How to Make Friends with a Giant by Gennifer Choldenko
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The new kid in Jake’s class has the largest lunch
box you’ve ever seen. His name is Jacomo, and he’s giant of a kid. Or a kid giant. You pick. “Either way,” Jake’s friend Ann says “he doesn’t belong.” Jake’s friend Ann is kind of fink, but she may have a point: Jacomo is too big to ride the school bus; he’s too tall to sit in the front of the class; he’s even bigger than their first grade teacher. When their class plays soccer at recess, he kicks the ball so far he ends the game. Unlike his new friend Jacomo, Jake is tiny. He gets called “Shrimp” a lot, so he knows what it’s like to feel different and excluded. Throughout Jacomo’s first day at school, Jake does whatever he can to cheer him up and make him welcome. When Jacomo can’t fit onto the bus, Jake suggests he race it to school. When he’s too big to sit on the rug during story time, Jake helps find a place for everyone. Of course Ann grumbles, “None of the other classes have to do this," so Jake helps her out, too: “Just sit down Ann… and be quiet.” Gennifer Choldenko is the Newberry Honor-winning author of Al Capone Does My Shirts, a historical novel for middle readers that’s set on Alcatraz Island and follows the family of a young girl with autism. Her new book How to Make Friends with a Giant is a picture book for younger children. In its pages, Jake and Jacomo become best friends despite their very different sizes, and Jake’s kind words and actions show how small acts can make even a very big kid feel included. Amy Walrod illustrates the story with simple lines and shapes colored in the bright greens, blues, and yellows of recess and school time. She fills Jake and Jacomo’s classroom with fun little details like library books with silly titles and a class-pet hamster that listens attentively during story time. Best of all, she draws the class itself with a diversity that underscores the story’s moral. How to Make Friends with a Giant is recommended for big-hearted children ages 4 to 8. Review by Mark David Bradshaw, whose first-grade nickname was “Smurf.” July 12, 2006 Read here for a review of Gennifer Choldenko’s Al Capone Does My Shirts: http://www.watermarkbooks.com/review0506-017.html |
