My Travelin' Eye

My Travelin' Eye

Written and Illustrated by: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

Age Group: 2nd and 3rd Grade

Published: 2008

The book My Travelin' Eye is about a little girl who has a lazy eye and how she sees the world differently because of it. Her teachers say that she really need to get it fixed, so with her mother she goes to the doctor. She knows that because of her lazy eye she is unique and cool, and she doesn't understand why they are making her change who she is. The doctor told her that she needed to wear an eye patch, at first she was hesitant, but then she realized how cool she could make them look so she had a different design for each day. She went back to the doctor for a check up and her eye was fixed and now she only needed to wear glasses, and luckily she was able to fashion those things up as well.

This book has a wonderful lesson about being okay with who you are and excepting that we are all born with different things. So many kids have to wear glasses and this book proves that you can be okay with it and even make your glasses pretty and fun to wear so other classmates are jealous. The confidence that Jenny has in the book is great for children to learn from and observe for themselves. 

I absolutely love the pictures in this book. They are so creative. Some are made from painting and drawing, while others are made with paper and cut to form the pictures and objects. The font in this book changes as well, if a character is speaking loudly or if they are going in circles when talking, the font will as well. It is such a creative way to get the children involved with understanding the text. At one point in the book it talks about the world being blurry for her, and the objects on on the page are watercolor and they are blurry painted, which is a great effect. 

I would completely recommend this book. I would have kids read it themselves and I would read it to them. They have a great time looking and learning from all the pictures and the struggles that the main character went through and would be able to understand with her.