Summary: Relatable school story with unusual points of view and clearly defined issues and characters. Give to fans of Fish In A Tree. I’m not surprised the authors collaorated on this project through TCRWP…. this book seems built for conferring points. More on that in a sec.

Review:

This book was made for teachin’ — on literary merits alone, this book is pretty ho-hum. The character shifts are brief and dramatic; the characterizations are somewhat unrealistic (for example, both main characters
Summary: Relatable school story with unusual points of view and clearly defined issues and characters. Give to fans of Fish In A Tree. I’m not surprised the authors collaorated on this project through TCRWP…. this book seems built for conferring points. More on that in a sec.

Review:

This book was made for teachin’ — on literary merits alone, this book is pretty ho-hum. The character shifts are brief and dramatic; the characterizations are somewhat unrealistic (for example, both main characters seem to love love love Bud, Not Buddy but no other mentions of their reading lives…); the bully character is nothing if not predictable. However, this sort of ho-hum predictability is often what growing readers need. So let me briefly outline some of the neat teaching points in this book.

Teaching point 1: Alternating points of view. Readers need to attend to the names at the top of each chapter in order to determine the “I” voice. The chapters alternate in an A-B-A-B pattern, which I think is easier for readers to track than a multi-voice book (A-B-C-D-B) or an inconsistent switchoff (A-A-B-A-B-B)

Teaching point 2: Character comparisons and inferences. Ravi recently moved from India and is unfamiliar with the customs of the U.S., which makes for some painfully awkward moments. Joe has Auditory Processing Disorder, which makes certain school tasks hard for him and makes him appear less capable than he is. Even though these characters are different, they have a lot in common: both are misunderstood, both are outsiders, both are struggling to make friends. Some of the readers I work with need the explicit teachings into character inferences (“How might this character be feeling right now?”) even if they can capably track literal events. Good for the writers for creating multiple entry points to understand these characters’ feelings of outsider-ness; if students miss one or two points, they can still see the others.

Teaching point 3: Understanding something before the character does. Through Joe’s point of view we understand that Dillon Samreen is a major Grade A bully who has a long history of teasing Joe. (Dillon’s mom drives a Mercedes with the license plate ENVY ME.) Ravi sees a fellow Indian in the class and is expecting Dillon to become a good friend. Readers should be asking: when is Ravi going to figure out that Dillon isn’t a good friend? Ravi’s realization that Dillon isn’t a good person is dramatic and Ravi repeatedly returns to how his feelings on Dillon changed.

Teaching point 4: Knowing how stories go. Ravi and Joe start out the book as classmates; based on the title of the book and prior story knowledge about school stories readers can predict that by the end, they will become friends.

There are a variety of organizers and teaching tools one could use (charts, timelines) to help readers see this growth over time. And this book “sits still” for that kind of study for the readers who need it.

…more

This book had so many different emotions for me. I was angry with the teacher for not taking the time to pronounce Ravi’s name correctly. Furious with Dillion the bully who picked on both Ravi and Joe. Loved learning more about the perspective of Ravi’s family who moved here from India. Wish I would have known there was a dictionary in the back of the book earlier. Thrilled I will be adding this book to my classroom library to celebrate diversity.