Fiction Evaluation Form

(Picture Books, Folklore, Modern Fantasy, Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Multicultural Books)

Your Name:​ Abigail Torres-Jimenez Book Title: ​My Family Celebrates Day of the Dead
Author: Lisa Bullard Illustrator: ​Holli Conger

Genre: Publisher/Year: ​Lerner/2019

EVALUATE THE BOOK USING THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS

STYLE and Language​: Using examples from the book, e​xplain the following: word choices, dialogue,
rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Also, explain unexpected insights or interesting information the reader
learns from the story. Give examples.

The word choice of the book is simple, making it an easy read for independent readers. The sentence
length is short there are about two to three sentences per page.

CHARACTER – With examples from the book give the following: ​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?

The main character is Daniela, Daniela is a young girl who narrates the short about her family
celebrating the day of the dead. Daniela tells the story in her words on what they day of the dead is
and why she celebrates it with her family. The supporting characters are Daniela’s family such as
mom, grandma, and little brother.

1. PLOT: ​summarize the major events in the story-

The story begins with Daniela introducing herself and the holiday day of the dead. Daniela explains
where the holiday is celebrated and goes on to talk about why she celebrates day of the dea.
Throughout the story Daniela explains certain things hat are done for the day of the dead celebration
such as making an ofrenda/altar for a loved one thats passed away.
 2.SETTING ​– Explain the place and time of the book.
​ hat is the story’s theme/message?
THEME- W

Setting: ​The setting of he book is Daniela’s home.

Theme:​The message of the book would be to explain what the day of the dead is and why it is
celebrated.

ILLUSTRATION –​Analyze the illustrations for the book you selected (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)? ​The style the book is in is cartoon
art.

Media choices ​(paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk​) : ​The media choice for the
book is acrylic.

Give examples and describe how the following visual elements are used in the illustrations​:
Line: ​The lines in the book are curved giving the effect of real life items such as beds and tables,
Shapes ​The shapes found in the book are your square, circle, and rectangle.
Color ​The color of the illustration is bright pastels.
Texture ​The texture of the book is smooth, the acrylic paint give the illustrations a smooth look.

Explain how​ ​illustration​ and ​text​ ​are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text does not
explain? ​The illustrations of the book provide details the text doesn’t provide. For example, we see
Daniela illustrated but not described in the text.

Page design: ​Summarize the following​:​ p​ lacement of illustrations and text; the use of borders and white/dark space; are both
pages designed the same or differently? ​The
book overall uses two page per scene. The left has text in the
center middle area and the right page also has text in the bottom center page. The
illustrations take up both the left and right page, There is no white or dark space used in
pages four and five.

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___​Concrete opertational​__________________________ and the
age____7-11_________________
Explain the cognitive development from the stage: ​Reasoning includes two-way thinking (more than
one point of view).

Give examples from the book show how the book fits the cognitive stage: ​I find that the book fits in
Piaget's concrete operational stage because the day of the dead is not celebrated by all people and
some ideas/ beliefs aren’t everyone's ideas/beliefs.

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 ____7-11______________________________
Explain the emotional development for the age​:​ ​Develops ability to consider multiple sources
of information to explain other’s emotions.

Using examples from the book, explain how the book fits the emotional development of the age: ​I
find the book to touch on an important aspect of life which is death. For the most part death is seen
as a sad occurrence. On the other hand, the book provides a different perspective which is celebrating
death in a form of remembering our loved ones with joy and not grief. I find this to be a positive thing
in helping deal with a loss.

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

Comments: (Support your overall rating) ​The book is a great child friendly way to introduce the
holiday day of the dead. The word choice is simple and having it be narrated in the words of a
child makes it easy to connect to for young children. I find the book to be an easy read but
would have liked it to have more information along with provided some challenge to help
children expand their vocabulary.