Prediction – Page 16 – Unleashing Readers

Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles (Kellee’s Review)

July 15, 2015 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!

Disclaimer: This book is technically historical fiction, but I felt it belonged on a Wednesday because of its base in fact (see “A Note About The Text”).

Freedom Summer
Author: Deborah Wiles
Illustrator: Jerome Lagarrigue
Published January 1st, 2005 by Aladdin

Goodreads Summary:

John Henry swims better than anyone I know.
He crawls like a catfish,
blows bubbles like a swamp monster,
but he doesn’t swim in the town pool with me.
He’s not allowed.

Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there’s one important way they’re different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn’t allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there…only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people’s hearts.

My Review: Deborah Wiles amazes me every time I read something by her. I think I need to get everything she has written and devour it. Her books make me a better person. This one is no exception to these statements. Freedom Summer starts with a personal story of Wiles’s and sets the stage for the book: What would it be like to have a best friend who is black in the South in 1964? Do you know what it is like? Any other friendship! Except many people felt that it was wrong and you cannot go places together. Freedom Summer is about Joe and John Henry. They are both young boys. They both like to swim. They both love ice cream. However, only one can go to the pool and only one can buy ice cream from the store. I think what makes this story so impactful is that Wiles sets the stage of the friendship as something so normal (because it is!!) then shows how different their lives are. So powerful. Made me cry. It’s lyrical writing, soft and beautiful illustrations, and powerful message are so moving. Go read it if you haven’t.

You can view Ricki’s review of Freedom Summer here.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book belongs in classrooms. It will start discussions and make students think. Luckily, Deborah Wiles helps us out a ton by sharing so many resources with us on her Pinterest board https://www.pinterest.com/debbiewiles/ and her website http://deborahwiles.com/site/resources-for-educators/.

Discussion Questions: Why was the pool being filled with tar?; What do you think will happen after the end of the book?; Based on Joe’s parents letting him be friends with John Henry, what can you infer their viewpoint of integration is?

We Flagged:

freedom summer spread — from http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Freedom-Summer/Deborah-Wiles/9781481422987

Read This If You Loved: Revolution by Deborah Wiles, Seeds of Freedom by Hester Bass, Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh, The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine, Sin-In by Andrea Pinkney

Recommended For:

Blog Tour with Review, Author Guest Post, and Giveaway!: The Vanishing Island by Barry Wolverton

September 25, 2015June 19, 2015 by Kellee

The Chronicles of the Black Tulip: The Vanishing Island
Author: Barry Wolverton
Published September 1st, 2015 by Walden Pond Press

Goodreads Summary: Does the Vanishing Island really exist? And if so, what treasure—or terrible secret—was hidden by its disappearance?

It’s 1599, the Age of Discovery in Europe. But for Bren Owen, growing up in the small town of Map on the coast of Britannia has meant anything but adventure. Enticed by the tales sailors have brought through Map’s port, and inspired by the arcane maps his father creates as a cartographer for the cruel and charismatic map mogul named Rand McNally, Bren is convinced that fame and fortune await him elsewhere. That is, until his repeated attempts to run away land him a punishment worse than death—cleaning up the town vomitorium.

It is there that Bren meets a dying sailor, who gives him a strange gift that hides a hidden message. Cracking the code could lead Bren to a fabled lost treasure that could change his life forever, and that of his widowed father. But to get there he will have to tie his fate to a mysterious Dutch admiral obsessed with a Chinese legend about an island that long ago disappeared from any map.

Before long, Bren is in greater danger than he ever imagined, and will need the help of an unusual friend named Mouse to survive. Barry Wolverton’s thrilling adventure spans oceans and cultures, brings together the folklore of East and West, and proves that fortune is always a double-edged sword.

My Review: Whoa! Quite a book! Part swashbuckling adventure, part historical fiction, part folklore, part fantasy, part ghost story, Barry Wolverton has given us quite an intense adventure. I couldn’t predict anything that happened in the book. There were twists and turns throughout, and I never knew who to trust (though I am happy to say my favorite sailor was trustworthy). There were some really gruesome parts (blood and guts and vomit) and there were some really beautiful fairy tales. Overall, quite an adventure! (Though I warn: by gruesome, I mean gruesome!)

