BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Millman, Isaac. 2000. Moses goes to school. Frances Foster Books: New York. ISBN 0374350698
PLOT SUMMARY:
Moses is a young boy who attends a special needs school for deaf elementary students in New York City. His school day from beginning to end is told in written English and in ASL (American Sign Language) using text and pictures. His day includes playing with friends, reading, writing and using the computer in class.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
One assignment in class is to write to their pen pals. The author notes how ASL is different from English in the translation from sign language to written English. The text includes Moses letter written in ASL “Dear Mark, I’m Moses and spot is my dog. I’m Happy. Because play with dog. I’m love dog…. and the translated copy of written English typed into a computer. “Dear Mark, I’m Moses and Spot is my dog. I’m happy because I can play with my dog….”
The bright, vibrant and colorful illustrations show a variety of children typical of any mixed culture classroom. One of Moses friends and his teacher have hearing aids. Moses and his classmates are illustrated posed in various ASL signs including the entire song of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at the end of the story. This text includes an author’s note at the beginning of the story to explain and introduce the story and gives insight into his research for the story. He also indicates that the letter and drawing of a dog used for Moses’ assignment was an actual letter and drawing from an actual student at New York’s J.H.S.’s School for the Deaf. Authenticity is evident by the author’s note and attention to details.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from BOOKLIST: “As in Moses Goes to a Concert (1998), this joyful picture book tells a story in written English and also in American Sign Language (ASL). This time the focus is directly on how deaf children learn at their special public school--in the classroom, on the playground, and on the school bus. The warm line-and-watercolor illustrations show the diversity of Moses' city classroom, the fun the children have together, and the special way they learn. There are small diagrams of Moses signing simple sentences on almost every page. Millman explains in an introductory note that ASL has its own handshapes, movements, and facial expressions, as well as its own grammar and syntax. Moses types a letter on the computer and learns to translate it into spoken English. The teacher plays "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" on his boom box; the children can feel the vibrations and they sign the words to the song. A must for deaf children, this will also interest hearing kids and adults who want to learn about ASL.”
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Moses, who debuted in Moses Goes to a Concert (Farrar, 1998), is back. Here, he and his classmates, all of whom are deaf or hard of hearing, head back to their special school after summer break. The text explains that in addition to standard curriculum, these children first learn American Sign Language and then learn to read and write spoken English. Computer technology plays an important role in this class, as does music. Just as in the first book, this story reminds readers that even though these children may not be able to hear in the traditional sense, their appreciation of music and song is very enthusiastic. Child-friendly cartoon illustrations do a marvelous job of emphasizing the normalcy and charm of these youngsters. The variety of ethnicities and nationalities represented again emphasizes that, special-needs children come from all cultures. The double-page layouts nicely accommodate the primary pictorial action along with written text and ASL inserts featuring Moses signing a particular sequence from the story. An author's note and directions on how to interpret the child's signing are also included. This is another great contribution to children's education about disabilities that also succeeds as effective storytelling in its own right.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
*Use as an introduction to cultures, languages and the first day of school.
*Practice and perform the ASL version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
Friday, November 28, 2008
The House You Pass On The Way
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Woodson, Jacqueline. 1997. The house you pass on the way. Delacorte Press: New York. ISBN 0385321899
PLOT SUMMARY:
Fourteen year old Stagerlee, is the daughter of the only biracial family in town. Her mother is white and Stagerlee’s family is shunned for it, by the town and her father’s family. Her family lives in a house outside of town that used to belong to her famous grandparents. Stagerlee loves their self imposed isolation and their homes location. After kissing a girl, she has relationship and sexual identity issues. When a girl cousin, nicknamed Trout, visits from out of town, Stagerlee thinks she has found a soul mate with whom to discuss her innermost thoughts.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
The biracial family and focus on the mother is mentioned early in the text with “Her father had married a white woman. … The only mixed race family in Sweet Gum, maybe in all of Calmuth County.” When people asked Stagerlee “how it felt to be black and white; she shrugged and answered “fine”. The only mention of Stagerlee being gay is the kiss she shared with a classmate in the sixth grade and her affection for her girl cousin who comes to visit for the summer. There is no explicit sexual language or offensive wording in the text. In a conversation with her cousin, Stagerlee mentions she hopes there is “…someone else like me somewhere in the world.”
