Too Far Away To Touch
By Leslea Newman
Illustrated by Catherine Stock
I really enjoyed this book, and I am not ashamed to admit that it brought a few tears to my eyes. It was a very touching book about a young girl learning how important it is to cherish family while they are still here.
Zoe is a young girl who loves when her Uncle Leonard comes over to take her on an adventure. She always loves playing tricks on him when he comes to pick her up. She wanted to inform her uncle he was loosing his marbles while she held two in her hand, but he was wearing a hat when he came over. Uncle Leonard wasn't taking Zoe to the museum or the zoo, but instead to the planetarium. After seeing the show, Zoe wished she could see real stars. She lived in New York, so the stars were almost impossible to see from her house. After the show, Uncle Leonard took Zoe to get food. She asked him to take off his hat because she wanted to play her trick. When he took it off, she realized a lot of his hair was gone. She asked if he was sick and he said that he was sick but that he was doing well that day. When Zoe and Uncle Leonard got home, he surprised her by putting glow in the dark stars on the roof of her bedroom. It was a long time before Uncle Leonard came to pick up Zoe for an adventure again. But when he did, he brought Nathan, and they all went out to sea side where they could see the stars. When Nathan went back to the car to try to find more blankets, Uncle Leonard informed Zoe that he was very sick. She asked if he was going to die and he said yes. She asked where he would be going after he died. He told her that he would be too far away to touch just like the stars.
This book does talk about AIDS, which may not be something young kid's parents have discussed with them, so this book may be hard to use with the younger kids. However, most kids have sadly had to deal with losing someone to disease making it a very relate able book. Also, every kid has that one relative that they love to spend time with, so you could take a positive spin on the book. You could have the kids discuss what they do when they spend time with a favorite relative.
I think this book has a very good moral to it, about cherishing and appreciating the people that you have in your lives now before it is too late. I think we can all relate to this book in one way or another, but the way that I would use this book is by having the kids maybe write a letter to someone who they love and appreciate and have the kids explain to them why they feel that way and also thank them for what they do and have done.
ReplyDeleteIn a day and age where families live far apart and are not as closely connected as they once were Araceli's comment would give great pride to any family member who would recieve such a wonderful letter. To spin off of that idea it would help students find a sense of belonging with-in their families and their ethnicities. The book also opens the avenue of being able to talk to someone about natural things in life. But you might need to send out a permission slip. It might help to co-teach with such a emotionally strong book.
ReplyDeleteI REALLY LOVED THIS BOOK!
ReplyDeleteI think that it is a really great story and message that touches on some tough issues with family and health, but is done in a really pretty and fantastic way. This type of book with these subjects could be done in a really cliche way, but it almost brought tears to my eyes as well.
I think this needs to be used in an older grade because of the material, but it could be a good opener to tough discussions if the parents are ok with it, maybe it could be used in an anti-bullying unit or something similar to that.
What a good find. The illustrations are breathtaking and the message is very strong.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your book talk for this one! I think that this was a very touching, intense message and may be hard for younger kids to deal with. It teaches a great lesson of cherishing the people in your life, but at the same time might be a little hard to read for the kids who may be dealing with a death in the family. I think like Joanna said it could be the start of a discussion to natural things in life or even used for an older class instead.
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