Reviewed by Rethinking Schools
Review Source: Rethinking Schools
Book Author: Jacqueline Woodson
This powerful, lyrical picture book speaks directly to the children who are its intended readers, describing those familiar moments when a child may be marked as an outsider among their peers because of their home language, or the color of their skin, or the “different” food they bring for lunch. The soft, evocative illustrations introduce us to characters who live these situations alone, before realizing that they can connect across, and because of, the identities and experiences that make them unique. This book could be used to foster meaningful personal connections and anchor discussion about community in younger elementary grades.
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Published by Penguin on August 28, 2018
Genres: Bullying, Early Childhood Anti-Bias, Girls and Women, People & Places, Racism, Banned Books
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Grades 3-5
ISBN: 9781524741730
Review Source: Rethinking Schools
Also by this author: Each Kindness, The Year We Learned to Fly
Publisher's Synopsis: Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature
A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone.
There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.
There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.
Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.
(This book is also available in Spanish, as El Día En Que Descubres Quién Eres!)
Leave a Reply