The Wednesday Surprise- Eve Bunting (1989)

This book is about a surprise that Anna and her grandmother plan for her father's birthday. They work on keeping the surprise hidden so it will be special for everyone. The surprise turns out to be that Anna has been teaching her grandmother how to read.

With most children's books, you always know what the climax is going to be. This one was a pleasant surprise to me. As you read the book, you assume Anna is the one that is learning to read for the surprise. I thought that this book was very charming. As I have mentioned in other blogs, Eve Bunting has a fantastic way of transporting you into a young child's mind. Her writing really feels as if it is expressing the ideas directly from a child. The illustrations subtlely compliment the text without being too bold.

This is another book that I would use as a fun read. Although I would mostly use it as a fun read, it could also be used to address the issue of illiteracy. It is important for students to know the power of being able to read, and that you can learn to do new things no matter what age you are. It could also be a good book to use to describe grandparent/grandchild relationships.