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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
Great book with a very strong, yet gentle main character. As a refuge from Sudan, a young boy adjusts to living in the United States. This is told in free verse so it flows along at a fast clip. The story is compelling and tugged at my heart.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sweet story that I hope my students read again after A Long Walk to Water.
I loved the innocent child's eye view of life as an immigrant. Kek is so hopeful and resourceful that you can't help but love him and Applegate's writing is the perfect mix of eloquent and awkward that lets the reader into the unique and often confusing process of coming to a new country and making it home.
I liked the choice to write the story as a first-person epic free verse poem. It gives Applegate freedom as she tries on Kek's voice. You'll fall in love with the youngest characters and ask plenty of questions about why our world is the way it is now. I am reading it with my 5th grade students. They are loving hearing it aloud so far....
LOVE!!! So much!
Everyone. EVERYONE should read this little gem. Especially now.
Kek's voice is clear and strong and wonderful.
Great empathy book. Perspective.
Would go great with so many: Long Walk to Water, Out of the Dust, Inside Out & Back Again, Save Me A Seat, just to name a few.
Everyone. EVERYONE should read this little gem. Especially now.
Kek's voice is clear and strong and wonderful.
Great empathy book. Perspective.
Would go great with so many: Long Walk to Water, Out of the Dust, Inside Out & Back Again, Save Me A Seat, just to name a few.
A must-read. This book, told in verse, will squeeze your heart, making you laugh on one page and cry on another. Katherine Applegate has a way of making a mundane scene into something sacred. You'll be reading along, when all of a sudden her words are so affective that you are just knocked out with their poetry and emotion.
The main character is Kek, a boy who arrives in Minnesota from the Sudan. He is very sincere and kind but struggles to adjust to life in a new country. He hopes that his mother is still alive, although everyone tells him not to. He lives with his cousin and aunt, the only members of his family who are not dead or missing.
Because it's in verse, there is a lot of white space in the page. It's not long and the vocabulary is not difficult. Perhaps because of this, the impact is powerful.
The main character is Kek, a boy who arrives in Minnesota from the Sudan. He is very sincere and kind but struggles to adjust to life in a new country. He hopes that his mother is still alive, although everyone tells him not to. He lives with his cousin and aunt, the only members of his family who are not dead or missing.
Because it's in verse, there is a lot of white space in the page. It's not long and the vocabulary is not difficult. Perhaps because of this, the impact is powerful.
I am not a huge fan of free verse novels, but it did seem to work for this book. With the exception of the rather abrupt ending, I enjoyed this book. It is interesting to see the familiar through unfamiliar eyes and it brings to mind my own year as a foreign student in Germany - many things seem like missteps. I would like to have seen a bit more, but I suppose the story is really about family and not about being a stranger in a new land.
Spare, simple, and moving,
this book of free verse poetry tells the story of Kek, a young man trying to make a new life in Minnesota after fleeing the ravages of war in Sudan.
Kek has always understood himself as defined by his family, culture, and setting, and has no idea who he is without those familiar concepts and surroundings to give him bearing. Language is the least of what he must learn to translate.
The horrors of Kek's past are shared but not belabored as he tries to stoically deal with his grief, grateful for this second chance while longing for everything he has lost.
A sandstorm passes; the stars remain.
-----
Hungry, Kenya? a boy in the back asks.
His voice has knives in it.
He holds up an apple half eaten.
None for me, thank-you, I say,
using my polite English words.
And my home, I add,
is not Kenya. It's Sudan.
He tosses the apple across the room.
It lands on my desk
and drops to the floor.
My homeroom teacher
looks up from his newspaper.
Can the flying fruit, he says.
Of course, I don't want
the apple to be wasted.
I pick it up off the floor
and throw it back to the boy.
It hits him on the nose.
I'm a fine thrower of rocks and balls.
It is not my fault the boy moved.
The teacher gives me a detention slip.
I'm not sure what this slip means,
but I do know I'm the only one in class
who receives one.
I feel very lucky
to be selected by my teacher
for such an honor.
this book of free verse poetry tells the story of Kek, a young man trying to make a new life in Minnesota after fleeing the ravages of war in Sudan.
Kek has always understood himself as defined by his family, culture, and setting, and has no idea who he is without those familiar concepts and surroundings to give him bearing. Language is the least of what he must learn to translate.
The horrors of Kek's past are shared but not belabored as he tries to stoically deal with his grief, grateful for this second chance while longing for everything he has lost.
A sandstorm passes; the stars remain.
-----
Hungry, Kenya? a boy in the back asks.
His voice has knives in it.
He holds up an apple half eaten.
None for me, thank-you, I say,
using my polite English words.
And my home, I add,
is not Kenya. It's Sudan.
He tosses the apple across the room.
It lands on my desk
and drops to the floor.
My homeroom teacher
looks up from his newspaper.
Can the flying fruit, he says.
Of course, I don't want
the apple to be wasted.
I pick it up off the floor
and throw it back to the boy.
It hits him on the nose.
I'm a fine thrower of rocks and balls.
It is not my fault the boy moved.
The teacher gives me a detention slip.
I'm not sure what this slip means,
but I do know I'm the only one in class
who receives one.
I feel very lucky
to be selected by my teacher
for such an honor.
Couldn’t put it down - such a beautiful, timely, uplifting story...and Kek shares my love of cows! 🐄