Author/Illustrator: Elizabeth Alalou and Ali Alalou/Julie Klear Essakalli
Plot Summary: A father tells his daughter the story of his childhood in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco during a drought. His father had to leave their home to find work and he and his mother often went hungry. His mother sent him to take his mind off of his hunger by waiting for the butter man. The story is told with colorful, interesting illustrations and introduces some Moroccan vocabulary.
Comments: After reading multi-cultural and international books, I have decided that I no longer want to collaborate and support the Georgia Performance Standards. Instead, I would like to read to, and teach, students all of the interesting things they don't get to learn in their regular classrooms.
With a reading level of 4.3, this is a fairly wordy book. Although a parent may read it to a child younger than second grade, I think second grade would be the younger end for a class read-aloud.
Extensions:
1. The teacher would read the story to the class using a map to show the students where the story takes place. Couscous would be served following.
2. The teacher would read the story to the class using a map to show the sudents where the story takes place. The students would make butter out of cream and spread it on fresh bread.
3. Following a read aloud, students would write about a time that they had to use a lot of patience to wait for something they wanted or a time that was very difficult for them or their family.
Themes/keywords: Morocco, couscous, patience, famine, hunger, farming, family
Age/Reading Level: Interest level: 2 - 5 ATOS - 4.3; Lexile - 930
Standards:
ELA2R4/ELA3R3 The student uses a variety of strategies to gain meaning from grade-level text.
ELA4R1 The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a
warranted and responsible explanation of a variety of literary and informational
texts.
ELA2W1/ELA3W1 The student demonstrates competency in the writing process.
ELA4W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.
Publisher's Info: Charlesbridge, Inc. Massachusetts 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1-58089-127-1
ISBN-10: 1-58089-127-6
Awards/Review Sources:
Wilson's Children 01/01/09 | School Library Journal 02/01/08 |
| Horn Book 10/01/08 | Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 04/01/08 |
| Kirkus Review 01/01/08 | Library Media Connection 10/01/08 |
| Multicultural Review 09/01/08 |
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Genre/Dewey: Fiction/Everybody/Easy
Websites:
Notes for Booktalk:
Vocabulary:
Comments