Evaluation

When I thought about the way in which this novel had been composed, I thought about the movie “Valentine’s Day.” It wasn’t necessarily the content of this movie that intrigued me, but the way in which someone could write twelve different stories and have them cross over each other so effortlessly. In this novel, there were about eight or more characters and somehow their stories intertwined in the most unexpected ways. As soon as you began to predict one chapter, your predictions were shattered by a twist in the plot, sending you on a different path. Often times, the confusion felt by the characters was the same confusion I felt as I was reading the novel. It felt like I was watching a movie where each chapter was a new scene, a new beginning and moment of anticipation and excitement. 

I think this book would be an excellent book for upper elementary/middle school students. Although this book would not be an appropriate read-aloud for the younger grades, the theme of “life’s journey” is a powerful one. Perhaps you could create a writing assignment for the upper elementary grades, having them focus on where they want to go in life as well as the dreams they want to reach. Even for the younger grades you could create a dream quilt where the students draw a picture or illustration on a piece of cloth or construction paper representing what they want to be when they grow up. For a child of any age it is important for them to realize the power of perseverance, determination and the ability to make any dream come true regardless of how difficult it may be to achieve. As an elementary school student I remember creating a time capsule at the beginning of every new school year. In this time capsule my peers and I would write what we wanted to do in the future, where we wanted to go to college and what we wanted to accomplish. At the end of the year we would open up this very same time capsule and look at the goals and dreams we had already achieved. Not only is this a great literary exercise but it provides children with a basic understanding of what life is all about-finding a purpose to live life to it’s fullest.