Cultural Curriculum Chat with Jebeh Edmunds

Season 5 Episode #21 Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away Book Review

• Jebeh Edmunds

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Ever had to say goodbye to a best friend and felt the bittersweet pangs that come with it? Join me as I share my personal story of parting ways with my childhood friend Maria, while reflecting on the charmingly illustrated book "Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away" by Meg Medina and Sonia Sanchez. We'll explore the heartfelt friendship between Evelyn and Daniela, and discuss how to help children understand and cope with the emotions that come with such transitions. Through the vibrant, Ezra Jack Keats-inspired illustrations, we'll see how their bond is depicted and how important it is to address these moments with our young ones.

In the second part of our episode, we look ahead to enriching your classroom library with a curated selection of books. With over 70 episodes packed with book reviews, I provide recommendations that will help you find the perfect additions for the new school year. Whether you're a teacher or a parent, you’ll discover gems that spark meaningful conversations and connections. Plus, don’t forget to share a beloved book with your childhood best friend to reignite those nostalgic memories. Tune in for more literary insights, and let’s cherish the enduring nature of true friendships together.

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Speaker 1:

Join Evelyn and Daniela as they embark on navigating those bittersweet emotions of saying goodbye to your best friend on this episode of Mrs Edmonds Cultural Corner. Welcome everyone, my name is Jeba Edmonds and welcome to the Cultural Curriculum Chat Podcast and Mrs Edmond's cultural corner. Whether you're listening to me on the podcast or watching me on YouTube, you know I love sharing my favorite books and diversity, equity, inclusion, business and development strategies as well, because multicultural education is that it is multi. There's a multitude of wonderful resources and things to learn so you can impact positive change at work and at school. So let's get into it.

Speaker 1:

This book gave me all the feels Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away. Written by Meg Medina who is a Newbery medalist, just so you know and illustrated by Sonia Sanchez. Now, why I just love this book so much? It really makes you think about when you had your best friend. Do you remember when you had your childhood best friend? Shout out to you Maria. I was thinking of you when I was reading this book. Maria was my childhood best friend and we did all kinds of fun things together when we were kids, but I remember the day she moved away and I was heartbroken. So think about this as educators, how you have students in your classroom life, where you get your classroom community all bonded up and you always see those two sitting together, always wanting to be reading buddies, and one of them is moving away, and how devastating that other student feels. This book will also show those emotions and help all of you in the classroom have that understanding of when transitions happen, how it can be hard, but always having that deep bond and connection forevermore.

Speaker 1:

So, without further ado, because you know I love to just dive deep into the book, I want to share with you some of my favorite points of the story. Now, sonia Sanchez, the illustrator, really gives me the vibes of like Ezra Jack Keats with, like you know it. Just, it has a very childlike energy and funness to it. I love how you could actually see the textures on the wall. So thank you for that, sonia. But Evelyn Del Rey is, you know, mejor amiga I've been practicing and my numero uno best friend, and she has her bestie, daniela, and their apartments look the same, they love the same things, but they're noticing that Evelyn is got, you know, boxes packed and they're packing the moving truck and they're getting ready to go. But a lot of the things.

Speaker 1:

When kids realize something big is happening, they still, in the back of their mind, don't want it to be a reality. And us as adults, we also know, oh, I know what's coming, but maybe there's still a chance that it's not going to be a reality, and I feel that every time I read this book. So I want you to know that while you're reading this book with your students, they might be a little unnerved. They might feel some of the emotions and maybe not little unnerved. They might feel some of the emotions and maybe not. You know, children have different types of feelings.

Speaker 1:

But I just love how it shows the bond of these two girls running up and down the stairs, causing a ruckus in their apartment building. And that was my best friend, my first childhood best friend, maria. We lived in the same apartment complex and she lived downstairs. I lived upstairs and you know we had little siblings that we had in common, and and still running around and and meeting neighbors and and and just, you know, um, finding um things to do. Uh, they sneak past. I love this.

Speaker 1:

Characters in the book uh, mr Miller's door and wave to Mr Sue who's feeding pigeons from the hall window, and so just giving you that feeling of what it was like in the activity in their apartment building and again playing around boxes and furniture and roughhousing and running around, but also knowing that the reality is still going to be changing. Another neat thing what I really loved about this was them saying what was the same, what was different. You know, evelyn's room was yellow and bright and her room was, you know, having a basket and passing it through the windows of each other and kind of thinking about, oh, we love that activity and sharing things from their windows and exploring and using their imagination with empty boxes. And then it does take a turn because you just see that they know that it's going to come to a close but the mothers are saying, yep, it's time, and they're hiding away from their moms, hoping that you know it's not going to happen. But I love how you know they're making plans. What can we do in the summer? How do we communicate with each other? You know, can you come over over the summer and and just knowing that it is different and and change is good, but it's always and also bittersweet and going through that as young people.

Speaker 1:

A lot of us adults don't really talk about transitions enough and this book really opens that conversation in your classroom or even at home, when you have a child and their best friend across the street, and that moving transition it does. It just tugs at your heartstrings. I just love before they go. Heartstrings, I just love before they go. It was so cute that they put these butterfly stickers on their cheeks to say goodbye, and I quote before we leave, I spot something in the corner left behind in the dust, and the last of Evelyn's sparkly stickers. We go downstairs and I press a heart on her cheek to seal our promise. Then she does mine just the same.

Speaker 1:

So, oh, it is such a good book. I hope you really do take uh this book and share it with your students. It is just so good and it just shows you the emotions of saying goodbye to someone you hold dear and the different types of emotions that children face uh, either in your classroom or in the community. And I just wanted to share this book with you too. And don't worry, maria and I are still very close. We communicate via Facebook and we still, you know, check up on each other every once in a while, so that bond will always be there.

Speaker 1:

So, just so you know we've got more fun books for you to look and binge watch. I have over 70 episodes just dedicated to book reviews for your classroom. So go back into the history of the channel or, if you're listening, go back into the previous seasons and really dive into some new books to spruce up your classroom library for the upcoming school year and beyond. That's all that I have for you on this episode. Be sure to share this book with your childhood best friend and see how they feel that you thought of them. I'll see you same time next week. Bye-bye.