: The mood of the book is calm. This book is set up in a way that makes it perfect for calming
down with a bedtime story. The mood is also fun and light.

Well Rounded: ​9

Overall Rating: ​10

Author: ​Eric Carle

Title: ​The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Publisher: ​Putnam/Philomel

Summary: ​The Very Hungry Caterpillar takes us through the life of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
The caterpillar eats and eats continues to grow larger until it grows it chrysalis and sleeps until it becomes
a butterfly.

Evaluation

Plot: ​The hungry caterpillar continues to eat and eat. Not only is he eating healthy good but he also ate
candy, cupcakes and all kinds of other food. The caterpillar gets a stomach ache and falls asleep in his
chrysalis and afterwards he becomes a butterfly.

Believability:​ 9

Comment: Aside from the caterpillar eating cookies, candies and even pickles the believability of this
book is very high. It teaches about the life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly but in a fun way with vibrant
illustrations.

Major dramatic question​: Yes

Comment: In the book you can see that the story is discussing how the caterpillar gets to become a
butterfly. You can follow the story well and see that all his eating and eating is leading to something.

Other: ​7

Style and Language: ​8

Comment: I like that the language of the book is repetitive and also that the book focuses on math and
counting skills as well. It makes the book more fun for children as they can interact with the book and
story.

Pacing: ​7

Character: ​9

Setting: ​7

Theme: ​7

Other Considerations: ​8

Comment: The tone of the book is very positive and upbeat. It allows for a book that can be ready over
and over again.

Well Rounded: ​9

Overall Rating: ​9.5

Comment: Overall “The Very Hungry Caterpillar: is a good picture book for children. Not only does it
give vibrant colors, relatable objects the children understand but it also helps on a mathematical sense.
Helping children count.

Author: ​Robert Kraus

Title: ​Leo The Late Bloomer

Publisher: ​Harper & Row

Summary: ​Leo isn’t like the other animals. He can’t write, he can’t read and doesn’t eat nicely like the
other animals. Leo and especially his father worry about Leo and his late blooming. However, it is
Momma Tiger that has to calm down Leo’s father and his worries.

Evaluation

Plot: ​Leo’s father is worried that he is not doing things at the same level as the other children. He
wonders when and if Leo will ever bloom.

Believability:​ 9

Comment: Many parents worry about their child’s development and if they are at their right intellectual
pace. Leo’s father is just one of many so this story is very believable.

Major dramatic question​: Yes

Comment: You can see that the major question is Leo’s fathers’ fear that something is wrong with Leo. It
is evident and clear in the entire book.
Other: ​7

Style and Language: ​7

Comment: The language of the story is kept very simple which is perfect for a young reader to read and
understand on their level.

Pacing: ​8

Character: ​9

Comment: Leo’s father is causing Leo to worry and stress about if he is blooming or not. It takes the calm
of Leo’s mother to tell Dad that he needs to relax and let Leo be. I like that the characters were opposite
and were able to play off each other.

Setting: ​8.5

Theme: ​8

Other Considerations: ​8

Well Rounded: ​9

Overall Rating: ​10

Comment: I really enjoyed this book. It shows kids as well as parents that each child develops and does
things at their own pace and time. Let them play and be children and the blooming will come in time.

Author: ​Audrey Wood

Title: ​Quick as a Cricket

Publisher: ​Child’s Play-International

Summary: ​ A young boy points out characteristics of animals and how he relates to them.

Evaluation

Plot: ​Quick as a Cricket is a descriptive story about a boy who sees different animals out in the world and
compares his behavior to theirs. He is sometimes as slow as a snail and as sad as a basset hound.

Believability:​ 9

Comment: The believability of the story is very high. He compares himself to all real animals. Its
believable in his expressions that he is as sad as basset, and that he could even be as happy as a lark at
times. However, he probably isn’t physically as strong as an ox, but to kids they believe they are strong
like their favorite animal or Superhero.

Major dramatic question​: No

Comment: The story offers to MDQ for the audience. It simply takes you on the boy’s adventures with
animals but there is no dramatic question in the story.

Other: ​7.5

Style and Language: ​ 8

Comment: The style of the book is kept simple. It not only gives the reader repetitive reading “I’m as”
allowing students to join in on the story. It keeps the adjectives, descriptive words, understandable to even
the youngest of readers.

