First Day Jitters and A Step from Heaven

Contemporary realistic fiction is a way of looking at stories that are based on reality, but their characters are fictionalized. Most of the time these books are talking about different types of problems society is going through. For example, immigration, physical abuse, emotional abuse, divorce parents, etc. The picture book that I choose are First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and illustrated by Judy Love and the novel A Step from Heaven by An Na. 

 

The picture book I choose is called First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and illustrated by Judy Love. The main character in the story is a teacher called Sarah Jane Hartwell. The story is portrayed for us the readers to imagine that Sarah is a student and that she is scared about the first day of school, until the end readers can figure out that the story was talking about a teacher. Sarah tries all kinds of excuses in order to miss her first day of school. She does not want to go because she says, “I don’t want to start over again” (First Day Jitters). She is scared about how the students are going to behave, that she does not know any one at her school, etc. Mr. Hartwell gives Sarah an ultimatum. After that Sarah quickly woke up and dress up. Mr. Hartwell rode Sarah to her new school, he was so excited, but Sarah was not. Mrs. Burton was Sarah’s principal, she said to Sarah to follow her in order to show her around. The picture book ends with Mrs. Burton introducing Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell to her new class of students. I love this picture book because I believe that it demonstrates something common that happens to all of us (including young and adult) during the first day of school. It shows how we behave, react, feel, etc during our first day of school. I believe that this is a common problem that happens to all of us who are starting a new school year and this book does an awesome job explains and describing everything. I love the illustrations because I could learn a lot from them, they completed feet and interwind with the text. The illustrations were done in ink and watercolors on 100% Rag Strathmore Bristol Vellum Display type. 

 

The novel that I choose is called A Step from Heaven by An Na. This story was a National Book Award Finalist and PRINTS Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literacy. This story portrays a family from Korea immigrating to the United States. That immigration journey was hard for them because they had to get adjusted to a new life, new country, new language, new jobs, etc. Apa and Uhmma who were the parents of Young Ju and Joon were always working, they did not have time for their family since they need it the money in order to eat. Young Ju always was by herself with her brother. She was the one who was taking care for Joon. Her father Apa was an alcohol addict. He used to hit Uhmma, Young Ju, and Joon when he was drunk. Young Ju try multiple times to convince Uhmma to live Apa but Uhmma was afraid of leaving him. Uhmma thought that if she left Apa she would not have money to maintain her children. Until one day, Uhmma decided to leave Apa in order to have a better life for both of her children. I particularly love this novel because it perfectly depicts what happens to families who live with an addict family member, how people suffer when they are immigrating since they are leaving everything they knew behind, physical abuse against women and children, and mourn after a family member pass-away.

 

In conclusion, I read the picture book First Day of Jitters by Julie Danneberg and illustrated by Judy Love and the novel A Step from Heaven by An Na. This two books and stories perfectly depict a contemporary realistic fiction for me since they are both explaining or talking about real life problems and using fictional characters.