Reading: THIS IS ME - Jamie Lee Curtis (author), Laura Cornell (illustrator)

Prose (Story): Actor Jamie Lee Curtis teams up again with illustrator Laura Cornell for this award-winning picture book, this time on the topic of immigration. Here, we follow a grade-school teacher telling her class the story of her great-grandmother, who - as a child - emigrated with her family to the United States. The little girl, only allowed one tiny suitcase for the journey, had to make some tough decisions about which of her possessions to take and (even tougher) what to leave stay behind ... and after sharing her story, the teacher then asks each of her students to go home that night and do the same: figure out what they would pack, if they only had a small suitcase to hold their most treasured possessions, to take with them on a journey to a new home so far away.  

Don's (Review): Kudos to the idea of addressing the timely subject of immigration in this country with a young audience - especially in a manner that puts the child in a "What would you do?" scenario. Indeed, the best, most enjoyable part of the book is seeing what the individual classmates choose to include that night, at home, and why they make some of their own tough choices. Idea, story, artwork - all commendable and top-notch, but for me the choice to tell the story in verse felt somewhat forced; in a few places the rhyming cadence felt off or awkward, even after reading the entire book through twice, and each time it happened I found myself thrown out of the story, having to pause in my reading. But that's just one very personal opinion; the book itself remains timely, well-wrtitten, wondrously-illustrated, and a story that needs to be shared even more, especially with young people.  3/5 stars