Third Grade completed box book reports after reading Suitcase by Mildred Pitts Walter.

Suitcase is an old children’s book (published in 1999) about a six- grader named Xander ‘Suitcse’ Bingham who despite his love of drawing and his feelings of inadequacy as an athlete, works to become a baseball player to win the approval of his father.

I found the book in my classroom and wanted to read it since the protagonist was a male black character. The children could relate to it and for the first time, a lot of them begin to open up about the relationship between their parents which was really touching.