How to use this Page

As our news is filled with global and local conflict, I wonder about how to share a sense of our global community with our young children. Their experiences are rooted in their immediate surroundings. So how do we share a sense that things are similar for children in other parts of the world?

"It followed her down the hall, made itself quite at home on her mom and dad's bed, and joined them for breakfast."

Throughout, Bob Graham varies the perspective--taking readers close up to some children's lives and looking down from up high at others. The story ends by gradually pulling back on the view of Coco playing outside on a winter's day with her friends, helping readers see her small, immediate world in a larger context of her factory town.

French artist and author Clotilde Perrin follows one point in time across different time zones across the globe, in the striking picture book At the Same Moment, Around the World.

At the Same Moment, Around the World
by Clotilde Perrin
Chronicle, 2014
Your local library
Amazon
ages 5-9

This story begins in Dakar, Senegal at six o'clock in the morning, as Keita helps his father count the fish caught during night. Following eastward, Perrin moves around the globe. “At the same moment,” it is 7 a.m. in Paris and Benedict is drinking his hot chocolate before school--while it is 8 a.m. in Bulgaria and Mitko is chasing the school bus. Each spread shows two time zones, emphasizing the point that these are happening at the same moment.

"At the same moment, in Hanoi, Vietnam, it is one o'clock in the afternoon, and Khahn takes a nap despite the noise outside. At the same moment, in Shanghai, China, it is two o'clock in the afternoon, and Chen practices for the Lunar New Year parade."

Perrin's artwork is full of small details and drama, including some darker moments--lending complexity to the simple prose. A foldout world map in the end helps readers locate each place and names all these children.

The review copies were kindly sent by the publishers, Candlewick and Chronicle. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2015 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Add a Comment

As parents, we want our children to enjoy reading, so that they want to read more. The single most important thing you can do to help ensure this? Read aloud. Find stories that you can share together. Find books that linger with you, that make you both wonder about the world.

Tiger Boy, by Mitali Perkins, is perfect for a family read-aloud--the 4th graders at Malcolm X School in Berkeley are giving it huge thumbs up and I heartily agree. If you have an animal-lover, or you're looking for a book set in India or Bangladesh, or you're looking for a book with a courageous kid who stands up for what's right -- definitely seek out Tiger Boy.

Tiger Boy
by Mitali Perkins
Charlesbridge, 2015
Your local library
Amazon
ages 8-11

When a tiger cub escapes from a reserve in the Sundarbans, a delta region straddling the India-Bengladesh border, many of the residents on a nearby island try to find it. Some are worried that its mother will set out looking for it, possibly hurting or killing people in the process. Others have been hired by a wealthy man to capture it for trade on the black market.

Neel is determined to help with the search--protecting the tiger cub is as important to him and he isn't afraid to stand up to greedy Gupta or his hired men. Neel's parents want him to focus on his studies and prepare for his exams. While Neel loves learning and languages, he finds math frustrating and confusing. And how can he concentrate knowing that the tiger cub needs his help?
Mitali Perkins draws in readers, as they feel how much Neel wants to use his special knowledge of his island to help find the tiger. As the CCBC review so clearly puts it,

"The sense of urgency that propels Neel and Rupa’s hunt for the cub creates the perfect amount of tension in an engaging story wonderfully grounded in Neel’s point of view and his experiences in his family and community. Their effort to save the cub helps Neel understand how furthering his education is one means of helping protect the place he lives."

I especially love how Perkins balances the relationship between Neel and his sister Rupta. Perkins both respects the traditional role that women have in this Bengali village, but she also shows Rupta playing an active role.
I have found that my students are not picking this up on their own, even when I recommend it. That's why I think it would make a terrific read-aloud. Parents (or teachers) can encourage kids to give something a try that might be different from the usual books they read. It would make a great book to read this summer or in the fall--see if it leads kids to wanting to learn more about protecting the tigers in the Sunderbans.

Illustrations ©2015 by Jamie Hogan; used with permission from the publisher. The review copy was kindly sent by the publisher, Charlesbridge. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2015 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Add a Comment

Our 3rd grade teachers are also focusing on persuasive writing this month, and they are asking kids to identify problems and suggest solutions. The challenge for kids is to explain how their solutions will work and persuade others that it's a good idea. We read The Soda Bottle School as an example of how kids and teachers in one community identified an important problem and led the way with a creative solution -- and the kids loved it.

