Realistic Fiction

    The Callahan Cousins by Elizabeth Doyle Carrey follows a group of older elementary-age cousins spending the summer with their grandmother on Gull Island. This book is from the perspective of 12-year-old Hilar, whose parents are getting divorced. Through her desire to stir up an old family feud to prove her worth to her father, she leads her group of cousins on a variety of misadventures, including a sinking sailboat. 

    This book falls under the category of contemporary realistic fiction for older elementary-age to early middle-school-age girls (Galda, 2016). Despite the girls being left alone quite a bit and being very wealthy, which is largely unrealistic for this age, most of their adventures are highly plausible for girls their age. The main conflict is between the group of Callahan girls and the Bicket family, a feud dating back to when their parents were children. There are very few illustrations in this book, but the cover is reminiscent of colored pencils or maybe watercolor pencils (Galda, 2016). 

    This book has some excellent messages about the value of family, finding one's place, self-acceptance, friendship, and the value of kindness. The friendship between the Callahan girls is highly valued and encouraged, but they are also left to figure out how to navigate this friendship. Before reading this book, the class could have a discussion on how it feels to not fit in and the importance of family relationships. Some classroom conversations could go as follows:

Teacher: "Do any of you have a cousin, sibling, or other family member you're really close with?
Students: {various answers}

OR:

Teacher: "It's easy to feel left out or like you don't fit in, even in your own family. I'm sure many of you have experienced this in your own lives. In this book, Hilary feels left out of her family, but learns she's actually not too different. I think you'll all find something to relate to in this one."

    This is another book from my work library. This series has been extremely popular with the younger girls and it's been fun watching them get excited about reading. I've heard these books are hard to find now, but I'm not completely sure. I also read these as a child and really enjoyed them. They really bring together that image of the "perfect childhood". 

REFERENCES:
1. Galda, L. (2016). Literature and the Child (9th ed.). Cengage Learning US. https://reader2.yuzu.com/books/9781305854987

    

Comments

  1. Rosa Early Childhood Literature CollectionDecember 11, 2023 at 9:01 AM

    The Callahan Cousins by Elizabeth Doyle is a young adult fiction novel. This genre is characterized by stories that focus on the coming-of-age experiences of characters that are typically between the ages of 12 and 18. The Callahan Cousins follows the story of four cousins as they come together and experience the highs and lows of growing up, making it a perfect fit for the young adult fiction genre.

    Two literature response activities that are different from the ones already posted on their blogs are:

    1. Create a timeline of the major events in the book and present it in a poster or slideshow format.

    2. Write a letter from one of the characters in the story to another and explain why the character is feeling the way that they do.

    ReplyDelete

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