Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay

Ada's Violin | Nonfiction | Susan Hood | Texas Bluebonnet; Américas Award; Young Reader's Choice Award | ages 4-8 |

In a place where poverty is all there is. The town surrounded by piles and piles of trash. Your whole surrounding is just trash. Paraguay, is where Ada lives where hope for a bright seems nonexistent. Even for Ada's dream of becoming a violinist. One day, her grandma comes across a post of a music teacher named Favio Chavez giving music lessons. And since resources are low, they decided to create their own musical instruments with the trash that is abundant in their town. They began playing music in their town, but soon enough, they came to play at venues with their great musical talent. 

This is such an inspiring book for everyone, no matter the age. It talks about the possibilities and how your dreams can come true. The appropriate grade levels though are preschool to third grade, but such great message that's true shouldn't be limited to a certain age! I just absolutely loved how great the author captured the life events and growth of an orchestra literally recycled by trash, and became famous. And so, of course I would use this book in my classroom. A fun great activity with this book is creating instruments from available resources and trash. You can also have the older students write out their dreams, as crazy as it may seem. A ballerina, a musician, professional athlete, actor/actress, artist. Whatever it may be, have they write down their dreams, a why, the challenges, and a plan of how they hope to get there.