Customer Reviews

Something About America

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Told in the first-person-narrative through a series of revealing poems, SOMETHING ABOUT AMERICA will seem so HONEST and so REAL that you'll be tempted to think it's NONFICTION instead of FICTION. SOMETHING ABOUT AMERICA features a fictional heroine who has immigrated from Kosova, Albania, with her parents ten years ago. When the narrator was three or four, she was burned. The family escaped their war-torn country seeking refuge in a land with burn centers and facilities able to help their daughter recover. Her father had always dreamed of freedom in America, but years after 9/11, the father is tired of having everyone look at him with suspicion because he is a FOREIGNER. He's tired of being seen as un-American. But the daughter considers herself an American. She can't really remember her former home or former life. The father is torn between returning to his country, which is no longer at war, and staying in America and making a new life. When members of their town voice a protest against the growing number of foreigners, the father makes his decision and makes a counter-protest to show his patriotism and devotion to America and his commitment to his daughter. The poems are well-written. The voice of the character is very well done. She's a well-developed and believable character.

This is an excellent book to use with mid-to-high-level readers in grade 5. I used it in my poetry class and my students got a lot out of it--both from the cultural perspective is introduces, but the exposure to sophisticated yet still accessible language.