“Fall down seven times; get up eight” is one of many witty quotes that highlight the central theme of SumoKitty written and illustrated by David Biedrzycki. Written as an ode to tenacity, SumoKitty is both witty and instructive for young folks facing adversity. The humor is subtle, played out through a big, strong sumo wrestler being afraid of mice while his friend, the Kitty, gets a little too comfortable, forgetting the job of a cat.
Between humor and wit, SumoKitty is a tale completely filled with new vocabulary opportunities, both English and Japanese. Children will love learning all the Japanese sumo wrestling terms while expanding their English vocabulary. Contractions are a prominent feature within the written structure and offer older children a chance to practice their usage.
Synopsis from the publisher: "Luchi Ann only knows a few things about herself: she was born in a prison in Thailand. Her American mother was an inmate there. And now that her mother has died, Luchi must leave the only place she's ever known and set out into the world. Neither at home as a Thai, because of her fair skin and blond hair, nor as a foreigner, because of her knowledge of Thai life and traditions, Luchi feels as though she belongs nowhere. But as she embarks on an amazing adventure-a journey spanning continents and customs, harrowing danger and exhilarating experiences-she will find the family, and the home, she's always dreamed of. Weaving intricate elements of traditional Thailand into a modern-day fairy tale unique unto itself, Nowhere Girl is a beautifully rendered story of courage, resilience, and finding the one place where you truly belong." Nowhere Girl is told in first person and likable narrator Luchi Ann's coming of age search for a home tugs at the heartstrings. There is a bit of adventure and a bit of danger, enough to keep the plot from being totally stagnant. The Thailand setting provides an appealing addition to the tale. The beautiful cover art lends even more likability to Luchi Ann.
However, Nowhere Girl is a bit predictable and much of the story settles into too convenient a place. It is not strongly plot driven and would mostly appeal to a strong, realistic fiction reader. Reluctant readers would easily lose interest.
All that being said, Nowhere Girl is a well-written tale that many students will enjoy.
Khosi is a fourteen year old South African girl living under
the shadow of AIDS. Everywhere she turns there are signs, warnings and people
dying from the disease. Some superstitious people believe that it is a curse. Everyday
men make disgusting comments to Khosi and a ‘witch’ in her neighborhood is
taunting her.
But Khosi is a regular teenage girl, focused on regular teenage
thoughts: a cute boy, her
education and her future. Set in modern day, many of the villagers hold on to
old cultural customs, creating an interesting science vs. religion/culture
conflict.
This conflict would make for excellent discussion within the
classroom. However, This Thing Called the Future is not a book for ‘light’ reading. Mature readers and
advanced students could handle this topic, but most students would benefit from teacher direction. There are great themes and interdisciplinary opportunities within this story. Recommended for high school library purchase.
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Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: High School
Pages: 208
Themes: Coming of age, Science Vs. Religion, South African culture
Character Development: Very well drawn in main character, somewhat stereotypical in some characters
Plot Engagement: Not plot driven. Focus on coming of age for one girl.
Originality: Good cultural depiction on AIDS epidemic in South Africa
Thank you to author J. L. Powers for my review copy
Advisory: Sexual Situations
Publisher: Cinco Puntas Press
Date: May 2011
ISBN: 978-1933693958
Great teacher lesson ideas and background on the culture: HERE
J.L. Powers has taught African history and writing at a variety of universities and community colleges and is semi-proficient in three languages. She loves to travel and has a husband and a son. You can read more about the author on her website: HERE
Here I go again…. Another title that would have lounged on a library shelf never to cross my mind had it not been for the Cybils:
Blessing's Bead is a mix of historical fiction brought into the modern day through a familial connection across the years and miles of Alaska. The first section of the book tells the story of Nutaaq who travels with her family to an annual trading fair. While there, Nutaaq’s sister meets a Siberian boy and is married. Before she sails for Siberia, she promises Nutaag that when they meet at the next fair, she will bring a beautiful blue bead for each member of their family. Nutaaq never gets to see her sister again as the flu epidemic of the early 20th century changes their course in history.
