Showing posts with label homelessness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homelessness. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 04, 2020

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley




Such an important book. So thankful that Kimberly Brubaker Bradley made this accessible for younger readers. Della and Suki are characters that will be with me for a long time. If you have a daughter, make sure she reads this.

From the acknowledgements: "...a novel for ten-year-olds featuring sexual assault, a suicide attempt, foster care, homelessness, meth addiction, and eighty-six uses of the word snow." (She uses "snow" as a replacement for curses.)

This was a work of heart for Bradley. It is amazingly well-crafted and age-appropriate. The parallel storyline of the boy in Della's classroom who harasses the girls with "bra strap snapping" and the way Della finds her voice to get the adults to pay attention and to get him to stop...SUCH good modeling for our girls. The actual words about consent that they can use when it happens to them. 

I also loved finding HOW TO STEAL A DOG tucked into the story doing what books are meant to do  (and what Bradley's book does) -- lets the reader know that they aren't the only one. Not the only one who's been homeless and living in their car, not the only one wears free clothes, not the only one who's been sexually assaulted. 

You will want to read this. It's hard, but it's laced with humor and love. 



Monday, May 08, 2017

Two Serious Books


I Like, I Don't Like
by Anna Baccelliere
illustrated by Ale + Ale
Eerdmans Books, 2017
review copy from the library

The child on the left page likes shoes (getting shoes, wearing shoes, playing dress up with shoes). The child on the right page (shining the shoes of others) does not like shoes.

The child on the left page likes soccer balls (playing with them).
The child on the right page (sewing soccer balls by hand) does not like them.

This book prompts powerful conversations about child labor and the rights of children worldwide.




by Brenda Reeves Sturgis
illustrated by Jo-Shin Lee
Albert Whitman, 2017
review copy from the library

The reality of living in homeless shelters often means that families must be split up with fathers staying in a men's unit, and mothers and children in a separate unit. The little girl in this book holds tight to the notion that hers is still a family, even if they are separated at times.

My fifth graders wondered how homelessness could happen, and were able to understand the illustrator's choice to use a very childlike style in order to reflect the point of view of the child in the story.