Mattson, Jennifer. July 1, 2006. One Green Apple: Review. Booklist online: http://www.booklistonline.com.proxy.g...

This is a story about a Muslim girl who is on a field trip with her classmates. They are at an apple orchard and some of her classmates are not very friendly. She is made fun of when she picks a green apple to put in the apple press for the cider instead of a red one. But the classmates realize when they taste it, mixing the two made it taste better. This is a great story to use when teaching about being different.

This book was a very good story. It tells about a little girl who moved to America from another country where she is unfamiliar with everything around her, especially the language. She goes on a fieldtrip with her classmates to an orchid. She is very quiet. The teacher tells them to pick one apple because they are going to make cider with them. The little girl pciks a green one while the other children choose red. Later, she wants to join in and help the students make the cider. She makes a couple of friends doing this and she sounds out the word apple, which makes her new friends clap for her. This would be a great book to read if you have a new student or student from a different country or culture in the classroom.

Author Website:
www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/eve-bunting/

A good example of realistic fiction because experiences such as these could easily occur everyday in schools across the country. Since this is the story of a Muslim immigrant's second day in an American school, told by her point of view, the reader is able to feel her emotions and receive insight about difficulties of language and cultural barriers as well as more familiar new student struggles. When the class takes a field trip to an apple orchard, the young girl tells about her experience in participating in making apple cider with the class. Toward the end she begins to make friends and learn a bit about how to communicate in English. Children can learn how to interact with others and examine how they treat those who are different from themselves. They may also be able to relate to the new student herself as a new student and/or trying to interact in a language that is not their own.

Media: watercolor ( )

450L,6 copies