In RE 5140 one of our assignments was to read several examples of newer, quality literature and write a reaction to the story. These are my reactions.
Dovey Coe by Frances Dowell was delightful! I loved this book. It is very similar to one of my all-time favorite books for adults, Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith. Both books have an incredibly loveable heroine that seems to be unable to get out of her own way.
Dowell was able to capture the essence of mountain life as a natural, normal way of life rather than an odd environment. She accurately depicted the mountain dialect without making the characters appear as the stereotypical ignorant rednecks. She was able to elicit empathy for Dovey as well as sympathy for the despicable Parnell. Dowell brought to life the coming of age story of Dovey and the tribulations that it entails for her. It also depicted the murder trial realistically in how a small town can react to a crime and how council for the underprivileged is usually young and unseasoned. Dowell’s treatment of Amos, Dovey’s deaf brother, was accurate in how hearing-impaired people have been treated by society. She did a good job eliciting empathy for this character and hopefully inspiring readers when encountering an individual that has difficulty communicating to treat that person with respect.
The character of Dovey Coe was refreshing. This young lady spoke her mind. She refused to conform to society’s conventions. Dovey also loved deeply and freely. She was fierce in her protection of her brother and sister. She also valued her parents and their love for her. Dovey was precious in her reaction to Wilson Brown’s attention. She wasn’t quite sure of how to react to him. As Mr. Harding said, “Miss Dovey, you are a mighty big force to be reckoned with.” This perfectly describes Dovey Coe.
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis is a remarkable historical novel about the first free-born child in a settlement of former slaves in Canada. The use of colloquial language helps to put the reader amongst the settlement. This story unfolds to tell of Elijah’s adventures and his encounters with escaped slaves and climaxes with his encounter with recaptured slaves in a daunting situation.
This book will make you laugh with Elijah’s encounter with a snake in the cookie jar. The fact that he ran so far into the woods and looked down to see it was still in his hand had me laughing out loud. I love when talking about his parents he says, “If people could die from laughing too hard, I’d be an orphan.” (p.21) His matter of fact dialog and dialect throughout the book is quite endearing.
The story is very thought provoking when Elijah’s dad talks about what slavery does to a person. How they don’t get out of slavery “...without having something bad done permanent to ‘em, without having something cut off of ‘em or burnt into ‘em or et up inside of ‘em.” (p.179) Elijah goes on to think that maybe grown ups don’t think to hard about hearing what someone goes through when there wasn’t anything they could do to stop it. He says, “This thinking like a growned person was starting to be sensical. Doggone-it-all.” I thought how true for many occasions in life.
I thought the most poignant point of the story was at the end when Elijah enters the stable to find the people held captive and chained to the wall. What a remarkable way of telling the horror of captured slaves while making it understandable enough and soft enough for young readers. My heart was breaking for the mother as she tried to convince Elijah how much her baby loved him. I was so proud of Elijah, and wanted to cheer, when he finally understood what the mother had been trying to say and returned for the baby.
At the end of the story when we know there will be no rescue for the captives, Curtis writes, “’Sides, Mr. Kamau... She laughed kind of soft, ...if you’s the mighty African king you’s always claiming you is, and you want this here pistol so bad, why don’t you come on over here and take it from me?” Curtis continues with “I love you, Cloe” and “Aww, hesh, Kamau, I love you too.” What an awe-inspiring way to show the human side of slavery. It really made me stop to think how in the most dire of situations the laughter and love that can still shine through.
All students should be required to read this book before graduating from high school. It would also be helpful to society for all adults to read this book as well.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village by Laura Schlitz is a compilation of monologues (and 2 dialogues) set in medieval times. This collection of stories is a great way for students to learn about medieval times instead of gathering this information from a history book. This book is written by a librarian to give her students an opportunity to act out plays. Because most plays don’t have big parts for a class full of students, she created the monologues as a way for everyone to have a “big” part.
By showing life through the eyes of children in the monologues, Schlitz is able to actively engage students in becoming aware of life during medieval times. What a “sneaky” way to encourage children to learn while making the learning fun. The use of footnotes throughout the stories is an excellent way to provide understanding for unfamiliar words and concepts. The footnotes are short and informative without bogging down the reader with too much detail.
Schlitz does an excellent job of drawing the younger reader in with the candid grossness of the day-to-day life for these children. Her matter of fact description of lice, fleas and muck gives students a realistic look at how nasty things could be during these times. By encountering the many children from so many walks of life, students become aware of the harshness of the class system and growing up in such plight.
I was initially turned off by the cover of the book and thought, “Ugh, I don’t want to read this.” However, I was genuinely surprised and enjoyed the stories. I especially enjoyed the stories of Isobel, the Lord’s Daughter, and Barbary, the Mud Slinger. What a great way to show the contrasts in the lives of the well-to-do and the have-nots. If I were teaching older students, this would become a part of my teaching collection.
My Artistic Reaction to The Invention of Hugo Cabret by
Melissa Graham
Brian Selznick uses black and white drawings along with black and white ink and paper in his book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I found this technique to be very powerful and found myself thinking of what a different experience the book would have been if he had used color. I love photography but haven’t experimented with black and white film in many years. So I went to the bell tower in downtown Salisbury and took abstract photos of pieces of architecture. I choose the abstract, as the movies in the book are abstract. I was also able to find a clock that matches the time period in the book. I had the photos printed in black and white as well as color to show the comparison of the two. The color photos are beautiful but I find the black and white ones more interesting.