The Soda Bottle School
by Seño Laura Kutner and Suzanne Slade
illustrated by Aileen Darragh
Tillbury House, 2014
Your local library
Amazon
ages 7-10

The town of Granados has a problem: they don't have enough room in their school to teach all the kids. But they have another problem, too, that kids can relate to: there is too much trash all around their community. One day, teacher Seño Laura notices that a soda bottle is the same width as the beam of an unfinished school building. She has a crazy idea: what if they used empty soda bottles to create walls for a school? It could take care of two problems at once!

The whole community pulled together to support the teachers and children, gathering thousands of empty plastic bottles and stuffing them with trash to create “eco-ladrillos” (bricks). These bricks were stacked between the framing for the building, held in place by chicken wire fencing. A thin layer of concrete was slapped on top as a final layer.

Slade and Kutner draw young readers right into the story, helping them relate to the protagonist, young Fernando. My students especially liked the photographs and authors note included at the end of the story. I just found this news clip that would be another great way to share this story.

My students were interested and inspired to think of problems they would want to solve around our school. I especially liked this example because Kutner and Slade emphasize the importance of teamwork and thinking outside the box.

The review copy came from our school library collection. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2015 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Add a Comment

Novels in verse have particular power speaking to kids. Some really like the way that there are fewer words on the page. It can make reading them feel less overwhelming. Others like how much they can "read between the lines", letting their imaginations fill in the gaps. Others love the way these poets play with language.

Today, I'd like to share my personal top ten favorites (in alphabetical order). I adore sharing these with students. But know that there are many others that my kids love. At the end, I'll share two books on my "to be read" (TBR) pile.

Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson

I have loved talking with my students about this book, how they can relate to Jackie's experiences, how they can see themselves in the book, how they can feel some of her own journey even if their experiences are different. Winner of the 2015 Coretta Scott King Award, the 2014 National Book Award, and the 2015 Newbery Honor.

The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander

You can read this incredible novel as a basketball story, as a family drama, or as a novel written with a modern ear using rhythms and rhymes infused with music and motion. It speaks to kids in all sorts of different ways. Winner of the 2015 Newbery Award, and the 2015 Coretta Scott King Honor.

Heartbeat, by Sharon Creech

In flowing free verse, Annie describes her love of running, the changes in her best friend Max, the birth of her baby brother and her grandfather's growing confusion and dementia. Annie's world feels as if it's unraveling with all this change. As she runs for the pure pleasure of running, thoughts and questions race through her mind.

Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech

Oh, how I love this book. We start with Jack, who's dreading writing his own poems, forced to keep a poetry journal for his teacher. But as we get to know Jack and as he gets to know different poems, we start to see a fuller picture of a boy, his dog and his feelings. Check out this terrific reader's theater through TeachingBooks, starring Sharon Creech, Walter Dead Myers, Avi and Sarah Weeks.

The Red Pencil, by Andrea Davis Pinkney

I was fascinated when I asked Andrea Davis Pinkney about why she chose to write this story in verse. She explained how she wanted to tell a story for elementary students about the Sudanese conflict, and she felt that a novel in verse would allow them more space. She was able to keep some of the more difficult scenes quite spare, so that students could infer the tragedies rather than be faced with the brutalities that her character experienced. My students continue recommending this to each other, talking about what a powerful story it is.

Rhyme Schemer, by K.A. Holt

Kids are attracted to Kevin's attitude and sass, but it's his journey that stays with them. Kevin is bullied by his older brother at home, but he then turns to bullying classmates at school. By taking pages torn from library books, he makes funny but oh-so-cruel found poems and tapes them up at school. When another student discovers Kevin's journal, he turns the tables and Kevin must find a way to make peace with his victim-turned-aggressor. This is a great choice for 5th and 6th graders who might have liked Love That Dog when they were younger.

Serafina's Promise, by Ann E. Burg

Our students were immediately drawn to Serafina and could connect with her situation, even though it was so different from their own. Serafina dreams of becoming a doctor, but she knows that she must go to school to reach her dream. This is no easy feat in modern rural Haiti. How can she do this when her mother needs her help at home, especially with a new baby on the way? Ann E. Burg writes in free verse poetry, conveying Serafina's struggles in sparse, effective language.

