BOTM for December is The Boy at the Back of the Class

[SaraKat]

Leave your comments for this month's book on this thread. Happy reading!

[Jemima]

Fingers crossed the Library finds it in time!

[Ellen]

The Boy at the Back of the Class is one of my favorite upper elementary/middle grade books. I put it on our upper elementary summer reading list when it was released and some teachers have since incorporated it as a homeroom read-aloud. The feedback is consistently positive from students, even a few reluctant readers. The narrator is a believable 9yo and the kind of compassionate that is relatable and inspirational to other children. The story builds empathy and world awareness. The author honors children's curiosity and realistic awareness of unpleasant social issues, even if adults sometimes want to pretend children are too young to learn about such issues. I also love the characters' naive, authentic confidence to solve big problems and be change makers in this story. Lastly, I love that the protagonists' gender is not identified until very late.

[Jemima]

Hey, my copy's ready for me to pick up at the library :)

[[deleted user]]

just put mine on hold

[[deleted user]]

ok, ok! I'm a bit behind. just picked it up yesterday!

[Sandy]

I've read this book and I love, love this book! What a great story, so many great moments for me when I read it.

[Jemima]

I’m still to start it, but if it’s that short, I’ll start it this week!

[Jemima]

Sandy wrote: "I've read this book and I love, love this book! What a great story, so many great moments for me when I read it."

Tell us more about why you love it - that’s what this thread is really about :)

[Jemima]

Annie wrote: "I read it! It was pretty good, but also weird. I'd love to discuss it with you all!"

Carry on, Annie. What did you like/ dislike about it?

[Jemima]

I finished this after Christmas, and loved it. I'm not sure why there was a puzzle about the narrator's gender, because she always seemed like a girl to me!

The whole story resonated with me, because this is such an issue in the UK at present. It's really good that people are writing first-class books to help kids understand not only who these people are and they may have stories to to tell, but also how to handle the extremist views some people hold.

The bit with the queen may have been a bit farfetched, but the media aspect was another bit of reality that people may have to learn to cope with. Consequences of our actions... I love that.

[Justine]

Funny how I never even thought about the gender or anything about the narrator, just that they’ve got a big heart and a strong voice that pulled me right along with it. Yes, the trip to Buckingham Palace was far-fetched, but that was, for me, all part of the charm - the things a nine-year-old would bring for afternoon tea with the Queen! I’m so glad I finally read this, it’s been on my TBR for ages.

[SaraKat]

I adored this one! I thought it was a sweet story and did a great job of explaining the refugee crisis to young readers. It was sad watching the group learn about how awful the world was for some people and that there were more wars after WWI (the only one they had learned about so far). For a book with a dead father, bigotry, and a war-torn family of Refugees, it was suprisingly light-hearted and humorous.

[Jemima]

SaraKat wrote: " For a book with a dead father, bigotry, and a war-torn family of Refugees, it was suprisingly light-hearted and humorous.."
That's it exactly. Great summary :) I must send it off to my great-nieces!