Realistic Fiction:
1. Where is Grandpa?, Author-T.A. Barron, Illustrator- Chris K. Soentpiet, Realistic Fiction, Published by Philomel Books, 2000, ISBN-0-399-23037-8, Reading Level-3.1, Interest Level: K-3.
1. Where is Grandpa?, Author-T.A. Barron, Illustrator- Chris K. Soentpiet, Realistic Fiction, Published by Philomel Books, 2000, ISBN-0-399-23037-8, Reading Level-3.1, Interest Level: K-3.
This book is about a little boy whose grandfather passes away and the ways in which his family tries to cope with the situation at hand. The little boy was very close to his grandfather. Together they built a tree house and would go sit in it to just watch the mountain range that was in front of them. However, one day when the little boy’s father comes home he informed the family that Grandpa has died. As the family sits around on the porch the little boy’s sister, brother, and parents all reminisce about the good times they had with Grandpa, but the little boy doesn’t feel like saying anything. He knows that his grandfather is gone but he wants to know where he is now. So his father begins to try and explain that he is in heaven and that heaven is different things to different people. The dad tells the little boy that heaven is all the good places that they have been with grandpa so now he will be in all those places every time they visit them. This helps the little boy begin to cope with his loss and now he knows that he can go back to the tree house and stare off at the mountains again because his grandpa will still be there with him.
I think that this book is heartbreaking. However, when children face death a lot of times it hard for them to understand what is going on and through this book it may help to explain a little bit about how the people that we love maybe gone for now but they are still looking down on us. This book shows religious diversity by the father saying that different people believe that heaven is different things. I can defiantly relate to this story because my grandmother passed away when I was in high school and both of my grandfathers have passed away in the past 3 years. It is very hard to deal with loss of loved ones but the fact that I know they are in heaven helps me to be strong.
In my classroom I could use this book if a child in the class is facing a death in their family to help them understand that it will be okay. Death is a complicated thing and it needs to be explained to children in a way that is simple enough for them to understand.
2. Because of Winn-Dixie, Author/ Illustrator- DiCamillo, Kate, Realistic Fiction, Published by Candlewick Press, 2000, ISBN-0-7636-1605-2, Newberry Honor Book, Novel, Reading Level-4.1, Interest Level-3-5
This novel begins in a Winn-Dixie grocery store with the store manager chasing a scraggly looking dog up and down the aisles trying to catch him. The dog had caused massive chaos to erupt in the store and the store manager orders one of the employees to call the pound. However, Opel a little girl who is new in town claims the dog because she can’t stand the thought of any animal going to the pound. She named the dog Winn-Dixie after the grocery store because Opel couldn’t think of anything else when the store manager asked what the dogs name was. Her father had just recently become the pastor at the Open Arms Baptist Church of Naomi which caused them to have to move to a new town. Opel hadn’t made any new friends causing her to be very lonely. Opel convinced her father to let her keep the stray dog and the smile on Winn-Dixie’s face won the preacher’s heart right away. As the summer passed Opel met many new friends through the help of Winn-Dixie. Each of these people impacted her life in a positive way. These people included Gloria Dump, Miss Franny Block, Sweetie Pie, Amanda, Odis, and the Dewberry twins. As the story progresses Opel begins to miss her mother more and more. Her mother ran off and left her and the preacher when Opel was only 3 years old. On her tenth birthday Opel asked the preacher to tell her 10 things about her momma, one thing for each year she had been alive and he did. Opel memorized these things and held them close to her heart. As she got to know her friends better she began to realize that they too had things that made them sad or things they regretted doing. She came to the conclusion in the end that she was happy without her momma because she had all kinds of other things that made her happy in life.
I really enjoyed this novel. It teaches a lot of great lessons such as how understanding others and the hard things that they have had to deal with in their lives is a very important part of understanding people themselves. This book made me think of all of the people in my life that have been close to me but that have passed away now. I can understand where Opel’s coming from when she talks about missing her mother. Three of my grandparents have passed away and I miss each one of them greatly. However, I have also been able to move on now and see all of the blessings I have in life and how these blessings impact me.
