Peppe the Lamplighter

Peppe the Lamplighter

Title: Peppe the Lamplighter

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Elisa Bartone

Illustrator: Ted Lewin

Awards: 1994 Caldecott medal

Age group: 6 years old and up

This story is a heartwarming tale of a boy who tries to help his immigrant family in New York City by getting work. This book is a great and heartwarming read, with a great ending.

Summary:

The story begins with Peppe who is looking for a job to help out his family of sisters and his father who is sick. After trying everything he could think of, he finally gets a job lighting all the street lamps every night. When he tells his family all his sisters were exited but his father was not. Every time he lights a candle in a street lamp he makes a sort of wish for a better life in certain things for his family and friends. But when he comes home his father continues to be mean to him about lighting the lamps because he does not believe that his son lighting street lamps was worth coming to America. Then Peppe starts to feel ashamed of his job and in turn did not do it one night and then one of his sisters went missing. In a worried state, all of a sudden his papa wanted him to light the lights to help find his sister; he said it was important now that he lights the lamps. So he went and lite each candle till he lit the last one and that is where he found his sister. When he found her his sister she asked “why did you not light the lamps tonight” and he said he was sorry. When Peppe got back home, his father realizing what an important job Peppe had said “light the lamps Peppe, it is a good job make me proud”. So he continued to light the lamps each night and each to him was a like a promise for tomorrow.

I believe I would use this book in my classroom because this story teaches the idea that every job counts no matter how small. This is a great lesson I believe children need to know that every person’s effort counts .Another good theme from this book is if you love something don’t let anyone talk you out of loving it or changing your mind about it, do what you love.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book would be 1st-5th grade because it does have quite a few words to a page and has some more mature vocabulary. But I believe this is a great book for educating about history and immigrant culture and it is also told through a child’s view so it is more relatable for kids.

I might use this book as a way to show a little bit of an immigrants experience and how their view points on life might be different than others. I would also have the students compare how living was like back then in the story to what living is now.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy

Henry’s Freedom Box

Henry’s Freedom Box

Title: Henry’s Freedom Box

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Ellen Levine

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Awards: Caldecott medal

Age group: 7-12 year olds

This book is about a man named Henry who goes through a roller coaster of emotions and challenges being a slave in the 1800’s. Though, thankfully this is a story with a happy ending.

Summary:

Henry lived on his master’s farm with his brothers and sisters, at the time he believed his master was good to him, but his mother knew that could change. When his master fell ill he was told he be given to his son and he had to say goodbye to his family. Henry then worked in his new master’s factory and it wasn’t the greatest. Then one day Henry met Nancy and he fell in love and they were married and then had some children. Henry felt so lucky, but his wife was scared that her master would sell their children. Then one day while he was working his friend told him that his children and wife were just sold at the slave market, at lunch time he ran to them but it was too late and he watched his family disappear. Henry was very sad. But then he thought of an idea, he would mail himself in a box to a place where there were no slaves. With help from a white man, who didn’t like slavery, he set this plan in motion. Henry would be mailed to friends in Philadelphia. Though to sneak out of work he had to get hurt so he burned his hand. Then the day came and he got in the box. At one point the box was turned upside down but some men fixed it to right side. Henry then awoke to his friends in Philadelphia, and at last Henry had a birthday, the day of his freedom and from then on everyone called him Henry “Box” Brown.

I believe I would use this book in my classroom because it is a good book to use when teaching about slavery and how slaves lived.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 2nd -5th grade because this topic is a very important, yet is a sensitive topic that might be harder for the younger children to understand if they have not already learned about the subject. This book has very little text to a page and is easy to read; it also has great illustrations that help the reader really visualize the story.

I would use this book in a unit about the history of slavery and the hardships that slaves went through so that the students will better understand what it was like in that time period.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy

Coming On Home Soon

Coming On Home Soon

Title: Coming On Home Soon

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Illustrator: E.B. Lewis

Awards: Caldecott Honor

Age group: 6-10 year olds

This story goes through a heartwarming tale of a little girl whose mother goes away to work during the time of world war 2, because woman are needed in the war. I love how this book, even when you think that hope is gone, it has a happy ending.

