This week, I read a couple different books, I read the book, The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, Emmanuel's Dream by Laurie Ann Thompson, and Book Uncle and Me by Uma Krishnaswami.
Below are the different read alouds for the picture books that I read for this week.
The Paper Bag Princess is about a girl who a princess who is a strong character and she goes after what she wants in the book. She does not wait around for someone to come and save her. Matter of fact, she is the one that does the saving. She uses her wits and creativity to defeat the dragon and safe the prince who in turn is very ungrateful for her and the amount of trouble she went through to save him.
Emmanuel's Dream is about a boy named Emmanuel who is born unable to use his right foot. In his culture, disabilities are looked at as a bad thing, much like a curse, so people treated him very poorly. However, that did not stop him from rising above all the negativity and prospering and becoming very popular with people for riding his bike. He road almost four hundred miles in just ten days with only one leg able to peddle the bike. A story that truly shows that just because you have a disability does not mean you are unable.
One Plastic Bag is a story about a woman named Isatou who was walking through town and started to realize how much plastic was just being thrown on the ground. At first she just ignored it and walked by without too much thought; however, after a while the plastic started to affect her and her family. She got this idea to turn the plastic bags into yarn and crochet them into bags. This got a lot of push back from the other people living in the town, but she did not mind, she was determined to clean up the land around her house and make it so there was no more trash there and it was beautiful again.
Some problem posing questions and potential answers that I came up with for One Plastic Bag are:
Who is doing the talking in this book? What voice is missing?
This book is told from an outside narrator focusing on Isatou and her motives. The narrator is doing the talking, but they are talking for Isatou and are showing her thoughts and feelings throughout the book. One voice that I feel like that was missing in this were of the people who thought that what they were doing was wrong, I would have liked to see some dialogue from them about their thoughts and reasoning.
Are people with diverse or creative ideas thought of as strange or are they admired in this text?
Yes, Isatou got a lot of push back from the rest of the town from what she was doing. She had some people on board and willing to help her; however, there were far more who disapproved of what they were doing and Isatou and the people she was working with were thought of as strange and “dirty” for what they were trying to do.
What are the intentions of this author?
I think that the intentions of this author was to bring light to a situation that we are facing in our world today with is pollution and people leaving increasingly using plastic, yet not being able to recycle it. I think that the author was also trying to show that we need to get creative at solving problems and not be afraid to take chances regardless of what others think. Another thing that I thought they were trying to get across is that it all starts with one person, one person can make a difference.
What action could I take or initiate now that I understand this text in a different way?
I could take action by informing others in my community and showing them this book about how anyone can make a change and a difference to help our planet. I could also start a recycling club at my school where we think of unique ways to recycle different objects at the school and we could get the teachers involved to.
In addition to these books shown above, I also read the book, Book Uncle and Me. That book is about a girl named Yasmin who frequently visits Book Uncle who lends her books to read. Yasmin has a goal to read one book everyday, which is a pretty impressive goal. However, Book Uncle received a letter from the mayor saying that he needs a permit in order to keep up with his library or else he is breaking the law by setting up his library. Getting a permit is very expensive and Book Uncle can't afford to get one, so the only thing he can do is close up his library and not open it again. This made Yasmin really upset because she went to see Book Uncle almost everyday. So, she decided that she had to do something and decided that the best thing to do was to get her classmates to write letters to the people running to be mayor in the upcoming election and see if they will help them to get Book Uncle's lending library back up and running. It took some time and a lot of campaigning and talking to people, but there were eventually get Book Uncle's lending library set back up and it was even better than it was before. This is a powerful story about how one girl was able to create a lot of change in her town and was able to fight for something she believed in.
In all of these books, the characters all work hard for something they are passionate about. They do not show any care about what people may think of these or show fear for the push back they may receive from others. They all just go for it and do not let anything stop them. They get an idea in their head and they see it through until it is their reality. These are all very powerful and dynamic books to include in a classroom to show students that they should work hard towards things that they are passionate about and not let anyone stand in their way. These books also show the impact that children can have in society and that they may have more power than they think that they do. I have observed through my time in the field that students often either don't believe in themselves or have been told that they cannot do something because they are a child and therefor have no power. However, these books show otherwise. Using these books in a class, paired with a service project that students help to create can lead to really powerful learning and engagement from our students.
Here are some other resources that would be great to show students or to aid in your teaching:
Sources
Krishnaswami, U. (2016). Book uncle and me. Canada: Groundwood Books.
Munsch, R. (1980). The paper bag princess. Buffalo, NY: Annick Press Ltd.
Paul, M. (2015). One plastic bag: Isatou ceesay and the recycling women of the gambia. Millbrook Press.
Thompson, L. A. (2015). Emmanuel's dream: The true story of emmanuel ofosu yeboah. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.
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