Apolonia (Lina) Flores lives in Corpus Christi, Texas with her father. She has a best friend and a would-be boyfriend. She enjoys science, playing volleyball on her middle school team and collecting socks. She’s also Mexican–American, has recently suffered the loss of her mother and grown frustrated with her widowed father who has literally, and metaphorically, buried himself in books.
Navigating the wearisome waters of change alongside Lima is her best friend Vanessa, whose recently divorced mother has developed her own coping mechanism – making confetti filled eggs called cascarones. Lima’s boyfriend isn’t immune to difficulty either. He must deal with a speech impediment and the taunting that accompanies it. Confetti Girl features characters who are all dealing with life’s struggles.
But hidden within the individual problems of the characters lies a positive message. A story filled with as much heartache as Confetti Girl might easily venture into the melancholy. It never does. Confetti Girl is a story of happiness. Happiness after losing a loved one. Happiness after divorce. Happiness for friendship and love. Ever so quietly, author Diana Lopez, fills the story with significant moments of authenticity.
These moments are hammered out through plot devices that meld seamlessly within the telling. Lima use the keen dichos her mother has taught her to navigate the difficult as the author uses them to highlight chapter themes. Lima ends up writing her own reflective life’s synopsis when she’s supposed to be writing a synopsis of Watership Down for the English class she’s failing. But the most significant device is the cascarones – confetti filled eggs bearing good luck wishes. The fragility of the egg mixed with the flamboyancy of the confetti makes for a superb and poignant addition.
The author’s style is light and often humorous. She writes the best sort of multicultural story: an authentic one. Confetti Girl is the tale of family that happens to be Mexican-American. It never ventures into stereotypical or seems culturally didactic. This gives added meaning for both Latino readers, who might find added elements with which to identify, and Non-Latino readers, who might learn something new or find something in common with Lima and her family.
The ending scene, where a celebration in confetti filled cascarones ensues, is priceless and provides a perfect ending to an uplifting tale of overcoming the fragile parts of life with confetti joy.
Recommended for 5th - 8th grade girls who enjoy multicultural tales, realistic fiction about overcoming adversity or stories about friendship and family.
Diana Lopez began her love of reading with Mother Goose and fell in love with writing through The Diary of Anne Frank. She collects refrigerator magnets and sometimes wears crazy socks. You can read more about her on her website.She is available for school visits.
I’m going to warn you: I cried at the end of Secret Keeper. Don’t worry; I won’t give away too many secrets. Just one: I didn’t cry because of the sad ending. I cried because author Mitali Perkins resisted the urge to "go Disney," and I instantly loved her for it.
A quick, basic synopsis: Asha & Reet are sisters forced to leave school behind and move, along with their depressed mother, into their paternal grandmother’s strict home while their father searches for work in America. While waiting for their father to send for them, sixteen-year-old Asha confides her secrets to a diary, the secret keeper, and befriends an odd boy next door. In the meantime, the whole family is trying to marry Reet off as Asha tries to save her sister from this unwanted, though not uncommon, fate
The trick with historical or cultural fiction (and Secret Keeper is both) is to create a story where the reader forgets that they are in another time or place. Though Secret Keeper takes place in 1970’s India, the themes are universal. Especially engaging is protagonist Asha, a strong and selfless young woman in a culture and time when such traits are more burden than complement. Not only does Secret Keeper have a great story to tell, it also offers even-handed insight into Indian culture and leaves the reader both heartbroken and uplifted.
I loved Secret Keeper and highly recommend it for secondary libraries and classrooms as well as for book clubs and anyone with a love of historical fiction.
The idea for Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights grew out of National Geographic’s involvement with a group of statesmen, The Elders and an online writing project through ePals. The book is based on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a 1948 United Nations document illustrating 30 rights and freedoms that all humans inalienably possess. The declaration was written in the wake of WWII with the hope that the unimaginable things that had happened would never happen again.
