This week, I read the books, Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall, Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena and Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes. All of these books really focus on diversity and the life experiences that others have. They all help to foster inclusion and have a great message of being true to who you are. For me, the biggest take away from these three books was just to be true to yourself and sometimes you need help for others in order to do that. In Red: A Crayon’s Story, Red was labeled incorrect and grew increasingly frustrated when he tried to be something he was not. It was not until someone helped him see that he was really meant to be blue that he was able to be happy with himself and love who he was. In Last Stop on Market Street, CJ always asked his nana why he does not have some of the things that other people have like a car or a device that plays music. Through the wise words of his nana, she helps him to understand and appreciate what they do have is also special and over the course of the book, she helps him to see the beauty in the things around him and be happy with what he does have. Finally, in Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship, both Rescue and Jessica were scared and worried about what was to come after they had lifechanging events happen. However, day by day as they learned and grew together, they both realized that they could be happy and came to the realization that they had rescued each other. For more information about each of these books keep reading!
Red: A Crayon’s Story
The first book that I read was Red: A Crayon’s Story. This was a really touching book about someone who was different and tried really hard to fit in with everyone else, but then eventually accepted who he truly was. The book starts out by saying that he was red, but was not very good at it, and his teacher just thought he needed more practice in how to be red; however, that did not work. His mom thought that he needed to mix with other colors, but again that did not work. Everyone had something to say about him and they all thought he was a little strange and needed to change. However, despite all their efforts, he could not change. Then, one day, he met someone knew who asked him to draw a blue ocean for their boat. Then, he was drawing all kinds of blue things and once again everyone had something to say, this time they were more accepting of him after seeing what he could truly do.
A big theme that is portrayed in this book is acceptance. However, in order to get to that acceptance, there were some obstacles to get over. Everyone tried really hard to get him to change or conform to the typical way (which was a crayon’s color should be the same as the color on their label). However, it took one other crayon who saw him for what he truly was and gave him a chance to be himself. That was when everyone saw what he was capable of and learned to accept him for being different. In Hall’s statement about the book explains how he and Red are very similar as he has dyslexia and faced some of the similar experiences that Red did growing up and in result of this he said, “Everyone tried their best to help. But almost no one could see beyond the label, and their actions only made things worse. I believe that most of the damage we do to each other is the result of ignorance rather than cruelty” (Michael Hall Studio). He later went on to explain that he hopes that classrooms can use this book to foster conversations about not judging people and being true to oneself. I think that is a very important message and theme that comes from this book that can have a meaningful impact on students.
After reading his author’s statement, I do think that Hall is an own voice insider writing this book. Although the character is a crayon and I am pretty sure Hall is not a crayon, I am considering who Red represents in relation to the other characters. Red is symbolizing someone who is mislabeled and not completely understood by those around him, which was the case for Hall. He said that he has dyslexia and that lead people around him to not really be able understand him regardless of their attempts. Therefore, the character represented in this story, is a character that he identifies with and thinks as a portrayal of himself.
One aspect of this book that really ties the whole book together are the end pages. The first end page that is connected to the cover, is red and the last end page that is connected to the back of the book is blue. This was just a unique way of symbolizing Red’s journey into the actual book itself. At first, everyone (including himself) thinks that he is red which is the color of the first end page. However, as the story progresses and he realizes his true self is actually blue, the final end page reflects this by being blue. It symbolizes his journey that is portrayed in this book.
Another thing that I really like about this the font that is used by the narrator and how it looks like pencil. This book is all about a crayon and I think that having a pencil acting as a narration for this book ties it in well and it is just a fun font to read. It is also a nice contrast to the font that is used for the characters in the book. The font used for them is more basic and plainer than the flair added to the narrator’s words. I also like how all the crayons are portrayed differently, they are all unique in how much they have been used and how beat up they are. Some are really short and have tears in their labels and then some look brand new and out of the box. It is nice to see the diverse array of colors and crayon types portrayed in this book, it is almost telling me that they all have been on different journey and have different stories to tell that are separate from Red’s.
One way to get students engaged and thinking critically about this text can be through what McLaughlin and DeVoogd call switching. In this story, Red finally sees who he truly is at the end of the text after meeting someone new and they ask him to be blue. It would be interesting to get students thinking about what would happen if Red never met that new person. Students would have to create a new story about how his life is and what he may go through along the way. Or what if Red did not have those supportive people around him that he had and instead of people trying to help him be red, they all made fun of him because he was the wrong color. Reimagine a story like that and go through Red's story where he is alone and no one even tries to help him be red. How then would the story be different?
