A Day's Work

A Day's Work
Written by Eve Bunting and Illustrated by Ronald Himler
Publisher: Sandpiper
April, 1997
Grade Level:K-3
Themes: honesty, love and immigration

Summary: Seven year old Francisco waits with his grandfather as they look for work along with many other immigrants on the street corner. A man came looking for a gardner. Francisco's agrees to gardening. Since his grandfather does not know English, Francisco does all the talking. He says, "My grandfather and I are great gardeners." They work all day in the hot sun, but when the man comes back at the end of the day, he scolds them saying, "You pulled out plants instead of weeds!" At the end, Francisco learns a valuable lesson about honesty.

Reflection:This is a great book to discuss immigration, culture and honesty. I like the water color illustrations. They depict the characters and emotions well.

Pre-Reading: Discuss immigration with the children. Some people came to America in search for jobs or a better place to live, where there is no war or diseases. When immigrants got to American they needed to find work to pay for food, clothing and a place to live. Some examples of places immigrants could come from are Ireland, Italy and Mexico. Francisco and his grandfather are from Mexico and they come to the United States looking for work. I would also go over some of the spanish vocabulary in the book and write it on chart paper.  Abuelo: (grandfather) Hace Frio: (it's cold) Senora: (Lady) Gracias:(thank you) Bueno: (good) Muy Bonita: (beautiful) and Chickweed:  This not a spanish word, but children would need to know this to understand what Francisco and his grandfather picked. A chickweed is a herb that is grown all over the world. They have pretty white flowers that bloom and contain many vitamins. Francisco and his grandfather picked the chickweed instead of the weeds. 

Post Reading: Point of View: First person. This book is written in Francisco's point of view. Write about how the point of view would be different if Francisco's grandpa told the story.

About the Author:

Eve Bunting grew up in Ireland. Bunting moved to California with her husband and children. She had a strong desire to write and had many ideas all from her family in Ireland's stories. She enrolled in a Writing for Publication class at a local college. She has written many books with a variety of topics and books for all ages. Picture books are her favorite to write. She has won many awards.