What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?

Title: What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?

Author: Jean Fritz

Biography #4

When I first picked up, What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin”, I thought to myself boooorrring. To my delight, this notion was proven wrong within the first few pages of the book. I had absolutely no idea Ben Franklin was such an important and inspirational man. I learned so much from reading this book. For example, did you know that Ben wrote the Poor Richard’s Almanac? He also came up with the sayings “eat to live, not live to eat” and “a penny saved is a penny earned”. Franklin was also the reason France joined America in the war against Britain. This was all fascinating and new information to me.

I would definitely recommend Jean Fritz’s work to my students and any educator. These books are fun, educational, and very interesting to read! Though they may appear boring, this certainly isn’t the case. On a final note, I think this series needs to be reprinted and updated. These books are so good; I would hate to see them wither away on a library shelf simply because they look old and boring. The illustrations are very good as well, but would really “pop” on a glossy page with some color enhancement. Overall, however, excellent read that I would recommend to anyone. 

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Title: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Author: Bette Bao Lord

Historical Fiction #2 

What can I say; I absolutely adored In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. The story follows the main character, Shirley Temple Wong, who has recently left China to join her father in America. Much of the book focuses on blending her family’s traditional Chinese customs with American customs and how the two differ. Shirley’s mom, in particular, must learn how to cook and grocery shop like other American moms. I found myself both laughing and sympathizing with Shirley as she struggles to adapt to the American way of life. 

Readers can’t help but relate to Shirley. She is an outcast, she is different, and like most children, is left out and made fun of on occasion. However, this all changes when she befriends the school bully. Suddenly, Shirley feels like she belongs and she had true friends who stick up for her. Most importantly, the reader learns that Shirley doesn’t have to compromise herself or her heritage to fit in. I loved that she was able to retain so much of her culture and that the reader was able to experience this blending of cultures on a positive note as many stories of this nature don’t end up going as well. 

Though I wasn’t particularly interested in the baseball aspect to this book, some students would be very interested and intrigued by this sub plot. Readers learn a great deal about baseball during the time period, who the important teams and players were, and most importantly, a little black history in baseball and the ever-so-famous Jackie Robinson. I like how the story was able to effortlessly blend Chinese history and baseball history into one amazing story. I would definitely recommend this book for third grade and up.

The Midwife's Apprentice

Title: The Midwife’s Apprentice

Author: Karen Cushman

Historical Fiction #1 

The Midwife’s Apprentice is an exciting tale about what is was like to live during 14^th century England. The story follows the main character, come to be known as Alyce, and the struggles she goes through being a poor orphan during medieval times. Throughout the story, the reader experiences Alyce go from being a “dung beetle” to an apprentice of a valuable trade who is clothed, fed, and sheltered. Finding herself in plenty of troubles along the way, I believe readers will find Alyce’s relationship with her cat, Purr, to be most interesting. 

Though I admit the book wasn’t my favorite, I do feel like it was a good representation of the times. I learned a lot about medieval England and think my future students would gain a great deal from the book as well. I found it to be very historically accurate and intriguing. I feel as if this book would stir further research by my students on the time period. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the novel was the relatability of the main character, Alyce. Students are able to see her fail at something and try again because of her determination. This is a lesson that can be learned by all.

Esperanza Rising

Title: Esperanza Rising

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

Required Text

Reading Esperanza Rising was like reading a fairytale gone wrong to me. The story begins by detailing the luxurious life of a young girl, Esperanza, who lives on a ranch in Mexico with her wealthy family. Esperanza’s life consists of servants who wait on her hand and foot, fancy dresses and parties, and all of the toys a young girl could ever dream of. However, after a series of unexpected tragedies, all of this is gone. Suddenly, Esperanza and her family must make a drastic change in their life and move to the United States to find work. While in America, Esperanza and her family become farm workers and must live in a Mexican camp with the rest of their race. Not only is this a culture shock for Esperanza, but she isn’t ready for the enormous hardships she now faces. With tragedy waiting around every corner, will Esperanza be able to keep her family together? I enjoyed the uncertainty and suspense this book offered the reader. 

I personally liked this book very much particularly because of the changes the main character, Esperanza, goes through. The reader experiences Esperanza mature very quickly in only a matter of months. To me, it serves as a reminder of what tragedies can do to us and how they can put things in perspective and change us for the better despite the sorrow they bring. I also enjoyed this book because it gave me insight to a portion of what was going on during The Great Depression that I knew little to none about. Reading about Esperanza’s family and the hardships they and other Mexican-Americans endured during this time was truly heartbreaking for me to read on top of the personal dilemmas they face. I would use this book particularly with middle school students because it gives some good insight to what was going on during The Great Depression. It would definitely help illuminate some of the concepts learned in social studies and give the students a better understanding of Mexican-American culture at this time in history. 

Yellow Star

Title: Yellow Star

Author: Jennifer Roy

Required Text

The Holocaust is one of those things in history that no one likes to talk about. Some would like to forget it ever happened while others simply deny it ever happened at all. What a shame it is to shut out a part of our world’s past because it is “unpleasant”. Growing up in school, I remember The Holocaust being one of the things I learned about in history that impacted me most. In fact, I would go as far to say that it horrified me. Even as young as fifth grade, I remember being absolutely devastated about what I learned happened to all of these innocent people. However, nothing is more impactful than reading a first-hand account of an experience such as this and that is exactly what readers will find in Yellow Star. Being a huge fan of poetry, I absolutely fell in love with book and literally never put it down. It was a quick read, yet so moving and heart-wrenching. At times, I felt as if I was watching a movie.

What I think kids will like about this book is that the information is presented through the eyes of a child. The character is someone they can easily relate to making the story all that more powerful. The story is also presented in a non-threatening way. Children who don’t necessarily like reading will find this book more appealing because of the short collections of poems used to tell the story. I myself, found the story to be more powerful because of this and think children might as well. Overall, the book would be an excellent introduction into the topic of the Holocaust in any upper elementary through middle school classroom.

My only reservation with the book is that it tells a “success” story for the main character and her family when in reality there weren’t very many success stories to tell. Sylvia was one of the lucky ones and the few children to survive her camp. I wouldn’t want the children in my class to be under the impression that many people survived The Holocaust when they didn’t. Thus, it would be very important to study the topic in depth for them to get a better understanding of what actually happened, particularly in the older grades. All in all though, this is a book that definitely belongs in any classroom library. It is heart-wrenching, inspiring, and, best of all, it’s true.