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “A newfound confidante and a breath of common sense clears away a teenager's guilt and dismay over her dawning sexual preference in this thoughtful, deceptively low-key story from Woodson (From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, 1995, etc.). The middle child in the county's only mixed-race family, Evangeline defiantly changed her name years ago to Staggerlee, … Along comes Trout, another self-named teenager, from a branch of the family that had cut off her parents after their marriage. The attraction is quick, strong, and mutual; Trout's visit may be a short one, but it's long enough for each to open up, find the courage to say the word gay--and to remember that they're only 14, too young to close off options. Woodson takes readers another step down the road when Trout later writes to admit that she's gone head over heels for a guy, and Staggerlee, though feeling betrayed, realizes that she and Trout are both growing and going their own ways. A provocative topic, treated with wisdom and sensitivity, with a strong secondary thread exploring some of the inner and outer effects of biracialism.”
Review from BOOKLIST: “Woodson takes the gay identity story far beyond the simplistic problem novel and connects it with every outsider's coming-of-age. Staggerlee is happy in her interracial family, but she is a loner at school and in her African American community, and she longs for a friend. Somehow she knows not to talk about the kiss she shared with a girl in her class. … What many teens will relate to is the uncertainty, the sense that Staggerlee doesn't know who she is becoming and where her journey will take her.”
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “In this understated story set in a small, mostly African-American community in the South, Staggerlee Canan is shunned by her peers because her mother is white. This is not the sole cause of her isolation, however. She has a secret. In sixth grade, she had kissed another girl. Rejected by that friend, Staggerlee has no one to talk to about her sexual feelings until her adopted cousin, Trout, visits for the summer when both girls are 14. Both wonder if they are gay, but sexual identity is really only one of the things that troubles them. Their platonic intimacy is the intense kind shared by friends who see themselves as different from the crowd. Asked by Trout to say whether she's black or white, Staggerlee replies, "I'm me. That's all." That they seem to be taking different paths in the end adds to the story's poignancy. This richly layered novel will be appreciated for its affecting look at the anxious wonderings of presexual teens, its portrait of a complex interracial family, and its snapshot of the emotionally wrenching but inarticulate adolescent search for self. It's notable both for its quality and for the out-of-the-way places it goes.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
*Have high school students choose and perform a piece for Readers Theatre.
*Create a diorama of Stagerlee’s life in “The House You Pass on the Way”.
*Conduct an author study of Jacqueline Woodson.
Woodson, Jacqueline. 1997. The house you pass on the way. Delacorte Press: New York. ISBN 0385321899
PLOT SUMMARY:
Fourteen year old Stagerlee, is the daughter of the only biracial family in town. Her mother is white and Stagerlee’s family is shunned for it, by the town and her father’s family. Her family lives in a house outside of town that used to belong to her famous grandparents. Stagerlee loves their self imposed isolation and their homes location. After kissing a girl, she has relationship and sexual identity issues. When a girl cousin, nicknamed Trout, visits from out of town, Stagerlee thinks she has found a soul mate with whom to discuss her innermost thoughts.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
The biracial family and focus on the mother is mentioned early in the text with “Her father had married a white woman. … The only mixed race family in Sweet Gum, maybe in all of Calmuth County.” When people asked Stagerlee “how it felt to be black and white; she shrugged and answered “fine”. The only mention of Stagerlee being gay is the kiss she shared with a classmate in the sixth grade and her affection for her girl cousin who comes to visit for the summer. There is no explicit sexual language or offensive wording in the text. In a conversation with her cousin, Stagerlee mentions she hopes there is “…someone else like me somewhere in the world.”
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “A newfound confidante and a breath of common sense clears away a teenager's guilt and dismay over her dawning sexual preference in this thoughtful, deceptively low-key story from Woodson (From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, 1995, etc.). The middle child in the county's only mixed-race family, Evangeline defiantly changed her name years ago to Staggerlee, … Along comes Trout, another self-named teenager, from a branch of the family that had cut off her parents after their marriage. The attraction is quick, strong, and mutual; Trout's visit may be a short one, but it's long enough for each to open up, find the courage to say the word gay--and to remember that they're only 14, too young to close off options. Woodson takes readers another step down the road when Trout later writes to admit that she's gone head over heels for a guy, and Staggerlee, though feeling betrayed, realizes that she and Trout are both growing and going their own ways. A provocative topic, treated with wisdom and sensitivity, with a strong secondary thread exploring some of the inner and outer effects of biracialism.”
