Customer Reviews

The Girl with the Brown Crayon

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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Paley's purpose for writing this book consists of helping to open our minds to the insights of children. She implies in her writing that we, as adults, can learn from children. Paley wrote about events that took place in her classroom during her last year of teaching. This book has many stories within itself. The theme or topic revolves around the children and how they react to literature and each other. This book is good that it opens us up to the world of children and how they think and feel. A good portion of the book is Paley's thought and feelings about what is going on with the children. It is good that we know her thoughts, but I would like to have read more about what the children were doing. I think more details about how the other children reacted and behaved would have been nice, other than concentrating a good deal on Reeny. Also when Paley writes about the stories she read to the class, I think she should have given a little bit more detail about the stories. Some people, including myself, may not have read some or any of Leo Lionni's books. Overall, it is a fun book to read.

This particular piece of writing by Palely is describing her last thoughts she will have as a teacher. Palely is going to retire at the end of the school year and keeps a diary of her last year. She barely mentions math and science or gym and music. Her main focus turns to her language arts sessions. Her class begins to focus of a series of books written by Leo Lonny. Soon, all of their lives are entangled with Leo Lionni and all of his characters.There are several themes to this book that are of importance. The main theme, however, is knowing as adults, we can learn from children. As an example, the children in this book all have their very own personalities, as well as ethnicities in this classroom. Every one of them gets along and learns to understand each other. As adults, we must wonder why is our world so corrupt? These children refuse not talk to another because of skin color or personality difference. Another example is how well the children took off on learning and digesting each piece of literature. They are so excited to read and color and act out each book as if each book touched each individual child in some spectacular way. They are excited about reading! As adults, we need to learn from that. There are many adults who donï¿t read or canï¿t read and have no enthusiasm to try. It is sad to think that somewhere along the line the fun of reading is drained from their minds and reading will strictly turn into a task for some of these children.
I support this book, particularly on how the book expresses life long learning and growing (mentally). It really redefines who we are as adults and makes me take a second look at life. There are so many things that I donï¿t know about myself that I think I know. I am glad I read this book. I recommend this book 150% to anyone who wants to learn more about yourself through a child/children. Buy this book today and rediscover who you really are!

The Girl with the Brown Crayon is a book that displays a journey through a kindergarten classroom which can only be described as a unique adventure of self discovery. Vivian Paley is the author as well as the kindergarten teacher of this very classroom. During her last year of teaching, she meets an interesting child named Reeny who leads Paley as well as the rest of the class on an exploration through the books and illustrations of Leo Lionni.
The Girl with the Brown Crayon is a book which covers important topics that cannot be learned in any college course. It discusses issues of identity and acceptance seen and felt through a child. I enjoy Paley's excessive use of dialogue. It aides in capturing the emotions felt by the characters and allows experiences to become more realistic in the readers eyes.
Overall, I recommend this book to future educators. It will teach you to become more open to your students thoughts and ideas rather than constantly focusing on certain curriculum. It will allow you to see the vastness of opportunities education can hold for you and your class!

The Girl with the Brown Crayon is a non-fiction book that is also an autobiography. It does not describe the complete life of the author, but it does explain a year in her life and in her classroom. This book is intended for any one interested in becoming a teacher. I would recommend this particularly a lower elementary teacher, because it would help them to understand the wonderful things children and comprehend and accomplish at such a young age. Ms. Paley has a simple, straightforward writing style that is easy to read.
There is one sentence that sums up Ms. Paley's last year as a teacher. "...I resist the uninvented classroom." (p. 50) Throughout the year, Ms. Paley and her students are books of Leo Lionni. It is through these books that the students and Ms. Paley discover themselves. One student in particular plays a major role in the development of the class. Reeny "sees" things before any one else does. She also brings new interpretations to the class.
I would say that The Girl with the Brown Crayon was an interesting book. At the beginning the author warns us that it might not seem like a true story. She is right, the events to seem incredible. It takes a very special class full of very special students to have a year such as they did. Throughout the book the author is very analytical of herself. She keeps finding traits of herself that the characters in the books also posses. Due the fact that this is her last year of teaching, she is very reflective, and rightfully so. Ms. Paley is also a good teacher in the sense that she is constantly reviewing what she is doing with her class. It has become stereotyped that older teachers follow the same exact curriculum from their first year. Ms. Paley fights that, and is always inventing something new and creative for the class she is teaching that year, not the class she taught the previous year.
There is a common theme of a person versus society. Throughout the book the students discuss the feeling of the characters and whether what they did was appropriate or not. While the students were looking at the books with a very high intellectual level, it should have also been brought down to their level. For example, would they give into the peer pressure of giving up the golden wings? The key words in that sentence are peer pressure. Through out the entire book, this idea was never brought up. The students could think higher, but only when they were talking about wings. What about issues in their lives.
Overall, this was a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking to teach in the near future. Ms. Paley has wonderful ideas, which she brings into her teaching. Ms. Paley makes her children excited about what they are doing.

