Blog: #kidlit Book of the Day - Page 1288 of 1302

I’m New Here
by Anne Sibley O’Brien (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Maria is from Guatemala, Jin is from Korea, and Fatima is from Somalia. All three are new to their American elementary school, and each has trouble speaking, writing, and sharing ideas in English. Through self-determination and with encouragement from their peers and teachers, the students learn to feel confident and comfortable in their new school without losing a sense of their home country, language, and identity.

Snippet:
I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Class, this is Maria.

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Boys and girls, please welcome Jin.

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: We have a new student everyone. Her name is Fatimah.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Voice This “new kid at school” story created by an established author/illustrator has three main characters! So how do you juggle three main characters? The characters speak one at a time.

The first book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Class, this is Maria.

The second book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Boys and girls, please welcome Jin.

The third book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: We have a new student, everyone. Her name is Fatimah.

Trait: Organization This one “character at a time” pattern is continued throughout the book. Readers see each how each new child experiences school on a separate book spread.

Q. How do you develop three stories at one?
A. By using story arc patterns from all three genres!

Notice the repetition? Each child says the same thing. This is an organizing tool that poets use.

I am new here.

It is the teacher who answers and her answer is unique to each new character.

This repeated question and answer pattern is a pattern that “idea” books use. It’s a nonfiction story arc.

Most fiction stories use a problem-resolution pattern as their story arc. This one does the same for its characters. These new immigrants are trying to find their place at their new school and we see that they have accomplished that in the art on the last page of the book.

Q. Why did this book use patterns from all three genres?
A. Books about “social issues” use both fiction and nonfiction patterns, and this one has a poetry pattern as well.

The problem-resolution pattern commonly used in fiction showed us how the characters solved their emotional problem.

The nonfiction (question and answer) story arc and the repetition found in poetry helped the story manage three characters and convey the message.

The finished book looks simple, but it’s not. There is a lot of organization going on underneath to make it work.

The Mermaid’s Shoes
by Sanne te Loo (Author/Illustrator)

Booktalk: On the last day of vacation, Mia finds something special on the beach–a mermaid’s shoes!

When she puts them on her feet, she knows she has found her true identity. She’s really a mermaid! She makes her own mermaid’s tail and goes on a quest to find a place to fulfill her destiny. Is it the local aquarium? Maybe the river that runs through the town? In the end, this mermaid finds the perfect place to perch.

Snippet:
Mia still wore her mermaid shoes as she fell asleep. Her dreams flowed with friends from the sea. Fantastic fish with spots and stripes swam around her. One even looked like a horse.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Sentence Fluency After Mia finds the swim fins at the beach, she puts them on and wears them throughout the story, even when she goes to sleep!

Mia still wore her mermaid shoes as she fell asleep.

After she falls asleep, we see her dreams–in the words–and in the art on the page.

Her dreams flowed with friends from the sea. Fantastic fish with spots and stripes swam around her. One even looked like a horse.

Trait: Word Choice The details of her dreams flow in the art and in the words. Notice the use of alliteration here. The two middle sentences use words that begin with f and then words that begin with with s, both sounds that the sea makes.

Her dreams flowed with friends from the sea. Fantastic fish with spots and stripes swam around her.

These alliterative words make the sentences pleasing to read aloud. Sentence fluency and word choice work together with a poet’s touch in this translation from the original Dutch.