The Way a Door Closes, by Hope Anita Smith

This slim book reads almost like a short play in three acts. In the first 12 poems, CJ describes how he feels warm and content as part of his close-knit family. But then, everything changes as his father loses his job and then abruptly leaves home. In the 13th poem, when his dad leaves, CJ describes how it felt: "The door closed with a / click. / I felt all the air leave the room / and we were vacuum-sealed inside. / - I can tell a lot by / the way a door closes." This is a powerful book that takes readers on CJ's roller-coaster emotional journey.

Words With Wings, by Nikki Grimes

As a friend of mine wrote, this is a "peek into the mind of a daydreamer" and a wonderful teacher who encourages her in just the right way. Her teacher recognizes that Gabby is coping with her parents separation, and that daydreams are a way she escapes. He helps channel her imagination, encouraging her to let her daydreams come to life in her writing. This is a wonderful, uplifting story of a young girl finding her own voice, staying true to herself.

Zorgamazoo, by Robert Paul Weston

I loved the inventive poetry, the rhythm and rhyme, the creative fantasy. Best way to it: Dr. Seuss meets Lemony Snicket, with a healthy dose of Roald Dahl throughout. The story is fantasy, macabre, silly, and truly great fun to read aloud. The illustrations and book design add a tremendous amount to the story. Absolutely terrific wordplay, combined with a plot that keeps kids racing along with it.

My own "to be read" pile: 2 new novels in verse:

Blue Birds, by Caroline Starr Rose

Historical fiction, showing the friendship between a Native American girl and an English girl who's traveled with her parents in 1587 to Virginia. From the publisher's description: "Amid the strife, Alis meets and befriends Kimi, a Roanoke girl about her age. Though the two don’t even speak the same language, these girls form a special bond as close as sisters, willing to risk everything for the other. Finally, Alis must make an impossible choice when her family resolves to leave the island and bloodshed behind."

Red Butterfly, by A.L. Sonnichsen

Friends are including this in their favorites of 2015: a beautiful story, beautifully told. From the publisher description: "Kara never met her birth mother. Abandoned as an infant, she was taken in by an elderly American woman living in China. Now eleven, Kara spends most of her time in their apartment, wondering why she and Mama cannot leave the city of Tianjin and go live with Daddy in Montana. Mama tells Kara to be content with what she has … but what if Kara secretly wants more?"

I just love it when a character's thoughts and moods meld with mine in my mind, growing and becoming part of me. Novels in verse - usually written in free form poetry - have a particular way of doing this, where the narrator's voice almost flows into me.

If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2015 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Add a Comment

Do you have fond memories of reading your history textbooks? Probably not. So how can we make history more interesting for our children?

We want our children to envision what it would have been like to live long ago, to make the messy decisions that people had to make, to struggle and wrestle with life, warts and all. And yet we also need to convey basic information about historical periods and figures. How do we balance the facts with the engaging material?

As a case in point, I've been helping 5th grade students gather information about famous explorers from different eras. They're investigating Marco Polo, James Cook, Hernando Cortes, Amelia Earhart, Sally Ride and many others. Their teachers want them to practice note-taking skills. What resources will help them the most?

World Book Encyclopedia: building background knowledge

"How are we supposed to choose which explorer to do our report on if we don't know anything about them?"

Students need to begin their research process by learning some basic facts about their subject. This should be pretty easy for the children to read, since they need to focus on building a clear framework in their minds. I would suggest just reading at this point, not taking notes. We start with World Book Kids, the junior version of the World Book Encyclopedia.

Web Path Express: guided Internet research

"I call this Google for 5th graders."

We have recently added WebPath Express to our Follett Destiny library catalog. This service guides students in their Internet searches, helping them go directly to accurate, age-appropriate sites. Students are able to find reliable resources quickly, without having to filter out commercial or college-level sites.

Explorers
by Chris Oxlade
Kingfisher Readers, level 5
Kingfisher, 2014
Your local library
Amazon
ages 8-10

Students will like the clear sentences and frequent illustrations in this brief introduction to nearly twenty explorers from ancient to modern times. Each explorer's major achievements and struggles are covered in a two-page spread, so the pace moves quickly. Sentences are relatively short, and drawings keep interest high.

"Marco Polo was born in Venice, in Italy. In 1271, when he was just 17 years old, he set off for China with his father and his uncle. They took gifts for Kublai Khan, the powerful ruler of China in the 1200s CE."

This type of book will help students develop a "research report" tone to their own writing. It is factual and straight forward. But it does not have much depth, it does not really prompt students to connect to what they're reading or to ask questions.