Review from BOOKLIST: “Woodson takes the gay identity story far beyond the simplistic problem novel and connects it with every outsider's coming-of-age. Staggerlee is happy in her interracial family, but she is a loner at school and in her African American community, and she longs for a friend. Somehow she knows not to talk about the kiss she shared with a girl in her class. … What many teens will relate to is the uncertainty, the sense that Staggerlee doesn't know who she is becoming and where her journey will take her.”
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “In this understated story set in a small, mostly African-American community in the South, Staggerlee Canan is shunned by her peers because her mother is white. This is not the sole cause of her isolation, however. She has a secret. In sixth grade, she had kissed another girl. Rejected by that friend, Staggerlee has no one to talk to about her sexual feelings until her adopted cousin, Trout, visits for the summer when both girls are 14. Both wonder if they are gay, but sexual identity is really only one of the things that troubles them. Their platonic intimacy is the intense kind shared by friends who see themselves as different from the crowd. Asked by Trout to say whether she's black or white, Staggerlee replies, "I'm me. That's all." That they seem to be taking different paths in the end adds to the story's poignancy. This richly layered novel will be appreciated for its affecting look at the anxious wonderings of presexual teens, its portrait of a complex interracial family, and its snapshot of the emotionally wrenching but inarticulate adolescent search for self. It's notable both for its quality and for the out-of-the-way places it goes.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
*Have high school students choose and perform a piece for Readers Theatre.
*Create a diorama of Stagerlee’s life in “The House You Pass on the Way”.
*Conduct an author study of Jacqueline Woodson.
Habibi
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. Habibi: A novel. Simon and Schuster for Young Readers: New York. ISBN 0689801491
PLOT SUMMARY:
Fourteen year old Liyana Aboud and her brother Rafik, are transplanted from their American home in St. Louis, Missouri to Jerusalem, her father’s hometown. Liyana and her brother is American on their mother’s side and Arabian on their father’s side. Liyana feels more American and has a hard time adjusting to life in Jerusalem. They meet their grandmother, or sitti, and relatives for the first time. Sitti speaks only Arabic, but communicates without words as grandmothers often do. The family soon learns that Jerusalem is still a troubled country as they try to adjust to their new life.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Identification of specific culture is evident in the text. Several cultural markers are interspersed in the text, such as, Liyana’s mother cooking with a “skillet of olive oil with crumbles of garlic and pine nuts” and her father “lifting his nose to the air saying, “There it is there’s my country.” Liyana’s father remarking that Liyana would not be needing to pack her shorts as “Arab women don’t wear shorts.”. Even a friend of Liyana remarks that it must be a treat to be moving to “Jesus’s hometown” and Liyana thinking that she “didn’t think of it that way. She thought of it as her father’s hometown.”
In Jerusalem, Liyana meets her grandmother, Sitti, who is described as having a rugged face and dark blue shapes of flying birds tattoed on the backs of her hands. When Sitti “rolled her tongue high up in her mouth, and began trilling wildly, Liyana’s father explained that this was the traditional cry used to announce weddings and funerals. All the womenfolk are wearing long dresses with bright embroidery. The older women had long white scarves draped and knotted over their heads and the men were all wearing dull grey and black suits with black and white checkered kaffiyehs on their heads.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “The sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem drift through the pages and readers glean a sense of current Palestinian-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history. In the process, some of the passages become quite ponderous while the human story- -Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overall--fall away from the plot. However, Liyana's romance with an Israeli boy develops warmly, and readers are left with hope for change and peace as Liyana makes the city her very own.”
Review from BOOKLIST: “What is it like to be young in Palestine today? That is the focus of this stirring docunovel, which breaks new ground in YA fiction. Liyana Abboud, 14, moves with her family from St. Louis to Jerusalem. For her physician father, it is going home to where he was born and educated. To Liyana, her younger brother, and her American mother, it is a huge upheaval. At first Liyana misses the U.S., can't speak the languages, and feels uncertain at school, "tipped between" the cultures”
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
* Use for lessons on identifying plot, theme, setting, characters.
