The book George was written by Alex Gino. Alex Gino was born and raised Staten Island, NY, and has traveled through 44 states during an 18-month time period. Now Alex has happily settled back in Oakland, CA. Alex Gino has been an advocate and activist for the LGBTQIA+ communities since 1997, and has also been an active participant of other organizations/communities as well. To learn more, check out Alex's website here. About the book...This book is about a character named "George", who a boy, but feels and believes that he is a girl. She feels as if she would have to keep the secret forever and only be able to observe girls through her magazine collections of them. However, when her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web, George saw this as an opportunity to show everyone, specifically his mom, that she was a girl, not a boy. Unfortunately, she gets turned down when trying out for Charlotte's part because the teacher took it as a joke. How could a boy play a girl's part? With the help of his best friend Kelly, George comes up with a plan to still be included in Charlotte's role, but most importantly, so that everyone will know who she is.
This book isn't just about gender identity, but also about courage to be oneself. I can only imagine the struggle that George felt as she grew up. She felt trapped within her own body and she wasn't able to express who she was freely to the world. It was the one thing that she'd always wanted. Not just that, but I also felt the mom's pain and confusion. As an aunt of 9 kids, I can only imagine what I would feel if one of them were in George's cases where they felt like a boy or girl and were not treated or seen as them. I think I would be confused as well and take longer to accept the truth, but at the same time, it would be painful to me knowing that they are the ones who are suffering and suffocating daily on trying to be themselves. We teach kids everyday to be who they are, yet when they are, we sometimes reject them because they are "too different" instead of looking at them as "too unique". This reminds me of a book I read recently called Population One. It was a book written by an 18-year-old with autism. In his book, he talked about how we are a POPULATION, but we are made up of INDIVIDUALS that are each different and unique, which makes us a Population of individuals. Each individuals has an affect to the world somehow, and when we all come together, we become a galaxy, which then becomes the universe as one (McNamer, 2013). I feel like this relates to this book or topic as well. Instead of looking at someone as "they have autism/a disability" or "they are gay/lesbian/queer, etc", we need to look at them as individuals who are unique and can come together to help shape this world we live in. Now going back to the book, I think George is a very courageous young girl. It takes a lot to stand against the typical norms, and that is something that I can really relate to. Going off on a little tangent here, but in my culture, we are not allowed to date or marry same last name because they believe we are all brothers and sisters, whether we are blood related or not. You get shamed on for doing that. Lucky for me, I am in that situation. My current serious relationship is with a same last name man. We always, and still do, have to hide our relationship from others, especially from the people who love most. Like George, I am frightened and scared of how they would react. I'm always in constant fear that someone would find out about our secret. However, I feel that George is more brave than I am because she was willing to be in that play, and tell her mom about who she really is. I'm sure she was scared and nervous too, but she did it. I'm jealous yet glad that she has a supportive family that was willing to work things out with her despite how awkward or different it may be. Her mom was very supportive, even though I could tell that it was hard for her to process things through. To go against the social norms is already hard enough, but to accept the difference and embrace it...it's even more hard, and takes up even more courage sometimes, I feel. That is why I applaud her mom for slowly accepting it, and embracing who her child is and not what she wants her to be. That too, takes a lot of courage. Another character that I enjoyed was Kelly, George's best friend. I loved how open and accepting Kelly was. She didn't hate on him or felt disgusted by him, which is something scary when you have a secret that goes against the social norm. Yet she helped George find her identity, and she helped George build up her courage to play Charlotte in the play, and to dress up as a girl to go to the zoo with her and her Uncle. That is definitely a best friend right there. I think George was very lucky to have a friend who was willing to accept her for who she is, and help her find herself and show everyone who she is. Just like the mom, I believe that took a lot of courage as well for Kelly to stand alongside with George to go against the social norms. After reading the book, I reflected a lot as a person and as a teacher. How can I learn to slowly embrace my students who go through the same thing as George does? What can I best do to help them? Then as I read the article, Discovering their Identity by Suzanne Evans, Susan Gilbert, and Thomas Doyle (2017), I realized the power of literature to help affirm gender identity through the quote "through the selections of the literature read aloud, teachers have the power to break the barriers of stereotypes, teach acceptance for children who demonstrate nonconforming behavior, help students value gender diversity, recognize and cross gender barriers, and take action to promote equity and justice". As teachers, we DO have the POWER to make changes in the world, and it starts with a BOOK in a CLASSROOM. How we teach it can change children's view of the social norms equipping them with the tools to alter those social norms and make it become their own. How wonderful does that sound as a teacher? That we can impact library choices, curriculum decisions, and policies that include gender nonconforming people and become an advocate in all of our communities (Stachowiak, 2018). That is something truly amazing, and something to look forward to as a teacher. Evans , S., Gilbert , S., & Doyle , T. (2017). Discovering Their Identity: Using Gender Nonconforming Picture Books in Early Education Classrooms. Children's Literature , 20–21. Retrieved from https://asulearn.appstate.edu/pluginfile.php/472422/mod_page/content/16/discovering their identity_gender nonconforming.pdf Gino, A. (2015) George. New York, NY: Scholastic. McNamer, T. (2013) Population One: Autism, Adveristy, and the Will to succeed. Lake Placid, NY: Aviva Publishing. Stachowiak, D. (2018). The Power to Include: A starting place for creating gender-inclusive literacy classrooms. Literacy Today, 28–30. Retrieved from literacyworldwide.org
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Amal Unbound written by Aisha Saeed. Aisha is a Pakistani American who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and sons. Aisha speaks fluently in three languages (Urdu, Punjabi, and English), and has started writing as soon as she learned how to use a paper and pencil. She also loved reading, and learned to read when she was three years old. To learn more about her and her other books, check out her website at http://aishasaeed.com. Jeanette Winter is a celebrated picture book creator who has written and illustrated other books such as Our House is on Fire, Oil, and The world is not Rectangle. I wasn't able to find a lot of detailed information about Jeanette Winter, but check out the official publisher page to learn more about her other books at https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jeanette-Winter/64041479. Amal UnboundFor this week’s reading, I was fortunate to read the book Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed. I don’t even know where to begin with this because it was such an enjoyable book. There were many things that I loved about this book. I loved the character in this book. Amal is the oldest daughter in her family. She has two younger sisters Safa and Rabia. Her mother later gave birth to another sister, Lubna, which she was not able to be part of her life growing up. Amal had stood up for what she believed was right against Jawad Sahib, the local landowner who was known for his cruel punishments. Ever since that moment, Amal’s life had changed. In order to repay her family’s debt, Jawad decided to have her work in his house away from her family. She left home to live and work in a new and unfamiliar environment where her dreams of going to college and becoming a teacher began to slowly vanish away from her. This story is about how Amal finds the courage to get through this adjustment, and found her courage to stand up for what she believed in. I really loved this book because of her courage and love for books. Amal depended on books to get her through the hardships of adjusting in a new place and away from home. It was the only thing that made it bearable for her. This is one of the reason why I think this is such a powerful book is because it shows the importance of having books, and how powerful it can be. To Amal, it wasn’t just a book. Books were her hope. It helped her cope with her situation, which is not a common thing in America. Children now a days aren’t very into books, yet Aisha was able to show us a perspective that proved us wrong, or at least me. Who knew that a book can be that powerful to a child? It’s absolutely amazing! There were also some connections I made while reading it, specifically the beginning of the book. Amal described and expressed the regret and disappointment her parents looked when her baby sister, Lubna, was born. She tried to ignore it, but the image kept flashing back to her. The conversation that she had with her mother on page 58 was heart breaking to me personally because I can relate to her. Amal: “Why is having a boy all anyone can talk about? Mom: “Who else will care for us in our old age? Who will run the farm and keep your grandfather’s dream alive?” Amal: “I could. Seema and I both would.” Mom: “You will get married one day. Then you’ll belong to a new family.” Amal: “But I’m part of this family!” This is how I feel as well. Just like Amal, I couldn’t understand why a son was better than a daughter. In the Hmong culture, having a son meant you had an heir to carry on your last name and carry on the family heritage/tradition. Having daughters were good, but it will NEVER be the same as having a son. Even if I were to graduate with my Masters degree in Reading Education, it wouldn’t change anything for them. I wouldn’t make my parents any prouder, well more like I couldn’t make them any prouder because I am a girl. Because I was born as a girl, all my accomplishments will be seen as wasted and unimportant because it will only benefit another family. I wouldn’t be able to come back to my family and use my knowledge to benefit them. That is how it is in the Hmong culture. The frustration is real and painful, so when I read this part, I really feel for Amal and her pain. To see the disappointment in your parents’ eyes is one of the worst feelings EVER that any child can experience. It’s not our fault that we were born as girls, and we never chose it. All we wanted was to be loved regardless of our gender, and to love our family. That simple yet so complicated ideology is so hard to obtain in cultures like Amal and mine. It’s something that we’ll have to keep fighting and prove to them that we are just as capable as sons are to them. Going along with this, on page 161 where Amal comes back home for the wedding, she was told to relax because she was their “guest” now. Her reaction was this: “They meant it kindly. But to call me a guest in the only place I ever belonged—the word cut like a jagged stone against my heart.” First of all, that last sentence was beautifully written. And secondly, I really resonated with that. As a Hmong women, being married off is like getting cut off from the family. Whenever we come back to visit our family again after getting married, we are viewed not as a daughter, but a guest. We no longer live with our parents, which makes us a guest in their eyes. That is why they say when you get married, it will no longer be the same as it used to. At least for the daughters. We are their daughter, but they have to treat us like an outsider. I see this everyday as my sister-in-law struggle with this and my older sister as well. Coming back to visit my parents, my older sister is not treated like the older sister that I grew up knowing, but a guest that my parents speak carefully to now. It’s as if they never knew her or watched her grew up. It breaks my heart to even think about how they would treat me when I get married, but I am determined to break that cultural aspect of it because no matter what, they are my parents and I will ALWAYS love them to my best ability. Sorry, going off on a tangent here, but I promise you it’s related. As I read that part, it broke my heart even more for Amal because it wasn’t like she was married off. She was forced to leave everything that she knew and yet to be called a “guest”…was heart breaking even for me. I really felt her pain and sadness there. Again, it’s something that women like Amal and I have to face and stand up for what we believe is right even if it goes against our cultural norms. Apart from that, I really liked how her character developed throughout the story as well. She was a child in my eyes who went to school and dreamed of what she could become. However, when she was taken away from her family, she was forced to stand on her own. This is a very difficult thing to do as a child. I can’t even imagine how scary that was for her. I loved how she transformed and became more mature than before. After working and living in Jawad’s house, she started to see the freedom that she truly had, and then started comparing her freedom with Nasreen’s freedom. Nasreen is Jawad’s mother and the one in charge of Amal. In other words, Amal is her servant. Nasreen treated Amal