Short Form (All Genres)

Your Name: Cristina Magallon

Title: Dear Daisy, Get Well Soon Author: Maggie Smith
Illustrator: Maggie Smith Publisher/Year: 2000
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Summarize the content of the book –
A. For Fiction Form Genres—Explain the characters, the setting, theme and plot of the
book.
Characters: Peter is a sweet, thoughtful and caring little boy he finds out that his friend Daisy
is sick with the chicken pox and everyday he sends her a gift to make her feel better. Daisy is
sweet and sharing friend she invites him over when she is no longer sick and shares her
things with him, they both seem to have a huge imagination.
Setting: The story takes place at Peter’s house and Daisy’s house.
Theme: A good friendship is the best medicine while being sick.
Plot: When Daisy, Peter friend gets the chicken pox he starts sending her get well soon
presents every day that she is sick proving their friendship. On Sunday Daisy told him she was
sick and that they couldn’t play, On Monday he made her a card that said get well soon and
sent it to her with the help of an elephant. On Tuesday he picked to bunches of flowers and
send them over by two zebras, on Wednesday he got her three coloring books and send it to
her by three hippos. On Thursday he picked four apples and four flamingos deliver them to
her, on Friday he blew up five rainbows balloons and had them deliver by five monkeys to
her. On Saturday Peter received a note saying please come over so he went to Daisy’s and
they played all day.
Explain how the book appeals to children, their interests, developmental levels, fun
illustrations etc. Give specific examples from the book:
Children can appeal to this book because some of them had chicken pox or have friends who
had it and they can relate with how daisy must have felt to be alone and can’t come out to
play so it’s a good way to show empathy for other and be a thoughtful friend.
Children can get interested in this book and next time when they know a friend is sick they
can try and make them feel better just by sending them a card.
Developmental level: Stage: Emotional Understanding Age: 1 to 2 years
Empathy responses appear.
Peter knows that Daisy is sick so he decided to send her a gift every day to make her feel
better showing her empathy and making her feel happy to know that she has a friend that
cares for her and that misses playing with her.
Fun illustrations include the animals that go and deliver the gifts to Daisy like the monkeys,
hippos, elephant, zebras and flamingos.
Rate the book 1 2 3

Explain your rating.

I really like this book because it teaches children to understand how another person might be
feeling and to help them feel better with a simple thing like a card, flowers or even a phone
call the important thing is that they are trying to be a good friend.
Short Form (All Genres)
Your Name: Cristina Magallon
Title: When I Miss You Author: Cornelia Maude Spelman
Illustrator: Kathy Parkinson Publisher/Year: 2004
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Summarize the content of the book –
A. For Fiction Form Genres—Explain the characters, the setting, theme and plot of the
book.
Characters: The young hamster seems to be really close to his parents because after he is left at
school he is sad and doesn’t want to play with nobody because he is sad and upset. His Mom and
Dad, must leave the young hamster at school so they can go to work and provide for him and
they are both sad to have to leave him too but they have too.
Setting: The story takes place at the young hamster’s home and his school.
Theme: When you miss someone, know that they will come back to you.
Plot: The young hamster becomes anxious when his parents leave him at school so they can go to
work. When his dad leaves for a work trip he always misses him and when his mom leaves him at
school he becomes upset, but soon realizes that even if he misses them they always come back to
him and that his parents miss him too. Soon he learns to have fun and make things to have a
good time so he isn’t upset all the time he is separated from his parents.
Explain how the book appeals to children, their interests, developmental levels, fun
illustrations etc. Give specific examples from the book:
The children can appeal to his book because just as the hamsters many young children feel the
same way when their parents must leave them like at school, a daycare or for work trips they can
be able to be comforted by the book.
Children can get interested in the book because they can relate to the character and the way the
young hamster feels when he is separated from his parents and they will know that’s ok to be
upset but that they can have more fun if they play and distract themselves and because of that
time will fly faster and their parents will come back sooner.
Developmental level: Stage: Sensorimotor Age: Birth to 2 years
Object permanence is a necessary development, it gives infants the skill to understand that
objects and people exist mentally.
At first the young hamster was afraid of being left at school because he thought that they would
leave him there and that they wouldn’t come back but as time passed he understood that they
miss him too and that they are always going to come back to him.
The illustrations are in charge of telling the story and that is exactly what they do even without
the words you can clearly tell that the young hamster is upset and sad because he misses
someone some fun illustrations include him trying to cheer himself up like drawing, reading,
cuddling with stuffed animals or his favorite blanket or making things and having a good time.
Rate the book 1 2 3

