RM Winter 2017

TheWonderful World of Books: A Review of Children’s Literature for Teachers

Jonda C. McNair, Clemson University Students, and Katie Thomas

One of my favorite titles in this column, What a Wonderful World , is a picturebook adaptation of the classic song made famous by Louis Armstrong. While this song focuses on some of the many wonderful things in our world that we should pay attention to (e.g., skies of blue, clouds of white, colors of the rainbow, etc.), it makes me think about the wonderful world of books. Every year I find myself excited about books that engage me as a reader and educator for myriad reasons. Sometimes I learn about people that I have never heard of before like Millo Castro Zaldarriaga and José Guadalupe Posada. Other times, I am happy to come across literary gems such as In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse simply because I see the need for books that represent (and are written by) Native Americans in contemporary settings. This column features a selection of books across several genres and sub-genres (e.g., biography, informational text, historical and contemporary realistic fiction, free verse, and wordless) about a range of topics such as typhoid fever, drumming, the Day of the Dead, and the weather. I am pleased to have written this column with several Clemson University students who participated in a Creative Inquiry project with me. Creative Inquiry is a program sponsored by the university that allows students and faculty to engage in activities and discovery across a range of disciplines. I welcome any feedback from readers about this column: jmcnair@clemson.edu. I hope that after browsing this column, you too will take pleasure in the wonderful world of books.

them to make an educated speculation as to the thoughts, motivations, and perspectives of each person in the story.

Reading Matters Literature Matters

Bartoletti’s work also shows thorough research, as evidenced by her citation of newspapers that were current in Mary’s time as well as obscure articles to round out her points. Following the content of the book is a collection of pictures of the figures mentioned in the book, in addition to newspaper illustrations concerning Mary’s story. Also in this section is a timeline of what events happened when. Throughout the book, Bartoletti uses footnotes, with a section in the back of the book with more information on each of these topics. Terrible Typhoid Mary introduces to students ethical issues – would it be better to quarantine Mary and not allow her to make her living, or should she continue to cook but run the risk of infecting others? This book explores human rights while also teaching about this historical event in an objective, helpful, and informative way. Readers looking for another recent book on the subject might enjoy Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow (Calkins Creek, 2015).

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music Engle, Margarita (2015). Illus. by Rafael López. Unpaged. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 978-0-544-10229-3 $16.99 (Primary/ Intermediate) – by Taylor Gerland Have you ever had a dream bigger than you? Well, sometimes you have to ignore what others say and

Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. (2015). 229 pages. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 978-0- 544-31367-5 $17.99 (Young Adult)

pursue it with full force! This is an inspiring true story for dreamers based on a Chinese-African-Cuban girl, Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, who broke Cuba’s traditional taboo against female drummers. Her courage to break tradition has helped make drumming possible for girls on the island. The vibrant illustrations, created with acrylic paint on a wooden board, help guide the poetic text to show the journey the girl went through to achieve her dreams. The drum dream girl in the book is described as living on an island of music in a city of drumbeats where she dreamed of pounding tall conga drums and tapping small bongó drums. This rhythmic pattern of words is found throughout and helps correspond to the rhythm in music. Despite being discouraged throughout the story, Millo continues to dream alone until finally her father sees how great she truly is. Her father gets her a music teacher and even he is amazed by her talent. With the help of her family, her music teacher, and her never ending faith in her dream she plays at a small bongó café where the audience realizes that girls should always be allowed to play drums. This story helps show that no matter how big a dream is and who stands in your way, you should never give up on it.

-- by Laura Dekle

Many people may not know or recognize the name “Mary Mallon,” but most people have heard of “Typhoid Mary,” the infamous

cook who spread typhoid fever in the food she served. But Mary Mallon herself was not terrible. She was just trying to make a living. Those who have heard the story of Typhoid Mary before or those for whom her name is new will learn something they did not already know . In a systematic and thoughtful way, Susan Campbell Bartoletti walks readers through Mary’s story, showing them the perspectives of all those involved in Mary’s case and how their opinions evolved over the years that Mary’s case was a “case.” She does this by sharing the facts and details of what happened to Mary and each person involved in her story. Bartoletti writes in a way that gives readers the freedom to think, thus guiding

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