Because by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky

Imagine, life without restraint, life without boundaries, life with freedom. Because highlights the importance of doing what you want, even if others think you are a bit eccentric in the process. Without feeling the pressure to conform from society, you can be free to shine and show of your personality. This is exactly what the narrator's grandma, Mrs. Duncan, does. Sectioned off by days, Monday through Sunday, the narrator goes through all the wacky things his grandma does to embarrass him "every minute, every hour, every day of the week!"

Each day begins with a description of the unusual event Mrs. Duncan performs. On Monday, Mrs. Duncan leapfrogs over Mr. Q, on Tuesda, she rolls over like a dog, on Wednesdays, she breakdances and slides around, etc. On each day, a person ask the question to Mrs. Duncan of why she is doing this or that. Mrs. Duncan's answer is always the same. "Because..." However, the narrator realizes that there is an underlying purpose as to why his grandma acts so free and loose. The last page reveals that she leaps she rolls, she taps, she spins, she runs, she flaps, and she swings because...she's a dancer. This twist made sense because all of the things Mrs. Duncan did fit under the category of being a dancer.

The backcover page features a male dancer surrounded by a spiral summary of all the things Mrs. Duncan did in the book. Perhaps the male dancer is the author, Mikhail Baryshnikov, although it does not say. Both a grandma and men are not the "stereotypical dancers," but the author suggests that anyone can dance. Mikhail Barysnikov himself is a dancer who has travled all over the world. He has covered a range of the arts from directing, writing, creating choreography, designing, and performing. I feel as though Baryshnikov and the illustrator Radunksy summed it up well on the author note what the message is that emanates from this book:
"It makes no difference whether you are old or young, tall or short, skinny or plump, beautiful or not so beautiful...If you feel deep down that you are an artists-dancer, singner, painter-do no be afraid of ridicule or of being misunderstood. Reveal your special talent to the world, and the world, without a doubt, will become a better place, and life will be more fun."

This book shows kids that they can go after something they are passionate about in life. Do what you love and embrace it because it's never too late. After all, we only have one life to live.

The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey

Illustrated with rich acrylics and india ink, The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey creates a scene of peace, happiness, and tranquility as the paperboy and his dog embark on their paper route. As the story progresses from the early morning when it is still dark, to daybreak, to the end of the paper route, the paperboy and his dog remain constant companions, accompanying each other along the way. The actions of the dog parallel the actions of the boy. From waking up and getting out of bed, to eating breakfast from their bowls, to the boy and dog instinctively knowing what route to take, this book provides opportunities for children to look at perspectives in writing. Both the dog and boy enjoy doing the same activity, but they each have their unique routines whether it is the boy thinking about everything or nothing, or the dog sniffing or chasing squirrels. Routine can be comforting and necessary.

The rich illustrations portray the depths of the day. The colors used for the sky amazed me the most as I was reading. When daybreak strikes, the blend of pinks and oranges mix into both the sky and the clouds. Soon the orange tones combine with yellow hues as the sun comes out. The rolling hills and the overall landscape focus in on the changing sky. Besides the rich setting, I also liked how the illustrations began on the title page of the book. The title page showed the early morning delivery truck going to the paperboy's home. Although it did not have words, a young reader can better understand the sequence of events it takes to deliver newspapers.

Too often stories fail to show diversity. However, in The Paperboy the main character is an African American boy. I feel like realistic fiction books need to capture diversity more often in their stories like this picture book does. As a Caldecott honor book, The Paperboy deserves recognition for its great illustrations and use of parallelism between man and man's best friend.

Dragon Ball Z Vol. 1 by Akira Toriyama

Before this week, I had never heard of the term Manga, but when I typed it into Iowa City Public Library's catalog, over 400 entries appeared. When I went to the section in the library, I was surprised how popular Mangas must be. I found row upon row of Mangas. This type of graphic novel reads from right to left. Having heard of the Dragon Ball series but not knowing what it is about, I thought it would be a good choice as my first Manga novel to read. I soon realized that Dragon Ball Z is the extension series of Dragon Ball. Full of action, Dragon Ball Z Volume 1 is a story of exciting twists and turns full of adventures and fighting scenes. It takes a while to get used to the Japanese names, but the character index in the front of the book with names, pictures, and a description of the character helped me better understand the histories of each character.