Lives of the Explorers:
Discoveries, Disasters (and What the Neighbors Thought)
by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014
Google Books preview
Your local library
Amazon
ages 8-12

Krull engages readers with dynamic writing, as she introduces them to the lives of twenty ancient and modern explorers. While this is more difficult to read, it is also much more interesting. She begins the chapter on Mathew Henson, African American explorer of the North Pole in the early 1900s, this way:

"Matthew Henson and Robert Peary shared many an unappetizing meal in the frozen land around the North Pole. But in the United States they wouldn't have even been allowed to eat together, as restaurants were segregated into 'black' and 'white' sections."

In just three pages, Krull helps readers get a sense of the challenges Henson faced and his remarkable achievements. She incorporates quotes from Henson to give a sense of his perspective. Teachers and librarians should note, however, that she does not indicate the sources for her material, but just provides sources for further reading.

Into the Unknown
How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea and Air
by Stewart Ross
illustrated by Stephen Biesty
Candlewick, 2011
Your local library
Amazon
ages 9-14
*my full review here*

Stewart Ross and Stephen Biesty absolutely captivate me each time I read a section of Into the Unknown. Biesty's intricate illustrations draw me right into each scene, helping me imagine what it would be like to be part of an expedition. Students love the fold-out illustrations and the cut-aways that show you the inside of ships. Ross's descriptions include enough detail to engross me without overwhelming me. They have a strong narrative flow, conveying the dramatic pull of these stories but also helping young readers start forming their own questions and conclusions.

The review copy of Explorers came from our public library. The review copy of Lives of the Explorers was kindly sent by the publishers, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The review copy of Into the Unknown was kindly sent by the publishers, Candlewick. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2014 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Add a Comment

Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work helping women throughout Africa planting trees to improve the environment and their quality of life. As we celebrate Women's History Month, I make sure to introduce students to women from throughout the world who have worked hard to improve their communities.

Seeds of Change
Planting a Path of Peace
by Jen Cullerton Johnson
illustrations by Sonia Lynn Sadler
Lee and Low, 2010
your local library
Amazon
ages 6-10

Although it was unusual for girls to receive formal education in rural Kenya, Wangari’s parents agreed to send her to school. Wangari’s determination and hard work continued as she went first to high school in the city, and then to university in the United States to study biology.

Wangari returned to Kenya to teach and inspire women scientists, but became concerned when she saw the environmental damage that was occurring throughout the country. Maathai established the Green Belt Movement, bringing about environmental and economic change in Kenya by helping local women plant over thirty million trees.

I would also share this video clip, from the PBS/Independent Lens documentary Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai



International Women's Day, March 8th, is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday. Are you celebrating International Women's Day with your children?

The review copy came from our school library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.

©2014 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Add a Comment

Historical fiction has always fascinated me, and I love hooking kids on an interesting period in history though an exciting story. Shadow on the Mountain is a gripping story of a young boy's resistance to the Nazi German occupiers in Norway during World War II. Margi Preus has created an exciting story full of action and adventure, but she also infuses it with a full sense of this period of history.

Shadow on the Mountain

by Margi Preus

Amulet / Abrams, 2012

at your local library

Amazon

ages 10 - 14

Epsen "is an ordinary boy who eventually does extraordinary things and this makes Prues’ skillful portrayal of his courage all the more affecting. Espen is frequently terribly afraid – and with very good reason – and yet even while admitting that fear to himself, he does intensely brave things – the very essence of courage." -- Lynn Rutan, Bookends blog

Margi Preus has shared many resources that will interest teens and teachers. Shadow on the Mountain is based on real events and the experiences of real people. The book contains photos, maps, and archival material. I'm especially interested in reading more about Erling Storrusten, the Norwegian man whose experiences in the Resistance movement inspired Preus's novel.

Share this story with young teens and tweens who like adventure stories and war stories, but also share it with kids who are pulled into friendship dilemmas and historical fiction.

Get a sense of it for yourself with this preview from Google Books:


This book will be one of the many I'll be recommending at Mrs. Dalloway's Books for our Fantastic Summer Reading Event next week. Hope you can join us!

The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, Amulet / Abrams Books. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.

Review ©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Display Comments Add a Comment

The Voyage of Ulysses, a gripping app for tweens based on Homer's classic Odyssey, is a finalist for the 2012 Cybils Book App Award.

