This class has completely opened my eyes to the elements and factors that are involved in choosing and reading through diverse literature. Before this course, I would read through literature and look for the basics (characters, plot, setting, problem, solution, conclusion) but now I have learned about getting more out of it. When choosing a piece of diverse literature, there are many elements that play a major role; insider versus outsider voice, representation, cultural/historical aspect, etc. with all of these aspects made me realize how difficult it is to create a complete and well developed classroom library. Through this course I have also gained the understanding that with literature there is not just one view; within literature there are multiple viewpoints and it is crucial to recognize them all as equal. I can not even put into words how much I have learned by taking this class, but within doing so, I have also realized I still feel uneducated and uninformed with what are “good” pieces of diverse literature. What my idea of good literature is completely different from others. Through course readings, especially the McLean article, I have gained the perspective that with stereotypes there comes certain truth; that there is a reason why certain stereotypes exist and that you shouldn’t disregard a piece of text just because those stereotypes exist within it.
The only thing that I still feel really unsure about is the fact that I went into this class wanting to become educated about multicultural literature but the more we talked about it week to week, the more complicated and complex the concept and issue seemed to get. I have come to realize that was the whole point; that literature isn’t black and white, there are a variety of gray areas.
Overall this course has made me look at literature in a new perspective while gaining a better understanding of what I want my classroom library to look like for the future. I want to be able to open my student’s eyes and world through literature while providing literature that is relatable to their lives on all different types of literature. I have a huge challenge ahead of me, but like everything the reward of creating something spectacular is worth all the hard work. I understand this course is just a stepping stone to what I need to obtain, but I am glad I have taken the first step of realizing what kind of multicultural journey I have ahead of me.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Reflection of my Text Set
The literature that I chose to read about and focus my final project on is African American literature. There were many reasons as to why I chose to focus my study on this cultural group. The main reason for choosing African American literature is because next year I will be placed in either Mount Clemons or Detroit area school districts, both of which are predominantly African American students along with many other cultural groups. With this in mind, I thought it would be extremely beneficial to become educated with this multicultural group of study. Since I grew up in a small town, 99% being white population, I have never really been introduced to young adult and children’s literature from other cultures. Since African American is going to be predominant within my future school districts I wanted to read these books with the inside authors to gain more experience and knowledge working with this underrepresented cultural group. Since building a classroom library is crucial to my student’s academic career I need to gain a foundational knowledge of working with African American literature at both children and young adult literature level.
Another reason I chose this cultural group to study further because I wanted to become educated in the history of it as well. I believe I do not even come close in carrying a sufficient amount of knowledge about the history of African American’s, let alone what is an accurate and authentic portrayal of this underrepresented group. Through the professional article, I was able to gain a better understanding of it is not just about fulfilling one aspect of the group, it is about having a complete and overall correct portrayal and presentation without major discrepancies. Just through my text set I was able to gain more, but still not sufficient, information about this cultural group because never before have I been introduced or educated on what is a correct depiction of African Americans. For me, it is about carrying an overall correct image of what my students should be getting out of reading such literature and by doing this project I have been able to understand what African American literature entailed. I have a great length of research and investigation to go to be a sufficient provider of this type of literature to my students. It is not only for me, but I did this mainly for my future students so I am able to be a more sufficient and well-rounded teacher for all of my students, not just in one subject matter.
