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Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrator: E. B. Lewis

Coretta Scott King Book Awards (2013)

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A new student named Maya moves to Chloe's school. The only open spot in the class is next to Chloe. When Maya sits down she turns to Chloe and smiles, but Chloe doesn't smile back. All Maya wants is to make friends with the other girls at school, but she is not greeted with kindness. The other girls shun Maya for her old and used looking clothes. Despite the other girls teasing her, Maya continues to try and make friends with them and impress them. Chloe and her friends think Maya is weird and tease her for being different than they are. Eventually, Maya does not show up to school. Chloe and her class learn about kindness and the effect that kindness has on the world and others around them. When asked to put a rock in the water and say something kind they had done, Chloe cannot think of anything. Chloe anticipates Maya's return to make up for her actions. The next day, Chloe's teacher announces Maya would not be returning to class and that her family moved away. Chloe is crushed to learn that she will never get to make it up to Maya. In the end, Chloe goes to the river and throws rocks in, thinking of all of the kind things she would say to Maya if she only had the chance.

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Being kind could make a big impact.
Chloe learns about how kindness is a ripple effect in school. She learns about how one act of kindness can impact people. She contemplates ways in which she could have been kind to Maya and how it could have changed Maya moving away.

Don't judge someone based on their appearances.
Chloe is unkind to Maya in the book because of how she looks. Maya comes into school with used or old clothes and Chloe and her friends judge her for it. Maya even tries to impress the girls with a fancy dress and shoes, but they still laugh at her because it looked like they came from a second hand store. After Chloe learns all about kindness, she realizes she should not have judged Maya and could've been more kind to her.

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Rude
Chloe is the type of character who is not kind to others who are not like her. She is rude to Maya when she first arrives at school. When Maya smiles at her, Chloe does not smile back. In fact, she moves her seat and her belongings away from Maya. Later on in the book, Maya tries to play with Chloe and her friends, but Chloe says no. These are all examples of how Chloe is a character who is rude to people who are not her friends.

Judgemental
Chloe is the type of character who is judgemental to people who are not like her. When Chloe notices that Maya's clothes look worn and used, she judges her and whispers to her friends. They constantly make fun of Maya for her clothes. Maya comes in to school with a fancy dress and shoes, but still Chloe laughs at her because they came from a second hand store. Later on, Maya shows Chloe and her friends games and toys she brought from home. Chloe and her friends do not want to play with her and think her items are weird. They turn Maya down and ignore her. Maya eventually plays by herself and stops trying to fit in with Chloe. All of these actions show that Chloe is a judgemental character who does not try to welcome others.

Remorseful
Chloe is the type of character who reflects upon her actions and feels poorly about her choices. This shows that Chloe is a remorseful character. When Chloe's teacher gives them a lesson on kindness, Chloe cannot think of anything kind she has done. She immediately feels guilty for the way she has treated Maya and anticipates her return to make up for her actions. When Maya does not return to school, Chloe is disheartened and goes to the pond. When Chloe is at the river, she throws in rocks and thinks about all of the things she should have said to Maya and wishes that she had treated her differently. This shows that Chloe learns from her mistakes and feels terribly about her unkind actions. Through these examples, we can see that Chloe is a remorseful character.

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Friendly
Maya is the type of character who tries to make friends with other people that she doesn't know. We can see this when Maya first arrives at school. Although she does not know anybody, Maya tries to make friends with Chloe and her friends. She smiles at Chloe when she first sits down next to her. Maya also tries to ask the other girls to play with her at recess. This shows that Maya is the type of character who tries to make friends with others. Maya is a friendly person.

Determined
Maya is the type of character who is determined to reach her goals despite the obstacles standing in her way. We can see that Maya is determined when she tries to make friends with Chloe and she gets ignored. Although she is being treated unkindly, she still tries to make friends with Chloe later in the book. Maya also asks the girls to play at recess. Instead of giving up when they say no the first time, Maya continues to ask them to play and brings in new toys to show them. This shows that Maya is the type of character who does not give up easily. Maya is a determined character.

Isolated
Maya is a character who feels isolated and left out. In the book, we can see that Maya is isolated from the other girls because they laugh at her and leave her out of things. Maya feels sad and keeps trying to impress the girls in hopes that she will fit in. Chloe and the other girls continue to ignore Maya and make fun of her. Maya eventually just plays by herself. At the end of the book, Maya moves away. We can infer that she leaves because of the way her classmates are treating her. Although Maya tries many times to be friends with the other people in her class, they still leave her out to the point where she feels unwelcome in the school and in her class. This shows that Maya is a lonely character and is isolated from the other girls.

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Cause and Effect
This picture book could be used to teach cause and effect. Students can study the events that occurred in the book. This includes the way that Chloe and her friends treated Maya and how it ultimately contributed to Maya leaving the school and moving away. Chloe's actions also caused her to feel remorse and regret.

Determining Theme
You could use this book to teach about determining theme. Students could analyze the story and the events and determine different themes they found within the book.

Character Development
This is a great book to teach about character development and the way a character can change over the course of the book. Students can identify character traits for Chloe and discuss how Chloe changes over the course of the book from beginning to end.

Inferencing
This book could be used to teach students about inferencing. You could read the book aloud and stop at certain pages for students to make inferences. Students could make an inference as to why Chloe and her friends do not like Maya, why Maya moved away, why Chloe throws rocks in the river, etc. These are all possible ways to use this book to teach about making inferences.

Making Connections
This book and the lesson being taught can be used to teach students how to make connections (text to text, text to self, text to world). For a text-to-text connection, students could think of other books they have read with a similar theme. To make a text-to-self connection, students could think about a similar situation that they have personally been through or they could put themselves in the character's shoes and say what they would have done. To make a text-to-world connection, students could think of why the book is relevant to real life and how they can apply the themes in the book to things they see and hear about in the real world.