Kevin Henkes has many picture books, but he also
has many great novels. One of Henkes' novels, Olive's Ocean is an award-winning
novel that discusses different character traits and real-world situations
students go through. This book would create great discussions about diverse
topics such as values, trust, and guilt, which many young children and young
adults can relate to. This novel is geared towards older elementary students
and middle school aged students. Olive's Ocean is a very emotional and
interesting story that many students can relate to and would enjoy reading. For
the critical responses to Henkes' books, I wanted to focus on his picture books
because that is why I chose Kevin Henkes for my author study. I wanted to
include a small review on Olive's Ocean because I think it is a great book
that many older students would be interested in, and it is a Newbery Honor
Book.
Mice Series Books: Owen,
Lilly's Big Day, Chester's Way, A Weekend with Wendell, Chrysanthemum, Julius
the Baby of the World, Sheila Rae, the Brave, Penny and her Song, etc.
Kevin Henkes' is well known for his book
series that feature mice as the main characters. Each mouse character has his
or her personality and characteristics that make them likable and relatable for
children. Since there are diverse characters, each child can find one that they
can relate to and connect with, which is important for students while reading.
These characters have experiences and feelings that most children can relate
to. Henkes does a great job of showing feelings and expressions on the characters'
faces. When a character is concerned, the reader can tell because of the facial
expression on the mouse. Kevin Henkes portrays the fears and feelings in a way
that is easy for children to understand and learn from. Many of the series
books have a moral story about acceptance and respect. These books are great to
teach character development and character traits in the classroom.
When I first look at these books, I notice the
colorful pictures that look like they are painted on the page, which capture
you into the stories. Kevin Henkes does a great job expressing the story and
what is happening through the illustrations on each page. There is a lot of
white space on the pages, but it does not take away from the story because
Henkes illustrates each thought and section separately. I think he leaves a
majority of the page white because it is can be easier for younger students to
focus on the words and the picture without too much going on. The illustrations
are very diverse in the way they are set up on each page. For example, on one
page there might be six separate pictures to go along with six sentences, and
on another page there might be one large picture that illustrates multiple
sentences. The illustrations are a key component in the different mice series
books because they are picture books where students take meaning from both the
words and pictures.
Each book in the series flows smoothly with
one another because many of the characters show up in a variety of books. The
characters keep their personality traits in each book, which is essential
because that shows the consistency within the series. It is evident that each
book is written and illustrated with careful consideration and effort because
each book is great. Henkes writes for a diverse group of students because some
of his books are easier to read and some are more difficult to read. Some of
the books have one to two sentences per page, while other books have
paragraphs. Henkes uses a variety of sentence structures in his writing, but
most of the words and sentences are easy to read and understand. All of the
series books include dialogue and descriptive language, which allows the reader
to be interested in the characters and their story.
I really enjoy reading the book series with
the mice characters, and will use these books in my classroom because the
children will be able to relate to the characters and their experiences. Also,
I think Kevin Henkes has wonderful illustrations that capture the story and the
reader's interest. I will use these books to teach different character building
skills and to connect with students' fears and excitements that they go through
on a daily basis. While looking on the Internet for critiques on the series
books, I could only find ones that based their critique off of specific books
in the series. One of the book critiques on Owen from Publishers Weekly
describes this book as a great addition to Henkes' impressive and engaging
series that has "...understated humor, spry text and brightly hued
watercolor-and-ink pictures" (Reed Business Information, Inc, 1993). The
review describes only positives about this book and the series, which I
completely agree with. I think Henkes' series is engaging, has captivating
illustrations, and has easy to read and interesting texts. Another critique
that praises Henkes for his picture books is by Sarah Hunsberger from Oregon
Live, which correlates with The Oregonian newspaper. This critique is from a
mother, who says, "One of the most delightful aspects of becoming a parent
is the chance to discover new children's books that weren't around when we were
kids. And some of my favorite discoveries are by author and
illustrator Kevin Henkes," which shows that parents enjoy his books
as well (Hunsberger, 2009). I think it is important to read reviews by parents
because they have an impact on children's reading and are the experts on their
children. Hunsberger discuss the impact of the illustrations on the reader and
how Henkes does a great job of telling stories about "the confusing, disappointing,
and beautiful moments of early childhood" (Hunsberger, 2009). I agree with
this mother because Henkes does a wonderful job of telling stories that
children experience and can relate to. I cannot wait to include Henkes'
engaging picture books into my classroom library!