My text set contains a wide range of themes and purposes; when choosing these books I wanted to try and gain an overall image through using insiders’ points of views and perspectives of each of these subject matters. Each of the books relates to the authors own life in one way or another, and through that I am able to gain a deeper perceptive of the book and the meaning that goes on behind the text. A theme that seemed to be relevant in 3 out of my 4 books was historical fiction. Each of these books had some kind of history, or historical figure throughout the text. I believe the reason for choosing these historical pieces were a way to become educated in not just African American literature, but through the history behind it all as well. The history of slaves, Harriet Tubman, racism, jobs (cotton) and different historical figures/heroes that play a role in many lives throughout history has taught me that this an extreme weakness of mine and in being a future educator I need to buckle down and become knowledgeable in the different aspects that may be playing a role in all of my students’ lives. The book Visiting Day was also a great way to show the use of troubling issues within children’s text as well. Some children struggle with the lose of a family member and having to visit them in prison; I believe this book is a great way for students going through the same kind of situations to be able to relate to. Even though I thought there were some different stereotypes that played a role throughout the text, it still had an overall good theme of unconditional love for your family. Also since it was through an insider’s perspective, once reading the author’s note I was able to gain a better understanding as to why she included certain things within this text as well. When choosing my books I didn’t have in mind that I wanted to keep with up with the historical aspect of African American culture and literature, but reflecting on my text set as a whole I am able to see that I unconsciously chose books that centered around that theme and I believe I became more educated within this cultural group by doing so.
Overall, I believe my text set does an excellent job representing the African American culture, even with some common stereotypes here and there. In McLean’s article about homosexuality stereotypes he really brought out a good point that has stuck with me when thinking of stereotypes, “However, stereotypes frequently embody some truth and another fact is that some gays and lesbians do fit those stereotypic images” (McLean, pg 194) Even though this is about gays and lesbians, I believe it still fits with the idea that there is some truth behind stereotypes, and with that I was able to learn about the African American culture in that sense as well. I really enjoyed this project in realizing how much time and effort I need to start making in becoming more educated in different cultural areas so I am able to meet all of my students wants and needs within my future classroom.
Another reason I chose this cultural group to study further because I wanted to become educated in the history of it as well. I believe I do not even come close in carrying a sufficient amount of knowledge about the history of African American’s, let alone what is an accurate and authentic portrayal of this underrepresented group. Through the professional article, I was able to gain a better understanding of it is not just about fulfilling one aspect of the group, it is about having a complete and overall correct portrayal and presentation without major discrepancies. Just through my text set I was able to gain more, but still not sufficient, information about this cultural group because never before have I been introduced or educated on what is a correct depiction of African Americans. For me, it is about carrying an overall correct image of what my students should be getting out of reading such literature and by doing this project I have been able to understand what African American literature entailed. I have a great length of research and investigation to go to be a sufficient provider of this type of literature to my students. It is not only for me, but I did this mainly for my future students so I am able to be a more sufficient and well-rounded teacher for all of my students, not just in one subject matter.
My text set contains a wide range of themes and purposes; when choosing these books I wanted to try and gain an overall image through using insiders’ points of views and perspectives of each of these subject matters. Each of the books relates to the authors own life in one way or another, and through that I am able to gain a deeper perceptive of the book and the meaning that goes on behind the text. A theme that seemed to be relevant in 3 out of my 4 books was historical fiction. Each of these books had some kind of history, or historical figure throughout the text. I believe the reason for choosing these historical pieces were a way to become educated in not just African American literature, but through the history behind it all as well. The history of slaves, Harriet Tubman, racism, jobs (cotton) and different historical figures/heroes that play a role in many lives throughout history has taught me that this an extreme weakness of mine and in being a future educator I need to buckle down and become knowledgeable in the different aspects that may be playing a role in all of my students’ lives. The book Visiting Day was also a great way to show the use of troubling issues within children’s text as well. Some children struggle with the lose of a family member and having to visit them in prison; I believe this book is a great way for students going through the same kind of situations to be able to relate to. Even though I thought there were some different stereotypes that played a role throughout the text, it still had an overall good theme of unconditional love for your family. Also since it was through an insider’s perspective, once reading the author’s note I was able to gain a better understanding as to why she included certain things within this text as well. When choosing my books I didn’t have in mind that I wanted to keep with up with the historical aspect of African American culture and literature, but reflecting on my text set as a whole I am able to see that I unconsciously chose books that centered around that theme and I believe I became more educated within this cultural group by doing so.
