Sing a Song of Tuna Fish: Hard-to-Swallow Stories from Fifth Grade [Hardcover]

Esme Raji Codell (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 5 and up

Like every fifth grader, Esmé Raji Codell spent her days within the small world of school, neighborhood, and family. But this small world provides rich material for the often hilarious, always engrossing stories and vignettes in this book. Esmé tells us about: the night she and her mother became "egg vigilantes" against an illegally parked car; her freewheeling first school, where kids could choose disco dancing instead of math; her dangerous neighborhood, which her father made seem friendly and wondrous; the Passover dinner when she stole a matzoh right out from under a rabbi; the awe-inspiring, life-threatening Chicago snowstorms; and lessons about love from tea-reading gypsies and Popeye cartoons.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6 - These seven stories provide glimpses into the author's childhood. In "Different Kinds of Schooling," Codell describes attending an alternative school where "you only did what you wanted," such as learning how to disco dance. That is until her father, who was a teacher there, got fired for taking his class on a field trip that entailed riding the public bus to Esmé's house, eating hot dogs, and watching the White Sox game on TV. In another tale, the author describes her Chicago neighborhood where people were, as her mother would say, "broke" not "poor." When her mother saw a shiny red Jaguar parked in front of a fire hydrant, she enlisted her daughter's help in bombing it with eggs. Other stories deal with religion, a first crush, and relatives. Unfortunately, Codell is a bit condescending, advising young readers to store away their memories, "just in case the strange and improbable day should arrive that you forget what it was like to be a child." Other than those few instances, this is a funny and poignant book about growing up. - Heather Ulesoo, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 4-7. Memoirs are a hot genre in adult literature, less so in children's literature. But Codell's small, intimate work is the very model of what this kind of book should be. It brings young readers close while opening up a wider world. Ten-year-old Esme is growing up in one of Chicago's lower-middle-class neighborhoods in the late 1970s. Her family is unconventional, but then isn't everyone's? Her parents love television and are indifferent to school attendance, and her mother once takes her along to egg the car of a rich guy. Esme relishes the structure of a public school after enduring one so free-form that students could spend their time doing anything they wanted, from cranking ice cream to playing with rats. What is so appealing here is not so much what happens to Esme as the marvelous deadpan way Codell tells her stories (at least 95 percent true, as claimed by the flap copy). She begins each chapter the same way ("Let me tell you about . . ."), and then she does what she says, telling children in a simple yet profound way how parents can argue but still continue on: "Love is loud." She brings death home with a report on a prank that kills a classmate, and she explains what it's like to sink in Chicago snow as if caught in quicksand. Esme's is a story that sings its own special song. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (December 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786855096
• ISBN-13: 978-0786855094
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #477,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Esmé Raji Codell is the author of the acclaimed novel Sahara Special, winner of the IRA Children's Book Award, a Kirkus Editors' Choice for 2003, and a BookSense 76 #1 title; as well as a memoir for young readers, Sing a Song of Tuna Fish: Hard-to-Swallow Stories from Fifth Grade. A former teacher, bookseller, and children's librarian, she lives with her husband and son in Chicago. Sahara Special and Sing a Song of Tuna Fish Hard-to-Swallow Stories from Fifth Grade are also available on audio from Listening Library.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great as a mentor text!, October 28, 2006

By 

Mary G. Dovey (Egg Harbor City, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sing a Song of Tuna Fish: A Memoir of My Fifth-Grade Year (Paperback)

As an antidote to a wicked case of bronchitis, I've managed to read my way through a stack of books on my nightstand and found a winner: Sing a Song of Tuna Fish, Hard to Swallow Stories From Fifth Grade by Esme Raji Codell, the author of Educating Esme and other books.

It was published in 2004 but I hadn't seen it until last week on the shelf of the Atlantic County Bookmobile. What a treasure! I've been searching for good mentor texts to use with our fifth and sixth grade classes, something that would make the kids and their teachers really "get" the need to focus writing workshop around memoirs--and boy this is it! Esme takes you right into her life as a fifth grader. I think that both kids and adults will be inspired to explore their own childhood experiences after reading this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sing a SOng of Tuna Fish is good for future writers, January 4, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Sing a Song of Tuna Fish: Hard-to-Swallow Stories from Fifth Grade (Hardcover)

This book made me Laugh so hard I liked her first book Sahara Special but this is even better. The teacher used thhe book to help us journal and I thought it would be boring but I could not wait for her to read these funny stories out loud and then write my own stories about things like school and grandparents. This author writes about the city in a way that is FOR REAL and not boring and now I write in my journal every day because I want to be a writter. My only comnplaint is this book is not rewally about tuna fish but I dont even like tuna fish so who cares.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Exceptional Book, June 27, 2007

By 

CgalsMom "Cgals" (CT, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sing a Song of Tuna Fish: A Memoir of My Fifth-Grade Year (Paperback)

I enjoyed "Sing A Song of Tuna Fish" immensely, not only because of the fantastic description and detail, but also how Esme Raji Codell created an incredibly entertaining story of her childhood. I think she did a very good job of making something that in real life might not have been that entertaining, into a very good story. I think that even a 40 year old would enjoy this book!!!!