The Girl with the Brown Crayon starts out with Mrs. Paley discovers that Reeny, one of her most out-going students, has established a kinship with Fredrick, a fictional mouse in a Leo Lionni book. Using this information, Mrs. Paley decides to develop her curriculum around books written by Leo Lionni. This book looks at many different issues, such as gender, age, and racism through the books of Leo Lionni. I think that the book is effective because it relates issues to situations in life, instead of just stating facts. Even though the book is composed of factual information, it is easy to read because it details the development of a classroom during a school year. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that is or will be working with children. Paley provides excellent information on many issues in just a few pages. The book reads very quickly and gets right to the point.

This book affected me in a major way. As a future teacher it made me open my eyes to the wide range of students that I will be working with. Paley does a wonderful job of explaining her students, and the insightful comments that they make. After learning about the students you wonder where they are today and what they are doing with their lives. She describes her classroom in a way that allows the reader to picture the students, and details of the classroom. I would recommend The Girl with the Brown Crayon to any adult who interacts with children. Paley describes the children in her book in a way taht would gain respect from adults that normally do not respect children or believe that children can offer things that adults can learn from. Paley cared about her profession and her students and it shows in her writing.

Paley does a great job of showing her readers how to be a lifelong learner rather than a critic of your students. Paley teaches a class of Kindergarteners and still finds herself learning from what they have to say and what they think. I personally feel this book is a must read for those in the field of education. It will enlighten you to develop a positive, intellectual, question/response atmosphere in your classroom. It will allow you to look into the mind of a brilliant child and show you how a teacher can encourage and develop the child's talents further.

The Girl with the Brown Crayon is a beatiful illustration of the intellect and insight of young children. As Vivian Gussey describes her last year as a kindergarten teacher, one is reminded of just how often adults overlook the example of tolerance and unconditional love that children provide to our society. Ms. Gussey uses the literary works of Leo Leonni to help the children explore such complex issues as self-esteem, racial discrimination and group dynamics. What Ms. Gussey learns by the end of this book is priceless, and the real "teaching" is done by the children.

I was so happy to have an opportunity to read this book for one of my summer literature classes. The Girl with the Brown Crayon by Vivian Gussin Paley is a great read!! In this book, Paley uses experiences from her last year of teaching kindergarten to express, even to her own amazement, how children can use stories to identify themselves, their development, and the charactersitics of their peers. Her class finds a spark in the picture books of Leo Lionni, a spark which shapes the curriculum and tone of the entire year. Her year-long memior records the voice and opinions of her students as they discover the character's of Lionni, the class's self-proclaimed literary hero, and apply them to their own environment. Her openness to let this happen as a way of promoting learning serves as an important model in teaching. It is like watching an involved study on learning take place right before your very eyes!! Though it discusses experiences with kindergarteners, it does relate to working with texts in a classroom on any level. It even helped me see how to better read to my own children This is a very small book, but packed with great insight from an award-winning author/teacher who has earned her stripes. By the last chapter, the reader is just as sorry as the class that their time together is about to end! I feel it is a worthy read for anyone.

I just thought that this one one of the best books that I have ever read. The way Paley tells the story of her last year of teaching is wonderful. I am currently an education student with hopes of becoming a kindergarten teacher and this book really inspired me. I recomend this book to all peopl, weather you are a teacher, a parent, or just someone who loves a great read. I hope that you enjoy this book as much as I have.