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Laura Shovan

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary

by Laura Shovan (Author) Format: Hardcover

(231)

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An award-winning, big-hearted time capsule of one class’s poems during a transformative school year. A great pick for fans of Margarita Engle and Eileen Spinelli.

Eighteen kids,
one year of poems,
one school set to close.
Two yellow bulldozers
crouched outside,
ready to eat the building
in one greedy gulp.

But look out, bulldozers.
Ms. Hill’s fifth-grade class
has plans for you.
They’re going to speak up
and work together
to save their school.

Families change and new friendships form as these terrific kids grow up and move on in this whimsical novel-in-verse about finding your voice and making sure others hear it.

Honors and Praise:

Winner of a Cybils Award in Poetry

Winner of an Arnold Adoff Poetry Honor Award for New Voices

An NCTE Notable Verse Novel

A Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year

An ILA-CBC Children’s Choice

Nominated for the Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award, the Wisconsin State Reading Association Children’s Book Award, the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award, and the Great Stone Face Award (New Hampshire), Lectio Book Award Master List

“This gently evocative study of change in all its glory and terror would make a terrific read-aloud or introduction to a poetry unit. A most impressive debut.” —School Library Journal

“Sure to inspire the poet in all of us, young and old.” —Mark Goldblatt, author of Twerp

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Reading age

10+ years, from customers
Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Grade level

3 - 7
Dimensions

5.81 x 0.88 x 8.56 inches
Publisher

Wendy Lamb Books
Publication date

April 12, 2016
ISBN-10

0553521373
ISBN-13

978-0553521375

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-At the end of the term, Emerson Elementary School will be bulldozed to make way for a shopping center and students will be reassigned to other schools in the district. This change is particularly hard for the 18 fifth graders in Ms. Hill's class. She tasks them with keeping a poetry journal throughout the year; their poems will be placed in a time capsule at the end of the year. The students write about their feelings, the project, the imminent changes to their community, and their worries about middle school through alternating poems divided into four quarters. One girl's mother is being deployed, a boy's father recently left the family, and another boy's beloved grandfather is ailing. With the gentle guidance of their teacher, who may have been arrested in the 1960s protesting the Vietnam War, they become socially aware and organize a movement to protest the school closure. The distinct personalities of the students shine through in a variety of poetic forms. Sadness, humor, anger, and hope are expressed in authentically young voices. The poetic forms are discussed in further detail in the back matter, making for a great teaching resource. VERDICT This gently evocative study of change in all its glory and terror would make a terrific read-aloud or introduction to a poetry unit. A most impressive debut.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARYby Laura Shovan Intermediate Lamb/Random 247 pp. Eighteen students will be in Ms. Hill's last fifth-grade class, before bulldozers destroy Emerson Elementary to make room for a grocery store. Inspired by Ms. Hill's past as a peaceful protester, the kids in her racially diverse classroom learn to voice their own opinions about the closing of their beloved school... The poems are easy to read, in authentic-sounding language that captures the poets' personalities; avatar-like illustrations accompany each piece to remind readers of who's who. Sarah Berman, The Horn Book

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wendy Lamb Books
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 12, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553521373
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553521375
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 10+ years, from customers
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.81 x 0.88 x 8.56 inches
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7
Best Sellers Rank: #3,895,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #687 in Stories in Verse
- #1,548 in Children's School Issues
- #2,139 in Children's Siblings Books (Books)
Customer Reviews:
(231)

About the author

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Laura Shovan

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Laura Shovan is a novelist, educator, and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. Her work appears in journals and anthologies for children and adults. Laura’s award-winning middle grade novels include The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Takedown, and the Sydney Taylor Notable A Place at the Table, written with Saadia Faruqi. An honors graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (BFA Dramatic Writing) and Montclair State University (Master of Arts, Teaching), Laura is a longtime Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Education, conducting school poetry residencies. She teaches for Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Her latest poetry collection for kids is Welcome to Monsterville (Apprentice House, 2023).

Laura's author website and blog are at www.laurashovan.com. Find her on Instagram @LauraShovan.

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