Module 3-Newbery/Printz/Coretta Scott King/Pura Belpre Books

The View from Saturday

By E. L. Konigsburg

1998, Aladdin Paperbacks


Summary:

This book is about a journey that four children and a teacher take during their year in sixth grade. It begins by introducing each child and the special events in their lives, that each must deal with, before they can continue on. Mrs. Olinski, their teacher, must also journey to gain her balance back with life as she returns to teaching as a paraplegic. These four students each bring unique talents and personality to the group they call the Souls. This book follows their growth and change as they strive to be the first sixth grade class to win the academic bowl at their school and then all the way to the state finals.   

Impressions:

The author uses an unconventional approach of introducing each student in between chapters of their ongoing attempt to win the academic contests. So you are going back and forth in time, learning about their characters as you see them progress in the contest. This style of writing did draw you into the story and keep you wondering about the outcome as it moved quickly through the story. As you read through it, you saw the characters resolve their own problems and help others resolve theirs. Excellent book. I will enjoy reading it over and over again. Winner of the Newbery Award in 1997.  Recommended for grades 5-9. 

Reviews:

E. L. Konigsburg won her second Newbery Medal, for ''The View From Saturday,'' a comic novel about a team of sixth-grade Academic Bowl competitors. Ms. Konigsburg first won the American Library Association's prize for children's literature in 1968, for ''From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.''  The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/18/nyregion/news-summary-681229.html?pagewanted=2

“In no other book this year were the potentials of both heart and mind in children laid out with such persuasive clarity…it’s a jubilant, unique tour de force.”

John Peters, Chair, 1997 Newbery Committee

Retrieved from back book cover

“A jewel in the author’s crown of outstanding work.”   School Library Journal

Retrieved from back book cover

Suggestions:

I would make a booktalk or booktrailer with this story to get the kids interested. Perhaps make a poster with glogster that announces the academic bowl contest with the characters and have it running as the students enter the library to get their attention.

Esperanza Rising

By Pam Munoz Ryan

2000, Scholastic Press

Summary:

Esperanza is a girl that has grown up on a ranch in Mexico not wanting for anything. Circumstances change quickly when her father is killed and the uncle ask Ramona, Esperanza’s mother, to marry him.  Displeasing him with her answer, the uncle burns the family home and fields. Esperanza, Ramona, and a faithful servant family make their way to the United States for a promise of a better life.  But life in America isn’t what Esperanza expected and she must grow to realize that the past is gone but tomorrow holds promise.

Impressions:

The author’s writing is based upon the experiences that her grandmother lived through, beginning as a wealthy child living in Mexico to working as a farm laborer in California. This emotional connection helps the author write convincingly and bring the characters and their plight to life. This book won the Pura Belpre Award. Recommended for grades 3-8.

Reviews:

From Publishers Weekly

Told in a lyrical, fairy tale - like style, Ryan's (riding Freedom) robust novel set in 1930 captures a Mexican girl's fall from riches, her immigration to California and her growing awareness of class and ethnic tensions… Ryan poetically conveys Esperanza's ties to the land by crafting her story to the rhythms of the seasons. Each chapter's title takes its name from the fruits Esperanza and her countrymen harvest, firs in Aguascalientes, then in California's San Joaquin Valley. Ryan fluidly juxtaposes world events (Mexico's post-revolution tensions, the arrival of Oklahoma's Dust Bowl victims and the struggles between the U.S. government and Mexican workers trying to organize) with one family's will to survive - while introducing readers to Spanish words and Mexican customs. Readers will be swept up by vivid descriptions of California dust storms or by the police crackdown on a labor strike ("The picket signs lay on the ground, discarded, and like a mass of marbles that had already been hit, the strikers scattered?"). Ryan delivers subtle metaphors via Abuelita's pearl's of wisdom, and not until story's end will readers recognize how carefully they have been strung. Ages 9-14. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Set against the multiethnic, labor-organizing era of the Depression, the story of Esperanza remaking herself is satisfyingly complete, including dire illness and a difficult romance. Except for the evil uncles, all of the characters are rounded, their motives genuine, with class issues honestly portrayed. Easy to booktalk, useful in classroom discussions, and accessible as pleasure reading, this well-written novel belongs in all collections.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

http://www.amazon.com/Esperanza-Rising-Pam-Munoz-Ryan/dp/0756910560/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

Suggestions:

This book could be used to introduce realistic or historic fiction or for a character study. The story could also be used as a discussion starter for a number of topics including importance of family, overcoming adversity, growing up, etc.