Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Hannah Hardy

Book Title: Drawn Together
Author: Minh Le
Genre: Multicultural/ Asian American
Illustrator: Dan Santat
Publisher/Year: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2018
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)
This book has interesting dialogue, simply because there isn’t much being said. This
style strengths the theme of the characters having a language barrier. When there
are words, you can tell the conversation is strained, frustrated, and short.

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?

There are two main characters in this story, the grandson and grandfather, and a
supporting character would be the boy’s mom. This story can be relatable for readers
that have been in a situation where they encounter another person who does not
speak the same language as them, such as the grandson and grandfather, or could
even be stretched to say finding something in common with someone who you can’t
relate to very well.

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

The major event of this story is when the grandfather and grandson realize they can
draw together to bridge the gap between them brought on by cultural and language
differences. While they are drawing, they face a dragon trying to come between
them, which can be inferred to be the language and cultural differences, and how
they defeat the dragon to create a bond between them.

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

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

The setting of this book takes place in modern times at the grandfather’s house and
in their imaginative drawings of a world beyond words.
The main message of this story is that even with language and cultural differences,
we can still make meaningful connections with others.

Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories
Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)? (2
points)
There are several different styles of illustration demonstrated in this book. Realism is
used for the beginning parts that show the grandfather and grandson going about
their day, but when they start drawing together, we see that they have different
drawing styles. The grandson’s work is more naïve, while the grandfathers is more
disciplined showing more characteristics of realism.

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk):
(2 points)
The illustrator of this story used many different media choices while creating these
images. He used markers, brush pens, watercolors, oil-based inks, ballpoint pens, and
colored pencils.

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations: (3)
Line: The illustrations in this story contain many different line types. We see a lot of
curved lines to show us movement and straight lines that give depth to the page. We
also see straight lines that show us movement as well, such as when the dragon
roars, the straight lines show the power in the roar.

Shapes: At the beginning of this story, we see a lot of straight lines that depict the
uncomfortably between the characters. When they find their connection through
drawing, we see more curved lines showing how their relationship is beginning to
flow together.

Color: Like the shapes represent feelings at the beginning of this story, the hues used
were very muted and reflected the stagnant feelings between the grandfather and
grandson. As they begin to draw together, the grandson uses a lot of bright colors
reflecting his creative imagination, and the grandfather draws in black ink, which is
much more traditional. By the end of the book, they are both using a mixture of ink
and marker. This reflects the generational and cultural differences the two have.

Texture: The are a lot of different two-dimensional uses of texture throughout this
book. For example, we see long strokes of marker and watercolors used for surfaces
such as the couch that depict softness. The grandfather’s traditional suit of armor and
the giant fish give such details that you can tell that they are hard and layered.
Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space and
all pages the same or different). (3)
The page design in this story was magnificent. In the first few pages of the story, we
see multiple images on a page, almost snapshots of the uncomfortableness and
desire to make a connection between the two characters. When they find their
common interest, they are transformed into a world of drawing that requires no
words. These pages of illustration are spanned across both pages and filled to the
edges, representing the limitlessness that this has created between the two of them.

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

describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)
Piaget:
Name the stage_____________________ and the age_______________________
Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the
book to support your choice:

Erickson:
Name the stage_____________________ and the age_______________________
Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the
book to support your choice:
Emotional Development:
Identify the age: 3-6 Years
Explain the social development for this age and how the book relates
to the emotional level you chose:
At this stage, children have already been developing their empathy responses and can
evaluate behavior such as guilt. So now, their cognitive strategies are creating
emotional self-regulation and they can better understand and express degrees of
emotion. This book displays this age of Emotional Development because they can
understand the longing, desire, and guilt that both characters nonverbally express.
They can also understand the joy the characters have once they have found the bridge
that brings them together.

1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: 3!!!!

Why?
This book was amazing! I’ve never read a story that contained so little words but
expressed so much meaning at the same time. The details in the illustration speak so
loudly and present a clear and meaningful message.