BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freedman, Russell. CHILDREN OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION. New York, NY: Clarion Books. ISBN 0618446303
SUMMARY
A short history of the Great Depression from the first person perspective of the nation's children. "Richly illustrated with classic archival photographs by such notable photographers as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans" (jacket copy).
ANALYSIS
The combination of straightforward language, beautiful double page photo spreads, excellent source material and engaging first person accounts of life in Great Depression America make CHILDREN OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION a wonderful non-fiction book. Freedman doesn't talk down to his readers or underestimate their interest and intelligence. Most students will respond to the heartbreaking emotion in some of the pictures, such as "Unemployed youth" on page 9. And students who do not respond on an emotional level will be interested by the details of daily living that Freedman includes, such as the "Depression shopping list" and the chart of average annual earnings during the Depression (11). Students may be astonished that a used car could be purchased for $57.50.
Freedman covers the Great Depression from the perspective of many different segments of American society in eight chapters. The stories in "Kids at Work," and "In and Out of School" may really bring home the realities of being a child in that time period to children today. A teacher might ask them if they can imagine a time when they would have been heartbroken if they couldn't go to school. Freedman takes pains to examine how the Depression impacted children from many different ethnic and economic backgrounds. African American families were the hardest hit, as "black workers of any age were always 'the last hired and the first fired'" (49). The chapter "Okie, Go Home!" was very sad, but it can be good for students to see an unglossed version of our national history. Americans are not always happy to see immigrants, even immigrants from the Dust Bowl.
Freedman makes clear that most of life for many children in the Great Depression was endless work and hunger, but I also appreciated the inclusion of some other aspects of life. Students may relate to Depression era kids enjoying the Saturday serial with its cliffhanger, as well as the early Disney movies and The Wizard of Oz. Students might also be interested to learn the origins of the games marbles and jacks- games that "could be played anywhere without spending much money" (90). Throughout the book, Freedman includes letters sent to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt from American children. It is clear that the nation, and especially the nation's children, looked on the Roosevelts as combined saviors and celebrities, and this personal correspondence brings home the daily struggles of the kids of the Depression in a heartbreaking way.
Freedman ends the book on an optimistic note, with "A Brighter Tomorrow," a chapter that highlights The Golden Gate International Exhibition and the New York World's Fair. These fairs both suggested that "American ingenuity would always triumph over hard times," and yet Freedman notes that in 1939, the Depression was not yet over (96). This chapter presents some of the changes that President Roosevelt made in the government of the country; banking regulation, Social Security, unemployment compensation, and laws regulating the financial markets. Freedman also notes that although Roosevelt was a controversial figure, he "gave people hope" (100). The true end of the Great Depression came with the beginning of "a different kind of crisis," the outbreak of World War II, which necessitated massive government spending and put every employable person to work (101). The children of the Great Depression went on to fight the battle of WWII, and then to come home and "build the strongest economy the United States had ever known" (101).
REVIEWS
"Few authors are as well suited as Freedman to present a clear and understandable outline of this period. His prose is straightforward and easily comprehensible, making sense of even the complexities of the stock-market crash. The use of primary sources is outstanding. This is a book told by chorus, featuring the voices of those who endured the Depression, and is embellished with black-and-white photos by such luminaries as Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, and Russell Lee. " SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
""It's my sister's turn to eat," a hungry child tells her teacher. Quotes like that one bring home what it was like to be young and poor in Depression America. This stirring photo-essay combines such unforgettable personal details with a clear historical overview of the period and black-and-white photos by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and many others. As Freedman says, these images "convey in human terms the true meaning of economic statistics." His signature plainspoken prose does that, too, on every spacious, double-page spread, whether he is focusing on differences of race and class or on child sharecroppers, factory workers, migrant farm laborers, or boxcar kids." BOOKLIST
CONNECTIONS
This text would be a wonderful supplement to a unit on American history and the period of the Great Depression. It would be an interesting contrast to a unit on the opulence and extravagant lifestyles of the 1920s barons of industry. Students who may not take in the complicated causes of the financial crash will still engage with the personal stories and photographs of the children of the time. Since Freedman's book is compiled largely from oral histories, an interesting project for students would be to interview their own older relatives or family friends who were children during that time, or who remember the stories from their parents. Students could write a brief report of their experiences and share it with the class, or, they might make a recording to play for the class, and include any family pictures or ephemera from the time period.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
A Suitcase of Seaweed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wong, Janet S. 1996. A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED: and other poems. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0689807880
SUMMARY
"A collection of poems that reflect the experiences of Asian Americans, particularly their family relationships." COPYRIGHT PAGE
ANALYSIS
This collection of poems is divided into three sections, reflecting Wong's background in three nationalities. At the beginning of each section, Wong includes a quick pen and ink sketch representative of the poems in that section. She opens the book with a drawing of food, a bowl of noodles, and poem imagining her father meeting her mother in Korea. Also at the beginning of each section, Wong shares a series of short imagery rich impressions giving a brief snippet of family history and the country of origin for each of her parents.
I like that she opens the book with Korean Poems. It feels fitting to start with her mother, and her mother's family, since a child will first identify most strongly with her mother. As a result, these poems deal mostly with maternal themes. The majority are about food; food that her mother cooks, or withholds from a guest. Food that the author has learned to cook, eat and enjoy because of her mother. The poem that gives the book its name, "A Suitcase of Seaweed" is in this section, and tells the story of the poet's grandmother coming from Korea, bringing her suitcase,
"sealed shut
with tape,
packed full
of sheets
of shiny black
seaweed..." (7)
The language throughout the book is full of sharp thoughful imagery. The poems have rhythm and pacing that makes them tempting to read aloud. Students will enjoy the rhyming poems with their various rythmic rhyme schemes, but the free verse poems also have a clear flow, and the language and word choice will pull a reader through the poem, waiting for tension to be resolved at the end, to find out the next clue of insight to Wong's story.
The next section, "Chinese Poems," concentrates at first on the character and influence of Wong's Chinese grandfather. His voice and personality come alive in just a few poems. In this section Wong also begins to deal with issues of appetite and weight. In "Shrimp," she speak so being "ashamed of my appetite," forcing her eyes away from the food left on the plate. (21)
Wong begins the last section, "American Poems," with an ink drawing of a face, half Asian and half Caucasian, titled "half and half." These poems deal with Wong's struggle to define her identity. As a young woman she deals with typical adolescent issues such as friendships, trends, and a growing distance from idlyllic childhood, while also also seeking to balance her family's expectations with the person she wants to become. Wong ends the deeply family focused collection with "Quilt" a poem reaffirming the strength of her family.
REVIEWS
"Wong was born in America of Chinese and Korean heritage, but the basic subjects she addresses in neat stanzas of free verse aim at the heart of any family, any race." SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
"Neat, well-turned poems, monologues, and aphorisms . . . The imagery is choice, the thoughts pointed and careful, the vocabulary attractive: In many of the pieces comedy and delicacy mingle in a single line." KIRKUS
CONNECTIONS
This book is more appropriate as a whole in the classroom at a later level, perhaps the end of middle school or early high school. It might draw readers of younger ages with a few selections of the free verse in a poetry unit. The themes of not fitting in and alienation are universal for adolescents, whether their family emmigrated recently or not. This might be too sensitive a topic for open classroom discussion, but students could write short essays on themes or lines from the poems that spoke to them personally. The collection of poems is also a memoir in a way, and students could use it in a unit on American history and the "melting pot" of diverse cultures and peoples who emmigrated here and made this country what it is. Students could be encouraged to share their own family history, and tell about their country of origin.
Wong, Janet S. 1996. A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED: and other poems. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0689807880
SUMMARY
"A collection of poems that reflect the experiences of Asian Americans, particularly their family relationships." COPYRIGHT PAGE
ANALYSIS
This collection of poems is divided into three sections, reflecting Wong's background in three nationalities. At the beginning of each section, Wong includes a quick pen and ink sketch representative of the poems in that section. She opens the book with a drawing of food, a bowl of noodles, and poem imagining her father meeting her mother in Korea. Also at the beginning of each section, Wong shares a series of short imagery rich impressions giving a brief snippet of family history and the country of origin for each of her parents.
I like that she opens the book with Korean Poems. It feels fitting to start with her mother, and her mother's family, since a child will first identify most strongly with her mother. As a result, these poems deal mostly with maternal themes. The majority are about food; food that her mother cooks, or withholds from a guest. Food that the author has learned to cook, eat and enjoy because of her mother. The poem that gives the book its name, "A Suitcase of Seaweed" is in this section, and tells the story of the poet's grandmother coming from Korea, bringing her suitcase,
"sealed shut
with tape,
packed full
of sheets
of shiny black
seaweed..." (7)
The language throughout the book is full of sharp thoughful imagery. The poems have rhythm and pacing that makes them tempting to read aloud. Students will enjoy the rhyming poems with their various rythmic rhyme schemes, but the free verse poems also have a clear flow, and the language and word choice will pull a reader through the poem, waiting for tension to be resolved at the end, to find out the next clue of insight to Wong's story.
The next section, "Chinese Poems," concentrates at first on the character and influence of Wong's Chinese grandfather. His voice and personality come alive in just a few poems. In this section Wong also begins to deal with issues of appetite and weight. In "Shrimp," she speak so being "ashamed of my appetite," forcing her eyes away from the food left on the plate. (21)
Wong begins the last section, "American Poems," with an ink drawing of a face, half Asian and half Caucasian, titled "half and half." These poems deal with Wong's struggle to define her identity. As a young woman she deals with typical adolescent issues such as friendships, trends, and a growing distance from idlyllic childhood, while also also seeking to balance her family's expectations with the person she wants to become. Wong ends the deeply family focused collection with "Quilt" a poem reaffirming the strength of her family.
REVIEWS
"Wong was born in America of Chinese and Korean heritage, but the basic subjects she addresses in neat stanzas of free verse aim at the heart of any family, any race." SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
"Neat, well-turned poems, monologues, and aphorisms . . . The imagery is choice, the thoughts pointed and careful, the vocabulary attractive: In many of the pieces comedy and delicacy mingle in a single line." KIRKUS
CONNECTIONS
This book is more appropriate as a whole in the classroom at a later level, perhaps the end of middle school or early high school. It might draw readers of younger ages with a few selections of the free verse in a poetry unit. The themes of not fitting in and alienation are universal for adolescents, whether their family emmigrated recently or not. This might be too sensitive a topic for open classroom discussion, but students could write short essays on themes or lines from the poems that spoke to them personally. The collection of poems is also a memoir in a way, and students could use it in a unit on American history and the "melting pot" of diverse cultures and peoples who emmigrated here and made this country what it is. Students could be encouraged to share their own family history, and tell about their country of origin.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Out of the Dust
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hesse, Karen. 1997. OUT OF THE DUST. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0590371258
SUMMARY
"In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression." (Copyright page)
ANALYSIS
I found this book deeply moving, and I think Hesse has a wonderful strong voice in her free verse storytelling. I respect the difficult life of the people, and especially the young people, who lived through the Depression in the Dust Bowl, but the unrelenting string of unbearable tragedy Billie Jo's character is forced to live through is pretty grim. It speaks to Hesse's talent through her imagery and outstanding word choice she makes Billie Jo's grim reality so vivid to the reader, but the pervasive misery of Billie Jo's life is also a weakness for the work. After slogging through so many pages of pain, heartbreak and disappointment, I wanted to see come payoff for the main characters. It was deeply rewarding to see Billie Jo and her father begin to reconnect and heal their relationship, and to see Billie Jo begin to emerge from her grief and reconnect with her mother, and all the dreams she represented, by beginning to play the piano again.
