Joyce K. Kessel

Author Joyce K. Kessel chronicles the life of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, who is credited with converting that country to Christianity in the 5th century, in this work of biography and history for the beginning chapter-book reader. From Patrick's youth in Roman Britain, through his time as a slave in Ireland, from his escape from captivity, and then the vision that led him back to Ireland as a missionary, the major outlines of the saint's life are covered, as are some of the folktales associated with him. The book closes with a brief discussion of the celebration of St. Patrick's Day on March 17th, the anniversary of St. Patrick's death...

Part of Carolrhoda Books' On My Own Holidays series, St. Patrick's Day is a book I picked up with interest, given the fact that the holiday is around the corner. I expected to find it quite informative, given my enjoyment of two other titles in this series: Memorial Day and Labor Day, both written by Geoffrey Scott. Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed to find that this had very little about the holiday of St. Patrick's Day itself, and how the celebrations associated with it - particularly the parades here in the United States - got started. Rather, it focused almost exclusively on Saint Patrick himself—his biography, and the folktale associated with him. I understand the need to explore St. Patrick's own life story, as the day celebrates his role in Christianizing Ireland, but given the title here I would have liked a better balance, with more than just a few pages at the end discussing the holiday itself. In the end, this isn't really one I would recommend, either as a history of the holiday, or a biography of the saint. I will look for better titles for both purposes, going forward.… (más)

Opinion
This is a classic storybook for children, and it informs about certain traditions and customs that take place during autumn. The illustrations are all reminiscent of hastily done ink sketches, yet they are appropriate in this sort of book. The story of Halloween is interesting to a lot of children, and it makes for a good read during the fall season.
Reasons
Illustrations: While they were not very detailed, the illustrations in Halloween contributed greatly to the story. The sketches on the pages appear dated and therefore contribute a historical perspective of the story. This essentially makes this book a kind of period piece, like “The Night Before Christmas” or any other story that tells the tale of a holiday or other tradition.
Point of View: I believe the third person omniscient point of view does well to deliver the story from an unfixed perspective. This allows the reader to view the scene as a fixed entity in its entirety, and not just from the perspective of a single person.
Writing: The text on each page is brief and pertinent to the topic of Halloween. The language is a bit archaic but that just contributes to the antiquity of the story as it was written quite a long time ago. Having a small amount of outdated or complex language will benefit students who are seeking to expand their vocabulary or even cement existing grammatical rules that they have already learned the fundamentals of.… (más)

Squanto and the First Thanksgiving is about how Squanto helped the Pilgrims when they landed at Plymouth Rock. It goes on to tell how the other Indians were scared and Squanto taught them to harvest and they had a feast together.

I really like this story. I can relate to this story because every year I always tell my children a general story of how thanksgiving came to be in the united states. I like how this book explains the story of how Squanto helped and why thanksgiving is important.

In the classroom I would read this story around thanksgiving. We would do a unit about this and have our own thanksgiving in the classroom. I think I would also be fun to try different foods that are harvested around this time of year.… (más)