FMA 5th Grade Celebrates Home of the Brave
Posted on 11/06/2019
By: Astuccio
Our 5th grade class reached out to Katherine Applegate, the author of our first read aloud mentor text Home of the Brave, to share our pumpkin design with her. Home of the Brave is the story of Kek, a Sudanese refugee who, after escaping violence that claims the lives of his father and brother, moves to Minnesota to live with his aunt and cousin. Kek, the son of a cattle herder, experiences a difficult but moving transition into American culture. He is able to connect with his home culture when he meets an elderly woman who owns a farm and needs help caring for her cow, Gol. Here's the text of what we sent to Katherine Applegate. "@kaaauthor My fifth grade students in Cambridge, MA are loving Home of the Brave. Every day as we wrap up our read aloud time, they beg me to continue further into Kek's journey. For this fall's school-wide pumpkin decorating contest, they chose to turn their gourd into Gol:" To our delight, Katherine Applegate replied, "Gol the gourd is wonderful! Please tell your students I say hello."