Discussion Questions: How did the author use folklore throughout the story to move along the plot?; What parts of history that were shared within the book were true? Fictional?; Throughout the book, stop and try to predict what you think is going to happen next then check your predictions as you read more.; As you read, make a list of all of the seafaring vocabulary that is used within The Vanishing Islands then illustrate each of the vocabulary words as they are used in the book.; Wolverton used Marco Polo’s written works throughout the book–what allusions to Polo’s text can you find in The Vanishing Island?

We Flagged: “The summer began with the grim warning that the wolves were running again. In Britannia, this was code. It meant that Her Majesty’s navy was in need of fresh bodies to replace all of the seamen lost during the year to disease, desertion, or battle. Crimping, they called it. Men and older boys kidnapped and forced to enlist, of the good of God, queen, and country. Britannia, after all, was just one of many nations fighting for nothing less than to control the world.

One boy who didn’t have to worry about being crimped was Bren Owens of Map, the dirtiest, noisiest, smelliest city in all of Britannia. (He had heard rotten things about London, too, but he’d never been there.) Bren was what they called spindly–tall for his age, but unsteady, like a chair you might be afraid to sit on. He had been born in Map because he’d had no choice in the matter.

But that didn’t mean he had to stay here. And now, too skinny for the wolves, he had been forced to take matters into his own hands.” (p. 9-10)

Author Guest Post:

“Be Careful What You Read, or Why Books Are Dangerous” by Barry Wolverton

Beginning in 1978, when Metrocenter mall opened near my home in Jackson, Miss., my family would go to the mall every Friday night. We would have dinner at one of the fine mall establishments, and then my mother would go clothes shopping, my brother would go nerd out at Radio Shack or Spencer’s, my father would go sit somewhere and smoke (you could do that then), and I would plop myself down in an aisle at Waldenbooks. I remember exactly how it felt to have that to look forward to, which is why Black’s Antique Books and Collectibles is Bren’s home away from home in The Vanishing Island. (Although the way I describe Black’s is more like I remembered Shakespeare and Co. in Paris, the ur-bookstore.)

But for a curious, receptive mind, books can do mischievous things. As I describe it in the book, “the bookstore was a blessing and a curse for [Bren]. Every few weeks seemed to bring in new adventure books, travelogues, and epic poems of war and conquest that were so popular these days. Tales from other lands and other times. For Bren, they offered proof that all things exotic and exciting lay anywhere but here.”

Books give Bren ideas. Ideas about places he’d rather be, things he’d rather be doing, possibilities that his current life doesn’t offer. Books also give him information. For instance, information about ships and the routines of their crew, so that an enterprising young man might figure out the best time to sneak aboard a ship and the best places to hide.

And it was undoubtedly in Black’s that Bren first found a copy of Travels by Marco Polo, the book that National Geographic described as “the founding adventure book of the modern world. Polo gave to the age of exploration that followed the marvels of the East, the strange customs, the fabulous riches, the tribes with gold teeth. It was a Book of Dreams, an incentive, a goad. Out of it came Columbus (whose own copy of the book was heavily annotated), Magellan, Vasco da Gama, and the rest of modern history.”

Wow, some book. Especially considering how much of it is considered dubious. Polo dictated his stories to a fiction writer named Rustichello while both were in prison during the Venice-Genoa war, and between Polo’s possible exaggerations and Rustichello’s flare for embellishment, we can be pretty sure Marco Polo didn’t really see a unicorn. (He may have seen a Sumatran rhino, though, which is still magical.)

Given all that, I hope you’ll appreciate why the Polo legend figures prominently in The Vanishing Island, without making light of the terrible cost of exploration and colonialism.

About the Author: Barry Wolverton is the author of Neversink. He has more than fifteen years’ experience creating books, documentary television scripts, and website content for international networks and publishers, including National Geographic, Scholastic.com, the Library of Congress, and the Discovery Networks. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee. You can visit him online at www.barrywolverton.com.

Read This If You Loved: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Emerald Atlas by John Stephens, The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson

Recommended For:

Make sure to visit other stops on The Vanishing Island blog tour!
Tour information: http://www.walden.com/8039-2/

6/15/2015 Blue Stocking Thinking bluestockingthinking.blogspot.com
6/16/2015 The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia    hauntedorchid.blogspot.com
6/17/2015 Small Review   smallreview.blogspot.com
6/18/2015 Maria’s Melange   www.mariaselke.com/
6/19/2015 Unleashing Readers    unleashingreaders.com
6/19/2015 The Hiding Spot   thehidingspot.blogspot.com
6/22/2015 This Kid Reviews Books thiskidreviewsbooks.com
6/23/2015 Mundie Kids mundiekids.blogspot.com/
6/24/2015 Paige in Training    pageintraining.wordpress.com
6/25/2015 Novel Novice novelnovice.com

Giveaway!

