International Children's Literature "Alexander the Great"

            “Alexander the Great” by Pavlos Valassakis was originally printed in Greece.  The text has been translated into English for American children to read.  “Alexander and Great” is an informative text about who Alexander the Great was and what important events took place in his life.  This text is effective in providing a large amount of information about Alexander the Great, but it is ineffective in engaging children in the story.

            “Alexander the Great” is 31 pages long with small print and dated pictures.  Although the text is accurate and informative, it is written in a format that makes it look and feel more like a textbook that a children’s book.  The author does not use any techniques to write in a tone that is child-friendly or fun, but rather writes in a dry tone and provides many facts instead of engaging stories.

            Since I read this book close to the end of the school year, and since I have little interest in Alexander the Great, I think that I did not enjoy the book as much as I could have.  I really enjoy reading colorful, engaging children’s book that are full of creative and fun stories, but this book did not catch my attention because of it’s strictly informative nature. 

            “Alexander the Great” reminded me of the children’s textbooks that we have at our school.  Both have headings and subheadings as well as pictures that display the events that are discussed on each page.  The visuals are effective in both texts in letting children visualize the historical events and figures. 

            Reading “Alexander the Great” taught me that chidlren’s literature is not always colorful and engaging.  This book taught me that I need to read through books keeping in mind the perspective of a child.  As I was thinking about my students while I was reading this book, I realized that this text would not be an effective teaching tool in my classroom because the students would not be engaged or motivated to read the text.  I would have to separate the text into smaller sections to make the reading more manageable and engaging for my students.