Albert
Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Illustrator: Jim LaMarche
Publisher: Silver Whistle, Harcourt Inc.
Year of Publication: 2001
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Review rating: Hornbook Rating of a 3
Summary: Albert is a picture book about a red-haired boy who is afraid of life. He fears the outdoors in fear of seeing the unpleasant things in life. One day something catches Albert’s eye and makes him wonder about the outside world which he has missed in fear of it being unpleasant. Albert lives in an apartment with bars on the windows to protect him from the outside world. He closely listens to the noises he hears everyday from arguments to pure laughter, but this doesn’t convince him to go see what the world has to offer. Albert only comes in contact with the air outside when he sticks his hand outside through the window. One day a set of cardinals build a nest on his hand, causing him to leave his hand outside the window for weeks so that the cardinals can raise their family. Through this experience Albert learns about the world despite all the bad things it portrays.
Summary of Professional Reviews: According to Hornbook reviews Albert received a rating of a 3. The review gives a brief description of Alberts journey, written by Donna Jo Napoli. Albert avoids the outdoors in fear of the unpleasant things in life until he sees something interesting outside one day through his window. The review emphasizes on the colored pencil used in the book to create the creatures outside of Albert’s window that do indeed catch his attention. Albert is a dreamer according to the review who is lanky and has red hair.
Review by Sasha Ishak: Albert is a wonderful picture book that teaches the true meaning of life and all it has to offer even though it is corrupt and cruel at times. Albert is full of emotion especially, fear. Albert the main character in the story is afraid of life outdoors and what it will do to him. Albert develops a sense of love for nature that he devotes all his time to it through a window with bars on it. The cardinals in the book build a nest on his hand and he doesn’t move for weeks at a time, even sleeping standing up so that he lets the birds raise their family. This picture book teaches young readers the true meaning of life and most importantly how grateful one must be. Throughout the book Albert is filled with multiple emotions that are not clear at times and these emotions hold him back from experiencing the world outside of his apartment. The illustrations are spectackular and pull the reader inside the world of Albert in his gloomy apartment. They are colorful, breathtaking, and bring the story to life. Some of the pictures are large and fill the entire page and some are entirely too small. But the size difference of the images makes the book seem a little more realistic. Overall this picture book is beautiful and it most importantly teaches children to explore all the world has to offer.
This book would be useful when teaching...
As a teacher in an elementary school setting in todays society the teacher can teach the student about the book, and how precious life is by first reading the book to the class as a read aloud in Language Arts. Then the teacher can have the students write their own version of what caught their eyes outside on a nice sunny day. This will allow students to see exactly what the outdoors has to offer. After each child has drawn, and created a few sentences explaining the drawing they can share it with their classmates.
Illustrator: Jim LaMarche
Publisher: Silver Whistle, Harcourt Inc.
Year of Publication: 2001
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Review rating: Hornbook Rating of a 3
Summary: Albert is a picture book about a red-haired boy who is afraid of life. He fears the outdoors in fear of seeing the unpleasant things in life. One day something catches Albert’s eye and makes him wonder about the outside world which he has missed in fear of it being unpleasant. Albert lives in an apartment with bars on the windows to protect him from the outside world. He closely listens to the noises he hears everyday from arguments to pure laughter, but this doesn’t convince him to go see what the world has to offer. Albert only comes in contact with the air outside when he sticks his hand outside through the window. One day a set of cardinals build a nest on his hand, causing him to leave his hand outside the window for weeks so that the cardinals can raise their family. Through this experience Albert learns about the world despite all the bad things it portrays.
Summary of Professional Reviews: According to Hornbook reviews Albert received a rating of a 3. The review gives a brief description of Alberts journey, written by Donna Jo Napoli. Albert avoids the outdoors in fear of the unpleasant things in life until he sees something interesting outside one day through his window. The review emphasizes on the colored pencil used in the book to create the creatures outside of Albert’s window that do indeed catch his attention. Albert is a dreamer according to the review who is lanky and has red hair.
Review by Sasha Ishak: Albert is a wonderful picture book that teaches the true meaning of life and all it has to offer even though it is corrupt and cruel at times. Albert is full of emotion especially, fear. Albert the main character in the story is afraid of life outdoors and what it will do to him. Albert develops a sense of love for nature that he devotes all his time to it through a window with bars on it. The cardinals in the book build a nest on his hand and he doesn’t move for weeks at a time, even sleeping standing up so that he lets the birds raise their family. This picture book teaches young readers the true meaning of life and most importantly how grateful one must be. Throughout the book Albert is filled with multiple emotions that are not clear at times and these emotions hold him back from experiencing the world outside of his apartment. The illustrations are spectackular and pull the reader inside the world of Albert in his gloomy apartment. They are colorful, breathtaking, and bring the story to life. Some of the pictures are large and fill the entire page and some are entirely too small. But the size difference of the images makes the book seem a little more realistic. Overall this picture book is beautiful and it most importantly teaches children to explore all the world has to offer.
This book would be useful when teaching...
As a teacher in an elementary school setting in todays society the teacher can teach the student about the book, and how precious life is by first reading the book to the class as a read aloud in Language Arts. Then the teacher can have the students write their own version of what caught their eyes outside on a nice sunny day. This will allow students to see exactly what the outdoors has to offer. After each child has drawn, and created a few sentences explaining the drawing they can share it with their classmates.