Here is an annotated bibliography of a few metafiction titles with extension activities:
Avi. (1991). Nothing but the
truth: a documentary novel. New York: Orchard
Books.
Fourteen-year-old Phillip Malloy desperately
wants to be on the track team. Ms. Narwin does not accept his laziness toward
his academics and gives him a “D” preventing him from trying out for the track
team. Students are expected to stand at a respectful silence during the
“Star-Spangled Banner”, but Phillip chooses to hum on multiple occasions.
Following Ms. Narwin’s multiple failed requests for Phillip to stand silent, he
is sent to the principal’s office resulting in suspension. The suspension is
brought to the attention of a potential school board member who leaks the
information to the media. Across the country Phillip is quickly seen as a patriotic
hero, and the school district is scrutinized. The domino effect of events is
uniquely presented through dialogue, memos, diary entries and reports. Many
points of view and facts are interwoven giving the reader the opportunity to
think critically about the situation. This Newbery Honor book offers the
opportunity to teach cause and effect, multiple perspectives and writing using
varied formats. *6-9
Ø
To view Avi’s interview
discussing children and writing visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBIDvuWHnuk
Freedman, D. (2007). Scribble.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Lucie and Emma are sisters. They have both
created drawings. Emma drew a princess in the forest waiting on her prince,
while Lucie drew a simplistic stick drawing of a cat. Emma and Lucie fight over
the drawings, and Lucie scribbles on the princess in retaliation. Scribble is written initially as a comic
style story, but takes on a new dimension when the cat takes over the story. He
fills the pages with his journey to meet and save the princess. This picture
book tells its story through its pops of bold color, various forms of minimalistic
art and supportive text making the reader feel the action and emotion along with
the characters. It is great for teaching about dealing with emotions as well as
for sparking imagination. *K-2
Ø
For more books about art and
imagination visit http://www.deborahfreedman.net/parents-teachers/reading-lists/reading-art.html
Gerstein, M. (2009). A book. New
York: Roaring Book Press.
A young girl is on a mission to find her story.
In A Book the reader awakes the
characters by opening the book. The girl’s parents, brother and pets all come
alive, and they all know the path of their own story. So, the girl travels from
page to page each time arriving in a new literary genre. She travels through a
mystery, a fairy tale, a historical novel and her brother’s science fiction
story. After her experience, she comes to the conclusion that she does not fit
in anyone else’s story. Thus, she becomes an author and writes her own. The uses
of detailed illustration with shadowing emphasize the unique viewpoint of the
reader looking down onto the book characters and make them appear
3-dimensional. The multi-layered picture book shares a girl’s search for
identity, actively illustrates multiple genres and challenges the reader to
examine the nature of a book. *K-3
Gravett, E. (2005). Wolves.
New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young
Readers.
Rabbit goes to the library and checks out a
book called Wolves. As soon as rabbit
opens his book, the reader is brought inside and begins reading a book with-in
a book. Wolves live in packs, survive anywhere and are powerful carnivores that
eat rabbits. As rabbit learns more about wolves, the more dramatic they become
on the page until they are larger than life and rabbit is gone. All that is
left of him is a torn page with the word rabbit on it. An alternative ending is
provided for those wanting a cheerful outcome. The book’s illustrations give a
sense of realism and support the text. Rabbit and his book are drawn
realistically with color, while the drawings of the wolves are charcoal
sketches from within his book. This book challenges the perspective of a book
and encourages the reader to use the text and illustration to make inferences. *K-3
Ø
For lessons and activities
visit http://www.playingbythebook.net/2014/01/27/100-activities-to-go-with-books-by-emily-gravett/
Johnson, D.W. (2010). Palazzo
inverso. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books
for Children.
Mauk was helping his Master build a grand Palazzo, but he was never allowed to
help him draw. While his Master napped, Mauk would look at the drawings of the Palazzo slightly turning them to view
from different angles. This caused the Master to draw his plans upside down and
right-side up. Johnson created a book that challenges the conventional way one
reads a book. Initially the story is read in the traditional way, but the story
continues and is read turning the book upside down reading it from back to
front. The pictures are also drawn to support the text in both directions. They
are structured and geometric, yet they are also very detailed drawing the eyes
to take a closer look. The unique format will inspire student creativity to
concoct a similar story of their own and promote critical thinking. *K-3
McDonnell, P. (2006). Art.
New York: Little, Brown and Company.
Art loves to create art. He draws whatever
comes to mind. Art is small, but his art is grand. Art shows that imagination
has no limits. Even while dreaming, his drawing sends him and his dog off to
the moon. When he wakes, he notices his mother has displayed his work on the
refrigerator filling him with pride that his creations are appreciated. This
simplistic picture book has rhyming text that young readers will enjoy, but the
story is truly communicated through the colorful and playful illustrations.
Art’s squiggles, dots, doodles and splotches will inspire students to think up
creations of their own. *Pre-K-1
Ø
For more books by Patrick
McDonnell visit http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/patrickmcdonnell/book-art.html
Palatini, M. (1995). Piggie
pie. New York: Clarion Books.
