Author Study - Kevin Henkes

My Children's Literature class required me to complete an author study on Kevin Henkes. What an awesome assignment this was!! Not only did I have to read and write reviews on some of his books, but also create a unit plan with lessons that collaborated with his writings. I fell in love with the books I read and I know students will enjoy them just the same. The illustrations in nearly all of Mr. Henkes books were done by himself. What an amazing talent! Check out the list below of books I read for this lesson. They are definitely worth sharing with a child in your life too!

All Alone
The first book published by Kevin Henkes, includes breathtaking illustrations and a story about time alone. It highlights the idea that when you are alone you are able to tune into creativity and free your imagination. Being alone gives an opportunity to be yourself.

Kitten’s First Full Moon
The kitten goes on quite an adventure chasing after the moon, believing it was a bowl of milk. She finds herself at the top of a tree, glancing down to a pond full of milk, or so she thinks. It was merely a reflection of the moon in the water, but she dives in thinking she has struck gold! She finds herself wet, tired, and hungry and wanders back home – to find her bowl of milk was waiting for her all along.

Lilly’s Big Day
Lilly has found out that her teacher, Mr. Slinger is getting married. She is thrilled by the news and expects to be the flower girl in the wedding. However, she finds out Mr. Slinger’s niece, Ginger, will be the flower girl and is asked to be her assistant. Although she is far from happy about being just the assistant, she convinces herself of the importance of her job. When the big day comes, Ginger gets stage freight and Lilly has to carry her down the aisle. Lilly felt that she had saved the day and that it was the biggest day of her life. Everyone celebrates by dancing together at the reception.

Birds
Birds come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, as the text and illustrations demonstrate throughout the book. They can be found all around us. The illustrations help children imagine how the sky would look if the birds left a trail behind them and how clouds might resemble different birds. Although a young child knows she cannot fly like a bird, she knows she can sing like one!

Oh!
One snowy day, all the animals come out to play! There is a rabbit, cat, dog, bird, and even children enjoying the snow. The illustrations show all the animals and children exploring the snowy day and playing amongst one another. Then when the sky turns dark, playtime is over. The animals and children go back to their homes and enjoy the beautiful scenery from their homes.

Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum is the name of the young mouse in this story. She learns to love her name, until one day she starts school and is made fun of for having such a long, unique name. Chrysanthemum goes home and explains to her parents what a horrible day she had and how she hates her name. Her parents reassure her, and the next day she goes back to school, again facing the same torment from her classmates. Finally, on the third day, the music teacher Mrs. Twinkle announces that she is also named after a flower and plans to name her unborn baby Chrysanthemum. The students have a new perspective on the name, Chrysanthemum, and rename themselves after flowers as well.

Julius, The Baby of the World
Lilly’s younger brother, Julius, is born and immediately Lilly takes a disliking to him. Her parents simply adore him, but Lilly does not recognize one good thing about him. She would say mean things to him, cast magic spells to make him disappear, pretend he did not exist, all of which earned her time in the uncooperative chair. One day, the family held a celebration in honor of Julius’ arrival. Her cousin, Garland, felt Julius was also quite disgusting, which Lilly amazingly took offense to. She bragged of his remarkable ability to blow bubbles and to scream better than anyone. Lilly made Garland hold Julius and admire him and repeat, "Julius is the baby of the world." From then on, Lilly also had that perspective about her baby brother.

Wemberly Worried
Poor Wemberly always seemed to find something to worry about, no matter how big or small. Her mother, father, and grandmother continuously told her not to worry so much. Then, her first day of school came and she had a long list of worries. Her teacher, Mrs. Peachum, introduced her to Jewel. The two new friends found they had a lot in common and their worries of school disappear.

Sheila Rae, The Brave
Sheila Rae was brave, fearless, and did not seem to be afraid of anything, until one day she decided to walk a different way home. Her little sister, Louise, secretly followed her, as she fearlessly walked along a new path home, or so she thought. She realizes she is lost and although she tries to convince herself otherwise, she begins to feel scared. Her sister appears and shows her the way to get back home. When they finally return home, Sheila Rae announces that Louise is brave and fearless, and Louise insists they both are.

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
Lilly loves school, but most of all, she loves her teacher, Mr. Slinger. Lilly would visit the Lightbulb Lab (writing center) in her classroom and write and illustrate stories about Mr. Slinger. One day, Lilly came to school with her brand new things her Grammy had bought her over the weekend. She had a new purple plastic purse, movie star sunglasses, and three shiny quarters. Lilly was very anxious to show her classmates what she had, but it became quite a disruption so Mr. Slinger took her things away until the end of the day. Lilly becomes very upset and thinks Mr. Slinger is going to keep her things. While visiting the Lightbulb Lab, she draws a picture of mean old Mr. Slinger and puts it in his book bag. At the end of the day, Mr. Slinger gives Lilly her things back and explains she may bring them back if they do not cause any further disruption. On her way home she realizes that all of her things are still in her purple purse and she begins to feel terrible for the picture she left for Mr. Slinger. She explains what happened to her parents. Her mother writes Mr. Slinger a letter, her father bakes special treats for the class, and Lilly apologizes profusely the next day. Mr. Slinger accepts her apology and that day turned out to be a much better day than the day before.