Comparing Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon and Ruth Krauss’s A Hole is to Dig
Margaret Wise Brown is an exceptional author that has written many children’s picture books. She has created a style of writing that children can relate to on each of their own level. Each book has a simple and easy structure of writing accompanied with defining illustrations.
Margaret Wise Brown is not the only author that has been able to adjust her writing style to better suite different age levels for children. Another author that could fit into this category would be Ruth Krauss, author of “A Hole is to Dig,” and many more other great children’s books. Both of these authors’ genres could be categorized as simple and defining. For example, Margaret Wise Brown wrote the famous book, “Goodnight Moon” and compared to Ruth Krauss’s book, “A Hole is to dig”, it is easy to see these attributes of writing style.
Taking a closer look at the writing styles, it is easy to see why they are perfect reading books for children. Brown uses short sentences with in her writing for each page of the book. This makes it easier for children to focus on the action or story being told. It also helps them to be able to examine sentences one at a time instead of using paragraphs that could confuse them by having so many words present. Brown and Krauss also use small simple words that are taught to children at a young age that helps them work on repetition, for example in “Goodnight Moon”, each time the bunny is talking he always says “goodnight” to everything in the room. This helps to identify objects and better define words with the illustrations. Krauss also uses these short simple words and phrases to help children with their learning to read. For example, in the book “A Hole is to Dig”, the sentence says, “A face is so you can make faces.” This sentence also shows the children repetition by restating the word twice.
Krauss’ illustrations are very simple with great detail. Each page has open white space between each picture that helps children to focus on the action-taking place within the story that is being told. For example, on the same page as when Krauss is exploring faces, each pair of children is spread apart from one another on the page. This helps to show each expression individually with no distraction of what is being represented.
Picture books are one of the first mediums of learning that children encounter. The picture book was first created in 1657 by John Amos Comenius. Comenius’s book was entitled Orbis Pictus (The world of Pictures) and was an alphabet book (Martinez 57). Picture books are used to lay the foundations of the histori...
In conclusion, critical evaluation of what makes a book good or bad depends on the selection criteria and agenda of those making the evaluation. The prizes have been criticised through the years and the selection committees have risen to this by changing the selection process, even if this change has been slow. Children’s Literature is in flux due to the ever-changing ideas and perceptions of childhood. Children’s books seen as prestigious today may become, like Blyton, unpalatable to the critics of tomorrow.
Scrivo, K. (1998, March 20). Drinking on campus. CQ Researcher, 8, 241-264. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college environment, will damage themselves mentally, physically, and socially later in life, because alcohol adversely affects the brain, the liver, and the drinkers behavior.
There are many similarities to be found between the books written by Dr. Seuss and my original work . For this project I decided to mimic the writing styles that can be found within The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, two of his most popular books. In 1954 Life magazine published a report about illiteracy among school children. This article stated that children were bored by the books that were available to them at the beginning reader level. His publisher sent Mr. Geisel a list of 400 words that he thought were important for “new readers” to learn. Geisel used 220 of the words and wrote the infamous book titled The Cat in the Hat. This book was an instant success among children and parents. While writing my original work for this project I wrote myself a list of 300 words that I thought would be important for new readers to learn. Out of the 220 words that I selected I utilized approximately 125 of them within my book. In the Dr. Seuss book titled One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish there is no plot that is carried throughout the entire book. Each page is a ...
Marcus, L. (1990). Garth Williams; his career spanning almost half a century, the artist's illustrations for children's books have become classics. (PW Interviews). Publishers Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-8541967/garth-williams-his-career.html
Falconer, Rachel. The Crossover Novel: Contemporary Children’s Fiction and Its Adult Readership. New York: Routledge, 2009.
David Wiesner is a very artistic author. His love for art is portrayed through his style of work. When flipping through the pages of his books, the reader is immediately drawn to the pictures. A particular style the Wiesner is known for is wordless picture books. A wordless picture book is exactly what it says; it is a book containing only pictures. "A wordless picture book is a very personal experience for the reader" (Amazon.com). A child can benefit tremendously from this style of book. Wordless picture books stimulate creativity and language, while at the same time introducing a child to basic principles of books and reading.
One of the main reasons students feel the need to binge drink is peer pressure. They do this because their peers are doing it and they want to fit in better. College dorm rooms offer many different places for students to drink. Dorm rooms give a great place for a few people to get together, and before you know it “everybody’s doing it”.
Children literature is a term that refers to the texts written for children. The artist uses creative ways to ensure that children are provided with educational books, touching on a variety of themes. This paper will include comparison of two characters from the two texts, “Hana's Suitcase: A True Story,” authored by Karen Levine and “Charlotte’s Web,” written by E.B. White, with the aim of understanding ways in which problems are solvable as indicated by selected characters.
According to a national survey conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “almost 60 percent of college students ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month, 1 and almost 2 out of 3 of them engaged in binge drinking during that same timeframe” (NIH). Binge drinking culture refers to the recent rise and normalization of college age students drinking excessively. The CDC describes binge drinking as “a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol level to 0.08grams within two hours” (CDC). For many young adults, college is one of the first times they will experience complete freedom. This freedom often leads to partying, which goes hand in hand with the consumption of alcohol. However, since the age at which
Over 49% of the college students within America do not consume alcohol on a regular basis (Lankford, 2007). However, a significant percentage of these students lack the control to abuse alcohol when they start consuming it. The annual Health College Alcohol Study indicates that the social interaction within a majority of the societal settings has significantly been affected by the increased amount of alcoholic consumption. This has seen the rise of fights and disorderly communities, especially within those areas where colleges are set up. ...
Chris Van Allsburg has been named one of the most intriguing authors and illustrators of children’s books. He has a unique style that captivates children and adults alike. Often, a person’s background and experiences influence their work. Imagination has many roots into the childhood of an individual.
Shange, N. (1977). For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf: a choreopoem. New York: MacMillan.