Fiction Evaluation Form

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

Your Name: Alisha Reid Book Title: The Enemy

Author: Davide Cali Illustrator: Serge Bloch

Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher/Year: 2009

EVALUATE THE BOOK USING THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS

STYLE and Language: Explain the language used word choices, sentence length, dialogue, rhythm, rhyme.
Explain unexpected insights or interesting information the reader learns from the story. Give examples form
the book
Word choices: Kill, monster, watchful, desperate, wonder, enemy, beast, tired, waiting, lies, manual,
family, hate, war, end.
Sentence Length: Sentence length varies from, Look more closely, to, The enemy could sneak up
when Im not looking and kill me.
Dialogue: The main character is thinking to himself and says, If only he would send me a message
saying, Lets end this war now. I would agree to it right away.
Rhythm: Normal speaking rhythm.
Rhyme: There is no rhyming in this story.

CHARACTER Who is the main character? Explain the characters personality traits. How can the reader
relate to the character, become involved in the story?
Who are the supporting characters? Give examples of both.
The main character is a soldier in World War II. He is tired and worn out, but he does not want to die.
He does not want to fight a war anymore and instead wants peace. The reader can relate to the
character because they can sympathize with him. Who has ever been hungry? Who has ever been
tired? Who has ever been cold? Who has ever been scared? The reader can relate to these emotions
and want peace for the soldier as well. The supporting character is a soldier from the other side, the
enemy. In the beginning of the story, the main character feels like the other soldier is a beast. But
once he finds himself in that soldiers hole, he realizes that he has a family and he isnt a monster
after all. They are more similar than he previously thought.

1. PLOT: (Explains the major events in the story.) Summarize the plot

1. Soldiers are in separate holes and shoot at each other every morning.
2. Soldier waits to cook dinner but when he does, his enemy does too.
3. Soldier thinks his enemy is a wild beast.
4. Soldier recalls being given a manual and a gun, the manual tells everything about the
enemy.
5. Soldier is running out of food.
6. Almost ate a lizard but did not want to appear desperate to the enemy.
7. Soldier is watchful the enemy doesnt poison the water well.
8. It is raining so solider could not sleep.
9. Soldier puts on a disguise of a bush and leaves his hole to kill the enemy.
 10. Soldier sees a lion, but it is the enemy in a disguise.
11. Soldier finds enemys hole, but the enemy isnt in it.
12. Soldier finds enemys family pictures and manual.
13. The manual says the soldier is the monster.
14. Soldier writes a message, puts it into a bottle and throws it to the enemy in his hole.

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

THEME- What is the storys theme or lesson?

Setting: This story takes place in a field in a hole during World War II.
Theme: The theme is peace, war is not good, so we should create peace.

ILLUSTRATION Analyze the illustrations in the book (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, nave, cartoon art)?
Realism and cartoon art.
Media (paints, oils watercolors, pencil, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk) :
Actual family pictures from World War II, pencil sketches, paint.

Visual elements:
Line: Lines on the ladder, lines for the weapons, lines defining the holes, lines for the hands, lines around the book.
Shapes: squares on the ladder, rectangular book, rectangles and squares in the book pictures, circle wheels on the
cannon, rectangular photos.
Color: black and white photos, green soldier uniform, red book, black and white hands, ladder, and hole.
Texture: Texture on the knife it looks sharp, no other texture.

Explain how illustration and text are combined to tell the story. What do illustrations show that text does not
explain?
The text explains that the soldier finds pictures of his enemys family, but the illustration shows
actual photos of a family from World War II. The illustrations also show a sketching of the soldier
entering the enemys hole, weapons drawn, but seeing only the enemys possessions at the
bottom. On the right page, the soldiers sketched hands are holding a manual that looks intricately
drawn except for the solders portrait which is sketched. The words in the enemys manual are in
French and labels the enemy and the weapons.

Describe the Page design: the borders, use of white/dark space, text placement & size, font, placement of illustrations:
There are no borders but the background color for both pages is white. On the left page there is a
sketching of the soldier entering his enemys hole. In the center of the page is the text. Underneath
the text are the real photos of the enemys family. On the right page the text is at the top of the
page and the bottom. In the center of the page is the illustration of the soldier looking at the
enemys manual.

3. 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:_Preoperational and the age: 2-7 years
Explain the cognitive development from the stage: Children begin to think of objects and people
outside their immediate environment.

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

Thinking about those affected by war.

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Identify the Age ______7-11 ____________________________
Explain the emotional development at this age:
Inner standards become part of self-conscious emotions for right actions.
Give examples from the book to illustrate the emotional development of this age:

Realizing that war is bad and harmful to both sides, and realizing that peace is good.
4. Overall Rating of the book (3 highest - 1 lowest) 3 1 2 3
Comments: (Support your overall rating) The overall theme is a great lesson to teach young
children to set the tone for the future.