After five years, Son Goku, the greatest martial artist on earth, faces a new challenge. Now married and a father, Son Goku finds out that he has an alien brother, Raditz. They soon discover that Raditz is not a "nice brother" but a merciless warrior killer who goes from planet to planet destroying everything in his path, including people. In order to save his son from Raditz's grasp and to save all the people on Earth, Son Goku must join forces with his former archrival, Piccolo. Even though Raditz is eventually defeated, two others of his kind are bound to arrive in future volumes of Dragon Ball Z. No one is safe.

My first graphic novel experience was interesting. This genre definitely takes some getting used to based on the way you read the story from right to left. Besides the daily newspaper comics, I don't read comics. Although personally this genre didn'tinterest me, I can see the possibilities for this genre for reluctant readers. With the mix of words and pictures, these books read quickly and leave the reader hanging at the end of the book, making him want to read the next volume. During the action scenes, few words are used, and instead, the pictures display the action with sound effects such as "Zhoom!" and "Hwoo!" Alliances, enemies, and action-packed scenes are all part of the Dragon Ball Z package. Now when I see Dragon Ball on TV, I'll know some of the characters. This particular Manga is for any age, but other Mangas I found were geared towards teen girl audiences. I feel as though I've finally entered the 21st century since now I know about Japanese Manga.

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley, Illustrated by Kevin O'Malley, Carol Heyer, and Scott Goto

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude features a story within a story. A boy and a girl decide to make up their own fairy tale for their library project. As they make up the story, the boy and the girl have conflicting ideas about how the story should develop. The girl begins the story with a romantic, fantasized version of Princess Tenderheart who has eight ponies that a terrible giant begins to steal one by one. At this point, the boy interrupts and introduces the really cool muscle dude who rides in on his motorcycle and is hired to protect the last pony. The back-and-forth bickering between the girl and the boy continues until a very unique and "special" fairytale develops complete with the wedding of the motorcycle dude and the princess.

In a humorous way, Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude relays the differences between boy and girls' interests at this age. While girls are absorbed into the fantasy world of princesses, ideas of love, and happiness, boys focus on ideals of adventure, action, battle, and thrills. This creates problematic circumstances. By having a story within a story, this picture book shows the writing process. Although students may not know where their story is leading, eventually it will come together and tie back to itself.

In addition, different illustrators created the pictures based on whether the girl's story, the boy's story, or the two students' story was being relayed. While the girl's illustrations are filled with feminine characteristics of soft pinks and purples, flowers, and elaborate princess outfits, the boy story pictures use darker colors, scarier images, and other more masculine characteristics. Meanwhile, the boy and girl telling the story appear cartoon-like as they argue. Their conversation back-and-forth is told in word bubbles while their created fairy tale is the main text of this story. Even the ending of the story shows apparent differences as the motorcycle dude turned prince and princess have a baby. The girl wants the baby to be a girl; the boy wants the baby to be a boy...and so the story goes. The author and illustrators' biographies share their own stories of run-ins with girl and boys' differences.Recommended for ages 6-10, I feel that this is one of those books that both girls and boys can relate to because sometimes no matter what we do, girls don't always understand boys, and boys don't always understand girls.

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, Illustrated by Lane Smtih

Everyone knows the traditional story of the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf. In this story, the reader looks at the story from a new perspective-Alexander T. Wolf, better known to us as the big, bad wolf. He relates his own version of what really happened as he encountered the three little pigs. This fractured fairy tale creates ridiculous and hilarious moments as Al Wolf tries to explain that this is really all a big misunderstanding concerning him needing a cup of sugar to bake his granny a birthday cake and a terrible cold that he happened to have.

Beginning with the analogy of a cheeseburger to "wolf food," which includes bunnies, sheep, and pigs, Al attempts to gain the reader's sympathy that if cheeseburgers were cute and we still ate them, we would be considered big and bad too. The wolf's rationale becomes more twisted as he travels to each pig's house. After his accidental sneeze leaves the straw house in shambles, Al knows it wouldn't be right "to leave a perfectly good ham dinner lying there in the straw" and compares that to us leaving a good cheeseburger on the ground. The story continues suggesting that the second and third sneezes were due to Al's cold. Al mentions that it was the news reporter that made him out to be the Big Bad Wolf.

Having read this story before, I still found it very enjoyable and entertaining because it is not every day that a children's book is written from the villain's perspective. Every story has multiple dimensions to it. Al suggests that the third pig was especially cruel and rude to him. The creativity of Jon Scieszka brings out all of the main features of the traditional Three Little Pigs story and creates a new tale-a fractured fairy tale. Some of the illustrations by Lane Smith were also unique such as the picture rationale that A. Sneeze + B. Sugar = the real story and the newspaper clipping that announces the wolf's status as the Big Bad Wolf! By looking at the picture and reading the Author's biographies on the book cover, readers see that it stays with the alternative perspective of the wolf. Both author and illustrator have a wolf caricature done of themselves rather than having a traditional photo. Scieszka's captions states, "He has been known to howl at the full moon," while Smith's says, "He lives in New York City and sometimes howls back at Brooklyn."

