I'm doubling up with my SOLC for Day 10 and an IMWAYR. Check out twowritingteachers.wordpress.com for other slicers and teachmentortexts.com and unleashingreaders.com for other IMWAYR posts.
Tara Smith recommended Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse in this recent post and she has even shared a video of Karen Hesse talking about the book. Thank you, Tara, for this recommendation. Brooklyn Bridge is about a Russian Jewish family, living in New York City at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1903, Joseph Mitchtom is 14, wants to play baseball with his friends, work for money, and visit Coney Island. However, his family has invented the teddy bear, and there is a lot of work to be done on the home front, organizing materials, stitching, stuffing, and supervising younger siblings. While this is an amazing book for an upper elementary historical fiction unit, it also an inspiring mentor text for how we find stories and weave them together with other stories, facts and fiction, imagery and plots, perceptions and realities. I read this book quickly, not savoring it as much as I should have, but it is one that I am keeping on the shelf to read aloud to my 11 year-old, Cecily, once she is taking a break from the annual Battle of the Books at her school.
Happy reading!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWe learn so much from this community! Not only do we get glimpses into the lives of people around the world, but we get book recommendations, learnings from conferences, and what's happening in classrooms too. What a wealth of knowledge so many are missing out on!
ReplyDeleteI love Karen Hesse and historical fiction, so this sounds perfect to me. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOh, I am so glad that you enjoyed this book, Melanie - Hesse is such a gifted writer!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds really interesting even though none of my elementary ELLs are at this reading level. DO you think even middle schoolers or high school 9th graders who are studying US history at the same time period would enjoy reading it?
ReplyDeleteYes! It's very layered with many references that invite research. I think that many ages would love this one.
DeleteWhen I lived in NYC my class studied how the Brooklyn Bridge was built. This book will bring back memories. Can't wait to read it- Thanks Melanie.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds really good, but I love historical fiction!
ReplyDeleteI actually requested a copy of this book in our NIE library, and it just arrived a month ago. Looking forward to reading this soonest. :)
ReplyDelete