Overall, I believe my text set does an excellent job representing the African American culture, even with some common stereotypes here and there. In McLean’s article about homosexuality stereotypes he really brought out a good point that has stuck with me when thinking of stereotypes, “However, stereotypes frequently embody some truth and another fact is that some gays and lesbians do fit those stereotypic images” (McLean, pg 194) Even though this is about gays and lesbians, I believe it still fits with the idea that there is some truth behind stereotypes, and with that I was able to learn about the African American culture in that sense as well. I really enjoyed this project in realizing how much time and effort I need to start making in becoming more educated in different cultural areas so I am able to meet all of my students wants and needs within my future classroom.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Professional Article Review
The Black Experience in Children's Fiction: Controversies Surrounding Award
Winning Books
Joel Taxel
Curriculum Inquiry, Vol. 16, No. 3. (Autumn, 1986), pp. 245-281.
The article The Black Experience in Children’s Fiction: Controversies Surrounding Award Winning Books by Joel Taxel, focuses on evaluating “the black experience” more thoroughly to illustrate it isn’t just about getting blacks into more literature, it is about how they are correctly represented as well. Joel uses and compares three different award winning books to show how differently and sufficiently blacks are portrayed in each of these texts. Two historical young adult novels, Sebestyen’s Words By Heart and Fox’s The Slave Dancer, are criticized for presenting a “distorted and inaccurate view of black culture and history” (Taxel). The different controversial issues that these texts face are compared and examined in relation to a third novel, displayed in my text collection, by Mildred Taylor Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. As Taxel states, this is “a book lauded for both its literary qualities and its perspective on black history.
The article continued to work through statistics of how the black population is poorly presented and portrayed through much of the multicultural literature throughout history. This article is an extensive 39 page description of the different movements for minorities (blacks, women, etc.) throughout history and how these movements not only affected society, but literature as well. For example, “the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s did succeed in raising the sensitivity and consciousness of authors, editors, and publishers to the extent that these “plantation” caricatures and stereotypes appeared with diminished frequency in the newer books being published” (Taxel, pg 247). The main focus is how these portrayals of the black experience in children’s literature is truly affecting and impacting the viewpoints and knowledge of these young readers. After displaying all the arguable points of what a good and accurate piece of black literature should look like, Taxel goes through each of these award winning novels in showing why or why not it is portraying the black culture/history in an accurate tone.
Since it is a 39 page article, I am going to strictly focus on Taxel reviewing one of my chosen pieces (Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry) and how he depicts it in being “a success both in terms of its literary values and in its historical, cultural, perspective on the events it describes” (Taxel, pg 260). In the article, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is extensively discussed from pages 256-261 but is referenced to throughout the entire article. Taxel gives a thorough summary of the book and then goes into details the different ways the book works as a good piece of African American literature. Taxel also describes through the analysis of Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry it has been shown "that out of the depth and richness of Taylor's characterizations and the strengths and authenticity of her narrative style, a model of social action emerges that is believable and satisfying on all levels" (Taxel, pg 271). Taxel continuously raves about this piece of literature and how authentic she is by Taylor using other works and by putting her own experiences in to build this masterpiece. Taxel goes on to describe the other two texts as having different stregnths but many weaknesses that gives him reason to question in what forms they are able to recieve the different awards.
Overall, I have learned through this article that there are many different levels that go along with recieving awards and the ability to question the authenticity. It is not that these different books shouldn't be on the shelves, but it is how we are going to deal with them as "award winning" novels when they clearly show many different weaknesses. In the article it gives a criteria of characteristics and qualities that need to be shown throughout the different texts to show that the author is "culturally conscious": 1)Afro-American heritage and history; 2) pride in being Black; 3)a sense of community among Blacks; 4)the importance of warm and loving human relationships particularly within families; 5)a sense of continuity; and above all, 6) the will and strength and determination to cope and survive. With this set of different criterian that should be met, Taxel goes through and shows how Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry hits on these different points throughout the novel.