better than Jawad did. In fact, she was very fond of Amal through their talks, and it was through their talks that Amal had seen that even though Nasreen was rich, she was trapped within her own cage as well. As rich as Nasreen was, she was not able to see the people who she wanted to see nor do what she wanted to do. Amal described her cage as “nicer than mine, but it was still a cage”. Nasreen could have all the freedom she wanted if she knew how to break the chains that bounded her, but she didn’t unlike Amal. One thing Amal had from the very beginning was her voice. Yes she was scared and felt guilty for speaking up to Jawad, but that never stopped her from standing up continuously in what she believed in. Having her dreams and hope ripped away from her so unfairly broke her heart, yet it was part of the reason why she never gave up either. She kept fighting for her dreams, for her freedom to come true, and at last she did. Through all of this, Amal learned that life is not always fair. It’s something that we all can relate to no matter what age you are. She hated that phrase from her father, but her experiences changed that hate into reality for her. Therefore, it was a life changing experience for Amal amidst all the hardships she went through. I want to go on and on about this book because there is still more to say, but I also want to discuss Malala and Iqbal who were like Amal, brave and courageously standing up for what they believed in. Malala and Iqbal: Brave children from PakistanThis book was extraordinary in terms of power and voice. Malala and Iqbal were both born in Pakistan yet both had different experiences in injustice rights. Malala stood up for her right to education. Despite being threatened, she continued on this fight for women to take a stand and fight for education and the things they believed in. She was shot on a school van going back home. Fortunately for her, she survived from the gunshot. As for Iqbal, he was sold off by his father for twelve dollars. His family was in debt, like Amal, and in order to pay it off, he had to work for the carpet factory. He later freed himself from this debt and child labor, and spoke up against for all children. "Children should have pens in their hands, not tools" stated Iqbal. He, too, was shot one day, however, he was not fortunate enough to survive the gunshot and passed away. Both of these were brave individuals, yet they were just children. This made me realize that anyone can take a stand, and that children see the world just as how we see the world. Just like how Laminack and Kelly stated in Reading to Make a Difference (2019), “Apathy is an easy leader to follow, especially when our own life, your own way of being, is not threatened. Our experiences has shown that children see injustice more easily and more clearly than many adults do. Children are more likely to become incensed by conditions that they deem “not fair.” Children believe they can make a difference in this big wide world. And we believe in children.” I think that says a lot about how children see this world and how they see injustice. Children all around the world are fighting for something they believe in. I wonder, what are you fighting for? It doesn't have to be something big like what Amal, Malala, and Iqbal were fighting for. It can be anything you feel like is the right thing to do in your life. I think that's also the beauty of this message for "standing up for what you believe in" because it's SO much more than just injustice in the world. It can be injustice within your culture or family like me. I, too, am fighting a battle of what I believe is right. No one has to agree with you. If you feel like it's injustice, then do something about it. I think that's why I really enjoyed these two books. A scene that I want to talk a little bit about was the middle spread where Malala and Iqbal's world meets (shown below). When I first saw it, I saw it as Malala passing the torch on to Iqbal or vice versa. It shows that their story connects and that they were the same. In a way, they were supporting one another for what they were fighting for. The colors here are balanced and well contrasted. Then as I stared at this longer, I wondered why Iqbal was in a grayish color whereas Malala was in pink. It may be that the illustrator/author was just using the colors to contrast and balance the spread in general, but could it also portray something further? Could this be showing Iqbal's ghostly body because he didn't survive to see his fight become something bigger like Malala did? Whatever the reason may be, I think it's a great place to switch stories and have the readers interpret what this might possibly mean. Both of their story is worth discussing about and worth digging in deeper that I think anyone who stumbles upon this blog should take a moment to read this book and learn more about Malala and Iqbal. As much as I love this book and would love to talk about them, I think about ALL the other children that are not honored here like Malala and Iqbal and it breaks my heart. I respect and honor the fight they fought for so that all women and children can have the rights such as education and free from child labor, but I wonder what other child is also fighting for another injustice that I don't know about? What other struggle is a child currently going through RIGHT NOW that I am not aware about? I want to take a moment and honor all of those children ALONG with Malala and Iqbal, which is why I...don't feel the need to dig in deeper with this book. I think it's important to know who Malala and Iqbal is, which is also why instead of further discussing the book, I have provided information about Malala and Iqbal for YOU to explore. What other child do YOU know of that is fighting for injustice? If you know any others, leave a comment and let me know so we can take a moment to honor ALL the things they are fighting for OUR FUTURE. Thank you and hope you overcome your fight like how Amal, Malala, and Iqbal did in their fight. Laminack, Lester L., & Kelly, Katie. Reading to Make a Difference: Using Literature to Help Students Speak Freely, Think Deeply, and Take Action. Chapter 5. Heinemann, 2019. Saeed, A. (2018). Amal Unbound. Nancy Paulsen Books. Winter, J. (2014). Malala, a brave girl from Pakistan ; Iqbal, a brave boy from Pakistan. London: Simon & Schuster Childrens. Check out these resources about Malala and Iqbal! Read to find out why Pakistan Hates Malala Another RESOURCE about Malala and her story for what she fought for. To learn more about Iqbal, watch a short documentary about him titled, "Iqbal Masih Documentary" shown below. Loading Videos... I debated whether or not to create an in depth post (like usual) about the books I read this week (pictured above), but I decided not to. I wanted you, my readers, to check these books out and decide for yourself how YOU would critically approach these children literature, and how you would do that with your students, children, niece, nephew, or whoever you want to engage it with. I've talked a lot about how to critically engage with texts and view it more from a critical stance in my previous blogs that I think it would be nice and different to have my readers engage in the text and practice how to approach children's literature in a critical aspect. I have provided videos to the books that I was able to find online. Check them out, and think/reflect how you would critically engage with the texts. Click on: The Paper Bag Princess, Emmanuel's Dream, and One Plastic BagLoading Videos... Link to a summary of Book Unlce and Me (https://randomlyreading.blogspot.com/2016/12/book-uncle-and-me-by-uma-krishnaswami.htm) Remember, if you're unsure on how to critically engage with these texts, it might be good to start out with themes you noticed within each book and see if they have a connection TOGETHER. Then dig in deeper into the text by deciphering the characters in the story. Build on to that and add in ANY experiences you may have with the book(s). What makes the book so special and unique? What can we, as a society, or as educators, parents, students, children, etc. learn from these books? There is no right or wrong way to do this. All you have to do is dig into the text and fully engage in it more than just what the book is about and the message the book is carrying. Another place to start is learning about the authors and illustrators of these books. Their story will help you see how these books were inspired and created to have multiple meanings for children. Please feel free to share your critical views of ANY one of these books by commenting on this post. I would LOVE to read and hear what YOU got from these books. Enjoy and hope to read from some of you!About the Authors and Illustrators
The author and illustrator of Separate is Never Equal is Duncan Tonatiuh (right image). Duncan is Mexican-American, and he grew up in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City, and was inspired by PreColumbian art for his work. One thing interesting I found about him was that he aims to create images and write stories that honor the past, but are still relevant to the people, especially children. For more information about Duncan Tonatiuh's work, check out his website. I also included a picture of Sylvia Mendez (left image) getting awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama in 2010. Sylvia Mendez was the inspiration of the story Separate is never equal. The book was written based on the Mendez's experiences of the case and time period. It was about the injustice that they fought so hard against. Sylvia has an amazing experience and story to share as an immigrant about her experiences of social injustice, so to read more about her and her story, check out her website. It's a piece of history that was forgotten in history, but is now being retold by people such as Sylvia and Duncan, so it's worth checking it out. A Critical View of the two literature...Check out my vlog below on critically viewing the two books with a friend of mine, and check out Sylvia Mendez's short clip on talking about her story. Loading Videos... These images below were some of the images that were discussed in the video from both of the books. For closure of this post, I wanted to include a quote from Emily Smith-Buster's article Social Justice Literature and Writing: The Case for Widening our Mentor Texts stating that "If all children had the opportunity to challenge conversations, write as citizens of society, and compare historical and contemporary forms of text and media, then image what they would grow up to accomplish". I think this ties in well with both of the children's book I discussed in this post. If children are given the opportunity to make their own judgement and beliefs, then image the wonders that they would create from it. If children were taught to challenge every thought, opinion, and statement people told them, imagine how powerful they would become in shaping their world and this idea of "racism". As mentioned in my blog, I believe a lot of children's beliefs comes from their parents and the people they are surrounded with, and they don't always take the time to even question if that's their belief or not. They automatically act upon it without thinking about their consequences or reasons until really thinking about their actions. Therefore, "imagine what they would grow up to become, if becoming anything was taught to be a default, not the exception" (Smith-Buster, Emily, 2015). Latham, I. & Waters, C. (2018). Can I touch your hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books. Smith-Buster, E. (2016). Social Justice Literature and Writing: The Case for Widening our Mentor Texts . Language Arts Journal, 94(2), 108–111. Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate is never equal: Sylvia Mendez & her familys fight for desegregation. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers. Images from Google Critical View of "The Parker Inheritance"We hear what we want to hear. We see what we want to see... The Parker Inheritance is a story about a twelve year old girl named Candice, who found a letter in the attic of her grandmother's house in a box addressed to her. The secret letter addressed a hidden treasure within the small town of Lambert, South Carolina, which her grandmother had been working on before she got fired from her position as the first women, and the first African American, to serve as city manager for Lambert. With curiosity of what her grandmother was searching for, Candice decided to start the search with a neighbor friend, Brandon, who has a love for books just like Candice. This book was inspired by real events, community, and people in order for it to be created, according to the author, Varian Johnson. Varian Johnson has written nine novels since his debut, including The Parker Inheritance , which was rewarded with the 2019 Coretta Scott King Honor book and the 2018 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book. He was born in 1977, and grew up in Florence, South Carolina where he was a member of the Wilson High School Academic Challenge Team. He graduated in 1995 and attended the University of Oklahoma, where he continued his education. Knowing this now, I can see how he was able to find facts and information about Wilson High School back before or during the civil rights movement. He tells us in the Author's Note that he based the Perkins High School, in the book, on the actual history of his own school, Wilson High School. The school was founded in 1866 by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and the Freedmen's Bureau, which was a government agency established near the end of the Civil War to aid newly freed slaves in beginning their lives as citizens of America (Johnson, 2018). After reading this and doing more research, I was able to stumble upon a picture of a sign in Florence, South Carolina about Wilson High School shown below. Picture from yelp.com Therefore, with that being said, we can critically look at this book and know the authenticity and accuracy of the author and the historical aspect of this book. It may be a fiction book, but it was based off of a historical event that took place