During the school year, most of the books that students read are assigned to them by their teachers or recommended by their parents. We wanted to know which books the Nantong Stalford students love to read and to dig into on their own? We asked several students to share the books that they’ve recently read during Covid-19 outbreak and why they would want to recommend these books to friends. Let’s enjoy reading together as a Stalford family!

I chose to read this book because it received an award, The Walter Dean Myers Honor Winner. This book is about a girl, Nisha, who wrote in her diary every night to her mom who died while giving birth to her and her twin brother, Amil. I remember Nisha wrote she doesn’t want anything but all she wants is to be with her mom just for one more day. This part touched me the most because I could feel her sadness as I would also miss my mom deeply if I didin’t have her. I would recommend this book to my Nantong Stalford friends because after reading this book, you can look back on yourself and think about family and friends as well as faith and humanity.

I chose this book to read because I asked my mother what her favourite book was. She had read, ‘The house in Mango Street’ and she said it was one of her favourites. The book is about a little Latina girl, Esperanza, who grew up in Chicago on a street called Mango street. One day, she and her family moved into red house on Mango Street. She was ashamed of the house because she thought it looked ugly. She explained in the story that her house is not what she expected it to be, and she dreams of moving to another house. Throughout the book, the girl, Esperanza (which means hope in Spanish) struggles to find a sense of belonging, and as such, takes on a journey to find out who and what she will become. She describes how different people lived there and what they had to deal with. The novel takes on difficult subjects such as grief, oppression, poverty, and shame as well as themes of friendship, family, hope, and joy. While the characters and themes are mainly feminine it is a book that can be enjoyed by boys and girls equally although the girls may be find it a little more appealing.

The story is about a bond between a small boy called Jack and his beloved Grandpa. I liked the character of Grandpa because he told Jack many stories of his adventures during World War II. In the book, Grandpa doesn’t often remember Jack’s name, but he starts to forget bigger things too, believing he’s back in World War II where he was a Spitfire fighter pilot. He’s sent to live in an ‘old folk’s home’ and now it’s up to Jack to help Grandpa plot a daring escape. I would recommend this book to Nantong Stalford primary school students who like to read adventurous stories.