"What You Know First" by Patricia MacLachlan and Barry Moser is one of those books that parents will enjoy reading to children just as much, if not more, than the children enjoy hearing it read to them.
Just like people who grow up in northern California among the redwoods and near the beach always seem to carry a little bit of the redwood rainforest or the sound of crashing waves with them no matter where they travel or live, the characters of "What You Know First" will always carry a bit of the wide open prairie with them. The family in this story is leaving the prairie and moving to a place where the ocean reaches its fingers onto the shore and there are plenty of trees.
This isn't a tale of modern times - the car is clearly from the era when automobiles where just beginning to be owned by the average person - but it is a story that well resonate with readers of all ages who have ever had to leave someplace they love behind. It could easily be adapted into a lesson plan for children of any age who are studying about migration patterns of the United States or about the Dust Bowl and Depression eras.
Read more of this review:
http://www.examiner.com/review/review-what-you-know-first-by-patricia-maclachlan-and-barry-moser
Just like people who grow up in northern California among the redwoods and near the beach always seem to carry a little bit of the redwood rainforest or the sound of crashing waves with them no matter where they travel or live, the characters of "What You Know First" will always carry a bit of the wide open prairie with them. The family in this story is leaving the prairie and moving to a place where the ocean reaches its fingers onto the shore and there are plenty of trees.
This isn't a tale of modern times - the car is clearly from the era when automobiles where just beginning to be owned by the average person - but it is a story that well resonate with readers of all ages who have ever had to leave someplace they love behind. It could easily be adapted into a lesson plan for children of any age who are studying about migration patterns of the United States or about the Dust Bowl and Depression eras.
Read more of this review:
http://www.examiner.com/review/review-what-you-know-first-by-patricia-maclachlan-and-barry-moser
