The Wall by Eve Bunting Illustrated by Ronald Himler

 

Title: The Wall

Author: Eve Bunting

Illustrator: Ronald Himler

Genre: Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction

Major Awards: None

Ages: 4-8 Years old

Summary:

This book is about a little boy and his dad visiting the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial wall in Washington D.C. On the long black wall, runs a list of 58,000 names in honor of those who died in the Vietnam War. As the little boy and his dad visits the memorial monument, they begin to look for the little boy's grandfather's name on the wall. They see other people visiting the memorial wall too. Flowers and other things were laid up against the wall. The little boy asked his dad if he had found his grandfather's name, and his father replied in that he found a list of names of those who died in 1967. That was when the little boy's grandfather had died. The little boy's dad reads the list of all the names of those who had died in 1967. The little boy's father then found his grandfather's name on the wall, and when he saw it, his eyes blurred. The little boy's grandfather had died,when his father was the same age as him. So, the little boy's father scribbles his father's names on a white paper. The little boy's father puts the white folded paper and keeps it inside his wallet. As he keeps his paper inside his wallet, the little boy's father takes out a picture of the little boy. The little boy's dad then puts the little boy's picture near the monument where his grandfather's name was. They both felt proud on seeing their beloved one on the wall, even though they both desired to have him alive. 

Book Evaluation: 

1) I would recommend this book to my class because it speaks on behalf of history. A monument wall is so common to have to honor those veterans who have died in a war, and this would be a perfect opportunity to explain what a memorial wall is to them. 

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

3) I would use this book in the unit of History. This would be a perfect opportunity to end a topic about war. I would then show the students a real life picture or a video in which shows an image of what a memorial wall is. Then, I would have the students play on a Kahoot game in which explains their reading comprehension about the war.