Fiction Evaluation Form

(Picture Books, Folklore, Modern Fantasy, Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Multicultural Books)

Your Name: Alma Gutierrez Perez Book Title: Let's Go for a Drive!
Author: Mo Willems Illustrator: Mo Willems

Genre: Picture Book Publisher/Year: Scholastic Inc, 2017

EVALUATE THE BOOK USING THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS

STYLE and Language​​: Using examples from the book, e​​xplain the following: word choices, dialogue,
rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Also, explain unexpected insights or interesting information the reader
learns from the story. Give examples.
The words "Drive! Drive! Drivey-drive-drive!" Are repeated several times, followed by something
like "Bags! Bags! Baggy-bag-bags!" It's a fun way to say the words and engage the child through
rhythm.
The entire book is dialog between Elephant and Piggie.
The sentence length is short and very easy to follow the story.
From the drawings the reader learns that Elephant & Piggie love to have fun together. Also
Elephant makes suggestions of things they need for their drive and the one to gather every single
item is always Piggie.
CHARACTER – With examples from the book give the following: ​Who is the main character? Explain the
character’s personality traits.
How can the reader relate to the character, become involved in the story?
Who are the supporting characters?
The main characters are Elephant and Piggie. Elephant has this great idea of going on a drive, he
thinks of many things they will need for the drive. Piggie always agrees with Elephants
suggested items. In fact he is the one to find them. The facial expression from Elephant and
Piggie along with the silly things they do like Piggie riding on Elephants back while they both
repeat "Drive! Drive! Drivey-drive-drive! and then dance in the next page while they repeat
together Map! Map! Mappy-map-map! Is great and fun for children.
Children can relate to the story because they are constantly getting amazing ideas they would like to
try and follow through with in play. They even plan for such an event. Many times it cannot
be because an adult says "no" or it simply cannot happen.

1. PLOT: ​summarize the major events in the story-

Elephant and Piggie plan to go on a drive. They gather things they will need like a map, sunglasses,
umbrellas and bags. When they feel ready to go. They both realize that neither of them have a car
2. SETTING –​ Explain the place and time of the book.
THEME- ​What is the story’s theme/message?

Setting: ​The background is white. I cannot accurately describe a setting. I can only imagine it took
place in Piggies home because he was the one to find all the items they needed.
Theme: ​Friends work together and have fun even when plans have to change. Together they can
always make things fun.

ILLUSTRATION –​​Analyze the illustrations for the book you selected (see Chapter 4) with the categories
below:
The illustrations in the book (let's go for a drive!) show a friendship between Elephant and Piggie. It
shows them helping each other plan an outing and find a different way when plans fall through.
Choose a 2-page spread in the book to answer the following:
What Style​​ ​(realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)?
The style for this book is expressionism in these two pages you can see Elephant and Piggie are the
center of attention showing emotions in a exaggerated way. But i also see that it has a lot of cartoon
art in the simple pencil drawing and coloring. These are pages 12 and 13.
Media choices (​ paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk​​) :
Pencil and color pencils were used in (let's go for a drive).
Give examples and describe how the following visual elements are used in the illustrations​​:
Line: Diagonal lines are used in the page spread. The black outline of Elephant and Piggie showing us great fun in their
face expressions and the flow of movement in their excitement.
Shapes: The angular shapes show off Elephant and Piggie standing on two feet dancing and having fun as a human would.
Color: Elephant is gray and Piggie is pink, the rest of the page is all white making it difficult to place them anywhere in
particular. It forces you to focus in the fun and laughter of the illustration.
Texture: Its flat in my opinion.

Explain how​​ ​illustration​​ and ​text​​ ​are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text does not
explain?
The illustration shows the emotion taking place in the scene.Joy and happiness is evident. Text in one
page repeats drive over and over. The next page repeats map over and over.
Page design: S​ ummarize the following​:​ p​ lacement of illustrations and text; the use of borders and white/dark space; are both
pages designed the same or differently?
Both pages are designed the same big letters in a comic strip form are displayed on the top of the
page. Starting in the middle of the page we see the illustration take over the remaining space,
displaying Elephant and Piggie being silly and having fun.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES​​ – ​CHOOSE​​ 2 ​of​​ ​theories below and evaluate the book according to the
developmental theories. (How the book fits the developmental stage and age?)
PIAGET-COGNITIVE-INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Name the stage: Preoperational and the age: 2-7 years

Explain the cognitive development from the stage:

During this stage kids are limited to being egocentric, concerned only for their wants.
Give examples from the book show how the book fits the cognitive stage:
In the story the Elephant has the idea to take a drive and thinking up of things he believes will be
needed. Never asking if Piggie felt differently or if he needed help in any way.

