Assignment 4. Kim MacDougall

I am India Opal Buloni

Feeling lonely in Naomi, Florida

I found my dog at Winn-Dixie

He became my first friend

I am India Opal Buloni

My mom left when I was a child

I live with the preacher man

He is a great dad

I am India Opal Buloni

My friend Miss Franny works at the library

I love to hear her great stories

She likes Winn Dixie and I

I am India Opal Buloni

Gloria Dump fixes me peanut butter sandwiches

I read Gone With The Wind to her

Some people think Gloria is a witch

I am India Opal Buloni

Those Dewberry boys are trouble

I think Stevie is a bald-headed baby

Dunlap is not very nice either

I am India Opal Buloni

Amanda Wilkinson looks real pinch-faced

I wonder why she is sad

She seems to have a perfect life

I am India Opal Buloni

Otis plays guitar for me at the pet shop

I love to hear him play

He has a lot of talent

I am India Opal Buloni

Winn Dixie means the world to me

I have so many friends

Because of Winn Dixie

Assignment 3 Kim MacDougall

Moses

I am Your child Lord
I’m going to hold steady on to You.

And I mean for you to be free
I’m going to see you through child.

How far Lord?

Trust Me to protect you, child.

She rises and moves on

Shed your shoes
Wade in the water
As far as you can walk with Me My child, and I can carry you.

God cradles her
And day breaks

I will make a way for you.
Break the chains.
Search for My face in theirs,
and for My hands in their work.
What have you in your hands?

Give glory where glory is due.

It wasn’t me.
It was the Lord.
I always trust Him to lead me.
and He always does.

Your faith has wings.
I am with you now as I was then.
Well done, child, well done.

Assignment 2 Kim MacDougall

The book Holes by Louis Sachar is an example of a “good” children’s literature book. Holes won several awards including the Newberry Medal in 1999. It is a middle grades appropriate book and has also been turned into a movie loved by people of all ages. In the story, Stanley Yelnats is accused of stealing a pair of sneakers. He has a choice of going to jail or to Camp Green Lake to “build character.” The kids at Camp Green Lake are required to spend their day digging holes 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide. The boys realize that the reason they are digging holes is because the warden is searching for something. Stanley begins to search for the real reason why they are digging holes and in the end, fate is on his side as well as his family and friends.

Through classroom discussions as well as reading in the Children’s Literature textbook, I have become insightful as to what qualifies a book as “good.” A good book expands awareness. The novel Holes is set in the American West during the 19th century. Holes can fall under the genre of Historical Fiction which expands the awareness of readers to a different time period and setting than they may be familiar with. A good book provides an enjoyable read that doesn’t overly teach or moralize. In Holes, the kids at Camp Green Lake are “building character.” Though this is stressed in the beginning, as a reader I never got the feeling that the book was about character building. Sachar does a great job of tying in many different life lessons that teach throughout the book and there is never a sense of over moralization. A good book tells the truth. The character of Stanley Yelnats is a very realistic one. The boys at the camp are delinquent children and Sachar does an excellent job of making these characters true to life. A good book embodies quality. The plot is convincing in the novel Holes. The characters are very believable and the description in the book is very telling and appropriate. A good book has integrity. Sachar ties together the genre, plot, language, characters, style, and theme. All aspects of Holes help to create a book of integrity. A good book shows originality. Louis Sachar began Holes by writing about Camp Green Lake. The character development of Stanley Yelnats came later on. This shows originality in how the book was written in that unlike Sachars other books that have all started with the development of characters.

Assignment 1 Kim MacDougall

My earliest memories of reading consist of my Mom and Dad reading books to me like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, Twas The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore, and Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. My parents would read to me every night before I went to bed. My favorite book as a child was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. After being read the book on numerous occasions, I eventually memorized it and would pick it up myself and pretend I was reading. This past year I worked at the ASU Child Development Center. I would often sit with the three year old children and read to them and sometimes they would pretend to read to me. It reminded me of how I memorized books as a child and thought that I was reading them as I flipped through the pages and quoted the books.

Throughout elementary school I loved to read. I read the entire Boxcar Children series of children’s chapter books. I also read the Nancy Drew Notebook series of mysteries. I would often stay awake long past my bedtime at night to finish a good book. I know that many of my teachers read aloud to the class growing up, but there are not specific books that stand out in my mind that we read. When I was in fourth and fifth grade I was paired up with a kindergarten or first grader to be reading buddies with. A few times a month we would meet during the school day and I would read aloud and let them try to read to me. I really enjoyed having someone to read to and I felt like I was teaching them and able to help them out in their reading.

In middle school and high school my love for reading faded. We were required to read books that I wasn’t interested in and I stopped reading books for fun. During my senior year of high school I read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and rediscovered my love for reading. When I am interested in a book I don’t want to put it down, just like I had experienced in elementary school. I now have a big list of books that I want to read and am slowly working through it. The next couple books on my list are My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult and Crazy Love by Francis Chan.