Research Guides: Literacy in the Elementary School (62-221): Style

Definition:

Style: language used to shape a story.

Types of style:

Definition: a comparison of two unlike things, typically using the words "like" or "as."

Examples:

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox, illustrated by Julie Vivas
ISBN: 9780916291044
A small boy tries to discover the meaning of "memory" so he can restore that of an elderly friend.
My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil: and other funny classroom portraits by Hanoch Piven
ISBN: 9780375853388
When her grandma asks her about school, a girl draws a class portrait, adding details that show what makes each person special. Includes author's note about making pictures using objects.
My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
ISBN: 9780061915109
Depicts in rhyming text how love can be many different things, such as eager as a beaver, steady as a yak, or silly as a seal.
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen; illustrated by John Schoenherr
ISBN: 9780399214578
On a winter's night under a full moon, a father and daughter trek into the woods to see the Great Horned Owl.
Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood; illustrated by Don Wood
ISBN: 0859531511
A young boy uses similes to compare himself to animals.
Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Theis Raven
ISBN: 1585360694
The true story of a young German girl, Mercedes Simon, and of the American pilot, Gail Halvorsen, who shared hope and joy with the children of West Berlin by dropping candy-filled parachutes during the Airlift.

Definition: a word or phrase applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Examples:

Uptown by Bryan Collier
ISBN: 0805057218
A tour of the sights of Harlem, including the Metro-North Train, brownstones, shopping on 125th Street, a barber shop, summer basketball, the Boy's Choir, and sunset over the Harlem River.
A Sock is a Pocket for Your Toes: a pocket book by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon; illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
ISBN: 9780060295264
A poetic celebration of non-traditional pockets and what they hold, pointing out that a sock is a pocket for your toes and a vase is a pocket for a rose.

Definition: repeating something that has already been said or written.

Examples:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
ISBN: 9780064430173
Publication Date: Clement Hurd
Goodnight to each of the objects in the great green room: goodnight chairs, goodnight comb, goodnight air.
The Napping House by Audrey Wood; illustrated by Don Wood
ISBN: 9780152567088
In this cumulative tale, a wakeful flea atop a number of sleeping creatures causes a commotion, with just one bite.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.; pictures by Eric Carle
ISBN: 9780805092448
Children see a variety of animals, each one a different color, and a teacher looking at them. Includes note to parents and teachers, and related activities.
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney; illustrated by Anita Jeram
ISBN: 1564024733
During a bedtime game, every time Little Nutbrown Hare demonstrates how much he loves his father, Big Nutbrown Hare gently shows him that the love is returned even more.
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by written by Philip C. Stead; illustrated by Erin E. Stead
ISBN: 9781596434028
"Amos McGee, a friendly zookeeper, always made time to visit his good friends: the elephant, the tortoise, the penguin, the rhinoceros, and the owl. But one day--'Ah-choo!'--he woke with the sniffles and the sneezes. Though he didn't make it into the zoo that day, he did receive some unexpected guests."--Dust jacket.
The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson; illustrated by Beth Krommes
ISBN: 9780618862443
Illustrations and easy-to-read text explore the light that makes a house in the night a home filled with light.
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by retold by Michael Rosin; illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
ISBN: 0689504764
Brave bear hunters go through grass, a river, mud, and other obstacles before the inevitable encounter with the bear forces a headlong retreat.
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
ISBN: 9780060588281
When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff; Felicia Bond (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780064434096
Publication Date: 1997-01-10
Relating the cycle of requests a mouse is likely to make after you give him a cookie takes the reader through a young child's day.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst; illustrated by Ray Cruz
ISBN: 9781471122873
Everything goes wrong for Alexander.
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long; illustrated by David Shannon
ISBN: 0152018484
Jeremy Jacob joins Braid Beard and his pirate crew and finds out about pirate language, pirate manners, and other aspects of their life.
Knock, Knock! by Saxton Freymann [and others]
ISBN: 9780803731523
Knock-knock jokes by fourteen artists.

Definition: attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman.

Examples:

The Giving Tree by Shel Sivlerstein
ISBN: 9780060256654
A young boy grows to manhood and old age experiencing the love and generosity of a tree which gives to him without thought of return.
Chopsticks: not exactly a sequel to Spoon, more like a change in place setting by Amy Krouse Rosenthal; illustrated by Scott Magoon
ISBN: 9781423107965
When a pair of chopsticks get separated, after some traumatic moments the two friends eventually learn to stand on their own.
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
ISBN: 9781416902065
In a moment of fright, Sylvester the donkey asks his magic pebble to turn him into a rock but then can not hold the pebble to wish himself back to normal again.
Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal; illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
ISBN: 9780545436793
A punctuation mark feels bad that he does not fit in with the others until a friend reveals the possibilities that exist when differences are accepted.

Definition: sensory language that helps the reader build images.

Examples:

Aesop's Fables by Jerry Pinkney
ISBN: 1587170000
A collection of nearly sixty fables from Aesop, including such familiar ones as "The Grasshopper and the Ants," "The North Wind and the Sun," "Androcles and the Lion," "The Troublesome Dog," and "The Fox and the Stork."
Red Sings from Treetops: a year in colors by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
ISBN: 9780547014944
The names of colors are woven into unrhymed poems that celebrate the seasons.
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon; illustrated by Marla Frazee
ISBN: 9781416985808
Pictures and rhyming text celebrate a family's day spent going to the beach, shopping at the market, eating at a restaurant and spending the evening with the rest of the extended family.

Definition: figure of speech that makes brief reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object.

Examples:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
ISBN: 9780064430173
Publication Date: Clement Hurd
Goodnight to each of the objects in the great green room: goodnight chairs, goodnight comb, goodnight air.

Definition: an exaggeration used to make a point.

Examples:

Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini; illustrated by Howard Fine
ISBN: 0395716918
Gritch the witch flies to Old MacDonald's farm for some pigs to make a piggie pie, but when she arrives she can't find a single porker.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett; drawn by Ron Barrett
ISBN: 9780689306471
Life is delicious in the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburgers--until the weather takes a turn for the worse.
Library Lil by Suzanne Williams; pictures by Steven Kellogg
ISBN: 0803716982
A formidable librarian makes readers not only out of the once resistant residents of her small town, but out of a tough-talking, television-watching motorcycle gang as well.
Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs; illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
ISBN: 9780525452713
Along with other amazing feats, Angelica Longrider, also known as Swamp Angel, wrestles a huge bear, known as Thundering Tarnation, to save the winter supplies of the settlers in Tennessee.

Definition: plays down a situation or person and is often used for comic effect.

Examples:

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
ISBN: 9780763655983
A bear almost gives up his search for his missing hat until he remembers something important.

Definition: persons, objects, situations, actions, or words that operate on two levels of meaning: a literal meaning and an implied/inferential meaning.

Examples:

The Boy on Fairfield Street: how Ted Geisel grew up to become Dr. Seuss by Kathleen Krull; paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher; with decorative illustrations by Dr. Seuss
ISBN: 9780375822988
Introduces the life of renowned children's author and illustrator Ted Geisel, popularly known as Dr. Seuss, focusing on his childhood and youth in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss
ISBN: 0394965809
Engaged in a long-running battle, the Yooks and the Zooks develop more and more sophisticated weaponry as they attempt to outdo each other.

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