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In the book “Blackout”, the norms present are that a family is made up of a mom and dad. The dad is shown as a cooking while the mom is shown working. The mom is black/brown while the dad is white. They have bi-racial children. The older child is obviously a girl, but the second younger child’s gender is not as clear. The grandparents are not present in the story. The family appears to be members of the middle class. They live in an apartment in the city. Their home has a computer, tv, and video gaming system. They have furniture, food being made, and their clothes look nice and well put together. Childhood looks lonely pre-blackout. The child was trying to get someone to play the game with them but everyone was too busy so they had to play a video game alone. After the blackout, the children are expected to spend time with their family. At the end, the family wasn’t too busy to play and the sister willingly hung up the phone. Prior to the blackout, when the child asked for someone to play with them the sister yelled “GET OUT” and was furious when the power went out and she couldn’t talk on the phone anymore. This presents that norm that girls just talk on the phone, paint their nails, and hangout with their friends. One value that is portrayed is that the little sibling is always bothering somebody. In the story, the youngest child is the one who wants to engage with their family but is “bothering” them when asking. They are the views of the family members. The youngest child’s views are rendered invisible pre-blackout since they were unable to find someone to play their game with them.

The children in the text as portrayed as alone, entertaining themselves, and sad/angry pre-blackout. Post-blackout, the children in the text as portrayed as happy and with their family. The first picture in the book prior to the story shows the youngest child looking out the window sadly. The last picture of the book shows the window, but this time it’s the family sitting at the table with a candle playing the game. The children hold the primary role in the story, with the youngest child being the main character. The oldest child has a stereotypical girl role (i.e., talking on the phone, painting nails, etc.). Through the language and illustrations, the author is using the youngest child as an example for other kids who might be gender confused or their gender isn’t clear by looking at them. In addition, the language and illustrations show an example of how not to be when showing the parents and oldest child being too busy to play the game.  The language and illustrations show an example of how to be when the family embraces the youngest child’s idea of turning the lights off for fun and playing post-blackout.

The parents and older sibling held the power in the beginning of the book. They were all too busy to play, so the youngest child had to play a video game alone. Then, the power moves to whoever controls the cities power/caused the blackout. They held the power because once the power was out, the family could play the game and spend time together. The youngest child has the wisdom in the when he turns off the lights and asks everyone to play a game. The family happily stops what they are doing to play. The dad says, “Good idea buddy” and the sister tells her friend on the phone that she has to go.

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Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon encourages the messages of believe in yourself, stand up for yourself, bullies never win, and trust your elders. Believing in yourself/standing up for yourself is reinforced throughout the story. These views are the views of the grandmother. By Molly Lou Melon believing in herself and standing up to the bully, she made the bullies views invisible.

It’s interesting to note that the book has a boy vs. girl norm present throughout when Molly Lou Melon starts getting bullied at her new school by the biggest male child in the story. This also hints at gender roles of boys being strong. It can be assumed that Molly Lou Melon is a member of upper middle class or upper class. Molly Lou Melon dressed in nice clothes and looks well taken care of/put together. The inside of her home had a grand staircase, phone, tuba, and chandelier. Molly Lou Melon’s bedroom had a balcony, bedroom furniture, two pillows, and a comforter. Molly Lou Melon’s family is never shown in the family, just her grandmother. It can be inferred that her family is present since she moved to a new house and the car was packed with items from their home. Childhood looks like playing and having fun with friends/peers. When Molly Lou Melon is shown in school, she is at recess or making the giant snowflake. The children are expected to spend their time playing and having fun.

The children in the text are the primary characters who are portrayed with a variety of colors for skin tone, silly features, small, and wearing nice clothing. When they appear in the text, they are always engaging in some sort of fun activity. One gender role that appears in the story is the boy is bully. The bully changes throughout the story when he stops bullying Molly Lou Melon and gives her a penny for the next time she does her penny teeth stacking trick. Another gender role that appears in the story is that girls are small and tiny. Molly Lou Melon was tiny and petite. The language and illustrations show children with a variety of skin and hair colors. Child can identify with the texts message of standing up to bullies and believing in yourself. The story provides an example of how not to be with the bully. It shows bullying isn’t the right way, it won’t get you anywhere, and to embrace everyone for who they are.

Molly Lou Melon’s grandmother has the power in the story by being Molly Lou Melon’s internal voice. Molly Lou Melon listens to her grandmother’s advice and embraces it at her new school when she begins being bullied. Molly Lou Melon’s grandmother holds the wisdom in the story by giving her advice about her features. It is the wisdom that carries throughout the whole story.

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A child wanted to play a game with their family, but they were all too busy. A blackout happens and everyone ends up in the kitchen playing the game. The family went up to the roof top to look at the stars and say hello to neighbors. Next, the family went down to the street where everyone was having a great time. Sometime later, the child wanted to play the game again and turned off the lights. The family wasn’t too busy to play this time around.

