Robinson by Peter Sís

Sís, Peter. (2017). Robinson. New York: Scholastic Press.

48 Pages, Grades Preschool-3, Action/Adventure Picture Book, ISBN 0545731666

Robinson was written by Peter Sís and is based on a true story from his childhood.  The main character and the author's favorite story was Robinson Cruso by Daniel Defoe.  Both he and the main character went to the costume party at school dressed as Robinson Cruso from the help of their mothers; there all his friends laughed at him.  In the story the boy ventures out to an island and learns to survive and be brave there.  After which pirates come to his island home: his friends come to his room to apologize and learn about the adventurer Robinson Cruso, and he and his friends set out on their next adventure.  

There are several things that I like about this book and a few things that I didn't.  First of all, I like the messages entailed in this story: it's important to be unique and do things that you enjoy, it's important to not make fun of people, and it's important to apologize when you hurt some and to frankly forgive. Those messages truly relate to social studies because it's about social interactions and how you treat yourself and others.  This book is not historical or geographical, however it can be used as a supplemental text along with accurate texts for themes/topics that relate to exploration.  I do wish that the "adventure" to the island was more adventurous though, it seemed dull to me.  A fun language arts activity could be to read this book and read the author's note explaining the true events and have the students write an adventure story of their own based on their life.  Peter Sís was also the illustrator, and some pages I really loved the artwork and thought they would be great for a read aloud and others seemed too small, overly detailed, or boring.  The language used was plain; I would not use this text as an example of wondrous words or vivid verbs--rather I would have a writing activity for the kids to include more descriptive details and better diction for a third grade language arts lesson.  Overall if I had this book I think there are many great ways to use it, however, there are so many better books that take precedent over buying this book when it comes to my library.