Diverse Text Set #3-Military Connected
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Night Catch
Summary:
In Night Catch, a solider travels across the world for work. He leaves behind his son who likes to play catch with his father. The father comes up with a way to play catch with his son with a little help from the North Star. This story captures how a father and son stay connected while the father is halfway around the world.
Critical Review:
This author’s inspiration for writing this story came after her brother went away to war. She has experience with what it is like to have someone you love travel across the world for an extended amount of time. She knew that it was important to find little ways to stay connected to those people, and she wrote this story about a boy and his dad and how they will stay connected while he is away. The stereotype that could present itself in this story is that the main characters are a man and his son; there are also fathers and daughters and moms and sons that struggle with the same issue. This is made up for by the meaning of the story which can be applicable to anyone. The information the story tells is accurate; it teaches how the earth spins and when one side is day, the other is night. The dad uses this to come up with a game to keep them connected by using the stars in the sky. The illustrations are well done and capture the story of father and son. However, they do not include anyone else besides a father and his son. This limits the diversity of the story and the interactions between characters. I think this is made up for my the story line, and that it really just focuses on the main characters.
Classroom Connections:
Main Theme- The main theme of this story military men and women and their families, and the ones we love are always with us. We may have to find something different to help us feel connected with them when they go away for work or other things, but they are still there and care about us.
Activities- This story could be used to help a kiddo who might be struggling with their dad/mom being away, and for other children to understand what it might be like for a friend. Another activity could be to learn about the North Star or stars/constellations in general; this story could be used as a read aloud to accompany a lesson. This story could also be used to teach about rhyming as it a written kind of like a poem.
Additional Resources:
- Author: Brenda Ehrmantraut
- Illustrator: Vicki Wehrman
- Publisher/Year: Elva Resa, 2014 (Originally published by Bubble Gum Press, 2005)
- ISBN Number: 978-1-934617-28-1
- Number of pages: 32 pages
- Grade Level: K-3rd grade
- Interest Level: 3-9 years
- Genre: Fiction
Summary:
In Night Catch, a solider travels across the world for work. He leaves behind his son who likes to play catch with his father. The father comes up with a way to play catch with his son with a little help from the North Star. This story captures how a father and son stay connected while the father is halfway around the world.
Critical Review:
This author’s inspiration for writing this story came after her brother went away to war. She has experience with what it is like to have someone you love travel across the world for an extended amount of time. She knew that it was important to find little ways to stay connected to those people, and she wrote this story about a boy and his dad and how they will stay connected while he is away. The stereotype that could present itself in this story is that the main characters are a man and his son; there are also fathers and daughters and moms and sons that struggle with the same issue. This is made up for by the meaning of the story which can be applicable to anyone. The information the story tells is accurate; it teaches how the earth spins and when one side is day, the other is night. The dad uses this to come up with a game to keep them connected by using the stars in the sky. The illustrations are well done and capture the story of father and son. However, they do not include anyone else besides a father and his son. This limits the diversity of the story and the interactions between characters. I think this is made up for my the story line, and that it really just focuses on the main characters.
Classroom Connections:
Main Theme- The main theme of this story military men and women and their families, and the ones we love are always with us. We may have to find something different to help us feel connected with them when they go away for work or other things, but they are still there and care about us.
Activities- This story could be used to help a kiddo who might be struggling with their dad/mom being away, and for other children to understand what it might be like for a friend. Another activity could be to learn about the North Star or stars/constellations in general; this story could be used as a read aloud to accompany a lesson. This story could also be used to teach about rhyming as it a written kind of like a poem.
Additional Resources:
- Lesson Plan
- This is a link to a lesson plan idea to accompany the book.
- Link
- Other books
- This is a link to a website full of other books that are about the military. It is full of other activities that can be done with these books.
- Link
- Read Aloud
- Here is a link to a read aloud of the book. It is a planetarium format, but can be shown as just a video as well.
