Mary L. Brown

Review: This book looks at the life cycle of the peach tree, as a coyote participates in its growth and development. This story has a very natural and simple spirit to it, as it explains in writing and through wonderful illustrations the ways in which animals and plants rely on each other for life and growth.

Genre: Coyote Plants a Tree is both an example of realistic fiction as well as informational. The life cycle of a peach tree is a non-fiction topic, but the way in which the author decided to tell of its life cycle was through the lens of the animals who eat and interact with the peach tree. Because of the loose story line that was part of this book, I felt that it was best described as both realistic fiction and informational. The setting and the animal characters, especially the coyote, make this story believable to the reader. It also follows the life and growth of the peach tree.… (más)

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Review: The events in the book pertain to real life. Also the reader can easily relate to the characters because they are easily recognizable. Events and characters are contemporary. Yet, the events within the book are unreal because a coyote cannot plant a tree.
Use: 1. Season lesson 2. Planting seeds
Media: Water Color
Age: Primary, Intermediate
Character: The author describes the coyote who is the main character. He is a protaginist, yet flat because the reader learns very little about him. His character throughout the book is static because he does not change much.… (más)

How could a coyote plant a peach tree?
What might Coyote be thinking as he eyes those peaches in the
cover illustration?
Explain how the title and the cover illustration do or do not lead
you to think this could be about something that could happen.A fictionalized nonfiction account of the life cycle of a peach
tree.
■ Nonfiction informational narrative
■ Third person
■ Past tense
■ Cyclical text
■ Topic-specific vocabulary
■ Descriptive text
■ Coyote, the main character by title, appears only at the beginning
and end of the book
■ Prepositional phrases denoting time, setting, and sequence
■ Identifying and using chunks of meaning to increase fluency
■ Identifying key information
■ Retelling in diagrammatic form… (más)