Literary terms

Literary Terms

Contributor's Form (list #252)

?? I Heard the Owl Call my Name to 6,7,8 the gifted last year. On one hand death is a difficult subject for many of these very young people to identify with. On the other hand, the students loved the language and the richness of the language. We did a great deal of close reading with passages. The students immediately got the idea of the salmon (the swimmer) being Mark as well as humankind. The two passages they especially liked were where Mark, Jim, and Marta talk about the purpose of the swimmer and the last passage where the river runs through time.
Aardema, Verna. Anansi Finds a Fool - poetic justice
Amelia Bedelia differences between figurative and literal
Coatsworth, Elizabeth. Song of the Camels - foreshadowing
Cooney, Barbara
Emberly, Rebecca. Three Cool Kids - parody
Hall, Donald. The Oxcart Man,
Hoopes, Lyn Littlefield. The Unbeatable Bread - alliteration
Hurwitz, ? Birthday of Madeline Blore in Birthday Surprises, (not a picture book, but a great children's book)
Jackson, Ellen. Cinder Edna - parody
Ladwig, Tim. Psalm Twenty-Three - imagery, metaphor, foreshadowing, allusion
Levitt, Paul, Douglas Burger, and Elissa Guralnick's The Weighty Word Book (Bookmakers Guild, 1985; LC 85-62731) creates clever and humorous stories full of puns for 26 vocabulary words which encourage learning through mnemonic devices. The selected words are definitely high school level vocabulary (from abasement to zealot), but the stories and illustrations by Janet Stevens make it a book for all ages.
Meyers, Walter Dean. Harlem, - imagery, metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration
Pilkey, Dav Dog Breath: The Horrible Terrible Trouble with Hally Tosis (Blue Sky Press, 1994; $14.95; ISBN 0-590-47466-9) fast-paced, humorous, and full of puns which even the young children "get."
Pilkey, Dav Kat Kong: Starring Flash, Rabies, and Dwayne and Introducing Blueberry as the Monster (Harcourt Brace, 1993; $10.95; ISBN 0-15-242036-3) perfect book for teaching parody, puns, alliteration, assonance, and consonance. They are also wonderful for dramatics and speech practice.
Pilkey, Dav. Dogzilla: Starring Flash, Rabies, Dwayne, and Introducing Leia as the Monster (Harcourt Brace, 1993; $10.95; ISBN 0-15-223944-8) are perfect book for teaching parody, puns, alliteration, assonance, and consonance. They are also wonderful for dramatics and speech practice.
Pilkey, Dav. The Hallo-wiener (Blue Sky Press, 1995; $14.95; ISBN 0-590-041703-7) are equally as popular on all grade levels. fast-paced, humorous, and full of puns which even the young children "get."
Polacco, Patricia - atmosphere
Trivisas, Eugene. Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig - parody
VanAllsburg, Chris -- The Wretched Stone_
VanAllsburg, Chris _Bad Day at Riverbend_
VanAllsburg, Chris _The Stranger_
Wolff, Patricia Toll Bridge Troll - parody

Professional Resources:
A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children's Picture Books*, 5th ed. It lists over 18,000 titles under over 1,000 subjects, and includes a history of the picture book with suggestions for further reading.
Abrams, M.H.,A GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Our Creative Writing teacher as well as other English teachers have used it for over 20 years; new editions have been published but all of them are still in use, on reserve in the Library.
Adventuring with Books* , but the first title is by far the most comprehensive. In fact, I might want to get it for my own library.
Beyond Words: Picture Books for Older Readers and Writers, edited by Susan Benedict & Lenore Carlisle (Heinemann Publishers,
Hall, Susan. Using Picture Story Books to Teach Literary Devices. Vol 1 and 2. You can read more about them on the Oryx web site. If you don't have a copy in your library, check with elementary and middle schools in your district. These titles have been out for a while and are very popular.
Marantz, Syliva S. Picture Books for Looking and Learning: Awakening Visual Perceptions through the Art of Children's Books. Oryx Press, (there may be a new edition out now).
Moen, Christine Boardman. Teaching with Caldecott Books: Activities across the Curriculum. Scholastic, 1991.
Picture Books to Enhance the Curriculum
Picture Books: And Annotated Bibiliography with Activities for Teaching Writing by Ruth Culham.
Valerie & Walter's Best Books For Children. AVON. ISBN 0-380-79438-1. The index lists a number of books that would fit your needs.
Worth a Thousand Words: An Annotated Guide to Picture books for Older Readers by Bette D. Ammon and Gale W. Sherman It's an excellent place to find provocative picture books that might find your needs.

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