Pacing: ​9

Character: ​10

Comment: The young boy as a character is very relatable to children. They can see the boys fear and
happiness and relate it better kid to kid as opposed as kid to adult. The boy takes them on an adventure,
something we all look for in books.

Setting: ​8.5

Theme: ​9

Other Considerations:​8

Well Rounded: ​8.5

Overall Rating: ​10

Comment: Overall the book is a picture book that would be a staple in any young classroom. It’s good for
whole group reading but is simple enough that children can remember the repetitive “I’m as” and be able
to look at the pictures to complete the story. They may not remember the type of dog but with such
descriptive pictures they can see the dog is sad, the bird is happy and the “cow” (which some remember it
as) is strong.

Author: ​Paul Galdone

Title: ​The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Publisher: ​Clarion Books

Summary: ​The Three Billy Goats Gruff is the story of three goat brothers who are attempting to cross a
bridge so that they can get to the grass and eat and eat and get bigger.

Evaluation

Plot: ​Though the goats need to cross the bride, there is a troll under the bridge. Each time someone
attempts to cross the bridge the troll threatens to gobble them up. But each goat offers his brother coming
up next who is fatter to the troll.

Believability:​ 6
Comment: The believability level of the story isn’t very high but the part about the goats eating is
believable. However, the fact that it is a timeless tale makes you forget about the fact that trolls aren’t
real.

Major dramatic question​: Yes

Comment: There is a major dramatic question evident early in the book. You can see early from the first
Gruff brother passing off the trolls hunger onto his next brother.

Other: ​7

Comment: The book has a very clear conflict seen early on. The conflict is that the goats are trying to
avoid being the trolls dinner. They have to use their wits and outsmart the troll.

Style and Language: ​9

Comment: The style and language of The Three Billy Goats Gruff is very strong. It has language that you
can visualize and even act out and make it fun. The “gobble” and the descriptive words when the goats
walk across the bridge.

Pacing: ​9

Character: ​8

Setting: ​7

Theme: ​8

Other Considerations: ​8

Well Rounded: ​6

Overall Rating: ​9

Comment: Overall the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a good lesson in teaching about
not being greedy without actually throwing the lesson in your face and down your throat.

Author: ​Janet Stevens

Title: ​Tops & Bottoms

Publisher: ​Scholastic

Summary: ​Tops & Bottoms​ is the story of a trickster Hare working hard and a lazy, not so bright bear.
Good lesson for a garden unit as it teaches kids about the tops and bottoms of different fruit and what
parts we eat.

Evaluation
Plot: ​When the trickster Hare needs to find a way to feed him and his large family he convinces her
neighbor the Bear to work together. The hare will do all of the work and they will split the profits of the
harvest. However, the bear never seems to end up with any edible food.

Believability:​ 9

Comment: The believability of ​Tops & Bottoms​ is high in my opinion. It does not matter that it was
talking animals, it is a kids book. It is high because it shows the outcome of when you work hard versus
when you just expect things to come without any type of work.

Major dramatic question​: Yes

Comment: The major dramatic question in ​Tops & Bottoms​ has us wondering if the Bear will ever get any
real food or will he keep letting the clever Hare get the best of him. Every time the bear picks a new part
of the vegetable you wonder if he’ll finally be able to his part of the harvest from the hare.

Other: ​8

Comment: ​Tops & Bottoms​ keeps an upbeat tone throughout the book. Even in the moments when the
bear is angry and yelling, the way the hare acts as if he is innocent the whole time keeps the story fun and
light.

Style and Language: ​7

Pacing: ​9

Character: ​9

Comment: The characters of the book are very enjoyable because of their complete opposite behavior.
Students can see how sneaky the tricky hare is to the bare but they also see who the real hard worker is
and that is usually who they relate.

Setting: ​7

Theme: ​9

Other Considerations: ​8

Well Rounded: ​8

Overall Rating: ​9

Comment:​ Tops & Bottoms i​ s definitely a book that would come up in my classroom. It shows the
importance of hard work but in a fun way that keeps students entertained. Laughing at the angry bear who
just can’t seem to pick correctly, and finding the hare clever being able to keep tricking the bear and
beating him with hard work.