Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Alexander Garcia

Book Title: Pinocchio
Author: Disney
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Illustrator: Walt Disney
Publisher/Year: Phidal Publishing/1883
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 Choices: There are some descriptive words in Pinocchio. An example is when
Gideon and Honest John are called, “swindlers” and “tricksters.”

Dialogue: There is quite a bit of dialogue throughout the book. The dialogue leads to
interesting points within the book. An example is when Geppetto makes a wish, “I
wish to have a son who is gentle and kind, just like my little Pinocchio!” This starts
the book off on an adventure of Pinocchio being alive, not just a puppet on strings.

Rhythm: The rhythm throughout the book remains the same. The sentences are full
length, no pausing.

Rhyme: There is no rhyming in this book.

Sentence Length: There sentence length throughout the book are complete
sentences. For example: “As I warmed myself beside the hearth, I took a look around
me, my friends, I had never seen anything like it!”.

Unexpected insights or interesting information the reader learns from the story:

An unexpected insight is when Pinocchio’s nose grows into a tree branch. It is

interesting because humans don’t normally have their nose grow every time they lie
but when Pinocchio lies his nose grows.
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?
The main character is the Pinocchio. The reader can relate to the story because many
kids as they grow up have to decide to follow their parents’ instructions or do
something different. Just like Geppetto, parents send their kids to school. The kids
have to choose whether to walk the route the parents tell them to walk or choose a
different route. The reader can also relate, because people deal with peer pressure
and making decisions a lot through their lifetime. The supporting character is
Geppetto.

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

Geppetto is an artist who wishes to have a son just like Pinocchio. The wish came
true by the wave of the Blue Fairy appeared. Pinocchio became a real walking,
moving puppet. On Pinocchio’s way to school, he encounters Gideon and Honest
John. They convinced him he could be a star; it turned out they tricked him. He was
placed into a cage. When the Blue Fairy appeared and asked him what happened, he
lied, this made his nose grow like a tree. When he promised never to lie again, the
Blue Fairy released him from the cage with his nose back to normal. On Pinocchio’s
way home, he was tricked again, this time to go to Pleasure Island. Pinocchio found
out that Geppetto fell was swallowed by a whale when looking for him. Pinocchio set
out to find him and got eaten by the same whale. They all got out, but when
Pinocchio was out, he was face down in the water. The Blue Fairy appeared a third
time, brought him back to life, and made him into a real boy.
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 an Italian village.

Theme: The theme of the story is to listen to what your parents tell you and not fall
for peer pressure.

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

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

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations: (3)
Line: Throughout the book when Pinocchio is drawn, he has lines on his legs and
arms. This makes him look like a puppet versus a real boy. On page 11, there are
small white perpendicular lines that represent rain.
Shapes: On page 15, there are round almost half circles drawn under the donkeys.
These represent debris being kicked up from the hooves.
Color: There is a lot of color throughout all pages. A color example that sticks out is
the way the illustrator used white around the Blue Fairy. It makes her look like she
has an aura around her.
Texture: On page 3, there are brush strokes in the brown color to make it look like
wood.
Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space and
all pages the same or different). (3)
The end pages are consistent throughout the book. The pages do not continue from
left to right. Each page is separate. There is a white border around all pages. The
writing on each page is either on the very top with the picture below or writing on
the bottom with the picture above.

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________ Preoperational _____________ and the age_________2-
7______________
Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the
book to support your choice:

The cognitive development feature selected for this stage is egocentric thinking; does
not see things from other viewpoints. An example from the book that shows how it
fits egocentric thinking is when Pinocchio was let out of the cage by the Blue Fairy. On
his way home he encountered the tricksters again. Instead of going home as he
should, he did what he wanted and went to Pleasure Island. Although he was
hesitant, he still did what he wanted to do.

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: _________________________
Explain the social development for this age and how the book relates
to the emotional level you chose:
1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: ______3________

Why?
I really enjoyed reading this book. The book is engaging and it creates suspense.
Readers don’t just read along with the book; they also feel the emotions being felt
through the book. The illustrations are well drawn. They tell not just what the words
say, but also more of the story is inferred from the illustrations. This book is a fun
read for readers of all ages.