Year 3 - Day 175 - June 23

This is one of the Black Eyed Susan chapter books for this year, grades 4-6. It is FANTASTIC. It won the National Book Award for young readers and absolutely deserved it. (Interestingly enough, it only won the Newberry Honor rather than the top award.) I hope that my students like it, because it's a little heavy at times. I think they will. (Especially because it's written in verse rather than novel form so there's barely any words on a page.)

The basic gist is that the main character lives in Vietnam during the war. She and her family escape on the refugee boats just before the fall of Saigon. Through various (though quick in the book) events, they wind up in Alabama. A new world, new foods, new cultures and customs, new language - everything is overwhelming. We know from early in the book that she was at the top of her class in Vietnam and once she gets to Alabama she says things like "This must be what it's like to feel stupid." I hope it will really make the kids think about other people's perspectives.