Jimmy the Greatest!

By Jairo Buitrago and Illustrated by Rafeal Yockteng

This book is about Jimmy, who lives in a small, rural village in what appears to be Africa. They live in houses that basically look like shacks, and most of the village's population does not have shoes and barely any clothing. Jimmy becomes interested in boxing, and starts going to the town's "gym" which only has a boxing ring and is operated by Don Apolinar. Don introduces Jimmy to Muhammed Ali who becomes Jimmy's inspiration to become the very best boxer he could be. When Don Apolinar decides to move to the city, Jimmy stays behind and continues to maintain the boxing ring to be inspirational to all the other children in his village. 

At first, I did not like this book at all. What type of children's book doesn't have the main character able to follow his dreams?! But as I reread it, I realized that Jimmy is too young to make it on his own just yet, and that he needs to continue to practice and encourage other children to follow their passions. I thought this book would be great for a read aloud for the sole purpose of children being able to compare life in the United States to other countries, especially third world ones. 

In a way, Jimmy did what teachers do. Instead of moving forward with our careers and going to a job that gives us more income, we stay behind and choose to help others find their dreams and reach out to them. We inspire children just as Jimmy did in this book. 

Duck for a Day

By Meg McKinlay and Illustrated by Leila Rudge

Duck for a Day is about a young girl named Abby and her attempts to bring home the class pet for a day. She goes into her classroom the first day of school into Mrs. Melvino's classroom to find a covered crate. Lo and behold, in that crate was a duck, named Max, that would be the class pet. Abby is willing to do anything to bring home Max, because her mother is a neat freak and will not allow Abby to have any pets, but a class pet is "okay" because it is only for a day. However, Mrs. Melvino holds very high expectations for Max's day home, and requests portfolios complete with pictures before she is willing to let Max go to their home. Abby competes against her next door neighbor, Noah, to bring Max home first. They are enemies and polar opposites from the start, mainly because Abby's house is tidy, and Noah's house is pure chaos. Eventually, Abby gets to take Max home for a day and Noah is jealous. However, when Abby wakes up in the morning, Max has escaped. With Noah's help, she is able to retrieve Max safely and gain Noah's friendship.

This book is about friendship and it would be a great way to encourage kids to give "enemies" a chance. It can also give children the determination to strive for their goals; even if they are shot down a couple times does not mean that they cannot continue on and reach their goals, such as Abby and Noah did. Ultimately, I think this would be a great read aloud over a couple days (it's a chapter book) and kids would be able to relate to it on more than one level. 

The Quiet Place

By Sarah Stewart and Illustrated by David Small

The Quiet Place is about a young girl, Isabel, and her family moving from Mexico to California during the summer around the 1950's. This book is consisted of letters Isabel writes to her Aunt Lupita back in Mexico in which Isabel is able to practice her English. Her parents buy a refrigerator, and give Isabel the box which she calls her "quiet place" that reminds her of Mexico. One day, the box blows away, and her quiet place is gone. Isabel's mother starts catering for birthday parties in the area, and asks for the boxes that the presents come in. Isabel often attended the parties, but never really played with the other children. She gives these boxes to Isabel, and she eventually builds a new quiet place that's even more impressive than the first. When it's time for her birthday, all the children at the parties her mother catered came, and she realized that there was no need to be shy or self conscious of her heritage/the way she speaks.

I really enjoyed this book, and connected with it very well (since I played in boxes when I was little...). This book would be great to read in a class, especially if the class consisted of children immigrants. Isabel is a shy child, because she does not know English that well. When she accompanies her mother to the parties she caters, Isabel often does not play with the other children. The children can certainly relate to Isabel if they are self conscious about the way they speak. However, in the end, Isabel realizes that all her future classmates like her, because they show up for her birthday party.

The only problem I had with this book was that it took place in the 1950's- when racism and civil rights were at an all time high in America. As sad as it is, Isabel would have had a very hard time to find friends, let alone go to the same school as all of her "white" friends. The picture to the left shows all of her new friends playing in her quiet place, with a diverse group of ethnicities. Unfortunately, she would have been discriminated against. I think the book would be more fitted to take place during the modern day, because discrimination is at a minimum and Isabel would be able to make friends of every race and ethnicity she so desired.