Fiction Evaluation Form

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

Your Name: Pamela Becerra Book Title: “Summer Sun Risin”

Author: W. Nikola-Lisa Illustrator: Don Tate

Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher/Year: 2002

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.

“Rug on the floor, light on the wall. Ma by the bed, Pa in the hall.”
The word choices are pretty simple. The story contains a lot of rhyming and is really fun
to follow. The sentence length is short.

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 is the little boy, and then the supporting characters are his
parents and the farm animals. The character’s personality traits are hard-
working, and involved. The reader can relate to the character if they have been
at a farm, grew up in a farm, or help around the household.

1. PLOT: summarize the major events in the story-

The major events of the story would be their everyday at the farm. Them waking up,
their breakfast, and their chores to maintain their farm animals and land. The story
revolves around the sun rising and the sun setting.

2. SETTING – Explain the place and time of the book.

THEME- What is the story’s theme/message?
Setting: The story revolves around the 1950’s and the family’s life in a farm. It shows a
farm house and land where the animals live.
Theme: Historic story about a family living in the farm in the 1950’s.

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)?

= The style of art is closer to realism, the shading is drastic, especially in the character’s faces. It’s a mixture of cartoon
art and realism. There’s dark shading and light shading in the illustrations.

Media choices (paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk) :
= The illustrations look like they would be done with paint and perhaps charcoal since
they’re pigmented and darker than paint.

Give examples and describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations:
Line: The lines are thin for the illustrations, there’s more color for the outlines and shading.
Shapes: The shapes are realistic and closed. A lot of geometric shapes in the illustrations.
Color: Colors are realistic and are true to what they look like in real life. They aren’t as bright but it shows
the colors of the animals and the land.
Texture: The texture is smooth, the illustrations are 3D, and show the realistic texture of the images.

Explain how illustration and text are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text
does not explain?
= They are combined to tell the story by showing the reader what the characters look like, what their house
looks like and also what they do by demonstrating their actions.

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 illustrations are the main part of the story book. The text is placed on the side of the page in small black text.
Usually on the right side of the illustrations.

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___concrete-operational__________________________ and the
age_____2-7________________

Explain the cognitive development from the stage:

At this age they’re starting to get a better understanding of time and things that have
happened in the past. Not so much real history, such as wars, presidents, etc. More
around how time works, how years work, and a representation of how things can change
over time.

Give examples from the book show how the book fits the cognitive stage:
“Pa takes the wheel, I work the gears. Summer sun’s blazin’, burnin’ our ears.”

ERIKSON – PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Name the stage ____Industry vs. Inferiority______________________________ and
the age______6-11_______________

Explain the social development for this stage: The main character reminded me a lot
about this stage especially since the little boy looks like he is around this age. He is
participating a lot in helping his parents maintain the farm and the daily chores they do.
I’m sure the little boy feels good for helping out his family and feels successful for
participating.

Give examples from the book that support the social development of this stage:
“Hens in the crate, crates in a row. Calves all penned, ready to go.”

Emotional DEVELOPMENT
Identify the Age __________________________________
Explain the emotional development for the age:

Using examples from the book, explain how the book fits the emotional development of
the age:

2. Overall Rating of the book (3 highest - 1 lowest) 1 (2) 3

Comments: (Support your overall rating)
I believe this is a simple book that’s revolved around the 1950’s and the life of back
then. I know it’s not as attention grabbing as a fantasy story for children. Even so, it’s
relatable to some children since they love to learn new things and participate in
activities that their families are doing.