Last Stop on Market Street
The next book that I read this week was Last Stop on Market Street written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson. This book is about a little boy named CJ and his nana and the experiences they have while riding the bus from church. CJ is a little boy who questions why he does not have some of the things that other people have. For example, while waiting on the bus stop in the rain, he asked his nana why they don’t have a car. His nana responded that they don’t need a car when they have a bus and a driver who shows him tricks. The book goes back and forth like that a lot where CJ asks a question and his nana enlightens him to the things that they do have instead that he should not take for granted. All along their journey on the bus, they meet many different people from all walks of life, all on different journeys. One person they meet was a man who was blind and had a service dog with him. Eventually they get to their soup kitchen and the author wrote, “He wondered how his nana always found beautiful where he never even thought to look.” That was really powerful and was a great way to lead into the beauty of the last few pages.
This is a compelling book that portrays a lot of diversity and helps to teach the reader to find beauty wherever they look. CJ was constantly asking why, why did they have that, why can’t that person see, why was a place so dirty? He had all these questions and his nana was able to answer them in a way that looked at the beauty in the things around them and instead of focusing on why they don’t have certain things, she focused on what they did have and explain why it was so special that they had it. This is a great example of a book that appreciates life and the unique aspects that make us all special. In his Newberry medal acceptance speech, Matt de la Peña said, “I tried to write a book featuring diverse characters in a storyline that wasn’t focused on diversity. When I finished the seventieth draft of the text, I was proud of CJ’s journey, both inside and out.” Peña did an amazing job at representing diversity and being very explicit in the words he used, and Robinson was very meticulous and seemed purposeful in the way he created the images and the uniqueness of the people being represented. This is not a book that teaches the reader about diversity. It is a book that teaches you about CJ’s journey and shows our diverse world throughout his experiences.
The images and text work beautifully together to engage the reader and get them to dig deep into the story. One of the spreads that really stood out to me can be see to the right. The words that Peña uses are a beautiful way to express the magic that people can experience through music and just slowing down to close your eyes and appreciate that in which you hear. Not only is he having an out of body experience with this music, but he is also gaining an understanding for how the man who is blind on the bus may experience life and the sounds in which he hears. CJ had asked his nana prior to this, how come that man can’t see? Her response was “’Boy, what do you know about seeing?’ Nana told him. ‘Some people watch the world with their ears.’” To me, this image is showing how his ideas of seeing are changing and becoming something new. I feel like he is understanding how to be empathetic and explore the differences between him and another person.
Another image and text combination that I think is really powerful in this book is the one seen in the image to the left. The image on the spread is showing a not very well maintained street and buildings and some of the text is saying that there are “broken-down doors, graffiti-tagged windows and boarded-up stores.” CJ describe the place a dirty and asked his nana why it was always like that and she smiled and pointed at the sky, then responded, “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt, CJ, you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.” Once you turn the page, there is a rainbow in the sky. CJ had been focused on the dirt of the place that he missed something very beautiful, which shows that when you always focus on the negative things, you never really see the positive ones. The imagery and text come together here beautifully and support one another very well. This is how it is throughout the whole book, I just pointed out a few of my favorites here.
There are many ways in which this book can be used in a classroom environment. One way that I could see to use it would be those instances where students are comparing themselves to others or complaining that their parents will not get them something. When I was student teaching in a kindergarten class and we had class meetings, there were many times that students would tell me that they had a bad weekend because their parents did not buy them something when they went to Walmart or something else similar to that. I think in those instances, this would be a great book to pull out and read to students and think about how they could relate to CJ and learn to appreciate what they do have. Another thing that I would love to do with my students in relation to this book comes from the website, “The Classroom Bookshelf” where the author, Mary Ann Cappiello writes, “Have your class volunteer at a soup kitchen. This can be an important lesson in community service for all of your students, those who may eat at soup kitchens and those who have never been to one.” At the end of this book, CJ and his nana are volunteering at a soup kitchen and I think that volunteering with a class at one could be very beneficial to them and they could learn a lot of important things through being there.
Rescue and Jessica
The last book I read this week was Rescue and Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes and illustrated by Scott Magoon. This book is breath taking. It portrays such a powerful story of a Rescue and Jessica who both need one another more than the other could even know. The book starts out explaining that Rescue was originally meant to be a Seeing Eye Dog, but his trainer thought that he would be better suited as a service dog. This scared rescue and he didn’t know how to feel. The story then goes into talking about Jessica who was a girl in the city, both of her legs were hurt, and one had to be amputated. She was also fearful of the future and did not want to let anyone down. The story flips back and forth between Jessica and Rescue and the new things they both had to learn. Until finally, they met, and the book goes through the things that they do together like how Rescue brings Jessica the things she needs and how Jessica made sure that Rescue had time to play every day. Then, Jessica finds out that her right leg had to be amputated as well and the book goes through the challenges Jessica and Rescue face after that. Finally, the book ends saying, “But the truth was, they had rescued each other.”