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Molly Lou Melon is a quirky girl with distinct features. Molly Lou Melon’s grandmother always tells her to walk proud, smile big, and sing loud. When Molly Lou Melon must move and start a new school, she gets picked on by a bigger kid. Molly Lou Melon embraces her grandmother’s advice and stays true to herself to defeat the bully.

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Miss Nelson is Back embraces the 1980’s norm of appearance of success/inferring that people are successful based on how they look. The characters in the story are wearing nice clothes and are well put together. It appears that the school and children are members of the middle class or upper middle class. The school has materials for students, projector, chalkboards, ceiling fan, etc. The students have nice clothes and are well put together. When the students go to one of their houses to sew the costume, the house has a white picket fence and looks like it would be in suburbs. The book lacks race/culture because the students look the same (white with red, yellow, or black hair). Gender roles are seen in this book by having the teacher be female and principal be male. When the children were creating the costume, the girl did the sewing. Also, in the beginning of the book when they were at recess a boy that was bigger than all of the children points his finger at them and tells them about Viola Swamp. His name in the story is “The Big Kid from 309”. The parents are missing directly from the text. However, it can be inferred that the students have families to go home to after school. The children in this text all look the same and are expected to sit in their desk and complete their work.

The children’s values and views are reinforced throughout the book because they end up convincing the principal that Miss Nelson has returned. The school systems values and views are also reinforced with the expectation of students sitting in a desk all day long when Viola Swamp arrived. The values of the adults were rendered invisible. The students were not afraid of adult authority (except for Viola Swamp).The children in the text are portrayed as smart or troublemakers. To other kids, they are smart for tricking the principal. To Miss Nelson and the principal, they are troublemakers because they tricked the principal. The children are the primary role in the text until the end when Viola Swamp appears. The children are ornery in the beginning as the talk about not behaving for the substitute teacher at recess. When the principal arrives to substitute, the children grow bored and decide to come up with a plan. The children are creative as they create the Miss Nelson costume by hand. When they arrive to school in the costume, the children are clever as they trick the principal into thinking it’s the real Miss Nelson. The children were happy as they ventured through town. In the end, they were scared when they saw Viola Swamp had arrived. The children went from wanting to make trouble to doing a week’s worth of work in one day. The language and illustrations depict an example of how not to be: don’t be a troublemaker in school. In addition, the story models how students shouldn’t behave in school.

The children have the power throughout the story. The children use their power to get rid of the principal so that they can do whatever they want. Miss Nelson has power at the end of the story when she sees the kids from her bedroom window and goes into school as Viola Swamp. The children have the wisdom in the story because they devised the plan to fool the principal. They use it to get rid of the principal as their substitute so that they can do what they want.

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The students of classroom 209 learn that their teacher, Miss Nelson, is going be out of school for a week. When the principal arrives to cover the class, the students grow bored and devise a plan to get him out of the classroom. The students create a costume of Miss Nelson and trick the principal that she’s back from her surgery. The principal believes them, and they go out around town. Miss Nelson sees them from her bedroom and heads to the school. The students are shocked when Viola Swamp shows up and puts them to work.

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Within the text, there are no family structures present. Harold is the only character in the book and goes on his adventures alone. When he returns home, he tucks himself in to bed. This would typically be done by a mom during the 1950’s. When Harold was drawing the house and his bedroom, he included items that led me to believe that Harold is a member of the middle class. Harold drew a typical square house with four windows and a door. When he drew his bedroom, he drew a bed with a comforter and included curtains on the window. Childhood was represented as creative, fun, and imaginative. Harold’s views were present and reinforced throughout the entire story.

Harold moves around the story independently. Harold was happy in the beginning, scared when the dragon was guarding the apple tree, and upset when he couldn’t remember his way home. When Harold was home, he was relieved/happy to be home to go to sleep. Harold was portrayed as smart and creative for thinking of solutions to his problems quickly and efficiently.  Harold is the one character in the book (the police officer was a drawing done by Harold). Harold followed the expected gender role for men during the 1950’s. Husbands/men were considered the breadwinners. Harold is considered the breadwinner in the text because he is solving all the problems. Within the text, the author labels the police officer as “policeman” which supports 1950’s viewpoints with women being at home and men working.

Harold holds the power because he creates all the solutions for his problems independently with his purple crayon. I am inferring that the parent(s)/adult figure hold the wisdom because even though they are not present in the story, Harold had to have parent(s)/adult figure that taught him how to be a creative problem solver. They influence his decisions he makes throughout the text even though they are not directly in the text.

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One night, Harold goes for a walk with his purple crayon. As he is walking, he begins drawing an apple tree with a dragon guard. Harold gets so scared that his hand starts to shake and he’s suddenly in water. Harold goes on a variety of adventures with his purple crayon. In the end, Harold returns home and goes to bed.