Cecilia Dartez

Jenny the Giraffe lives in New Orleans with her adopted human parents. Jenny is invited to a streetcar party. She does not understand what a streetcar party or a street car is. Jenny's parents teach here about the streetcar and all of it's history and importance to New Orleans. While on the streetcar Jenny learns the history of different parts of the city from the French Quarter to the Garden District. The story and the streetcar ride ends after passing the Audubon Zoo, where she believes her real mother is. She hopes to return to the zoo one day, but feels very happy after her wonderful day on the streetcar. Through the story of a giraffe who goes to her first birthday party, the author Dartez, reveals much of New Orleans history. The history of the streetcar along with the story of the French and English settling in the city is revealed through a fulfilled story of a streetcar party. Each page has a full page spread of illustrations, full of color, and New Orleans flare.… (mais)

This simple picture book includes pretty photographic illustrations. The choices that illustrate each letter are sometimes odd such as N is for Nature and I is for Indian. My pre-kindergarten (3 year old) students and I played I Spy with the pictures and ignored most of the text. The choices of words to illustrate each letter is the same as many other Louisiana books (A is for alligator, M is for Mardi Gras). This could be paired with other Louisiana and alphabet books as an introduction to show students how to make an alphabet book perhaps as part of the third grade Louisiana unit.… (mais)