For the last My Take/Your Take of this month (and this year!) Prisca and Ray share their take on After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat, which puts a clever twist on the end of a familiar nursery rhyme.
Author: grace
MTYT: Her Right Foot
This week, Prisca and Ray return to a familiar face with Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris, and discuss who the Statue of Liberty really is for so many Americans.
MTYT: Real Cowboys
Real Cowboys by Kate Hoefler and Jonathan Bean is a picturebook that illustrates cowboys in their daily lives. This week, Prisca and Ray continue our theme and examine who cowboys are with a fresh perspective from this book.
MTYT: A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider: The Story of E. B. White
For the month of December, My Take/Your Take focuses on taking fresh perspectives on familiar characters. This week, we look at A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider: The Story of E.B. White by Barbara Herkert and Lauren Castillo.
MTYT: Leaving My Homeland: A Refugee’s Journey from Syria
This week we discuss Leaving My Homeland, a part of a series of informational books. The nature of this book helps children understand the refugee experience with facts about Syria that led to the civil war and its citizens finding ways to escape.
MTYT: The Journey
The Journey by Francesca Sanna is a picturebook about a family’s journey of refuge after their country is unsafe after war. The family bonds are powerful in both the illustrations and the words. This book discusses refugee struggles and what happens to families that are refugees. It also provides conversation about how to help refugees in America today.
Carve the Mark Brings Awareness to Anxiety
By Grace Fell, The University of Arizona
From a young age, adults told me in a frustrated tone that I am too quiet. They told me I should speak up. I spoke quietly because I didn’t want to speak at all. I didn’t want to talk or look at anyone who I wasn’t absolutely comfortable with. Every day before school I cried because I dreaded the social environment of a classroom. My mother finally agreed to homeschool me to make me happier and more comfortable. Her friends and relatives judged her. They argued that I am just a little shy, that I should get over it. Though I hadn’t been diagnosed yet, I had crippling social anxiety. The lack of empathy from nearly everyone but my mother is depressing.
MTYT: Adrift at Sea: A Vietnamese Boy’s Story of Survival
Adrift at Sea: A Vietnamese Boy’s Story of Survival by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch with Tuan Ho and Brian Deines is the unbelievably true story of a refugees escape to America. We continue this month’s My Take Your Take with this story that invites readers to experience what it is to be a refugee. It also invites deeper conversation about refugees in America with more personal reflection.
MTYT: The Silence Seeker
We continue this month’s My Take Your Take theme of refugees with The Silence Seeker by Ben Morley and Carl Pearce. It is the story of a new friendship between a kind young boy and a refugee boy who has just moved in next door. This story promotes kindness and introduces a conversation to have with children about refugees in America.
MTYT: Books that Support Young Readers’ Understanding of Refugees
Flight is the story of refugees fleeing in the desert. At first, it appears to be the story about Mary and Joseph’s journey before the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s actually a much darker parallel to the original story. It is a picturebook that introduces the idea of refugees to children and highlights the importance of sheltering refugees. Sometimes shelter is not enough; we need to give them a home, too.