- Link
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/0/4/110452015/published/unknown-4.jpeg?1524065471)
Sunday Chutney
Summary:
In Sunday Chutney, a girl is always moving to new schools and is constantly the “new girl” in every new country that her family moves to because of the work her father does. However Sunday always finds ways to help her cope with being the new girl all the time. She comes up with things that make her unique and that she is proud of. This story is an inspiring tale about a girl that accepts who she is and does her best with constantly moving around.
Critical Review:
The illustrations are done in a way that resemble a scrapbook, little Polaroid style photos with tape around them. This captures the spirit of traveling all around the world. The illustrations show children from other cultures. However, some of them could be considered stereotypical as some of the students have squinted eyes or big noses. The main character, Sunday, interacts with many diverse characters as she journeys through the story. There are many students from various cultures within the school Sunday interacts with; some she even makes friends with. This book has also won some awards including National Read Aloud Book (Literacy and Numeracy Week 2014). The author, Aaron Blabley, is also a New Your Times Bestseller and has one many awards for his other books including nine REAL awards, and a Children’s Peace Literature Award.
Classroom Connections:
Main Theme- The main theme of this story us that sometimes you might be the new kid at a new school, and it can be hard. You have to find ways that make it easier on you and that help you feel better about moving to a new school. Sometimes our parents' jobs make it so we have to move a lot, and that is part of life and there is nothing that you can do about it.
Activities- This story could be used to help a child who may be struggling at a new school. This book could also be used to teach students about how new kids may feel, and that we need to do our best to include them. You could brainstorm ways to make others feel more included as a class.
Additional Resources:
- Author: Aaron Blabey
- Illustrator: Aaron Blabey
- Publisher/Year: Front Street, 2009 (First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2008)
- ISBN Number: 978-1-59078-597-2
- Number of pages: 32 pages
- Grade Level:PreK-Kindergarten
- Interest Level: 3-5 years
- Genre: Fiction
Summary:
In Sunday Chutney, a girl is always moving to new schools and is constantly the “new girl” in every new country that her family moves to because of the work her father does. However Sunday always finds ways to help her cope with being the new girl all the time. She comes up with things that make her unique and that she is proud of. This story is an inspiring tale about a girl that accepts who she is and does her best with constantly moving around.
Critical Review:
The illustrations are done in a way that resemble a scrapbook, little Polaroid style photos with tape around them. This captures the spirit of traveling all around the world. The illustrations show children from other cultures. However, some of them could be considered stereotypical as some of the students have squinted eyes or big noses. The main character, Sunday, interacts with many diverse characters as she journeys through the story. There are many students from various cultures within the school Sunday interacts with; some she even makes friends with. This book has also won some awards including National Read Aloud Book (Literacy and Numeracy Week 2014). The author, Aaron Blabley, is also a New Your Times Bestseller and has one many awards for his other books including nine REAL awards, and a Children’s Peace Literature Award.
Classroom Connections:
Main Theme- The main theme of this story us that sometimes you might be the new kid at a new school, and it can be hard. You have to find ways that make it easier on you and that help you feel better about moving to a new school. Sometimes our parents' jobs make it so we have to move a lot, and that is part of life and there is nothing that you can do about it.
Activities- This story could be used to help a child who may be struggling at a new school. This book could also be used to teach students about how new kids may feel, and that we need to do our best to include them. You could brainstorm ways to make others feel more included as a class.
Additional Resources:
- Lesson Plan
- This is a link to ideas that can be used along with this book. Ideas include discussion questions, writing activities, and a role playing activity.
- Link
- Aaron Blabey-Official Website
- This is a link to the author’s official website. Here you can find information about the author and other books that he has written.
- Link
- Read Aloud
- Here is a link to a read aloud of the book.