Summary:

Her mamma has to leave to go work in Chicago where they are hiring colored woman because of the war. She really misses her mother. But after a while of not hearing from her mother, she and her grandma start to worry. She adopts a kitten who comes to the house one day. Finally after waiting one day she receives a letter from her mama and it has money in it and says she will be coming home soon. In the last page there is an illustration of her mother walking up to the door of the house.

I believe I could use this book in my classroom because it is a short, but easy, book and is a great example of being able to be strong when a family member moves or has to go away.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 1st-5th because it deals with topics that younger kid might not understand or that they have not learned about yet. This book has quite a few words to a page as well, but is easy to read and follow. This book also has beautiful illustrations to go along with the story.

I believe I could use this book in the classroom when talking about World War 2 and how the roles of woman changed from staying at home to going out to work because that was needed during the war. This book could also be a good book for kids about how to deal with a family member having to go away and how you must be strong.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy

Train to Somewhere

Train to Somewhere

Title: Train to Somewhere

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Eve Bunting

Illustrator: Ronald Himler

Awards: None

Age group: 8 years and up

This story takes place in 1877; the story follows an orphan girl named Marianne, back in this time orphans were sent by train from New York City to small towns and farms in the Midwest in hopes of placing these children in loving home.

Summary:

The story begins with the 14 orphans boarding a train for going west along with a chaperone named Miss Randolph. There is another orphan named Nora who thinks of Marianne like a sister but she knows that they cannot probably both be adopted together. They stop at many places throughout their journey and the kids are sort of auctioned off at each stop for homes, many kids will get placed even Nora, though she gets upset when they aren’t both taken together. But throughout this Marianne doesn’t believe she is an orphan ,she thinks her mother will be at one of these stops because her mother said she would come back for her when she was left at the orphanage; she even has a feather that she kept from her mother’s hat. After the second to last stop only Marianne is left and then she starts to worry if she’s not going to see her mother or even get adopted. At the last stop there is only one old couple there, and they brought a toy train thinking it would be a boy, and the woman asks is this the only one left. But then she looks at Marianne and smiles and they sort of discuss how they both were not what they had hoped for .But they still took her in anyway. Even though Marianne was disappointed, she believed she was ready to let go of her mother and begin this new life.

I don’t believe I would use this in my classroom because I can’t really see how to fit it in with any learning theme, but I believe it was a good heartwarming story to read.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book would be 3rd grade and up, because it is a more complicated topic to read about and this book has a lot of words to a page. Though I believe this book is an easy story to follow (but does have some flash back moments that could be confusing) this book has some great illustrations to follow along with and it really helps you see the story come to life.

I believe I could use this book as a good way to help the students compare and contrast how living in the past is different from living now and then  I would have them write down what things in life might be the same still or different on a chart.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy

How I Learned Geography

How I Learned Geography

Title: How I Learned Geography

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author/Illustrator: Uri Shulevitz

Awards: Caldecott Medal

Age group: 7-12 years old

This story takes place during World War 2 and is told through the eyes of a boy who loses everything at first, but in the book he finds a happy twist to his horrible situation in a map.

Summary:

When World War 2 hit they lost everything and fled east to another country. Where they lived on the floor with a couple they did not know. One day the father was sent to get bread because they were very hungry, but he came back with a huge map instead. At first the son was angry at his father because they were starving and he started being jealous of the couple that they lived with for eating bread. But then he started studying the map and saw how it brought such colors to once drab room, and he started to imagine going on some adventures around the map, such as deserts, beaches, snowy mountains, temples, fruit groves, palm trees, and tall buildings. All this made him forget about his hunger and his horrible situation. In the end he forgave his father for he was right about the map.

I don’t believe I would use this book in my classroom, because I don’t really see a learning theme in the story. But I do believe it could still be a good book for a child who maybe going through a hard time and this book might inspire them to make the best of their situation.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 2nd-5th grade, because it is a little more mature of a topic for younger grades to understand. Even though this book has very little words to a page, there is a deeper meaning in the topics in the story that is why I might recommend this book for older kids.

This book could be used as book to read when talking about World War 2 and what being a refugee is like. You could also use this book as a way for the students to view learning geography as a magical thing, and that geography that can open up doors to new experiences.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy