Fantasy and Science Fiction - Savvy by Ingrid Law


Module 8 Savvy by Ingrid Law

Summary: Mississippi Beaumont (Mibs) has been anticipating her thirteenth birthday. In her family, that is the age that your savvy, or special skill, manifests. She wondered if her savvy would be as powerful as her brother Rocket who could set off electrical power or her brother Fish who creates water storms.   Mibs was hoping for something as exciting.  However, her savvy comes quietly and internally.  She thinks she has the power to wake up people and animals after she wakes up her younger sister and a pet turtle they thought was dead.  She knows that she can use her savvy to wake up her father who is in a coma after a car accident.  She makes her plan by becoming a stowaway on the bus of a bible salesman.  The preacher’s son and daughter decide to go with her, her protective brother Fish insist on going, and the brother Samson is already hiding on the bus.  The meek bus driver found himself taking this group to Salina, Kansas but not before they pick up another passenger and get into some wacky troubles.  In the end, Mibs learns to appreciate and use her savvy to the advantage of all. 

My Perspective: In the story Savvy, Mibs Beaumont comes from an extraordinary family who all have savvy, a special skill, that is unique to each person.  Her Grandma Dollop could collect songs from the air and her Grandpa could create land masses.  As her grandpa explains, “it’s not magic or sorcery, either. Your savvy’s in your blood.” (Law, I., 2008, p.121).  The ultimate theme is self-acceptance.  This is the lesson that Mibs learns when she discovers that her savvy is not as powerful or dramatic as both of her older brothers.  Her quiet savvy is unable to wake up her father as she hoped for, but it did allow her to communicate with him through his tattoo.  Mibs’ savvy is the ability to hear the thoughts of people through the ink on their skin.  She learns to appreciate her gift as it allows her to communicate with her father who still suffers the effects from a car accident.  As Children’s Book Review puts it, “While the story is based on the family’s supernatural powers, the emotion and events are certainly the main features that carry this powerful story, and I am positive that any child who reads this will find an element to truly connect with.” (The Children’s Book Review, 2008).

Library Application:  Students will make a character cube:
1.      Using the cube template available at http://www.innovativeclassroom.com, ask students to create a character cube.
2.      Provide students with a list of character traits. Students will choose 5 traits that describe one character from the story.
3.      List each trait on a side of the cube with a quote from the text that shows evidence of the trait.
4.      On the sixth side of the cube, students will draw a picture of the character they have chosen.
5.      Technology Integration: Students can create a bio cube for one of the characters in the book: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/cube_creator/
Lesson retrieved from https://www.teachervision.com/lesson/savvy-common-core-lesson-plans

References:
The Children’s Book Review (2008, July 13) [Review of the book Savvy].  Retrieved from https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2008/07/savvy-ingrid-law.html
Law, I. (2008). Savvy.  New York:  Dial Books for Young Readers.


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