The West Sidefrom How Juan Got Home

by Bob Dorsey

powerpoint presentation by Carol Harms, JSD 171, Orofino, ID

“The West Side” is from the final chapters of the book How Juan Got Home. Juan Morales wants to go home to Puerto Rico. Although he likes his uncle’s comfortable New York City apartment, he fears he’ll never find friends. None of the boys in the East Side neighborhood where his uncle lives speaks Spanish.

Then, on a search for Puerto Rican food, he goes to the West Side. Here he finds some reminders of Puerto Rico, and here, for the first time since being in New York, he finds a friend.

Have you ever moved to a new place and wonderedif you would have friends?

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Characters behave as people or animals do in real life.

The setting is a real place or could be a real place.

The events of the story are based on a conflict or problem that could occur in real life.

Juan = /whon/Morales = /more-all-ace/

New York City

Puerto Rico

Puerto /Pwhere- toe/Rico/Ree-co/

Make sure you can pronounce Juan’s nameand the namePuerto Rico correctly.It is okay to guess on therest of the Spanish wordsin this story.

scowledfrowned

jabberingtalking a lot and very fast

managera person who takes care of

or organizes something like an office or sports team

She manages a businessHe manages a sports team

embarrassed

feeling bad or silly about something you’ve done

impresseddescribes someone who thinksanother person is good at something

I was impressed by the quarterback’s skill.

Everyone was impressed by the job the workers had done building the roof.

blue blewate eightson sunwould wood

Homophones have the same sound as another word, but have a different meaning and spelling.

“homo” means same “phon” means sound- by word analysis, a homophone is a word with the same sound.

broken closetstranger screamThese words start with consonant blends. What letters form the blends at the beginning of these words?

Can you think of at least one other word that begins with eachblend?

Drawing Conclusions

Readers can draw conclusions about what a character is like based on information in the story. In order to draw these conclusions, readers consider what a character says, what a character does, and what other characters say about him or her.

Mrs. Jones scowled at the children.They always made so much noise as they passed her window. Didn’t they knowhow important it was that she have quiet?She was not impressed with their manners.

The children looked up and saw Mrs.Jones looking at them with her scrunchedup face and burning eyes. They wonderedif Mrs. Jones would feel embarrassed if shecould see how frightful her expression was.

What does Mrs. Jonesdo, say or think that tells you about her character?

What do the children say or thinkthat tells you about Mrs. Jones’ character?