Caldecott Book 5

The fifth Caldecott book I read was The Man Who Walked Between the Towers written and illustrated Mordicai Gerstein. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers won the Caldecott Medal in 2004.

What I really liked about this book was that it exposes children to two things: First, it has an age appropriate way of remembering September 11th, and it exposes children to the culture of street performing. Many of our students were very young when September 11th happened, so this is an appropriate way to teach our students about their history. Students can also learn about street performing. While this is something that doesn't really happen around here, it is neat for students to see activities and traditions that happen in other places.

My reaction is based on my own life experiences. September 11th, for me, is one of those days that you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you found out what happened. It is important for us to learn about and remember our history.

I have not read any other books by this author, but it does remind me of some of the books in our reading series. We have several non-fiction and historical fiction books about events that have happened in America. It think it is important for students to know their history and to learn from it.

The insight I gained from this book is that students can be taught history in many ways. They can be presented the facts in non-fiction texts or learn from historical fiction. No matter the method, what is important is that they learn their history.