Elezabeth Claire
Edited by Marilyn Rosenthal
ISBN : 0-15-599429-8
WHERE IS TARO? by Elizabeth Claire is the first full-color picture- based ESL/EFL novel for students in upper elementary school, middle school and junior high school. With one picture illustrating each sentence or semantic unit, this novel can be "read" by preliterate students as well as readers on all levels.
This exciting novel tells about the adventures of a young Japanese boy during his first days in New York City. On the way home from his new junior high school, he gets lost. With no money and only a few words of English, he has to find his way home. Meanwhile, his parents, his classmates and the police are all looking for him. Will his new friends Ramon Soto, Jean-Claude Bienami, Lee Wong, Carmen Lopez or Milo Wyborna help him? Will Taro find his way home by himself?
Students will be totally involved and motivated to find out what happens to Taro as they read this story that talks to many of their own experiences. Author and teacher Elizabeth Claire skillfully weaves a host of survival and cross-cultural topics into the story. As Taro's story unfolds, we see him face the risks and rewards of new experiences, new friendships with multicultural students, and the dangers and surprises of life in big-city America. Students of all cultures will be drawn to this engaging story, with its themes of courage and resourcefulness in the face of new challenges in a new country. All students will see something of themselves in Taro.
