Dandelions
Dandelions
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: Greg Shed
Genre: Historical Fiction
Major Awards: None
Grade Level: 2-6
Summary: This book follows the Bolton family as they traveled west from Illinois to Nebraska Territory. The book is written from the oldest daughter's point of view (Zoe). Her younger sister is Rebecca. The book talks about trials that the family faces, including building a house, not having supplies, and being lonely and missing home, among other things. One day Zoe takes a trip to town with her father and on the way back the next day she finds a patch of dandelions. She wants to surprise her mother, who has been very sad since moving. When they get back they plant the dandelions on the roof of the house, but Zoe is disappointed by how small and weak they look. Her and her mother make a promise to wait for them to grow strong, just like their family will.
Evaluation: I enjoyed this book and despite it being a short picture book, I connected with the characters emotionally because of the seemingly accurate emotions they faced as they took on a new journey as a family. I would want to have this book in my classroom because the details and beautiful illustrations invite the reader to be a part of the story, rather than seeing it from the outside looking in.
Because of the length and emotional complexity of this book, I think it is best for children who can already read fluently and who have a higher affective developmental level. The book also uses vocabulary current to the time period the story takes place in, so older students will be able to comprehend the story more easily than new readers.
While reading this book, I had a lot of ideas about how to incorporate it into the classroom. My first thought was to mark the starting and stopping points of the Bolton family on a large map to show students how far they had to travel. I think it would also be interesting to show the mileage and time it took to travel to places compared to how long it takes us to travel the same distance now. Because the book reaches the emotions of the readers, it would make a great tool for opening a discussion about how the students think the characters felt and what it was like for them as they traveled. I would love to incorporate this book into a unit about Westward Expansion!
Because of the length and emotional complexity of this book, I think it is best for children who can already read fluently and who have a higher affective developmental level. The book also uses vocabulary current to the time period the story takes place in, so older students will be able to comprehend the story more easily than new readers.
While reading this book, I had a lot of ideas about how to incorporate it into the classroom. My first thought was to mark the starting and stopping points of the Bolton family on a large map to show students how far they had to travel. I think it would also be interesting to show the mileage and time it took to travel to places compared to how long it takes us to travel the same distance now. Because the book reaches the emotions of the readers, it would make a great tool for opening a discussion about how the students think the characters felt and what it was like for them as they traveled. I would love to incorporate this book into a unit about Westward Expansion!
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