Text Set: Crossing Borders and examining multiple perspectives.
"Wishtree" by Katherine Applegate, "Her Right Foot" by Dave Eggers and "My Two Blankets" by Irene Kobald and Freya Blackwood
"Wishtree"
ABOUT THE BOOK:
This book beings by the author (it felt more like a narrator of a movie to me) introducing herself as "Red" a 200+ year old Red Oak tree that stands in a neighborhood. We are given a quick synopsis of how every animal and plant is named, and why Red goes by "Wishtree". The reason being that at the beginning of every May, the neighborhood members come and write their wish and attach it to Red's bark, leaves, or limbs. This tradition was started by an Irish immigrant named Maeve a long long time ago. This story of her putting the wish on Red created a safe places for all families to be welcomed into and loved by eachother. Maeve's family still owns the land that Red is living on. Soon into the book, a family of Muslims moves into the neighborhood that Red is in. The community is a little hesitant and scared of the Muslim family, even the daughter, Samar. Samar has no friends including those that live right next door to her. She goes and hangs a wish to have friends on Red one night with only love and wishful thinking in her heart. A couple of days later, a community member comes and writes "LEAVE" on Red. Red doesn't know quite what that means, but finds out quickly when people start to gossip. There is uproar about what should be done about Red after the carving happens. There is talk to cut Red down...all of the animals and Red begin to panic.
Red tries to think what he can do to stay alive, but just decides to grant Samar's wish instead. If this wish is granted, and Samar becomes friends with someone in the community, maybe the hate will stop and Red won't get cut down. Needless to say, it with a rocky battle with creating the friendship between Stephen and Samar, but it worked out in the end. However, the children's friendship wasn't enough to keep the arborists from cutting Red down. After the announcement of Red's demise the following day, all of the animals come and say their goodbyes, as well as the humans by leaving wishes on Red. Stephen even collaborates with his peers at school and gets them to write "STAY" on wishes to attach to Red.
CRITICAL LENS:
This book would be a fantastic one to begin talking about acceptance as well as celebrating differences. In the book, there are references to families of animals fighting, but always working it out and getting along. Common themes that popped out to me in this book was the painful experience of intolerance and racism. I think that Katherine Applegate did a great job of showing the true colors some people have too often, and how it makes those on the recieving end feel. This book shows the "big picture" of racism and intolerance by making the reader aware that by one person's actions, generations of tradition can be taken away in an instant. The feelings of safety that this neighborhood was meant to possess because of Maeve have been ripped apart and taken for granted (not appreciated). Some of the positive conversations and themes this book could bring up to critically discuss in a class is that of tradition, acceptance, and celebrating diversity.
"Her Right Foot"
by Dave Eggers
ABOUT THE BOOK:
This book has a very fun, engaging and kid friendly voice for a nonfiction text. I was puled into this book originally because I was an Art Major with a History concentration at one point in time and had spent quite some time reading and interpreting the building, sculpting and creating of the entire Statue of Liberty herself. I was excited to see how Dave Eggers would bring her to life in his book. I was happily surprised. The author re-examines the meanings behind the Statue of Liberty with the readers and gives us a surplus of background knowledge along the way. From the reason of creation, who's idea it was, how long it took to construct, how it was moved, how many pieces it was before it was all put together, and even the symbols that the Statue of Liberty represents now.
One of my favorite spreads from this book was this one:
In response to the previous pages about where Lady Liberty is walking to or why she looks like she is in stride, it reads, "Here is an idea. Here is a theory. Here is a reminder."
I think the word reminder is a strong and important concept in this spread, and in the book itself because the author is implying that this is nothing new, this is how it was meant to be. The next couple of pages go into the discussion of that idea and how the creators and artists that made the Statue of Liberty meant for her to always be in action, always greeting new immigrants, and how it can never stop.
"A must-read for every man, woman and child in the land." —The San Francisco Chronicle
CRITICAL LENS:
This book really helps raise the questions of, What was America intended to be? Were there always meant to be immigrants? How do we act toward those that want to join our country? Why was the Statue of Liberty created? How does she teach us about acceptance, love, and faith not only in ourselves, but our country as well? All of these critical thinking questions could be brought into the classroom, as well as many more that I haven't thought of yet. This book was an incredible nonfiction story of how our country really came to be. Another way to think critically about this book would be through the pictures. How many of these pictures are something our students have seen on tv/social media, are scared of seeing (immigration aspect), have seen (France, the ocean, the Statue of Liberty herself) or could imagine? This book is a great reminder of how our country was founded on immigration and what we should do to support the original morals of the United States of America.
This book was such an impactful one to read and really made me turn gears in my head. So thankful for the opportunity to read this one.
"My Two Blankets"
by Irene Kobald and Freya Blackwood
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The author writes this book in a warm and metaphorical way with almost every page including some type of figurative language. This was new for me as a reader to be interpreting words like "warm", "fuzzy" as descriptors for personal feelings. Language like, "standing under a waterfall of strange sounds" made the book fun to read and very personal. This story is told from the perspective of a little girl named "Cartwheel" who travels with her aunt to a new country in hopes and plans of avoiding a war happening in their home country. The girl seems to be joyful and fully immersed in her native country's culture. However, when moved to the new country, she changes a little bit. Some would say she was nervous, uncomfortable at first, confused or uneasy. While Cartwheel is having these feelings of vexation, she finds safety and comfort in her blanket she brought. Cartwheel later meets a girl in the park she plays at. Though the two children play together and are happy to be friends, there is a communication boundary that the children can not quite bridge. After being friends for a while, the girl brought Cartwheel some "words" to read and say. The girls continued this tradition for some time. The words of the previously unknown and new language become warm and more appealing to Cartwheel.
This book shows how far kindness and friendship can go in a single person's life. At the end of the book, we see Cartwheel doing a cartwheel, representing her divulgence into the new culture.
"When I was at home, I wrapped myself in a blanket of my own words and sounds. I called it my blanket." - Irena Kobald in "My Two Blankets"
CRITICAL LENS:
Through the entirety of this book, I felt the theme of friendship and blind acceptance from the characters. This book can ask the critical questions about acknowledging cultures different from your own, acceptance, and taking on new friends to learn from and with them. The elements of culture could be discussed as a classroom as well with the help of diving into and analyzing the illustrations that Freya Blackwood has created. The reoccurring themes of immigration and discomfort (together or operate from each other) are things that anyone can relate to. This book would be a great and easy to take in text to read and begin analyzing immigration and culture.
THESE BOOKS AS A TEXT SET:
Immigration into the classroom
Immigration is such a buzzword right now and should be talked about in schools, specifically elementary schools. Each of these books has a beautiful, interesting, and informative story told SO differently about how immigration effects every single person in the United States alone, as well as the people wanting/trying to come and live here. In "Wishtree", the story of immigration is told from the perspective of an old soul who has seen immigration through centuries. The book goes into problems that have to be solved in order for everyone to live in a community together, happily and safe. In the nonfiction and informational text that is, "Her Right Foot", the famous landmark in The United States is critically interrogated and analyzed on her stance regarding immigration. The story of how the USA is a country founded by immigrants is a must add to any text set about immigration. In "My Two Blankets", immigration is talked about from the perspective of an immigrant child that is close to the same age as the children you're reading with (most likely). This story touches on friendship and how that is such an important aspect and feeling when moving to a new country. At first glance, these books might not seem to fit together topically or by theme. However, after reading them and thinking critically, I think it is safe to say all three books compliment each other in a multitude of ways and would benefit any classroom.
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