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A review by gymnerdreader
A Bike Like Sergio's by Maribeth Boelts
5.0
Annotated Bibliography Entry: A Bike Like Sergio's
Text Set: Kindness
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Summary:
Ruben wants one thing: a bike like Sergio's, except the only problem is Ruben's family does not have enough money to buy a bike. They have a mouthful of children to feed and Ruben's family is struggling. One day at the grocery store a lady buying bread accidentally drops money on the floor and Ruben picks it up thinking it is a dollar bill, however it turns out to be $100 bill. Ruben decides to pocket the money because it will be enough for the bike. Ruben is happy dreaming of his new bike he plans to buy, but he is soon overwhelmed with a sense of guilt. Finally, he sees the lady who dropped the money on the floor and decides to give the money back to her. He has mixed emotions about giving the money back, but is filled with pride once he is reunited with his family and they tell him how proud they are of him.
Personal Response:
This is a wonderful book in which a lot of children will be able to relate to. For starters, I am sure most children have heard of the old saying, "finders keepers, losers weepers" and this book speaks exactly to that saying. I am sure if in the same position children would keep the money without even thinking twice so this book allows children to see things from a different perspective. This book also allows you to feel sympathy for a variety of different characters. Overall, it is just a powerful book about the power of kindness and doing what is right. I think that is an important message for children to learn.
Descriptions of illustrations:
Illustrations are pretty typical in the sense that it is similar to a lot of the other books I have read for this project. That is not necessarily a negative thing. The illustrations are more cartoonish and simplistic. There is not much to them and that fits the overall style of the book. This book is more about the story line anyway. However I still did appreciate a lot of the illustrations present in this book: they are simplistic and I do believe they are appealing to children.
Classroom Connections:
I feel like this would be a good book to do a whole kindness unit on and there are definitely some activities students could do in relation to the theme of "kindness". I am finding it hard to come up with activities off the top of my head, but teachers could also use this book to discuss themes, specifically the kindness theme. Teachers could ask students if they agree with Ruben's decision to give the money back and teachers could also ask if the money was Ruben's because he found it. I could envision all the discussions that this book could generate. I also think this book could be acted out and students could act out the story or use reader's theater of some sort. Another activity that could be done is having the students write a journal from another characters' perspective. For example students could write from the lady with the bread's perspective and see how the individual stories differ. I think that would be super interesting to see!
Text Set: Kindness
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Summary:
Ruben wants one thing: a bike like Sergio's, except the only problem is Ruben's family does not have enough money to buy a bike. They have a mouthful of children to feed and Ruben's family is struggling. One day at the grocery store a lady buying bread accidentally drops money on the floor and Ruben picks it up thinking it is a dollar bill, however it turns out to be $100 bill. Ruben decides to pocket the money because it will be enough for the bike. Ruben is happy dreaming of his new bike he plans to buy, but he is soon overwhelmed with a sense of guilt. Finally, he sees the lady who dropped the money on the floor and decides to give the money back to her. He has mixed emotions about giving the money back, but is filled with pride once he is reunited with his family and they tell him how proud they are of him.
Personal Response:
This is a wonderful book in which a lot of children will be able to relate to. For starters, I am sure most children have heard of the old saying, "finders keepers, losers weepers" and this book speaks exactly to that saying. I am sure if in the same position children would keep the money without even thinking twice so this book allows children to see things from a different perspective. This book also allows you to feel sympathy for a variety of different characters. Overall, it is just a powerful book about the power of kindness and doing what is right. I think that is an important message for children to learn.
Descriptions of illustrations:
Illustrations are pretty typical in the sense that it is similar to a lot of the other books I have read for this project. That is not necessarily a negative thing. The illustrations are more cartoonish and simplistic. There is not much to them and that fits the overall style of the book. This book is more about the story line anyway. However I still did appreciate a lot of the illustrations present in this book: they are simplistic and I do believe they are appealing to children.
Classroom Connections:
I feel like this would be a good book to do a whole kindness unit on and there are definitely some activities students could do in relation to the theme of "kindness". I am finding it hard to come up with activities off the top of my head, but teachers could also use this book to discuss themes, specifically the kindness theme. Teachers could ask students if they agree with Ruben's decision to give the money back and teachers could also ask if the money was Ruben's because he found it. I could envision all the discussions that this book could generate. I also think this book could be acted out and students could act out the story or use reader's theater of some sort. Another activity that could be done is having the students write a journal from another characters' perspective. For example students could write from the lady with the bread's perspective and see how the individual stories differ. I think that would be super interesting to see!