In English, of Course
“Sly humor...hilariously paced”
-School Library Journal
Shortlisted for the Caldecott Medal
BONUS: In a heart-warming author’s post-script about her own experience as the child of Italian immigrants, readers consider how, sometimes, people underestimate the talent and dignity of those who do not speak the same language!
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Set in the Bronx during the 1950s, when postwar immigrant children were placed in English-language-only American classrooms, this laugh-out-loud book relates riotous linguistic misunderstandings on an Italian immigrant student’s first day of school. The daughter of urban, Neapolitan engineers, Josephine has been teaching herself a few English words—mostly from her little brother’s book about farm animals. Various students tell something about the lives they left behind, but Josephine doesn’t understand much. When it’s Josephine’s turn to face the class, she tells her story in her “broken” English, of course. The result is a slapstick tale—not about Josephine’s life in the city of Naples, but about the outrageous misadventures she had the one time she visited a farm. Anticipating the vocabulary Josephine needs to tell her coherent--if uproarious--tale, the teacher fills the board with suggestions while mutual bonds of affection and admiration form.
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Author: Josephine Nobisso
Illustrator: Dasha Ziborova
Publisher: Gingerbread House
Trim Size: w 12" × h 9" w/ Dust Jacket on hardcover only.
Pages: 32, Full Color Illustrations
Ages: All (A "Cross-over" Picture Book for Both Children and Adults)
Hardcover ISBN: 0-940112-07-8
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-0-940112-07-0
Hardcover Price: US $16.95 / CAN $22.95
Paperback ISBN: 0-940112-08-6
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-940112-08-7
Paperback Price: US $8.95 / CAN $12.95
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Awards
Named to the "Best Books for Children" list by the Association of Booksellers for Children
Learning® Magazine "Teachers' Choice" Award
"Chapman Award" for Best Classroom Read-Alouds, awarded by Esme' Raji Codell
An ABA Book Sense "Pick of the Lists"
A PBS TV Teacher's Source "Recommended Book"
The Independent Publisher Award
Citations
"...zippy illustrations...a gem...endearing and winsome...sure to draw young readers with its humor...recommended for every children's library and bookstore..." -Críticas, the Spanish Language review journal of Publishers Weekly
"Sly humor...hilariously paced" -School Library Journal
"Exuberant. Reminds one of the illimitable Eloise." -Kirkus Reviews
"...humorous and warm-hearted" -PBS Teachers' Source One of Four "Recommended Books"
"...charming, fun, and stimulating" -Dom DeLuise
"One of those rare 'must haves'..." -Education Oasis
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