Fiction Evaluation Form

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

Your Name: Pamela Becerra Book Title: Amazing Grace

Author: Mary Hoffman Illustrator: Caroline Bench

Genre: Realistic Fiction Publisher/Year: Penguin Young Reader’s Group

EVALUATE THE BOOK USING THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS

STYLE and Language: Using examples from the book, explain 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 type of language it uses is very narrative. It plays the story in third person. There’s
dialogue, but no rhythm, and the sentences aren’t too long but not too short either.
Interesting information would be the message it has for the story. Such as Grace told
she’s not able to be Peter Pan because she’s black. When In reality, she can be anything
she sets her mind to

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 Grace. Grace is adventurous, curious and energetic. The
reader can relate to Grace for multiple reasons. They can relate to Grace
because they also love stories, they love adventures, or if they have ever felt the
same way Grace has. The supporting characters are her mom, her grandma, and
her classmates.
1. PLOT: summarize the major events in the story-

The story revolves around the life of Grace. Grace enjoys all types of stories and loves
roleplaying them with her cat. One day, Grace has a play at school for Peter Pan. Grace
really wants to be Peter pan, but she gets told that she cant play Peter Pan because
she’s black and a girl. Grace comes back home feeling bad about herself. Her grandma
tells her she can be anything she sets her mind to. She then goes to a play and feels
inspire to follow her passion. She was able to play as Peter Pan and she did amazing!
 2. SETTING – Explain the place and time of the book.
THEME- What is the story’s theme/message?
The place would be Grace’s home and school.
The theme of this story is to believe In yourself, reach for the stars. Don’t believe
people who tell you you can’t do something, because you can. You are capable of doing
anything you set your mind to.

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)?

This type of style is realism.
Media choices (paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk) :
The type of media chosen is watercolor and possibly pencil.
Give examples and describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations:
Line: theres no. Harsh lines in the art
Shapes: the shapes are not geometric, they’re pretty soft and open.
Color: the colors aren’t as bright, but very realistic with the shading.
Texture: the illustrations look very real and the textures are different depending on the illustration.

Explain how illustration and text are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text
does not explain?
They’re combined by showing what Grace is doing and her facial expressions. The reader is able to tell how
grace feels and what she’s doing.

Page design: Summarize the following: placement of illustrations and text; the use of borders and white/dark
space; are both pages designed the same or differently?
There’s no separation between text and illustrations. They’re all designed the same.

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________pre-operational_____________________ and the
age_____2-6________________

Explain the cognitive development from the stage:

Around this age children are expanding their imagination. Just like Grace, they have
probably role-played and acted out a play when they’re playing with other children or
with themselves. They can relate to Grace, and feel inspired when Grace goes for what
she wants and does great.

Give examples from the book show how the book fits the cognitive stage:
“After she had heard them, and sometimes while they were still going on. Grace would
act them out. And she always gave herself the most exciting part.”
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 _____6 years to puberty_____________________________
Explain the emotional development for the age:
During this time, children want to apply themselves to tasks and do things for their own.
They can start to feel guilty and look for approval.
Using examples from the book, explain how the book fits the emotional development of
the age: When Grace wants to be Peter Pan in the play, and wants to be Peter Pan, she
gets told she can’t. She starts to think about it and starts to doubt herself and believes
she cant do it.

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

Comments: (Support your overall rating)
I think this is a great book to be read for all children. It’s a cute story with a message
that all younger children would definitely benefit from.