in his hometown. I think that makes the historical aspect of it even more rich and meaningful because in some sort of way, Johnson was writing down his story as well. Knowing that is an important part of the author's life makes it more alive and real to the readers because we can relate more to it. Therefore, I think it's worth appreciating the work that the author does, and the love that he has for his hometown and the history of his people as well. With this research, I was also able to stumble upon James Raleigh "Biz" Mackey, a player in the Prairie League team called the Luling Oilers, which he then played in the National Negro League. He was also later recruited by Hilldale Giants in the season of 1923. After all his professional playing, he was placed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. I looked up "Luling Oilers" because I wasn't quite sure who they were, and figured it would be important to have some sort of connection and background knowledge on these facts, especially since Johnson took reference from them. I actually thought it was a made up team as the name sounded weird, but they were a real team league with African American players who were even placed in the Hall of Fame. That's something to be proud of and include in a great historical fiction book such as this. I think this is great to share with students because it teaches them that there are all different kinds of people who can be great and important figures to EVERYONE no matter their skin color. I think it's just like how Boyd, Causey, and Galda stated in their article Culturally Diverse Literature that " if children never see themselves in books, they receive the subtle messages that they are not important enough to appear in books and that books are not for this. " This is why it's important to take time and discuss about the historical aspect and provide background knowledge of characters and events with students in stories because we want to represent every child, and we want ALL children to see the importance of one another's identity. This is a good start to where we can gradually teach students to appreciate diversity and accept it for what it is with no discrimination or stereotypes, which is why I enjoyed learning about these historical aspect of this book. If you want to read more in depth about either of these topics that I discussed about, visit Johnson's page and/or visit the website about Wilson High School and Biz Mackey provided below. Varian Johnson's website Biz Mackey The Updated History of Wilson High School Evaluating... There are different ways to evaluate the quality of a book, but I am going to focus on 3 broad categories for culturally diverse literature which are: visual and verbal sensitivity, authenticity and accuracy, and ideology. The author didn't have visuals in this book except for the cover, so there's not much to evaluate about that. However, as for the verbal part, I think it was appropriate for young students because there weren't a lot of harsh words, stereotypes, discrimination, etc., but enough so that students can relate, build, and be able to discuss about it in a critical aspect. For example, there were several examples of discrimination and stereotyping in this story. When Mr. Rittenhauer, the assistant principal, accused them of breaking in to the school and stealing things. He automatically assumed they were up to no good because they were African Americans. He didn't believe them even when they were trying to explain and prove that they were really doing a research. That wasn't until Ms. McMillan came out and rescued them (Johnson, 2018, p. 132). Another example was when Enoch Washington, African American, had gotten into a fight with Sammy Rackleys, White, because he had lost the bet and accused Enoch of cheating. The teacher reported that Enoch started the fight, but he denied and said to his father that "she's just saying that because of who Sammy's daddy is. She always treats him better than everybody else" (Johnson, 2018, p. 82). Johnson doesn't have any straight up "verbal" words he used to describe something or someone, but he does have a lot of examples of situations where discrimination and stereotyping occurs to African Americans in his story. Therefore, he makes it more connected to situations that students may encounter at one point in their lifetime as a colored person, which is good to engage students in talking about topics such as this. The authenticity and accuracy aspect of this book was discussed above with the author. I can say this book is authentic and accurate to a certain extent because the author is/was an insider of the setting of this book. He knew the history, and researched about it before pulling these facts together to create this book. The reason why I said "to a certain extent" is because even though he is/was an insider to the factual setting, I can't say for sure that he is an insider for the events that took place in history for Wilson High School and his town. His parents and/or grandparents may have been part of the historical part of the school and town, but there's no way for sure to prove that that happened. Thus, I think it's important to note that and know that Johnson may know a lot about his school and town, but it's also not the same if he wasn't alive during the time period that it happened, though, I could also argue that he may have experienced some form of it being born in 1977. The ideology of this book is based on values and ideas that are important to today's society, and an impact of our history. The ideas of justice, freedom, equality, and race has always been a struggle in our history that still carries on into today's society. Even after the Civil Rights Movement, we hoped and expected that the discrimination, racism, justice, equality, and freedom would be all over and everyone would finally be able to cross that idea of "Blacks" or "People of color" and grow together as a society; however, some aspect of the ideology still lives on till today. Which is why I think the ideology presented in this book is very real to our students. These ideologies presented in the book showcases characters and events that occurred to people of color in a very real society. These are events and characters that our students may be able to relate to because of the still-existing-ideas of this. Even though this was a mystery novel, Johnson used a historical aspect to tell a story or maybe even stories through the characters about the mistreatment of the African American community. I think this is a good addition to portraying a story within a bigger story of this ideology of discrimination, race, justice, equality, and freedom. As stated by Boyd, Causey, and Galda, "No group or individual has a single story, and knowing only one story leads to the creation of assumptions and stereotypes ", it is important to read a variety of stories on a topic or ideology to show students that we can't create assumptions and stereotypes based on a single event, book, article, or resource. It's important to observe and study different perspectives and stories before making an idea of your own. Just like how our actions lead us to having consequences, our ideas, too, can lead to consequences; therefore, it's important to teach students and show them how to build a strong, unbiased ideology that they can own and be reliable for their consequences. Therefore, I think the quality of this book is great for young students, maybe emerging middle schoolers or middle schoolers, would benefit from this mystery puzzle book about an important history moment. It will keep them guessing nonstop and on edge, while engaging in critical conversations about the ideas presented in this book. Now I would like to just talk about the book itself.
This book is incredible! The mystery, the context, the history, the characters, and everything else in it was just beautifully well put together. I love mystery books, and so I really enjoyed this book. What I enjoyed most about this mystery puzzle was the fact that it was created to tell a story: Reggie and Siobhan's story. I loved their story line, even though it was heart breaking in what happened to them. I enjoyed Siobhan's character because I could relate to her boldness and ideology of not using violence or hate to solve the issue between segregation or racism. When she discovered that Reggie hadn't tasted a Coke since 1957 because of Chip Douglas, she exploded in disbelief because, like her father, he still couldn't let go of the hate and vengeance after all these years, and after what they went through. I related to her because of her voice and will to want to change things, and hoped for a better world. Her strong character was portrayed throughout this book, and it didn't matter if she was African American. I admired that spirit and powerful will, which is why I think she would poise a good inspiration for women of color, or maybe women in general, to take a stand and find your voice, your beliefs, and your ideologies and follow it till the end. Other than Siobhan, I also was interested in Reggie. It was interesting how Reggie decided to live his life. I wasn't aware that there were probably African Americans who passed as being "white" because of their skin color. It amazed me by how important skin color was back then, and maybe even today. Reggie, being black and poor, was a nobody, no matter how smart he was. He wouldn't and couldn't have succeeded because of his identity. It wasn't until he changed from being Reggie to being James Parker that he was actually given opportunities to thrive in the world. He was such an important figure that colleagues asked him to join important organizations, donors asked him to support varies charities, the mayor began to call on him for financial advice, and even the governor, and then United States senators and representatives as well (Johnson, 2018, p. 269). I was amazed at how successful he was now because he identified as a white male. This should say a lot about our ideology and about our society. We're so judgmental that it consumes and dictates our entire vision of the past, present, and future. Yet we pass these down to our children and they, too, unwillingly and unaware take these in and lashes it out without ever thinking about why it is so. Which is why I believe this is where teachers come in and disrupt those thoughts and question them if it's really their beliefs or if they, too, had inherited them. Reggie is an interesting character because even though some may view him as selfish in abandoning his identity and his love ones, some may also see it as the outcome of a pressured society. This is what happens when society pushes and pressures people to a corner where they have no hope and no exit, but to be like the world. Reggie died the day he decided to become James Parker. He hid inside himself so deeply that he had forgotten about the hope that Coach Dub had shown him before he became a player. Reggie was poor. He was abandoned by both his parents and had to live with his sick grandma. They could barely afford food for the table and rent, which is why Reggie couldn't even imagine about going to college. He focused so much on all sorts of jobs to help his grandma that he was not able to excel in academics. Nothing was going right for him, until Coach Dub gave his a purpose and structure to find personal success. He, for the first time, believed that he could be more than just a poor boy from the South, and he was. He proved to everyone that he was better than before, and that he was no longer the poor Reggie boy working odd jobs just to survive. However, that was what brought him down. He grew greedy and wanted more and more, and to become someone "better", which was why he never went to Siohban. It wasn't until his secretary, Beatrix Halliday, told him to "try" and go to her because he owe it to her (Johnson, 2018, p. 270). It was then, after meeting and talking to Siohban, that made him realize that he had hid himself all these years. Instead of empowering the African Americans, he chose to ignore them and flow along with society. Johnson portrayed to us that Reggie is a very "human" character. We, too, can get lost in success and forget who we really are. It wasn't until then that he realized he needed to let this story out. Everyone needed to hear a story from a bigger story. This is why I enjoyed the book so much. I appreciated the artwork/mastermind work that Johnson had put into this book. The puzzling and mystery and history and stories was definitely worth my time in reading this book. The clues about the treasure were just FABULOUS! Who would have thought that "Siohban loves all" would refer to the score of the tennis game. They would call a game score of zero-zero to "love-all", which was a context that I was unaware of till now. Therefore, I really appreciated this work and effort put into making this book possible. Johnson took so many inspirations from events, people, history, to books such as The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, so I really enjoyed this book. Another additional thing I want to add with the stories behind this book, which can also be found on his website, are the real life stories of other African Americans that suffered from ideologies that were presented in this book. I've mentioned a lot of the aspects of this already, but because I wasn't aware of all of these stories, I thought it would be good to include it in here as well. Johnson takes inspiration of injustice, discrimination, and racism from real social justice issues in this world. An excerpt from his website post about this stated: "That scene has stayed with me, but it wasn’t until recently that I began reliving it, over and over and over again. Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. Sandra Bland. Eric Garner. Why can’t people in power see us in a different way? Why are we always assumed to be the other? A threat? A danger that must be neutralized? " (Johnson, 2019). As I was reading, I wasn't quite aware nor understood what those names meant. So I searched them up and found that they were real people with real social justice issues. All six of those listed on his site were shot and killed by police officer(s). It was heart breaking to hear and read their stories. Below I have provided a link to an article about their story, and a brief description of what happened. Trayvon Martin- 17 years old. Visiting Dad in Sanford, Florida. Shot and died because officer accused him of suspicious action. Officer not charged. Michael Brown- 18 years old, recent graduate. Walking to mother and grandmother's house. Fatally shot by police officer for not getting off the side walk. Officer no guilty. Alton Sterling- 37 years old. Shot and died because officer claimed he had a gun. Officer not charged, but fired. Philando Castile- 32 years old. Shot and killed while being pulled over for brake lights. Officer fired. Sandra Bland- 28 years old. Arrested while traffic stop. Found hanging in jail cell. Officer fired. Eric Garner- 44 years old. Officer tried to arrest for selling illegal cigarettes. Officer used choke hold on him. Couldn't breathe and triggered a heart attack that lead to his death. Officer stripped off of position. With all that being said, I do want to mention that those articles are, again, just a single story of a bigger story. I would encourage you, and students to read from different perspectives about each story to truly understand and see the stories being told. I am not denying the fact that they all died horrible deaths, but in order to avoid forming stereotypes and assumptions, I encourage readers to hear out all points of view before making your final verdict, and that is what this book and Varian Johnson, has taught me, as an educator. That a story is always part of a bigger story. Boyd, F.B., Causey, L.L., & Galda, L. (2015) Culturally Diverse Literature [PDF file] The Reading Teacher, 68(5). DOI: 10.1002/trtr.1326 Johnson, V. (2019). Parker Inheritance. Place of publication not identified: ARTHUR A LEVINE. Johnson, V. (2019). Varian Johnson, Author. Retrieved October 7, 2019, from http://varianjohnson.com/. “Freedom over me” is a book written about the stories of the eleven slaves in the Fairchild’s estate. The Fairchild’s estate was an estate established to training slaves in learning certain tasks in order for other people to hire them. They trained their slaves to be skilled at certain tasks, and then have them available for other people to hire their slaves. The money profits back to the estate, and that was how their business was able to continue. That was until Mr. Fairchild passed away. Therefore, Ashley introduces these eleven slaves and writes about their dreams of freedom and more. However, what surprises me even more is the fact that the stories of these eleven slaves were real and actually existed. Ashley Bryan acquired a collection of slave-related documents, which dated from the 1820s to the 1860s. He found those documents so fascinating and touching that he decided to make their stories come to life through this book. He even picked the Fairchilds Appraisement of the estate document from July 5, 1828 to tell this story. His book also included a primary document listing the names and prices of these eleven slaves that were being sold with the cows, hogs, and cotton of the Fairchild’s estate. I find that to be fascinating because he found these written stories that back then would’ve been treasoned with death for reading and writing, and he wrote it as if they were alive and were writing this with her. I think it was beautifully written, and I really enjoyed the literacy work that he’s done here as well. One of my favorite excerpt written from the book was about Peggy, the cook, which he wrote, “My knowledge makes me hunger for more. Relieving the aches, the pains, the suffering of the slaves is my chief joy” (Bryan, 2016). That’s a pretty powerful excerpt about Peggy, or should I say Mariama, her real name. I really enjoyed the beautifully written stories of these eleven slaves by Ashley. I don’t think he could have portrayed them any better than what he did. I could really feel their emotions and yearning for freedom and hope for a better future. I really enjoyed how he introduces them with a persona poem of who they are as a slave, and then having us, the readers, turning the page only to find that they are more than what they appear to be on the outside, and that they are human like any of us and that they, too, have dreams of their own. I think this is where he truly helps the slaves come to life and starts to move us from a window perspective to a sliding glass door perspective, which is a great addition to books that teaches students different perspectives about slavery. This is a must have in every teacher’s collection. ThemesSome of the themes that I’ve noticed from this book are freedom, hope, dreams, slavery, and identity. This book takes place in a time where slavery still had a place in the heart of the world. These eleven slaves talked about what they were taught and told to do during their lifetime in the Fairchild’s estate. They talked about how they didn’t really have a choice, and that all of their hard work and talents only benefited the estate. This was very common for slaves during that time period. Slaves were objects and were treated like them and not human. They were used for their abilities and talents, and were praised for it, but didn’t really gain from it as shown in these stories. Throughout their stories the author also included dreams of each one of them. They all had different dreams relating to their talents, but it all tied down to being free. It was one thing that they all had in common. They dreamed more than anything to be free from slavery and to be whoever it is that they wanted to be. They all lived with hope that one day their dreams would come true. Their singing, music, art, crafts, hard works, stories, threads, and children were the only hope they had in enduring the hardships of slavery year after year. And with those endurance, they continued to hone these preordained skill sets and slowly allowed it to help shape who they are. They showed to us, readers, that they are more than slaves, and that they enjoy doing these tasks because it is a part of them. It’s one of the good memories that they still have left of home. That’s one of the things that I really loved about this book as well. These slaves were told to do certain tasks, but as we continue reading we find that these tasks are a big part of who they are and that’s important to them. They allowed that to define their identity instead of it taking away or erasing their identity. They did all of these tasks in memory of their ancestors and memories of Africa, so they don’t hate it completely, and I really haven’t read a book about this kind of perspective before. Therefore, I think the author did a great job at portraying this point of view and showing that their hopes and dreams are filled with freedom and their identities of more than slavery. Building Critical Connections...I think it’s fair to take a few moments to discuss the approach Ashley took to make the story so real to readers. I mentioned his use of persona poem, but I’m going to talk a bit about what that is and what it looks like. Persona poems are a type of poem intentionally written in the perspective of another person. This is meant to help readers engage into the character and story and transport them to experiencing and sharing emotions through the characters. This type of writing really helps “enhances the readers’ capacity for empathy. As students walk into the wardrobe of persona poetry, they are transported into the lives of “others,” and through imaginative reconstruction, they attempt to understand the complexities of the character’s inner world, the poet’s craft and structural moves, and are better prepared to move through the sliding glass door” (Frye, Hardin, Bouwman, & Stumb, 2018). Ashley’s stories of these eleven slaves are a great example of how powerful persona poems can be. It was able to pull in my perspective even further in to gain an even more understanding of these slaves. He wanted the readers to know more about them other than she/he is a cook, a carpenter, a seamstress, or a blacksmith because in reality, they were more than a slave. To be more accurate, they can’t really be defined as slaves because that’s not what they choose to be. They didn’t have a choice to be a slave, so I think through writing these persona poems, Ashley wanted us to enter into their world and not only see but feel their pain, yearnings, dreams, and memories of being free. He was, after all, telling the stories of these eleven real slaves that had dreamed more than anything to be part of the world. Which he succeeded through this writing approach. I think it would have been different if he had just wrote it as “a story about eleven slaves” because then it wouldn’t bring out that realism aspect of the stories that he had discovered from the slave documents. Therefore, I think writing the persona poems from the character’s point of view really helps bring the characters out to life and makes us relate and connect to the characters more than if it were a typical children’s book about slaves. I also think that the visuals in this book were also powerful. Though it may not have won an award for its visuals, I think the visuals in this book were just as powerful. For example, I loved how the background of the slaves were all words of documents of some sort whether it be a slave document, newsletters, or maybe even the Emancipation Proclamation document. He included documents of property and the appraisement held at the house of Mrs. Fairchilds on the 5th of July 1828, which draws our attention as readers to experience these events. As Roberta Price Gardner stated, “Visuals are powerful, forcing viewers to experience and/or witness events, even if only from within” (Gardner, 2017). Therefore, I think his persona poems of each slaves in addition to these visuals made this book so powerful that it was recognized and won the Coretta Scott King Award. This award was designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace. Books were annually recognized for their great works and representation of the African American experience. Overall, this book is a great representation of viewing slaves from a different perspective using a different writing approach. My very own Persona Poem...I am Caesar, an orphan of Raft World I live with a big family that probably doesn’t even know I’m missing I work day in, day out Trying to care for myself Cause I know I can’t afford to rely on anyone. Like a lost child, I am always searching for a home. The Raft King praises my gifts to sink low within the ocean floor. Yet I don’t feel belonged when helping him. Instead, I think it’s unfair for him To decide for the whole Raft World. I left in hopes to find a family that can understand me and my gifts. As an orphan of Raft World, I am free to wander and do almost anything, And I also learned along with that Comes taking some responsibility myself. Which is probably why I don’t understand why Kenchen is so set to protecting Pip. I may not know him, but I know What it feels like to lose someone special to you, Which is why I want to help Kenchen. I may not belong with Kenchen, But it's nice to know that someone cares about me. Although I worry constantly About what will happen to me Once this is all over, I don’t want to ruin this moment. This moment of friendship, companionship, and adventure. After all, that’s always better than having Eyes and whispers of pity from others Staring down into my very soul. It makes me want to sink and never rise, But the only thing that keeps me from sinking Is the hope that one day I, too, will belong somewhere with someone. Yet, as I emerged from the brown sack and locked eyes with the girl who was “suppose” to be my new family, the look of disappointment tells me I haven’t quite found it yet. I am Caesar, an orphan of Raft World Who is now accompanied, yet still alone. I’ve never said it out to anyone, But I dreamed of a family. I dreamed of belonging to someone. However, my dreams evolved into worries. I try not to show my true feelings When everyone seems to belong somewhere, But I can’t help but question, “When will I belong with someone?” “When will I get to rely on someone else?” And “when will I be set free from this loneliness?” That is, until I met Thanh, Sang, and Mai. I am Caesar, an orphan of Raft World Whose dreams just came true. Processing of writing...“Writing lets us think of things we didn’t know we knew until we began writing” (Frye, Hardin, Bouwman, & Stumb, 2018) By writing my own persona poem about Caesar, a character from A Crack in the Sea, I was able to dig in deeper and understand more about her feeling of wanting to belong. In my previous blog post, I analyzed her character portrayed in throughout the story. Caesar is a very brave, determined, and independent girl who hides behind her happy face and personality a lot. Therefore, I tried to picture how she felt for the most part throughout the story, and to me, it was her longing for a sense of belonging with someone that stood out to me the most. So the first thing I did was writing down everything that I knew, thought, or felt about Caesar as I read the book. Using a template, I added words and phrases that would best describe and express Caesar's feelings of yearning for belonging, and then I read through it. I went back into the book to reread certain parts to dig deeper inside her and how she might have felt during those times, and then I wrote it out. I also used the "Freedom Over Me" template to help guide me into writing my poem because I wanted it to sound more natural as if Caesar were writing it. Once I did all of that, I just sat down in a nice, quiet place and wrote while thinking about Caesar. I'm not entirely sure that I was able to fully portray Caesar through my poem, but in some sense, I believe that I did. Throughout the whole book, I felt like Caesar secretly was worried about what would happen to her once everyone had return back to where they came from. Even though she didn't show it, I could feel her anxiety and fear of being alone once again. So with those traits and images of her in mind, I was able to write this persona poem about Caesar.
