Children’s Literature Evaluation

Your Name: Thuy Trinh

Book Title: Stolen Words
Author: Melanie Florence
Genre: Multicultural
Illustrator: Gabrielle Grimard
Publisher/Year: Second Story/2017
Age group this book is intended for: 6 to 9 years old
Evaluate the Book for the following elements
Style and Language: (5 points)

Share 3-word choices that will support the intended age group and explain why.
How will the sentence length hold the intended age groups interest?
Share 1 sentence that will define the book for this age group.

Word choices:
Simple. It convey information to enlighten the reader with short sentence.
Clarify. The reader can immediately understand the meaning of the word when
reading it.
Simile. It quickly conveys emotions to the reader.

The sentence length is not too long, helping students clearly understand what the
sentence wants to convey, with the grammar is clear and the words are simple.

Stolen Words is an emotional story of hope and healing, as a granddaughter helps her
grandfather find the language he lost long ago.

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?

Main character: a little girl (granddaughter)

Granddaughter felt the sadness in the grandfather’s face and she actioned to help
him remember his language. The love, hope and joy of the characters were able to
heal the wounds of the past and they would find their own identity again.

Supporting character: grandfather

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

The "Stolen Words" write about a little girl who helps her grandfather regain his
language which was taken away as a child.

When a lively little girl asks her grandfather: “ How do you say grandfather in Cree?”,
his pain was immediate. He answered : "I don't remember, I lost my words a long
time ago". He then shares his story about boarding school, separation from family,
community, language, and culture. Although the granddaughter’s life was very
different, she only had good memories but she listened to her grandfather with her
ears, heart, and spirit. The next day, she still keep a smile and stopped before her
grandfather and showed him a dictionary of English and Cree. Her actions were a gift
that sets the two of them on a new path of discovery, healing, reconciliation, and
Cree language reclamation.

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

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

Setting: Place: at little girl’s home, Cree. “She came home from school today”.

Time: present because this is a problem today, many people cannot remember their
mother tongue.

Theme: The main message of "Stolen Words" write about the importance of culture,
family, and one’s own identity. It inspires hope and courage as the children and
adults embark on a journey of healing, through love, determination, and resiliency.
The story recognizes the pain of those whose culture and language were taken from
them, but consider those just painful memories, not resentment, so that the heart
will be heal.

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

Expressionism, which is an attempt to give object expression to inner experience.

This type of art tries to convey emotion and meaning rather than reality. The story
shows the characters' profound experiences and mixed emotions of joy and sadness.

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

Painterly media : paints, pencil, oil watercolors

Give 3 examples of how the illustration will hold a child’s attention.

(3 Points)

Children will be curious to learn about the feelings between

granddaughter and grandfather when they have two different
facial expressions

The innocence and vivacity of the granddaughter holding

her grandfather's hand shows the closeness and love
between them and they begin to talk like two friends.

The radiance on the granddaughter's face showed what a

wonderful thing she had done for her grandfather with
her ability.

Page design-placement of the illustrations: Describe how the placement of the

illustration will support children’s interest. (3)
The emotions of the characters are interwoven among the illustrations. From a joyful,
dancing niece with a radiant face, she suddenly became worried and a little sad when
listening to her grandfather talked about why he lose his language. And grandfather
with a sad and regretful face when reminiscing about his past with the loss of his
language. But in the end both characters' faces were very excited because they were
able to find their tribe language. The illustrations depict the emotions on the
characters' faces one by one as the story progresses that supporting children’s
interest in the story.

Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social Emotional to

describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)

Erickson:
Name the stage: Industry vs. Inferiority and the age: 6-13 years old
Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the
book to support your choice:

Children whose initiative and ingenuity are reinforced by caregivers and teachers gain
confidence in their ability to achieve goals.

Example: The granddaughter wanted to help her grandfather find his language again,
she went to school and her teacher helped her find a dictionary. Then she returned
home and show it to her grandfather. She achieved her goal of helping her
grandfather find his Cree language again.

1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: 3

Why?
Because language always represents a person's culture and as long as they keep their
language, their nation can survive. This story helps readers understand the
importance of each nation's cultural identity. And never lose the opportunity to find
our own culture no matter what happened in the past.
 Book Extension Activity (25 points):

Must be the same story as your evaluation.

Your Name: Thuy Trinh

Book Title: Stolen Words
Book Author: Melanie Florence
Age range for this activity: 6-9 years old
Date: October 15, 2023

1. Infant/Toddler/Pre-K/CCSD K-2nd Grade Core Standard (5 points)

(List the actual standard that will support your activity)
 Social Studies
o Develop a greater awareness of diverse cultures through the
examination of multiple perspectives and their contributions
throughout history.
o Demonstrate literacy skills through analysis and evaluation of
primary and secondary sources while at the same time synthesizing
the material and engaging in academic discourse.
 Nevada Academic Content Standards for Fine Arts are predicated on a
belief that artistic literacy provides students with an ability to create,
present, critique, and connect art to their academic studies, lives, and the
world around them.

2. Objectives (What will children expect to learn?) (5 points)

 Students will be able to listen and pay attention to the story.
 Student can be able to understand what multicultural is and why must we
respect other people's cultures?
 Children can be able to write and say the word grandfather and
granddaughter/grandson in five languages.
 Children can be able to recognize some Cree words translated into English.

3. Materials and Equipment needed: (5 points)

 Video: Stolen Words read aloud https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WCvDsLM_Vk0
 Video: HOW TO SAY Grandfather IN MORE THAN TOP
10 LANGUAGES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G-FiSiUMdU
 Sheet of papers with the frame and line (like picture)
 Pencil, color pencils, crayons

4. Teaching (What will you do?) (5 points)

 The teacher guides the students to sit in their chairs.
 Show the students the front cover of the book.
 Teacher read the story “ Stolen Words” for class.
 Teach children say grandfather : nimosom / granddaughter: nosisim / thank
you: tiniki in English and Cree
 Ask students some questions about the story such as what is this story
about?
 Give each student a sheet of paper with the frame and line and ask them to
draw a picture about their grandfather and themselves.
 Ask student write the word grandfather and granddaughter/ grandson in
English and Cree and their own language or another language they know.
 Ask student to color the picture that they drew.

5. Closure: (2 points)
 Children keep the paper sheet to back home
 Discussion about culture, such as Where are you from? how is grandfather
say in your language?
 Open video: HOW TO SAY Grandfather IN MORE THAN TOP 10 LANGUAGES.

6. List 3 additional books in this genre to extend the learning: (3 points)

 “Kunu’s Basket. A Story from Indian Island” by Author: Lee DeCora Francis ,
Illustrator: Susan Drucker for ages group 5-7
 Bad River Boys: A Meeting of the Lakota Sioux with Lewis and Clark by
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, Illustrated by: Bill Farnsworth fro age group 6-
9.
 Greet the Dawn: The Lakota Way by S.D. Nelson, grade PreK to 2.