Bibliography:
Lyon, George Ella. 2010. THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN. Ill. Lynne Avril. New York City, NY: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division. ISBN 978-1-4169-5024-0.
Plot Summary:
Ginny is a young school girl who sees everything in double but doesn't realize that's not how everyone sees. A wonderful nurse gives her an eye exam at school and explains to her it's not normal to see everything in double. Ginny is made fun of in school because she runs into chairs. Her teacher doesn't realize she has a sight problem so she constantly tells Ginny to "read with her eyes, not her nose" and "don't squint" because she has her nose buried in the book trying to make out the words or she closes one eye or the other to make the letters more clear. Ginny's Mom takes her to the eye doctor who prescribes an eye patch to help strengthen one of her eyes, Ginny then became a Kindergarten Pirate!
Critical Analysis:
I love this book! I didn't read anything about what the storyline was prior to reading it so I knew nothing about it. I love how she has an eye problem because so many kids do and many kids don't want to wear their eye patch or glasses in fear of being made fun of. This is a common issue for a lot of children to have and such a simple one to address. I love how Ginny takes her eye patch that could potentially be embarrassing for a child, and is creative by coming up with the idea of being the Pirate of Kindergarten. I also love that Ginny loves to read and by having her eye patch it allows her to see well and therefore allows her to read even more as well as play on the playground, do numbers and cut with scissors. What a wonderful example for young children!
Something I found to be a bit ironic is Ginny's teacher wears glasses, you would think someone who wears glasses would recognize someone who might need glasses. I almost feel like the teacher could have helped Ginny discover her eye problem instead of a mandatory eye check at school. I find it sad she tells Ginny, "we read with our eyes, not our noses" and told her, "don't squint" when she should have recognized something was not right.
The illustrations in this book are beautiful and colorful, you couldn't ask for more from an illustrator. I love how the double vision is depicted in the illustrations so you get a true sense of what Ginny sees. At the end of the book you see Ginny reading, cutting out bunny ears properly and climbing on the playground all the while with her eye patch proudly on.
Critical Analysis:
I love this book! I didn't read anything about what the storyline was prior to reading it so I knew nothing about it. I love how she has an eye problem because so many kids do and many kids don't want to wear their eye patch or glasses in fear of being made fun of. This is a common issue for a lot of children to have and such a simple one to address. I love how Ginny takes her eye patch that could potentially be embarrassing for a child, and is creative by coming up with the idea of being the Pirate of Kindergarten. I also love that Ginny loves to read and by having her eye patch it allows her to see well and therefore allows her to read even more as well as play on the playground, do numbers and cut with scissors. What a wonderful example for young children!
Something I found to be a bit ironic is Ginny's teacher wears glasses, you would think someone who wears glasses would recognize someone who might need glasses. I almost feel like the teacher could have helped Ginny discover her eye problem instead of a mandatory eye check at school. I find it sad she tells Ginny, "we read with our eyes, not our noses" and told her, "don't squint" when she should have recognized something was not right.
The illustrations in this book are beautiful and colorful, you couldn't ask for more from an illustrator. I love how the double vision is depicted in the illustrations so you get a true sense of what Ginny sees. At the end of the book you see Ginny reading, cutting out bunny ears properly and climbing on the playground all the while with her eye patch proudly on.
Review Awards and Excerpts:
2011 Schneider Family Award for Young Children
2011 Schneider Family Award for Young Children
Connections:
- I think this is a great opportunity for children to discuss disabilities such as this one, if they know anyone who has a disability or if they have one. Discuss how it can impact someone and how they can help someone who has a disability. Also the importance of standing up to children making fun of someone else for being different has to be discussed.
- As an art project they could each make an eye patch like Ginny's and see what it feels like to read and walk around with only one eye.
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