Kaliana Ewaskow's Blog

This week’s book is “The Outlaw” by Nancy Vo. The story aims to teach children about forgiveness and conflict resolution. The illustrations are very unique and well-done, and the pages are not taken up by long sentences. Instead, Vo chooses to use short, meaningful sentences and let the reader interpret the storyline situations themselves. This book is a great resource for classrooms with both younger and older students and it could lead to many significant classroom discussions.

This book begins by introducing “the outlaw” – someone who has a reputation of misdeeds. The townspeople warn each other to stay away from “the outlaw.” The shopkeepers close there doors early and the school teachers protect the children. Finally “the outlaw” decides to leave the town and no one expects him to come back. But then one day, after some time, a stranger enters the town and begins to repair the water trough, fix the schoolhouse roof, and work on the broken train platform. One day, someone recognizes him and reveals his identity as “the outlaw.” All the townspeople despise him and make him feel unwanted in the town, except for a small schoolboy who exclaims “leave him alone! He’s trying.” Some of the townspeople felt sorry for their actions whereas others did not change their minds. Nonetheless, the people of the town went back to their daily lives and “the stranger” continued to fix his mistakes that he made as “the outlaw.”

Now the book explicitly states that the stranger is “the outlaw,” and I’m sure older students are able to make that connection even before the author has introduced it. However, I like the idea that “the outlaw” is making an effort to fix his mistakes. I think sometimes kids automatically label themselves as “difficult,” “uncooperative,” or even “unteachable” when they do something wrong. This book provides the opportunity for the student to relate to a character that feels like an outsider, but still works to make amends for their wrongdoings. It also helps kids to exercise forgiveness with their classmates, as the schoolboy and townspeople did with “the outlaw.” Children know when they have hurt a friend, or have been hurt by a friend. By “the outlaw” coming back into town he is asking for forgiveness, and because of his asking he receives it.

This would be a great story to read to a class that may struggle with conflict resolution, but also with a class that does not. Sometimes there doesn’t need to be a problem present in order to discuss how to solve it. I haven’t read many books on conflict resolution, but “The Outlaw” would be a great addition to any classroom that is in need of one!

Critiques: none. I enjoy the simplicity.

This week I am reviewing the picture book “Math Curse” by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. This book takes a humorous approach to the involvement of mathematics in our everyday lives – no matter how much we may try to avoid it. It also discusses the reality of math anxiety in elementary school students.

The story begins with a teacher explaining to their young students that “you can think of almost everything as a math problem.” One student in particular finds this statement extremely daunting, and they struggle to go about their day without encountering a math problem.

The math is truly a problem.

The student becomes more and more anxious as they can’t seem to find any solutions. Eventually they decide they have been cursed with seeing math everywhere and they have a dream they are trapped in a room with “a lifetime of problems.” However, they are able to escape the room by creating a fraction – ultimately breaking the “math curse.” From then on, they are able to find the confidence to solve the math involved throughout the day.

I really enjoyed this book from the perspective of both a student and a future teacher. It enhances the idea that math isn’t an easy process for everyone, and it is common to have anxiety surrounding it. I think book is as funny as it is true – we can find math in every area of our lives and this is why it is so important to teach it.

I could definitely argue that the quadratic formula isn’t as necessary as basic addition, but it is the mastery of basic addition that allows for more complex processes. This book uses realistic scenarios: the time it takes to get ready for school, fractioning slices of pizza, and buying a chocolate bar. It also touches on different academic subjects like Social Studies, English, Phys. Ed., and even Art (cross-curricular woot!). This book demonstrates (even to very young students) that math is necessary to learn because of how much we subconsciously and consciously use it. I’d love to have this book as a part of my classroom in order for kids to have fun with the idea of math, while also recognizing it’s contributions to our past, current, and future societies.

Critiques: none. I can’t wait to read the version about science.

The second book I decided to review is My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete, Ryan Elizabeth Peete, and Shane W. Evans. This book teaches kids about autism awareness and treating others with kindness. It describes autism in such a way that both children and adults can understand.

This book focuses on a young girl, Callie, and her brother Charlie, who has autism. The story follows Callie as she journeys through her triumphs and trials with Charlie as her brother. Callie explains to the reader that although Charlie’s brain works differently than hers, he is still her brother who she loves and cares for. My Brother Charlie does a fantastic job of outlining the effects of autism on a family, both positive and negative, but ultimately showing that a designation does not determine a person.

I think this book would be a great addition to any elementary classroom, regardless if you have students with designations or not. It is important to educate students on topics like autism because it teaches them about acceptance and normalize discussing topics like diversity and inclusion. A student will be able to find themselves identifying with someone in this story, either the relative, friend, classmate, etc. This book makes it accessible for children to learn about autism in a way that is familiar to them – through the eyes of a girl their age. I know I wasn’t educated enough on this topic when I was younger and it’s about time we changed that for the generations to come.

Critiques: I don’t have much to say other than I want to find many more books like this one. I would be interested to read a book based on Charlie’s perspective and how children with autism see the world around them. Moreover I hope to find many more books that discuss designations in children in such a positive and effective way.

I’ve attached this video from Shelley Moore’s “Five Moore Minutes” YouTube channel where she talks about the importance of inclusion in classrooms:

The Evolution of Inclusion: The past and future of education – YouTube

The first book I chose to review is The Juice Box Bully by Bob Sornson, Maria Dismondy and illustrated by Kim Shaw. This book was written in order to teach kids about bullying and the importance of standing up for yourself and others.

The story itself is about a student named Pete who arrives at his new school. Pete is considered the bully in this story and he has several encounters with his classmates that create division in the classroom. One student brings to Pete’s attention that everyone in the class had made a “promise” to each other – that they will stand up for each other in the face of bullying and they will not participate in bullying of any form. Pete confesses that he has been bullied in the past and this is why he chooses to reciprocate the behavior. Pete realizes his classmates have no intentions of bullying him, instead they choose to offer him kindness and forgive him for his actions. In the end, Pete becomes friends with his classmates and chooses to make “the promise.”

The authors provide both the perspective of Pete as well as his classmates who are bullied by him. This way, students will recognize the actions and characteristics of the bully, as well as those of the victim. Students can decipher what actions of bullying look like and what actions of forgiveness look like.

I think this is a great resource because it not only presents a relatable scenario for children, but more importantly it demonstrates how they should react in this situation. An important aspect of this book that separates it from others alike is that there is never an adult or teacher presence to solve the problem. As much as kids should go to an adult when they have an issue, I think it is also realistic to say that there may not always be an adult around in the heat of a moment. In this book, the students must approach Pete themselves and as a group in order to stick up for each other. This teaches students that they have a voice and are capable of solving problems in a respectful manner (but of course this may not always be the case). I would say this book would be suit grades 1-3 as it uses simple language and very distinct bullying scenarios that kids will pick up on easily.

Critiques: As much as I think this book takes a different approach to the impact of bullying, it also does not. It follows the usually plotline of: new student arrives at school, they bully other students, it turns out to be a misunderstanding, they solve the issues everyone is happy, the end. I think there are many more unique situations than this one, in which bullying isn’t as evident as purposefully spilling a juice box on your classmate’s shirt. It seems like there are many kids who would not think of themselves as a “bully” because there actions aren’t as obvious. Hidden bullying tendencies are a whole other discussion in themselves, but I think they should be talked about more. When kids are young, they usually don’t recognize their own bullying tendencies because it hasn’t been revealed to them that what they’re doing is wrong. Although I think this book is effective to have in the classroom, we still have a long way to go in this topic of literature.