From the Popcorn Book to Popcorn!: Multigenre Children's Books.

Multigenre texts are a recent trend in children’s books. These types of books can enhance students’ comprehension and provide models of various types of writing genres.They can be used in differentiating instruction and increasing fluency when transformed into readers’ theater texts. Many examples of multigenre books are provided in this article. From The Popcorn Book to Popcorn! Multigenre Children's Books Kathy Everts Danielson Jeanne Harrington University of Nebraska Omaha Multigenre texts are a recent trend in children's books. These types of books can enhance students' comprehension and provide models of various types of writing genres. They can be used in differentiating instruction and increasing fluency when transformed into readers' theater texts. Many examples of multigenre books are provided in this article. 46 Reading Horizons, 2005, 6, (1) It all started with The Popcorn Book (dePaola, 1978). This two-level book featured a story about a boy preparing popcorn, while also sharing numerous facts about popcorn and instructions for making popcorn. Then The Magic School Bus books by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen told stories of Ms. Frizzle's outrageous field trips within the context of numerous facts about various science topics. The number of books written in more than just one genre of writing has recently increased. For the purposes of this article they will be referred to as multigenre books. These multigenre books have a growing audience. writers and illustrators continue to expand and experiment with the traditional boundaries of genre, and as teachers and students explore the roles of genre as both readers and writers, we are likely to see those clearly defined lines become even more blurred over the next several years (Laminack & Bell, 2004, p. 248). Reading multigenre books, along with interactive class strategies, can certainly boost students' comprehension and enjoyment of various topics (Camp, 2000). In addition, multigenre books model for students the types of multigenre writing they might try. Instead of writing a report on Sacajawea, for instance, Allen (2001) describes how a 5th grader wrote not only a traditional report about her, but also a free verse poem, an acrostic poem, a repetitive poem, a limerick, an obituary, a Lewis and Clark poster, a newspaper article, simulated character journal entries, and a fictional story. In so doing, this student really came to know Sacajawea in a deeper way, rather than just reporting facts about her life. Students could be encouraged to do this type of multigenre writing as well about a topic of interest to them, An example of Kathy's writing in many genres about corn is included in the appendix as an example of this. Reading multigenre books aloud can be an opportunity in differentiation. The text of the book could be turned into a readers' theater script, with struggling readers reading the less difficult text and more fluent readers reading the more technical vocabulary contained in the informational text. There are a variety of children's books recently written in multigenre formats. The books included in the following list could serve Multigenre Children's Books 47 as models of multigenre writing and could be used for differentiated reading as well. As readers and writers read and examine such texts, the books can serve as excellent models that may inspire students to try writing in a multigenre format also. Concept Books with Facts at the Back of the Book The book Feathers for Lunch (Ehlert, 1990) is about birds features pictures of birds tempting a cat with facts about each bird at the back of the book. This book easily transforms itself into a readers' theater script. The facts about each bird could be inserted into the text as each bird is revealed in the illustrated pages. Readers' Theater Example The text says: looking for lunch, something on the page that shows a robin. A readers' theater script might look like this, including the facts about the robin included at the back of the book: Narrator: He's looking for lunch, something new. Robin: Don't eat me! I'm an American Robin. I live throughout the United States and Canada and I eat insects, earthworms, snails, grubs, berries, and seeds. Readers are asked to guess which animal each animal part belongs to, and how it is used in Jenkins' and Page's (2003) book What do you do With a Tail Like This? The different animal parts include nose, ears, tail, eyes, mouth, and feet. On each page, the question is asked, such as are these noses used? and the following page gives the answers. The authors include detailed information on each animal shown in the book, at the end. This was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2004. 48 Reading Horizons, 2005, 46, (1) Oppenheim's (1995) Have you Seen Trees? is a celebration of various trees displayed in this concept book with facts about each tree at the end of the book. This book could also be used as a readers' theater script by inserting the facts listed in the back of the book within the text of the book. Fictional Texts with Facts Inserted In My Teacher Likes to Say by Brennan-Nelson (2004), confusing expressions spoken by teachers and other adults are depicted as children imagine them. One example is an illustration of a child and a stuffed animal, both with buttons covering their lips, and the expression Please your lip. Factual information for further discussion is included on each page; on the button your lip page, the author offers information on the evolution of buttons, zippers, and Velcro in our society. Written in rhyme, this book is fun and informative. In a series of books: Mouse and Mole and the All-Weather Train Ride (Cushman, 1996); Mouse and Mole and the Christmas Walk (Cushman, 1996); Mouse and Mole and the Year-Round Garden (Cushman, 1994); the top of the page features a story about Mouse and Mole, while the bottom part of the page is a fact box about something in the story. For instance in the weather book, tornados, hurricanes, etc. are explained in the fact box at the bottom of the page. In Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster (Frasier, 2000), a fifthgrade girl, working hard to learn new vocabulary words for a class assignment, learns that miscellaneous is a collection of unrelated objects, not a woman named Miss Alaineus. This humorous book is a gold mine for interesting vocabulary words placed throughout the story. Along the page margins are alliterative sentences for each letter of the alphabet. Keller (2000) authored a fantasy story about classroom of teeth includes many facts about teeth, a history of tooth care, and categories of teeth (incisors, canines, premolars, molars) titled Open Wide: Tooth Multigenre Children's Books 49 School Inside. This book is full of information within the context of a story. It also includes many plays on words and tooth puns. The Scrambled States of America (Keller, 1998) posed the question what if the states all wanted to change places? Florida and Minnesota, Virginia and Idaho .... if the states switched positions, how would they all like it? When it happens in this book, great fun ensues, as each of the states gets a rude awakening about climate conditions they are not ready for. The facts listed at the end of the book on each of the 50 states make this a great social studies reference book. In I've Got Chicken (Kelley, 1994) a young girl gets the chicken pox and deals with the itches while at the bottom of the page a new Pox Fact appears describing what the chicken pox are, how to relieve the itching, etc. As a group of children take a field trip in outer space, they send postcards home and describe their travels along with facts about space. Facts are inserted in the post cards and in sidebar conversations between the characters in the illustrations in Leedy (1993) Postcards from Pluto: A Tour of the Solar System. Logan's (2004) The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle is a fictional account of the archaeological expedition of 1924 to discover a secret tomb belonging to Queen Hetep-heres in Egypt is chronicled with journal entries on one side of the page and lots of information in the form of facts, photographs, and maps on the opposite page. In O'Connor & Hartland (2003) The Perfect Puppy for Me! a young boy thinks about the puppy he would like to choose. He relates facts about dogs he learns throughout his process of selecting a puppy. Dog facts appear in the illustrations, as side bars, etc. A fanciful tale by Priceman (1994) How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World takes the reader traveling the globe for just the right ingredients for making an apple pie: to Italy for semolina wheat for the flour, to France for farm-fresh eggs, to Sri Lanka for cinnamon, etc. A recipe for pie crust and apple filling is included at the end. 50 Reading Horizons, 2005, 46, (1)

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