Explain your rating.

I like this book very much because children can relate to how the young hamster feels and it explains
exactly how missing someone feels like having a heavy, achy felling and it gives examples of how to
cheer yourself up.
Fiction Evaluation Form
(Picture Books, Folklore, Modern Fantasy, Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Multicultural Books)

Your Name: Cristina Magallon Book Title: Nana in the City

Author: Lauren Castillo Illustrator: Lauren Castillo
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction Publisher/Year: 2014

EVALUATE THE BOOK USING THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS

STYLE and Language: Explain the language used – word choices, sentence length, dialogue, rhythm, rhyme.
Explain unexpected insights or interesting information the reader learns from the story. Give examples form
the book
Short sentences with simple words with a few dialogues between Nana and his grandson a few
rhymey words and no rhythm.
Example for sentence length, word choices and language used: “I went to stay with nana at her new
apartment in the city” and “I love my nana, but I don’t love the city.”
Example of dialogue and rhyme: “Nana, aren’t you afraid in the city?” and “Tomorrow, I will show you
how wonderful the city is.” And for rhyme is: But nana says the city is wonderful bustling, booming
and extraordinary.
CHARACTER – Who is the main character? Explain the character’s personality traits. How can the reader
relate to the character, become involved in the story?
Who are the supporting characters? Give examples of both.
Main character: The little boy is a sweet, loving and scare boy. He loves his nana but doesn’t like the
city because is too loud and busy which scares him a lot but he supports it because he loves his nana.
At the end of the day he is brave enough and finds a love for the city.
The little boy says: ”I love my nana but I don’t love the city.”
Supporting character: Nana is a sweet, caring grandma who loves his grandson very much and does
everything she can to make him happy and enjoy his stay with her.
Nana makes his grandson a red cape: “For you to wear on our walk today” and he felt brave.
The children can relate to this story because if they have gone to a new city or a new place they can
relate to the little boy feelings that everything is new and that it can be overwhelming.
1. PLOT: (Explains the major events in the story.) Summarize the plot

This story is about a little boy who goes to visit his grandma in New York City for the first time. At first,
he is scared of all the noise, people and that everybody seems busy. But with a little help from
grandma and a red cape he is able to see the city in a different way. Things that scared him were not
so scary now and he viewed them as magnificent, fun and lovely. He then sees that the city is a
perfect place for his nana to live and for him to visit and all thanks to a cape that gave him some
braveness and nana’s love for the city he wasn’t scared anymore.

2. SETTING – Explain the place and time of the book.

THEME- What is the story’s theme or lesson?
Setting: The story takes place in Nana’s apartment In New York City in the lap time of a couple days
and nights.
Theme: This story talks about facing your fears and gaining a better understanding of something that
might me unfamiliar to them like a new city.
ILLUSTRATION –Analyze the illustrations in the book (see Chapter 4) with the categories below: Choose a 2-
page spread in the book to answer the following:
What Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)?
Realism
Media (paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk) :
Crayons and color pencils.

Visual elements:
Line: Outline for the clothing.
Shapes: stars in pajama, circle for eyes, triangle for cape.
Color: black, blue, red, grey, white.
Texture: a soft cape, messy hair, cozy pajamas.

