Author/Illustrator: Uri Shulevitz
Plot Summary: After loosing everything as a result of war, a family flees to a foreign land. They are very poor and even have to live with another family. One day the father leaves to find food in the village and comes home with a map. At first the mother and child do not understand such a strange choice especially when their housemates have food to eat. The map becomes the child's escape from his situation. He dreams about foreign places, practices drawing different parts of the map and envisions a better life for himself. In the end, the father was right.
Comments: I loved this book for a number of reasons. It is a depiction of the author's own life experience as a Jewish refuge during World War II. As a Jewish person, I have a similar family history. In addition, I love maps and geography, hence the subject of my first graduate degree. I have a world map hung in my bathroom so that anyone lingering for any period of time - my kids - can study the map and discover new places.
Extensions:
1. My current school is an ESOL school for our district. I am going to see about putting up a map somewhere in the Media Center to "flag" the countries of origin of our student body. Iwould introduce it after reading this book.
2. A homework assignment would be for students to ask their parents about their family history. It could be as simple as "They're from Mississippi" to "They fled Somalia as refugees."
3. After reading the book, a map could be shown to the class and the students could find the different places referenced in the book on the map. I am going to look in to doing this on the ACTIV board.
4. The main character makes a rhyme out of the names of places he finds on the map. Locate these places on a map with the students.
Themes(keywords): refugees, maps, geography
Age/reading level: K-3; ATOS - 4.4; Follett - 2.7; Lexile - 660
GPS:
SS5H6: The student will explain the reasons for America's involvement in World War II.
SS4G2 The student will describe how physical systems affect human systems.
ISBN 10: 0-374-33499-4 ISBN 13: 978-0-374-33499-4
Awards/Reviews:
Wilson's Children 01/01/09
Caldecott Medal/Honor 01/26/09
School Library Journal starred 05/01/08
Book Links (A.L.A.) 01/01/09
Booklist starred 05/01/08
Book Links starred 07/01/08
Publishers Weekly starred 03/03/08
New York Times 05/11/08
Best Books Of The Year 2008
Book Links Lasting Connections 2008
Booklist Books for the Young - 2008
Caldecott Honor Books - 2009
Charlotte Zolotow Honor Books 2009
Notable Children's Books 2009 - Middle Readers
PW's Best Books of the Year 2008
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Websites:
http://www.lib.usm.edu/~degrum/html/research/findaids/DG0893f.html?DG0893b.html~mainFrame
Includes a photograph of the author and information about some original materials.
Vocabulary: devastate, dung, scarce, bazaar, meager, incantation, mango
Comments