Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Alexa Tribuli

Book Title: 10 Things I Can Do To Help My World
Author: Melanie Walsh
Genre: Nonfiction,
Illustrator: Melanie Walsh
Publisher/Year: Candlewick/2008
Evaluate the Book for the following elements
Style and Language: Using examples for the book, explain the following: Word
choices, dialogue, rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Share unexpected insights or
interesting information the reader learns from this story. (5 points)

Word Choice:
The word choices in the book are simple but they are also good to expand the
vocabulary of students. For example, on page 22, the word “unplugged” is used.

Dialogue:
There is no dialogue written in the book.

Rhythm:
The book has a slow rhythm that allows the reader (caregiver) to pause and converse
with the students. The book also has many opportunities to pause and allow the
students to make guesses as to what will come next in the book.

Sentence Length:
All sentences are short. Keeping the story simple for younger children to follow.

Insights/Interesting Information:
There are a few pages where there is smaller text that expands on the learning of the
main large text. For example, on page 3, there is a bonus sentence that expands on
the text one page two. On page two we learn to turn off the lights when we leave a
room, and on page three we get the bonus information that: “Turning off the lights
and using more efficient lightbulbs saves valuable energy”.

Character: With examples from the book, provide the following- (5 points)
Who is the main character?
How can the reader relate to the character?
Who are the supporting characters?

Character:
There is no main character specifically in the book. I like to think of it as the reader
being the main character because there are many moments where the text says “I,
we, me”.

Relate to Main Character:

There is no main character specifically in the book. But if viewed as the reader being
the main character, the reader is able to relate the context of the book to their prior
knowledge.

Supporting Characters:
There are no characters specified in the book. But if the reader is the main character
then the supporting characters would be parents because on page 20 they are
mentioned.

Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)

-Learn to turn off the lights when you are not in the room.
-Learn to turn off the water faucet when you brush your teeth.
-Learn to always throw away trash properly.
-Learn to feed birds properly on the winter.
-Learn to use both sides of the paper.
-Learn to unplug appliances when not in use.
-You can create stuff out of recycled materials.
-Learn that walking is better than using a car.
-Learn to grow seeds.
-Help sort the recycling.
-You do all this because you love your world.

Setting: Explain the place and time of this book. (2 points)

Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)

Setting:
The setting is in our hometown, the places we know best. I feel that while reading the
book I was able to see this book taking place inside my home. I am able to relate this
book to my personal life.

Theme:
Helping the World.

Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories
Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)? (2
points)

Realism and Cartoon Art, because the illustrations are faithful to the proper
proportions, but they are drawn in a cartoon like design.

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk):
(2 points)

Acrylic paints

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations: (3)

Line:
The lines in the illustrations are mostly thin. The lines all flow easily giving the
illustrations the feeling of naturalness.

Shapes:
The shapes are all very simple and very easily identifiable. Some objects that have a
curved shape are the butterflies, the water in the sink, the birds, and the plants. The
curve lines represent the natural objects in the book.

Color:
The illustrations are very vibrant jewel tones. The hues are mostly warm but there is
some cool toned hues as well. The value and saturation of the illustrations are both
bright.

Texture:
The illustrations in the book have a lot of different textures. On pages 24 and 25, the
scrape pieces are many different item pieces. There is a verity of cardboard pieces,
paper with string sew into it, and three boxes made from patterned papers.

Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space and
all pages the same or different). (3)

There are no boarders, the entire page is used and has color on it. All the pages
follow similar formatting. On the first page there is an illustration and the words “I
remember…”. The next page is a similar image and the words “to turn off the light
when I leave the room.” This back and forth between the images allows for the
children to see the progression of helping the world.

Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social Emotional to

describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)

Erickson:

Stage: Initiative vs. Guilt

Age: 3 to 5
Cognitive Development:
This stage is about the child wither developing a sense of initiative or a sense of guilt.
For a child to develop a sense of initiative are able to feel confident and equip to guide
others. The book is able to support the development of the sense of initiative in
children because it is written in a way that can empower the reader (or listener) to
feel they can take care of the world around them. The book outlines small activities
that all children can do to help the world stay clean and safe. The children can do
these activities and feel empowered and capable.

My Rating of Book:

Your rating of the book: 3

Why?
I love this book for many reasons. One reason it that it is easy for the students to see
how everything they do affects the world and also that they are capable of helping
heal the world. Another reason this book is awesome is that it comes in board book
and paper format. No matter what age your students are at you can get the
developmentally appropriate format of the story. The third reason this book is
awesome is because it is an awesome way to open up the conversation of recycling,
gardening, sustainability, and so much more. There are so many lessons a child has to
learn but one of the most important lessons is that they have to take care of their
world.