Jump Rope Magic illustrated by David Diaz

Jump Rope Magic is written by Afi Scruggs and illustrated by David Diaz. This is a cute book whose story is told through jump rope chants with lots of rhythm and rhyme. Shameka's crew has fun jumping and chanting in the neighborhood street. They began to bother Miss Minnie, a neighbor, who is sad and alone. The girls decide to chant to Miss Minni who finally comes around and joins their fun.

David Diaz does a great job illustrating the story and uses creative art to display the emotions of the characters. The character's facial expressions are very expressive and he uses a mix of soft and bright colors to illustrate the story. Fun book and story that would be great to use for teaching fluency, rhythm or rhyme.

Sitti's Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye

Sitti's Secrets is about a young American girl who travels the world to visit and stay with her grandmother for some time. The little girls seems fascinated by the land that her Grandmother lives in and even though they do not speak the same language, she is able to connect and communicate with her Grandmother and relatives that live there. She feels as though she learns a secret about her Grandmother when she unveils her hair to wash and brush it out. The little girl learns to appreciate her family that lives across the world from her and is sad when they have to leave to return home. The message of this book seems to be that love between families can be felt even when there are thousands of miles apart that separate them.

This was a nice story and I feel like many children can relate to this little girl especially if they live far from their grandparents or speak another language. It seemed a little strange that the girl was writing letter to the president on the way home but other than that is was a nice read.

Going Home illustrated by David Diaz

Going Home is written again by Even Bunting and illustrated by David Diaz. The story is about a Mexican family who lives and works in the United States to give their children and family better opportunities. They return to Mexico for the Christmas holiday and the children realize how happy their parents are in their village in Mexico. They began understand the huge sacrifices their parents have made to move and live in the United States. They appreciate the opportunity while embracing their Mexican heritage.

This book has similar illustrations as Smoky Night. David Diaz uses actual photographs again for the pages' backgrounds and similar acrylic paintings to illustrate the story. In this book, the pictures are much brighter and happier to emphasize the story line. I enjoy the illustrations again but wished a different font would have been used to tell the story. Personally, I find it hard to connect the story and pictures with the font.

Smoky Night illustrated by David Diaz

Smoky Night is written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by David Diaz. It is a Caldecott Award winning picture book. This is a sad but heartfelt story about a boy who has to experience and watch as his street fills with rioters.They began destroying and looting their neighborhood and stores. The boy and his mother, who seem to be African American, watch from their apartment building in fear. The boy has a pet cat named Jasmine who he cares deeply about. As they go to sleep among the chaos they are awakened to fire which has taken over their apartment. The boy and his mother have no time to pack their things and Jasmine the cat is no where to be found. They gather in a shelter and watch as many people cry in disbelief. Several of the people gathering in this one shelter seem to be of many different races. Another woman from the apartment building has lost her cat. This woman is not of "the same kind" so the boy and his mother have not communicated much with her even though they are neighbors. The little boy is so sad and then suddenly a firefighter appears holding both of the cats. The cats, who fought with each other before the fire on many occasions, have bonded and were found huddled together. The story seems to end by teaching a lesson. The cats have finally bonded and become friends through this horrific event and the people, of many different races, gather together and rely on one another to get them through this scary and horrible time.

The illustrations of this book are unlike others I have seem. They are very different and David Diaz uses actual parts of a photograph for the backgrounds of the pages. He then uses the theme or story lines to create his illustrations as well. Matches, hangers and dry cleaning bags, and food can be found throughout the illustrations to emphasize the story. The colors he uses are dark and dreary, similar to the way the story reads. For the actual pictures it looks like he uses acrylic paints. Unique illustrations to go along with a heavy but wonderfully told story with a big lesson.

The Little Scarecrow Boy illustrated by David Diaz

The Little Scarecrow Boy is written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by David Diaz. This sweet children's book is about a little scarecrow boy that wants to be fierce just like his father. His father is training him to be just like him and scare away all the crows from the field; however, he will not let him go out to the fields until he grows older. Little scarecrow boy becomes impatient and heads to the field without this parent's permission. He tries five times with five different scarecrow faces to scare away a mean crow and finally after the sixth time he succeeds and the crow flies away in fear. Just then daddy scarecrow finds his little boy and

beams because he is so proud of this little boy. From then on, the little boy grew up to become the fiercest scarecrow in all the fields.

This is a short and sweet story about parents raising and training their son to be the best little scarecrow boy he can be. The little scarecrow boy learns to scare the crowns away because he has listened and learned from this father. The illustrations by Diaz are vibrant and bright using many warm Autumn colors. The pages are portioned well with the use of color and font and he uses a nice clean white border around all the pages which continues throughout the entire book. The illustrator also illustrates on the front papers and end papers of the book. It begins with a warm sunny sky and the theme is carried out and then ends with the same warm sunny sky.

Event Flier

Purpose of Blog and Posts

One of my final classes for my Master's in Library Science Degree is to help promote the Jan Paris Bookfest.

Every year the Sam Houston's Library Science Department organizes this bookfest and features authors and illustrators to speak and they offer great and informative classes for teachers and librarians to attend.

This year Naomi Shihab Nye, David Diaz and Jeanne Birdsall have all been invited to come and present.

I will be working and helping out at the bookfest this year which is November 5Th in San Antonio at Johnson High School.

As part of my class assignment I will help promote the event and I will read and blog about four books from each author and illustrator.

For more information visit http://www.janparisbookfest.com/