The one thing you'd save by Linda Sue Park illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng

 

Here is a book I was very keen to explore because:

• The title made me curious
• The cover is filled with interesting objects
• It's by Linda Sue Park - I am a huge fan of her work
• AND bonus - this is a verse novel or perhaps a better word might be novella (it is quite short at 65 pages)

Here is the school assignment:

"Imagine that your home is on fire. You're allowed to save one thing. 

Your family and pets are safe, so don't worry about them.

Your Most Important Thing. Any size. A grand piano? Fine."

And one more thing as our first narrator explains "Ms Chang says we don't have to write anything down, just think about it so we can discuss it with everyone."

I should also add this class has a lovely motto

WE PROTECT, AFFECT, RESPECT ONE ANOTHER!

So what do the students elect to save?  As you would expect in a verse novel there are poignant things; funny things; personal things; and some practical things.  Linda Sue Park takes her reader on a emotional journey as each student explains their choice. You can see some of these on the front cover.

You will want to share this book with a class. Here are a set of discussion questions from the US publisher HMH Books. Here is the web site for UK based illustrator Robert Sae-Heng. Here is a video where Linda and Robert talk about their book (49 minutes). Listen to an audio sample. For an Australian audience there are some possibly less familiar references in this book such as famous baseball players but this is one of the things I love about sharing children's books - all the incidental learning about other cultures and the lives of other kids from different families living in different circumstances. I do need to add, sadly, that here in Australia this slim book is very expensive ($29) but perhaps one day a paperback edition will be released. If your budget allows - The one thing I'd Save would be an excellent addition to your verse novel collection.

It’s impossible not to feel a sense of renewal from this thoughtful book. BookPage

Park’s extended rumination has the power to bring us home. Kirkus Star

Linda Sue Park is the USBBY nominee for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award along with illustrator Kadir Nelson.

The poems in this book are written using a Korean poetry form called sijo.

Sijo is similar to haiku, a traditional Japanese poetic form, because they both have a fixed number of stressed syllables in each line. Sijo has 3 short lines or 6 long lines. But instead of focusing on nature themes, like haiku, Siju poems always have an ironic, unexpected twist in the last line. Great Kids Books

Linda Sue Park had explored this form in a previous book which is illustrated by Istvan Banyai (I love his book Zoom and the sequel Re-Zoom):

If you wanted to explore another verse novel with voices of students try to find The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary: 

And Pookie Aleera is not my Boyfriend and other books by Australia writer Steven Herrick.