Fiction Evaluation Form

(Picture Books, Folklore, Modern Fantasy, Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Multicultural Books)

Your Name: Courtney Johnson Book Title: Paper Wishes

Author: Lois Sepahban

Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher/Year: Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus &

Giroux/ 2016

EVALUATE THE BOOK USING THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS

STYLE and Language: Using examples from the book, explain the following: word choices, dialogue,
rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Also, explain unexpected insights or interesting information the reader
learns from the story. Give examples.
First-person, present-tense narration gives voice to a voiceless child amid the internment of Japanese
Americans during WWII. Paper Wishes is about a girl so traumatized by grief and guilt when her family
is forced from their home that she goes mute. It's both an illuminating look at a terrible time in U.S.
history and a meditation on loss, grief, and healing. The sentence length is moderate and for more
older readers. Lois Sepahban writes with a rhythmic, poetic voice. Spare sentences echo the
desolation of the Manzanar camp and Manami's spirit

CHARACTER – With examples from the book give the following: Who is the main character? Explain the
character’s personality traits.
How can the reader relate to the character, become involved in the story?
Who are the supporting characters?
The main character of the book is Ten year-old Manami.
She and her grandfather have an especially tender understanding through their shared grief
for Yujiin and home, as well as his mourning for his late wife. Manami has great strength,
even in her sorrow -- her deeply affecting story will stay with readers long after they finish
this insightful novel.

1. PLOT: summarize the major events in the story-

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Manami and her Japanese-American neighbors are ordered to leave
their homes on Bainbridge Island near Seattle and relocate to a dusty "prison-village." A friend plans
to take in her dog, Yujiin, but Manami tries to sneak him under her coat. Yujiin is discovered and
taken from her on the mainland. Wracked with guilt for leaving Yujiin alone and feeling terribly
homesick, Manami stops talking. An understanding teacher supplies her with paper and pencils, and
Manami puts her thoughts to paper with pictures of home, the ocean, and Yujiin.

2. SETTING – Explain the place and time of the book.

THEME- What is the story’s theme/message?
Setting: A dark moment in US history, when in 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the
incarceration of many Japanese Americans.
Theme: As is so typical of the experience of a child, Manami focuses on one traumatic change—
having to leave her dog behind—and this becomes representative to her of all that her family
has lost and the grief they suffer.

ILLUSTRATION –Analyze the illustrations for the book you selected (see Chapter 4) with the categories
below:
Choose a 2-page spread in the book to answer the following:
What Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)?

Realism , and expressionism.

Media choices (paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk) :

Pencil, pen and crayons is what the illustrator seemed to use in the illustrating of this book.

Give examples and describe how the following visual elements are used in the illustrations:
Line:
Shapes:
Color:
Texture:

Explain how illustration and text are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text does not
explain?
The illustrations and text work hand in hand in this book. The author explains and the illustrations get
even more in depth to watch the author is talking about. Makes you feel as if you’ve seen what she is
talking about in her story.

Page design: Summarize the following: placement of illustrations and text; the use of borders and white/dark space; are both
pages designed the same or differently?
The placement of the illustrations work hand in hand with the text. The text is put in a certain part of
each page and the illustrations are either on the next page or wrapped around the background of the
text.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES – CHOOSE 2 of theories below and evaluate the book according to the
developmental theories. (How the book fits the developmental stage and age?)

PIAGET-COGNITIVE-INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Name the stage_____________________________ and the age_____________________

Explain the cognitive development from the stage:

Give examples from the book show how the book fits the cognitive stage:

ERIKSON – PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Name the stage: Industry vs. Inferiority
and the age: Between the ages of 5-12
Explain the social development for this stage:
The child’s per group will gain greater significance and will become a major source of the child’s self
esteem. The child now feels the need to win approval by demonstrating specific competencies that
are valued by society and begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments.

Give examples from the book that support the social development of this stage:
“Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat and gets as far as the mainland before she is caught
and forced to abandon Yujiin. She and her grandfather are devastated, but Manami clings to the hope
that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn't until she
finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can reclaim the piece of herself that she left behind and
accept all that has happened to her family.”

Emotional DEVELOPMENT
Identify the Age:
7-10 years old

Explain the emotional development for the age:

Appreciation of norms for expressive behaviors, whether genuine or dissembled. Use of expressive
behavior to modulate relationship dynamics.

Using examples from the book, explain how the book fits the emotional development of the age:
“It's 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which
means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese
Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going
to have to give her and her grandfather's dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of.” The emotional
distress that leaving her home had put on Manami was really rough for her to overcome.

2. Overall Rating of the book (3 highest - 1 lowest) 1 2 3

Comments: (Support your overall rating)
To give children the benefit of hearing what happened in the past from the perspective of a little girl
living through it is a very powerful message. I love that an author has written something about this
moment in our history. I think too often we want to forget the bleakest moments, especially in our
own history. I give this book a 10 out of 10 stars!