Explain how illustration and text are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text does not
explain?
When the boy first arrives to the city he is scared so the images of the city are scary something that
would scare a little boy like too many people, scary drawing but when he starts liking the city he sees
everything as fun and exiting like people playing music and dancing, dogs, food and anything fun for a
child.
Describe the Page design: the borders, use of white/dark space, text placement & size, font, placement of illustrations:
No use of border with a lot of use a white space, the text placement is all over the place with normal
size font and the placement of illustrations are all over the page.

3. CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES – CHOOSE 2 of theories below and evaluate the book according to the
developmental theories. (How the book fits the developmental stage and age?)
PIAGET-COGNITIVE-INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Name the stage: sensorimotor and the age: birth to 2 years
Explain the cognitive development from the stage: Infants explore and learn about their world
through (senses) tasting, touching, smelling, manipulating objects and movement/motor skills and
actions.
Give examples from the book show how the book fits the cognitive stage: The little boy saw people
dancing (sight) and playing music (hearing), he also ate a pretzel (taste) and was able to pet a dog
(touch).
ERIKSON – PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Name the stage: and the age:
Explain the social development for this stage:
Give examples from the book that support the social development of this stage:
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Identify the Age: 7 to 12 years
Explain the emotional development at this age: Aware that people can experience more than one
emotion at a time.
Give examples from the book to illustrate the emotional development of this age: The little boy felt
happy to see his nana but immediately felt overwhelm by the big city because it was so busy, noisy
and filled with scary things. For example “I love my nana, but I don’t love the city.”

4. Overall Rating of the book (3 highest - 1 lowest) 1 2 3

Comments: (Support your overall rating)
This story is really good because it can teach children that everything they have to meet a new thing
they can know that it’s ok to be scared but that they have to always give a second opportunity and
look at time with another light because they might even love it later.
BOOK EXTENSION ACTIVITY - LESSON PLAN
Your Name: Cristina Magallon Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Book Title: Nana in the City Author: Lauren Castillo
Publisher: Clarion books

1. Pre-K/ CCSD K-2nd Grade Core Standards: First grade

WRITING - COMPOSITION (1)5.4 write, with teacher assistance, responses to literature

2. Objectives:
SWBAT – Design their own bravery cape.
SWBAT – Write a couple of positive words.

3. Materials/Equipment: Book- Nana in the city; handout, pencil, whiteboard, crayons or markers.

4. Teaching:
Interest hook: What name do you call your grandma?
Where does your grandma live?
Do you like to visit where your grandma lives? Why?
Today we are going to read a fun book about a little boy and his grandma it’s called- Nana in the
city.
Ok, let’s begin the story. Listen carefully.

A. Reading the book

• Read the book and pause before turning the pages and ask if they ever felt like the little boy
did and why did they feel like that.
• Ask if they can name activities that could make them feel like the boy felt.
• After reading the part where he likes the city ask them if they have a place they think is
extraordinary.
• Ask them what a great city would have (example in book include: music, food, dogs.)
At the end of the story, ask the children what was the big feeling the little boy got when he put on his
red cape. (Brave, bravery)

B. Extension activity:
Today we are going to do an activity.
• I want you all to close your eyes and try to imagine how you would feel if you had your own
bravery cape. (POSITIVE WORDS- strong, happy, etc.)
• (Give time to think) Open your eyes and raise your hand tell me how you would feel with a
cape that the little boy had. (Write words in the board)
• Now that we have all come up with how we would feel, in the piece of paper that I will give
you in the 3 lines at the bottom of the page write 3 words. If you don’t remember which word
you want to write raise your hand and you can tell me which word you need and I can point it
out so you know how to spell it.
• Once you finish that you can get colors or markers and color your drawing of the cape try to
add designs to your cape to make it super special.
5. Closure:
• Have them share their drawing with the class.
• Ask what makes their cape special and how they would feel if they would have one.