Author/Illustrator: Karen English/Laura Freeman
Plot Summary: Nikki and Deja are next door neighbors, best friends, and in second grade. This book is a story of their friendships with each other, as well as their relationships with the other people in their lives including their parents, grandparents, classmates and the new girl who moves in next door.
Comments: Nikki and Deja are depicted as African American girls. And, Karen English typically writes books with African-American characters. However, what I liked about this book is that it was really a story of two friends. My own fourth grader, who never likes to read "girl" books, read this book and liked it. Karen English is very witty and it shows in her writing especially the scene where the girls find their teacher shopping in the grocery store - "I never thought of Ms. Shelby brushing her teeth," Deja says. She is also a third grade teacher and must really know children. A sequal is entitled, "Nikki and Deja: Birthday Blues" and she is working on another book in the same series. The interview on the website cited below indicates that this could be a long series.
Extensions:
1. This book would make a great read-aloud in a second or third grade classroom. It would encourage much discussion about friendships, behavior towards both classmates and adults, and perhaps African-American culture although that aspect of the girls is not featured prominently in the book.
2. A read-aloud for second and third grade could lead to a number of interesting topics for writing assignments such as "Describe a time you felt jealous about something that someone else had and you didn't;" Describe a time you felt left out of a group;" and "Was there a time that you excluded someone else on purpose?"
3.
Themes/keywords: best friends, friendship, schools, clubs
Age/Reading Level: Interest Level 3-6 grade; ATOS 4.3; Lexile 670
Standards:
ELA2R4/ELA3R3 The student uses a variety of strategies to gain meaning from grade-level text.
ELA2W1/ELA3W1 The student demonstrates competency in the writing process.ELA2W2/ELA3W2 The student begins to write in a variety genres, including narrative, informational, persuasive, and response to literature.
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-75238-6 ISBN-10: 0-618-75238-2
Awards/Review Sources:
Wilson's Children 01/01/09 | School Library Journal 06/01/08 |
| Publishers Weekly 12/10/07 | Booklist 02/01/08 |
| Horn Book 04/01/08 | Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 02/01/08 |
| Kirkus Review 12/01/07 |
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Genre/Dewey: Fiction
Websites:
http://thebrownbookshelf.com/2008/02/21/karen-english/ - An interview with Karen English
Notes for Booktalk: page 13 - the grocery store
Vocabulary: flea-market, secretary, drill(steps)
Comments