Mama’s Nightingale by Edwidge Danticat & illustrated by Leslie Staub

 

Mama’s Nightingale by Edwidge Danticat & illustrated by Leslie Staub

• Contemporary Realistic Fiction
• Grades: Pre-K-Kinder, 1st & 2nd
• Awards: None

Summary:

Mama’s Nightingale is a story about a family who is separated because immigration services detained the mother at a correctional facility. The father spends his time writing letters to the jail, congress, and newspapers to spread the story about what’s happening to his wife. No one responds. The young girl, Saya, nicknamed Wosiyol after nightingales in Haiti, receives stories from her mother which she reads each night. Weekly, Saya and her father visit her mother, but Saya screams when she has to leave, so the guard says that Saya shouldn’t return. Eventually, Saya decided to write a story of her own and a reporter released it through the media. This story draws so much attention that people write letters to jail and finally, Saya’s mother gets to come home while waiting for papers. The book ends with Wosiyol’s mom telling her the story of how the strong baby nightingale helped the mother finally get to go home. 

Evaluation: 

I would use this book in my classroom because it is a great example of realistic fiction. This is a story about a family that faces the social issue of immigration. The family in Mama’s Nightingale depicts the diversity of today’s families. I would use this story in my classroom to teach my students about how every family is different and to help explain the concepts of immigration and detainment. Mama’s Nightingale is the appropriate reading level for second grade. It could be used in a social studies unit on the role of public officials or understanding what it means to be a U.S. citizen.