Save Me A Seat

Save Me A Seat | Realistic Fiction | Sarah Weeks & Gita Varadarajan | NAPPA; Crown Award; Ten State Awards | ages 8-12 |

Ravi just moved to America all the way from India. Back home, he was living the best life with servants, and cooks, a big house all for his family, popularity, and he was considered the smartest, and was great at cricket. His life made a complete switch though when he moved country where nobody understands him even though English is his first language, they insult his knowledge, and struggles making friends. Joe, a classmate of Ravi is also struggling as the new school year begins. It’s always been like this for Joe. He struggles with ADP and eats a lot. Both of these characters share a common thing. The bully who is out to make their lives at school a nightmare. They face so many challenges and learn to fight back, and together in the end, Ravi and Joe find a friend in each other. 

I really enjoyed this book and found so much of it funny and also insightful. We get to see life from two different point of views in this book. One chapter is told from Ravi’s point of view, and the next chapter from Joe’s point of view. I feel we really are able to transport into the book and see their struggles clearly. Not only is this book great for students but for teachers as well. The characters share their thoughts as they are at school and a lot of it can be helpful information for a a teacher such as learning to pronounce foreign names, or taking consideration the student’s needs, and making them feel comfortable, and also, not judging them just because they are too afraid to answer or just moved from a different country. All i know is that after reading this book, I learned so much as a teacher. I’d definitely read this with my class just for fun. The appropriate grade levels are third to seventh grade, and again, I’d like to have them read this book at the beginning of the school year just because the book is also taking place on the first week of school. Not all the students may be new or have special needs, but they can definitely learn from this book and find a common ground with the characters. You can have your students make connections with the book and discuss other parts of the book.