Author/Illustrator: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Plot Summary: Simple alliterative text and colorful, whimsical illustrations depict a variety of emotions including worry, shock, fear, and delight. Children will enjoy finding the letters from each word "hidden" in their respective pictures. This book offers an opportunity to learn about emotions, letters and using adjectives to describe emotions and feelings.
Comments:
The hidden letters in this book give it a little "extra" something than your average picture book. Although the letters are not as difficult to find as the items in an "I, Spy" book, it will require some searching especially for younger children. For older children - ie. 3rd grade, it provides good examples of descriptive adjectives. As a long-time worrier, this book really caught my eye.
Extensions:
1. As an art project, the assignment would be to make a personal depiction similar to the illustrations in the book. Students would need to select an adjective with a related scenario, create a self portrait with the appropriate expression, and then insert the letters appropriately in to the scene.
2. Shown below is a review by a sixth grader. The exercise he describes from his sixth grade class would be an excellent way to introduce picture books to older children. As children are pushed to read at earlier ages, they often migrate to chapter books and miss out on the wonderful selection of picture books such as this one. For children in grades three and up, five picture books could be introduced to the class. The students would write a review/critique based on a set of characteristics. The class could vote on their favorites or even create a class graph with their rankings - illustration, story, overall ranking, etc.
Themes/keywords: face, storms, emotions, alliteration, alphabet
Age/Reading Level: Interest level - k-3; Follett - 1.2
Standards:
ELAKR1 The student demonstrates knowledge of concepts of print. The student
a. Recognizes that print and pictures (signs and labels, newspapers, and informational books) can inform, entertain, and persuade.
b. Demonstrates that print has meaning and represents spoken language in written form.
c. Tracks text read from left to right and top to bottom.
d. Distinguishes among written letters, words, and sentences.
e. Recognizes that sentences in print are made up of separate words.
f. Begins to understand that punctuation and capitalization are used in all written sentences.
ELA4R1 The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a
warranted and responsible explanation of a variety of literary and informational
texts. (Includes related standards for additional grades.)
For literary texts, the student identifies the characteristics of various genres
and produces evidence of reading that:
a. Relates theme in works of fiction to personal experience.
b. Identifies and analyzes the elements of plot, character, and setting in stories
read, written, viewed, or performed.
c. Identifies the speaker of a poem or story.
d. Identifies sensory details and figurative language.
e. Identifies and shows the relevance of foreshadowing clues.
f. Makes judgments and inferences about setting, characters, and events and
supports them with elaborating and convincing evidence from the text.
g. Identifies similarities and differences between the characters or events and
theme in a literary work and the actual experiences in an author’s life.
h. Identifies themes and lessons in folktales, tall tales, and fables.
i. Identifies rhyme and rhythm, repetition, similes, and sensory images in poems.
Publisher's Info: Roaring Brook Press, 2005
ISBN-13: 978-1-59643-068-6
ISBN-10: 1-59643-068-0
Awards/Review Sources:
Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.) 01/01/06 | School Library Journal 08/01/05 |
| Publishers Weekly 09/05/05 | Horn Book 04/01/06 |
| Kirkus Review 07/15/05 | Library Media Connection 02/01/06 |
A child's review from http://www.amazon.com/Walter-Worried-Neal-Porter-Books/dp/1596430680
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is AMAZING, February 19, 2007
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Walter Was Worried (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards)) (Neal Porter Books) (Paperback)
I am in sixth grade and we were studying picture books in my class because we are studying which books we think are most educational for younger kids. Each student brought in their favorite book from home and one of my friends brought in this one. We were all told to list the reasons why we thought each book was good or bad and this one was the favorite of every one in my class because it can be used in so many ways. you can learn your letters and search and find them and you can talk about your feelings too. Then I was surprised because my art teacher decided that we should all make our own pictures like the ones in this book so it became a great art project too. I am a big fan of this book. I love the artwork the most. Genre/Dewey: Easy, Fiction
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