Why a good book is a secret door

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Author: Cassandra Reveles

CASSANDRA REVELES: BLOG 6 SMILE :)

CASSANDRA REVELES: BLOG 6 SMILE :)

The resource link that I clicked on was Bookshelf from Diamond Comics. I would say that at first the website seemed a little weird and little confusing. However after navigating it for a bit I found it is a useful resource for teachers because it provides lesson plans to a variety of graphic novels. I am reading Smile by Raina Telgemeier, although I was unable to find this book on the website they did have her other book Drama and that can be an alternative book I can use in my classroom to introduce graphic novels to my students. I find it helpful that it provides a lesson plan because it makes it easier for me and I can always change it to accommodate my students or give me an idea of how I can teach to the graphic novel.  

When I first started reading Smile by Raina Telgemeier, I will say I found it hard to read because there was so much to look at I didn’t know whether to look at the pictures first or read the panel and then look at the pictures. I also didn’t know the order of how the panels went at first but the more I read the more it made sense and got easier to read. I really enjoyed the novel. I felt it was easier to read the words first and then look at the pictures because that made more sense to me. I heard other classmates say they liked to look at the picture first and see how the text corresponded to them.

I liked that the pictures give off more detail to the words on the page and just brought everything together. I wonder if I would have enjoyed the novel as much as I did if it did not have those images to go with it. The pictures made me life and made me relate to the novel on another level. I really enjoyed this novel.

 

CASSANDRA REVELES: ENCHANTED AIR

CASSANDRA REVELES: ENCHANTED AIR

The free verse novel that I chose to read is Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle. I am not yet done with the book but from what I have read I can relate to this book in many ways. I like that each page of the book shares her thoughts and give a good description of her surrounds. She makes me wish for a tropical farm with the enchanted air that is so blue and refreshing. She mentions traveling to Cuba and being free. She leaves half of herself every time she leaves. I cannot relate to this more, that’s my exact feeling when I have to leave Mexico. She also struggles with her identity and feeling a bit left out when comparing herself portraits to her mothers and sister, I guess they look more Cuban and she has her American father’s eyes.

As I read this book, I will say that some pages kind of role off my tongue and others are a bit difficult to read. There are certain stanzas of only one word per line. I am not sure how to read them. I don’t know if my pauses are too long or if I should put more emphasis on each word. I wish this was the type of poetry books we would have read back in school. They seem not as scary to read, understand and write.

 

So much depends

upon

 

pieces of paper

the color of green

 

with numbers

that gives it

value

 

 

–Cassandra Reveles