Children's Literature Evaluation Form: Dreamers

Children’s Literature Evaluation Form
Your Name: Michelle Valerio
Book Title: Dreamers
Author: Yuyi Morales
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Illustrator: Yuyi Morales
Publisher/Year: Penguin Random House/ 2018
Evaluate the Book for the following elements
Style and Language: Using examples for the book, explain the following:
Word choices, dialogue, rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Share
unexpected insights or interesting information the reader learns from this
story. (5 points)
Yuyi Morales is an astonishing artist that shines through in every aspect of this book.
The language she uses is intentional, just as she carefully selects colors when
painting. Her sentence structure is varied as she adjusts to what is best for the poetic
tone of each page. We see that here where she writes, “thousands and thousands of
steps, we took around this land, until the date we found…” these are longer as
opposed to the next page where she continues, “a place we had never seen before.
Suspicious. Improbable.” where some sentences are a single word. In addition to this
is her uncommon vocabulary such as suspicious and improbable, which helps expand
the vocabulary of children by exposing them to these unique words.
Character: With examples from the book, provide the following- (5 points)
Who is the main character?
How can the reader relate to the character?
Who are the supporting characters?
The main character in this story is Yuyi herself, as she weaves an artistic
interpretation of her personal experience. The supporting characters are her infant
son and the library employees. Her son is her partner as she explores her new world
and the employees usher her into her new literary life. Yuyi’s story is very relatable for
young children as they encounter an unknown world. As Yuyi did, they learn through
trial and error and have difficulty communicating with adults at times.
Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)
Yuyi and her son travel from Mexico to America for the first time. Cultural differences
and language barriers make their new world difficult. One day while exploring they
discover a magical place called the library. There she is finally at home. In that sacred
space, she feeds her passion as she transitions from reader to author.
Setting: Explain the place and time of this book. (2 points)
Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)
This book is set in America during the 1990s. 1994 is Yuyi first crossed the border to
America. The message of this story is to keep exploring and follow your passions,
even when facing the scary unknown.
Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories
Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon

art)? (2 points)
The style of these illustrations is an intricate entanglement of impressionist,
surrealism, and cartoon. We see the impressionist in the extremely distorted
perspectives. Then we see surrealism in the dream-like scenes, like when she and
her baby first meet. Finally, we see aspects of cartoon in the details of the faces.
Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons,

acrylic, chalk): (2 points)
Acrylic, pencils, and pens.

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in
the illustrations: (3)
Line: Long curved lines of their bodies as they outstretch towards each other express
the excitement.
Shapes: All of the people in the library have very round and curved bodies that
represent safety while the officer who scolds them playing in the lake has a seemingly
thinner build.
Color: The bright colors spewing from the librarian as she hands Yuyi’s son his first
card represents the joy of reading.
Texture: The lines on the edges of the books creates the texture of the pages.
Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and

dark space and all pages the same or different). (3)
The page design is very interesting as the concept of illustrations and text blend. At
times the text becomes part of the art. For instance, the clouds spelling “say
something”, “what?”, and “speak english”. Yuyi takes great care in placing her text in
ways that emphasize its impact. At times single words dot that page. The overall
layout of this book lends itself to its passion for storybooks.

Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social
Emotional to describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)
Emotional Development
Identify the age: 3-6 Years Old
Explain the social development for this age and how the book
relates to the emotional level you chose:
At this age, children are developing a higher capacity for empathy. They are also
drawing more connections between actions and reactions. Cause and effect are
begging to make more sense. Expanding conversational skills are allowing for greater
dialogue about the fallout from strong emotions. This book relates to this stage by
allowing for children to have empathy for the difficulties Yuyi face as she tries to make
sense of the strang world she finds herself with.
Your rating of the book: 3
Why?
Yuyi’s book is a stunning representation of an immigrant experience and it's a great
opportunity to explore this topic in a child-friendly way. Exposing our children to these
topics early helps create empathetic caring adults in our community when they grow
up.

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Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Michelle Valerio

Book Title: Dreamers

Author: Yuyi Morales

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Illustrator: Yuyi Morales

Publisher/Year: Penguin Random House/ 2018

Evaluate the Book for the following elements

the vocabulary of children by exposing them to these unique words.

Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)

Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)

even when facing the scary unknown.

Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon

surrealism, and cartoon. We see the impressionist in the extremely distorted

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons,

Acrylic, pencils, and pens.

card represents the joy of reading.

Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and

layout of this book lends itself to its passion for storybooks.

Identify the age: 3-6 Years Old

sense of the strang world she finds herself with.

Your rating of the book: 3

Yuyi’s book is a stunning representation of an immigrant experience and it's a great

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