Each section of Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights contains a simplified statement of one of the thirty articles of the declaration, an ePals contest winner’s poem, and captioned photographs illustrating the right/freedom. It is a visually pleasing and learning conducive layout that works wonderfully. The end includes an appendix of great resources and especially enjoyable mini-biographies for each of the ePals child poets.
Where Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights falters is with the writing. The captions for the photographs are most times unbiased, but there were a few that seemed controversial to the point of being antagonistic. Examples? A young black man gaining respect by joining a gang? Free Cuban education held up without acknowledgment of brainwashing within that education system? Violence against women in US is COMMON? Using a wall of graffiti as an example of speaking out in a community? These poor examples could have easily been rewritten and I wondered why, considering all the people involved with this book, they weren’t better edited.
That being said, Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights offers tremendous potential for classroom use. Each declaration is a lesson waiting to happen, a fantastic discussion lingering on the lips as you read. There are so many dynamics (political, cultural, legal, personal) to ponder with secondary students. While an upper elementary student might be able to begin considering human rights, the depth of understanding needed to consider the ideals advocated in Every Human Has Rights are best left for secondary students.
Even though there are some faltering moments requiring extra discussion, I think most dedicated educators, willing to provoke in-depth discussions with their students, will find Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights a great addition to their classroom.
Recommended for elementary libraries and secondary libraries and classrooms.
Genre: Nonfiction. Age: Middle Grades & High School. Pages: 48. Themes: Dignity, Equality, Life, Freedom, Safety, Respect, Justice, Protection, Privacy, Movement & Refuge, nationality, Marriage, Property, Religion, Expression, Assembly, Social Security, Democracy, Work, Leisure & Health, Education, Participation, Peace, Responsibilty, Future.
Thank you to The Picnic Basket.
Publisher: National Geographic Children. Date: November 2008.
ISBN-10: 1426305117 / ISBN-13: 978-1426305115 Buy Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights Here
Here are some discussion questions I wrote while reading the book. They are divided according to the book format:
1. Dignity: What is dignity? How do we strip others of their dignity? How does the poem relate to dignity? (discussion of women’s rights)
2. Equality: What does one do to earn respect? Can you use force to gain respect? How is religion tied to equality? Gender? Etc…. (discussion of racial & religious rights)
3. Life: What does it mean to be free? To be safe? How can the Cuban government, a dictatorship, use education as a way to suppress the people? (discussion of government power vs. will of the people)
4. Freedom: Why do humans use another human as a slave? How can a human break free from the bonds of slavery? (discussion of child labor)
5. Safety: Do you think violence is ever a means to en end? How do the works of people like Ghandi and King show that nonviolence can be used as a method for change? What is the difference between ‘punish you too severely” and a fair punishment for criminals? (discussion on violence & preying on the weak)
6. Respect: Why do we sometimes forget to see each other as all human? How can one human hurt another human without remorse? What is the difference between feeling prejudice and acting to harm someone based on that prejudice? Is there a difference? (discussion on the Holocaust & genocide)
7. Justice: How do money, power and influence affect a legal system? (discussion of criminals and cruel & unusual punishment vs. safety of public)
8,9,10,11. Protection: Why must a society have rules? Who decides the rules? What is a fair trail? Why is ‘innocent until proven guilty’ so important to a fair legal system? (discussion of a fair legal system & recent developments with DNA testing)
12. Privacy: What is slander? When does the public safety and security override personal freedom? Does having security cameras help to solve crimes? Does having security measures make you feel safer? (1984 example, discussion of Patriot Act)
13, 14. Movement & Refuge : Why would a person need to move? Why would a person ask to leave their country? Does a person have the right to return to a country if he/she has broken its laws? What is globalization? How is it affecting economies and people’s ability to obtain free living? (discussion on globalization, refugees and a world market)
15. Nationality: What is a national identity? Why are people proud of their country, sometimes even when their country does things to be ashamed of? Why do people like displaying flags and cheering for sports teams? (discussipn of patriotism, community and culture)
