ESL Book Review - A Place for Everyone
A Place for Everyone is a simple story that will resonate with adults learning literacy or English as a second language.
It explores a woman's desire for a better life and her frustration at lacking a necessary skill.
Its language makes it accessible to those who can most identify with the heroine.
Dot is a fortyish garment worker, living with her mother.
Though functionally illiterate, she's a talented seamstress whose work is in demand both on the job and in her neighborhood.
Dot's contented enough, but she knows something is missing from her life.
She starts taking an adult literacy class and, with the help of comic books, takes the first steps toward real reading.
But Dot is not rewarded with clear sailing.
This is a simple story, not a simplistic one.
As sometimes happens in real life, Dot is suddenly faced with problems that seem overwhelming: her workplace goes out of business and her mother becomes an invalid.
Can she find work and take care of her mother at the same time? She's still getting orders for custom sewing from the neighbors, but can she turn this sideline into a means of making a living? Is a home business, with all the paperwork it involves, beyond the reach of someone who's just learning to read? The story holds out hope, but makes it clear things aren't easy for Dot.
This book's vocabulary and formatting make it readable for students at a beginning level.
(A Place for Everyone by Tana Reiff, 1979, Lake Pub Co.
Length: 64 pages)
It explores a woman's desire for a better life and her frustration at lacking a necessary skill.
Its language makes it accessible to those who can most identify with the heroine.
Dot is a fortyish garment worker, living with her mother.
Though functionally illiterate, she's a talented seamstress whose work is in demand both on the job and in her neighborhood.
Dot's contented enough, but she knows something is missing from her life.
She starts taking an adult literacy class and, with the help of comic books, takes the first steps toward real reading.
But Dot is not rewarded with clear sailing.
This is a simple story, not a simplistic one.
As sometimes happens in real life, Dot is suddenly faced with problems that seem overwhelming: her workplace goes out of business and her mother becomes an invalid.
Can she find work and take care of her mother at the same time? She's still getting orders for custom sewing from the neighbors, but can she turn this sideline into a means of making a living? Is a home business, with all the paperwork it involves, beyond the reach of someone who's just learning to read? The story holds out hope, but makes it clear things aren't easy for Dot.
This book's vocabulary and formatting make it readable for students at a beginning level.
(A Place for Everyone by Tana Reiff, 1979, Lake Pub Co.
Length: 64 pages)