However, I would have appreaciated a few more moments of simple childhood joy, such as "Something Sweet from Moonshine" when the kids get "Apple pandowdy" from the confiscated sugar.(126) I recognize that this is a terrible time in American History, but kids are still kids, even in ghettos and concentration camps, children find joy. I thought the near total lack of joy in Billie Jo's life was unrealistic. At other points in the story, Billie Jo describes the expectation of good things to come; apples, rain, wheat, the baby... But these poems seem to exist solely to set the reader up to share in Billie Jo's greif. The way Hesse did this throughout the story reminded me of the way some maudlin directors will zoom in on a puppy, or an old person early in a movie, with a swell of foreshadowing music, in order to signify to the audience that this character is not long for this world. It was frustrating, but the power of the poems was not lessened by this techniques.
I saw some reviews complaining that readers had a hard time connecting to any character beyond Bilie Jo. I thought Hesse's total commitment to Billie Jo's point of view was one of the strongest aspects of the work. Billie Jo's poignant insights into the people are her made each character come alive. And I saw the character's change throughout the story, both in their own merit and through Billie Jo's eyes, through her changing and maturing understanding. The character of her father in particular was very real and sharp.
REVIEWS
"This intimate novel, written in stanza form, poetically conveys the heat, dust and wind of Oklahoma. With each meticulously arranged entry Hesse paints a vivid picture of her heroine's emotions." PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
"Told in free-verse poetry of dated entries that span the winter of 1934 to the winter of 1935, this is an unremittingly bleak portrait of one corner of Depression-era life. In Billie Jo, the only character who comes to life, Hesse (The Music of Dolphins, 1996, etc.) presents a hale and determined heroine who confronts unrelenting misery and begins to transcend it. The poem/novel ends with only a trace of hope; there are no pat endings, but a glimpse of beauty wrought from brutal reality." KIRKUS REVIEWS
CONNECTIONS
This book is a wonderful example of storytelling in free verse poetry format, but it definitely stands alone, and would not need to be incorporated into a unit on poetry to be an engaging part of a classroom curriculum. It would work as an American History/Language Arts crossover, with other first person historical fiction of different literary styles representing different time periods.
Hesse, Karen. 1997. OUT OF THE DUST. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0590371258
SUMMARY
"In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression." (Copyright page)
ANALYSIS
I found this book deeply moving, and I think Hesse has a wonderful strong voice in her free verse storytelling. I respect the difficult life of the people, and especially the young people, who lived through the Depression in the Dust Bowl, but the unrelenting string of unbearable tragedy Billie Jo's character is forced to live through is pretty grim. It speaks to Hesse's talent through her imagery and outstanding word choice she makes Billie Jo's grim reality so vivid to the reader, but the pervasive misery of Billie Jo's life is also a weakness for the work. After slogging through so many pages of pain, heartbreak and disappointment, I wanted to see come payoff for the main characters. It was deeply rewarding to see Billie Jo and her father begin to reconnect and heal their relationship, and to see Billie Jo begin to emerge from her grief and reconnect with her mother, and all the dreams she represented, by beginning to play the piano again.
However, I would have appreaciated a few more moments of simple childhood joy, such as "Something Sweet from Moonshine" when the kids get "Apple pandowdy" from the confiscated sugar.(126) I recognize that this is a terrible time in American History, but kids are still kids, even in ghettos and concentration camps, children find joy. I thought the near total lack of joy in Billie Jo's life was unrealistic. At other points in the story, Billie Jo describes the expectation of good things to come; apples, rain, wheat, the baby... But these poems seem to exist solely to set the reader up to share in Billie Jo's greif. The way Hesse did this throughout the story reminded me of the way some maudlin directors will zoom in on a puppy, or an old person early in a movie, with a swell of foreshadowing music, in order to signify to the audience that this character is not long for this world. It was frustrating, but the power of the poems was not lessened by this techniques.
I saw some reviews complaining that readers had a hard time connecting to any character beyond Bilie Jo. I thought Hesse's total commitment to Billie Jo's point of view was one of the strongest aspects of the work. Billie Jo's poignant insights into the people are her made each character come alive. And I saw the character's change throughout the story, both in their own merit and through Billie Jo's eyes, through her changing and maturing understanding. The character of her father in particular was very real and sharp.
