A Day's Work

The situation, language, and images brought me back to San Diego, and prompted me to revisit the topic of illegal immigration and to discuss it with my son. Bunting portrays a completely realistic day for an immigrant who is most likely illegal, but maybe not. He's definitely paid under the table, hangs out waiting to be picked up, so most likely he IS. He's certainly exploited like an illegal immigrant. However, the message of the story is that honesty and integrity are more important than a day's pay; the abuelo actually says that one should never LIE to get work. But.... ?

Bunting is so good at bringing real-life, diverse issues into your home. I enjoyed the conversation about character and politics with my 10-year-old most of all.

A Day's Work is a humbling, heartwarming story and if you're a teacher, it may be relatable to many of your students. As for the writing, the sentences are constructed very well and include plenty of compound and complex sentences. The illustrations compliment the text and allow the reader to draw plenty of clues about the text. The story is a great example of how life may be different for some children- just because both your parents speak english, doesn't mean all children's parents speak English.

I think this book would be appropriate for upper primary and intermediate readers.

This book is about Francisco and his grandfather. He helps him to find work because he does not speak English yet. Francisco learns a lesson about honesty and his grandfather shows the importance of integrity.

I think this book could be okay in a classroom but it depends on context and knowing your students. It could be seen as a misrepresentation of migrant workers.

This book is about a young boy who helped his grandpa find a gardening job in the United States. His grandpa moved to the States 3 days ago and doesn't know how to speak English. So it goes over the hardship of bot being able to communicate clearly. It also shows the integrity of the grandpa with having a good work ethic.
I think this book would be great for primary students. I think it is a book to be careful about with the intensity this book brings, but it also shows how important it is to go out of your comfort zone when you are in a new place.

A moral tale about a young boy living in California who lies to help his family. Francisco accompanies his father to get work as a day laborer because his grandfather doesn't speak English. A moving story that conveys a moral message without sounding preachy.

This book has been my favorite that I have read so far over this course and I believe it is an excellent story for elementary students to read. One of the main aspects of the book that has stuck out to me was the illustrations. All of the images were done in watercolor making them very vivid, but the colors of the paintings also went along perfectly with the text as well. This illustrator used many reds, tans, browns, etc. to capture the setting of the story in a very hot and dry area of California. I also enjoyed the language used; while mainly in English, the author put in some Spanish phrases to capture the Grandfather's home language and to present one of the struggles he faces in America by not knowing English. For example, "Muy show more bonito," Abuelo said. And Francisco said, "Yes, beautiful"". Here we are able to see how the young grandson is having to translate for the grandfather. This can help the story be more appealing to EL students and also help English learners acquire some Spanish phrases. The overall message of this book would be trustworthiness and the importance of telling the truth. show less

A grandson and his newly immigrated grandfather try to get him a day of work. His grandfather does not know english well and the grandson lies and says they can garden. The grandfather teaches his grandson that honesty is more important than finding work. It is written from an outside perspective and has some stereotypes in it. I would be careful as it does not authentically show the culture. It also paints the grandpa in a negative light and implies that he is inferior/not very smart.