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**Thank you to Walden Pond Press for having us be part of the blog tour
and for providing copies for review and giveaway!**

Links for Barry Wolverton:

Website: http://www.barrywolverton.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wolvertonhill
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bwolverton
Instagram: https://instagram.com/wolvertonhill/

Links for Walden Pond Press:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WaldenPondPress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaldenPondPress
Website/Blog: http://www.walden.com/books/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/waldenpondpress/

Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway!: The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy

June 17, 2015June 11, 2015 by Kellee

The Disappearance of Emily H.
Author: Barrie Summy
Published May 12th, 2015 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary: A girl who can see the past tries to save the future in this compelling tween mystery.

A girl is missing. Three girls are lying. One girl can get to the truth.

Emily Huvar vanished without a trace. And the clues are right beneath Raine’s fingertips. Literally. Raine isn’t like other eighth graders. One touch of a glittering sparkle that only Raine can see, and she’s swept into a memory from the past. If she touches enough sparkles, she can piece together what happened to Emily.

When Raine realizes that the cliquey group of girls making her life miserable know more than they’re letting on about Emily’s disappearance, she has to do something. She’ll use her supernatural gift for good . . . to fight evil.

But is it too late to save Emily?

About the Author: Barrie Summy is the author of the I So Don’t Do mystery series starring thirteen-year-old detective Sherry Holmes Baldwin and the recently released The Disappearance of Emily H. Barrie lives in Southern California with her husband, their four children, two dogs, a veiled chameleon, and a fish. There was once a dwarf hamster, but let’s not go there. Visit her online atbarriesummy.com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Barrie.Cox.Summy

My Review: Raine has moved from town to town throughout her life as her mother tries to find the man of her dreams; however, her mom promises that this last move is finally where they are going to settle. When Raine starts school though, she finds that this may not be where she wants to stay. On top of all of this, she has moved into a missing girl’s home which throws her in the center of Emily H’s disappearance. When Raine finds herself investigating Emily, she ends up in the middle of more than she bargained form.

I often find myself struggling with magical realism books because I can’t grasp the magic that the author is trying to throw in the real world. With this book, however, I really liked the magical twist that was put on this mystery book. Raine has the ability to grab memories. She sees sparkles that show her where the memories lie, and she is transported into the memory. I really liked this addition because it reminded me a little bit of Medium the TV show–just some more clues in a mystery.

Overall a book that I read in one sitting and had twists and turns that made me want to keep reading, and the mystery itself had a satisfying ending.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book will find its most success in a middle school classroom or school library. It is one of those books that one student is going to read and is going to make his/her friend read so they can talk about it.

In a classroom, I, personally, would use this book to talk about bullying and best choices. Sections of the book could be pulled out that will definitely start conversations.

Discussion Questions: Do you think Raine made the right choice when she discovered the secret?; Do you think Raine made the right choice when dealing with Jennifer?; Why do you think Jennifer is so mean?; What caused ____ to make the choice s/he did?; Do you believe that Raine’s mother can change?

We Flagged: “I reach into my front pocket for the small, scratched-up silver heart with a dent in the side where I once dropped it on the sidewalk. I balance the heart in my palm and watch as tiny sparkles dance across it, sparkles only I can see.

I need a memory from my first day of kindergarten. A shot of courage for facing Yielding Middle and all the yuck that goes along with being the new girl.

I close my hand to trap the sparkles, then shut my eyes, drifting into the memory.” (p. 2)

Read This If You Loved: The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney, A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

Recommended For:

Don’t miss out on the other stops of the blog tour!

Thursday, June 4	Ms. Yingling Reads	http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/
Fri, June 5	proseandkahn	http://proseandkahn.blogspot.com/
Mon, June 8	Once Upon a Story	http://mariaburel.com/
Tues, June 9	Read Now, Sleep Later	http://www.readnowsleeplater.org/
Wed, June 10	Sharpread	http://mrcolbysharp.com/
Thurs, June 11	Unleashing Readers	http://www.unleashingreaders.com/
Fri, June 12	Small Review	http://smallreview.blogspot.com/

GIVEAWAY!

