This sensitive book is a recent Caldecott Award winner for it’s lovely illustrations! However, the loving characters, also, make this a special story. Amos McGee works in a zoo. As Amos McGee’s relationships with the animals at the zoo are revealed, you see that he has many animal friends. Amos meets his zookeeper responsibilities and is loyal to the animals. In return, they feel a loyalty and responsibility to him. He loves them, and they love him.
We all have friends and responsibilities. These two common experiences provide the opportunity for the reader to make connections. (In the teaching world, you may hear this called activating prior knowledge.) There are three kinds of connections that readers of all ages make:
~connecting the text to their own experiences,
~connecting the text to other texts, and
~connecting the text to the world.
All of these connections are going to help the reader to recall the text and to understand it at a deeper, more personal level. When the story or the characters remind you of something stored in your prior knowledge (long-term memory) your brain has an easier time holding on to that particular information. (For more research on making connections or activating prior knowledge, see our blog entries on the Practikckle website.)