Old Bear
Old Bear by Kevin Henkes is a wonderful
book to incorporate in the classroom library because of its vivid colors and
captivating illustrations that evoke feelings from the reader. This book
describes and illustrates the different seasons bear dreams about during
hibernation. The book illustrates winter with ice and snow covering the ground
and trees, while the wind blows making the reader feel the chills of the
winter. For spring, the bear dreams about yellow, pink, and purple flowers and
butterflies, which shows the beautiful spring colors. Then bear dreams about
summer where Henkes illustrates the sunny day filled with blue and green
butterflies and rain clouds. The last season bear dreams about is autumn, where
there are red, yellow, and orange fish, birds, and leaves. These illustrations
allow the reader to feel and actually experience what each season looks like. I
love how Henkes uses similes and metaphors to describe the things in each
season to provide more imagery. For example, Henkes says, "The flowers
were as big as trees," which describes the large beautiful flowers. He
also says, "Then he dreamed that it was summer. The sun was a daisy, and
the leaves were butterflies," which allow the reader to imagine the
scenery. The text from the book uses very simple words and sentences that are
easy to read and understand. Henkes is very descriptive when telling about each
season, so the reader can imagine and use his or her five senses to recreate
the season in their mind.
The Best Books of 2008 Fanfare review of Old
Bear describes why this is a great book to bring into the classroom for
children to read. Horn Book Magazine states, "Henkes keeps text and art
classically simple, while an unusually cohesive book design puts every element-from
endpapers to typeface color-in sync with the theme of change an renewal" (Horn Book Magazine, 2008). Every aspect of
this book goes together and flows smoothly to create beautiful and captivating
pictures that describe each season. I cannot wait to add this book to my future
classroom library for my students to read!
Grandpa & Bo
Grandpa & Bo by Kevin Henkes is about
a boy named Bo, who goes to visit his grandpa during the summer on his country
farm. This book describes the different activities that Bo and his grandfather
do. They spend quality time together by making things, going on walks, sitting
and talking in special places, and going fishing together just as two friends
would do. Bo learns many interesting facts and information from his
grandfather, who has wisdom about the land and animals. When Bo realizes that
he is unable to see his grandfather for Christmas, they decide to have their
own Christmas celebration during the summer. This book illustrates the
wonderful childhood memories Bo has of visiting and spending time with his
grandfather. I feel that many children can relate to the book because every
child has wonderful memories while spending time with a family member and/or
friend. The illustrations in this book vary from most of his other books
because they are done in pencil with a pale yellow background. The
illustrations are very soft and detailed, which match the text and story.
Henkes uses very simple sentences throughout the book, but has two to six
sentences on each page. This allows the children to be able to read the book
easily and understand the meaning of the story. Like other books of Henkes,
this one appeals to the reader's emotions because it is easy to relate to and
think about your own childhood memories shared with a loved one. The book is
set up where the text is on the left side of the page and picture on the right,
which is very uniform and does not change throughout the book. This might be
one ways that Henkes is trying to show how close Bo and the grandfather’s
relationship is and how the memories are very cherished. The only questionable
topic in the book is that they discuss Christmas, but I think this would be
fine to bring into the classroom. The story has many other aspects and topics
that the students read about. As a future educator, I will discuss different
holidays but make sure that I discuss diverse holidays that are similar to Christmas
for other religions. I think that the meaning of friendship, love, and
childhood memories are more important aspects of the books that children will
be able to relate to.
Laura Bacher describes the book's
illustrations as warm and comforting, which goes along with her interpretation
of the story in the book. She states, "Henkes' story builds slowly yet
lovingly, paralleling perfectly the events of a very special summer for a young
boy and his grandfather" (Bacher, 1986). I agree with Bacher because this
book does begin a little slow, but when the reader keeps reading the story of
Bo and his grandfather’s time together, he or she understands the loving story
between the two. I think this book is a great illustration of friendship and
spending time with loved ones.
Beverly Fahey created a review of Grandpa
& Bo in Children's Literature. In this review, Fahey comments of the
style of Henkes' writing when she says, "Simple prose, quietly delivered,
evokes a range of emotions" (Fahey, 1986). She describes how this book is
written in ordinary language, has a soft and meaningful story that evokes
different emotions within the reader. I completely agree with Fahey's
interpretation of Henkes book because she describes their summer as idyllic. To
Bo, his summer is perfect and filled with wonderful time shared with his
grandfather. I think this is a great story for students to read because it can
evoke emotions within the reader of past times they have spent with loved ones.
I think this would be a great opportunity to allow your students to write about
a time when they spent quality time with a loved one. This will allow students
to use this book, along with others like it in the classroom library, as a
mentor text to write about a time that is personal for them. This is a great
addition to a classroom library for elementary school children.
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