Gritch the Witch is on a mission for 8 plump
piggies. She is starving and craving Piggie Pie. She finds the address to Old
MacDonald’s farm and decides that is the best place to get some pigs. To no
avail, she was outsmarted by the pigs and left with none. She did however meet
the starving wolf that had been outwitted by the three little pigs and enticed
him to come for dinner. Characters truly come to life with vibrant personality
through Piggie Pie’s bright, bold and
detailed illustrations. Creativity is abundantly present in the cleverly
written story filled with references to classic tales like Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs as well as a twist on the beloved song Old MacDonald. Students will be inspired
to invent stories including characters and/or settings of some of their personal
favorite tales. *K-3
Ø
For a printable reader’s
theater version http://www.timelessteacherstuff.com/readerstheater/PiggiePie.html
Pilkey, D. (1999). Captain
underpants: And the attack of the talking toilets.
New York: The Blue Sky
Press.
George and Harold are best friends. Everyone at
school sees them as double trouble. Principal Krupp has banned them from
entering the school’s Invention Convention, but this does not get in their way.
They manage to make chaos of all the participants’ inventions and use the Patsy
2000 to make evil talking toilets come to life. With a snap of fingers, hypnotized
Principal Krupp transforms into Captain Underpants ready to save the day. When
this fails, George and Harold create The Urinator to fix the disaster they
created. Pilkey uses a combination of narrative and comic format in the Captain
Underpants series, but his flip-o-ramas set them apart. Woven and strategically
placed, the flip-o-ramas bring action sequences to life by flipping pages
quickly making them appear animated. This silly, funny, interactive and
multi-format book will hook readers and send them in search for another book in
the series. *3-6
Rosenthal, A. K. & Lichtenheld, T. (2009). Duck! Rabbit! New York:
Scholastic Inc.
Is it a duck, or is it a rabbit? No one knows
for sure. It depends on whom you ask. One shape is subject to difference of
opinion based on the viewer. This ALA’s Notable Children’s Book challenges
readers to view a single image multiple ways. Through the use of one shape
being consistently repeated with only slight additions of a word, a color or an
object being added from page to page, the book could be read through the
illustrations alone. The simplistic text supports viewing the image as both a
duck and a rabbit. Lots of fun and greatly captivating, Duck! Rabbit! will have students freely expressing their points of
view. It is great for teaching the art of persuasion and understanding multiple
perspectives. *Pre-K-1
Ø
For lesson ideas visit http://www.chroniclebooks.com/landing-pages/duckrabbit/pdfs/DRTeachersGuide.pdf
Scieszka, J. & Smith, L. (1992). The stinky cheese man and other fairly
stupid
tales. New York: Penguin Group.
This Caldecott Honor book challenges and
reinvents traditional literature as well as traditional book format. The book
is made up of 10 stories that are based on classic fairy tales, but the
characters and storylines take a new direction. For example, Cinderella meets
Rumpelstiltskin and her stepsisters begin calling her Cinderumpelstiltskin.
Little Red Riding Hood is called Little Red Running Shorts and races the wolf
to granny’s house. The narrator Jack speaks to the reader and characters alike
making the stories feel interactive. The text changes in size, capitalization,
color and direction emphasizing the action taking place or the silliness of the
story. The illustrations also have a multimedia effect combining painting,
sketching and collage techniques. This unique and quirky picture book will grab
and hold student attention. It is a great tool to teach creative writing and
the use of creative format. *K-3
Ø
For lessons and activities
visit http://eduscapes.com/library/s/stinky_cheese_man_and_fairly_stupid_tales.htm
Spiegelman, A. (1980). Maus:
A survivor’s tale. New York: Pantheon Books.
This Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel tells
two parallel stories. One storyline takes place in New York and consists of
Art’s relationship with his father Vladek. They do not share a close
relationship, but Art visits his father in order to record his experience as a
Jew during the Holocaust. Through their awkward visits and strained
conversations, Art’s family history comes alive. The second storyline takes
place in Poland and is told through a series of flashbacks. Art learns of how
his parents, Vladek and Anja, lived through German soldiers forcing Jews out of
their homes, out of their businesses and into hiding. Art comes to understand that
the loss of his parents’ first-born child, the loss of family and friends,
starvation and fear were all factors contributing to his mother’s suicide. The
use of dual stories allows the reader to understand and see Vladek’s multiple
layers. His story of survival is compelling and heart wrenching. This book is a
great tool to illustrate and inspire the use of biographic information,
multiple viewpoints and graphic format. *9-12
Ø
To learn more about how to
use comics as a classroom resource visit http://www.graphicclassroom.org
Van Allsburg, C. (1984). The
mysteries of harris burdick. Boston,
Massachusettes: Houghton
Mifflin Company.
Van Allsburg compiled and created The Mysteries of Harris Burdick from
pages left behind by aspiring author Harris Burdick. Burdick left illustrations
with titles and captions with a publisher, but he disappeared and never
returned with any accompanying stories. The mysterious images with no narrative
inspired kids who saw them to write stories of their own. So, Van Allsburg
decided not to write his own interpretation but rather publish the images and
captions alone. His goal is for this book to be used to inspire all children
who read it to invent tales of their own. The realistic pictures have such
depth and texture. The imagination is easily sparked with ideas. The
illustrations could be used to inspire a collection of short stories or could
be interconnected to tell one detailed story from beginning to end. *K-3
Ø
For a complete teacher’s
guide visit http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/tg/mysteriesofharris.shtml
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