Tag: figurative language

The Drum Dream Girl, by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Rafael Lopez

What does it mean to be brave? How do you define courage? What would you do if you were told you could not use your talent because you are a girl? (Or a boy?) In this beautifully illustrated picture book, author Margarita Engle shares the story of the Drum Dream Girl who is brave enough to follow her dreams of playing the drums.

The Drum Dream Girl lives on the Island of Music, in the City of Drumbeats where she is surrounded by the tapping and rapping of drums in every form imaginable, but because she is a girl she is told that she should not follow her dreams to play drums. Her sisters encouraged her to come dance with them, but she longed to drum instead. Her father instructed her to stop dreaming of drumming, but she longed to pound congo and bongo drums. Finally, her father promised to find a teacher that would guide his daughter’s rapping and tapping to become the very thing she had been forbidden to be – a drum girl.

The vivid colors illustrated in this book perfectly complement the author’s word choices to eloquently describe the Island of Music and City of Drumbeats. The descriptive words provide enchanting imagery for readers to see the girl and all the drumming that surrounds her in this magical place.

This book would be a wonderful addition to the elementary classroom. Teachers could utilize the descriptive language, musical vocabulary, and figurative language. This book would be a wonderful pair to an exercise in beating on trash cans to create the pounding sounds that the Drum Dream Girl was able to turn into music. Students could brainstorm other materials that could be used for drumming as they learn about the different types of percussive instruments that are used by musicians. Teachers could use this story to discuss social emotional learning topics such as courage and bravery, and introduce or discuss what it means to be discriminated against. Students could be problem solvers and think about ways to encourage all people to follow their dreams, to be courageous, and to be brave.

Ideas for Classroom Incorporation of The Drum Dream Girl:

  • ELA: figurative language (onomatopoeia), descriptive language, parts of speech, vocabulary enrichment
  • SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL LEARNING: character traits – courage, bravery, persistence, determination, inclusion
  • MUSIC: percussion, instruments, types of sound

The Whisper, by Pamela Zagarenski

There once was a little girl who loved stories, she loved how the words and pictures took her to new and secret places that existed in a world all her own. – The Whisper

Pamela Zagarenski has written and illustrated a magical picture book about a little girl who borrows a very special book from her teacher’s bookshelf, only to find that the words have disappeared from the pages. Broken hearted, the little girl begins to cry when a soft whisper encourages her to use her imagination to create her own story as she reads the magical picture book.

As the little girl begins to use her imagination, the story she is creating continues to grow and grow. She imagines characters and music and food and a party. She imagines a beginning, a middle, and an end. She imagines conversations about cake, wizards, talking tigers, and enormous white whales. With every page the little girl turns, she imagines the most magnificent stories that captivates her long into the night.

The next day the girl prepares to return to school with her teacher’s book when a fox stops her to return the words that had fallen out of the book she borrowed. Rushing on to school, the little girl tells her teacher about the fox and the words and the stories she had imagined, grateful for the adventure she had experienced.

I love this book! I love how the author creates not only visually pleasing illustrations but strings words together to tell the story of the little girl who listens to the whisper encouraging her to use her imagination.

This book would be an excellent choice to encourage students to explore wordless picture books, or venture into creative writing and illustrating. This book could be easily paired with an interesting picture prompt for students to exercise their own imagination and story telling skills. Young children are great story tellers, and this book pairs well with a lesson to develop writing skills as students consider what elements are needed for a well developed story. Whether it is used to introduce writing, or to refresh creative writing interest, this book has great potential for use in the classroom.

Ideas for Classroom Incorporation of The Whisper

  • ELA: creative writing, writing structure, story elements, visualization, imagery, figurative language, fiction, personification, types of books

Sleep Like a Tiger, by Mary Logue and Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

This colorful picture book that is filled with figurative language and intricate illustrations is sure to become a classroom (or bedtime) favorite. Parents and grandparents will be able to relate to the interaction of characters in this book as bedtime has come. Children will delight in the variety of animal references and visual imagery that extends from the pages. Sleep Like a Tiger may be my new favorite children’s book!

As a parent I may have once or twice, or countless times begged my children to go to sleep at bedtime. My sons were always so creative conjuring up reasons that they could not possibly fulfill my request. Like the little girl in this story, my sons often would respond that they were not sleepy and could not go to sleep. I don’t recall my children ever asking me if everything in the world goes to sleep, but I found myself smiling as I read how the parents in this book answered their child’s questions.

In the classroom when the lesson calls for students to learn about descriptive words and figurative language the phrase mental image or mind movie may be used. Mary Logue’s words combined with Pamela Zagarenski’s illustrations create wonderful mental images of “otters floating in a stream” and snails “curled up like a cinnamon roll inside their shells.”

The rich figurative language used by the author invites the reader to explore using unrelated words to define and describe ordinary objects. The use of metaphors and similes draws connections that make sense. The illustrations provide a glimpse of what those connections might look like if they were literal. Sleep Like a Tiger encourages readers to imagine what it is like when it is time to sleep for animals…and children alike.

Perhaps my favorite line and illustration from this book come when the author describes the little girl’s bed, a cocoon warm and cozy.

The picture book is filled with detailed artwork that lends itself to a classroom picture walk with young students. Even students who are pre-reading or emergent readers will find the illustrations a treasure trove of colors and images. The image above is both simple and detailed at the same time. Children who may not be able to read the words yet, will quickly recognize what is happening in this picture and be able to make predictions and draw conclusions based on the illustrations.

Although this book may be best suited for primary students, I love the idea of bringing this book into the intermediate classroom to reinforce lessons in figurative language and extend or introduce science lessons about animal characteristics. I would ask my students, how do animals sleep? This book could be used as a resource to excite and interest students prior to selecting an animal to research and write about. The value of this book in the classroom is deep and wide.

Ideas for Classroom Incorporation of Sleep Like a Tiger:

  • ELA: figurative language, descriptive words, imagery, visualization, metaphors, similes, picture walks, author/illustrator studies, text features

  • SCIENCE: animal characteristics, phases of the moon, healthy habits – sleep