Jason, Josiah, Daniel, Lydia and Aidan from Leslie's class and Colin, Miles, Krista and Margaret from Andrew's class were engrossed in reading and discussing their fourth grade book group selection, Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World. This book written by Mildred Pitts Walter won the Coretta Scott King Award. When we finished reading the book each student felt strongly that this book deserved the award based upon the strong writing, the family history that Justin learns about when he reads his Great-Grandpa Phillip Ward Sr.'s diary and the life lessons and self confidence Justin learns from his grandpa.
Justin reads about the challenging time his Great-Grandpa had when he was ten and his family decided to leave Tennessee in 1879 and settle in Missouri to live a better life as an owner of a ranch. Although slavery was officially over in Tennessee African Americans were not treated equally or remotely fairly. Justin's ancestors had to show courage and determination to seek a life of true freedom. Justin uses this knowledge of the courage they displayed to gain confidence in learning skills such as cooking, and working on the ranch during his summer with his grandpa. He returns to his mother and sisters with an independence that is admired by his family. All members of the book group were able to make text to self connections and recognize times they felt proud when they learned a new skill, or needed to resolve conflict with a sibling. They also made a lot of text to world connections and text to text connections to the time period Justin read about in his Great-Grandpa's diary. This was certainly a book that will be remembered for quite a long time by all.
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