I read these two books as part of the class I took on children’s literature for the Masters Degree I have been pursuing in Library and Information Science.
Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Bud Not Buddy, is an amazing piece of work that I highly recommend checking it out. The audio book is absolutely incredible. James Avery did a great job of bringing the story to life. It was nice to hear the familiar voice of Uncle Phil from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” telling the story. Also, the original music between the scenes was a great touch that fit perfectly with the theme of the story.
The author gave a talk at the London Public Library in the fall and it was phenomenal. He told stories about his life and how he got into writing, all the while extolled the virtues of being a reader. He was so entertaining that I want to read more of his books.
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
Sid Fleischman’s The Whipping Boy is an interesting tale about the power of opportunities. It seems to be teaching children about the importance of education and trying your best in school. At the same time, it shows that you need to be well-rounded and have a little bit of street sense and real-world experience. The story, however, feels outdated and overly didactic though. I’m not sure I would recommend this to a child.
I think it would be nice to adapt it as a play and produce it for a classroom. That would be a better way to present the material. I do some work in community theatre and think this could be a great addition to the current list of medieval themed plays we have on file.
My List of 2018 Reads – my annual reading log