How cute is this little girtl?! I mean, I can picture her walking down the street skipping school, sitting in her boat, tricking her Lin Nai Nai. But, I think that each character has something to offer the reader. The friend who knows too much, the mom who makes Jean abide by the rules, her dad who bends the rules, and even the bully with his square knees. I think that this book is good for young readers looking to relate to a character far away in space and time, but so close in behaviors and imagination. I think the books that I like the most are the ones that remind me so vividly of being kid myself. Sometimes we forget how important simple things can be, and how children view the world.
For this reason, I believe that the best age group for this book would be those on the verge of shedding their egocentric view of the world, 5th, maybe even 6th grade. I think that there are several excellent opportunities in this book for students to evaluate Jeans actions, which are so authentic I wouldn't be surprised if students had themselves been in the same situations. They could read, and then discuss in small or large groups Jeans actions, and then perhaps debate why or why not they felt Jean was validated in her behaviors. For many of these issues, I believe I would be on the fence, such as singing to King George, and could see both sides of the argument. When students are asked not only to read, but to evaluate what they read, and then apply it to their own lives, and consider other students points of view, they are gaining more that rote memorization of facts. They are learning life skills, and are learning how to think for themselves, not what to think. I believe this is the core of education, and any tool I can use (such as a novel like Homesick), to make that education realized is a must in my classroom.
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