Through the analysis of this article I was able to gain a deeper understanding of truly how important it is to have accurate pieces of litearture and diverse literature throughout your classroom library. Students are the ones to pick up these books while trying to become educated about a wide-range of topics; and through this diverse literature course and this article I have gained the understanding of how crucial it is to have an accurate and authentic diverse library for my students. I have also learned that I am not always going to pick the most accurate pieces to include in my literature, because through this article it shows that different books with awards sometimes don't portray that group in the right light as well, but it is about teaching my students to research and analyze these different cultural groups and to become educated on what is correct and what is not. It is about giving them the opporutnity to explore these different groups through the different text sets while coming to understand that you can't always believe everything you read, but it is about understanding the differences within the text that is fact and fiction.
Taxel, Joel. "The Black Experience in Children's Fiction: Controversies Surrounding Award Winning Books." Curriculum Inquiry 16 (1986): 245-281. 1 Apr. 2008.
Winning Books
Joel Taxel
Curriculum Inquiry, Vol. 16, No. 3. (Autumn, 1986), pp. 245-281.
The article The Black Experience in Children’s Fiction: Controversies Surrounding Award Winning Books by Joel Taxel, focuses on evaluating “the black experience” more thoroughly to illustrate it isn’t just about getting blacks into more literature, it is about how they are correctly represented as well. Joel uses and compares three different award winning books to show how differently and sufficiently blacks are portrayed in each of these texts. Two historical young adult novels, Sebestyen’s Words By Heart and Fox’s The Slave Dancer, are criticized for presenting a “distorted and inaccurate view of black culture and history” (Taxel). The different controversial issues that these texts face are compared and examined in relation to a third novel, displayed in my text collection, by Mildred Taylor Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. As Taxel states, this is “a book lauded for both its literary qualities and its perspective on black history.
The article continued to work through statistics of how the black population is poorly presented and portrayed through much of the multicultural literature throughout history. This article is an extensive 39 page description of the different movements for minorities (blacks, women, etc.) throughout history and how these movements not only affected society, but literature as well. For example, “the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s did succeed in raising the sensitivity and consciousness of authors, editors, and publishers to the extent that these “plantation” caricatures and stereotypes appeared with diminished frequency in the newer books being published” (Taxel, pg 247). The main focus is how these portrayals of the black experience in children’s literature is truly affecting and impacting the viewpoints and knowledge of these young readers. After displaying all the arguable points of what a good and accurate piece of black literature should look like, Taxel goes through each of these award winning novels in showing why or why not it is portraying the black culture/history in an accurate tone.
Since it is a 39 page article, I am going to strictly focus on Taxel reviewing one of my chosen pieces (Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry) and how he depicts it in being “a success both in terms of its literary values and in its historical, cultural, perspective on the events it describes” (Taxel, pg 260). In the article, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is extensively discussed from pages 256-261 but is referenced to throughout the entire article. Taxel gives a thorough summary of the book and then goes into details the different ways the book works as a good piece of African American literature. Taxel also describes through the analysis of Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry it has been shown "that out of the depth and richness of Taylor's characterizations and the strengths and authenticity of her narrative style, a model of social action emerges that is believable and satisfying on all levels" (Taxel, pg 271). Taxel continuously raves about this piece of literature and how authentic she is by Taylor using other works and by putting her own experiences in to build this masterpiece. Taxel goes on to describe the other two texts as having different stregnths but many weaknesses that gives him reason to question in what forms they are able to recieve the different awards.
Overall, I have learned through this article that there are many different levels that go along with recieving awards and the ability to question the authenticity. It is not that these different books shouldn't be on the shelves, but it is how we are going to deal with them as "award winning" novels when they clearly show many different weaknesses. In the article it gives a criteria of characteristics and qualities that need to be shown throughout the different texts to show that the author is "culturally conscious": 1)Afro-American heritage and history; 2) pride in being Black; 3)a sense of community among Blacks; 4)the importance of warm and loving human relationships particularly within families; 5)a sense of continuity; and above all, 6) the will and strength and determination to cope and survive. With this set of different criterian that should be met, Taxel goes through and shows how Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry hits on these different points throughout the novel.
