The Year You Were Born

A Day-by-Day Record of 1987: The Year You Were Born

Compiled by Jeanne Martinet

Illustrated by Judy Lanfredi

Published in 1993

Grade Level: 6th-8th grade

Synopsis: The Year You Were Born is exactly what it says it is; a day-by-day record of the year you were born.  This particular book is about 1987, but Tambourine Books also published books for 1981-1989 as well.  The front of the book includes some brief facts from the 1987 U.S Almanac such as the number of births and deaths in the United States, households with television sets, the top crop, and number of children's books sold.  The book also includes interesting or important facts from each day of the year.  It includes birth dates and facts about well known people throughout history.  For example, "Who else was born in May?  John F. Kennedy.  U.S. President, 1961-63.  The youngest man to be elected president, he was also the 4th president to be assassinated."  Nearly every fact has an accompanying illustration that represents that fact. 

Theme/Skill: Although the information in the book is older than students in school today, there are still relevant and important skills to be learned from The Year You Were Born.  Students could learn about timelines and chronological order; understanding progression as well as cause and effect; wonderful for Social Studies class.  With this book, students could also be instructed in the purpose of research and where to look to find information; relevant to research in all subject areas. 

Pre-reading activity: The teacher could introduce the book to the class; what's in it and how it was compiled.  To expand upon that, the teacher should ask the students why someone would create a book like The Year You Were Born, how it could be used, why it is important to organize information in this way.  It would also be important to define the terms 'fact' and 'opinion.'  Students should be able to identify the difference between the two as well as what each type of data tells you, and where they are commonly found (i.e-encyclopedia vs. a letter to the editor). 

Post-reading activity:  This is not a book that would be read cover to cover to students.  Have students write their birthdays on a slip of paper, drop those papers in a hat, and draw five to ten birthdays at random.  Read the students the facts from that day.  Some may need clarification while others lead to discussion.  If you are teaching an event in history, this book would be a great secondary text to show students a timeline and discuss its purpose.  Use events from the school year to create a timeline with students.  Have events from the year written on index cards and jumble the cards up.  Have a student read each event on the card to the rest of the class and then tape that even on the board.  With the help of students, put those events in chronological order.  The next step will be for students to organize ten to fifteen important events from what they have been learning about (i.e- the Industrial Revolution) onto a timeline.  They must include details; dates, names, places, outcome (cause and effect).

Assessment: The timelines will be graded on correctness and neatness.  Each event on the timeline will be worth four points (one point for date, one for location, one for correctness, and one for the effect it had on other events/people).  Students will be given a quiz that will test their ability to determine fact from fiction.  This quiz is not meant to trick the students, but rather to act as a precursor to the unit exam in which students will be tested, in large part, on specific facts.  Students will identify whether a statement is true or false and correct the false statements. 

Reflection: I remember getting this book for my birthday one year and turning the pages immediately to the day I was born.  It sparked my curiosity and I wanted to know what happened the day I was born.  Unfortunately, Tambourine Books did not continue to write books about each year.  I am sure that something could be found that is very similar.  As a reader, I see the restrictions of the book, but as an educator I see the possibilities.  It could undoubtedly be used in Social Studies, but in English Language Arts as well.  Perhaps the book could be used to give students context and background knowledge of a book that takes place during 1981-1989, one of the years that The Year You Were Born covers.