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Monday, July 21, 2008

Journal: Upside Down and Backwards--By: Diane Gonzales Bertrand


I thought this book was a great example of how a collection of stories make even the ordinary problems of childhood bizarre. I felt that these short stories took children out on an adventure of all the struggles that children face in childhood. I liked how each story had a different setting, but each setting showed a strong relationship between family, friends, and teachers. This will be a great book to use in the classroom beause it is bilingual.


One of my favorite short stories in the book was called "Blue Ribbon". I liked this story because it shows how children will try to do whatever it takes sometimes just to make their family or friends proud. Alonzo loved all the attention he was getting for having the blue ribbon, that he had stolen just to impress his family. Alonzo's conscience then kicked in and he knew that he needed to give his ribbon back to the child that actually deserved it. It's heart warming to see how children want so much for their family and friends to be proud of them, but at the same time they have a conscience to know that stealing and lying aren't appropriate.

1 comments:

René Saldaña, Jr. said...

I can really appreciate what Bertrand has done with these stories. They are full-fledged stories, but they are simple to take in and make something out of. They'd make for good read-alouds, or for independent reading. And the fact that the collection is in bilingual format, the better.