Children's Literature- Annotated Book Card Form

Student's Name: Maranda Kapell

Card No.: 3

Title: Before Columbus

Author: Muriel Batherman

Illustrator: Muriel Batherman

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company

Copyright: 1981

Genre: Informational Book

Approximate Age Level: 7-10

Setting:  America 1- 1300 A.D.  

Plot summary with introduction of main characters:

This book tells the story of the first people to the Americas-and it wasn't Christopher Columbus. With wonderful organization the book is divided up into four parts: The First People, Early Basketmakers (1-450 A.D.), Late Basketmakers (450-750 A.D.), The Pueblos (750-1300 A.D.) to tell the story of how life came to be in America.

Additional features (choose any that apply):Multicultural, international, strong female character, good role model, written from more than one point of view, literary qualities (such as figurative language, good beginning, good use of dialogue, excellent description), other (explain).

The use chapters as time periods help keeps the sequence of events in this picture book organized.The illustrations are very simple sketches done in muted brown blue and orange watercolor that reinforce the simplicity of the era.

Reaction to or opinion of the book:

I feel this is a great book to set the record straight for young children on who were the first Americans. The text is very simple making for an easy understanding of how the people came to America and how their lives advanced.

It does an superb job of sharing just enough information about how these people survived to help young readers grasp the content wiithout getting overload.

Beyond children's enjoyment, is there another way this book could be used?  Explain.

This book could be the social studies curriculum for the introduction to Native Americans. Chidlren could make a book from brown paper lunch sacks and as the story is read and discussed they could draw a picture to represent each era (Early Basketmakers 1-450 A.D. etc. for example.)The book would resemble deer skin making a perfect material to sequence the story on. Older students could keep researching how the Native Americans progressed through time.