Bryan, A. (2016). Freedom over me. New York: Simon & Schuster. Frye, E. M., Hardin, B. L., Bouwman, H. M., & Stumb, A. E. (2018, December). PDF. Frye, E. M., & Hash, L. A. (2013, March/April). PDF Gardner, R.P. (2017, May). PDF Dreamers by Yuyi MoralesThe book "Dreamers" is a book about a mother and a child who immigrated to a new country. In going to a new country, they took only hope and dreams of what is to come and be in a country that doesn't talk to them in their language. Despite that, they were able to discover themselves and a connection to their new world through books they read in the library. It's a short, but important message to all immigrants and educators as well. I love how the author define immigrants not as "immigrants", but "Dreamers". "We enter a new country carried by hopes and dreams, and carrying our own special gifts, to build a better future" (Yuyi Morales). I don't think I can say it better than that. As a daughter of Dreamers, myself, I was always told the history of my people and how we sacrificed so much to get to where we are today, and how hundreds of my people died just so that I could have a better future. I was always told about my parent's dreams and hope for us, but not for themselves. They'd always say, their decision to leave their life and homes was not for themselves, but for us so that we can carry on their hopes and dreams and build a better future. To hear the struggles and hard decisions that my parents went through just to come to America was just as hard as hearing how difficult it was to have to relearn EVERYTHING. Everything that they knew or thought that they knew were washed away with the tears of uncertainty and wiped away with the sweats of hope. My parents were Dreamers, and they pushed us harder everyday because of that. Unlike them, I have the privilege to dream here in America, and I have the privilege to work hard towards my dreams. My parents, on the other hand, didn't have the chose or privilege to have their own personal dreams. We were their dreams. So as I am writing this, I think back to my parents' experiences of immigrating to the U.S. and how Yuyi and my parents are so different, yet they're so alike. The experiences that Yuyi went through and felt were the exact same feelings my parents probably had back then too. To carry your young child into a new world with no understanding of it, is scary. Both my parents and Yuyi went through that, and shared the same dream: a better future for their children. Themes~"One of the most important things I learned at the library is that through books we can find our path and our purpose. I also learned that I love to tell stories, and that I could tell them through books."~ Yuyi The themes I noticed in this book were immigrants, hope, dreams, and imagination. Yuyi left Mexico with her son to visit his great-grandfather before he passed away, and to marry her son's father. Therefore, we can say that Yuyi left in hopes for a better future for both or for her son specifically. She was afraid and unfamiliar with America and wanted to return, but she knew that she couldn't. She portrayed that hope in the book when she illustrated and wrote, "I dreamed of you, then you appeared. Together we became resplendent life, you and I. One day we bundled gifts in our backpack, and crossed a bridge outstretched like the universe." She showed to us here that her son was her dream and hope, and when they had to cross over a bridge leading to their new world, she could only hope that it would better her son's life. The illustrations play a big role here. On this page, you see the mother holding the son dearly in her arms as birds and butterflies surround them. The page with their bundled gifts in the backpack is filled with images that showcases their culture and where their from. Behind those images is the sun shining bright indicating HOPE and DREAMS of coming true. The colors are bright and colorful throughout the book as well. I also believe that this book is filled with imagination as well. Yuyi does a great job at illustrating the imagination that comes from reading books. She shows that even though the mother and son in this book has no clue how to speak in the language of their new country, or even read in it, they build this imaginable and beautiful connection with their new world, and were able to find themselves immersed within these books. They started to build dreams and have even more hope for what is yet to come for one another, and I love that about Yuyi's book. She really shows that a book can really change someone's world, and I believe, as an educator, that that's a powerful message for kids no matter what age and who they are. Morales, Y., & Sananes, A. (2019). Dreamers. Solon, OH: Findaway World, LLC. A Crack in the sea by H.M. BouwmanThis book, "A Crack in the Sea" is a book about three sets of siblings in different worlds that unfolds together as some enter into the second world. It's about a magical doorway between worlds that opens only when its least expected. The characters in this story are as follow: Kinchen: the protective older sister of Pip with no magical gift (Second world) Pip: the younger brother of Kinchen who has the gift of the water and talking to sea creatures (Second world) Old Ren: the guardian of Kinchen and Pip who adopted them and is as old as you can imagine (Second world) Venus: the older sister of Swimmer and a strong leader who saved her people from slavery and death, and with the gift to walk under water (First world) Swimmer: the younger brother of Venus who has the gift to talk to sea creatures (First world) Uncle Caesar: the guardian of Venus and Swimmer (First world) Sang: the older sister of Thanh who is from South Vietnam, and provides for her brother by sewing (First world) Thanh: the younger brother of Sang who has the gift of remembering things and telling stories (First world) Uncle Truc: the father of the Turtle, the best friend of Sang and Thanh's father, and who help took care of them (First world) The Turtle: the nickname given to the child of Uncle Truc (First world) Uncle Hung: the brother of Uncle Truc and the guardian of Mai (First world) Mai: the adopted niece of Uncle Hung who has the gift to walk on waters and calm the sea (First world) Caesar: the girl from Raftworld with the gift to walk under the water who also helped Kinchen (Second world) Raft King: the ruler of Raftworld and who searches for the magical doorway to the first world (Second world) All these characters plays an important role in the story. However, there's one particular character that I want to focus on. The character that I'm focusing on is Caesar. I chose Caesar because I could relate to her in some ways, and I really enjoyed her character in this book. Caesar, in this story, is portrayed as friendly, talkative, courageous, positive, caring, kind, energetic, and curious. When Caesar first showed up in the story, she was drugged and tied up in a sack. She came out of the sack with excitement and was very friendly towards Kinchen who was outraged by the situation. Even with that, Caesar greeted Kinchen and introduced herself like nothing happened, but of course we know that she didn't know about Kinchen's situation (pg. 37-39). Caesar showed her friendliness throughout the story to Kinchen, Old Ren, and even to Thanh and them when they first arrived to the second world and were walking on top of the water. She greeted them, welcomed them, and helped them as they came up onto Raftworld (pg. 279). Along with her friendliness, she is also quite talkative. This may tie in with her being curious as well. I think Caesar is a very curious person. She asks a lot of question such as "what happens to Venus?", "why can't he take care of himself?", "is that why your hair?", "that's how the Old Bay got its name?", and "that's what happens when they die?" (pg. 54, 61, 233, 235). She asks a lot of questions, and she always wants to know more. Even when she's heard of the story or history before, Caesar never gets tired of it and wants to know more about it, which shows that she is a very curious person (pg. 54). She is also very courageous. When she told Old Ren and Kinchen that she left Raftworld because she refused to help the King in finding the magic doorway to the first world (pg. 39-41). That takes a lot of courage to stand up for something that you feel is wrong against someone powerful. I liked that about her, and I liked that she knew that it was wrong and that the King was wrong and that she had to stand up against it. Just think about it. She is only twelve years old and to have that courage to say no and know to listen to her gut is very inspiring. Caesar is also very kind. She was willing to help Kinchen when she found out about what the Raft King did with Pip, even though she doesn't even know them (pg. 48). She didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but she still wanted to help Kinchen and Raftworld as well. I loved how positive and energetic she is in this story (pg. 60). She would always use the word "amazing" to describe things and how she felt (pg. 44-46). It seemed almost as if that was one of the ways she could put on a happy face and get on with her life by trying to be more positive about things. I say this because of her past experiences. Caesar doesn't have any relatives or parents to take care of her, which was why she had asked Old Ren where she could get a job (pg. 45). As I read further, I learned that Caesar was adopted into a family in the Raftworld, however, they weren't very warm and were too busy to take care of her (pg. 256). As a neighboring woman, who knew and was close to Caesar, offered her to stay with them, Caesar was unable to think except just blink back at her. That was all that she could do. This scene may reflect to what she wants in her life and what she worries about in her life. She wants a family and is worried that she may never belong anywhere. If we take a look at Caesar when Kinchen first met her, she seemed excited because she was told that Kinchen would be her adopted sister. However, that was turned down when Kinchen expressed how angry she was for the trade and that the Raft King had stolen Pip from her. I'm sure Caesar's excitement was cut off because of that and carried on like it was no big deal. The author doesn't focus or talk about how Caesar feels at all about being an orphan except how mature Caesar is because of that. She wonders why Pip, who is eleven years old, can't take care of himself (pg. 61) and why Kinchen is always protecting him because in her perspective, she is twelve years old and has been taking care of herself without anyone else protecting her. That was why she wanted to get a job on the Islands because she knew she didn't have anyone to rely on. I imagined what it would feel like to have a twelve year old or younger child come up to me and ask me for a job because they had to take care of themselves. I find that heart breaking, yet Caesar pulls it off without ever showing to anyone that she feels lonely and wants to belong to a family. This is why I think her character is so positive and energetic because it's the only way she could move on with her life and not gain pity from others, which is also why I felt like she didn't know how to respond to the women offering her a home because she was being pitied on. However, eventually Caesar did show a little bit of how she felt when she asked Thanh if they could adopt each other (pg. 314-316). This was probably the first sign that I noticed that she really wanted to belong, and she really wanted a family. She wasn't sure how to approach it or talk to Thanh about it (if you've read their conversation), but yet she did it. She realized that after everything was over, Kinchen and Pip would go back to the Island, and Mai, Uncle Truc, Uncle Hung, and the Turtle would also go back to where they came from, and then she would be right back to where she started in the beginning. And I believe it was then that she had realize that she didn't want to be thrown to a family that wouldn't have time to care for her. She wanted a family where she could belong and she didn't want to be alone anymore, which was why she decided to talk to Thanh about. I thought it was very interesting that the author did not talk a lot about Caesar's feelings and thoughts of that, but I also think she wanted to leave it up to the readers to decide how we see Caesar. I saw her as a positive, friendly, kind, curious, and energetic person on the outside, but on the inside, I saw a little girl searching for a place to call home, which is why I really enjoyed this character in this story. Critical Connection..."A Crack in the Sea" was a book filled with adventure, hope, friendships, and many more other themes. However, the best part about it was making connections as I read this book. I knew from reading Venus and Swimmer's story that it was a retelling of the stories of the slaves that took place during the Atlantic Slave Trade. It was astounding to know that when Africans were forced onto that cramped ship that only 15-20% of them would ever get to see land again. It also astounded me that the Zong was a real slave ship that tossed slaves overboard for disciplining or to get rid of their body from diseases or sickness, and that they would cut off the ears of those slaves as proof of payment. The author was inspired by that and created a story that illustrated her strong desire and wish that those 133 slaves thrown overboard were saved somewhere else and were living happily in a different world where there's no war, no slaves, and no pain. Just as Jacqueline Woodson said during her TED talk, "Each time we read, write, or tell a story, we step inside their circle and it remains unbroken and the power of story lives on." I think H.M. Bouwman's story "A Crack in the Sea" really portrays what Jacqueline said about stories. She wrote an alternative story to the actual stories of these slaves and their story has lived on because of that. I never knew of a slave ship named the Zong until now and that's thanks to H.M. Bouwman for carrying on their stories. "A layering to the narrative, the stories beneath the stories, and the ones beneath those. This is how story has and will continue to survive..." (Woodson, 2019). Bouwman, H. M., & Shimizu, Y. (2019). A crack in the sea. New York: Puffin Books. Woodson, J. (2019, April). Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jacqueline_woodson_what_reading_slowly_taught_me_about_writing Further resources about slaves...Check out H.M. Bouwman's website for more information about this book, her other books, or about herself. https://www.brownheightsproperties.com/ Watch the TED Talk about the Atlantic Slave Trade where you can also Think, Dig Deeper, and Discuss about this issue. https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-atlantic-slave-trade-what-your-textbook-never-told-you-anthony-hazard Also, check out this poem titled, "Home" written and read by Warsan Shire. It's worth the time!