Through the analysis of this article I was able to gain a deeper understanding of truly how important it is to have accurate pieces of litearture and diverse literature throughout your classroom library. Students are the ones to pick up these books while trying to become educated about a wide-range of topics; and through this diverse literature course and this article I have gained the understanding of how crucial it is to have an accurate and authentic diverse library for my students. I have also learned that I am not always going to pick the most accurate pieces to include in my literature, because through this article it shows that different books with awards sometimes don't portray that group in the right light as well, but it is about teaching my students to research and analyze these different cultural groups and to become educated on what is correct and what is not. It is about giving them the opporutnity to explore these different groups through the different text sets while coming to understand that you can't always believe everything you read, but it is about understanding the differences within the text that is fact and fiction.
Taxel, Joel. "The Black Experience in Children's Fiction: Controversies Surrounding Award Winning Books." Curriculum Inquiry 16 (1986): 245-281. 1 Apr. 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
By: Mildred D. Taylor
ISBN-13: 9780140384512
Cassie Logan, the narrator, is the spirited 9 year old girl living in 1933 on the 400-acre farm in Mississippi with her family. The Logan family works extremely hard trying to keep up their farm while facing the many racial prejudices that existed during this time period. Cassie and her brothers have to tread for miles to attend the badly equipped schoolhouse where they are a part of a class that uses hand-me-down supplies. Everyday they have to walk past the large Whites school building while having to watch the school bus pass them on the same road, while having the kids laughing and saying discriminating things as they get filled with mud and dust from the bus. Throughout the book there are several acts of prejudice towards the blacks in the community. The first is the Wallace boys burning and even killing some black men at the local store. Mama and Papa decide that the local store is no place for the children and they make it known that they aren’t allowed to go there. Because of another fight at the store, Mama tries to get the community involved and boycott from buying goods from there. Since Papa is away most of the time working and trying to make a good life for his family, Mama and Papa’s mother are trying to keep up with the children and the discriminating issues that are surrounding the community. The Whites in the neighboring towns are trying to stir things up by planning and going through with different attacks on the local black residents. Papa brings home a friend (L.T.) that got fired from his local job, for fighting with a white, to help and look after his land and family. T.J., the trouble-making teen and the (sort-of) friend of the Logan children teams up with two trouble-making Whites (Melvin and R.W.) that end up not being friends at all. Melvin and R.W. decide to take T.J. along with them on a vicious murdering route and then frame him to taking the fall for it. T.J.’s ultimate outcome for his actions is to be murdered; to stop the local chaotic scene in town Papa starts a fire in the cotton field. By doing this it the blacks and whites has to join forces in order to be able to put out the fire, which is a local commodity for all.
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry is a realistic piece in the genre of fiction that takes you through historical events that sufficiently demonstrate showing how life was throughout this time period of the 1930s. This story puts together the overlying themes of the importance of family while fighting against the evil strings of racism. The story is told through the voice of Cassie Logan, who the author does a fantastic job putting it into perspective the kind of life those individuals led during that time period. The importance of family shines through the entire novel as the Logan family demonstrates what it means to “stick together” during the hard times. Cassie firmly believes in the value of family ties as she has witnessed through Big Ma and Papa that it is about never abandoning one another, especially during the rough times. During this rough time, this novel also brings the issue of Hope when all seems lost. Numerous troubling events effect many characters and the community of this piece with the sense that all might be lost, especially through the racist acts; but by the end of the text both white and black people have to work together to extinguish the flames of the cotton field. This situation shows the ray of hope of overcoming these racial barriers as they work together to achieve the common goal to save the cotton commodity while effectively working through the racial differences altogether. The final theme that is evident throughout the text is how unfair and prejudice life can be, especially when living in the South of this time period. Racism is everywhere and can effect anyone, and through this novel it shows how one is able to overcome many obstacles, simple to very life-threatening, if you use your strong will to do so.
