Readers increase their focus, engagement, and comprehension when they decide why they are reading the text. By reading this book, students will gain information about Justice Sonia Sotomayor. This text could be connected to the following themes:

January: Poverty in America Awareness Month 
March: Women’s History Month 
April: Celebrate Diversity Month 
May1:LawDay  
September 15–October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month 
November: National Diabetes Month; World Diabetes Day (11/14)

Readers interact with and respond to the drawings and photos within a text, which are an integral part of conveying meaning, tone, beauty, and understanding. 

Before reading:

• Begin with a picture walk through the text and ask, “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
• “Based on reading the pictures, what do you predict will happen?"

During reading:

• How might the illustrations contribute to the tone and meaning of the story?
• While planning, you can use a sticky note to mark interesting elements of the illustrations that could spark conversation or add visuals to new vocabulary.

Readers condense the text to its bare essentials: the gist, the key ideas, or the main points that are worth noting and remembering. 

The gist: “Organize your thoughts about Justice Sotomayor’s journey in 20 words or fewer, capturing the most important parts in your own words.”

As readers, we use clues and information to determine the meaning of the words. Some words from the text to consider: unexpected, abandoned, blossoms, private school, public housing project, wages, Puerto Rico, culture, merengue music, abuelita, encyclopedias, detective, unstoppable, diabetes, courtroom, lawyer, judge, subways, luxuries, inferior, poverty, prejudice, nominate, Supreme Court Justice, senators, dynamo