https://www.facinghistory.org/standing-up-hatred-intolerance/warsan-shire-home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9D92Xiygo&feature=youtu.be Critical CritiqueThe three books I will critically critique are Red by Michael Hall, Rescue & Jessica by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, and Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena. The book Red is about a red crayon that draws blue marks instead of red. Everyone tries to help Red draw red, however, red couldn't get the hang of it. This book is about the journey of a red crayon finding itself. The Last Stop on Market Street book is about a grandma and a young boy's trip to a place in Market street. Through this trip, the boy questions the things he has in life, and the grandma always responds with words of wisdom to him. At the end, he was glad that they had made the trip to the last stop on market street. This book is about finding the beauty in life no matter what or where you are. The last book I am going to discuss is Rescue & Jessica which is a book about a girl who suffers from an injury that caused her to lose both of her legs. She struggles to relearn everything by herself and feels lost within her world. On the other hand, the story shows a dog going through training and how it was worried it wouldn't live up to its name "Rescue" and be able to help others in need. This book is about the friendship and story of how these two characters met and helped each other through tough times. ThemesThe themes that ran across these three books were beauty, identity, friendships, and acceptance. Within each of these three books, beauty was a common theme. In the book Red, red was able to find beauty in itself when others were not, and when they perceived it as "different" or "not good enough". Once that happened, others, too, were able to find beauty within Red. In the book Last Stop on Market Street, the grandma pointed out and talked about the beauty that surrounds them when the boy didn't notice it. This theme resonated throughout the book. In one scene, the boy asks the grandma "how come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet?" and the grandma replied with, "Trees get thirsty , too...Don't you see that big one drinking through a straw?" She's turning his perspective to see the beauty within the "wet rain" which we may perceive as a "yucky" or "muddy" day. Not just that, but another favorite scene where beauty is illustrated in this book was when CJ tells his grandma that he sure wishes he had one of those (referring to a phone/digital player), which his grandma responds by having him close his eyes and listen to the live music that is being played by a man on the bus. CJ was able to visualize scenes of a beautiful "sunset swirling over crashing waves, a family of hawks slicing through the sky, and he saw the old woman's butterflies dancing free int he light of the moon". Again, he saw the beauty of the world that surrounded him. In Rescue & Jessica, beauty was a more subtle, but apparent theme. Even through their dark times, they were both able to find beauty in the world again by being together. The colors also changed from the beginning to the end. The colors at the beginning were dark and depressing, however, towards the end, you notice a lot of green and bright colors representing beauty in their lives again. This theme ties in with acceptance as well. Once Red was able to find beauty in himself, he learned how to accept himself and with that others learned to accept him as well. The same goes for Jessica. Once Jessica was able to accept herself and realized the value of friendship that she had developed with Rescue, her perspective of the world changed. Accepting one self for who they are is very empowering and leads to self love/happiness. I think it's also fair to say that this acceptance of oneself is definitely a sense of discovering your identity in the world, which was another theme that was important for all of these books. Through finding beauty in the world and in yourself and accepting you for who you are, it leads to discovering your identity. In the book Last Stop on Market Street, CJ, in some sort of way, found beauty in his world and in what he has along with accepting their trip to the soup kitchen. I think that's important because he realized then that within these "dirty" buildings/ place, there was beauty. Beauty of not just the rainbow that they saw, but beauty in the people who relied on their soup kitchen, beauty in their soup kitchen, and beauty from doing kindness. This acceptance leads to being a part of who CJ is as a person. It became part of his identity. Even though it doesn't say it directly, but I think it's fair to say that this trip has definitely help "shaped" him as an individual as he was exposed to different perspective throughout. One last thing I want to note about the theme "identity" in the book Red, is that it can be used to dig in deep about different identities. For example, after reading this book, I thought about how it could be a good way-in book to talk about accepting different race, ethnicity, or even genders. Genders especially stood out to me because Red is labeled as a "red crayon", but Red is blue. The same kind of with gender. Someone may be marked as "female" or "male", but want to be perceived as the opposite such as female to male or male to female. Even though that is an awkward or uncomfortable topic that we, as educators, tend to avoid, it may be the reality for our students. Therefore, I think instead of avoiding it, we should get students to talk, discuss, and share freely about topics such as this in order to promote an unbiased education for EVERYONE, especially if our goal as teachers is to meet the needs of ALL diverse students. I think it's also worthy to note the use of language that Matt de la Pena used in his book Last Stop on Market Street. In his acceptance speech he said, "When I finished the seventieth draft of the text, I was proud of CJ's journey, both inside and out. And I was proud of the music of the language." I think it's important to have students focus on the things that the author and/or illustrator felt very proud about because it was their work. So, asking students to think "what part of the story or why did the author or illustrator felt proud?" would help gear them to start thinking critically about the literacy that they stumble upon. For example, talking about what images do they see or what they feel as they are reading certain parts in the story such as "the bus creaked to a stop...it sighed and sagged and the doors opened". Why do you think the authors used those words to describe the bus? Or why did the author used the verb "freckled" in the sentence "the rain freckled CJ's shirt"? Analyzing and discussing the use of language that Matt de la Pena decided to use can help students critically think more and engage with the author and story. Hall, M. (2018). Red: a crayons story. Vienna, VA: Library Ideas, LLC. Kensky, J., Downes, P., & Magoon, S. (2018). Rescue & Jessica: a life-changing friendship. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. Peña Matt De la, & Robinson, C. (2017). Last stop on Market Street. New York: Penguin Random House LLC. Peña, M. de la. (2016, June). Newbery Caldecott-Wilder Banquet. Newbery Caldecott-Wilder Banquet. Critical Literacy PracticesSo what does "critical literacy" mean or may look like in a classroom setting? I think it's a hard concept to really implement into classrooms if you have not seen a model of it, or have learned about it. I agree that it can be a hard thing to do in a classroom. Critical literacy can be defined as "the ability to engage critically and analytically with ways in which knowledge, and ways of thinking about and valuing this knowledge, are constructed in and through written texts" (Hammond & Macken-Horarik, 1999). In other words, it's engaging with the text in critical ways that allows students to unfold the text into their own understandings and connections. With that being said, an example of how to engage students critically in literacy is teaching them a critical literacy strategy that they can implement into texts. For example, a strategy that can be used in the book Red is "Theme Switch". Theme switch is to make up a different story with the opposite theme or a different but closely related theme as a way to perceive the story in a different way (McLaughlin &DeVoogd, 2004). In the story Red: a crayon's story, we have Red struggle in being who it "should be" instead of what it wants to be. However, in the end Red accepts and says "I'm blue!", which demonstrates finding oneself or identity in this story. Therefore, having what we already know of that theme, we can have students switch the theme to "losing oneself or identity". What would that look like? How would that change the perspective or story? What changes? What doesn't get changed? I think this would be interesting because it forces students to change perspectives that is being shown through the author and to critically think about how that makes an impact on the story or the character. So this theme switch may be something like Red was red, but now it's turning blue, and no matter what it does, or what people say or do to help Red, it couldn't get the hang of it. Red couldn't go back to being who it was. Then the rest is where the students' interpretation, knowledge, and experiences take charge and turns it into something marvelously. Then students can share and engage in a discussion about what they did. How does losing ones' identity look like or feel like? What aspect of it is missing that you may or may not have included? What connections were made to create this? I think it's also important, as the educators, to model this and model how the critical questions can help guide or facilitate us into engaging critically in the text other than "What is the main idea?" Another lesson or strategy is using the Alternative Mind Portrait to get a different perspective of the story and its meaning in the book Last Stop on Market Street. This strategy is examining the two points of view represented in one story. Students will pick the two points of view portrayed in the book to examine. Then they will sketch silhouettes of two heads representing the two points of view. Inside each of those head, they can write words, draw, or make a collage to represent each perspective being shown in the book. Then coming together as a class or group, students can share what they have created as a starting point in critical discussions. In this case, the two points of view can be the grandma and the little boy. What do you think the boy sees the world as? What about the grandma? What is beauty to the boy? What is beauty to the grandma? Having critical questions to help guide students into understanding this and digging deep is important as the teacher. Some good critical questions can be found here: Critical questions. After my readings, I realize how important it is to critically engage students into any literature that they may stumble upon. If we don't teach them to be critical thinkers about their world, then how do we expect them to critically be engaged in their world as they continue to grow? I, myself, am always learning different ways and strategies that I can get my students to be interested and engaged with the text that we are reading, not because they have to read it, but because reading has a purpose. If we model to them and show them the importance of reading for purpose and reading critically, then ALL students will have that ability to read and engage into texts in a whole new, different level. I believe students deserves more credit than we give them when it comes to critically thinking. Anyone can do it as long as they are taught those strategies, and given the opportunity to practice them in real life situations. Therefore, as a future teacher, I will definitely include how I will teach critical literacy to ALL students in my class to challenge them in different ways. Hammond, J., & Macken-Horarik, M. (1999). Critical