This is one of the most important award stickers you will ever see on a book. It is awarded for books that continue the messages of Martin Luther King Jr. My rows and piles of coins was published in 1999 and received an Honor award.
My friend at Kinderbooks and I were talking about books to read when we share the CBCA short listed title The Patchwork Bike later this term. I am so glad my friend mentioned this book.
"By the dim light of a lantern, I feasted my eyes on the money. I couldn't believe it was all mine. I emptied the box, arranged all the coins in piles and the piles in rows. Then I counted the coins and thought about the bicycle I longed to buy."
Saruni longs for a bike. Not just so he can enjoy riding but so he can help his mother on market days. His kindness is inspirational as is the generosity of the person who eventually makes sure this young boy does get a bike of his own.
Here is a review which will give you more detailed of the plot. You can see a video of the whole book here. There are a lot of sets of teaching notes available for this book. The author Tolowa M Mollel was born in Tanzania (the setting for this story) and now lives in Edmonton in Canada. He has written 16 books so I need to investigate them and add some more to our library. I was also excited to see EB Lewis has done a new cover for Because of Winn Dixie.
1 comment:
So pleased you liked it. Do you have The Red Bicycle too? They are a good pair.
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