In my classroom I could use this book to talk about how different people go through different experiences in life that shape and mold them into who they are. I would then discuss with my class how we must not judge others before we get to know them because we never know what they may be dealing with at home or outside of the classroom. We could relate this novel and the characters in it to the character traits we study such as respect and honesty. 3. Smoky Night, Author- Bunting, Eve, Illustrator- Diaz, David, Realistic Fiction, Caldecott Winner, Multicultural, Published by Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994, ISBN 10: 0152699546, Reading Level: 2.5, Interest Level: K-2.
This book starts out with a little boy and his mother looking through the window of their apartment at the street below into the night. There are raids taking place in the streets and people are vandalizing stores and taking things that do not belong to them. As the people in the street move on to another part of town with the items they have stolen Daniel and his mother go to bed. Daniel is allowed to take off his shoes, but he must sleep in his clothes. In the middle of the night they are awaken to the smell of smoke and have to evacuate their building because it is on fire. As they gather in the street along with the rest of their neighbors Daniel ask everyone around him if they have seen his cat Jasmine. However, no one has seen her. This makes Daniel extremely sad because he is convinced that she is not smart enough to escape the fire. A shelter had been set up at a local church and when Daniel and his mom got there they are given food and a place to rest. Mrs. Kim who is Daniel’s neighbor could not find her cat either in all of the chaos of the fire. While at the shelter a firefighter comes in with both Jasmine and Mrs. Kim’s cat. He said that he found them in the stairwell together and it looked like they were holding paws they were so scared. Daniel thought that they never liked each other before, but he come to realize that it was probably because they didn’t know each other. The same was true for Mrs. Kim and Daniel’s family so his mom invited her to come over once they were allowed to return home.
I think that the reality of this book is extremely sad. The fact that people really are mean enough to steal things that don't belong to them and set other people's property on fire. This book really opened my eyes to the fact that the things people do have an affect on a lot of people not just the one person they are intending to harm. Daniel is just a small child and he is having to deal with things that most adults can't even dream of.
In my classroom this book would be a good way to start talking to my students about the oppression that many people that live in inner-city areas are faced with and how they have to overcome obstacles in life that many of us will never have to face . I could also use this book with to build character development by discussing with my students they important to getting to know their classmates and not judging each other just on appearance alone. Student’s need to build relationships with each other and a community atmosphere so that when times of trouble or hardship do come they have a support system of their peers to encourage them.
4.Pilot Mom, Author- Duble, Kathleen B., Illustrator- Marks, Alan, Realistic Fiction, Multicultural, Published by Charlesbridge, 2003, ISBN-1-57091-555-5, Reading level- 3.2, Interest Level K-3.
This book is about a young girl named Jenny who is having to deal with the fact that her mom is in the Air force and has to leave out again to fly another mission. Jenny’s friend K.C. has stayed the night with them and early the next morning they all get up really early so that Jenny’s mom can take the girls on a tour of the Air Force Base before she has to fly out on her new assignment. Jenny and her mom have a special ritual they do to put all of the pins and equipment that Jenny’s mom will need in her jumpsuit before she leaves. Jenny really dreads the fact that her mother has to leave and wishes that she could do something to make her stay. She loves her father but she worries that something will happen to her mother and she will never see her again. The girls get to go up in one of the fighter jets and K. C. is amazed by it. When the day of fun finally comes to a end Jenny’s dad comes to pick up her and K.C. Jenny's mom reassures her that everything will be okay and Jenny tells her that when she gets grown she doesn’t think that she wants to be a pilot, but she does want to be a mom.
This is a really good book. It shows how children in military families suffer from the situations that are placed upon them in some cases just as much as the parents do. I think that this book really helped to open my eyes to how military families really do live. The fact that small children have to worry about whether or not their parent will return home safely is really sad and hard to imagine.
I feel that in my classroom this would be a good book to use if one of my students is in a military family to help their classmates understand how difficult it is to watch a parent leave for an extended amount of time in order to protect our freedoms. We could then write letters to the parent that is in the military or send them a care package to encourage them while they are away. By doing these activities we will also be letting the student know that we do care about their parent and the sacrifice that he or she is making for our country.
