"Stormy loved driving trains."
Title: Stormy's Hat
Author: Eric A. Kimmel
Illustrator: Andrea U'Ren
Publisher: Shearwater Books
Date of Publication: 2008
Genre: Biography
Readability Lexile: Not Found
Summary:
This is the story of a train engineer in the early days of the railroad named Stormy Kromer. Stormy loves his job but he has one problem; he can’t find a hat that is right for a railroad man. He takes suggestions from people all over the city to figure out what kind of hat he would work the best. He tries a fireman’s hat, a cowboy’s hat, a printer’s hat but none of them seem to work. The whole time Stormy is telling his wife, Ida, not to worry and that he’ll think of something. If he would only listen to her, he would find out that she hasn’t been worry but has been thinking! When Stormy finally listens, she come up with the perfect hat for a railroad man.
Evaluation:
This story is great because it has strong characters, a funny plot, and a twist ending. While reading I didn’t think that Ida would stand up for herself like she did but I’m glad! This is such a good story for girls to read because it shows that girls can be strong, big thinkers, and have amazing ideas! The characters, language, and style of dress portrayed in the illustrations
all historically fit with the time and setting that this story is about. The language used and the actions fit well with the characters and their personalities. Both characters work through a problem in this story; Stormy works to figure out what kind of hat is right for a railroad man and Ida also tackles that problem but has to work to make her husband listen to her first. Both problems are solved by the end of the story. The author purposely uses degrading language in the beginning of the story to set the stage for Ida to stand up for herself and let her voice be heard which is my favorite part of the story. Stormy says, “Aw, don’t worry your pretty little head, I’ll think of something.” whenever Ida tries to make a suggestions about the hat and finally Ida says, “My head isn’t little. It’s as big as yours and just as smart. Either listen to what I have to say or stop complaining.” She really tells him what’s what! This book would be most appropriate for kindergarten through second grade students but themes could be used in upper elementary and middles school and even beyond.
Literary Elements:
1. Onomatopoeia: Since this is a book about trains, you can imagine that there would be lots of train sounds like WHOOO! WHOOO!, chug-chug, and poketa-poketa to describe the sounds that the train makes as it is riding the rails. This makes the book come to life because children reading it can practice they best train sounds.
2. Repetition: The author uses a repeating story element to make this story good for young readers and to build up the tension between Stormy and Ida. Stormy always goes to find a new hat to wear, tries it out, decides it doesn’t work and complains to Ida, who has had a good idea all along but Stormy won’t listen her and then it starts all over again. We see Ida getting more and more frustrated with Stormy until she can’t take it and speaks her mind.
3. Theme: I think this book has three themes; one is that you shouldn’t give up because if you keep trying you will solve your dilemma, two, you should listen to those around you because they might have some great ideas that you never thought of, and three, one must stand up for themselves and let their voice be heard. The themes are super important for children to know and this book would be a great choice to introduce them.
Illustrations:
The illustrator uses water color to create the pictures for this book. They are more realistic, show a lot of emotion, and help to tell the story. The pictures are very colorful and add so much to the story. On the pages where Ida finally tells Stormy what’s on her mind, you can see how angry and frustrated Ida is and how scared Stormy is. Without the illustrations the reader might not get the idea that she is really standing up for herself.
Mini-Lesson Idea:
I would use this book to teach about railroads, trains, good ideas from history, great women from history, standing up for one’s self, and never giving up. There are so many ideas that can be pulled from this story about a railroad man and his wife, Ida. I could also use this book to teach theme because it has so many good, worthwhile themes that children should be exposed to. I could have my students read this story, we can discuss theme and why it is so important to a good story, and how they can add a meaningful theme in a story of their own. They we can try it!
Summary:
This is the story of a train engineer in the early days of the railroad named Stormy Kromer. Stormy loves his job but he has one problem; he can’t find a hat that is right for a railroad man. He takes suggestions from people all over the city to figure out what kind of hat he would work the best. He tries a fireman’s hat, a cowboy’s hat, a printer’s hat but none of them seem to work. The whole time Stormy is telling his wife, Ida, not to worry and that he’ll think of something. If he would only listen to her, he would find out that she hasn’t been worry but has been thinking! When Stormy finally listens, she come up with the perfect hat for a railroad man.
Evaluation:
This story is great because it has strong characters, a funny plot, and a twist ending. While reading I didn’t think that Ida would stand up for herself like she did but I’m glad! This is such a good story for girls to read because it shows that girls can be strong, big thinkers, and have amazing ideas! The characters, language, and style of dress portrayed in the illustrations
all historically fit with the time and setting that this story is about. The language used and the actions fit well with the characters and their personalities. Both characters work through a problem in this story; Stormy works to figure out what kind of hat is right for a railroad man and Ida also tackles that problem but has to work to make her husband listen to her first. Both problems are solved by the end of the story. The author purposely uses degrading language in the beginning of the story to set the stage for Ida to stand up for herself and let her voice be heard which is my favorite part of the story. Stormy says, “Aw, don’t worry your pretty little head, I’ll think of something.” whenever Ida tries to make a suggestions about the hat and finally Ida says, “My head isn’t little. It’s as big as yours and just as smart. Either listen to what I have to say or stop complaining.” She really tells him what’s what! This book would be most appropriate for kindergarten through second grade students but themes could be used in upper elementary and middles school and even beyond.
Literary Elements:
1. Onomatopoeia: Since this is a book about trains, you can imagine that there would be lots of train sounds like WHOOO! WHOOO!, chug-chug, and poketa-poketa to describe the sounds that the train makes as it is riding the rails. This makes the book come to life because children reading it can practice they best train sounds.
2. Repetition: The author uses a repeating story element to make this story good for young readers and to build up the tension between Stormy and Ida. Stormy always goes to find a new hat to wear, tries it out, decides it doesn’t work and complains to Ida, who has had a good idea all along but Stormy won’t listen her and then it starts all over again. We see Ida getting more and more frustrated with Stormy until she can’t take it and speaks her mind.
3. Theme: I think this book has three themes; one is that you shouldn’t give up because if you keep trying you will solve your dilemma, two, you should listen to those around you because they might have some great ideas that you never thought of, and three, one must stand up for themselves and let their voice be heard. The themes are super important for children to know and this book would be a great choice to introduce them.
Illustrations:
The illustrator uses water color to create the pictures for this book. They are more realistic, show a lot of emotion, and help to tell the story. The pictures are very colorful and add so much to the story. On the pages where Ida finally tells Stormy what’s on her mind, you can see how angry and frustrated Ida is and how scared Stormy is. Without the illustrations the reader might not get the idea that she is really standing up for herself.
Mini-Lesson Idea:
I would use this book to teach about railroads, trains, good ideas from history, great women from history, standing up for one’s self, and never giving up. There are so many ideas that can be pulled from this story about a railroad man and his wife, Ida. I could also use this book to teach theme because it has so many good, worthwhile themes that children should be exposed to. I could have my students read this story, we can discuss theme and why it is so important to a good story, and how they can add a meaningful theme in a story of their own. They we can try it!
No comments:
Post a Comment