Annotated Bibliography Genre 3: Biography/Autobiography

Genre Study

      The book genre that I chose for this week is that of Biography/Autobiography. Typically biographies and autobiographies detail the lives of famous people. Biographies are written about a certain person without their own involvement, and autobiographies are written by the famous person themselves or with the help of an actual writer. These books could be based on famous musicians to war heroes. These books can be written at many different reading levels, ranging from simple picture books to dense text driven books. This genre definitely lends itself to social studies based material. As I stated earlier, these books come in a wide range of reading, so I could see myself having many books on the same subject but on different reading levels. This would supplement both lower leveled readers and higher leveled readers. These would mostly be used in conjunction with lessons on prominent figures throughout history. Perhaps I would even have children choose someone that they were interested and let them do a project on the given person. Books like these usually have a healthy amount information, so I would wager that most could be used in the classroom without issue. This is not to say that all would be useful for learning activities, but they would all provide information and entertainment for children.

Selected Titles

1. B. Franklin Printer 

      This book has a 970 Lexile level, so it sits somewhere between 5th and 6th grade for proper accessibility. This is most definitely not a book that I would advise reading aloud in any classroom. Perhaps reading excerpts from it would be fine, but whole thing would probably be too much. The book has an index, table of contents, and timeline to get an idea of where to go and what was going on in Ben's life at the time.  The does a fairly great job of covering key events from Ben's life. The paragraphs are well written and there are some tricky words that come up every so often, but nothing too serious. I would definitely have this book in my classroom because of the wealth of information. 

References:

 Adler, D. A. (2002). B. Franklin, printer. New York: Scholastic.

2. Who Was Ben Franklin?

      This book has a 600 Lexile level, so it sits somewhere between 2nd and 3rd grade for comfortable reading level. Those grade levels could definitely read this independently for the most part. It would definitely be an easy read for many, but it has tons of great content. Much like the last book this book covers the life of Ben Franklin. The book has a table of contents, and also has a timeline of important events throughout Ben's life. This book would be great to have to supplement a unit on important American figures. The writing is not particularly difficult, and should be fairly easy for most children in the 2nd and 3rd grade to digest.

References:

 Fradin, D. B., & O'Brien, J. (2002). Who was Ben Franklin? New York: Grosset & Dunlap. 

Annotated Bibliography Genre 2: Action/Adventure

Genre Study

     The book genre that I decided to look at this week is that of action/adventure. The action/adventure genre is characteristic of exciting stories with characters going on journeys that may or may include some dangerous situations and drama along the way. This could be a story about a forest expedition to some type of battle. For informational texts of this genre, the books should be based on true events, and should at least be moderately exciting. These books should also be quasi tame considering the young audience. These books would probably be used to supplement social studies type material. For example, if the class was tackling one of the key wars throughout U.S. history then it would be fair to use some supplemental books detailing certain events that took place. The books I would most be interested in using in a classroom would be fairly short in length and would be read aloud to the class and/or would be available to class to read by themselves. Books like these are highly valuable classroom assets, as they can captivate children with both exciting stories and knowledge on the history behind them. 

Selected Titles

1. Children of the Trail West

      Boasting a 800 Lexile level this book would fit fairly nicely in a 3rd or 4th grade classroom. It could certainly be used as a read aloud in 2nd grade though, but it would be lengthy read. The theme is essentially on what life was like for children on the wagon trains during the 1800's. The children basically go through the same hardships that their parents go through. The book is well written, with many good paragraphs. There are some technical terms that may confuse some students such "cholera" and "nooning", but there is a short glossary located in the back of the book. There is also a useful timeline of events in the back of the book as well, which can better help children piece everything together.

References:

Littlefield, H. (1999). Children of the trail west. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.

2. Wanted Dead or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman 

      

       This book has a 540 Lexile level, so it would work best in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It would probably be fine as a read aloud in both 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. The book is about Harriet Tubman's life, such as the horrible things that she had to go through and the good she did for many others. The book doesn't really have any complex language throughout the text. There is no glossary to speak of, and all you get for content is the story itself. I would think that most teachers would want to go through the topics discussed in this book because of the subject matter, but there is nothing explicit in the book.

References:

McGovern, A. (1965). "Wanted dead or alive": The true story of Harriet Tubman. New York: Scholastic Book Services. 

Annotated Bibliography Genre 1: Environmental Texts/Nature books

                                                                     Genre Study

      

      The book genre that I decided to look at this week is that of environmental texts. This is not in regards to text that is seen throughout our daily lives on street signs and such, but on things that are actually part of the environment. This could involve a book that was written about the natural creation of caves, to the different types of trees found in the United States. Being as I want this bibliography to be more focused in the elementary setting, I believe that books of this type should be fairly short in length while also providing factual information. This information should be simple and to the point. These  books should also come from reputable publishing houses. The information held within these books needs to be sound and factual. Books of this genre will also typically need to have great pictures to move the ideas forward, and to engage readers about the given topic.

      Books of this type would most likely be used to reinforce a topic or area that is being explored. I would like to read the books to the whole class as the children sit, listen, and take in the pictures/illustrations. It would be nice to have these books constantly present in the classroom. Perhaps after reading the book to the class it would be integrated into the book library. These books could also be used for small group discussions/readings after the whole class reading activity. Many books of this nature tend to either be too simple or too complex for students. It would be ideal to have access to differing levels of books on the same topic, so hopefully the more difficult books could be supplemented by easier books and vice versa.

                                                                       Selected Titles

1. Soil Science

  

      With a 610 Lexile level, this book would most likely be used somewhere between grades 2nd through 4th. It would most likely be used as read along book in the lower elementary, but I would say most 3rd and 4th graders could read this book alone. The book's core theme is on how soil works. It discusses what makes up soil, and the different types of soil. The book also discusses the problems of erosion, and why soil is one of the greatest natural resources. The writing is simple and effective, and there were no errors as far as I could tell. The book has some fairly meaty paragraphs for only being 16 pages long.  Each image within the book has a caption, so this is certainly nice attention to detail. There are some words that students may not be familiar with such as contour plowing and loam, but a glossary is provided and covers many of these unknown words. So, other than some unfamiliar words and concepts, most children of the proper age group should be fine reading this book.

References:

 Maineri, S. A., & Daniel, K. S. (2004). Soil science. Hudson, NH: Delta Education.

2. Investigating Water 

      With a 100 Lexile level, this book fits somewhere between 1st and 2nd grade. The book would be a great read aloud for a kindergarten or pre-k class, and would be great read along and independent reading for 1st and second graders. The book's themes concern what water is. It looks at the different ways water can be changed by the environment with freezing and evaporating taking center stage. It also covers how things float on water and how things can sink. The book is built upon bullet point sentences that are quite simple in structure. There are certain words that students may need help with words such as dissolves and evaporates, but a glossary is provided to help with some of this confusion. There is a combination of illustrations and photographs in the book with no captions.

References:

 Maineri, S. A., & Daniel, K. S. (2004). Investigating water. Nashua, NH: Delta Education.