Fiction Long Form 18 3 - 1

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Fiction Evaluation Form

(Picture Books, Folklore, Modern Fantasy, Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Multicultural Books)

Your Name: Lizeth Reyes Book Title: Chang's Paper Pony


Author: Eleanor Coerr Illustrator: Deborah Kogan Ray

Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher/Year: HarperCollins, 1993

EVALUATE THE BOOK USING THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS


STYLE and Language: Using examples from the book, explain the following: word choices, dialogue,
rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Also, explain unexpected insights or interesting information the reader
learns from the story. Give examples.
"Grandpa Li pointed to a painting tacked above the stove." In a page, this is the first sentence that is
read out loud. The word choice is easy, with some difficult words added, such as "tacked". There is
dialogue between Chang and his grandpa talking about a pony, and grandpa explaining that they can
only afford a painting on a pony. The rhythm is calm and not rushed, the story is taking its time to
get the points. The length of the sentences are a bit longer, but they do not rhyme. Something
interesting that I learned was that the grandpa explained to Chang that there was a war going on in
China, and that they cannot go back. An unexpected insight was that people will help others, instead
of thinking of the gold.
CHARACTER – With examples from the book give the following: Who is the main character? Explain the
character’s personality traits.
How can the reader relate to the character, become involved in the story?
Who are the supporting characters?
The main character in the story is Chang, and he is motivated. He is a hard worker to get gold,
in order to buy gold. When I was younger, I wanted to buy candy, but I did not have money.
Chang worked for finding gold to get his pony. I relate to Chang because we both work hard
to get what we want. The supporting characters in the story are grandpa and Big Pete. They
both encouraged Chang to never give up, and helped him get his white "pony."
1. PLOT: summarize the major events in the story-
The story is about a Chinese boy who wants a pony to keep as a friend. He is bullied by his classmates
at school, and is an outcast for being different. He has a painting of a pony that he considers to be his
friend. He wishes to go back to China because he also gets bullied by the gold miners. Big Pete offers
to help Chang work to look for gold, and that will help him buy a pony. Once he finds gold, he gives it
to Big Pete, and he goes to buy Chang his pony, which is in reality a white horse. Chang is happy with
his pony.
2. SETTING – Explain the place and time of the book.
THEME- What is the story’s theme/message?
Setting: The setting was in San Francisco, California during the gold rush.
Theme: The theme of the story is hard work, and friendship. Chang may not had friends in his school
and was bullied by miners, but Big Pete and grandpa helped Chang have a friend of his own,
his pony.
ILLUSTRATION –Analyze the illustrations for the book you selected (see Chapter 4) with the categories
below:
Choose a 2-page spread in the book to answer the following:
What Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)?
In the 2- page spread from the book, the style of illustration is realism.
Media choices (paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk ) :
The media choices chosen are pencil, crayons, oils, and watercolors.
Give examples and describe how the following visual elements are used in the illustrations :
Line: The objects in the drawings have lines that are slim and that fade away. The lines are not dark, but do show to imply
that there lies an object or character.
Shapes: The shapes are precise, with showing clearly what kind object is what, and the characters are visually seen.
Color: The colors are not use a lot, but are neutral. Bright colors such as yellow is being reflected in Chang's shirt. Warm hue
is adapted to the illustration.
Texture: The texture looks rough because it shows a rusty environment. The wood in the barn does not look shiny, and looks
hard from the sharp drawings.
Explain how illustration and text are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text does not
explain?
The text in the story is narrating and giving dialogue for us to understand what they are saying or
doing. The illustration adds life to the text, following the story. Something that the illustrations show
that text does not is that they show the readers action in pictures. Text can only be read and the
visuals will be created in the readers' head, but the illustrations will guide the readers to the action.
Page design: Summarize the following: placement of illustrations and text; the use of borders and white/dark space; are both
pages designed the same or differently?
The illustration in the 2-page spread is not the same for both pages. The left side illustration is at the
top and the right page is at the bottom. The text is on the bottom on the left page and at the top on
the right page. The borders of the illustrations are faded but does not show a lot because the border
color is white. There is a lot of white space, even around the illustrations and text.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES – CHOOSE 2 of theories below and evaluate the book according to the
developmental theories. (How the book fits the developmental stage and age?)
PIAGET-COGNITIVE-INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Name the stage: Preoperational and the age: 2 to 7 years
Explain the cognitive development from the stage:
Conversations will help develop cognitive skills. Will start to understand the concept of object
permanence.
Give examples from the book show how the book fits the cognitive stage:
The grandpa explained that they cannot go back to China because there is a war. They are not in
China, but Chang and grandpa know that China is still there. The dialogue that Chang has with big
Pete and grandpa will promote language development.

Emotional DEVELOPMENT
Identify the Age: 7 to 11 years
Explain the emotional development for the age:
When children fail at something, they will feel guilt in their conscious. Their strategies are being
adjusted to any situation they bring themselves into. Start to understand that other emotions can be
experienced at the same time.
Using examples from the book, explain how the book fits the emotional development of the age:
When Chang was bullied by the miners, he was sad and wanted to refuge back to China. Then his
grandpa consoled him, and Chang was happy and motivated to buy a pony. He did not want to fail, so
he tried really hard to find gold with Big Pete.
2. Overall Rating of the book (3 highest - 1 lowest) 3
Comments: (Support your overall rating)
This book shows how people can be rude to other races, and that happens a lot in our society. I
experienced it before, so seeing this in a story can change students' views about how to treat others.
After the discrimination, Chang did not give up on his dream of having a pony. In fact, he tried harder
to save money and to buy one. Chang can encourage other students that read this story to never give
up on what you truly want.

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