Blog Partner Discussion #3: Multicultural Book
http://jamaicablogpartners.blogspot.com/
Please discuss:
1. Your personal response to the book
2. Evaluate it in terms of its genre
3. ( Read Check out descriptions of genres at:
http://www.edu.uleth.ca/currlab/handouts/genres.html
4. Evaluate its literary quality
5. Evaluate its illustrations
6. Evaluate in terms of multicultural considerations including the credibility of the author and illustrator
7. Discuss for whom the book is intended and the ways in which it might be used in the classroom
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The School Is Not White - A True Story Of The Civil Rights Movement is written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Curtis James. it was Copyrighted in New York in 2005. I like the book. The story is real and rich. There is so much to learn from the tale. It is obviously an old story which was told late since it was published in 2005. Nevertheless, the morale transcends time. The illustrations speak volumes and tell the entire story. I read the pictures before actually reading and by the time I finished reading the book I was not wrong in my personal interpretations of the text. The story text can be seen in the faces of the characters, and even in the use of colours and lines.
ReplyDeleteThe themes are so profound; I could not help but feel sad about the lack of appreciation and acceptance for our individual cultures and differences in times past. It was pretty enlightening to read this true story about what used to happen (and may still be happening) in the American culture in the past. What captured me most was the family support that was portrayed – the father protected his family; the mother prayed over her children and encouraged them, giving them the courage and the motivation to persevere towards success.
The book was not a difficult read at all for me. I found the language simple and clear enough to understand. The story plot made me want to read more and taught valuable lessons. It is obviously a true story which is inspirational. It is illustrative, depicting strong emotions and evoking a particular mood and tone making it a beautiful story.What are your thoughts, Mary? How did you react to the literary quality of this genre?
Linda the book is inspiring and reflects the depth of human courage and determination. Both adults and children can relate to it. The parents had a dream / goal for their children as so the sacrificed their jobs and home to make them achieve it. There is a strong matriachial presence as she consoled and sought solutions to the pain her children bore. The father is protective as illustrated with him standing watch at the window through the night.
ReplyDeleteChildren can relate to the story which shows credibility to children's response to pain, social pressure, hurt and unkindness. They were sad yet proud and determined.At the end the pride and joy celebrated by the family when their first child graduated was heart warming. I was also moved to tears as the unkindness unfolded. The authour's tone was not accusatory tet the connect6ions to human emotions was made. to me this book qualifies as multicultural as the Afro American and Causcasian American were represented. Racial tensiosns emerged in the context of the social, historical situations of the time. There was no stereotypical biased viewpoints represented.
The major characters represent a cultural minority group whose religious belief was noted by the praying mother.Although the story was grounded in history , I find the gentle tone of the story artful so as to remove the tension of early racial problems. Linda what is your take on the plot development?
This story is multicultural and multiracial. It is a story that can be used with students in Grades 5-7. The writer and illustrator have done a good job in telling and showing the story.
ReplyDeleteThe story plot focuses on an American family, Matthew and Mae Bertha Carter with their children, who are share croppers on a cotton plantation in Mississippi in 1965. They were near to the town called Drew. Segregation was made illegal 11 years before but it still ran rampant throughout the education system and the communities. The culture of the day was to isolate the blacks, and the adults and children held true to the culture of the era. The plot was realistic and flowed smoothly. There was enough suspense to make you want to read on and find out what was to come next.
The themes of love, the importance of education, the ills of segregation, oppression, family support, determination, perseverance, among others, rang true. The story line was rich in texture motivating the reader to read on, to sympathise, to feel sadness and identify with the main characters in the story. The content was brutally honest depicting the realities of the family and the period. One could not help but feel anger towards the teacher who told the child that she smelled, nor could you help but feel the sadness, the dejection, the pain of the children. Then there was seeing things from the mother’s perspective –the writer’s tone was so smooth, so maternal that it tugged on your emotions causing you to empathise with the mother who encouraged and prayed for her children and the father who protected and scrubbed his child to prove to her that she did not smell that it was not her but the teacher’s prejudice.
The title is the first captivating part of the book. It is bold; obviously a true statement. On the front cover, there is a black boy in a white shirt front centre of a building. He seems resolute and proud with held high. The back cover has white children playing and a black girl is looking on obviously sad, lonely, rejected and isolated. There are shades that speak to the black in all of us and the white symbolically representing the good in each of us too. The message was clear that there was segregation, racism and pain which affect both genders and all ages.
Well said Linda.I will elaborate a little further on the illustrative quality of the book. There is also the threathening body language of the white students with clenched fists, stares, and they are leaning into the brother and sister who are cowering with frightened stares. The strength of the African American family in the story is depicted as they are together with the mother giving counsel. She sets her hand akimbo which adds to her strong,no-nonsense attitude and determination. It shows cultural authenticity in its historical story form. Parents are in the cottonfield, there is the racially segregated schools, and dates to mark actual events.
ReplyDeleteI find that the use of metaphors add power to the story and insight into the burden the Carter children bore for five years.The author compares the books to ' any hundred-pound sack of cotton'. this speaks to the pressure they endured in their persuit for a better education which would literally relieve them from a cotton picking future.Here he captures the difficulties faced by one group without maligning the other.
I believe this book can be used with even grade 8 students. They could be asked to give personal responses to the story. They could say what the story teach them. They could look for connections to the past in their culture. Letters could also be written in the mother's voice expressing her concern for her children at school.
Beyond the reading the students can connect to internet links which have literature on civil rights movements in the USA.There are so many ideas that this story gives.