* Create a timeline of Liyana’s journey to Jerusalem.
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. Habibi: A novel. Simon and Schuster for Young Readers: New York. ISBN 0689801491
PLOT SUMMARY:
Fourteen year old Liyana Aboud and her brother Rafik, are transplanted from their American home in St. Louis, Missouri to Jerusalem, her father’s hometown. Liyana and her brother is American on their mother’s side and Arabian on their father’s side. Liyana feels more American and has a hard time adjusting to life in Jerusalem. They meet their grandmother, or sitti, and relatives for the first time. Sitti speaks only Arabic, but communicates without words as grandmothers often do. The family soon learns that Jerusalem is still a troubled country as they try to adjust to their new life.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Identification of specific culture is evident in the text. Several cultural markers are interspersed in the text, such as, Liyana’s mother cooking with a “skillet of olive oil with crumbles of garlic and pine nuts” and her father “lifting his nose to the air saying, “There it is there’s my country.” Liyana’s father remarking that Liyana would not be needing to pack her shorts as “Arab women don’t wear shorts.”. Even a friend of Liyana remarks that it must be a treat to be moving to “Jesus’s hometown” and Liyana thinking that she “didn’t think of it that way. She thought of it as her father’s hometown.”
In Jerusalem, Liyana meets her grandmother, Sitti, who is described as having a rugged face and dark blue shapes of flying birds tattoed on the backs of her hands. When Sitti “rolled her tongue high up in her mouth, and began trilling wildly, Liyana’s father explained that this was the traditional cry used to announce weddings and funerals. All the womenfolk are wearing long dresses with bright embroidery. The older women had long white scarves draped and knotted over their heads and the men were all wearing dull grey and black suits with black and white checkered kaffiyehs on their heads.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “The sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem drift through the pages and readers glean a sense of current Palestinian-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history. In the process, some of the passages become quite ponderous while the human story- -Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overall--fall away from the plot. However, Liyana's romance with an Israeli boy develops warmly, and readers are left with hope for change and peace as Liyana makes the city her very own.”
Review from BOOKLIST: “What is it like to be young in Palestine today? That is the focus of this stirring docunovel, which breaks new ground in YA fiction. Liyana Abboud, 14, moves with her family from St. Louis to Jerusalem. For her physician father, it is going home to where he was born and educated. To Liyana, her younger brother, and her American mother, it is a huge upheaval. At first Liyana misses the U.S., can't speak the languages, and feels uncertain at school, "tipped between" the cultures”
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
* Use for lessons on identifying plot, theme, setting, characters.
* Create a timeline of Liyana’s journey to Jerusalem.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
1.) The Name Jar 2.) When the Circus Came to Town 3.) Music for Alice
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Choi, Yangsook. 2001. The name jar. Ill. Yangsook Choi. Alfred A. Knopf: New York. ISBN 037580613
PLOT SUMMARY: Unhei, a new elementary student from Korea, is unsure of her given name when teased on the bus to school. She decides to “Americanize” her name and let the class help her. The class fill up a jar with slips of papers on which, new American names are written. When the time comes for Unhei to choose her new name, she is decides to keep her own unique given name.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Illustrations done by the author Yangsook Choi include many cultural markers. Skin tone, facial features, hair style and texture are all consistent with the culture. The text contained identification of Unhei’s specific culture, Korean. The red stamp of Unhei’s name in Korean was a powerful textual cultural marker that enhanced the text and as a unique cultural illustration. Names of characters were also cultural markers, both for Unhei and for her classmates. The text was sparse and light. This is a good selection for discussing compassion, empathy and cultural awareness.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “On the way to her first day of school, Unhei is teased by the children on the bus for her Korean name. When she reaches her classroom and is asked her name, she tells her classmates that she has not yet decided on one. To be helpful the children put their suggestions into a "name jar." Eventually the girl decides to keep her own name as one of her classmates takes pride in the new Korean nickname he has chosen, Chinku, meaning "friend." The round, red imprint of the Korean character for Unhei's name provides the graphic manifestation of the story's theme. Attractive golden endpapers feature random repetitions of the stamp imprint interspersed with her classmates' handwritten suggestions on scraps of torn paper. The bold, bright paintings that illustrate the story are realistic, warm, and appealing.”
