Owen

Henkes, K. (1993). Owen. Illus. Kevin Henkes. New York, New York: Greenwillow Books.

Brief Annotation: Owen has a fuzzy yellow blanket and uses it for everything and brings is everywhere. His mom and dad feel he is getting too big to have his yellow blanket with him all the time so they try to separate Owen and his blanket since he is going to start school soon. They are unsuccessful every time until his mom has an idea to make his blanket into little handkerchiefs; this way Owen can carry his blanket with him where ever he goes without actually carrying his blanket and everyone is happy.

Genre: Comedy/Humor

Grade Level: K-2

Readers who will like this: Readers who have attachments like Owen has with his blanket

Response/Rating (1-4): **** I enjoyed this book because Owen loves his blanket and tries to out-smart his parents when they try to get rid of his blanket. Their neighbor plays the role of the helpful, “know-it-all” neighbor and tells the parents how they should get rid of Owen’s blanket so he won’t bring it to school. This is a great feel-good book between parents and their children who have a special attachment to a certain object.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: Do you have a favorite object that you love and do everything with?

Reading Strategies Connection: Word Walls- Word walls are a collection of interesting, confusing, or words relating to a theme that either the students and teachers or just students can come up with while reading the book. These words can be thematic and separated based on the different themes, or the words can be categorized based on the first letter of each word. Students can write sentences using one of the word wall words and then draw an illustration.

This strategy is great for increasing vocabulary because students will see the words frequently, reading them over and over again. Then they write them in a sentence which works on literacy and comprehension of the vocabulary words. Clarification about words and what they mean and how to use them will become clear and students will be able to use them in their daily language. I like drawing an illustration for a certain word wall word because it will deepen the students’ thinking about what the word means and how to use it and what it might look like.