Balloons over Broadway

Growing up my family attended the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in NYC almost every year.  I was always amazed by the sight of the balloons and we always took pleasure in the ones that didn't make it or that we're barely hanging on by the time they reached us.  WW also marveled at how many people it took to steer them, hold them down and navigate the balloons through the NYC streets.  That is why once I saw this book, I knew it would be one I could connect with immediately.

I enjoyed reading it not just because of my own personal connection but because of the great adaptability of the puppeteer of the balloons, Tony Sarg.  He was in fact a puppeteer first and then the balloon inventor.  I had no idea the connection with Ohio or Goodyear and those connections for me made this all the more worthwhile.  As a picture book, there are so many more stories in the pictures and the layouts then just in the text.

Helen's Big Words

the beautiful, simplistic cover drew me into this book but what kept me fascinated as a teacher was how seamlessly this book lent itself to teaching first and third person writing.  The author carefully wove in quotes from Helen's autobiography to capture the whole story of Helen's life.  I have read Helen's autobiography as a kid and I was amazed at how much more I learned from this picture book.  I knew that Helen's teacher Annie was credited for so much of her success but I didn't remember how devoted to Helen Annie was all throughout her life.  I also never realized how outspoken Helen was on such politic issues and that people listened to her opinions of issues.

Uncle Andy's

The great part about this book is that it is told in such a way and illustrated in such a way that you are certain that it must be a fiction book,  it is great to read along side a biographical article about Andy Warhol to realize that this is a biography of his.  This is great for teaching author's point of view, author's purpose and characteristics of a biography. Great combination of illustrations in a very fun yet informative way!