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About Sit
Product description The seated child. With a single powerful image, Deborah Ellis draws our attention to nine children and the situations they find themselves in, often through no fault of their own. In each story, a child makes a decision and takes action, be that a tiny gesture or a life-altering choice. Jafar is a child laborer in a chair factory and longs to go to school. Sue sits on a swing as she and her brother wait to have a supervised visit with their father at the children’s aid society. Gretchen considers the lives of concentration camp victims during a school tour of Auschwitz. Mike survives seventy-two days of solitary as a young offender. Barry squirms on a food court chair as his parents tell him that they are separating. Macie sits on a too-small time-out chair while her mother receives visitors for tea. Noosala crouches in a fetid, crowded apartment in Uzbekistan, waiting for an unscrupulous refugee smuggler to decide her fate. These children find the courage to face their situations in ways large and small, in this eloquent collection from a master storyteller. From School Library Journal Gr 4–6—A collection of short stories comprised of 11 tales set in different countries. In each story, a child encounters some form of social injustice and overcomes it or finds a positive outcome through some action on their part, however small. Each chapter features and is named for a specific type of chair. In "The Singing Chair," Jafar, a child laborer in a chair factory, longs to go to school. He scratches a poem on the bottom of a chair being shipped out and feels emancipated ("With this chair, I am here."). In "The Questioning Chair," Gretchen visits the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum with her class. She sits on a hole in the middle of a long toilet and imagines what it must have been like for the prisoners of the concentration camp. She considers what her parents or grandparents might have done during the Holocaust. In "The Freedom Chair," Mike sits on the floor of his cell where he is serving time for a crime; he's in solitary confinement for 72 days. He relies on his own inner strength and the kindness of a stranger. Jed sits on a fence outside the Amish school where his sister was killed, Barry sits in a food court as his parents tell him they are separating, and Noosla sits in a crowded, stinking apartment in Uzbekistan, waiting for an unscrupulous smuggler to decide her fate. Every story is poignant and provocative. Ellis writes with deep compassion and intuitiveness. This book is ripe with discussable, debatable issues and thought-provoking questions. VERDICT An excellent addition for classrooms and libraries.—D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH Review Ellis nimbly slips into the minds of her memorable characters … and her thought-provoking collection should spark wide-ranging discussions about choice and injustice. ( Publishers Weekly 2017-07-31) Beautifully wrought, the collection will appeal to thoughtful readers who appreciate Ellis' other globally-aware works … An excellent choice for all collections. ( Booklist, STARRED REVIEW 2017-10-01) Every story is poignant and provocative. Ellis writes with deep compassion and intuitiveness. ( School Library Journal 2017-10-01) … the collection’s focus on the action—or, more appropriately, the inaction—of sitting places readers right next to each protagonist as they transition from physically and metaphorically staying still to moving on. ( Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 2017-11-01) Review "Beautifully wrought, the collection will appeal to thoughtful readers who appreciate Ellis' other globally-aware works … An excellent choice for all collections." ― Booklist, starred review"Ellis nimbly slips into the minds of her memorable characters … and her thought-provoking collection should spark wide-ranging discussions about choice and injustice." ― Publishers Weekly"Every story is poignant and provocative. Ellis writes with deep compassion and intuitiveness." ― School Library Journal"… the collection’s focus on the action―or, more appropriately, the inaction―of sitting places readers right next to each protagonist as they transition from physically and metaphorically staying still to moving on." ― Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books About the Author Deborah Ellis is the author of more than two dozen books, including The Breadwinner, which has been published in twenty-five languages. She has won the Governor General’s Award, the Middle East Book Award, the Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work. She has received the Ontario Library Association’s President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement, and she has been named to the Order of Canada. She has donated more than $1 million in royalties to organizations such as Women for Women in Afghanistan, UNICEF and Street Kids International. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. “We would make perfect murderers,” said Sanu, who was one year older than Jafar... “What are you talking about?” Jafar asked. Sanu held up his hands and wiggled his fingers. “No fingerprints!” he said, laughing. They could laugh now, but when Jafar first started sanding, his fingers got so sore and bloody! “Get one more drop of blood on one of my chairs, you little cockroach, and I’ll send you back to your family in a garbage sack!” Boss had yelled at him. * Oak Street was not the busiest street in town, but lots of people still walked down it, and they all looked at Bea, sitting by herself on a bench in the middle of a school day. Bea didn’t worry about the old ladies. She had sat on this bench before on her days off and the old ladies left her alone... The dangerous ones were the yoga ladies... The yoga ladies were busybodies. * Mike hears the outer door of the Administrative Segregation pod shut and lock. He is all alone... His eyes are wiped and his face is dry by the time he hears the Ag Seg door unlock again and the peep-hole covering in his own door slide open. “You all right in there, 75293?” Mike knows the voice of CO Jenson. It is the voice of the devil.
