Wow, I LOVE Reading! Mrs. Gibbs' Book Blog: Culture and Diversity

  Smith, Heather. (2018). EBB & FLOW. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press. ISBN 9781771388382.   Last year, Jett and his mother had moved to a new town for a fresh start after his father went to jail. When he befriended Junior, a boy with a difficult home life, Jett found himself in a cycle of bad decisions. Junior lived in a shed with his father behind the house of his relative and her special needs adult son. Jett befriended the adult son, whose behavior was more on the level of a 6-year-old. Thinking he had a stash of money, Junior and Jett planned to steal it. When they are caught, Junior assaults the man while Jett stood back and watched. Junior went to jail and Jett was let off with a stern warning. But his guilt and sadness over losing his friend punished him far worse. After these events, his mother sends him back to where they came from to spend the summer with his grandmother. While there, he must face what happened, and an even deeper dilemma, whether or not to visit hi...

Tak, B. D. (2008). SOLDIER BEAR. Ill. by Philip Hopman. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780802853752. During World War II, a Polish supply unit serving in Iran encountered a young boy who asked if they would trade food and money for what he was carrying in a squirming burlap bag. They opened the bag to reveal a bear cub, and the soldiers readily agreed to the trade. They named the little bear Voytek and took him into their unit as a mascot. Voytek traveled with them everywhere they went, quickly winning over even the most hardened officers with his amusing antics. He was even officially sworn into the Polish Army as a private. As he grew, the bear not only entertained the soldiers by getting into mischief, he also lifted their spirits and raised morale in the midst of war’s harsh realities. This novel is based on true events.   The story of Voytek and his soldier friends has many cultural markers that show  what it was like to be Polish in Europe du...