Fanny's Dream

• Book title

Fanny's Dream

• Author

Caralyn Buehner

• Analysis of the Story

Flat characters

Protagonist  Fanny

Antagonist  None

Foil character  girl friends of Fanny

Supporting character  Heber

Setting  backdrop

Narrative point of view  omniscient narrator

Plot  sequential

Conflict  the protagonist against another

Theme  

Fanny is a farm girl who dreams about marrying the prince, and she does believe she will.  However, the fairy godmother just doesn't show up for her at the night of the mayor's ball.  She is disappointed and after talking to Heber, she married him.  The marriage life afterward is happy.  But years after, the fairy godmother finally shows up for Fanny and wants to help her get to the ball.  Fanny makes her best choice. 

Style  

Clear and strong story structure, useful words choice for children to learn.

Tone

Joyful and funny in the beginning when Fanny keeps saying that she will marry the prince.  Sad but real when the fairy godmother doesn't show up at the ball night.  Pleasant and happy feeling after Fanny marry Heber.  Surpring and warm when the fairy godmother shows up and Fanny makes her choice in the end.

• Reflection

Girls have dreams.  As a girl, we probably all dreamed about marrying a prince when we grow up.  And when we finally grew up, we found out that prince was never really exist.  What a pity, but at least  we used to dream.  In the story, Fanny dreams about marrying the prince even when she grow up because she believes she will absolutely realize it one day.  However, without the helping of fairy godmother, she can just marry a man average as her.  Yet after they gets married, she finds that this kind of life is happy.  They have their children, working together with joy around them.  Although Heber is not a prince or mayor's son, he is suitable for her.  Thus when fairy godmother shows up late in front of her, Fanny decides not to leave her family.  I think Fanny does marry her prince, the prince is the one who truly fit well with her and they can share the happiness together.  Maybe fairy godmother was helping her from the beginning, she led her figuring out who the prince was in the end.

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The First Starry Night

• Book title

The First Starry Night

• Author

Joan Shaddox Jsom

• Analysis of the Story

Flat characters

Protagonist  The little boy, Jacques

Antagonist  None

Foil character  Madame Rouel

Supporting character  Vincent, the painter (Vincent van Gogh)  

Setting  backdrop

Narrative point of view  internal narrator

Plot  sequential

Theme  

Jacques was a boy worked in a little restaurant and lived there.  Upstairs there was a weird man named Vincent, who was afraid by others, lived and drew his own paints.  Jacques was so curious about Vincent and his paints that he sneaked up to peek him.  He was caught.  However, Vincent was not angry.  Instead, they became best friends and as Vincent told, they were brothers of the hearts.

Style  

Beautitul words choices, clear story structure, warm plots with colorful illustration.

Tone

Warm atmosphere when the two characters became friends.  Thoughtful and joyful feelings between their dialouges.  A little bit sad and regret when Vincent left the city in the end . 

• Reflection

It was a story that really amazed me.  Although it was just a little fiction about Vincent van Gogh, I felt like I can vividly imagine this story happen in the year he lived in Arles, France, where the background of the story.  All of us had seen and remembered the well-known painting of Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night.  In the end of the book, Jacques mentioned about this work as he put it on the ceiling.  The illustration style of this book was similar to Vincent van Gogh's, warm and color oil painting style, reminded me about him from the first page of the book.  As I leaved over the page of the book, it liked I was admiring the work pieces of Vincent van Gogh.  In the story, the little boy Jacques kept asking Vincent to sell his paints for money since he lived in a small attic.  He rejected because he thought that he was not paint for it.  I couldn't help but thought of those who only work for paying, almost most of people, honestly.  Will we be happy if we only work for a living and complain everything everyday about our job?  We work so hard in order to earn a lot and gain a better life.  However, we mainly forget what we truly want initially.  Vincent van Gogh painted because we wanted to paint even though it could not offer him a rich life.  I wish I could be a person just like him, work for myself and my desiration.

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Willy the Dreamer

• Book title

Willy the Dreamer

• Author

Anthony Browne

• Analysis of the Story

Flat characters

Protagonist  Chimpanzee Willy

Antagonist  None

Foil character  None

Supporting character  None  

Setting  Integral

Narrative point of view  omniscient narrator

Plot  sequential

Theme  

Willy is a chimpanzee that loves to dream.  In this book, he dreams a lot about himself.  He dreams about being a film-star or a singer, or even a ballet dancer.  He dreams with wonderful and magical imagination.

Style  

Super simple word choice, short sentence length, and easy story structure.

Tone

Fantastic and dreamful tone with surreal-like illustration through the whole book.  