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry is a novel that puts life in the 1930s into perspective for readers today. It is about giving a historical feel to what life was like as a black family living in the South, as it is told through Cassie Logan life experiences. I believe this text is an excellent piece and source of information for all readers to enjoy. This text brings you into the story and life of those during this time period as you are able to imagine yourself taking the journey as well. This piece of literature also brings about the historical feel of what being a part of the African American culture was like living in a “white” dominant society. I believe this novel puts into perspective how much turmoil the blacks had to go through and are still going through today. It is a wonderful piece of adventure and historical events that I would use within my future classroom to represent this time period.
This piece of literature is more than a work of fiction as it is retells many events that came from Mildred Taylor's own family's life while being a portrayal of an important record of an African-American experience throughout a our country's very complicated history. It is a fictionalized piece that works through actual real life events that were told to her from her father's perspective. Even though oral tradition has some discrepencies, Mildred Taylor is able to retell these different events as she and her family were all insiders of these different experiences.
Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2002.
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
By: Carole B. Weatherford
Illustrated by: Kadir Nelson
ISBN-13: 9780786851751
Harriet Tubman is a heroic and historical figure throughout the period of slavery. She is a woman who fought against the issues of slavery in the hopes of becoming free. This text takes you through her adventure of escaping slavery in the mid-19th century. She is led by her faith to not only free herself and her family, but other slaves through the use of the Underground Railroad. She rises above all her doubts and fears of getting caught as she has the strength of God behind her the whole way. Through her journey she receives help from farmers and their wives, and boatmen although always thinking in the back of her mind that they are going to turn her in. As her adventure continues of becoming free she decides through her faith in God that it is her duty to not only free herself but many others; through the text it states “Save all you can, daughter” in the words of her spiritual being and she proceeds to do just that because there is nothing else in the world she wants but Freedom!
This text includes a Foreword about the statistics of slavery and an Author’s Note about Harriet Tubman’s life.
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom is a notable and award-winning picture book that takes you through the fictitious biographic journey and life of the heroic Harriet Tubman. The text has a rhythmic and lyrical tone as it goes through her spiritual journey of breaking free from her slavery duties and overcoming the fears the come along with this adventurous expedition. The author puts a unique spin on this biography as she takes the reader through the thoughts and feelings Harriet Tubman experienced in escaping slavery and discovering freedom. The text is set up to show the different conversations she has with God through the historical events that she went through by fleeing to the North. Harriet’s thoughts and feelings are italicized while God’s words of wisdom and strength are in different color and capitalized font; this text is also free-flowing through the pages to give a new feel to the reader.
The illustrations captivate the reader through the realistic feel of Tubman’s journey through this time. The artwork is extended on both pages and they are nothing short of amazing. They are clear, vivid depictions that collaborate with the text in showing both expression and emotion. Even though most of the illustrations use many dark colors it still bring much light into the book through Tubmans everlasting hope and faith in discovering freedom for not only herself but for many others as well.
Reading this text for the first time, it took me through the adventure of breaking free from slavery by traveling through the fears of being captured while ultimately uncovering the elements of freedom altogether. For me, it wasn’t just learning about Harriet Tubman’s life and adventure through the Underground Railroad, it was about taking me through the thoughts and feelings while using her spiritual strength of God to get her through such terrifying times. The text and illustration combination is an amazing portrayal in educating all readers not just about the historical feel, but how life was really like for the slaves in the mid-19th century. For my future classroom library, I will be sure to include this piece in my set but make sure to educate my students before giving this portrayal of slavery. Through much of the text, Harriet goes through dangerous circumstances and I believe that my students will need to understand the difficulties that slaves faced during this time period to show their troubling times and conditions. The only concern I would have placing it into a public set would be the many references to God, but I believe that it gives a strong and factual touch to how Harriet Tubman’s spiritual element got her through this time thus creating a heroic and historical figure of our past. Overall, I really enjoyed this piece of historical picture book and it gave me a sense of not only what journey she went through but who she was and the life of slavery through both the Foreword and Author’s note throughout the book.
