A stand-alone companion to two-time Newbery Honor author Kevin Henkes’s award-winning and acclaimed The Year of Billy Miller. With themes of family, friendship, and resilience, this very funny school story focuses on Billy’s little sister, Sal, and her first day of school. For fans of Ramona, Ivy + Bean, and Dory Fantasmagory.
Sal has been looking forward to first grade for a long time. But her excitement quickly turns to disappointment when she learns that her best friend, Griff, is in the other first-grade classroom and has the most popular teacher. Then Sal’s name is spelled wrong on her name tag, she trips in front of the cool fifth graders, and her self-portrait doesn’t turn out the way she wanted it to. In fact, everything about school is an absolute disaster. Poor Sal!
Luckily for Sal, she has understanding parents, a terrific new teacher, and empathetic friends who remind her that it takes time to adjust to change. And sure enough, after a few days, Sal feels like herself again.
Still Sal highlights themes of family, friendship, social and emotional growth, resilience, and adapting to change. The fourth stand-alone book in the Miller Family sequence includes black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott Medal winner Kevin Henkes on almost every page and is an excellent choice for early elementary grades, for readers ready for a short novel, and for family and classroom read-alouds. ---from the publisher
256 pages 978-0063389625 Ages 7-10
Keywords: family life, school story, new experiences, humor, friendship, resilience, teacher, empathy, main character female, 7 year old, 8 year old, 9 year old, 10 year old
Also in the Miller Family series: The Year of Billy Miller; Oh, Sal; Billy Miller Makes A Wish
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“It was just my imagination running away with me”
— Whitfield & Strong (1971)
“If only the ideas in your head actually happened in real life.”
I loved first grade! Sixty-three autumns ago, I began first grade at Fern Place School. It was a fun and notable school year. Most importantly, I started reading independently (and haven’t stopped since). Miss Kalish was a young, idealistic teacher who, two summers later, attended the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, saw Dr. King deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech, and raced over to tell me all about it on the morning of my first day in third grade.
The question is, will Sal (NOT Sally!) Miller experience a similarly successful year despite the twin catastrophes of having her best friend end up in the OTHER first grade classroom, and the indignity of suddenly having to share her bedroom with her toddling little sister Poppy?
(Readers of Henkes’ first Miller family tale, the wonderful Newbery Honor book, THE YEAR OF BILLY MILLER, may recall Billy having his own challenges about Sal coming along.)
“Sal didn’t move. She was irritated. Of course Papa knew what was wrong.
‘Sal?’
‘I’m not Sal anymore,’ said Sal.
‘Who are you?’ asked Papa.
‘’I’m somebody whose name doesn’t even matter because she has been tricked. She was a person who had a room of her own, and I–whoever I am–don’t.’
‘You’re still Sal,’ said Papa. ‘Always will be. And you still have a room. You just have to share it with your lovable, adorable, unbelievingly charming little sister.’ Papa wiggled one eyebrow, which usually made Sal laugh.
It didn’t make her laugh now.
Sal listened to Papa’s explanations for the hundredth time. Poppy was too big for her crib. Poppy was ready to move out of Mama and Papa’s room. Poppy was ready for a big girl bed.
‘And it’s going well, don’t you think?’ asked Papa. ‘You’ve had two nights together.’ He paused. are ‘When I was a kid, I shared a room with Uncle Jake, you know. And he snored. Boy, did he snore. So it could be worse.’”
Kevin Henkes has a real gift for understanding and writing about the thoughts, fears, and frustrations so many little kids experience.
The (now four) Miller family tales are great fun, provide thought-provoking situations that plenty of young audiences will relate to, and are just right for new readers transitioning from the leveled easy readers to middle grade chapter books.
STILL SAL is one you want.
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, California USA
See more of Richie's Picks: <http://richiespicks.com/> http://richiespicks.pbworks.co
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The first day of first grade is just around the corner and Sal is very excited. She believes school doesn't really start until you reach first grade - kindergarten is just a warm up. She's excited about being in the same class with her friend Griff, using her special horde of school supplies of glittery pencils, cupcake erasers and books with animals on the covers, and all the other things that being a first=grader brings.
But things start to sour when her friend Griff receives a letter to tell him he will be in 1A with Ms Flowers, and Sal's letter says she will be in 1B with Ms McCormick. Sal automatically forms a picture of Ms Flowers because of her name, which is reinforced when she sees the 1A students being handed name tags to wear while she has to search for her name on a desk - and it's wrong! She is Sal, not Sally. And from there, things go from bad to worse...
This is a thoroughly readable book that would be an ideal read-aloud either at the beginning of term or a little later as we get children to "remember when..." to show them how much they have grown and changed physically, mentally and emotionally since those very first days. Sometimes, when things don't come as easily as anticipated and the negative voices start to creep in, reflecting on "I couldn't then... but I can now" helps the child realise just how much they have achieved, whether it's learning to manage at school or, like Sal, share a bedroom with a younger sibling, having her long, tangly hair cut, and worst of all, see Griff start to make other friends. Sal, herself, feels there is so much change in her life that she is "not Sal anymore."
In the past, I have reviewed a number of picture books by Kevin Henkes, including Wemberly Worried, which also has a starting-school theme, and this is a stand-alone in the Miller Family series which explores and reflects those everyday issues that all families experience but done with the craftmanship of Henkes' storytelling.
It's feel-good story about family, friendship, social and emotional growth, resilience, and adapting to change that kept me reading and which will help all Sals in our care understand that despite all the changes, they are "still Sal."
This review can also be found here.
Recommended by: Barbara Braxton, Teacher Librarian, New South Wales USA
See more of her recommendations:
500 Hats http://500hats.edublogs.org/
The Bottom Shelf http://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/
