More than Anything Else

More than Anything Else
Marie Bradby
Scholastic
Copyright 1995
Pages: 32
Reading Level: 4-8
Genre: Non-Fiction
Summary:
 A nine year-old boy works along side his dad and brothers everyday shoveling salt. This boy wants to learn to read, but doesn't know anyone who could teach him. On his way home from work one day, he saw a black man reading a newspaper, when he got home, he told his ma that he wanted to learn to read. She pulled out a blue book with the "alphabet" in it. She can't teach him to read, but encourages him to try to learn it on his own. The boy does his best, but can't make the scratches on the page make sense, He finds the man who was reading the paper and asks him to explain the alphabet. The man asks the boy what his name is and he replies "Booker." The man teaches Booker how to write his name explaining the sounds of the scribbles.
Recommendations and Conflicts:
I would recommend this book to any reader. A conflict I see in this book is that Booker has to work barefoot in salt mines all day every day, young children may not be able to grasp this concept, but older children will and I think that by the time they can grasp this concept, they will be mature enough the handle the implications of it.
Reaction:
I really enjoyed this book, it has detailed, vibrant pictures, it is written in the vernacular of the freed slaves, and it is well written.