Librarianjk recommends Creativity

Creativity by John Steptoe

Summary: A young boy becomes friends with a student new to the country. He says that he will teach this new student “how to talk good English”.

This book is told in first person through a young African-American boy’s eyes. He narrates in slang which made me feel like I was reading a child’s version of Catcher in the Rye. His mother says in response to her son’s statement that he was going to teach his friend “how to talk good English” “Well, who’s going to teach you first?” His father said that he was just being creative with his language. This book could be used to teach an older class dialect and dialogue. I personally would teach the students that it is okay to talk this way with your friends and write this way in stories when people are speaking, but that there is a time to speak properly, such as when answering questions in class.