Literacy: Challenges and Questions for ESL Classrooms. TESOL Quarterly,33(3), 528-544. doi:10.2307/3587678 McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G.L. (2004). Critical literacy: Enhancing students’ comprehension of text. New York: Scholastic. Her Right Foot Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers is a fascinating, fun nonfiction book about America's most emblematic statue, which is the Statue of Liberty. This book tells the story of how the Statue of Liberty came to be in America, and what it actually stands for. I've never seen the Statue of Liberty in person, but even through pictures I was not able to make out the details of the Statue that Dave and the illustrator Shawn Harris pointed out in the book. Who knew that Lady Liberty's right foot is on the go and that there were broken chains on her? I have NEVER seen the chains until it was illustrated in this book. The themes that I noticed in this book were courage, united, diversity, hope, and immigration. The Statue of Liberty was never meant to be for only "white male Americans". It serves as a reminder to the whole world that America isn't defined as "white only", but to "all the poor, tired, and struggling to breathe free". People came to America for freedom. They came with courage in leaving their lives behind and starting a new one in a new country. They came to America filled with hope that their lives will only be filled with prosperity and not in poverty. America is diverse because we do not have a national language like other countries, and we shouldn't because we need to embrace our uniqueness and unite all those who are different together. We all share one thing in common coming to America, which was hope, so that should unite us together, not divide us. These are some of my thoughts as I read this book and related it to the events occurring to now-a-days dealing with immigration. Through Critical Lens...The image above is a page from Her Right Foot which shows people placing their right hand over their heart as if they were saluting to the American flag like we do in school. This picture is one of the many that really touched me because my interpretation of this was that these were different kinds of people who had more than likely traveled from long distance to come to a new, foreign land. Yet they are saluting to the American flag, or at least showing their respect to the country. So when I think about the events taken place today, it not only breaks my heart, but makes me confused on what we, as Americans, are actually doing to these immigrants. These so-called "foreign" people showed that they came to America not to "take over" it, but to be PART of it. By placing their hand over their heart, they are showing respect to America, but more importantly, they are showing that they are now Americans as well. They came to be united with us, not to divide us. If we can't share the liberty with others, then what is America then? I think it's also important that our students see and understand this part as well that America was built on immigration. Eggers, Dave, and Shawn Harris. Her Right Foot. Chronicle Books, 2017. My Two BlanketMy Two Blanket by Irena Kobald and Freya Blackwood is a story about a girl moving to a new country, which seems to be America, with her Auntie because of war. This story is about how the new world is a strange place for her, and how her blankets were the only thing that comforted her and help change her world. Her name in this book was called Cartwheel, and part of the reason why she is called that is because she enjoyed doing cartwheels in her homeland. The other reason is because she was so free spirited and cheerful until the war broke out. It was then that her Auntie stopped calling her "Cartwheel". This shows her character going from free spirited to quiet and sadness for she could not understand the strange sounds that wrapped her with loneliness. However, that starts to change as the world began to become more familiar to her. The themes that I noticed in this book were courage, hope, friendship, and self-discovering. Cartwheel and her Auntie came to America with hope for a better home for them. They also came with courage for they feared the unfamiliarity in the new world. Even though the theme friendship is not as obvious or elaborate as the other themes, I still think it's an important one because that's how Cartwheel started to become more familiar with her new world. She had help from a friend who took the first step in welcoming her by giving her words to practice saying. With that, those words started to become more familiar to her. This story relates to the world as we know it because there are constantly immigrants who comes to America to escape war and poverty. Everyone knows at least one person who immigrated to America, and maybe have experienced a situation like Cartwheel. Immigrants do feel lonely, different, and left out, so it's up to us to step up like the little girl in the story and help them out even if it's something small. It might make them feel more at home with the help from their neighbors. I also said self-discovering because this book shows how Cartwheel slowly discovered herself and built on her identity as an immigrant in America. From Critical Lens...This image holds a very meaningful event to me from the book. Here Cartwheel is in the process of slowly making her new blanket with words given to her by her new friend. This "new blanket" that she is making is a symbolic meaning of her situation. Her old blanket made her feel warm and soft because it represents her identity before coming to the new world. When she's home, she's back in her comfort zone doing what she's always done and speaking the language that she has always spoken. However, when she steps out to the new world, it was like "standing under a waterfall of strange sounds". It made her uncomfortable and out of place. However, as the little girl slowly gave her words to practice saying over and over again, they began to become more familiar and not so strange anymore. I loved how the authors used the blanket to represent her comfort zone and identity of the new world as she slowly "added new words" to it. Cartwheel is slowly building her identity to belong in her new world. This ties in multiple ways with immigration. This is something that immigrants struggle with as they are forced to come to America and leave their life behind. It's a very hard thing to do. Having to relearn basic skills and knowing simple information can be very hard if you are starting from the bottom and building your way up. So, Cartwheel was fortunate to have a friend who was willingly to help her by offering her little words and phrases at a time to practice, which helped her accommodate to the new world. Kobald, Irena, and Freya Blackwood. My Two Blankets. Little Hare, 2018. WishtreeWishtree by Katherine Applegate is a story about Red, an oak tree, who is the neighborhood's "wishtree". People come and write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to the tree. Red usually stays still and keeps still until a family moves in and a new wish is tied to one of her branches. She then changes her mind with the thought of her last wish in making sure that a little girl's wish comes true. The themes I noticed in this book were courage, hope, friendship, and community. Red had the courage to break the rule of not talking to humans, and to help make at least one of the wishes come true. She wanted to make an impact before she gets chopped down. However, even with that in mind, Red and her friends still had hope that she will survive. Red wasn't the only one filled with hope, but also Samar, the Muslim girl who moved in. Samar wished for a friend because she felt alone and sad. When she made the wish, she had hoped for it to come true deep down. Red also hoped for Samar's wish to come true as well before she is gone. Throughout this story, Red is filled with animals that lived inside her and have relied on her over the many years. They were not just her friend, but they were also her family. Her best friend who moved for her was Bongo, the crow. Bongo stood by her and refused to go any where else when Red was about to be chopped off. That shows the love and friendship that Red had built with Bongo through the many years of relying and being together. The community is also important in this story. The tree represents the community. It is where everyone comes together and unites. It is also where everyone shares one thing in common: desire. They desire because they hope. They all make wishes for something that they hope to get in order to make their life happier, easier, or filled more with love. Whatever the reason may be, they all come together as a community to make wishes. So, in some sense, Red represents the community. Critical Lens...This image was very heart warming and touching to me because it really was a "miracle" that the animals knew the situation and stood up for what they cared about. They cared about Red. Red wasn't just their home, but she was like a mother that protects them. They couldn't even imagine living in a different home other than Red, so I felt like this image was very empowering to the animals. They were all different, yet they wanted to stay together and protect each other. I feel like this was a metaphor to the neighborhood. The message on the tree made everyone feel unsafe and unwanted. It made Samar and her family hard to stay in that neighborhood because they felt unwanted and hated by the people who lived there. However, in the end, Stephan and Samar were able to overcome that and bring the community together to share the differences. They wanted them to STAY, which I believe was the message that was tied to Red on wishing day. It wasn't just meant for the tree to stay, but also to for Samar and her family, who are immigrants, to stay in the neighborhood. It was a very powerful ending to me, and I also think it was a great message to students reading this book. Applegate , Katherine, and Charles Santoso. Wishtree. Feiwel and Friends, 2017. Curricular Connections...All of these three children's literature books had similar themes throughout their story, which were hope, diversity, immigration, and friendship. These books can be used as a way-in to teach students about immigration today, which has become a big topic in our daily talk. I think it would be good to start out with Her Right Foot since most children know about the Statue of Liberty because it represents America. Students can talk about what they know about Lady Liberty and what it means to America. This would be a good introduction activity to immigration. Next, reading My Two Blanket to further talk more about immigration and illustrate how immigration happens or why people immigrate to America. Irena and Freya does a good job at illustrating the identities and feelings of immigrants. The characters in this book can also be relatable to students because they are children that may be similar to the readers' age, which teachers can use that to build connection to the fact that "students will actually have had similar experiences to Cartwheels" (Callow, 2017). Using what students have already experienced or know about immigration, we can then introduce Wishtree to the students because it's not as direct as the other two books about immigration. This is a good way to relate students to the characters in the book and to get an understanding of immigration and immigrants. This text can also be used to dig deeper into what it means to be an immigrant, and how society reacts to it. Students can also further do "quick writes", as suggested by Amy Edwards' article, that allows students to take a step closer to what it means or feels like to be an immigrant. I think it would be interesting to do quick writes after reading each book to see how students' thoughts and ideas about immigration changes from Her Right Foot to Wishtree. I think it would be a meaningful learning experience for students to experience immigration through these texts.
