SuitabookGiovanni and the fava beans
Joseph P. Ruli, Jaclyn Warren
- Reading
- Read together and pause for the child’s response to the famine setting. Afterwards, look at the altar-making guide and decide whether to try an activity that fits your family.
- Themes
- Altar tradition and faith: The story links a community’s prayers during famine with the celebration of an altar after rain arrives, presenting the custom’s origins through Giovanni’s experience. The story explains a Catholic tradition through a fictionalised child’s experience and treats prayer and the altar as meaningful within that faith setting.
- Illustrations and story sequence: Some pages pair denser text with a full-page illustration; others use a single sentence with multiple illustrations showing the sequence. The shifts between denser text pages and image-led sequences give the story a varied visual rhythm.
- Worth knowing
- The setting includes severe drought, crop failure and famine; Giovanni encounters a starving girl. These circumstances may prompt questions about hunger and hardship.