Short Form (All Genres)

Alisha Reid
Title: George Washington Carver Author: Kitson Jazynka

Illustrator: Kitson Jazynka Publisher/Year: National Geographic 2016

Genre: Biography

Summarize the content of the book

A. For Nonfiction Genres Explain the information given, how it is shared-what design

The information is this book is broken up into sections. The Table of contents read: Who was
Carver? Growing Up. In His Time. A Love of Learning. 6 Cool Facts About Carver. Helping Others.
Good Ideas. Hard Work. What in the World? And the Glossary. This biography begins by explaining
how Carver loved to study plants. He used his knowledge to help farmers. No one knows exactly
when Carver was born but they suspect it was around 1864. He was born into slavery. His last name
was Carver because that was his owners name. On this page there is a bubble that defines the
word slaves for readers who may not be familiar with it. Carvers mom was kidnapped while he was
a child, so when slavery ended, his owners decided to raise him. Carver learned to read at home
and only had one book. He once said, My soul thirsted for an education. He was able to finally go
to school at the age of 13 when he left home and moved in with a black family nearby. Carver was
the first black student at his college, he studied agriculture. Carver decided to add Washington to
his name because there was another George Carver who lived near him. Carver became a teacher
once he graduated college. He used food to invent paints, dyes, and plastic. He used peanuts in
over 300 ways. He made things such as glue, medicine, gas and paper. George died in 1943 when he
was 79 years old.

Explain how the book appeals to children, their interests, developmental levels, fun
illustrations etc. Give specific examples from the book:

This is a great childrens book because it takes new information or words that are hard to
read and breaks them down. For instance, on the first page the author uses the word
sustainable. Down in the right-hand, bottom corner, there is a yellow bubble that says,
Words to know, Sustainable: Grown in a way that keeps the soil healthy. The author does
this often with unfamiliar words. It also breaks down the word so children can sound it out,
sustainable (suh-STANE-uh-bul). The photos on the pages have captions explaining each
picture. There is a photo of an old wooden cabin and the caption reads, SCHOOL: Children
went to school in one-room schoolhouses or even old barns. This would be a great book for
beginning readers ages 6-8. The information is shared in a way that is easy to understand
with many photos to help the reader grasp the information.
Rate the book 3 1 2 3

Explain your rating.

Understandable information about someone children would love to learn about .