Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen Pictures by Trina Schart Hyman

Title: Tight Times

Author: Barbara Shook Hazen

Illustrated: Trina Schart Hyman

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Picture-books

Topics: Social Issues, Poverty, Realism, Family, Animal, Cats

Award: None

Ages: 4-10 Years old

Summary:

This book is about a boy who lives with a poor family. The boy wants to have a dog, so he asked his parents, but both of his parents are always busy. The dad told the boy, he could not have a dog because of tight times, and he would not understand because he was little. The boy had a nanny, named McIntosh, who took care of him, while both of his parents went to work. The boy's dad, however, lost his job. When the boy's mom came home from work, she spoke to the boy's dad, and she told the boy to go play outside in the front steps. While the boy was in the front steps, he heard a noise from the trash can and he looked inside. He saw a cat, and a nice lady helped him take the cat out of the trash can. The lady told the boy, she could keep the cat, if he wanted to. So, he did. The boy took the cat to his house, and when the parents saw the cat, they all both hugged the boy and began to cry. The parents allowed the boy to keep the cat, so the boy named the cat dog. The cat was very playful.

Book Evaluation: 

1) I would recommend this book to my class because it talks about real social issues, such as poverty. Although, not everyone may be going through poverty in my class, but there will always be that one child who will be going through social issue like the boy from the book. It is good to give children an exposure to the real life issues too. This book can bring hope to any child. 

2) I would recommend this book in the grade level of Pre-Kinder to Fifth grade level. 

3) I would use this book in the unit of History or Social Studies. It is a great book to speak about poverty issues, and bring a little connection to past social issues to current issues. Some people can be struggling economically without even knowing it. I would use an activity where they can express their thoughts on this book.