REVIEWS
"This intimate novel, written in stanza form, poetically conveys the heat, dust and wind of Oklahoma. With each meticulously arranged entry Hesse paints a vivid picture of her heroine's emotions." PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
"Told in free-verse poetry of dated entries that span the winter of 1934 to the winter of 1935, this is an unremittingly bleak portrait of one corner of Depression-era life. In Billie Jo, the only character who comes to life, Hesse (The Music of Dolphins, 1996, etc.) presents a hale and determined heroine who confronts unrelenting misery and begins to transcend it. The poem/novel ends with only a trace of hope; there are no pat endings, but a glimpse of beauty wrought from brutal reality." KIRKUS REVIEWS
CONNECTIONS
This book is a wonderful example of storytelling in free verse poetry format, but it definitely stands alone, and would not need to be incorporated into a unit on poetry to be an engaging part of a classroom curriculum. It would work as an American History/Language Arts crossover, with other first person historical fiction of different literary styles representing different time periods.
IF NOT FOR THE CAT
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prelutsky, Jack. IF NOT FOR THE CAT. Illustrated by Ted Rand. New York, NY: Harper Collins. ISBN 0060596783.
SUMMARY
"Haiku describes a variety of animals" CIP.
ANALYSIS
I found this book completely charming, from Prelutsky's perfectly chosen words to Rand's precise and yet whimsical illustrations. Everything in the book seemed carefully thought out and designed to delight young readers. The book flows along quietly from riddle to riddle, the text of each poem bright and clear against the ink and watercolor illustrations. Prelutsky's teasing haikus are in each animal's point of view, and the poems are not just lists of the distinctive features or actions of the animal described. Prelutsky seems to try to truly speak from the perspective of the poem's subject, such as in the ant haiku:
"We are we are we
Are we are we are we are
Many in our hill."
He could have mentioned that ants are tiny, that they bite, that live in tunnels underground- many things make them more immediately identifiable. But a thoughtful student might understand that ants (if they think) probably don't think of themselves as tiny. They might think of themselves as legion. Prelutsky's word choices throughout the book are thoughtful and beautiful. The description on page 9, "sing with my wings" is a wonderful example figurative language. Children can see the flashing wings and hear the hum of the hummingbird. And on page 11, "undulate" and "gelatinously" might send young readers to the dictionary, in order to solve the riddle. The poetry is not dumbed down, and the language reflects the author's respect for his audience.
I also loved Rand's illustrations. On the metrics page the art is described as "a mix of sumi brush drawings in India ink, traditional watercolors, chalk, spatter, and printmaking techniques." The watercolor and ink elements are the obvious media throughout the work, but I see creative use of spatter techiniques on page 23, as ground cover for the rattlesnake, as well as swirling around the parrot, creating a sense of giddy movement, on page 25. Each technique blends seamlessly into the whole of the finished double page spread. Each animal is truly artwork.
In addition, the illustrations match the slow and peaceful progression of the haikus perfectly, and yet each double page spread is also full of detailed drama and action. The opening spread features a precisely drawn mouse in ink and watercolor, crouched on the inside edge of his shadowed hole, with the backlit snout and whiskers of a cat peaking in. Rand's subtle and controlled drawings bring tension that matches the tension of the 5-7-5 balance of the haikus.
REVIEWS
"Prelutsky shows his command of word choice through a minimalist form that is perfectly matched by Rand's control of his mixed-media artwork to create a wonderful celebration of the art of haiku. This book, like George Shannon's Spring (Greenwillow, 1996) and Dawnine Spivak's Grass Sandals (Atheneum, 1997), shows the continuity and vitality of this ancient poetic form." SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
"Quiet in tone and, like traditional haiku, taking inspiration from the natural world, these 17 poems express the points of view of individual animals, from mouse to moth, from skunk to crow. Each turn of the page brings a new verse, illustrated with a variety of media but primarily brushed ink and watercolors. The wide, double-page spreads offer plenty of space for illustrations, but Rand approaches the compositions with admirable subtlety and restraint in the use of color and detail, and he creates a series of dramatic scenes." BOOKLIST
CONNECTIONS
IF NOT FOR THE CAT works well as part of a poetry unit, as an example of the haiku form, or riddle poems. A fun way to involve the students during reading would be to have them guess each animal before showing the illustration. Students could participate by creating their own haikus. Traditionally these are poems about the natural world, but students could expand this and write 5-7-5 poems about any appealing or interesting things in their lives. Additionally, students could write riddle poems and have the rest of the class guess what animal or thing they're describing.
