Fourth Grade Journey

A Fourth Grade Teacher's Journey Through the World of Books

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Emily Out of Focus by Miriam Spitzer Franklin

How I Heard About It:   The community of readers is one of my favorite groups of people.  While picking up the ARC of Friend or Fiction by Abby Cooper, she also handed me this ARC.  I read it and now will pass on to another reader.  The "pay it forward" movement with ARCS is a wonderful thing.  


What It Is About - FIVE Things You Need to Know:  

1.  *Emily is an only child until her parents inform her they will all be traveling to China to adopt a baby girl.  


2.  *She has anticipation about the trip, but also has some concerns.  Emily makes a list of her "fears" and hopes she can overcome them while traveling abroad.  

3.  *Once Emily and her family arrive in China, Emily meets another young girl whose family is also adopting a baby.  Katherine, herself, was also adopted and is using this journey to find her birth mother.  

4.  *Emily and Katherine becomes friends as Katherine creates a plan to find her mother.  Emily agrees to help her, but has concerns about the lies she has to tell her parents.  

5.  *Emily has her own secrets from Katherine about one of the reasons she is in China and the project she is working on with the help of her grandmother's camera.  


What I Thought Of It:  Abby Cooper told me she enjoyed this story and I would agree with her.  The story was thoughtful, meaningful, and touching.  I enjoyed the character of Emily.  She was multifaceted and I could empathize with her on several occasions.  As a reader, I enjoy it when an author creates a character that has a goal in mind and everything they do throughout the story is a step toward achieving that goal.  Emily was determined to create a project for the contest and the reading was satisfying to "see" how would accomplish this both positive and negative consequences.  


Who Should Read It:   Being a fourth grade teacher, I would say this is the perfect middle-grade story for the age group.  The book could also be handled by a strong third grade reader.  Of course readers in grade five and/or six would be appropriate also.  If you have students that have been adopted themselves, especially from China, then this would be a great novel to put in their hands.  Happy Reading!  


Rating:   4 STARS out of 5 Stars!

No comments:

Post a Comment