26 Fairmount Avenue is a non-fiction chapter book. In this book the author recalls and shares memories from his childhood. He begins by talking about the apartment he lives in and how his family is building a house. This story follows his thoughts, observations, and feelings as a child living in this apartment and ends when they finally move into their new house at 26 Fairmount Avenue. We follow him through a hurricane, his first day of kindergarten, and such comical experiences like eating laxitives with his "Nana Upstairs" because he thought they were chocolate. This book is the first in a serious and was awarded a Newberry Honor in 2000.
I enjoyed reading this book. Tomie dePaola does a fantastic job of recalling memories in detail and almost makes you feel as if you were right there beside him. This book is set between 1938-1940 and I feel if a younger person were reading this they may be confused. He refers to things from his past that they might not know of but most of the time he explains what he is referring to. For example, he talks about going to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a child and he writes about watching the newsreel, but explains that it is basically the news we have now on TV. But he also recalls getting mad while watching the movie because Mr. Walt Disney did not get the "true story" right. I am not exactly sure what he was referring to, but it makes me want to read the original Snow White story. I feel this book was an easy read and the author writes like he is speaking to you instead of a more informal written story. This would be a good book to have and use in the classroom. I believe children would enjoy reading it. This would be an ideal book to use to teach students how to write non-fiction.
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