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**Thank you to Barbara at Blue Slip Media for having us be part of the blog tour
and for providing copies of the text for review and giveaway!**

Find Blue Slip Media on Facebook

On Twitter: @barbfisch @blueslipper

Visit their website

Faraway Friends by Russ Cox

June 10, 2015 by Kellee

Faraway Friends
Author and Illustrator: Russ Cox
Published May 5th, 2015 by Sky Pony Press

Goodreads Summary: This is the story of the adventure of a little boy named Sheldon and his dog, Jet. When Sheldon’s best friend moves away, Sheldon spies the word “Jupiter” painted on the side of the moving truck. Sheldon feels sad at first, but realizes that this is a sign—what he needs is a rocket ship! So Sheldon and Jet do some sketching and some scrounging, and, with a wagon full of equipment and supplies, the two future astronauts head to the backyard. With a glop and a wham, piece by piece the ship begins to take form, and soon it’s Commander Sheldon A. Flyer and Space Cadet Jet ready for takeoff! The duo jets around satellites, zooms by planets, speeds through space storms, and zips past other flying saucers . . . untilplop, they’ve arrived, somewhere with a green, alien life-form and a furry black blob.

This book encourages children to channel loneliness and boredom with creativity and imagination, and ultimately it is a story of new friendship. Featuring vibrant illustrations by debut author and illustrator Russ Cox, this action-packed story is sure to appeal to young readers in search of something that is out of this world!

My Review: I loved this story! It promotes imagination, has science elements, and is about the tough subject of friends moving away. When Sheldon’s best friend moves away, he believes he has moved to Jupiter so the only solution is to build a spaceship for himself and his dog, Jet, to go to Jupiter to see his friend. I adored that Sheldon went through a planning and sketching phase before building and “blasting off” with Jet. They then fly through outer space until a ship malfunction and a visiting alien change their plans. Children will love the colorful illustrations, fun adventure, and comic relief of Jet all while exploring themes of friendship, loss, and imagination.

P.S. The cover glows in the dark!!!!

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Like I shared above, there are some deep themes that can be addressed while/after reading this book. I also think it will promote a want to build a space ship, and it would be great to have students plan and build a spaceship (maybe not life size, but for an egg or pipe cleaner person?). The book also has onomatopoeias throughout which always makes me happy as they may be my favorite type of figurative language, and there is also great vocabulary words throughout to learn about.

Discussion Questions: Before reading, look at the cover and predict what you think the book is about. After reading, look back at the cover. What did you predict correctly and incorrectly based on the cover?; Has a friend of yours ever moved away? How did it make you feel? What did you do to help deal with the loss?; If you could build a spaceship and visit anywhere, where would you go?; When Sheldon and Jet blasted off into space, did you catch the clue for the ending in the background?

We Flagged:

faraway-friends-sample 2 — (c) Russ Cox 2014

“BLAST OFF! In a spectacular plume of smoke Sheldon and Jet roared into space.”

Read This If You Loved: The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, Journey by Aaron Becker

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Sara at Skyhorse Publishing for providing a copy for review!**

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles

April 3, 2015April 3, 2015 by Kellee

Girls Like Us
Author: Gail Giles
Published May 27th, 2014 by Candlewick Press

Goodreads Summary: With gentle humor and unflinching realism, Gail Giles tells the gritty, ultimately hopeful story of two special ed teenagers entering the adult world.

We understand stuff. We just learn it slow. And most of what we understand is that people what ain’t Speddies think we too stupid to get out our own way. And that makes me mad.

Quincy and Biddy are both graduates of their high school’s special ed program, but they couldn’t be more different: suspicious Quincy faces the world with her fists up, while gentle Biddy is frightened to step outside her front door. When they’re thrown together as roommates in their first “real world” apartment, it initially seems to be an uneasy fit. But as Biddy’s past resurfaces and Quincy faces a harrowing experience that no one should have to go through alone, the two of them realize that they might have more in common than they thought — and more important, that they might be able to help each other move forward.

Hard-hitting and compassionate, Girls Like Us is a story about growing up in a world that can be cruel, and finding the strength — and the support — to carry on.

