From: Barbara Scotto <barbara_scotto>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 00:02:02 -0500

One book (but not a picture book) that contains single parent families is Words of Stone by Kevin Henkes. Blaze's mother is dead, and he lives with his father and grandmother. Joselle's mother is very much alive, but when the book opens, Joselle is living with her grandmother. Her mother has a new boyfriend and has brought Joselle to her grandmother's house because she and the boyfriend are going on a vacation. Joselle's relationship with her mother is full of problems while Blaze's relationship with his father is a healthy one.
        I always begin the year by having the whole class read this book because it is shows the author's craft so well - masterful character development, narration in two voices, a classic rising action plot and so forth. It is also full of emotional issues that the students understand. This year a child wrote in her book group journal that she knew exactly how Joselle felt. She went on to describe the ways in which her feelings about her mother, a single parent, were like those of Joselle. In truth, this child's situation is totally different from Joselle's, but the book resonated deeply with her on an emotional level.
        It is so important to provide books in which children can find themselves and their families, and believe me, every variation of family exists in the real classrooms in which we teach.

                                                        Barbara

Barbara Scotto Sixth grade teacher Michael Driscoll School Brookline, Massachusetts
Received on Tue 12 Nov 2002 11:02:02 PM CST