She Is Born

She is Born
By Virginia Kroll
Illustrated by John Rowe
5/5 *****
K-2

            This was a very interesting book, and wasn’t quite what I expected it to be. It is a melting pot book, incorporating many different cultures and showing major similarities in lots of areas; medical personnel, type of clothing/blankets, celebrations/decorations, baptisms, religion, good luck charms, names, eye color, houses, food, crafts, sports, school/education among others. It starts with a picture of a baby girl, and has a different girl growing up eventually into a mother herself; each picture is a woman of a different race or ethnicity and there are several examples of the topics previously listed on each page. So, although different people of different cultures have different types of clothes, food, eye colors etc… we are all either a daughter, sister, cousin, niece, aunt, friend, wife or mother; we are essentially all the same, despite our obvious cultural differences.
        
            I think this book has lots of potential for introducing different social studies units, whether they are studying a new culture, a new religion, or any of the topics mentioned in this book, I think it would be a great way to spark interest in students and intrigue them in many ways. Because it is showing the life of an individual from birth to adulthood, it could be an introduction to a unit on the life cycle. It is also solely based on females, and could be related to feminism.
          

          One literary element I really liked in this book, was that there was a phrase on the first page of the book, “And earth will never be the same,” that was also found on the last page of the book. Not only does it help the book come to a close and tie everything together, it leaves the reader really thinking. Each and every individual changes the word and the earth and many other lives. I think this is an incredibly empowering idea that we should be teaching all students, because this is how we will help individuals continue to grow and develop, even as a global society.