This book includes a plain text version that is designed for high accessibility. To use this version please follow this link.
children’s perspective what it is like to live surrounded by buildings and paved lots. A librarian encourages the children to take their concerns and their ideas to City Hall. When they are turned away, adults get involved by returning to City Hall to pursue a city park. The story talks about politicians eager to win people over in an election year, and the sometimes disappointing experi- ence of working with city government. This is a good story to discuss with students ages nine through twelve.


Spaghetti Park, by DyAnne DiSalvo


(Holiday House, 2002), tells the story of a neighborhood park that has been taken over by vandals and troublemakers. Community children and their grownups resolve to take back their beloved place for playing, stroll- ing their babies, and most importantly, for playing bocce. Bocce is the favored game of the “old-timers,” and one of the main characters is learning to play from his grandfather. After community meetings, people commit to helping out in different ways. Ultimately this is a story of a few brave people being willing to step outside of their usual behaviors—whether it’s confronting a peer or asserting one’s indi- vidual likes even though they are different from the group—and a community com- ing together to create a place for everyone. Children eight through ten will appreciate the storytelling in this book.


Ghetto Cowboy, by G. Neri


(Candlewick, 2010), is a young adult fiction about a troubled teen who is dropped off in Philadelphia to live with his estranged father. He is introduced to the urban cowboys of Chester Avenue—men who spend their lives racing and raising horses on the streets. This fiction is based on the actual cultures in Philly and Brooklyn, and the website for the book, gregneri.com, provides background information including a video about the topic. The text is written in dialect throughout and shows an unflinching picture of life on the streets, hard times among family, and fighting for what’s right. The city confiscates several horses and when Coltrane’s is taken, he and other youths come up with a plan for getting the horses back. Their actions end up inspiring hundreds of others to become involved in civil disobedience for the sake of preserving their community. This is a stun- ning novel for ages ten and up.


Dear Mr. Rosenwald, by Carole Boston


Weatherford (Scholastic Press, 2006), is a stylized, painterly picture book that tells the story of Julius Rosenwald (president of Sears, Roebuck and Co.). Because of his generous donations of money in the early twentieth century, many schools for African American communities were built in the South. People came together to sweat, pound nails, and donate time and goods, so the children would have places to learn. Part of the stipulation for donating funds to this cause was that the com- munities needed to raise a portion of the funds themselves, from both white and black donors. Told from a child’s perspective, the book includes historical information but on a per- sonal level. This important story is especially well suited for seven- to ten-year-olds.


More Good Community Stories that we


have reviewed in past Connects are Rox- aboxen, by Alice McLerren; Secret Place, by Eve Bunting; Letting Swift River Go, by Jan Yolen; Pennies for Elephants, by Lita Judge; and Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh.


©SYNERGY LEARNING • 800-769-6199 • MARCH/APRIL 2012 Connect • PAGE 17


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28