The Odyssey, Homer's classic tale of adventure, longing and struggle, is at once utterly gripping and hard to digest for many of today's children. I remember trying to teach this epic poem to a class of urban 9th graders - this hero's journey felt far away from their reality. The Voyage of Ulysses, a book app developed by the Italian company Elastico Srl, makes this classic story accessible for middle grade children while staying true to the original story.

With pathos and romance, the Odyssey is at once a gripping story and a fascinating look at how people long ago lived their lives. In twenty-four screens, mirroring the traditional 24 books of the Odyssey, this book app tells the story of Ulysses's ten-year travail on his way home from the Trojan War.

Spellbinding, slightly accented narration continues while we explore the delights of each page - arrows that rain from the ramparts of Troy, Greek warriors creeping from the giant horse and setting Troy ablaze, text that spins into the whirlpool Charybdis. Understated art, music, and sound effects match the lyrical, timeless style of the text, while pull-up sidebars provide even more information. A truly engaging app that also succeeds in communicating the themes of loneliness and exile that make Homer's epic emotionally arresting three thousand years later.

This is an excellent example of a book app for older readers that uses effective narration controlled interactive features to draw readers in. The distinct chapters kept the pacing of Ulysses' journey moving clearly toward his homecoming. The interactive features were enough to keep the reader engaged without ever taking them off-task or off-track. I loved the interactive map (on the right) that you could use to explore Ulysses' journey.

Enjoy a quick taste of the app in this book trailer / preview:



Share this book app with fans of the Percy Jackson series, Greek mythology and epic journeys. I hope this app reaches a wide audience in the US. So many of our stories continue to draw on Homer's quintessential hero's journey - we need to keep sharing it with children. This a fantastic example of an international app that appeals across cultures.

Review ©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Display Comments Add a Comment

Some times when I finish a book, I feel like I've been on a journey with the characters. Just today, when I finished Dear Blue Sky by Mary Sullivan, I felt like I'd traveled with Cassie through a hard period in her life - and felt what it was like to come out okay. Not perfect, but knowing that I could be strong enough to keep going. I'm definitely looking forward to sharing Dear Blue Sky with my students this fall.

Dear Blue Sky
by Mary Sullivan
NY: Nancy Paulsen / Penguin, 2012
ages 9 - 12
available at your local library and on Amazon

You never really understand how much you need someone until they're gone. That's what Cassie realizes when her older brother Sef leaves for Iraq to serve in the Marines.

"I didn't even realize how much Sef held us together until he was gone. He was the only one who could make Van smile. He was Jack's hero and Dad's best budy. He was the only one Mom listened to when she'd had too much to drink. And me, I was myself with Sef."

When Sef does leave, Cassie's whole family has to figure out how they'll cope. Sullivan paints a complex portrait of this family in crisis. Tweens will appreciate the way she dives into the difficulties Cassie faces, protecting her little brother, connecting to her older sister and insisting that their mother come out of her grief to notice the children she still had at home. Sullivan doesn't shy away from tough issues.

Cassie wrestles with more than just coping with her brother's absence; she grapples with understanding the war in Iraq. When her history teacher asks all of the students to find a blog written by someone in a different country, Cassie discovers a blog called Blue Sky, written by an Iraqi girl who's her age. Through her growing friendship with Blue Sky, Cassie starts to understand different sides of the Iraq War, how it's affecting Blue Sky's family and life, tearing apart her city, terrorizing her family, limiting her daily life. Here is part of an email Blue Sky wrote to Cassie, explaining her blog's name:

"The day America started bombing Baghdad was the day the sky turned gray. The electricity go out for hours at a time and all is dark much of a day. The explosions and helicopters are more loud in the dark. When I remember old Iraq I think of light and blue sky, the color it used to be. So you understand my name now.

In my past I went to school and parties and swimming. I do nothing now and I am tired. What I want? I want my family to live. I try to have hope but it is difficult. I wish to have my spirit back. I wish to be a bird and fly high away. Except the sky is full with smoke and bombs."

I was particularly impressed with how Sullivan raises these complex issues in a way that tweens will understand - personalizing the impact of the suffering caused by the Iraq War, focusing in on family and friendship dynamics, looking closely at the impact of assumptions and isolation. At the end, I felt like I had truly been on a journey with Cassie, growing with her in my understanding and compassion. Through it all, Cassie becomes closer with both her sister Van and her friends, but she also becomes stronger and more centered in who she really is.

