Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Thuy Trinh

Book Title: Big is Big (and Little, Little): A Book of Contrasts
Author: J. Patrick Lewis
Genre: Poetry books
Illustrator: Bob Barner
Publisher/Year: Holiday House/ 2007
Age group this book is intended for: PreK – Grade 1
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: opposites, repeat, verse

 Opposites: Pairs of opposite words help children understand the
differences in the things being compared.
 Repeat: Descriptive words about shapes are repeated give children a
correct concept of things when they see them.
 Verse: two verses describe one object has the same number of syllables in
one verse and rhymes at the end of verse to help children easily remember
the words.

The sentence length: Each line contains two separate short sentences, describing
and comparing information about the objects. Each sentence transitions the story
in a different way and there is plenty of information in story to keep children
interested.

One sentence that will define the book: Teaching children about opposite
realities is not easy, but this story, with the help of the animals, sheds light on the
different sizes, shapes and states of existence.

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: there is no main character

When reading this book, children will think of a rich animal kingdom with many
different shapes and states survive together in the world. From big and little and
from sweet and mean, children explore many opposite concepts and think about
the nature of opposites.

Supporting characters: all the animals in the book

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

This book is a poem that describes the differences in appearance and state of
animals. Helps children have a clearer view of different of animals when
comparing them.
The story begins with each rhyme in the verses and every illustration tells its
own small story. The story uses many pairs of antonyms to describe objects such
as big vs little, tall vs short, sweet vs mean, day vs night,... For example, the verses:
"Fat is fat and thin is thin/ Some curve out and some curve in." illustrated by a
chubby pig next to a sly snake. “Sweet is sweet and mean is mean/ And I know
which way I lean.” illustrated by a family of rabbits happily dancing alongside a
stomping and snorting bull. "Cool is cool and hot is hot" is comparison penguins
and a lizard. The story ends with a crocodile and a butterfly saying goodbye to the
reader, a fitting ending to a fun and engaging story.

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

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

Setting:
Place. The animal kingdom
Time. Present because this is animals that are survive and lives in our world

Theme: The book wants to convey to children the concept of comparison when
comparing objects. Help children use correct words when comparing two objects.
Awareness of differences is essential in life because it helps children distinguish
whether the objects they have are suitable for them or not.

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

Style: Cartoon art, the illustrations in this story are colorful and very bright.

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

Media choice is painterly with paints, oil watercolors, pencil

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

(3 Points)
1. Illustration of giraffes with verse “Short is short and tall is tall”. The brown
color of the giraffe is very prominent on the yellow background and when
children look at the picture they will realize that the small giraffe will have
the same height as the large giraffe.
2. Illustration of a pig and a snake, “Fat is fat and thin is thin”. The pink color
of the pig makes the pig very fat and the snake skinny crawl zigzag.
Children will feel very excited about the bright colors of pig and they may
imagine that the pig has difficulty moving with its too fat body.
3. Illustration of a crocodile and a butterfly, “Earth is earth and sky is sky/
One’s walk on, one’s to fly”. The picture of half blue is the sky, half brown is
the earth helps children recognize the difference between the earth and the
sky, which animals walk on the earth and which animals fly in the sky.
“Hello, hello. Good bye, goodbye” help children think of an interesting
conversation that has a beginning and ending.

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

illustration will support children’s interest. (3)

Illustrations are very interesting to children because they always present two
contrasting objects that match the pair of antonyms used in the verse. In each
painting there is a larger object near and a smaller object far, this describes the
book's title is Big is Big and Little, Little. The animals drawn in the illustrations
are also very familiar in life and animals with larger shapes are also drawn larger.
This helps reinforce children's understanding of the animal world.
Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social Emotional
to describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)

Emotional Development:
Identify the age: 2-5 years
Regulation/ coping. Communication with others extends child’s evaluation of and
awareness of own feelings.

Expressive behavior. Adoption of pretend expressive behavior in play and teasing.

Relationship building. Communicating with others enhances children's

understanding of social transactions and behavioral expectations, and increases
their insight into the emotions of others.

For example: The last page of this book with picture a crocodile and a butterfly say
hello and goodbye to other, this is a conversation the build a relationship and
make a friendly between both of them.

1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: 3

Because the book help children develop language when they use words to
compare objects around them. At the same time, children will have the concept
about opposites sizes and states to help them learn math intelligently.

Book Extension Activity (25 points):

Must be the same story as your evaluation.

Your Name: Thuy Trinh

Book Title: Big is Big (and Little, Little): A Book of Contrasts
Book Author: J. Patrick Lewis
Age range for this activity: Prekindergarten
Date: October 2, 2023

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

(List the actual standard that will support your activity)
 3.PK.1 Compare objects by size to determine smaller and larger.
 3.K.1 Compare, order, and describe objects by size.
 2.PK.3 Compare sets of objects. Determine which set has more or less.
 2.K.3 Identify and create sets of objects with unequal amounts,
describing them as greater than or less than.
 L.PK.2 Explore and identify a variety of animals and plants.
 8.PK.2 Use and expand vocabulary to describe feelings, experiences,
observations and ideas.

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

 Student can be able to pay attention on the story in book.
 Student can be able to understand concept what different of objects.
 Student can be able to describe the objects in shape.
 Student can be able to distinguish two objects in state.

3. Materials and Equipment needed: (5 points)

 Video: Big is Big ( and little, little) by Patrick Lewis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyCWgfQNTZ4
 Song: Big or Small - Math Song
 https://youtu.be/ipCjtvHgd4I?si=9HbmSis85My4Cd9I
 Sheet of papers with comparison objects
 Crayon, color pencil

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

 Ask student seat on their chair at their table.
 Give each student a sheet of paper with comparison objects.
 Ask student look at the paper and put their fingers on the big animals.
 Ask students what the animal's name is.
 Ask student circle big animals with blue and small animals with green.
 Ask students to color the animals in their colors.

5. Closure: (2 points)
 Collect the paper
 Discuss what children think is big and what they think is small?
 Watch video: Big is Big ( And Little, Little)
 Watch song: Big or Small - Math Song

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

 Odd owls and Stout Pigs: A Book of Nonsense by author Amold Lobel
and color by Adrianne Lobel.
 A Pet for Me: Poems by author Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated
by Jane Manning.
 Lots of Spots by author and illustrator Lois Ehlert.