Review from BOOKLIST: “Unhei has just come with her family from Korea and is starting school. Her name is pronounced Yoon-hye, which means grace, but she feels awkward about it after some teasing on the school bus. She decides to choose an American name, and her classmates oblige her by filling a glass jar with their suggestions. Her mother reminds her that she and her grandmother went to a name master for Unhei's name, and Unhei practices stamping her name with the beautiful name stamp her grandmother gave her. Finally, Unhei decides to keep her own name, and one of her classmates even has a stamp made for himself with the Korean characters for friend. The paintings are mostly in gold and earth tones, and the figures have both stature and simplicity--as does the story.”
Review from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Unhei has just left her Korean homeland and come to America with her parents. As she rides the school bus toward her first day of school, she remembers the farewell at the airport in Korea and examines the treasured gift her grandmother gave her: a small red pouch containing a wooden block on which Unhei's name is carved. Unhei is ashamed when the children on the bus find her name difficult to pronounce and ridicule it. Lesson learned, she declines to tell her name to anyone else and instead offers, "Um, I haven't picked one yet. But I'll let you know next week." Her classmates write suggested names on slips of paper and place them in a jar. One student, Joey, takes a particular liking to Unhei and sees the beauty in her special stamp. When the day arrives for Unhei to announce her chosen name, she discovers how much Joey has helped. Choi (Earthquake, see below, etc.) draws from her own experience, interweaving several issues into this touching account and delicately addressing the challenges of assimilation. The paintings are done in creamy, earth-tone oils and augment the story nicely.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
* Use for discussing cultural awareness and compassion.
*Create Reader’s Theatre script for interactive reading aloud.
* Use to discuss meaning of names of students in a class. Utilize databases to seek name meanings.******************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Yep, Laurence. 2002. When the circus came to town. Ill. by Suling Wang. HarperCollins: New York. ISBN 006029325X
PLOT SUMMARY: Ah Sam, a Chinese cook, uses the New Year Celebration to coax a young, ten year old girl out of self-pity due to smallpox scars on her face. Ursula, at first has some bouts of racial distrust of a Chinese cook working in her mother’s stage-coach kitchen, but soon learns to appreciate his open, warm personality.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS: Based on true historical events, this story is rich in Chinese culture. Illustrations and text contain stereotypical cultural markers of the early 20th century, skin tone, facial features, hair style and body type. Ursula describes her family’s new cook as “a small man with long, slender fingers. His skin was light tan, and his eyes were strange. But his hair was funniest. It was shaved on the crown so his forehead looked real big. In back, though, he wore his hair in a long pigtail. Ma called it his queue.” Ah Sam the Chinese cook explains his hair style as a necessity. When Ursula asks why he wears his hair in a long braid and Ah Sam explains “I don’t want to. But the Manchus would kill me if I cut it.” The Manchus were the current rulers of China. Traditional Chinese clothing and traditions are described in detail of the Chinese New Year celebration that substitutes as Ursula’s dream circus.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Ten-year-old "Pirate Ursula" is the fearless leader of her playmates, but after she contracts smallpox and is left with significant facial scarring, she sees herself as "Monster Ursula." She becomes a recluse, never leaving her family's stagecoach station in early 20th-century Whistle, MT. Ursula is a very human child surrounded by mostly sympathetic adults. Through the efforts of the new Chinese cook, Ah Sam, she eventually finds the courage to rediscover Pirate Ursula. He and his family of acrobats help to heal not just the girl, but also the racial divides in Whistle, and Ursula finally understands that it is what is inside a person that matters most. Touches of humor and whimsy counter the darkness she feels about herself. That these events are based on fact enables readers to accept the fairly quick turnaround in the villagers' racist attitudes. Wang's evocative illustrations add to the flavor of this quick, absorbing read.”
Review from BOOKLIST: “Yep has based his novel on a true story, and his writing is, by turns, direct, humorous, and poignant. He doesn't gloss over the hardships faced by Chinese immigrants, but he clearly relished finding an upbeat incident to recount. Ursula and her friends will seem believable to young readers, and the descriptions of circus acts and Chinese New Year traditions are a plus.”