ERIKSON – PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Name the stage: Stage 4 and the age: School age

Explain the social development for this stage:

Child is easily influenced by peers. Also learns to complete tasks and likes to receive
acknowledgement for it. Can also feel inferior when criticized.
Give examples from the book that support the social development of this stage:
In the story (let’s go for a drive) Piggie is easily encouraged by his friend Elephant to gather all the
things he believes to be important for their drive. The illustrations show over and over the joy and
accomplishment felt by Piggie when he finds the items Elephant wants. Also, Elephant when
thinking of new items throws the latest item, and you see Piggie stressed face about not pleasing
him.

2. Overall Rating of the book (3 highest - 1 lowest)

2
Comments: (Support your overall rating)
I was expecting to like this book (let’s go for a drive) because many kindergarten teachers have
recommended it. It has a comic book feel that I don’t care for. But I can see the benefits it would
have on new readers. Children would enjoy the silliness and exaggerated expressions, not to
mention the cute drawings.
Short Form ​(All Genres)
Your Name: Alma Gutierrez-Perez
Title: Just a Duck? Author: Carin Bramsen
Illustrator: Carin Bramsen Publisher/Year: Random House, 2015
Genre: Fiction

Summarize the content of the book –

For Fiction Form Genres—Explain the characters, the setting, theme and plot of the
book.
There are two characters Duck and Cat.
The setting takes place outdoors in the grass by a lake.
Little Duck believes he is a cat. Cat goes along with this as they play games a cat
would enjoy like climbing a tree. Duck tries and is unable to climb the tree. Duck
then believes he is a small cat and should be playing a different game. Cat jumps
high and falls in the water. This is Ducks’ great moment as he jumps in the water
and helps Cat get back to land. Cat then points out that only super cats can swim
like that. Duck finally admits he is no more than just a duck.

Explain how the book appeals to children, their interests, developmental levels, fun
illustrations etc. Give specific examples from the book:
The book (Just a Duck?) is appealing to children because they love to play pretend. The
story is easy to follow and the colorful illustrations are so vivid and take up most of the
pages. I also like that certain parts only have drawings to depict what is happening. In a
page spread you see Duck looking up at a tree, then tries to climb it and falls off. He then
tries to run up the tree and he ends up doing a backflip and landing on the floor.

1 2 3
Rate the book 3
​

Explain your rating.

I love this simple story, my 2 year old loves the colorful illustrations. She shows interest in
the Duck and Cat. She also understands that that cat gets wet by watching the pictures
which make her laugh.
 BOOK EXTENSION ACTIVITY - LESSON PLAN

Your Name: Alma Gutierrez-Perez Genre of the Book: Picture Book

Book Title: Let’s Go for a Drive! Author: Mo Willems

Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Date: 2017

nd​​
1. Pre-K/ CCSD K-2​​ Grade Core Standards:
L.PK.8 Observe living and nonliving things on Earth

2. Objectives:
1) Students will be able to identify living and nonliving things like they would encounter on
a drive.

3. Materials/Equipment:
1) Cut out pictures of living and nonliving things.
2) Crayons
3) Glue
4) White paper

4. Teaching​​:
A. Reading the book-
● Class today I will be reading a book called Let’s Go for a Drive!
● Show them the cover.
● What do you predict will happen in this story?
● Where will Elephant and Piggie go?
● Will they be able to put together the things they need for the drive?

B. Extension activity:
● Let’s pretend we are going on a drive through town.
● What things do you see when you go on a car drive?
 ● Let’s make a list of all the living things we might encounter.
● Now we will start a list of nonliving things.
● You will get a white paper with two columns. One for living things and another for non
living things.
● Now you will get cut out pictures of living and nonliving things.
● We will glue them in the correct columns together.
● You will color the pictures.

5. Closure:
We will discuss as a class all the living and nonliving things that we glued.