LAE 4424: Contemporary Realistic Fiction Books

The Last Stop on Market Street

by Matt de la Pena

The Last Stop of Market Street by Matt de la Pena tells the story of a curious boy named CJ. One day after church, CJ questions his Nana as to why they ride the bus, why he does not have an iPod, why they get off on the dirty side of town, among other things. CJ is always met with a positive answer from his grandmother. No matter where they went or what they were doing, Nana always had a smile on her face.

The strongest character trait that CJ possess is curiosity. This can be seen throughout the story. Another trait that develops later in the story is understanding. After listening to his grandmother< CJ understands that he is lucky to have the family and life that he does. The themes of this story are kindness and looking on the brighter side of things. As people, we have the option to be negative and look down on everyone and everything in life but is that really fair to others? Everything can always be worse and this is the mindset that Nana showed CJ throughout the book. These two themes need to be imparted on all students because it will help them cope with hard times and things that do not go their way when they are older.

The illustrations enhance the story by giving the students a picture to relate the words presented. They are able to make connections to parts of the story such as the bus that breathes fire and when he is taken on the journey in his own mind. These might be hard for the students to understand if they did not have the support of the illustrations. As the story come to a close, CJ realizes that he has everything that he needs in his life right in front of him and is content. This story truly preaches that it can always be worse and we need to be thankful for everything that we have.

Walk Two Moons

By Sharon Creech

Walk Two Moons follows the story of thirteen year old Salamanca Tree Hiddle. Her friends and family call her Sal. The book follows the story of Sal and her family. Sal lived with her mother and father in Kentucky when Sal's mother mysteriously leaves her and her dad. After her mother leaves them, Sal and her father moved Euclid where Sal meets a friend with a missing mother as well. Sal loves mysteries, so she uses solving her friends mystery of a missing mother to find her own. Towards her mother’s birthday, her grandparents and Sal go on a roadtrip to all of the stops her mother made after she left her. On this journey, Sal experiences many up and downs and encounters many things she never thought she’d experience.

Sal’s strongest character trait is empathy. The title of the book comes from a quote in the book. The quote is, “Don't judge a person until you've walked two moons in his moccasins.” This was given as a hidden message in a mystery Sal was trying to solve, but at the same time was the core of what Sal had to do to understand the different people in her life and why they did the things they did. Sal makes rash judgements and has a wild imagination just like any thirteen year old girl. The difference is when Sal finds out the truth, her imagination puts her in the shoes of that person and she experiences their pain and explains it in detail. Her empathy is what teaches her how to forgive and how to cope with the different things she encounters at the end of the book.

An example of Sal having empathy is found in her observation of Mrs. Cadaver. Sal and her best friend, Phoebe, assumed this woman was an axe murder who killed her husband. Sal continues to observe her, and becomes terrified when she becomes close to her father. It wasn’t until Sal was told the true story of what happened to Mrs. Cadaver and her husband that she started feeling empathy for her. She put herself in Mrs. Cadaver’s shoes and imagined the car accident and how it must’ve felt for her to lose her husband, her mother, and be the only one that survived the accident.

References

Creech, Sharon. (1994). Walk two moons. New York : HarperCollins

de la Peña, Matt. (2015). Last stop on Market Street. New York, NY :G.P. Putnam's Sons, an

imprint of Penguin Group (USA)