Lunch Every Day (Picture Book)

 

Publication date: September 7, 2021

My Thoughts:

The author's note on the back cover includes a picture of long time educator Jim Perez who has been running innovative bullying prevention programs in Southern California. This is a story about Jim as a bully in his younger years and the unasked for charity and grace that was shown to him. This kind of intervention of kindness and compassionate action is what helped him to become the leader that he is today, and this simple picture book says just enough of the story to show all of that about him. 

As a middle school teacher, this picture book is a great way to have conversations about why people do what they do. Even in the pre-service, teacher preparation program that I teach in, this is a great way to really talk about how punishment does not work, but compassion and action does. 

Another thought: what a great model text to use as a way to start an oral history project in the classroom and focus on one pivotal story that changes the trajectory of your interviewees life. It also can help students try and learn from their own pivotal moment by writing and/or drawing. 

From the Publisher:

Every day Jimmy takes ‘Skinny Kid’s’ lunch at school. No way will he be caught dead standing in that FREE LUNCH line. Even when he’s called into the principal’s office, Jimmy just shrugs. “Yeah. Whatever.” Until a surprising act of kindness stops him in his tracks. For a split second a door cracks open into Jimmy’s heart. Who knows? Maybe he’ll just kick that door right open.

Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc

From the Publisher:

Told through medieval poetic forms and in the voices of the people and objects in Joan of Arc’s life, (including her family and even the trees, clothes, cows, and candles of her childhood), Voices offers an unforgettable perspective on an extraordinary young woman. Along the way it explores timely issues such as gender, misogyny, and the peril of speaking truth to power. Before Joan of Arc became a saint, she was a girl inspired. It is that girl we come to know in Voices.

My Thoughts:

This was a book I requested this season based on the Fall/Winter Buzz Books for young adults. As always thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced digital copy so I can pass it along. This was published in March, 2019 so it is already available in stores, but let your librarian know that they should buy this. 

As an English teacher, this is an exciting possible mentor text for the middle school classroom. What I look for in mentor texts are evidence of intentional craft that seems seamless as well as a play with nontraditional forms. I also look for readability and a way in for student writers (so not too esoteric and cerebral). As a social studies teacher, I am not sure where in the curriculum this might fit as a text, but definitely as an alternative inquiry paper, this is a great mentor text. Mr. Elliott, in this historical fiction in verse offering gives voice to the questions that intrigue him about this young French martyr. Through his play with medieval poetic forms, he gives voice to Joan as well as the men in power who both helped and hindered her. Most powerful, though, are the concrete poems from the point of view of objects (the sword, the red dress, the armor, etc.). My favorite though is the personified fire that pops up repetitively in the book, using loving familiars towards Joan, calling her "my darling, and towards the end seems to get more frantic, more hungry, more yearning. 

Covering the last days of Joan, this is a powerful way to make history come alive for students.

This is a Taco!

This fun book is about a precocious squirrel who takes charge of the informational squirrel book to write his own story about Taco, the taco loving squirrel who refuses to be a predator of hawks, but instead becomes his own predator of yummy tacos. When things go awry on his plan, he just takes his favorite red crayon and edits again.

This is a great writing workshop mini lesson resource on the power of editing to show voice, character and humor, even for middle school kids.

Last words:

Kids, remember: if you want tacos in your story, then YOU make sure there are tacos in your story.