Prelutsky, Jack. IF NOT FOR THE CAT. Illustrated by Ted Rand. New York, NY: Harper Collins. ISBN 0060596783.
SUMMARY
"Haiku describes a variety of animals" CIP.
ANALYSIS
I found this book completely charming, from Prelutsky's perfectly chosen words to Rand's precise and yet whimsical illustrations. Everything in the book seemed carefully thought out and designed to delight young readers. The book flows along quietly from riddle to riddle, the text of each poem bright and clear against the ink and watercolor illustrations. Prelutsky's teasing haikus are in each animal's point of view, and the poems are not just lists of the distinctive features or actions of the animal described. Prelutsky seems to try to truly speak from the perspective of the poem's subject, such as in the ant haiku:
"We are we are we
Are we are we are we are
Many in our hill."
He could have mentioned that ants are tiny, that they bite, that live in tunnels underground- many things make them more immediately identifiable. But a thoughtful student might understand that ants (if they think) probably don't think of themselves as tiny. They might think of themselves as legion. Prelutsky's word choices throughout the book are thoughtful and beautiful. The description on page 9, "sing with my wings" is a wonderful example figurative language. Children can see the flashing wings and hear the hum of the hummingbird. And on page 11, "undulate" and "gelatinously" might send young readers to the dictionary, in order to solve the riddle. The poetry is not dumbed down, and the language reflects the author's respect for his audience.
I also loved Rand's illustrations. On the metrics page the art is described as "a mix of sumi brush drawings in India ink, traditional watercolors, chalk, spatter, and printmaking techniques." The watercolor and ink elements are the obvious media throughout the work, but I see creative use of spatter techiniques on page 23, as ground cover for the rattlesnake, as well as swirling around the parrot, creating a sense of giddy movement, on page 25. Each technique blends seamlessly into the whole of the finished double page spread. Each animal is truly artwork.
In addition, the illustrations match the slow and peaceful progression of the haikus perfectly, and yet each double page spread is also full of detailed drama and action. The opening spread features a precisely drawn mouse in ink and watercolor, crouched on the inside edge of his shadowed hole, with the backlit snout and whiskers of a cat peaking in. Rand's subtle and controlled drawings bring tension that matches the tension of the 5-7-5 balance of the haikus.
REVIEWS
"Prelutsky shows his command of word choice through a minimalist form that is perfectly matched by Rand's control of his mixed-media artwork to create a wonderful celebration of the art of haiku. This book, like George Shannon's Spring (Greenwillow, 1996) and Dawnine Spivak's Grass Sandals (Atheneum, 1997), shows the continuity and vitality of this ancient poetic form." SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
"Quiet in tone and, like traditional haiku, taking inspiration from the natural world, these 17 poems express the points of view of individual animals, from mouse to moth, from skunk to crow. Each turn of the page brings a new verse, illustrated with a variety of media but primarily brushed ink and watercolors. The wide, double-page spreads offer plenty of space for illustrations, but Rand approaches the compositions with admirable subtlety and restraint in the use of color and detail, and he creates a series of dramatic scenes." BOOKLIST
CONNECTIONS
IF NOT FOR THE CAT works well as part of a poetry unit, as an example of the haiku form, or riddle poems. A fun way to involve the students during reading would be to have them guess each animal before showing the illustration. Students could participate by creating their own haikus. Traditionally these are poems about the natural world, but students could expand this and write 5-7-5 poems about any appealing or interesting things in their lives. Additionally, students could write riddle poems and have the rest of the class guess what animal or thing they're describing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)