Callow, Jon. “‘Nobody Spoke Like I Did’: Picture Books, Critical Literacy, and Global Contexts.” International Literacy Association, vol. 71, no. 2, 2017, pp. 231–237. Edwards, Amy. “WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom.” Re-Visioning the World through Multiple Perspectives . "Story is Thinking and world making " ~Kathey G. Short
In both of these books, they had similar themes such as courage, trust, and self-powering. They both had the courage to trust in others in order to survive. They both were, in some ways, lost and tried to find their place within their environment. They both developed friendships through this journey and gained self-confidence and power in the end. Their friendships were formed with animals that helped guided them and helped them survive. These animal friends were also given human characteristics in the story, which made their settings in a nature environment. Both the girl and Roz were able to develop ideas of living/surviving the wild with the influence of their friends. In connection to Kathy Short's article, these stories were written and provided to show how stories "frame our world views and identities" (Short, 2012). As we read the story, we can understand how and why Roz and the little girl transformed from the beginning to end. It made sense that in their situation and the resource they had, they resulted to developing a behavior. However, it's also more than that. It's important for children to carry their experiences and inquiries with literature and story back into their worlds and lives (Short, 2012.) This is where stories help make connections become real/ relatable to children to take from this and expand their knowledge and perspective on not only their lives, but other's lives and perspectives as well. Stories are ways that define who we are as an individual, and as a group. It tells people about our past, and that is the only way we can get people to understand us and our experiences. With stories, children can learn to recognize and respect the perspectives of others without betraying their beliefs, which is an important aspect of being human (Short, 2012). Roz and the little girl's story can be used to help expand their perspective lens, and learn to make real world connections with any text they encounter. Short , K. G. (2012). Story as World Making . Language Arts , 90(1), 9–17. "An image of a robot named Roz was slowly forming in my mind. I could see her exploring a remote island. I could hear her communicating with wild animals. I could feel her becoming part of the wilderness. And after years of imagining and writing and drawing, I realized I had all the ingredients for a robot nature story. So I drove out to a cabin in the woods, opened up a fresh notebook, and began working on The Wild Robot". ~Peter Brown This book is an engaging story about a robot being washed up to an island and mistook the island for her home. It's a story about her journey within the island, and about the things she learned that's more than what a robot would do.
The themes I discovered as I was reading this book were courage, trust, endurance/perseverance, survival, and relationships. Roz's main goal was to survive and endure whatever comes her way. She did whatever it took to survive, which was the bridge that connected her to building relationships with the animals in that island. Roz had the courage to become a mother, even though her feelings about being one was not discussed about in the story. She knew nothing about being a mother to a goose, yet she became one and devoted her purpose and life on the island for the baby goose. The animals around her, who called her a "monster", also began to trust Roz as she continued on the island taking care of Brightbill. These common themes helped build the relationship that Roz and the other animals had created together. Roz became a mother to Brightbill, and a friend to the animals. This theme can be used to discuss what the word "family" can mean. Roz and Brightbill are not related in any way, nor do they look anything alike, so in what ways are they family? How does that relate to families in the real world that we know of? These are good questions that can make children think critically about the story and making connections to their world. Even though we know that robots technically don't have emotions, I felt like the author did a great job at illustrating the transition from a typical robot to Roz the robot. Her name started to become more than just "a robot's name", but it started to become humanized and personal which made her not just a robot, but a robot with a sense of emotions. She cared for Brightbill like he was her own, and she cared for her friends in the island as well. Even till the end when Roz was taken away, she yearned for her loved ones as a mother would when leaving their child behind. She wanted to return back to her son and her friends on that island because to her, they were her home and family. Therefore, that really made the story and characters more realistic and relatable to us as the readers. Roz's character was an interesting and unique one because it really showed how she evolved overtime from spending with her family. At the beginning, she only connected with the others in order to survive. However, her character started to change to caring more about others than surviving. She had a bigger purpose than to survive, and I think that is what changed her as well. I can relate to her in some ways because I know how much mothers have to go through in order to provide what is needed for not only their survival, but their babies as well. I've seen the struggle that my best friend goes through, and I've seen her transform from not being as caring of others to being caring because she is a mother. It's quite fascinating to see that the changes that one goes through just to take care of someone you love. Therefore, I really admire Roz for taking responsibility of taking care of Brightbill when she had no idea how to. Roz is a robot programmed to do multiple things except knowing how to be a mother. Yet Roz became one and learned slowly throughout the story. This can be taught to children about taking responsibility of their own actions, and how good things can come from it. This book meets aspect of my criteria of being a good book. First of all, the story line is great. There were multiple connections being made throughout the story as I read the book. The story line helped paint pictures in my mind even though there were not many pictures presented to support it. However, if you consider the level of it, it is actually appropriate for children, and they can still create an image inside their head with the text. This book is a good book for children to continue building their text comprehension, knowledge, and imagery in books. Brown, P. (2018). The wild robot. London: Piccadilly Press. "AN EMPOWERING INDIGENOUS TWIST ON A CLASSIC WOLF TALE." This children's book is about a girl who got lost in the wild while helping her mom pick berries. She finds her way back to her mom with a little help from a wolf she met in the wild.
Within this book, the themes that came across me as I was reading were self-powering, courage, and trust. The girl had courage to approach and follow the wolf even though it may have been a dangerous animal. She trusted the wolf to lead and guide her through the wild, and the wolf also trusted in her as well to believe in herself. As the wolf kept saying, "Yes you do" to the little girl, she slowly became more confident in herself which illustrates how the character started to develop a sense of self-powering. The wolf did not guide her through the wild. It was actually guided through the forest with the help of the little girl. All she needed was to believe and gain self-confidence in herself like how the wolf saw in her. I think that is the beauty of this children's book. It teaches kids to have self-powering, courage, and trust in times that may seem dark for them. The answer is always inside yourself if you truly believe in you, and I think that itself is very empowering for children who may not feel empowered in their world. "I don't know about you, but I found that unfair, and I thought of the other stories I had been told where the wolf wasn't just evil or hungry. That's where this story comes from. It is inspired by traditional stories, yes, but in no way taken from one." ~Katherena Vermette Going along with that, this book reminded me of how I slowly built my confidence growing up as a little girl. The world was a frightening thing to me as my English was slowly developing. Even knowing the language, it was still scary not knowing when I would make a mistake that people would stare and point at me. My relation to this story were my memories of relating to an unfamiliar environment just like the little girl. The only difference was not having a voice that believed in what I already have inside of me. An experience that helped me gained more confident in myself was getting lost and finding my way back home again. I was 18 years old at the time and have never drove on the highway before. I was making my way back home by following the GPS, however, I kept making the wrong turns, not knowing how to properly read the GPS yet. With those multiple wrong turns, I ended up lost in a dark, unfamiliar road. Just like the little girl, I was scared of how dark it had gotten and not knowing how to get back home. However, I trusted in myself and kept following the GPS with confidence that I would make it back, and I finally did. It was such a relieving feeling, and a self-powering experience that helped shaped my courage and trust in myself. Therefore, I hope that children who read this book would also make a similar connection like how I did with the little girl. I think that is an important message that was conveyed in the story. We may not always have that "someone" who trust us and help remind us of how empowered we already are, but we don't always need to rely on others. The wolf could have easily lead the girl the way back to her mom, but it didn't. Why? Because it believed and trusted in the little girl. It taught the little girl a lesson to believe in oneself and not to rely on others. If we teach children to realize that they are already empowered in themselves, and that if they believe in that, they can do anything that they want. Therefore, I think this is a worthwhile message or theme that students in Elementary or even middle-leveled students can learn from and apply it to their life. This book, "The Girl and the Wolf" meets aspects of my criteria of a good book. It has pictures that can help illustrate the story line of the book. The text is not too complex, and it has high frequency words that students would not struggle in as much; therefore making it an appropriate text for children to read and comprehend. I was also able to make connections to the book and with the emotions of the characters in the story. Vermette, K., & Flett, J. (2019). The girl and the wolf. Penticton, British Columbia: Theytus Books. 1. How did the author make the book believable? In other words, how true is the emotional reality of the story…
2. Discuss one of the main characters. How did the author make this character unique and believable? What issues does this character grapple with? How does the character evolve across the book? How were you able to relate to the characters? (You may wish to discuss the main character’s relationship to other characters) 3. Discuss the setting. Was the setting essential to the plot of the book? Explain why or why not. Does it add depth to the book? 4. What did you learn about the time period in which the book was set? Do you think the time period was described accurately? How do you know? 5. What elements of the author’s style and language drew you into the book? Explain and give examples. Examine the poetic or literary devices used in the text (i.e. simile, metaphor, flashback, onomatopoeia, imagery, alliteration, personification, symbolism). What does the author draw upon to write this story? Are there patterns, repeated phrases, predictable structures? 6. What factual information did you learn? Did anything surprise you? How do you know if this information is accurate? 7. What does the book remind you of from your own life? 8. What special meaning or message does the book convey to you? Do you think this is a worthwhile theme for elementary/middle-level students? Explain. 9. How does the point of view affect your reading? Who is the implied reader or intended audience of the book? Whose background knowledge is privileged in reading this text? 10. How does this story relate to the world as you see it? 11. Are any characters privileged or marginalized? How are the lived experiences of historically minoritized populations represented in the text? 12. What moral values and social-political messages (race, gender, religion, class, poverty, environment, immigration, education, homelessness, etc.) are dominant in the text? Does the author foster social consciousness? 13. In this text, who had the power to make choices for a better world? 14. Does the author present cultural details and markers authentically and multidimensionally? Are these cultural details integrated naturally? 15. Is the author/illustrator a cultural or #OwnVoices insider (e.g., Do they self-identify as a member of the community portrayed in the book?)? Has the book been endorsed by a reputable organization and/or insider with expertise? 16. Does the author use details accurately and does this work avoid stereotypes? Does the author use language authentically? 17. What experiences did the author bring that would help them represent the culture or social/environmental issue fairly? 18. How does the author build tension in the book? How does the mood of the book contribute to the tension? 19. What classroom connections/activities naturally link to this book. Discuss a specific resource, strategy, activity you would incorporate into your classroom. 20. What reading/writing mini-lesson could be taught through this book or passages from the book? |
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November 2019
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