Bravo, Daisy! ( )

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I am a big fan of Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett. I read this book as a kid and the language is very descriptive in the setting of China and describing the Li River, however not too complex to where children would not be able to follow along in the story. This book is perfect for a read aloud because of how engaging and detail-oriented the illustrations are and the text is at the bottom of each page which makes it easier for the students to see during story time. I appreciate the inclusion of Chinese culture in the book because it is important to expose children at a young age to different backgrounds and cultures. ( )

I really like the way this book is set up with the illustrations. On each page, it shows a large picture of things that are going on on the river, and then in each corner it has it has pictures that are related to the plot of the story. The reader gets a 2-in-1 with illustrations in this book. It also has a great story line about Daisy being taken downstream a river and what she sees along the way. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book because I remember enjoying it being read to me as a child, but when I finished reading it, I was unsure of the value it had toward being a good piece of literature for children to read. It is not a commercial books, but it does contain a main message. The message it expressed via the chicken Daisy is that one cannot give up when things become tough, but it is important to face challenges to obtain the skills needed to stand up for oneself. This related to me at this point in my life because my family and I have chickens and there is a pecking order that determines who has more control. This books demonstrates that Daisy would let the other chickens push her around and knock her off the roosting bar at night. Daisy sought warmth in the “Happy Hens” basket her owner made, which was located close to the river. As the river begins to creep up on the bank where Daisy was, she is pulled into the current of the river and floats down to faces her challenges: a barking dog, a large water buffalo, a troop of red-tailed monkeys, and finally a fisherman. With these experiences, she was able to take a stand to the other chickens: “When one of the big hens fluffed up her wings and spread out, expecting Daisy to fall off the perch like always, Daisy flapped her wings. “I learned that from a boat dog,” she clucked.” I noticed while reading, each page had a bubble on the top left page and bottom right page that gave a glimpse into future events that would follow up with the information on the current pages. This would be a great tool to develop context clue skills, predictions, and inferences. ( )