The+Year+Of+Billy+Miller

Nina Iagrossi ENG307 “The Year of Billy Miller” By Kevin Henkes Analysis: Character development In the book //The Year of Billy Miller//, Billy the main character starts off the book going into the second grade. He falls and gets a severe bump on his head that his mother thinks will affect his learning. Billy hears and starts the story off thinking he is going to have memory loss. This intimidated and scared Billy from the start. He wants to do well in school and as he moves through the story he realizes that he is smart and he can make it through the second grade with help and confidence from his teacher and family. Another thing that Billy develops about himself through the story is his relationship with his little sister. He usually finds her annoying and doesn’t like to spend time with her. Through the story after the two have a sleep over and try to stay up all night Billy sees that his sister is sweet. He sees that she can be fun to hang out with and not just a bratty sister that he is usually annoyed by. He builds confidence and grows as a boy through the second grade. Bibliographic data.: Title: “The Year of Billy Miller” Author AND illustrator: Kevin Henkes Publisher: Greenwillow Books Awards: 2014 Newbery Honor book by the American Library Association

A summary: //The Year of Billy Miller// is about a boy that is about to go into the second grade but before he does, in the summer, falls and bumps his hear pretty hard. His dad doesn’t think that the bump will cause any problems for Billy but Billy over hears that his mom is worried. She thinks that the bump on the front of his head is going to cause memory loss. This causes Billy to get worried and doubt that he is going to be able to pass the second grade. He is very unconfident and it shows in the first couple weeks of school. He starts to get in confirmations with one little girl in particular. One day the teacher sees Billy making a rude face at the girl and says she wants to speak with Billy privately. Now Billy is worried the teacher thinks he is a bad kid on top of not thinking he is smart. At the conference Billy confides in his teacher that he doesn’t think he is smart enough to pass the second grade. His teacher is shocked and saddened but assures Billy that he is a smart student. She also forgives him about making the nasty face at Emma the girl he has been having problems with. His teacher says that he is a very good boy and to not worry about not being smart. Through the story Billy sees as he gives his own father a suggestion about his art that he is a smart kid. He tells his father to start making a specific type of design after helping Billy with his school project. Because of this his father and mother leave for a couple of days to go sell the father’s work. While they are away Billy‘s plans with friends get canceled and he is forced to stay home. At his friend’s sleepover party that he now can’t go to, him and his friends were going to try to stay up all night. He still wants to try and even though he is annoyed with his sister he asks her to try and stay up with him. They both don’t make it but Billy realizes that his younger sister is not so bad after all. He liked spending time with her and thinks she is actually a fun sister, not an annoying cry baby. The story ends with Billy being able to memorize a poem that he reads for his mom because she is an English teacher. Something he thought he wasn’t able to do and ended up being able to reassure his own confidence in himself.

A review of the book. I think that this book was a creative and unique way to show kids to have confidence. I personally loved this book because as a child I thought that I was never smart enough and I would have loved to have had this book. I think this book would be useful to give kids something to relate to as well. Not just if they are also struggling in school but it also has family issues worked out through the book. Most kids have siblings that annoy them but this book showed that even though they annoy you they are family and you have to give them a chance and maybe they will surprise you. It was an appropriate, funny and great book for elementary kids to read. An author bio Kevin Henkes was born in born November 27, 1960 in Wisconsin and is an American author and illustrator. Kevin is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and lives in Madison with his wife and their two children Max and Ruby. His is famous for his book //Kitten's First Full Moon// but won the 2014 Newbery Honor book by the American Library Association for his children’s novel //The Year of Billy Miller.// Related links. []