10. Last Stop of Market Street by Matt De LaPena

10. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De LaPena

De LaPena, M. (2015) Last stop on Market Street. NY: Putnam.

This is a story about CJ.  CJ and his Nana are finished church.  They walk to the bus stop and CJ ask why they do not have a car. And why is it raining?   His Nana always has a positive reply, which sets the mood for the story.  Apparently, they are economically disadvantaged.   They board a bus to take a ride.  On the bus ride, CJ chats to Nana bout the people on the bus.  He wishes he had a devise that plays music after seeing two boys with one, and Nana replies that there is a man with a guitar sitting close.  She suggests to CJ to ask him to play a song instead.  Their bus ride ends at a Soup Kitchen in an unpleasant part of town.  At the beginning of the bus ride, CJ did not want to go help at the soup kitchen, but when he arrives, he is happy to be there. 

This book has several good themes.  One theme is about appreciating what we have and not worrying about all the things we want. A related theme is the progression in the story from CJ's fixation on the things he wants to the "last stop" where he finds the joy of giving. Another theme is the finding of beauty in unexpected places, which CJ notices in Nana's finding "beautiful where he never even thought to look.  Picture books are an especially good way for older students to practice looking for themes because they can read them over and over again as well as easily flip through the pictures to see the whole story at a glance.

This book would be ideal to teach ethics. As I mentioned before, there are several ethical themes running through this book.  I found a web site that has good discussion questions and activities dealing with the ethical lessons in this book.

https://www.prindleinstitute.org/books/the-last-stop-on-market-street/



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