Review from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Yep (Newbery Honor, Dragon's Gate, 1994), has applied his considerable skills to embellish a true story into a moving parable of how people help each other overcome suffering. The simple plot uses perfectly believable characterizations to discuss deceptively complex emotions and issues for those who would mine its lessons, but Ursula's own story of healing is rewarding enough for those who read from the younger child's point of view.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
* Use for discussing cultural awareness and compassion.
*Create Reader’s Theatre script for interactive reading aloud.
* Use to discuss History, racism, community and tolerance.
************************************************************************************
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Say, Allen. 2004. Music for Alice. Ill. by Allen Say. Houghton Mifflin: Boston. ISBN 0618311181
PLOT SUMMARY: Historical account of the true-life story of Alice Sumida and her husband Mark. Both were Japanese American farmers at the end of the 20th century. Their hardships and life story from, almost, being shipped to a Japanese internment camp at the beginning of World War II, to becoming the owners of the largest gladiola farm with the help of government loan for two hundred acres of desert land. Theirs is the story
of a sad beginning to a rich ending. Alice had dreams of dancing before World War II began and was sidetracked by hard farm work and duty. Towards the end of her life, she looks back on her full life and decides the time of dancing has arrived.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Allen Say shares Alice’s life story in a series of short eloquent paragraphs with accompanying illustration. Each illustration contains cultural markers with skin tone, facial features, body features, hair style and clothing of the era. Besides identification of specific culture, the text is devoid of cultural markers. The culture is that of Japanese Americans and the text clearly depicts the cultural accurately. The theme of Music for Alice is set more towards dancing. Alice as a child adored dancing, married a man “… who wasn’t much of a dancer …” and both did not have time to dance during their years together. Alice did not have time to dance until late in her life and then decided after her hardworking life, it was finally time to dance.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Life changes drastically for Alice when World War II breaks out. Like many other Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, she and her husband are forced from their home. They choose to work as farm hands rather than be sent to an internment camp. Together, they overcome every indignity and challenge that come their way, and eventually build the largest gladiola bulb farm in the country. Say relates the true story of Alice Sumida in an understated and eloquent style. Alice's childhood love of dancing is deftly woven into the imagery of the text. As in much of his work, the masterful illustrations provide an emotional depth not always evident in the narration. The overall design, resembling a family photo album, accentuates the book as personal history. The detailed portraits and soft colors of the farm give way to drab hues and figures with nondescript features and wide-brimmed hats that hide their eyes and their identities-symbolic of the plight of Japanese Americans during the war. The final pictures of a now elderly Alice depict the spirit and dignity that her life story suggests.”
Review from BOOKLIST: “From the close-up jacket portrait of an elderlyapanese American woman to the final view of her ballroom dancing before a black-tie audience, this picture book, based on a true-life story, will appeal more to adults than kids, though some young readers will respond to the history and the understated, first-person account of trouble and courage. The first painting, repeated on the back cover, is a sepia-tone view of Alice as aapanese American child, dreaming of music and dance on a California farm. She marries, and the World War II roundups follow, with a haunting view of her and her husband in the crowd, labeled like luggage. Instead of being sent to internment camp, they are allowed to grow food for the war effort. Their first harvest is a harvest of stones, but they go on to make the desert bloom and eventually become the largest gladiola bulb growers in the country. One glorious picture shows them in a huge field of flowers. The drama is quiet. As always with Say, the exquisite watercolors tell an American story.”
Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “Once again, Say (Home of the Brave) practically takes one's breath away with the understated beauty of his watercolors. With a photo-like realism, he depicts Alice, an elderly Japanese-American woman, capturing every age spot and laugh line and making her radiant skin almost tactile. Her portrait telegraphs an inner peace and elegant beauty. Alice's story begins in California where, as a girl, she "loved dancing more than anything else." But after marrying, she embarks on a life of farming that allows little time for dancing. Say traces her uprooting during WWII, her ups and downs in the fields and the death of her husband. The narrative ends abruptly as the widowed, grieving Alice finds closure when she visits the farm she and her husband left 30 years before, finding it neglected and dilapidated. She declares, "Now I can dance!" The last image shows her dancing with a younger man, a scene that could profit from a bit more fleshing out ("And dance I do-all that I can"). Adults may respond best to this documentary-style life story.”
CONNECTIONS
Activities
*Use as read-aloud during Woman’s History Month.
*Create a time line of events in Alice’s life.
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