My Review: While reading this book, I had no question that it deserved the Schneider Teen Award. The Schneider Family Book Award honors a “book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for adolescent audiences,” and Girls Like Us take us into Quincy and Biddy’s worlds as they learn to transition from a special-ed classroom in high school to real life in such a true matter, it definitely meets the criteria for the award. In many ways, the book is like any book about girls who just graduated from high school: learning to live with a roommate you don’t understand, learning to be responsible, etc. However, the challenges that these young ladies face because of their disabilities puts the book on a whole different level. Although the book is primarily about Quincy and Biddy’s life, it does illuminate some serious issues towards the treatment of differently abled individuals. (P.S. I love the ending very much!)

There is so much to talk about with this book! Because it impacted myself and a few of my friends, we decided to have a Twitter chat focused around it (#GLUChat). If you have read the book (because there are spoilers) check out our conversation: https://storify.com/trkravtin/girls-like-us-twitter-chat. Thank you to Teresa for archiving and Michele, Carrie, Alyson, and Leigh for taking part in it with me!

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: The characters in this book are so complex! Even the secondary characters are fleshed out and have a presence. Girls Like Us is a wonderful example of character building and voice and how that can make (or break) a novel. It is especially fascinating to compare the voice and tone of the two girls’ sections. Extremely well crafted.

Discussion Questions: How do Quincy and Biddy complement each other?; How does Miss Lizzy help Quincy and Biddy overcome the challenges they face leaving school?; How did you (and Miss Lizzy) underestimate Quincy and Biddy? Why did you/she do so?; If you were going to record your feelings like Biddy and Quincy do, what would your recording say?; Did you predict why Biddy didn’t like males correctly? Did you predict the ending?

We Flagged: “My name is Biddy. Some call me other names. Granny calls me Retard. Quincy call me White Trash sometimes and Fool most of the time. Most kids call me Speddie. That’s short for Special Education.

I can’t write or read. A little bit, but not good enough to matter. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know. If I could write I could make a long list. List might reach lal the way through Texas to someplace like Chicago. I don’t know where Chicago is. That’s another thing for the list.

But there’s some things I do know. And once I know a thing, I hold it tight and don’t let it stray off. Granny shouldn’t call me Retard. I know that. It ain’t nice. It hurts my feelings. I know it’s a wrong thing to hurt somebody’s feelings. I know that I ain’t White Trash. Trash is something you throw away. You don’t throw nobody away. That’s wrong. Even if my mama done it to me.” (p. 1)

Recommended For:

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

March 13, 2015 by Kellee

The Crossover
Author: Kwame Alexander
Published March 18th, 2014 by Harcourt Brace and Company

Goodreads Summary: “With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I’m delivering,” announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he’s got mad beats, too, that tell his family’s story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood.

Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story’s heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.

My Review: Wow. What a powerful piece of narrative and poetry. Any poem from Josh’s story could easily be taken out of context and used as a piece of exemplar poetry writing. In addition to the amazing writing, Josh is a kid that is so easy to connect with. He is so real. You love him (even if he is a little cocky). By the end of the book, you feel like you are part of Josh’s family, and you don’t want to leave.

And to top it all off: one of my reluctant readers grabbed this book and zoomed right through it. It quickly became one of his favorite books! I love when the Newbery Medal winner is accessible to students. Now to just get more students to read it and experience the awesomeness.

(Also, Kwame was one of my favorite presenters at ALAN, and he was such a pleasure to meet!)

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I cannot wait to have my students make vocabulary poems like Josh does. Such a fun way to play with words. Additionally, like I stated above, any poem in this novel could be used in a poetry unit. I’d also love to have students come up with rules like Josh’s dad did for basketball and have them write them in verse.

Discussion Questions: Why is Josh so impacted by Jordan getting a girlfriend?; Who do you think influences Josh more: his dad or his mom? Explain.; Within his poems, Josh uses formatting, bolding, and different fonts to put emphasis on certain words. Why does he do this?; Josh uses figurative language throughout his poems. Find an example and share why you think Josh used it.; How are Josh and Jordan similar? Different?

We Flagged:

Read This If You Loved: Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott (YA), The Sports Pages edited by Jon Sciezska, The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks, Summer Ball by Mike Lupica

Recommended For:

Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

July 27, 2015March 11, 2015 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Never Fall Down
Author: Patricia McCormick
Published May 8th, 2012 by Balzer + Bray

Goodreads Summary: This National Book Award nominee from two-time finalist Patricia McCormick is the unforgettable story of Arn Chorn-Pond, who defied the odds to survive the Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979 and the labor camps of the Khmer Rouge.

