Introduction
The biography of the first president of the United States of America, George Washington is a work of literature that is ideal for children. This biography gives children a chance to understand the roots and background of their country, how it fought for independence, and the men who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country. The book finally concentrates on the life and experiences of the first founding father of the nation. This biography gives children an insight into the life of the founding father of the United States. Pasty Stevens, a retired teacher, wrote the biography that I found to be most interesting in the year 2001. Pasty was an elementary school teacher in the state of Virginia. Throughout his career, he was keen on ensuring that students have a good understanding of their culture and background so that they have a true sense of belonging, embrace their culture and become true patriots to their nation. With regards to this, Pasty made a lot of historical publications including biographies of influential figures. Spindle Publishers, a company that mainly focuses on publishing children’s materials, published the biography of George Washington.
Three informational Books
Information books are essential in the growth and development of the cognitive aspect of an individual. They tend to give individuals crucial information that enriches their knowledge. With this information, an individual tends to look at things from a different perspective; an angle that enables him/her to identify and solve problems easily. These books are thus essential to children since they allow them to learn about several factors and phenomena of life. ‘Seasons’ is an information book that talks about the various weather seasons that the world experiences. This book has different chapters that describe each season in detail. With this information, children will be able to know the characteristics of different seasons hence easily differentiate them. Merri V. Lindgren, a renowned meteorologist in New York, wrote this book. It was compiled and published by Cooperative Children’s Book Center in the year 2003. Jones Bill wrote another informative book titled ‘Dance’. This book focuses on the internal and external aspects of the human body and the way they communicate with one another to create awareness for dancing. It was published by Hyperion Publishers in 1998. The last informative book was written by Tonya Bolden titled ‘Finding Family’. The book talks about the reasons and importance of having a family. It was published by Bloomsbury in the year 2010.
Description of an Interesting ABC Book
Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet is an interesting ABC book that uses endangered animals to describe the letter of the alphabet. The book was written by David Mclimans. It was published in the year 2006. This book uses endangered animals such as the Chinese Alligator to describe the letters of the alphabet. It contains the pictures and descriptions of several animals and describes the various body parts of these animals. This book, therefore, ensures that children not only know the alphabet but they also have a chance to see various endangered species, know their characteristics, factors that have led to a decline in their numbers, and finally the reasons why these animals should be conserved. This book comes in very handy especially during this day and age in modern history when we are facing a lot of environmental challenges that have led to massive environmental degradation and extinction of various plant and animal species. This book gives children a chance to understand this phenomenon at an early age. This will instill conservation ideas in them hence they will grow up while conserving their environment. This will make the world a better home for man.
Poetry and Responses
The nature of a poem brings about a lot of responses from the readers point of view. These responses are varied depending on the idea the poem portrays. This is displayed by its thesis. Due to this fact, a reader needs to determine the message that the poem is passing. This can only be achieved by identifying the main elements of the poem and determining the relationship that they have with one another and to the thesis of the poem. The reader also needs to identify other critical factors in a poem. This includes the theme, genre, versification, and figures of speech. Identifying the theme is critical as it determines the nature of the poem. Therefore, one needs to know whether the poem talks about love, death, education, awareness, and so on. This affects the mode of both the poem and the reader. The genre of the poem also affects how an individual will view and respond to the poem. Versification on the other hand deals with the rhyme and meter. Finally, the reader needs to understand the figures of speech that the writer has used in his work. This includes the identification and interpretation of metaphors, similes, metonymy, personification, and so on. All these factors will affect how an individual will understand and interpret a poem. These are the main factors that influence the personal responsibility of an individual to poetry.
Controversial Characters in Children Literature
The character that I would consider most controversial in children is that of Robin Hood. Robin Hood is a hero who fights to protect the rights and interests of the poor people. In his folklore, Robin Hood is known to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor (Gilbert 6). Ideally, this situation looks empowering. This is because Robin Hood and his group of Merry Men steal from the haves and give it to the haves not. In this respect, therefore, they improve the status of the poor people. On the other hand, looking at this point critically brings out a different perspective and point of view. As we are told, Robin Hood and his group steal from the rich. We all are aware that stealing is a crime that is punishable by the law in any society all around the world. Due to this fact, therefore, such stories should not be used in children’s literature. This is because children may grow up looking after the wrong characters as their role models. It will be difficult for them to differentiate right from wrong. As a result, they may end up embracing crime and social ills.
Insights
Robin Hood is folklore that originated from England. He was a legend who is believed to have lived in England between during the 16th century. He was an outlaw who was well known for stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor. Due to this fact, he was popular amongst the commoners. From the descriptions of his stories, it is evident that the English society at that time was full of oppression and inequality. The gap between the rich and the poor was very wide. The rich owned most of the resources. They also controlled the law and other essential aspects of society. Due to this fact, the poor people continued to be oppressed by the system. As a result, a group of outlaws led by Robin Hood fought for the poor. This group used crime and force against the rich to save the poor. This story is unique since it embraces the use of crime and violence in fighting for justice that is controversial to dialogue and diplomacy that is currently applicable in the modern world.
Reference
Gilbert, Henry. Robin Hood. London: Wildside Press LLC, 2009