Tween book evaluation: "The Witch of Blackbird Pond"

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a historical tween novel published in 1958 by Elizabeth George Speare. The 1959 Newbery Medal winner follows the independent and outspoken 16-year-old Katherine “Kit” Tyler as she arrives in the small Puritan community of Wethersfield, Connecticut, from Barbados to stay with her mother’s sister and family.

In 249 pages, the reader follows Kit as she realizes the differences in the way she grew up to how her new family and community expect her to live in 1667. The devil is found in every other reading except the Bible. Days are spent tending to chores. And church is every Sunday — a morning and afternoon service.

Early on she’s considered “different” because she can float (only witches can float), and she can read. She soon meets a widowed old woman who accepts her for who she is. But when Kit learns that this new friend of hers is considered a witch, she does everything she can to protect her friendship. Kit rebels from her family, who forbid her to see the widow woman, and soon finds herself on trial for witchcraft.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a great read for the 10- to 14-year-old age group. The historical references put that time period in to perspective, as Speare’s story reflects the culture and societal mores of that time. The reader will find a story about standing up for what you believe in, finding your own voice, finding not just the bad in people but also the good, and trusting in family. It will also put in to perspective that even in 1667 there were struggles with people accepting others who were thought to be “different.” And what it shows is that we’re all different, and being a leader is better than being a follower.

An author’s note at the end tells readers that though the story is imaginary, a few of the characters, such as the royal governor, magistrate, schoolmaster and a reverend were “important men of their time…” struggling to preserve their freedom from the royalists.

The unique qualities to the book were the use of boldface type font and the language itself in telling the story. You really felt like you were transported to that time period. The language follows some of the traditional Old English words and phrases, and can sometimes be hard to read if you are not following closely.

The title and sales copy eludes to be more about actual instances of witchcraft. But instead it tells the story of people being accused of witchcraft, how people lied about things they “saw,” and how people chose sides — with religious beliefs playing a big part in everything.

Picture book critique: "There's A Nightmare in my Closet"

In 1968, author and illustrator Mercer Mayer wrote a children’s book about his childhood fears of monsters in his room. Twenty years later, I read this book for the first time, and There’s A Nightmare In My Closet soon became one of my favorite books — helping me conquer my nighttime fears. Today Mayer is known for his “Little Critter” series books, an entirely different illustrated concept and look to his earlier titles.

Though There’s A Nightmare In My Closet brings humor to the sensitive subject of fearing a monster or seeing a monster in a closet, I think that parents should be aware of possibly “introducing” the idea of monsters to a child if reading this book to them. I would say the appropriate age group would be five to ten years old, when most kids have either heard of monsters or have had scary dreams already.

The title accurately reflects the story. You know right away without opening the book that it’s about nightmares. You also get a glimpse of the “nightmare” in the closet. It’s interesting that the boy riding his tricycle on the cover looks annoyed to see the monster peeking out of the closet. It’s almost like the monster is scared of the boy. I think this depiction is part of the humor and bravery Mayer intended to show.

Mayer’s illustration style is realistic using pen and ink to depict the boy, the monster, and the objects in the bedroom. You can distinctly see the pen lines throughout the objects. The book holds interest mostly on what will be illustrated on the following pages. Will we see the monster? And what will it look like? The composition of the monster dominates the other characters and objects when depicted on each page.

The illustration is a bigger focus than the text of the picture book, meaning the illustrations alone could tell the story, as the last spread portrays. In this spread you see the monster sleeping in the bed with the boy and another monster peeking its head out of the closet. The previous page had indicated that his bed wasn’t big enough for three.

The text and illustrations complement each other well. The illustrations do repeat on most pages what the text is stating, but because it’s showing action, I think it works well. Most pages are one line long, so there’s opportunity for the reader to use inflection on sentences like, “As soon as the room was dark, I heard him creeping toward me.”

What I appreciate most about There’s A Nightmare In My Closet is Mayer’s harmony with the use of only five colors throughout the pages. White, brown, green, and orange are used in various shades. In some parts there is black to indicate darkness. It fits the mood of the story, but is also light enough to not feel like you’re reading a scary book. 

Board book evaluation Part 2: “Fire Truck” by Salina Yoon

Salina Yoon is both the author and illustrator of Fire Truck. She uses bright and bold illustration, including foil tabs, in most of her books. In Fire Truck, most the fire trucks and fire hydrants are depicted with shiny red foil, while the other art is painted (Tempera). The illustrations are realistic to real life, though facial features are dots and lines for the eyes, nose, and mouth.

The text structure is four lines per page, with no more than five words per line. The words used are simple words that most children would hear on a regular basis, such as “tree” and “kitty” instead of cat. Words are also used to make the sounds a child might hear, like the siren on a fire truck, “Whoo-eee-whoo!” The text is written to rhyme, which makes the story easy for younger children to listen to and enhances the predictability of the story (Horning, From Cover to Cover, 90). On one page, a question is asked as to what else the reader can find in the fireman’s closet. They may say “ball” or “hat” or even “gloves.” The pace of Fire Truck is very fast, but there is opportunity for readers to ask additional questions as to what’s on the page for younger children to point and answer.

This board book also includes pull tabs on three of the pages, where the reader is instructed to pull up to show who’s inside the fire truck, or the cat in the tree, and the dog in the dog house. This allows the text and art to work together on a spread.

The durability of this board book is great, and the price point of Fire Truck — $5.99 — is in price range with other board books sold by the publisher, Penguin Young Readers. The price range is between $5.99 and $7.99 for books 12-to-24 pages. Fire Truck is smaller in page size, compared to other board books by this publisher. 

Board book evaluation Part 1: “Fire Truck” by Salina Yoon

The book, Fire Truck, by Salina Yoon is a great example of a board book for a baby or toddler, which depicts several important things that characterize it as a good book for this age group. The small, square sized, 12-page board book is easy for little hands to handle. As Kathleen Horning states in From Cover to Cover, young children may enjoy being dazzled by the latest bold venture in picture book art, but at the same time they may ask to return again and again. Some characterizations that parents, or those reading these books, may look for include board books that:

1) Positively reflect and depict a baby or toddlers world. In Fire Truck, the story depicts a fireman rescuing a cat, putting out a fire, a school group visiting a firehouse, and some opportunity for a parent to explain safety — whether the child is indoors or outdoors.

2) Reflect racial and ethnic diversity. The people illustrated in the board book are young and old, have different color hair, a woman firefighter who appears to be Asian, and an African American male firefighter. The children — two girls and one boy — each have different color hair and hairstyles.

3) Reflect a child’s surroundings and expands a small child’s world. The board book shows children what a fire truck looks like, its purpose, and the job of being a fire fighter, and where a fire fighter works — including the gear they wear and what they are used for.

Besides these three main characterizations, there are several other factors that work together to create an aesthetic whole (Horning, From Cover to Cover, 87). Early learning concepts such as color, shapes, and sounds can be depicted from the chosen art and text to tell the story.