Week 6 Books

Gertrude Chandler Warner and THE BOXCAR CHILDREN, by Mary Ellen Ellsworth:

This chapter book was a biography of Gertrude Chandler Warner who was a teacher and author from Connecticut, New England, in America. Her life spanned over almost ninety years, from 1890 to 1979, so much of what was discussed occurred many years ago. The discussion had to be considered within the appropriate context, both socially and culturally, as both these factors have changed considerably over the years. The roles of women in the early 20^th century, how education was taught in the early to mid-20^th century, and the strong religious influence within the town she lived in, all had to be considered in order to better effectively construct the meaning of the text the way it was intended.

This book could be used by middle primary students to aid in developing an understanding of cohesion within texts. There are many examples throughout the book of the different methods of linking text which can be used to develop cohesion, such as repeated words, related words, pronoun reference, and the use of conjunctions.

Patricia, by Stephen Michael King:

This picture book tells of a small girl’s unsuccessful efforts to get somebody from her family to listen to her thoughts. The illustrations in this book provide a wealth of supplementary information to the reader and really give the narrative depth and interest. The written text appears to represent the basic meaning behind each page, relying on the illustrations to expand on the story telling. The visual representation of some of the text is also used cleverly to help construct meaning of some sentences. This is achieved by enlarging font, and altering text direction creating the illusion of the written text blending with the illustrations.

This book may be used with lower primary students to develop their understanding of clauses containing a subject and verb. This book would work well for this as the clauses are short and clear, making them ideal for using as effective examples.

Little Boy, by Alison McGhee and Peter H. Reynolds:

This picture book looks at the daily events of a little boy, highlighting what is important in his day and the evidence he leaves behind that identifies his actions. The written text is structured as a poem, with a line per page and every sixth line repeating.

This book may be used with lower primary students when investigating poetry. It could be broken down and reformed on one page to clearly demonstrate its overall structure.