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cummingsj16

cummingsj16

Tikvah Means Hope - Patricia Polacco

Patricia Polacco's story, Tikvah Means Hope, is based off of true events that occurred in her hometown in Oakland, California. The story begins with the characters of Justine and Duane who help their neighbor, Mr. Roth, build a sukkah, which is a little hut that Jews would build to commemorate their harvest festival. After they have finished building their sukkah, the characters go to the market to buy food for their festivities. Upon returning to their homes, they find that a firestorm has destroyed their neighborhood. All is lost except for Mr. Roth's sukkah, which is a miracle! Everyone is absolutely devastated, especially since they cannot find Mr. Roth's cat, Tikvah. Luckily, she finally appears after surviving the devastating fires. This presents hope to all of the people in the neighborhood. This book's lexile level is 590L, and is recommended for children between ages five to eleven. This book would be great to talk about fire safety in the classroom and even religious diversity. Students would benefit from hearing how quickly fires can destroy homes if you are not careful. This book shows that tragedies can always happen when you least expect it, but I like that it shows how the neighborhood worked together to restore what they lost. Until reading this book, I never knew what a sukkah was, so I think presenting this book would be a great way to show students how different cultures can be!