Actual Size

Picture Book Review
LS 5603.20/Spring 2010
S. Vardell

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Jenkins, Steve. Actual Size. Boston: Houghton Mufflin Company, 2004.

PLOT SUMMARY:

How big is a Goliath frog? What about the eye of a giant squid? How small is a pygmy mouse lemur? The answers to these questions and more are included in Steve Jenkin's book Actual Size. This book allows all who read it to compare their size to the "actual" size of some of the interesting animals and insects of our world.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Author Steve Jenkins has taken science to a new "size" for young readers. This beautifully crafted book features eleven different animals. Inside the front flap of the book jacket is a ruler that measures 1'1/4". This ruler furthers the impact of each animal's size. Inside the book, on double page layouts, Mr. Jenkins has created "Actual Size" images of a pygmy shrew, atlas moth, dwarf goby, giant squid, Alaskan brown bear, ostrich, giant anteater, Goliath birdeater tarantula, great white shark, gorilla, pygmy mouse lemur, Siberian tiger, Goliath beetle, Giant walking stick, African elephant and the giant Gippsland earthworm. The contrasting scale of these animals is fun and factual. Along with these beautiful collages and intricate cut paper creations, Mr. Jenkins inserts valuable scientific information relevant to the each subject. This information includes: lengths, wingspans and weights. The most striking part of the book comes on the Crocodile page. This tri-fold page is sure to make an impact on the reader and gives a new meaning of being "up close and personal'. The reverse side of the triptych shows the size of the Goliath Frog in mid leap. Lastly, if the reader desires more information on the animals depicted, author Jenkins includes more detailed information about each of his subjects in the back of his book. He includes additional facts about: habitats, eating habits and locations. Jenkin's research, creative presentation and reputation produce a credible information book. Actual Size is sure to become a classic and a necessary addition to any library's holdings

Images credited to http://www.stevejenkinsbooks.com/

AWARDS WON AND REVIEW EXCERPTS:
Arizona Young Readers' Award, 2006 Winner Non-Fiction Arizona
Beehive Award, 2006 Winner Informational Utah
Books of the Year, 2004 Winner Ages 2 to 4 United States
Editors' Choice Top of the List, 2004 Winner Youth Nonfiction United States
Flicker Tale Children's Book Award, 2006 Winner Early-Primary Grades Non-Fiction North Dakota
Garden State Children's Book Award, 2007 Winner Nonfiction New Jersey
Great Lakes Great Books Award, 2007 Honor Book Grade K-1 Michigan
Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, 2005 Honor Book United States

Anita Ganeri (Books for Keeps No. 163, March 2007)
"As its title suggests, this delightful large format book illustrates animals, and parts of animals, both large and small, at Actual Size. So, on the first spread, the reader meets a life-sized atlas moth (the world’s largest moth) with a dwarf goby (the world’s smallest fish) for comparison. On the next pages, we come face to face with a giant squid’s eye, a brown bear’s snout and a giant anteater’s tongue (complete with life-sized termites), among many other delights. With charming, collage-style illustrations, this book are packed with wow! Factor and should appeal to younger and older readers alike..."

Pat Thomson (Carousel 35, spring 2007)
"This is a good-looking, ingenious and helpful book which depicts animals in proper proportion, dispelling often false assumptions. The pygmy shrew sits easily under the title, with plenty of room to spare, a gorilla's single hand fills one page and it takes a double spread plus an extra fold-out page to show just the saltwater crocodile's head and jaws. The back pages give more conventionally presented extra detail about each animal. Adults and children can share their astonishment". Category: Non-Fiction. Frances Lincoln, D9.99.

CONNECTIONS:
Steve Jenkins  http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_jenkins_steve.html
Steve Jenkins Website

Recommended Readings from Librarything website
What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Robin Page
Biggest, Strongest, Fastest by Steve Jenkins
Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
Maria Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan
What do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? by Steve Jenkins

The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins

Picture Book Review
LS 5603.20/Spring 2010
S. Vardell

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Kerley, Barbara. The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins. New York: Scholastic Press, 2001.

PLOT SUMMARY:

Who is Waterhouse Hawkins and what did he have to do with dinosaurs? The book The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by David Selznick tells a reader just that. All are familiar with the fossils and skeletal remains of dinosaurs that stand prominently in museums around the world. Yet, how did we come to understand what these extinct animals looked like? This book has the answers as author, Kerley, leads the reader through Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins' life in three stages with insight into his creative mind.


CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

This biographical story combines the talents of author Barbara Kerley and illustrator Brian Selznick. Kerley's text conveys factual information about Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins. It is clear Ms. Kerley did her homework and delivers a credible biographical story. This man, Waterhouse Hawkins, won the praise of the most ardent scientist of his time and the Queen of England. The recreation of the dinner party within the colossal mold of Hawkins's Iguanodon, complete with actual Menu in the bad of the book, serves to attest to this pioneers resourcefulness. Events like this dinner party lead to the dinosaur sculptures that grace the grounds of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London. His project for Central Park in America was thwarted tragically by Boss Tweed's vandals and discontinued. The triumphs and struggles of this ground-breaking mind are shared with the reader and in the end makes even the most ardent "couch potato" want to roll up sleeves and unearth the remains of Hawkins work in Central Park.

Once again the brilliance of Brian Selznick shines through. The illustrations convey the stories period setting. The reader, immersed in the past, begins to appreciate how "ahead of his time" Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins is. Based on the original sketches of Mr. Hawkins, illustrator Selznick recreates images and interprets scenes in this extraordinary mans life. The detail is incredible. At the end of the book there is even a page contrasting the dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins with the "now" interpretations of this extinct species. To lend credibility, the author and illustrator both take a page to account for the resources and references gathered to bring this story to book form. Both Kerley and Selznick strive to accurately portray Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, the events in his life and his dinosaurs.

AWARDS WON AND REVIEW EXCERPTS:
ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award, 2002 Winner Non-Fiction United States
American Booksellers Book Sense Book of the Year (ABBY) Award, 2002 Finalist Children's Illustrated United States
Garden State Children's Book Award, 2004 Winner Children's Non-Fiction New Jersey
Great Lakes Great Books Award, 2003 Honor Book Grades 4-5 Michigan
Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, 2002 Honor United States
Randolph Caldecott Medal, 2002 Honor Book United States

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2001 (Vol. 69, No. 13)

who could resist? Staring straight out from the handsome album-like cover is a slight man with a shock of white hair and an intense, intelligent gaze. Over his shoulder looms the enormous mouth of a dinosaur. This is perfectly designed to pique reader's curiosity with one of the strangest true stories dinosaur lovers will ever read. The man is Waterhouse Hawkins, who, in Victorian England, devoted his life to making ordinary people aware of dinosaurs at a time when most had never heard of them and could not imagine what they looked like....

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2001 (Vol. 55, No. 2))
Hawkins, a British artist who combined scientific observation with sculptorly imagination to create the earliest full-scale dinosaur reconstructions, receives fanciful biographical treatment in three “ages” (chapters), corresponding to stages in his career. Kerley focuses on his commissions in England and the United States and on the destruction of his models--doubtless at the orders of New York’s infamous Boss Tweed. Although there is much intrinsic interest in this aspect of Hawkins’ story, dinophiles are here to see how Hawkins’ interpolations stand the test of subsequent scholarship, and this juicy topic gets short shrift

Images Credited to:
http://www.copyrightexpired.com/hawkins/nyc/Benjamin_Waterhouse_.html
http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html
Waterhouse Hawkins' concept drawing for the would Paleozoic Museum, featuring extinct
          American Fauna (including Hadrosaurus, Laelap
          [today known as Dryptosaurus] and Mosasaurus
 Barbara Kerley's Official Website

CONNECTIONS
Barbara Kerley'sWebsite
Scholastic Interview with Brian Selznick

Related topics from CLCD
Hawkins, B. Waterhouse (Benjamin Waterhouse), 1807-1889 Juvenile literature.
Hawkins, B. Waterhouse (Benjamin Waterhouse), 1807-1889.
Dinosaurs--Models--History--19th century Juvenile literature.
Modelmakers--Great Britain Biography Juvenile literature.
Modelmakers.

