DECEMBER 2014 - Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff - an empowering read for 4th and 5th grade boys and girls!
“E-mails from school are always bad, and they’re always about me. But letters from schools – the kind that are written on real paper and sent in a real envelope, with a stamp and everything – those are even worse.” Albie pg. 7, Absolutely Almost
Albie is getting ready to start fifth grade, but he won’t be going back to his old school where his best friend, Erlan, goes; he’ll be going to a new school, PS 183, where he will, according to Erlan’s older sister, have the complicated task of figuring out the right people to sit with at lunch. Albie’s not all that good at making new friends, in fact Albie’s not good at much, he doesn’t get very good grades and he’s not very good at sports, it’s not for lack of trying though, it just seems no one understands how hard he is trying.
A new school isn’t the only thing changing in Albie’s life, he has a new nannie, Calista; and now has to have a release form to go across the hall and play with Erlan, because Erlan’s family is filming a reality TV series. Luckily Calista is a pretty good person to hang out with, she sees how big Albie’s heart is and how hard he tries to do well. But when word gets out at PS 183 that Albie is best friends with a kid whose family are the stars of a new hit reality show, Albie must learn to figure out who his real friends are.
If you like Absolutely Almost and its unlikely hero Albie, tryTangle of Knots, also by Lisa Graff, Wonder by RJ Palacio, Warp Speed by Lisa Yee or Rules by Cynthia Lord. Or visit the author's web-site, lisagraff.com, to listen to, or read, an interview about how and why she wrote Absolutely Almost.
Albie is getting ready to start fifth grade, but he won’t be going back to his old school where his best friend, Erlan, goes; he’ll be going to a new school, PS 183, where he will, according to Erlan’s older sister, have the complicated task of figuring out the right people to sit with at lunch. Albie’s not all that good at making new friends, in fact Albie’s not good at much, he doesn’t get very good grades and he’s not very good at sports, it’s not for lack of trying though, it just seems no one understands how hard he is trying.
A new school isn’t the only thing changing in Albie’s life, he has a new nannie, Calista; and now has to have a release form to go across the hall and play with Erlan, because Erlan’s family is filming a reality TV series. Luckily Calista is a pretty good person to hang out with, she sees how big Albie’s heart is and how hard he tries to do well. But when word gets out at PS 183 that Albie is best friends with a kid whose family are the stars of a new hit reality show, Albie must learn to figure out who his real friends are.
If you like Absolutely Almost and its unlikely hero Albie, tryTangle of Knots, also by Lisa Graff, Wonder by RJ Palacio, Warp Speed by Lisa Yee or Rules by Cynthia Lord. Or visit the author's web-site, lisagraff.com, to listen to, or read, an interview about how and why she wrote Absolutely Almost.