Book Talk Thursday ~ Last Stop on Market Street

It's the first picture book to win the Newbery Award and is a Caldecott Honor Award. It is also a Virginia Reader's Choice for 2016-2017 and the last of the primary books I will review. Last Stop on Market Street is the perfect book for helping students with descriptive language.

This book is chock full of lessons for young children as they realize that people live different lives. In the story, CJ and his mother catch the bus after church. CJ asks questions on the ride about why others have what they don't. She always comes back with a reason their life is considered "better", making CJ feel better about what he has. The reader does not know where they are going until the end, which makes the story even more enjoyable.

With the rich descriptive language, the book lends itself to teaching about descriptive language. It is also perfect for comparing and contrasting. I have not used this one for an activity, but it is definitely something many students can relate to, especially through comparison of their lives with CJ's.

Last week when our fourth grade Language Arts teacher was out, I had to do some quick thinking for a writing activity. I read the book to them, pointing out the rich and descriptive language. As the mentor text for descriptive language, I encouraged the students to use descriptive language in their own personal stories. I told them I was looking for at least 3 places with descriptive language.  They wrote some great personal stories. It's too bad I didn't get pictures of them since I came down with the flu right when they were turning them in. I was actually able to grab some pictures from the other class when I went back to work today!

Their planning page

The actual story

Tune in next week as I highlight one of two picture books in the elementary category. And don't forget to link up with me, showing a great book anyone can use!



   

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