Dinosaur Study

Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow

Picture Book Review
LS 5603.20/Spring 2010
S. Vardell

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hiter's Shadow. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-439-35379-3

 PLOT SUMMARY:

Germany 1926, Adolph Hitler officially created the Hitlerjugend, the Hitler Youth. Hitler has been quoted to say, "I begin with the young, we older ones are used up...but my magnificent youngsters!" This is the story "about the children and teenagers who followed Hitler and the National Socialist Party during the years 1933 to 1945" (Bartoletti 2005). This is the story of twelve German boys and girls.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

It is clear that author Susan Campbell Bartoletti spent countless hours researching factual information, written records, photographs past and present and seeking the personal accounts for her book, Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow. Following the table of contents Bartoletti engages the reader with a two page layout that gives brief biographies about "The Young People In this Book". Chronologically unfolding, this text takes the reader on an uncomfortable journey. Bartoletti uses straight forward language to tell these personal observations and accounts. This straight forward approach treats the reader and the subjects with respect and doesn't minimalize the tragedy experienced. Bartoletti includes an Epilogue telling "What became of the young people in this book". Following the Epilogue is a "Timeline of the Hitler Youth" as well as an "Author's Note". She continues to add credibility by adding a section "About the Photographs". Susan Campbell Bartoletti's documentation is meticulous. Time is taken to "Quote Sources" within the story and the text ends with an exstensive Bibliography, Acknowledgments and detailed Index. As a result, Hitler Youth: Born in Hitler's Shadow is a valuable award winning resource that will add diversity and conversation to any who study or seek information about the era in our history that is World War II.

AWARDS WON AND REVIEW EXCERPTS:
Carolyn W. Field Award, 2006 Winner United States
John Newbery Medal, 2006 Honor Book United States
Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, 2005 Honor United States
Parents' Choice Award, 2005 Gold Non-Fiction United States
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, 2006 Honor Book United States
Top of the List: Editors' Choice, 2005 Winner Youth Nonfiction United States

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 5-8–Hitler's plans for the future of Germany relied significantly on its young people, and this excellent history shows how he attempted to carry out his mission with the establishment of the Hitler Youth, or Hitlerjugend, in 1926. With a focus on the years between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945, Bartoletti explains the roles that millions of boys and girls unwittingly played in the horrors of the Third Reich.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 7-10. What was it like to be a teenager in Germany under Hitler? Bartoletti draws on oral histories, diaries, letters, and her own extensive interviews with Holocaust survivors, Hitler Youth, resisters, and bystanders to tell the history from the viewpoints of people who were there. Most of the accounts and photos bring close the experiences of those who followed Hitler and fought for the Nazis, revealing why they joined, how Hitler used them, what it was like. Henry Mentelmann, for example, talks about Kristallnacht, when Hitler Youth and Storm Troopers wrecked Jewish homes and stores, and remembers thinking that the victims deserved what they got. The stirring photos tell more of the story. One particularly moving picture shows young Germans undergoing de-Nazification by watching images of people in the camps. The handsome book design, with black-and-white historical photos on every double-page spread, will draw in readers and help spark deep discussion, which will extend beyond the Holocaust curriculum. The extensive back matter is a part of the gripping narrative. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Photos credited to:  Susan Campbell Bartoletti Official Website
                               http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/library/blog/blog_images/hitleryouth.jpg
                               www.hermes-press.com/ police_state.htm

CONNECTIONS:

The work of Susan Campbell Bartoletti
World War II

Additional Titles:
The boy who dared
2008 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Scholastic Press, New York : U.S.A [Fic] [PZ7.B2844 Boy 2008 ]
Daniel half human : and the good Nazi
2004 David Chotjewitz ; translated by Doris Orgel. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York : U.S.A [Fic] [PZ7.C446355 Dan 2004 ]
Children of the swastika : the Hitler Youth
1993 Eileen Heyes. Millbrook Press, Brookfield, Conn. : U.S.A [324.243/038] [DD253.5 .H48 1993 ]
Soldier boys
2001 Dean Hughes. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York : U.S.A [Fic] [PZ7.H87312 So 2001 ] Lexile: 0790

 Titles retrieved from Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)

Related topics from CLCD
Hitler-Jugend Juvenile literature.
National socialism and youth Juvenile literature.
Jewish youth--Germany--History--20th century Juvenile literature.
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany Juvenile literature.
Jewish children in the Holocaust Juvenile literature.

This documentary by Guido Knopp and the ZDF Contemporary History Department is the first comprehensive film portrayal of the young people in the Third Reich. Above is part 1 of 5 provided by Youtube.