How to Make Friends With a Giant - Hardcover

Gennifer Choldenko is the New York Times bestselling and Newbery Honor Award-winning author of ten children's books, including Notes From a Liar and Her Dog, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, No Passengers Beyond this Point, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Al Capone Shines My Shoes, and Al Capone Does My Homework. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Kindergarten-Grade 2–Because Jake is the shortest kid in his class, he is either dismissed or teased by his classmates. Then Jacomo arrives, and the focus of the children's derision shifts to him. He is enormous–he's too big to fit on the school bus, and he crowds the other children at storytime. Jake befriends the new boy, teaching him how to kick a soccer ball so it doesn't disappear and defending him when the others insist he doesn't belong. By the end of the day, the two are best friends, and Jake has never felt so tall. This is a quirky tale of two opposites who find common ground because they are regarded as different, but who together make a good team. It is unfortunate (but perhaps also realistic) that the other children never come to truly value either boy, and that their consistent meanness is never addressed by their teacher. Walrod's highly stylized color cartoons are a good match for the text.–Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
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