The Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña by Marissa Posada

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Justification: I chose this book because of the adventure CJ and his Nana were going on. I wanted to know what was at the last stop on Market Street. It seemed like a good story where his Nana would show him the beauty of the world. It is always good when a child stops complaining and appreciates what they have. I also liked the art on the cover jacket, but I did not realize it would be different inside the book.

Evaluation: The majority of this plot is told through dialog. We really get to know Nana's and CJ's personalities through the conversations. CJ spends the first half of the story complaining on what he doesn't have, "...how come we don't have a car?" and "sure wish I had one of those." But Nana sets him straight by showing CJ the benefits of what he does have. "What for when we have..." This shows how Nana can see the silver lining in all situations. So we see the development of CJ from someone who just complains to someone who starts to realize the beauty everywhere. This is all thanks to his Nana, who points out the beauty at first.

This book contains an unexpected insight. As mentioned before, Nana sees the silver lining in everything. The whole book is Nana trying to show CJ to look at what he does have and no focus on what he doesn't He complains about not having a music player and his Nana shows him that he has live music. He complains that it is dirty, but she mentions that is how you appreciate the beauty. By the end of the book CJ realizes the gift his Nana has in seeing "beautiful where he never even thought to look." The reader also learns to appreciate what they have and not on what they don't have.

The illustrations reinforce the text in this book. The illustrations just show what the text alludes to. there was not a lot of description in the text, mostly just dialogue. The illustrations have an instance of providing clarity from the text, when CJ complains of not having one of 'those,' the illustrations clarify that it is some type of music player. The illustrations are brightly colored and every one is very unique looking. There was a very diverse background cast, which adds to the beauty in everything theme in the book.

Response: This book reminded me of spending time with my own grandmothers, althought I never traveled with either of them. This made me think of the adventures we could of had if we lived in a city that had better public transportation. I wonder if we would have been as selfless and Nana and CJ? I tend to be a pessimist, so after reading this book, I realized I am similar to CJ. I need to take Nana's advice and follow her example of seeing beauty in everything. I somewhat enjoyed this text. I liked the unexpected insight and the way it showed the message. I did not care for the art style.

Conclusion: This book had examples of dialogue, unexpected insights, and illustrations that reinforced the text. This is a good book to read to kids, or have have kids read, who complain a lot. This will show them to appreciate what they have. I can't recommend this book for the art because I do not like it personally.

APA Citation: de la Peña, M. (2015). The last stop on Market Street. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.