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It’s Battle of the Books Friday. This book, The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson is not on the current list, but has been recommended for the 2011-2012 school year.
Description: Meli Lleshi is convinced that her drawing of a pelican resembling her teacher started it all. Meli’s family are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors. On the day of the pelican, Meli’s brother Mehmet is abducted by the Serbian police, mistreated and dumped in the wilderness. ...more
Description: Meli Lleshi is convinced that her drawing of a pelican resembling her teacher started it all. Meli’s family are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors. On the day of the pelican, Meli’s brother Mehmet is abducted by the Serbian police, mistreated and dumped in the wilderness. ...more
Jun 14, 2010
The Reading Countess
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
arc
"Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party." Herbert Hoover
It killed me to leave this book off in Chicago as part of the summer Recycle Your Reads program (I am leaving children's books off during our summer vacation with a note to pass it along to another reader when completed). This is a beautiful and relevant story about the struggle in Yugoslovia with Milosovec at the helm. The compelling story about a family on the run told through the eyes of young Meli, a girl the same a ...more
It killed me to leave this book off in Chicago as part of the summer Recycle Your Reads program (I am leaving children's books off during our summer vacation with a note to pass it along to another reader when completed). This is a beautiful and relevant story about the struggle in Yugoslovia with Milosovec at the helm. The compelling story about a family on the run told through the eyes of young Meli, a girl the same a ...more
First let me say that I am a big fan of Katherine Paterson's work in general and that I started this book with great expectations. However, this one left me kind of flat. The subject, Kosovo in the late 1990's during the time of Milosevic's reign and the horrendous strife between the Albanians and the Serbs, was an untouched area in American children's literature (at least as far as I remember.) I had expected to be completely taken up by the story. Sadly, I wasn't.
Without wanting to give anyth ...more
Without wanting to give anyth ...more
This was a good read but not one that will be easy to promote to the intermediate readers for whom it is intended. The cover is terrible. But the writing is important in a couple of ways. Paterson takes on the plight of the Lleshis, a loving extended family escaping as refugees from their beloved, but war-torn home of Albania. If other historical fiction books have been written for intermediate readers about the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, I'm unaware of them. It's also well done in that Paterson
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Meli and her family live in Kosovo. In the 1990s there were wars in what was once Yugoslavia between Christians and Muslims. The Christians were led by a man that was determined to remove all Muslims in his country by any means necessary. Because of these wars, Meli and her family are kicked out of their homes and forced to live as a refugee in "tent cities" and then they move to Vermont.
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Very good book for kids to read and learn about the suffering in Kosovo.
Against all odds, a family tries hard to stay together as they are being stripped of all their belongs and treated inhumanly by the Serbs.
The family finds peace in America. Worth reading.
Against all odds, a family tries hard to stay together as they are being stripped of all their belongs and treated inhumanly by the Serbs.
The family finds peace in America. Worth reading.
Oct 26, 2010
Karen Gibson
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2010-100-book-project
Once again, Katherine Paterson gives us a book to remember. When Meli's family is forced out of Kosovo, she has experiences that no child should ever know. Yet, her family survives and Meli thrives.
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A short book with a long message. About a family from Kosovo who has to leave their home because of war and ends up in the U.S. just before 9/11. Good book to read to learn something.
very moving story!! I learned a lot about the struggles of the Kosovo people. Will update this when I post my review on our blog.
eh, it was ok. Is it too soon to do historical fiction of the Kosovo conflict - 2001? Apparently not, but it seems so recent for it to be historical fiction! The author knew of a family who emigrated after the conflict to America in the Northeastern US. I believe she draws almost all of those stories from them. Unfortunately that's what the book sounds like -- stories from someone else told to the author and the author wrote them down. The problem? The voice is supposed to be a 10 year old narra
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Feb 19, 2010
Karen Arendt
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
multicultural-literature,
middle-grade
Absolutely fabulous! I loved everything about this book!
Aug 11, 2009
The Styling Librarian
rated it
liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
kids-books
Dec 23, 2009
Christina
marked it as to-read
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review of another edition
Shelves:
2009-kids-ya,
middle-school
Nov 22, 2011
Chris
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
middle-grades-or-beginning-reader
