Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Anela Gonsalves-Park

Book Title: A Picture Book of George Washington
Author: David A. Adler
Genre: Biography
Illustrator: John & Alexandra Wallner
Publisher/Year: Holiday House/ 1990
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)

The word choice for this book is simple but has some complexities. There is not much
dialogue, rhythm, and rhymes. The sentence length is a good amount, not too long
and not too 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?

The main character is George Washington.

The reader can relate to George as he was a common child who lived with his siblings
and went to school.

The supporting characters are George’s soldiers, the thirteen colonies, and his wife.

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

George Washington was born and raised in Virginia. He was a common child who
went to school and enjoyed reading and writing. When he was 11 years old, his father
died, and he found some of his father’s surveying tools which he took a liking to.
Once he turned 16, he got a job to survey the wilderness in Virginia. After this at the
age of 21, George joined the Virginia army and fought in the French and Indian War
where he to the side of England against the French. He was known as a good leader
throughout the 13 colonies. He then fell in love with Martha Custis and married her
along with her 2 children. He then decided to lead the Continental Army and they
won the war. George became a hero, and the 13 colonies formed a government
where George was elected as the first president of the United States in 1789. After 8
years of being president, George returned home to Mount Vernon. In 1799 George
became ill and ended up dying at 67 years old.

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

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

The setting is in Virginia during the 1700s.

The main message of this book is that George Washington was a hero, and he was a
regular common child who grew into the man he became.

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

The style of this book is a mixture of realism and naïve.

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

I believe the media choice is pens and paints.

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations: (3)
Line: This is used to outline objects and people within the illustrations. There are
black lines of different weights.
Shapes: This is used to make up the background of the illustrations. For example,
there are many different sizes of squares and rectangles to make up the desks and
chairs in the classroom.
Color: Many different colors are used within these illustrations of warm and cool
tones. Also, this is used to show shadows within the clothes that the people wear.
Texture: This is used to show the roughness of the wood within the tables as well as
the walls.
Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space and
all pages the same or different). (3)

The placement of the illustrations connects between both pages and sit in the center
of both pages side-by-side. The illustrations have boarders around them, and this is
the same within all the pages. Outside of the boarders contain a white background.

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 Concrete Operational and the age 7-12 years
Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the
book to support your choice:

This stage is when children understand the world through logical thinking and
categories.

An example from the book would include when George was stated as being the
president for 8 years, the reader would have to logically think that he was a president
twice with 4 years each as he was re-elected.

1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: 3

Why?

This book makes it easier and simpler to understand the significance of George
Washington and who he was.