Oliver at the Window by Elizabeth Shreeve Illustrated by Candice McDonald
This book is considered a contemporary realistic fiction. It portrays a little boys confusion of dealing with his parents divorce while adjusting to a new school.
Since we just talked about the cover of books, I noticed that the dust cover which has a large area of gray that you can see to the left is the same color as the darm window. The Inside of the book cover is a bright red like the title and that is the color of his school building.
I think that this book provides a unique insight to a child that is dealing with a divorce. We all know that it is going to be hard on him but when I think of a young child whose parents got divorce I don't think about how confusing it must be for them. The book talked about how he didn't know who was picking him up from school that day and how he didn't know what house he was sleeping at. The one thing that was consistent in his life was his stuffed animal lion. As a result he carried it around with him where ever he went and he never put it down. The only time that he did was when he saw a new girl in school who was crying and he wanted to comfort her. I took his lion as his idea of stability that all children need when going through a time that they don't understand.
I liked the simplicity of the pictures because what was the true focus of this book was the boy and his story about what he was going through. I think that bright pictures with lots of detail would have taken away from it.
Another thing is that this book was alittle emotional for me. I mean that I really felt for Oliver because I know that divorce happens a lot. As teachers we are bound to be dealing with kids that are going through the same thing. Maybe this book is a resource I could use to help get through to a child or not. Maybe it would help them feel not so alone. It is still a touchy subject that needs some addressing.