Basic elements:
Characters: Steven, Aunt Carolyn, Grandma, Sean, Uncle Charles, Aunt Marsha, Granddad, Mr. Perkins, Ms. Ruby
Setting: Summer, at Grandma’s house
Plot: Aunt Carolyn would send postcards to Steven from every place she went.
Perspective: First person’s viewpoint
Genre: Realistic Fiction
The realistic fiction story “The Jones Family Express” written and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe talks about a boy named Steven whose family has an annual block party every year. Aunt Carolyn will be at the party, which is not very often, so Steven wants to get something special for her. Unfortunately, there was nothing special enough at Perkin’s drugstore and the things at Ms. Ruby’s shop were too expensive. But in the end, Steven got help from Uncle Charles and he found an old toy train that was broken and he fixed it. Then, he gave it to Aunt Carolyn and she loved it. We can learn three interesting themes from this story.
First, I learned that family love is important. Family love is the help and support that family members give each other and without family love, families might crumble. In the story, Steven gives Aunt Carolyn a gift and Uncle Charles helps Steven to find a gift for Aunt Carolyn. This is the family love that Steven and Uncle Charles showed. So, we can express family love by helping and supporting our family members, so that our family members can have good relationships between each other.
Secondly, I learned that a gift is not always best to be expensive. Sometimes a gift that is handmade and made by yourself is best, because some people want gifts that are handmade and that you have put a lot of effort and work into. In the story, Steven found an old toy train at Uncle Charles’ house and he fixed it, then he gave it to Aunt Carolyn and she loved it. Steven’s gift wasn’t expensive, but Aunt Carolyn loved it, because Steven did a lot to fix it. This made it handmade by him and it had pictures of his whole family on it, which made it unique. So, sometimes people prefer things that are handmade and that you have put your heart into rather than expensive things.
Last but not least, I learned that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Sometimes when you think someone is bad, they're actually good. And when you think someone is good, they’re actually bad. Sometimes you only see part of their personality and think it is their full personality. In the story, in the beginning, Uncle Charles was grumpy, selfish, and mean, but in the end, he helped Steven, which shows that he is observant, caring, serious, etc. At first, we thought that Uncle Charles was a bad person, but he is actually a good person. So, sometimes we see only part of the person’s personality, but we should still keep understanding them, instead of just accepting that they are that kind of person.
This story talks about a boy named Steven who wants to give something special to Aunt Carolyn. But he faced troubles in buying something for her. Luckily, Uncle Charles helped him and he found an old toy train that was broken and he fixed it. Then, he gave it to Aunt Carolyn and she loved it. This story teaches people that family love is the help and support that family members give each other, sometimes people prefer gifts that are handmade and that you have put a lot of effort and work into, and sometimes we only see part of a person’s personality, but we shouldn’t think that it’s their full personality. On the other hand, in the story, “The Jones Family Express” is the symbol of Aunt Carolyn’s travels, because she loves to travel by train. And it is the symbol of family love, because it has pictures of the whole family on it. This is a truly meaningful story.
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