What would you do?

Author: Kevin Henkes
Title: The Birthday Room
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, New York: 1999
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Pages: 152
Reading Level (Lexile): 750L
I found this book in Huck’s Children’s Literature as a suggested book for this genre.

"A story that helps us see our own chances for benefiting from mutual tolerance, creative conflict resolution, and other forms of good will."—The Horn Book

Plot Summary: "Two of the things Benjamin Hunter received for his twelfth birthday took him completely by surprise: A room and a letter. The room was from his parents. The letter was from his uncle."
Ben is a 12 yr old boy who is put in a difficult situation. For his birthday, he doesn’t get a TV or anything cool like that. He gets a room from his parents to be used as an art studio. He also receives a letter from his uncle. He doesn’t remember him because his uncle left and moved to Oregon when he was 2 years old. The letter invited Ben to see his uncle, which his mother is not happy about. Ben had an accident and lost a finger when he was little. His mom blames his uncle for the accident and has not had contact with him. Eventually Ben’s mom takes him to Oregon to see his uncle. Relationships are mended, but not without shame, guilt, and anxiousness on the family members. Ben’s birthday room becomes something more than just an art room.

This book relates to my theme of Relationships because Ben’s mother and uncle no longer speak due to an accident that happened when he was very little. Ben’s mother blames her brother and has not spoken with him in all those years. There are many relationships that are mended in the story and forgiveness is another major theme. It is an example of how a family can come back together after many years of being apart.

Although I didn’t make a connection with this story personally, Henkes creates characters that you can share feelings with. This story is so relatable and anyone who has had a problem or issue with another family member can understand the emotions that go along with it. I think older children in grades 3 and up could most benefit from reading The Birthday Room. Older students could probably make more connections with Ben than younger children. This story would be good to use in the classroom to discuss family issues that sometimes arise and the students could look at how Ben handles them. I think The Birthday Room would be a great story to use when teaching Characterization and emotions/actions that characters show within a story.