Knuffle Bunny - A Cautionary Tale

Willems, M. (2004). Knuffle bunny - A cautionary tale. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Genre:  Picture Book
Age Level:  2-5

Summary:  Knuffle Bunny - A Cautionary Tale is a  Caldecott Honor Book.  This book is sweet story about a little girl named Trixie, who is not even old enough to speak yet.  Trixie has a beloved Knuffle Bunny, which is the center of her world.  She also loves to spend time with her daddy, even when he is visiting the laundromat.  Trixie, Knuffle Bunny, and her daddy are in for quite an adventure when they make a routine visit to take care of the family's laundry.  If you want to know what happen, you will definitely have to read this wonderful tale.

Mo Willems wrote and illustrated this book.  This book is very different from the "Pigeon" books that he writes and illustrates.  With the illustrations, the concept of directionality is being viewed on every page.  It is as though a map is being drawn before your eyes and you can see how to get from Trixie's home to the laundromat.  Also, the illustrations convey a greater sense of reality to a picture.  There is a mixture of real-life photos and the animated drawings of Trixie, her family, and those in her neighborhood.  This type of illustration can bring things to life in a more realistic way.

Reflection:  I found this book to be very easy to read and enjoy.  I thought that the use of real-world pictures along with the animated inllustrations added a neat feature to this book.  I have never seen this type of illustration used in any other book, and also found it to be quite different than Willems' other books.  This book would be a great read for young children who are having a hard time with responsibility.  It would also be a good way to show them how they really need to use their words to let people know what they are saying.  This book brought back memories of my son's younger days when he had a "burpie" as we called his cloth diaper that he had to take with him everywhere.

Big Questions:  In your opinion, what is a knuffle bunny? Why does Trixie have a knuffle bunny? Would you be upset if you lost something that was very special to you? How could you use your words to let someone know how you really feel about something or someone?

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Willems, M. (2003). Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Genre:  Picture Book
Age Level:  2-6

Summary:  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! is a Caldecott Honor Book.  This picture book is specifically centered around a pigeon who is actually "begging" to drive the bus.  Most of the book is focused on the pigeon and his use of persuasive techniques in order to get "you" to let him drive the bus while the bus driver is away.  Does the pigeon get to drive the bus? You will have to read it to find out. 

The author, Mo Willems, was also the illustrator of this book.  He used simple shapes in order to portray the pigeon, who was depicted in many different ways on each page of the book.  He also used little or no background color throughout the story.  This gave the impression that the pigeon was all alone, as shown in the illustrations.

Reflection:  I really enjoyed this book.  I had heard of Mo Willems before reading this picture book, but was not too familiar with his works.  I thought his techniques were very well presented.  I was under the impression throughout the whole book that is was the pigeon against the world.  His illustrations made that more prevalent due to the fact that the pigeon was alone on the page and also that the page was given a muted colored background.  I think this type of book would be great to use with younger students in order to teach proper persuasion techniques.  This book is a prime example of what you should not do in order to get your way.

Big Questions:  Does the pigeon have a driver's license? Should he really be asking to drive the bus if he doesn't have a license? Why does the pigeon want to drive the bus in the first place? Would you let the pigeon drive the bus if you were the bus driver?

Let Me Introduce Myself

Hi, my name is Cynthia Wilson, but I prefer to be called Cindy.  I live in Baxter, Kentucky and teach at Harlan Elementary School.  I have been teaching for 12 years, with most of that time being at 4th grade.  I am still currently teaching 4th graders and believe that is where the Lord meant for me to be.  I definitely prefer the older elementary children, and know for sure that I was not called to be a Kindergarten or 1st grade teacher.  I teach in a self-contained classroom, so therefore I teach all areas.  However, if I could only teach reading, writing, and language arts all day, that would be wonderful.  I feel most comfortable with these areas now, as I did when I was actually in school.  I am currently working on my 2nd Master's in Reading and Writing Specialist, which will fulfill the requirements for my Rank I degree.  I have no desire to work in administration, so I am pursuing this area in order to hopefully become a curriculum coach or educatioal presenter at some point.  I also think of possibly teaching at the college level someday.   

I am a single-mom to a wonderful young man.  My son is 14 years old and a freshman this year.  He enjoys baseball, so that will definitely keep me busy come spring.  In my spare time, which I don't have much of right now, I enjoy reading, spending time with my family, watching Criminal Minds, and working within my church.  I love to read all kinds of books, especially by Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult.  I also love to read books that my students could enjoy as well, and often find myself buying those type books instead of others.  I also love to spend time outdoors, either just sitting on my back porch or taking nice walks.  I love living in the mountains.

My son and I also have four dogs and one cat that keep us busy.  He wasn't blessed with human brothers and sisters, but he sure was with animal ones.  We are very fortunate to have these little ones in our lives.  I don't know if we would know what to do without pets being part of our lives.