I feel like this genre of fractured fairy tales can be easily transported into the classroom. Reading this book could serve as a mini-lesson in writer's workshop where students can see that they can take a traditional story and twist it to make it their own. Topics such as these fill students with more ammunition that they can translate to their own papers.

Look-Alikes by Joan Steiner

Do you like I Spy books? If so, this is the next generation of I Spy books for kids. Scanning through the children's section of the library, this book caught my eye. Children and adults alike can read and look through this book multiple times and still learn and find something new every time. This book really makes children expand their imaginations and use their creativity to discover this "Look-Alike" world. As notes on the copyright page, "the illustrations in this book are photographs of three-dimensional collages created from found objects."

Accompanied with the pictures are short descriptions of the places at which we stop. A young boy narrator takes us through the book and points out some of the more exciting look-alikes. By looking closely, the reader observes that each item is made up of atypical materials. In this Look-Alike Land, "peanuts look like teddy bears, a balloon is a dress, etc." Stops along the way in Look-Alike Land include the train station, the city, the general store, the city park and zoo, and the circus. Each stop brings out unique features. One of my favorite pictures was of "Stanley's Sweet Shop." In this picture, the ceiling looks like money, the chairs are made from pretzels and Ritz crackers, and the booth's benches are made with Fig Newtons. I also enjoyed the picture of the Look-Alike Fair which included a Ferris wheel made with multiple pairs of scissors and a jumpy house filled with jelly beans rather than the traditional balls.

This would be an interesting and exciting book for students to look through if they finish early. This could also be used as a classroom language arts activity that includes creative writing and drawing in the classroom if children create, draw, and write about their own "Look-Alike" place.

Extra challenges exist at the end of the book such as finding a pencil and penny on every page. The back of the book also goes page by page listing the answers of what each Look-Alike picture contains whether it is a paintbrush, Scrabble tiles, M&Ms, etc. Not only are these books fun to read in print, but these fun Look-Alike pictures have shown up in the New York Times, Nickelodeon, and Sesame Street Magazine. Delving into Joan Steiner's Look-Alike world shows previously uncharted territory. This example of a unique perspective does not appear every day.

The Mitten by Jan Brett

Jan Brett adapts this Ukranian folktale into a visually striking story full of humor, life, and spirit. After Nicki's grandmother Baba makes him new white mittens, she warns him not to lose them in the snow. As Nicki plays outside, he soon loses a mitten. Unbeknownst to Nicki, different forest animals find the mitten and sneak inside it to keep warm, until the brown bear sneezes everyone out. The mitten shoots into the air just in time for Nicki to spot it before he returns to Baba's house.

This delightful story emphasizes childhood innocence and obliviousness. Right away, Nicki loses his mitten-the one thing his Baba told him not to do. Without taking notice, Nicki continues on with his own adventures in the snow. Meanwhile, the woodland animals gather into the mitten one by one. I enjoyed Brett's use of the animals' features to describe why the animals alaready in the mitten kept letting more animals enter. Whether it was the rabbit's "big kickers," the owl's "glinty talons," or the fox's "shiny teeth," they make room for each individual animal because of its distinct characteristics.

Jan Brett makes the most out her rectangular space in which to work. The outlined border highlights different features of the story. For example, the left side shows the majority of the "human action" showing where Nicki has been and what he has been doing. On the right border, children can predict what animal will fit into the mitten next based on the picture given on the previous page. For example, I saw the picture of the mole but couldn't identify the picture as a mole until I read the story. The different animals can serve as both counting features for young children, or it can provide an early example of foreshadowing in stories.

The main pictures inside the border span the width of two pages. This helps to show the wide expanse of the forest and also the consuming snow that covers the Ukranian land. Serving as a reminder of Ukranian culture, this book can be an example of an adapted folktale or part of a multicultural unit in schools. Students can examine the dress patterns of people in different cultures, the types of houses, or the types of art people do. In addition to the extra story pictures in the border, traditional Ukranian flowers appear on the pages as well. While offering a delightful and humorous story, Jan Brett also reminds us of the importance of embracing other cultures and lifestyles.