Customer Reviews

December Secrets (The Kids of the Polk Street School)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My daughter was assigned this book in school. The main character (Emily) and other students are extremely cruel to a girl names Jill. They constantly refer to her as being fat and use very cruel names when describing her. The main character does things like give Jill a skinny pencil so Jill will want to be skinny, and leave pictures of vegetables on her desk so she will go on a diet. In the end the girls become friends of course, but Emily still does things like tell Jill she looks good today but crosses her fingers behind her back since she really looks fat like always.

After reading this book my 7 year old daughter, who is at a perfectly healthy weight started doing exercises and saying she needed to be skinnier. Prior to reading this book she has never mentioned her own or anyone else's weight. She said she is fat and needs to be skinny. I am disgusted by this book and feel is should not be used in schools. I did let her teacher know about my daughter's reaction. I would not recommend this book to any child and would give it zero stars.

While towards the end of the book the main character does begin to see people for what is inside not outside, thru most of the book the main character constantly refers to Jill as fat. I would estimate the word fat is in the book over 40 times. It also has no uplifting message until the bitter end. My son had to read this book for school, but believe you me I turned in a review with is report.
There are better books out there for children the DO celebrate diversity. Look for them instead.

I am a first grade teacher, and I ordered this book from our class Scholastic Book Order. I was hoping to read this book to my class this week as a read aloud. Like always, I sat down today to pre-read this book before I read it to a group of 6 and 7 year olds- I am so happy I did!

Like many reviews before me, I was disgusted by the way the author described Jill Simon. Within the first chapter, I noticed the word fat being used at least 5 times, the main character even saying "everything about Jill was fat". Needless to say, I will be looking for another December read aloud.

There is so much good literature out there for children, and this book does not fit into that category. Buyer beware!

I have never written a review before, however I felt forced to in this case. If you are teaching positive body image & acceptance of others, do NOT buy this book. Ours went straight to the trash!

I read this book for a college course I am taking towards my elementary education degree. This is definitely a story that I would recommend to 2nd and 3rd graders. The story itself would definitely keep the child's attention and, in the end, they would learn a very valuable lesson about the true meaning of friendship.