- Link
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/0/4/110452015/published/unknown-5.jpeg?1524065465)
Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops
Summary:
In Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops, Natalie’s dad is getting ready to be deployed for a year. Natalie is sad that her dad must go, but she is proud of him for serving our country. She misses him while he is away, but she does things that help her past the time. She and her family, talk with their dad over the computer, and the community around them is supportive while Natalie’s dad is away. However, there is nothing like the day that Natalie’s dad finally gets to come home!
Critical Review:
The author, Jill Biden, wrote this book about her granddaughter, Natalie, while her son was deployed. She has first-hand experience with a child whose parent is deployed. She wanted others (nonmilitary families) to know what it was like to have someone you love to be deployed. This book could be considered stereotypical as it is about a middle class, white family and does not include a lot of diversity; the family celebrates common American holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas. It does not seem like there is a lot of interactions between cultures. There is a spot in the story where the teacher holds up a picture of soldiers that are deployed and many of them seem to be from various races and cultures. Although the illustrations are authentic, they are not very clear, so this masks a lot of the characteristics of other cultures and races besides skin tone. This could be good as it doesn’t feel like anyone is tokenized just to include some diversity. Overall, I think these weaknesses are made up for by the storyline and the characters in the story.
Classroom Connections:
Main Theme- The main theme of this book is military and their families. The families of military servicemen and women sacrifice so much to keep our country safe. And while we may be so proud of them for keeping us safe, we sometimes miss them, and that’s okay.
Activities- This book could be used around Veteran’s Day as we are taking time to thank those that have done so much for our freedom. This book could also be used to help a child who is coping with a parent that has gone away for work. I could read this book, and then have students collect items that we could send to men and women in the military to let them know that we are thankful for them.
Additional Resources:
- Author: Jill Biden
- Illustrator: Raúl Colón
- Publisher/Year: Simon and Schuster/Paul Wiseman Books; First Edition, 2012
- ISBN Number: 978-1442457355
- Number of pages: 40 Pages
- Lexile Reading Level: 380L (1st Grade)
- Grade Level:Kindergarten-3rd Grade
- Interest Level: 5-8 years
- Genre: Fiction
Summary:
In Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops, Natalie’s dad is getting ready to be deployed for a year. Natalie is sad that her dad must go, but she is proud of him for serving our country. She misses him while he is away, but she does things that help her past the time. She and her family, talk with their dad over the computer, and the community around them is supportive while Natalie’s dad is away. However, there is nothing like the day that Natalie’s dad finally gets to come home!
Critical Review:
The author, Jill Biden, wrote this book about her granddaughter, Natalie, while her son was deployed. She has first-hand experience with a child whose parent is deployed. She wanted others (nonmilitary families) to know what it was like to have someone you love to be deployed. This book could be considered stereotypical as it is about a middle class, white family and does not include a lot of diversity; the family celebrates common American holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas. It does not seem like there is a lot of interactions between cultures. There is a spot in the story where the teacher holds up a picture of soldiers that are deployed and many of them seem to be from various races and cultures. Although the illustrations are authentic, they are not very clear, so this masks a lot of the characteristics of other cultures and races besides skin tone. This could be good as it doesn’t feel like anyone is tokenized just to include some diversity. Overall, I think these weaknesses are made up for by the storyline and the characters in the story.
Classroom Connections:
Main Theme- The main theme of this book is military and their families. The families of military servicemen and women sacrifice so much to keep our country safe. And while we may be so proud of them for keeping us safe, we sometimes miss them, and that’s okay.
Activities- This book could be used around Veteran’s Day as we are taking time to thank those that have done so much for our freedom. This book could also be used to help a child who is coping with a parent that has gone away for work. I could read this book, and then have students collect items that we could send to men and women in the military to let them know that we are thankful for them.
Additional Resources:
- Read Aloud on YouTube
- This is a link to a reading guide that goes along with the story. It includes discussion question, other websites, and activities that you could do along with the book.
- This is a link to a video from the author. She talks about why she chose to the write the book and talks a little bit about it.