The authors of this book are own voice insiders. Both Kensky and Downes are amputees as a result of the Boston Marathon. This book is specifically about Kensky and Rescue her service dog. In the authors’ note in the book it says, “Though Jessica was an adult when she met Rescue, much of this story is true.” They are writing about Kensky’s experience after the Marathon and all the trials and tribulations she faced along the way. Most of what Jessica is feeling or experiencing in the story is what Kensky was experiencing in real life. That makes this story much more touching and emotional as you read it because you know that this happened to a real person and the read can feel her emotions and struggles throughout the text. Magoon, the illustrator is not an amputee himself, but he was running in the Boston Marathon the day of the bombing, so he has a shared experience with the authors and the event that lead to them becoming amputees. A video of the authors talking can be seen below:
The images in this book are very unique and powerful. Each image has hidden symbolism that takes the story even farther then what meets the eyes on the first look. Not only are they paired beautifully with the text, they take the text and expand the story that much further. One image in this text that I really love is the last spread in the book before the authors note seen below. In this image there is a lot of symbolism. The illustrator, Magoon, wrote in an article for the Nerdy Book Club that “When worn by amputees, prosthetics serve as a bridge—for Jessica they span a gap between her body and the ground. In tying the structure of the bridge to the story, it reminds me that we bridge our own shortcomings or gaps to cover divides we might not ordinarily be able to cross. In one way or another, we are all reliant on some kind of support, whether we have four legs, two legs or no legs.” From that, this bridge is showing the reader so much more than what is being said in the text and you can really think deeply about it when looking at it. Another thing that this bridge represents is that the book does not really include much about the Boston Marathon at all, it just talks about a city and the characters. In this image is where the reader gets to see a little bit of that connection to Boston specifically which ties back into the authors’ and illustrator’s personal stories. Another thing that I thought was awesome about this image was when reading “Dog Stars: Symbols in RESCUE & JESSICA A LIFE-CHANGING FRIENDSHIP” by Scott Magoon on the Nerdy Book Club’s website he says the Downes proposed to Kensky on this bridge and Magoon did not know that prior to creating this image. I thought that was just awesome seeing how the authors and illustrator were able to connect in that way and create a powerful end to the story without having talked about that prior.
There are a lot of subtle features of this book that I love. As talked about in the previous paragraph, the images carry so much meaning and have a lot of hidden features that may be overlooked on the first look. However, another thing that I love is how the thought of the characters are italicized in the text. Instead of just saying someone thought and wondered and kept it the same as the other text, they decided to italicize it. For me, this was a very powerful subtle thing they did, it allowed me to really know what the characters were feeling and made me empathize with them. It was something very simple that they did, but for me as a header had a huge impact on how I read the book and internalized what I was reading. An example of this can be seen below when Rescue found out that he was now going to be a service dog.
If you go to this link http://scottmagoon.com/rescue-jessica and scroll down a little, you will find a teacher guide for Rescue and Jessica. This resource has a lot of amazing discussion questions that relate to this book. The ones that I really loved were the ones about understanding individuals with a disability and understanding service dogs and their important role. I have had some friends who have service dogs and they tell me that it is very hard for them when they go out anywhere in public because people instantly see a dog and want to pet it. They say that it is really hard to navigate because they do not want to be mean, especially if it is a child, but at the same time their service dog is there to do a job and they get worried about what happens if they get too distracted by the people. For a while now I have told myself that I was going to teach my students the importance of not petting or distracting a service dog when they see one. This book is unbelievable because now I can still explain that to students, but I can relate back to a text that they know, and it would be more meaningful. It would also create great conversations in class because we can talk about specifically what would happen if Rescue got distracted while walking with Jessica. Another awesome idea that resource has is a section about a service dog or police dog visit. You could have them come to the class and relate it back to this book and the experience would be even more meaningful to students.
Sources:
Cappiello, M. (2015). The Classroom Bookshelf [Last Stop on Market Street]. Retrieved from http://www.theclassroombookshelf.com/2015/03/last-stop-on-market-street/
Hall, M. (2015). Red: A crayon's story. New York: HarperCollins Children's Books.
Hall, M. (n.d.). Michael Hall Studio [Author's Statement]. Retrieved from https://www.michaelhallstudio.com/pages/books/crayon/authors-statement.html
Kensky, J.,Downes, P. (2018). Rescue & jessica: A life-changing friendship. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.
Peña, M. (2016). Newbery Medal Acceptance Speech. Association for Library Service to Children.
Peña, M. (2015). Last Stop on Market Street. New York: Penguin Group
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G.L. (2004). Critical Literacy: Enhancing students' comprehension of text. New York: Scholastic.
Magoon, S. (2018). Nerdy Book Club [Dog stars: Symbols in Rescue & Jessica a life-changing friendship]. Retrieved from https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/dog-stars-symbols-in-rescue-jessica-a-life-changing-friendship-by-scott-magoon/
Magoon, S. (n.d.). Scott Magoon Pictures and Words[You rescued me, Rescue.] Retrieved from http://scottmagoon.com/rescue-jessica
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