I chose this book through a insiders view because Carole Weatherford describes Harriet Tubman as being one of her heroes since childhood. She is able to identify with Harriet Tubman because Weatherford has roots in Dorchester County in Maryland where Harriet was born a slave and from which she eventually fled. She chose to do the spiritual side of Harriet Tubmans journey because Weatherford is both a wife and daughter of ministers and she wanted to touch on that spirituality in her writing. She feels she is able to relate to Harriet Tubman on the spiritual being of the book because the trust they both instill in God and the strength he gives both of them; she felt that this was a necessary touch to the story and where she was really able to let her voice and knowledge shine in as well.
Weatherford, Carole B. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2006.
Visiting Day
Visiting Day
By: Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrated by: James E. Ransome
ISBN-13: 9780590400053
Visiting Day is a once a month occasion where this little girl and her grandmother get to visit her Dad in prison. They go through the same routines each month of taking fried chicken, cornbread, and sweet potato pie on the long bus ride upstate to visit her father in prison. Along with other families on the bus, they share the sense of hope and comfort to each other in showing they understand how exciting it is to visit your loved one, but how hard it is to leave knowing you have to wait yet another month to see them. The little girl in this text goes through the different emotional obstacles of missing her father but being reminded from her grandmother that he will be out and with them soon enough. Even though the little girls misses her father, her grandmother gives her a good home and life with giving her the hope to plan on the things they can do once her Dad returns.
The text includes an Author’s Note and Artists Note to describe their intentions of the book, and to also describe how even though this is a work of fiction, it is based on true events from the Author’s childhood.
This picture book goes through the different emotions and events of the joyful little girl’s life of the agonizing anticipation of visiting her father who is prison. It is told through her voice and perspective as she lives with her grandmother and visits her father on a monthly basis. The text focuses on the straight-forward events that the girl goes through while keeping up with the “only on visiting day” theme. The girl not only focuses on her what she goes through to prepare for this exciting day, but imagines what kind of preparation her father goes through as well. The illustrations are very realistic images that along directly with the text. Through these images it gives the reader a direct feel for what is going on through these events with the little girl and her grandmother. There are two separate pages where this is no text, it just displays the images of grandma doing the little girls hair, and them boarding the bus to go the prison. By leaving out the text I believe this is a way for the reader to just imagine the sequential events compared to having to read it piece by piece. I really liked this element because through this, words were not needed and the reader is still able to understand what is going on, just by relating to the illustrations. The illustrator also used some very bright and vivid colors to pull the reader into the book while not only concentrating on the text. I believe this the text and illustrations truly compliment each other while bringing the reader in wanting to read more about the adventures of going to visit dad on “visiting day”.
Visiting Day is an excellent read for children to identify and share the feelings of hope for anyone who has experienced or is experiencing being separated from a loved one. The element I was most keen about in this text is how the child, narrator, never placed judgment on her father or why he is in prison. This gave me the sense of showing unconditional love towards your family regardless of the situation. I believe this is a way for those who are able to relate to this book to look for at the positive things when visiting your loved one, in comparison of focusing on the negative aspects as to why he/she may be separated from you. The two major problems I had with this book is the use of some familiar stereotypes. Even though the author stated that this is based on actual events that she too experienced, and that some stereotypes may be true within different cultures, they still jumped out at me. For instance, the use of fried chicken, cornbread and sweet potato pie is more then often used when referring to African American families; and even though this may be the case I believe that making this a part of their monthly routine on visiting day made it seem a little stereotypical. Another instance is the fact that this African American girl is living with her grandmother, without a mother, having to visit her father in prison. I am not conveying the thoughts and message that these aren’t true and shouldn’t be used, but it seems like they are sometimes overused within African American texts and that if I wanted to include this in my classroom text I need to incorporate other portrayals of African Americans as well. I believe this is a book for children to be able to relate to that are going through the same situations, but not a piece of literature that I would use as a way to display African American culture. It is a book that brings up the difficult issue of separated families while using the illustrations to provide heart within the story, while also touching on the important fact of showing how the love for your family is unconditional. Overall I enjoyed the book for the message that is trying to convey, but wouldn’t use it as a piece of literature to depict the African American culture as a whole.