Based on the true story of Cambodian advocate Arn Chorn-Pond, and authentically told from his point of view as a young boy, this is an achingly raw and powerful historical novel about a child of war who becomes a man of peace. It includes an author’s note and acknowledgments from Arn Chorn-Pond himself.

When soldiers arrive in his hometown, Arn is just a normal little boy. But after the soldiers march the entire population into the countryside, his life is changed forever.

Arn is separated from his family and assigned to a labor camp: working in the rice paddies under a blazing sun, he sees the other children dying before his eyes. One day, the soldiers ask if any of the kids can play an instrument. Arn’s never played a note in his life, but he volunteers.

This decision will save his life, but it will pull him into the very center of what we know today as the Killing Fields. And just as the country is about to be liberated, Arn is handed a gun and forced to become a soldier.

My Review: When I started Never Fall Down, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I began it because Ricki recommended it to me, but I didn’t read the back or have any prior knowledge about the book. So, when I began, I had no idea how tough this book was going to be.

I also have to preface with my ignorance of the Cambodian Genocide. I blame my lack of world history education because this is a time of history that should be taught. It, along with the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide, was based in racism and the attempt to purify a country. Reading Arn’s story throws you right in the middle of the genocide, and Patricia McCormick doesn’t hold anything back. Every time you think nothing can get worse for Arn and the Cambodians, something does, but you also have such hope for Arn’s survival as you seen him overcome every obstacle he faces. Even though death actually stares him in the face throughout the book, this young boy somehow continues. He continues through starvation, excessive work, lack of sleep, and murder surrounding him. Arn stated in interviews with McCormick that music saved his life, but I think it was more about his willingness to do whatever was needed to survive and especially anything to help those he cared for to survive.

Patricia McCormick tells our story in a broken English dialect that was influenced by “Arn’s own beautiful, improvised English” that McCormick heard in her head after interviewing him and traveling with him to Cambodia over a couple of years. The extent that Ms. McCormick went to ensure that Arn’s story was a true representation of his trials and heroism is honorable.

Teachers’ Tools For Navigation: This would be a perfect cross-curricular text! It could be read in a world history class in full or in parts. Although it is McCormick’s writing, it is definitely Arn’s story, and Arn’s story is one that needs to be shared. This book could also be used in lit circles where each group has a different book about a piece of history or an individual who/that is not usually learned about (maybe with Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, Sold, Caminar by Skila Brown, The Glass Collector by Anna Perera, Son of a Gun by Anne de Graaf, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, The Queen of Water by Laura Resau, or Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams).

One of my amazing 8th grade students read this book recently, and she was as enthralled with it as I was. Immediately after finishing, she got online and started learning more about Arn and Cambodia. She came across an amazing video with both Patricia McCormick and Arn in it. It is 27 minutes long, but it is so worth watching:

Discussion Questions: What do you think ultimately helped Arn survive?; How did Sombo save Arn’s life at the orphan camp? When the war with the Vietnamese started? At the killing fields?; Do you think music is what saved Arn?; How were the Khmer Rouge able to make their prisoners do whatever they wanted them to?; Why did the Khmer Rouge kill all the educated Cambodians?; Why was Sombo so unsure about the Coca Cola?

We Flagged: “All the time now we hear girl screaming, girl running, girl crying. At night but also sometime in the daytime. All the tie, the Khmer Rouge they chase the girl, cut the hair. Sometime with scissor, sometime with knife. Chop short, to the chin, like boy. The girl, they cry and sometime they run. They run, it’s no good. The Khmer Rouge may shoot them, maybe take them to the bushes, do whatever they want. A lot of the girl afterward, they pull on their hair, pull like maybe they can stretch it, make it long, make it beautiful again.

My number two big sister, Maly, her hair like silk. Most proud thing about her, her hair. Shiny black, like blue, like a crow has. Every night she brush her hair, every morning. Sometime even she brush her hair not thinking, just dreaming maybe about the boy she love. One morning I wake up before everyone and see her making rice. Her neck, it’s bare now, her skin there is pale, never saw the sun, her long hair gone. Last night while I was asleep, the soldier, they cut her beauty. So now when she give me a bowl of rice soup, her eyes stay on the ground.” (p. 29-30)

Read This If You Loved: Titles listed above in Teachers’ Tools for Navigation

Recommended For: