Summary
Cornelious, a garbage man in New Orleans, was a kind man around town. Cornelious would often say hello to others and would clean up the streets of New Orleans. People respected Cornelious’ strong effort to help the community in a positive way. When Hurricane Katrina comes to New Orleans, it floods the streets and causes great devastation. Cornelious continued cleaning up and sparked for others to participate as well. Cornelious passed on, however his memory will live on forever in New Orleans.
Theme(s):
Community, Tragedy, Coming together
Personal Response
I believe this is an amazing book about how any job, and any human, can help change a community. Cornelious took care of his community before Hurricane Katrina, and even after he did not stop. Cornelious’ positive energy influenced other people in the community to help clean up as well. With the community helping Cornelious, they were able to come back from the devastation of the storm, and continued to embrace Cornelious, even when he passed on.
Teaching Ideas
During this read aloud, I would discuss with students other community members that help us, and how we can help them. This book is a great example of how a community can come together in a time of need and tragedy.
Recommended Reading Level
Birth-PreK, Grade 01, Grade 02, Grade 03
