The One Thing You'd Save

by Linda Sue Park Narrated by Nancy Wu, Maxwell Glick, Elizabeth Pan, Full Cast

Overview

If your house were on fire, what one thing would you save? Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park explores different answers to this provocative question in linked poems that capture the diverse voices of a middle school class. 

When a teacher asks her class what one thing they would save in an emergency, some students know the answer right away. Others come to their decisions more slowly. And some change their minds when they hear their classmates' responses. A lively dialog ignites as the students discover unexpected facets of one another-and themselves. With her ear for authentic dialog and knowledge of tweens' priorities and emotions, Linda Sue Park brings the varied voices of an inclusive classroom to life through carefully honed, engaging, and instantly accessible verse.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 01/25/2021

In a classroom, teacher Ms. Chang poses a premise: “Imagine that your home is on fire. You’re allowed to save one thing./ Your family and pets are safe, so don’t worry about them./ Your Most Important Thing. Any size.” The students respond—some share, others contemplate privately—traversing a wide terrain, including the practical (“MY DAD’S WALLET. DUH”) and deeply personal remembrances. One child reflects silently about their “total dump” of a home (“Be glad to see it burn down”), while another secretly recalls escaping an actual burning building: “The only thing you worry about saving is your own sorry skin.” Readers may not realize that the volume is a collection of poems until they read Park’s closing note, which explains her inspiration: traditional Korean sijo verse, which consists of three lines of 13 to 17 syllables and is sometimes broken into six shorter lines. This relatively flexible structure creates a rhythmic variety of declarations, reflections, interjections, and occasional dialogue employed throughout, complemented by Sae-Heng’s gray-toned, sketchlike illustrations. While each child’s voice isn’t entirely distinct, the class’s camaraderie and caring spirit comes through clearly, poised to inspire thoughtful classroom discussion. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

★ "The class’s camaraderie and caring spirit comes through clearly, poised to inspire thoughtful classroom discussion." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

★ "This is a combination of piquant premise and accessible, engaging text... that will invite both reluctant and enthusiastic literati to reconsider their possessions. It also cries out to be a classroom read or even readaloud." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

★ "This is a combination of piquant premise and accessible, engaging text... that will invite both reluctant and enthusiastic literati to reconsider their possessions. It also cries out to be a classroom read or even readaloud."

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2021-01-13
A poetic exploration of middle-grade values.

Newbery Medalist Park presents a provocative collection of narrative poems inspired by sijo, a 14th-century Korean syllabic verse form. Teacher Ms. Chang poses to her class a variation of the timeless desert-island question: “Imagine that your home is on fire,” and, while family and pets are spared, “you’re allowed to save one thing.” Chang’s students react well to this “good homework,” sharing with their classmates a multitude of objects they’d protect from the hypothetical flames. Some choose eminently practical items like a cellphone (“somebody’s gotta call 9-1-1, right?”) and “MY DAD’S WALLET. DUH” (because “if a fire burns everything up, you’re gonna need money. A lot”). Other treasures reflect differing levels of maturity and self- involvement: a mother’s insulin kit, a rug to smother flames, sneakers like “Jeremy Lin wore when he scored thirty-eight points / against the Lakers” and for which the student had saved pennies for months, a “muddy blue” sweater May’s father’s mother had knit for her father that her other grandmother then unraveled and reknit for her. Coupled with debut illustrator Sae-Heng’s accessible grayscale sketches of the objects, often in situ, Park’s subjects’ mementos offer middle-grade readers much food for thought regarding what one values and how others can touch one’s life. Names and other details indicate a diverse class. A note on sijo concludes the volume.

Park’s extended rumination has the power to bring us home. (Verse fiction. 8-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173272744
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

“Imagine that your home is on fire. You’re allowed to save one thing.
Your family and pets are safe, so don’t worry about them.

Your Most Important Thing. Any size. A grand piano? Fine.”

For once we got good homework, not useless stuff like worksheets.
Best part is, Ms. Chang says we don’t have to write anything down,
just think about it so we can discuss it with everyone.

We’re supposed to pretend there’s a fire, and we can save just one thing.
Ms. Chang says size and weight don’t matter—it could be anything.
And don’t worry about family or pets, they’re already safe. Phew!

Makes things harder, though, ’cause I would’ve saved my nana first.
Arthritis—it hurts her to walk. If I tried to get her out,
I’d have to hurry her up and tell her she doesn’t need her good hat.

Wonder what May’s taking. Maybe I’ll give her a call—
HEY, THAT’S IT! MY PHONE! I’ll need it to tell all my friends,
and besides, somebody’s gotta call 9-1-1, right?

One thing? That’s impossible. How can I ever pick just one thing?
I’ve got so much stuff I’d want to take. My books, for a start.
My graphic novels and my manga, my Calvin and Hobbes—

heck, my Neil deGrasse Tyson books, seven all by themselves!
I couldn’t pick a favorite, every one of them is awesome.
Oh man, I hate this, I’m never gonna be able to decide.

“Promise you won’t think it’s stupid?”
“How can I promise that, girl,
when you didn’t tell me what it is yet? You tell me first,
then I tell you what I think, and you want me to be honest, right?”

“Okay. It’s a sweater.”
“A sweater? Which one—oh no. Not that one—”
“Which one? Bet you’re wrong.”
“It’s that nasty blue cardigan, right?
You can’t be serious! Why would you take that ugly thing?”

“I don’t care that it’s ugly—”
“But you hardly ever wear it!
I mean, when I can’t find my phone, it’s super annoying,
but that sweater, you wouldn’t even miss it, so why save it?”

“If you lose your phone, you can always just get another one.
All your stuff gets stored in the cloud, right? But my one gran,
she’s gone, my other gran’s eyes so bad she can’t knit anymore,

so there’s never gonna be another sweater like it
in the whole history of the universe, not ever.
Things that you can’t go buy another one, that’s what you gotta save.”

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