Mrs. Katz and Tush

Written and Illustrated by Patricia Polacco

Key Scripture:
Galatians 5:14 NNAS For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

This warm book about the long friendship between an elderly Jewish woman and a young black boy was a beautiful opportunity to discuss what it means to be a good neighbor. We looked at several scripture passages that spoke of God's two greatest commands - to love God and to love our neighbors as an expression of our love for God. Claire did a lovely job of copying Galatians 5:14. We saw how Larnelle learned to be a good neighbor because his parents were good neighbors. Mrs. Katz also was a good example of giving of herself. The kids made the connection with the Veggie Tale episode Are You My Neighbor?.

In the area of geography, we located New York and Poland. This related well to the topic of immigration and why people sometimes move from one country to another. We delved a little further into this topic using some supplemental books: Rechenka's Eggs, Watch the Stars Come Out, Chicken Sunday, and The Keeping Quilt. We looked at similarities between these stories and how we might have "grandparents" or "aunts" or "uncles" who are not actually blood relations, but who are like family to us.

We learned a little bit about cats and kittens and used this information as we talked about how many descendants Tush might have had. We read a book called Have You Seen My Cat? and discussed various types of cats (big and little). We also did some art lessons in drawing and coloring cats. Here is one of Claire's cat drawings. Also in the art realm, we looked at Patricia Polacco's extensive use of lines to represent both texture and movement and her ability to so beautifully demonstrate emotion through expression and the impression of movement.

The discussion of Yiddish words and their meanings also provided opportunity to talk about Jewish culture and how it is different from our own. The description of Passover was an excellent lead-in to the study of the Exodus and Passover that we did during the following month to lead up to our celebration of Holy Week and Easter.