Leave Me Alone! by Vera Brosgol

This book makes me laugh!  Anyone who has children, or teaches children knows that it is often difficult to find time to complete necessary tasks. Sometimes, we just need a moment of quiet to concentrate and work, even though we eventually want to be right back in the chaos from which we retreated.   As a child, I was always entertained and puzzled by the nursery rhyme "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe".  Living in a shoe with so many children seemed so ridiculous, but I loved that story.  This story reminds me of that little rhyme and I will admit, makes me feel a little nostalgic.

In Leave Me Alone, a little old woman lives in a little house with a very large family.  When she prepares to do her important knitting, she finds that there are too many children and too many distractions to get started.  The old woman leaves the house alone yelling "LEAVE ME ALONE!" as she exits, to try to find a quiet place to knit.  The story follows the spunky old woman to several funny and unlikely places until she finds a place to complete her projects. The ending is simple and heartwarming, and the reader gets to see the results of the old woman's hard work.

This story has some interesting vocabulary words such as "wormhole" and "samovar" about which students will be intrigued to discover the meanings.  The illustrations are hilarious and effectively depict the text on each page.  This story would be perfect to discuss story structure, story elements, and sequence.  I cannot wait to share this story with my students!