Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Who Said Coo?

Written by: Deborah Ruddell
Illustrated by: Robin Luebs
Suggested for: Children Ages 2-8
Themes: Fiction, Poetry, Character Education
Summary:
     Lulu the pig is trying very hard to get some sleep when she keeps getting disrupted by noises outside of her window. Each time she tries to investigate where the noises come from and then she tries to go back to sleep. After being disturbed several times, Lulu shoo's the birds outside of her window. This time she hears another sad noise, a boo hoo. Lulu realizes that she hurt the birds' feelings and appologizes to her friends. She invites them in for some cocoa and then they all try to go to bed. This time they are startled by rooster's cock-a-doodle-doo. Lulu politely asks him to come back at two, and the rooster is happy to do so.
     Children will enjoy this story because it of its simple language and rhyming scheme. The pictures are simple but give the characters human-like qualities. It is wonderfully entertaining and would make an excellent bedtime book for young children.

Suggestions for the Classroom:
     This is a wonderful book to share with pre-school and kidergarten aged children to highlight ryming words. Children will enjoy pointing out rhyming words throughout the story; the words rhyme consistently throughout the selection: coo, who, moo, shoo, two, and you. This book also points out the importance of using good manners, a point which can never be emphasised too much with young children.
*Pre-Reading Avtivities: Chilren will listen to a rhyming song, where they will identify rhyming pairs and non-rhyming pairs using hand gestures.
*During Reading: Stop throughout the story and have children identify rhyming words.
*Post-Reading Activities: Have students draw a picture about their favorite part of the story.

About the Author:
     Deborah Ruddell grew up in Illinois with her twin sister, Robin, and three younger siblings. She always had playmates to be creative and express herself with. She comments that she enjoys her job because it allows her to do all of the things that she most liked about growing up: doodling, daydreaming and watching the world go by. Being the youngest of five children, I would imagine that Deborah spent a great deal of her time entertaining her siblings and this may have encouraged her to pursue a career in writing children's poems. Oddly enough, her twin sister is also a children's book author and illustrator. Ruddell maintains her own website complete with activities for children, a listening library, and teaching guides.


About the Illustrator:
     Robin Luebs also grew up in Illinois with her twin sister, Debbie (yes, the author of this book), and three younger siblings. She and Debbie enjoyed oppotunitites to paint together on their porch as children; her mother was very supportive of her daughters creative exploits. Robin has always enjoyed creating pictures, and because of her mother's support and encouragement she has continued to make this an important part of her life. Robin, like her twin sister, is lucky because she is able to continue doing something that she loves for a career: writing and illustrating children's books. Robin Luebs also maintains her own website which includes a gallery of her work, information about her, and fun activities for children.

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