Ever wondered where sparrows came from? In 1868, an English man named John Bardsely sailed across the sea with over a thousand birds to solve an inchworm infestation in Philadelphia. The birds were a hit amongst the people and for that he gained the nickname "Sparrow Jack". This book details the way you can turn something negative into something positive and solve a problem by thinking creatively. Although I think it is a cute story, I think it would be difficult to fit into a lesson. I do however think it could be a good read at the end of the day. ( )

The Allen article tells us that according to a second grade teacher, the more kids are exposed to, the better learners they are. This book by Gerstein could be used (in a way) to introduce immigration to the students. In the book, the man goes to America for better life opportunities. When he gets there, there is an overload of worms! He had sparrows back home that loved worms, so he went back to England to get them. When he brought them to America, they had babies and then cured America of their worm plague! This teaches students the reasoning behind countries trading and bartering products and goods. Some things from some places work well with other things from other places (like the sparrows and worms), and that's why immigration is important. ( )

Sparrow Jack was very cute! It was fun to read because it was a little wacky, but I think kids would really enjoy reading this book. The way the pictures are and the dialogue itself was quite amusing. In England they ate sparrows as a tasty snack. Although it probably isn't true it was still funny to think of that. The book was a little dramatic because some things in the book can not be done but once again this adds more effect for the kids to enjoy. This book overall was very fun to read. ( )

This book is about a man named John Bardsley who developed a close relationships with sparrows in his homeland of England. As John got older, he moved to America for work opportunities. Not long after being in America, John noticed the large amount of inch worms that infested all the plants and bothered the people. John soon became excited by the idea of bringing his sparrow friends to Philadelphia to help solve the problem of the abundant inch worms. Eventually John achieves his goal and introduces the now common sparrows to America. I loved this story and how it's based on true events. The illustrations were also done really well. For the most part, I felt as if the pictures showed enough of what was happening to follow the story without reading or hearing the words. The composition in the images helped tell the story through drawing your eye to important action. I also thought the writing was wonderful. The writing gave wonderful background information about certain events when necessary that really helped make sense of the some parts of the story. ( )

Sparrow Jack is based on the true events of a young boy named John Bardsley who lived in England. In England, sparrows are good for eating and making lots of noise. One day a baby sparrow has fallen from a nest and instead of killing it for food, he takes it home and cares for it. He begins to love sparrows and decides he will never hunt a sparrow again. John grew up and decided to move to American for a better future. England was scarce of money and jobs. While he was there, inchworms started taking over the city by eating leaves and tickling the backs of the residents. John Bardsley decided the sparrows back in England would take care of the vicious inchworms so he sails back and brings over a thousand sparrows and they eat the inchworms. The city is happy that they will never be bothered by inchworms again. They end up calling John "Sparrow Jack" and is loved by the city. This is a great book to share with children that one man can end up saving the day and that one person could be them. John Bardsley cared so much for the city of Philadelphia that he sailed all the way back to England to get the sparrows and sailed back, knowing he would be sea sick the whole time. This can show children to be compassionate for others and if you can solve a problem, do it. I think the story may be better for older kids like 3rd-5th grade who can understand the process of the food chain. They should know that we need to eat the sparrows to keep the balance of their population and the we need the sparrows to eat the inchworms to cut down their population. I'm sure younger kids could read this but they may have a million questions if they have yet learned about the food chain. This could make them even sad to know we eat animals and other animals each other. The illustrations in the book are very cute and shows the important events in the story. ( )