16. Marriage: Why do humans seek a mate? What is an arranged marriage? Is this cultural practice an infringement on an individual’s right? Who has the right to get married? (discussion on gay marriage & cultural customs of marriage)
17. Property: What are squatter’s rights? Does the government have a right to evict someone if they need the land for the good of all? Who should be able to own property? (discussion of female land laws & environmental issues and laws vs. personal property)
18. Religion: Why do people fight over religion? Why do you think it’s so important for people to believe that their religion is the ‘right’ one? Should religious views have a place in government? (discussion of separation of church & state)
19, 20. Expression & Assembly: Why is it important for people to be able to say what they feel? When does law enforcement have the right to intervene in a demonstration? Should there be laws governing morality in art? (discussion on freedom of speech, freedom of the press)
21. Democracy: How does politics sometimes lead to an abuse of power? How does a democracy help to dissuade abuse of power? Why do you think people want to run for political office? Can one vote really make a difference? What if you lost that right to vote, have your opinion counted? (discussion of various forms of government & what constitutes a free and fair election)
22. Social Security: Do we have a responsibility to take care of our fellow citizens when they are unable to care for themselves? What constitutes being unable to care for one’s self? At what point is someone abusing the social system? (discussion on social services, mental illness, addiction, responsibility to the infirm & small)
23, 24, 25. Work, Leisure & Health: Why do we have a minimum wage? What is workplace discrimination? Why is time away from working important to humans? In a country as wealthy as America, why do we still have hungry citizens? (discussion on sexual harassment & broken healthcare system)
26, 27, 28. Education, Participation, Peace: Why is it important for a person to have an education? Why would a government (the people) want everyone to have an education? Why would they NOT want it? Why is a peaceful existence important to humans? What must it be like to live in fear? Why is it important for everyone to be able to participate in the human experience?(discussion on free vs. private education & humans with disabilities equality & peace vs. fear)
29. Responsibility: How can we make our needs known without infringing on another’s needs? Why should we protect the rights of others? (discussion on free will vs. egotistical taking of so much as to negate rights of another & difficulty between pride and accountability)
30. Future: What are the many ways that someone can have their future stolen from them? How can someone steal the futures from themselves? What does inalienable mean? Which things are inalienable? (discussion on self-worth and goal setting)
Easily 3 weeks of social studies discussions in one book!
A final personal thought and one more discussion activity: I was listening to an NPR show where the guest was speaking about human suffering in various parts of the world. A caller phoned in to say that we should first help the poor people here in the United Sates. This caused a debate as to who is really poor. After all, Americans have many blessings that other countries lack: everyone gets an education, there’s places to get free food, drinking water is safe,...... This was the question nagging me as I finished Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights. At what point does degree of suffering trump suffering? Isn’t a person in need the same? Why must it be quantified? How does our ‘one tiny drop’ make a difference? This would make an excellent high order thinking discussion for high school students. An educator could start it off with this:
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” - Mother Teresa
written and illustrated by David Biedrzycki. Written as an ode to tenacity, SumoKitty
is not a book for ‘light’ reading. Mature readers and
advanced students could handle this topic, but most students would benefit from teacher direction. There are great themes and interdisciplinary opportunities within this story. Recommended for high school library purchase. 
is a mix of historical fiction brought into the modern day through a familial connection across the years and miles of Alaska. The first section of the book tells the story of Nutaaq who travels with her family to an annual trading fair. While there, Nutaaq’s sister meets a Siberian boy and is married. Before she sails for Siberia, she promises Nutaag that when they meet at the next fair, she will bring a beautiful blue bead for each member of their family. Nutaaq never gets to see her sister again as the flu epidemic of the early 20th century changes their course in history.
features characters who are all dealing with life’s struggles.
for the English class she’s failing. But the most significant device is the cascarones – confetti filled eggs bearing good luck wishes. The fragility of the egg mixed with the flamboyancy of the confetti makes for a superb and poignant addition.
Don’t worry; I won’t give away too many secrets. 
grew out of National Geographic’s involvement with a group of statesmen, 