Reaction to A Mango Shaped Space
A Mango Shaped Space was interesting in that it showed a disability through the eyes of a child experiencing that disability. By showing the lengths Mia took to hide her issues of synesthesia, it gave me pause to wonder how many children I have encountered in my teaching career that have or are suffering from some disability that they too are unable to voice.
Mia’s relationship with Mango was especially endearing. What a perceptive way for the author to delve into the topic of grief. I thought Mass’ approach in sharing Mia’s grief for her grandfather was enlightening as it demonstrated grief as a process that is different for everyone. No one grieves in the same manner or on the same schedule. Mia believing a part of her grandfather was still with her through her cat Mango, permitted Mia to prolong fully facing the loss of her beloved grandfather. This allowed Mia the time she needed to let go. What an innovative way to help Mia stay connected to her grandfather through Mango. By allowing Mia to react in an unconvential manner to death, this may help adolescent readers see that grief is an individual process.
I recently lost Bert, the best cat in the world, after 16 years. Mia losing Mango hit very close to home. Mass was able to accurately depict the raw emotions involved in the loss of a pet. I too know what it’s like to expect to see Bert’s shape sitting at his spot on the porch or at the foot of my bed. Wendy Mass’ craft of using authentic emotion to elicit feelings of grief was remarkable. .
I thought Mass wrote a wonderful book about adolescents and their feelings of being different and how they deal with the death of a loved one.
My Name is Gabito by Monica Brown is the story of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This book depicts Gabito as a little boy with a wild imagination and progresses through Marquez’s life to end with him becoming an important writer that has been read by people all over the world. Marquez is famous for winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. According to Brown, his most brilliant novel is One Hundred Years of Solitude. After reading the reviews of this book on Amazon, I have added it to my list of books to read this summer.
I did not find the book, My Name is Gabito, as spectacular as many of the other books we have read this semester. I thought maybe I had missed something and reread the book. After the reread, I still didn’t get it. I found the book to feel forced, as if the author was trying too hard to convince me that this was such a remarkable person. The continuous “Can You Imagine?” was annoying instead of “magical” to me. The story felt choppy. It did not seem to flow from one page to the next. I didn’t feel I really got to know Gabito. However, I do think Raul Colon’s illustrations were beautiful. His use of vibrant colors was amazing and children will be drawn to this book for its artwork. It is quite evident why this book won the ALA Pura Belpre Honor Book award for illustrations.
Though this book did not appeal to me, it is an important addition to the collection of multicultural books available to children today. It is a significant biographical picture book that highlights the life of an incredibly important writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Star Jumper Journal of a Cardboard Genius by Frank Asch is a delightful book. It is a very quick read that holds your attention from the first page. The story is of Alex and his annoying little brother. Alex plans to build a space ship out of cardboard that will take him far away from Jonathan and all the aggravation he brings to Alex.
This darling story uses Alex’s imagination to use cardboard and recycled items along with duck tape to help him escape the constant harassment and annoyances of Jonathan. Everything about Jonathan irritates Alex. From the way he sits to the way he eats spaghetti, it all drives Alex crazy. Jonathan’s spaghetti eating is disgusting and it would drive me crazy, too.
I have a younger sister that drove me crazy and I could so relate to Alex. I too felt that my parents made excuses for and tolerated bad behavior way more from my sister than they did from me. I so felt Alex’s pain. Asch depicts everyday situations in the life of siblings so realistically. I was so in awe of his depictions.
When he writes, “Jonathan, of course, doesn’t have any chores because Mom and Dad think he’s too young. I guess his only responsibility is to make me miserable.” I laughed out loud. I felt the same way so many times growing up.
The ending was touching as Alex finds some good in Jonathan and sets the stage for more tolerance of Jonathan. This book would be great for children who are having issues with a sibling. It would validate their feelings by showing them that we all have siblings that drive us crazy.
I normally don’t read books that are considered science-fiction. I think of science-fiction as being way out there, Star Wars like. This book was a pleasant surprise. I will highly recommend it to my school librarian and hope she orders it for our school.
Venom by Marilyn Singer is a remarkable work of non-fiction text. This book is an amazing information book. Students of all ages will be drawn into the wealth of information the author has included about animals and their use of venom. This book is different from other informational text as it feels like you are reading a magazine with its display of pictures and information. Color is used strategically in the display of photos as well as in the boxes of information. This entices the reader to explore the book. The use of colored boxes with questions and answers with pictures is a unique approach the author has used so that learning about venom is an enjoyable experience.
Venom takes the reader farther than the predictible description of snakes. It includes many other animals that use venom as a way to “catch prey, ... [for] self defense... and ... [for] defense of their family or community”. It makes the reader aware that there are some spiders, ants, lizards, toads, salamanders, birds, fish, stingrays, saltwater snakes, corals, sponges and jelly fish that use venom. This extensive list is remarkable in that it gives each animal its own space in the book with pictures and interesting facts, yet it’s not overwhelming with lengthy paragraphs of information.
This book will become a permanent fixture in my classroom as I use it as a reference to teach about the many animals that pique my students curiosity. I want to make it accessible to them so it will be placed on their shelf. Though the language is too difficult for my first graders, the photography is amazing and will delight them. I have several low readers who love to look at animal books and I am sure they will love this one as well. I am also recommending this book to our librarian to place in our school library as it is a wealth of information that everyone will enjoy.