How do you impart a golden life lesson to a young audience? How do you share your own grief and triumph in a way that it makes up for a light read? Today, we take a look at a brief but brilliant story by Rajhon Dodd. ReadersMagnet Book Review presents Jaime and the Yellow Clay.
Jaime and the Yellow Clay
Rajhon Dodd
ISBN 978-1-6357-5912-9
February 11, 2019
38 Pages
Keeping it simple and short
Jaime and the Yellow Clay is a children’s illustrated book by Rajhon Dodd. It tells the story of a young student named Jaime. Every day at school, Jaime is given a yellow clay to work on. Jaime’s favorite color is blue and every day, he wished that his teacher will give him the blue clay. Each day, the teacher asks them to make a sculpture with their respective clays. Every day, Jaime refuses because he doesn’t want to work with a yellow clay. He cannot think of anything to do with a yellow clay. As each day passes, Jaime observe that his classmates are making red snakes, green moons, and other stuff that did not match the real colors of these items.
Jaime’s mom told him that getting the yellow clay means that he is special. Jaime disagrees. One day, the teacher decided to have them work on the clay a bit longer and have them present it to class. After working on his yellow clay, Jaime went in front and presented his own sculpture made of yellow clay. Jaime told the whole class that his sculpture is a miner’s pan and that the tiny round objects are golden nuggets from the river. The teacher then told Jaime that he had done great by producing a beautiful thing out of something he did not like or desired.
Molding a lesson nice and slow
Rajhon Dodd’s Jaime and the Yellow Clay is a wonderful example of building phase and a fitting ending. He begins by establishing his love for the color blue and everything blue. He then takes the readers to a recurring scene- Jaime getting the same yellow clay from his teacher every day and not working on the yellow clay. This established the theme of the story- desiring for one thing and not be grateful with what is given. Finally, Rajhon Dodd brings the lesson home with Jaime realizing that he must make do with the thing that he is given. To be able to find contentment and feel gratitude with what you have is a golden lesson that Jaime and the Yellow Clay successfully imparts to its young readers.
ReadersMagnet Review recommends Rajhon Dodd’s Jaime and the Yellow Clay to young readers, ages 6 to 9 years old. It is a wonderful read and with a masterfully drawn lesson behind it.
ReadersMagnet. Biz conducts full book review every Friday. Check out our next featured book next week.