Monday, November 2, 2009

Every day blogging...



I've decided to try a writing experiment! I know this has been done by others en masse but on my own I just want to try and blog every day through November. It's a grateful month-and I'm grateful to my blog for the joy it brings me so I am going to give it more attention. I blogged yesterday about Abigail Iris, the one and only and today I am just putting my challenge in writing.
I did read this fantastic book (Our children can soar; a celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change) over the weekend and plan to share it with 5th grade this week. This book takes us on a journey from the beginning illustration of slavery and the Civil War, George Washington Carver and ends with Barack Obama's historic campaign for the presidency. On one hand this book captures the hope and spirit of not only that campaign but our history of change (slow, yes) but through its simple statements it shows how our previous knowledge helps us understand the world around us. If one were to read the book and not know who George, Jessie, Hattie or Ella were the story would not make as great impression. It is all this background knowledge we need to get to our students before they can understand other books like A Friendship for today, Chains, The Watson's go to Birmingham, or Elijah of Buxton. This book would make a great introduction for many lessons on U.S. History but will make a perfect example of understanding schema for fifth grade students. I love it when a great book like this comes along, which makes it easy to explain a monumental point to students.

Of course, I can't really finish talking about this amazing book without mentioning the beautiful illustrations created by 13 different illustrators! They are Caldecott- worthy; simple yet meaningful.
Marian Wright Edelman writes a glowing forward to show the giant leaps this book demonstrates! She says "African American history is the collective story of many, many people who never gave up and never turned around, but instead always quietly took that next step forward in faith so their children would be able to go even farther and have better lives."
Highly Recommended 5/5 stars

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever read any books by Jhumpa Lahiri? I recently read Unaccustomed Earth by her. It is a collection of short stories. I don't usually like short stories, but these were awesomely good. I am now reading her book The Namesake which is a novel. She has another collection of short stories which won the Pulitzer Prize called Interpreter of Maladies I am going to read next. All the books are about Indian immigrants and their experience in America. Oh, and that reminds me... My daughter is reading a book about an immigrant she says is really good. It is Tracy Kidder's newest book Strength in what Remains(non-fiction) about this immigrant man who has gone through a horrible genocide trauma in his homeland and comes to NYC with 50$ and is homeless living in Central Park, but works his way up to going to an Ivy League school. I love Tracy Kidder books. Oh, and one more thing... A few days ago I read my grand-daughter a really good book from the Iowa City library called Epossumondas Plays Possum by Coleen Salley. Are you familiar with the Epossumondas books? There are others my daughter said. It is such a clever book with funny illustrations and teaches about what it means to "play possum." Elaine Peterson

Peaceful Reader said...

I do like Jhumpa Lahiri-I have read a few of her short stories. Always want to read more. I am also familiar with Epossumondas books-we have some in our library. I will have to look into Tracy Kidder-I haven't heard of her/him before.

Tina's Blog said...

Oh, you over-achiever!
Did you see that the KidlitCon is in Mpls next year? YES! We can definitely make it that far!