Visiting Day is also an insider voice piece as Jacqueline Woodson writes about her experiences of the circumstances of visiting a loved one in prison in her Author's Note. She writes about visiting her favorite uncle, and even though she never knew of what crime he committed, it didn't matter because when it was time for visiting day she went through the routines, just as in the text, with her grandmother to visit her favorite uncle. "Although Visiting Day is a work of fiction, it is based on true events from my childhood. The dad in Visiting Day is a lot like my uncle. The grandmother- alot like my own grandmother." With this author's note, I was able to truly relate the text to her own life and the different ways visiting day affected her life; thus making a more relatable piece.
Jacqueline, Woodson. Visiting Day. New York: Scholastic P, 2002.
I dream of trains
I dream of trains
By: Angela Johnson
Illustrated by: Loren Long
I dream of trains is the story of a boy that dreams the days and nights away of being on a train. The African-American boy narrates through his journey of living out his lifelong dream of being a train conductor, just like the famous Casey Jones and his side kick fireman Sim Webb. It takes you through him getting through his long days of working in the Mississippi cotton fields while listening for the Casey’s whistle on the train, as it takes him to where he one day want to be. Through his adventures he dreams of working with the historical figure Casey Jones and traveling through the plains, past the desert, and to the ocean. Through the boys dreams, it also takes you through the adventure of Casey Jones and final days on the train as he crashed his engine on April 30, 1900 and ultimately saving Sim Webb’s life by making him jump out of the train leaving him to take full control. The little boy snaps in and out of reality, getting glimpses of him pursuing all that he wants, dreams of leaving Mississippi and being one with the train.
On the final page of the text, there is a note of the book giving background and historical information of this time period and the reasons for the book. There is also short passage of John Luther “Casey” Jones life.
I dream of trains is a historical piece of fiction that takes you through the historical figure of “Casey” Jones through the eyes of an admiring African American boy. Through the voice and perspective of this boy, he takes you in and out of not only his life but through Casey Jones as well. The text uses a simple format that plays off the exquisite illustrations that piece the book together. The illustrations are beautifully displayed through either a one or two page spread flowing and collaborating perfectly with the text. The illustrations bring you into the story while the text informs and educates you about Casey Jones and the dreams this little boys leads. It is a text that plays off the theme of speaking to every child that has a hero and wants his/her to be just that. I believe this story does a superb job of taking you through the life of an African American sharecropper through this time period while showing the audience that dreaming of becoming something/someone else is how they got through their days. This little boy dreaming of trains is a way of showing a historical figure but ultimately who he wanted to be and exactly how he wanted to get there. Even though it is a rollercoaster of watching his dreams being flattened and then restored, “it is a story of the force that sustains the human spirit-hope” (Johnson, I dream of trains). I would recommend this book as a piece to include in a future classroom because it takes a child through how a little boy would do anything to be like his favorite hero, but it is about overcoming the many obstacles that get in your way of pursuing your dreams. I believe this is a great text to show the historical events of Mississippi sharecropper as the final pages, note about this book, gives the references of history and how African Americans had the exhausting task of picking cotton to make a life for their families. It is also through this text, to show the historical significance of those sharecroppers listening for the trademark whistle of Casey Jones which was a symbol of hope. The hope that one day they could pursue all the dreams they wished and envisioned for themselves as they worked through the cotton fields of Mississippi. Overall, this picture book not only takes you through the historical time period of what it consisted of when working on the cotton fields, but it also conveys the message of following your dreams and never settling until you have reached who you want to be.
Angela Johnson is a very extraordinary woman that has over 25 published pieces and in an interview with TeachingBooks.net that describe her writing process and the signifcance in each of her pieces of text. In making her an "insider author" she describes her pieces as, "Every book has pieces of my life" (http://www.teachingbooks.net/content/JohnsonA_qu.pdf). Through this quote, it makes I dream of trains an insider voice as she describes many of her experiences through observing and taking part in her nieces and nephews lives.
Johnson, Angela. I Dream of Trains. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003
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