In English, of Course
Written
by Josephine Nobisso
Illustrated
by Dasha Ziborova
Gingerbread
House, 2002
31
pages
Fiction/Multicultural
Looking for multicultural books is harder than one may
think when you are staring at all the books at the JSU library, but this one
caught my eye, and I grabbed it. This
book is a story about a young girl from Italy who came to America in the 1950’s
after the WWII. She does not speak
English, and she is sent to school. On her first day, she learned how the
simple act of telling a story started a life of adventure for this young lady. Her teacher helps her tell where she is from
in Italy and if you want to learn how it all turns out grab a map and some
children sit on the floor and go on an adventure.
The illustrations are done in cartoon collage. The illustrator used cut our paper and mixed
media to give a whimsical view and how it may have been to a young girl from
Italy to be trying to tell your story in an US classroom. The use of color plays up the time setting of
the book, they are very 50’s to me, the green, blue and brownish-reds all
remind me of my grandmother’s house.
This
book would be good for kindergarten through sixth grade. This book gives a wonderful account of how
the world may sound through the ears of a non-English speaking student. This book would be good for a social studies
lesson to learn about different cultures.
A geography lesson could work about the country the main character is
from, and a language arts class could use the book to compare English to
Italian. This book as won the, “ Best Books for children” by the
Association of Booksellers for Children, “Teacher’s Choice” Award, “Chapman
Award”, ABA “Pick of the List”, A PBS TV Teacher's
Source "Recommended Book" and The Independent
Publisher Award.
NOTE: "Parla Inglese?" is Italian for "Do you speak English?" This post on Children's Conversational Italian on About.com is particularly fun since the links play audio recordings of children speaking the phrases.
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