I especially liked this review of Dear Blue Sky from Leah Cohen, the author of The Grief of Others (quoted on Mary Sullivan's website):

"Mary Sullivan takes complex subjects—war, loyalty, bullying, friendship—and honors their complexity in lucid, fast-paced, effortless-seeming prose. Her young narrator, Cass, comes to understand that love is not easy, nor, in itself, is it enough to set the world right. But she also learns that love is often closer than it seems, and that the ability to recognize its presence is a vital gift. Full of questions and full of warmth, Dear Blue Sky allows readers to engage with big ideas in a wonderfully accessible way; even more generous, it allows us to think for ourselves." 

For other reviews, check out the New York Times review and Kirkus Reviews. The review copy was kindly sent by the publisher, Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.

Review ©2012 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Display Comments Add a Comment

On September 11th, 2001, ten years ago today, shock rippled around the world as we grasped what had really happened. For me, I felt very removed from the horrific events. With young children at home, I only watched small amounts of it on television. But soon, oh so soon, we realized how this tragedy affected all of our lives. Last Friday night, I started thinking more and more about how to share this with my older children - now 10 and 12. They were too young at the time to remember any of what happened - this is now history to them, and yet a history very close in adults' memories. We were browsing in our local bookstore - Mrs. Dalloway's - and I bought a copy of 14 Cows for America. It's a beautiful book that helped us begin the conversation.

14 Cows for America
by Carmen Agra Deedy
illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez
GA: Peachtree, 2009
ages 8 - 12
2010 E.B. Read-Aloud honor book for picture books
available at your local library and my favorite bookstore

Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah was a young man when he came to the United States to study, and he was in New York City on September 11th, 2001. The next spring when Kimeli returned to visit his family and Maasai tribe in Kenya, he still felt New Yorker's pain searing through his heart. Carmen Agra Deedy and Thomas Gonzalez tell Kimeli's remarkable story of how he and his tribe honored the people of America.

"To heal a sorrowing heart, give something that is dear to your own."

Kimeli's elders taught him this lesson when he was a young boy in Kenya, and he recalled it as he sorted through his emotions after the devastating sorrow caused by the 9/11 attacks. He decided that he would offer a cow. "The cow is life," to the Maasai people. When he asked his village elders for their blessing, they too wanted to offer something, another 13 cows for the American people. These cows have remained in Kenya, taken care of and honored by this Maasai village, in memory of the pain and suffering that the American people experienced on September 11th, 2001.

This book is incredibly beautiful and moving - I am afraid that I cannot do justice to it. I hope to read it again and again, soaking in its message of honoring and reaching out to those suffering, its message that we all can offer comfort and support to others, no matter how far away we might be. To get a sense of Thomas Gonzalez's stirring artwork and Carmen Agra Deedy's beautiful telling of this story, watch this book trailer:


One of the things I like best about using this book to talk about 9/11 with children is that it does not focus on the disturbing images of the event, but rather on the effect and how we can react when tragedy strikes.

I purchased this book for our home library from our local bookstore Mrs. Dalloway's, and will also purchase a copy for our school library.

Review ©2011 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books.

Display Comments Add a Comment

Many of our students are drawn to realistic fiction because they see a slice of themselves or their friends in the stories they read. A new book I'm looking forward to sharing with students is Dancing Home, by Alma Flor Ada and her son Gabriel Zubizarreta, which tells the story of two cousins, one raised in the U.S. and the other in Mexico, and how their lives begin to intertwine.

Dancing Home
published simultaneously in Spanish:
Nacer Bailando
by Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel Zubizarreta
NY: Atheneum / Simon & Schuster, 2011
ages 8 - 12
preview available on Google Books
available at your local library, favorite bookstore or online at Amazon

Margie works hard to fit into her 5th grade class in California. She loves sitting in the front of her class next to her best friend, Liz. But all that changes the day that Margie has to bring her cousin, Lupe, to school with her. Lupe has just arrived from Mexico to live with Margie's family, and the principal insists that she should join Margie in her 5th grade class. Margie tries to tell her teacher that she doesn't really know much Spanish and won't be able to translate for Lupe, but none of the adults seem to understand. Even though Margie's parents were born in Mexico and speak Spanish at home, Margie has been speaking mainly English since preschool.

0 Comments on Dancing Home, by Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel Zubizaarreta (ages 8 - 12) as of 1/1/1900