• Reflection

This is a book that I will probably recommend all the children to read because of its plot and pichtures within it.  In this book, Willy uses his vast and creative imagination to dream.  He can dream of becoming everything he wants, and he even dreams about the past and the future.  I do think that the more we grow up, the less imagination we own gradually.  We dare not to dream little by little due to the reality we face currently.  However, imagination is born with it. We used to be so creative when we were still young.  We could spend the whole night chatting with our beloved dolls, or we could sell our toys to the clients in the air as if we were a vendor. We seldom do those again.  Reading this book encouraged me to dream again, and it reminded me about those dreams I lost maybe years ago,  being a princess, a teacher, a writer, or a person I truly desire to be.  People dream so that they realize it.  I believe this book will help both adult and children.  It helps adults to pick up their dreams again, and it encourages children to dream big!

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Flower Garden

• Book title

Flower Garden

• Author

Eve Bunting

• Analysis of the Story

Flat characters

Protagonist  The little girl

Antagonist  None

Foil character  None

Supporting character  The little girl's father

Setting  integral

Narrative point of view  internal narrator

Plot  sequential

Theme  

The whole story focus on the flowers.  The little girl bought the flowers from the supermarket, took it home and finally settled it down, using different description to describe the flowers like a poem.  In the end, the reader would eventually realized that the flowers were the birthday gift for her mother.

Style  

Simple word choice, short sentence length like poem,  and easy dialogue in the story. 

Tone

Peaceful feeling through the whole story, from the first stop supermarket to the end, celebrating the mother's birthday.  Readers would feel a little bit surprised when the story came to the end because those flowers were the birthday gift.

• Reflection

At first, I love this book because there was a beautiful cover with it.  However after I read it, I found more in it.  In the beginning, I though it was just a picture book with colorful picture, telling the story about a little girl buying flowers from the supermarket.  It used different ways to describe the flowers, where they were, what did people feel about them.  It was interesting!  All the language and sentences in this picture book were simple and short.  When we read it, it like reading a poem or singing a song.  I think it was a great way to attract children's attention for a child book.  And they would be surely surprised when they found out those flowers that they kept reading, were actually a birthday gift for the little girl's mother.  This is the reason I love picture book a lot.  It will always give you a little surprise without complex and long story.

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Guess How Much I Love You

• Book title

Guess How Much I Love You

• Author

Sam McBratney

• Analysis of the Story

Flat characters

Protagonist  Little Nutbrown Hare

Antagonist  None

Foil character  Big Nutbrown Hare

Supporting character  Big Nutbrown Hare  

Setting  integral

Narrative point of view  omniscient narrator

Plot  sequential

Theme  

Little Nutbrown Hare loved Big Nutbrown Hare so much that he wanted to describe how great his feelings are to his dad.  He tried to use so many things to describe his love, but they found out that love, somehow, was not an easy thing to measure. 

Style  

Simple and lovely word choice, short sentence length, and warm and thoughtful dialogue in the story. 

Tone

Tranquil and peaceful atmosphere from the beginning to the end since that Little Nutbrown Hare was going to sleep, and his father and him were discussing about how deep their love were.

• Reflection

       Somehow I cried after I read this picture book.  Probably it was because of the line of this book, the love between Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare, or, it was because of the incident just happened to a young child on the news couple days ago.  When I was reading this book, a terrible tragedy was reported on TV.  A four-year-old little girl was killed by a man, who was a total stranger to her, randomly on the street.  This news enraged almost all the people in Taiwan. However, this little girl and what happened to her came to my mind when I glanced over the title of this book.  I truly want to read this book for her, with a so tender voice, telling her how much we love her.  I will pray for her, may this little innocent child rest in everlasting peace.

         This book was the warmest book I have ever read.  Without any complex plot and story, I was moved by all the lines in the story.  Sometime we will try to tell, to express, or to describe how much we love somebody.  We use words and actions to show our feelings.  However, this kind of feeling is not an easy thing to express and to measure.  How can we tell how much we love a person?  We might say it is deeper than the ocean, or it is higher than Mt Everest.  Little Nutbrown Hare described his love with so many different ways, and found that his father could always give him the answers to show his greater love.  This book is indeed a fantastic book for children to realize how much their parents care and love them.  Whenever we think we love our father and mother, they always provides us with stronger and deeper love as well.  I WILL absolutely read this book to my child every night before he or she go to sleep if I could.  Although love and gratitude are hard to measure, it is always important to express these feelings to those who make you feel like that.  

        To my dearest father, mother, and those who love me like I do, I love you till the moon and back.

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