Web Resources

A website that is very beneficial when researching Kevin Henkes and his books is Kevin Henkes' Official Website: http://www.kevinhenkes.com.php5-25.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/. This website has different sections including home, meet Kevin Henkes, books, for teachers, librarians, and parents, and news. There is a section that focuses on Henkes' biography where I found most of the information I used in the biographical information section. This is a very interactive website that has video interviews with Henkes and resources and activities that correlate with his picture books. There are teaching guides and multiple activities for the different picture books that teachers can use in the classroom. The Meet Kevin Henkes video interview discusses the process of writing and illustrating his various picture books and novels. Through this video, I learned that Henkes paints his illustrations, which I find very interesting because I loved the illustrations when I first read the books.

Another website that I found very useful while researching Kevin Henkes and his books is Barnes and Noble, http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=968055. This website is helpful because it gives a detailed biography section about Kevin Henkes describing his life and some of his books. The biography section discusses his mouse picture books and his novels and how they differ from one another. Also this website has a chronological list of all Henkes books that you can click on. It will take you to a page that gives you an overview of each book and reviews on the book. The page tells you when the book was published, how you can purchase the book, and multiple editorial reviews from various websites. Teachers can look at this website when looking for Kevin Henkes' books because it gives you an overview and review before you buy the book or read it for yourself. It is important for teachers to read the books themselves and think about their own feedback, as well as reading other's reviews.

I found a website from a University of Missouri website that provides various additional links with a variety of resources. The website, http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1078 is based off of an author study on Kevin Henkes. Some of the additional links that are useful are various websites with lesson plan ideas, activities, and read-alouds. This is beneficial for teachers because they can get diverse ideas of how to use Kevin Henkes' books in the classroom. Many of the additional links are websites I had previously seen when researching Henkes and his various books. This is a great web resource for teachers when they are researching Henkes and his picture books.

The video, Wisconsin Reflections: Kevin Henkes is a great YouTube video where Henkes describes his life as a writer and illustrator. I love how Henkes states that he knew that he wanted to write and illustrate picture books in this video because this shows that this has been his passion for all of his life that became his lifelong career. This video is very interesting to listen to and watch because Henkes describes picture books and his experience while writing and illustrating his books. Henkes discusses the importance of his craft of writing and illustrating books by giving each part of the book, images and words, meaning. It is very interesting to learn about Kevin Henkes and his knowledge about creating his books and illustrations. Henkes describes how he starts off with the character and then the story develops from that, which is interesting to me because he matches the story and description based on how he views the character. This is a great video to watch, in order to get to know Kevin Henkes and his books better. The link to the YouTube video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA8c3w89hjk.