Abuelo

Title:  Abuelo 

Author/Illustrator: Arthur Dorros/Raul Colon 

APA Citation:  Dorros, A. (2014). Abuelo. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children's Books. 

Lexile Score: 560L- (ages 6-8) 

Target Audience:  I felt as though this book might appeal to a some people both young and old.  It had a good message within the story, however, I enjoyed the family dynamics and the accurate representation of the culture through the illustrations. 

Summary:  This story revolved around the relationship of a boy and his grandfather.  After witnessing the closeness of their relationship, the boy had to move to the city and away from his grandfather.  In the end, he realized that even though they did not live near each other, their relationship remained strong. 

Evaluation: 

	4	3	2	1
Theme/Moral	The theme/moral of the story was worthwhile and provided a non-biased message for the reader.	Theme of the story was worthwhile but portrayed a somewhat biased message for the reader.	Theme of the story was somewhat worthwhile, but portrayed a biased message for the reader.	Theme/moral of the story was not worthwhile and portrayed a biased message for the reader.
Characterization	Characters in the story were relatable and did not portray typical stereotypes.	Characters in the story were relatable but some characteristics portrayed typical stereotypes.	Characters in the story were somewhat relatable, however portrayed characteristics  typical of stereotypes.	Characters in the story were relatable and portrayed characteristics  typical of stereotypes.
Illustrations	Illustrations in the story were relatable and did not portray typical stereotypes.	Illustrations in the story were relatable but some characteristics portrayed typical stereotypes.	Illustrations in the story were somewhat relatable, however portrayed characteristics  typical of stereotypes.	Illustrations in the story were not relatable and portrayed characteristics  typical of stereotypes.
Multicultural Aspects	Story provided accurate representations of  several cultures.	Story provided accurate representations of more than one culture.	Story provided accurate representation of only one culture.	Story did not provide accurate representations of  the culture discussed.
Historical Value	The story's historical references were accurate and did not convey a biased opinion of the event depicted.	The story's historical references were accurate, did convey some biased opinion of the event depicted.	The story's historical references were somewhat accurate, and did convey a biased opinion of the event depicted.	The story's historical references were not accurate, and conveyed a biased opinion of the event depicted.
Self and Social Identities	This book positively counteracts stereotypical messages based on gender, color, economic status, family structure, and/or abilities.	This book attempts to counteracts stereotypical messages based on gender, color, economic status, family structure, and/or abilities.	This book does not reinforce stereotypical messages based on gender, color, economic status, family structure, and/or abilities.	This book reinforces stereotypical messages based on gender, color, economic status, family structure, and/or abilities.
Language	This book did not contain any "loaded" words, and used alternatives to generic terms.	This book did not contain any "loaded" words, but did use some generic terms.	This book did not contain "loaded" words, however, consistently used generic terms.	This book did contain "loaded words, and consistently used generic terms.
Overall Rating	I would use this book in my future classroom and recommend it to other teachers.	I would try to use this book in my future classroom and might recommend it to other teachers.	If the occasion arose, I might read this book, but probably would not recommend it.	I would not use or recommend this book.

Overall Score: 28/32 

Literary Elements: Use of quotations within a text, use of various sentence beginnings (infinitives), imagery, metaphors 

Social Justice Elements:  Strong family bond, standing up for yourself, overcoming obstacles 

Sample Lesson:  One lesson I might do with this text would be for the students to describe someone that they have a special relationship with through a journal exercise.  Because this book had several Spanish words that were translated into English, I might have the students research specific words in another language to use in their writing. 

Side note:  Although this book scored relatively high, I believe their are other books that look deeper into the aspects of the culture with themes that have deeper meanings.