Module 5: Monster & Esperansa Rising

Monster

by Walter Dean Myers

Summary: 16 year old Steve Harmon stands on trial for pleading innocent.  He is being accused of his participation as a look out in a drug store "get over" that resulted in one man losing his life.  Through a screen play Harmon writes of his experience. Throughout the trial the reader experiences what Harmon goes through during the trial and his time in prison as well. Harmon was to do a walk through in the drug store to make sure it was clear before King and Evans would enter the store to conduct the robbery.  Osvaldo Cruz was to be the look out outside the store while they were robbing the joint.  The owner had a gun which he ending up being shot with which resulted in the ending of his life.  Evans and King left with money and a few cartons of cigarettes.  Neither Cruz or Harmon received a cut of the money which was said would be given to all parties involved.  The crime began to be unraveled with the stolen cigarettes were sold to someone who passed on the information about the get over.  All parties involved except for King take the stand while the reader is left to decide whether or not Steve Harmon is guilty or not.  It was determined that both King and Evans were put in jail.  Steve Harmon is not proven guilty but the reader is left to determine whether or not he truly was a participant.  The court might not have said he was guilty but upon finishing the case his lawyer could not look at him and his father's relationship with him was changed forever.

Myer, W.D. (1999). Monster. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publisher. 

My Impression:  I thoroughly enjoyed the format this book was written in.  I think it would be appealing to kids but is definitely only appropriate for an older reading audience.  This book expresses some of the realities of facing time in prison and what it must feel like to be a 16 year old on trial.  It handles a touchy situation in a tasteful manner.  I could see how this book would help kids think twice before doing something that could get themselves into trouble with the law.  This book receives an A for student appeal.

Professional Reviews: 

Horn Book (May/June 1999):
Arrested and charged with  murder, 16-year-old Steve Harmon is writing a screen play of his ordeal.  Interspersed with his handwritten journal entries, Steve's script makes up a novel that in both form and subject guarantees a wide teen audience.  Balancing courtroom drama and a sordid jailhouse with flashback to the robbery that resulted in a shopkeeper's murder, Myers adeptly allows each character to speak for him or herself, leaving readers to judge  the truthfulness of the defendants, witness, lawyers, and most compellingly, Steve himself.  Did Steve serve as a lookout for the robber?  Was he in the store at all?  Through all the finessing and obfuscation of the trial process, readers will find plenty of evidence for a variety of conflicting opinions.  Even the cri de coeur in Steve's journal leaves plenty of room for interpretation: "I didn't do nothing! I didn't do nothing!" Tailor made for reader's theater, this book is a natural to get teen reading - and talking.

Sutton, R. (1999). Monster [Review of the book Monster, by Walter Dean Myers]. Horn Book Magazine, 75(3), 337. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com/

Library Uses: This book would be a great book to use when teaching students about different styles of writing.  Combined with books that show narrative and free verse, students could look and listen to the text and then complete a Venn Diagram with three circles to compare and contrast the different styles.  This would also be a great text to use when teaching kids about persuasive writing.  Since each person in the story takes the stand and tells their side of the story, it presents itself as an excellent tool to teach this writing skill. 

     

Esperanza Rising

by Pam Munoz Ryan

Summary:  Esperanza excitedly awaits her 13th birthday until suddenly she and her mother are forced to leave their ranch in Mexico.  She has always lived a privileged life in Aguascalientes on one of the biggest grape ranches with plenty of people to take care of her until her father is killed by bandits.  Her evil uncle proposes to her mother and when she refuses their beautiful home mysteriously burns down in the night.  She and her mother must escape in the night with their long time close family workers, Alfonso, Hortensia, and Miguel leaving Abueltia (grandmother) behind.  When they reach California and begin work, Esperanza finds it very challenging.  Her mother contracts Valley Fever and must be put into the hospital.  This motivates Esperanza to do everything she can to bring her Abuelita to California and Mama home from the hospital.  After months of hard work and threats of losing her job  due to strikers, her family is finally reunited.

Ryan, P.M. (2000). Esperanza Rising. Scholastic: New York.

My Impression:  Ryan does a beautifully job of weaving together a story about a part of history that many kids are not familiar with.  I love the way she incorporates Spanish words into the story.  It adds to its authentic nature and truly helps the reader connect with the characters and join the story.  Its fast moving plot and honest characters and sure to make this book a page turner for readers of all ages.  The authors note makes you love the book even more!  Although this book is clearly a favorite of mine, I give it an A-.  Not all students will relate to this book or appreciate its beauty.

Professional Reviews:

Booklist

 Gr. 5-8. Moving from a Mexican ranch to the company labor camps of California, Ryan's lyrical novel manages the contradictory: a story of migration and movement deeply rooted in the earth. When 14-year-old Esperanza's father is killed, she and her mother must emigrate to the U.S., where a family of former ranch workers has helped them find jobs in the agricultural labor camps. Coming from such privilege, Esperanza is ill prepared for the hard work and difficult conditions she now faces. She quickly learns household chores, though, and when her mother falls ill, she works packing produce until she makes enough money to bring her beloved abuelita to the U.S.. Set during the Great Depression, the story weaves cultural, economic, and political unrest into Esperanza's poignant tale of growing up: she witnesses strikes, government sweeps, and deep injustice while finding strength and love in her family and romance with a childhood friend. The symbolism is heavy-handed, as when Esperanza ominously pricks her finger on a rose thorne just before her father is killed. But Ryan writes movingly in clear, poetic language that children will sink into, and the books offers excellent opportunities for discussion and curriculum support. 

Engberg, G. (2000). Esperanza Rising [Review of the book Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan]. Booklist, 97(7), 708.  Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/

Library Uses:  This is a great book to use to discuss the Repatriation Act.  Discuss with students why Mexicans were moving to the United States, more specifically California, and why they were being forced to leave.  View the section of the book when Esperanza is living at camp and what the standard of living is like.  Also view the section where the workers are striking and the immigration buses arrive forcing everyone on them even some people who were American citizens.  Discuss with students whether or not they think these actions were fair.

Pair this book with a biography on someone who made a difference for Hispanics living in America such as Cesar Chavez.  Cesar Chavez by Brown (2006) would be a great title to read a class and then discuss how his works would have made a difference for Esperanza's family and friends.  You could also take this time to show students how to do an appropriate internet search by searching a biography database for information on Cesar Chavez.

Brown, J.A. (2006). Cesar Chavez. Milwaukee, WI: Weekly Reader Early Learning Library.

Module 4: Jacob Have I Loved & Out of the Dust

 Jacob Have I Loved

by Katherine Paterson

Summary: Beginning at birth, twin Louise better known as Wheesie, lives in the shadow of her younger sister Caroline.  Due to her fragile state at birth, Caroline always received more attention than Louise and was often given more privileges.  Louise got to leave their island home of Rass to go into town to have piano lessons.  Louise never left Rass and spent most of her time playing with her dear friend Call.  When a stranger arrives in town, Louise believes he is a spy and convinces Call to help her discover the stranger's identity.  They soon discover he is a Captain whose family once lived on the island.  Louise isn't crazy about the Captain and doesn't think his jokes are funny, but Call instantly clicks with the Captain.  Out of fear of losing her one friend, she continues to visit the Captain with Call and eventually forms a crush on him.  Louise soon loses all the things important to her.  Call gets deployed to fight in the war, the Captain marries Trudy Braxton, and Caroline gets sent to boarding school for her vocals.  When Call finally returns from the war, Louise has decided she love him and awaits his arrival only to discover he is engaged to her sister.  The Captain encourages Louise to move away and follow her dreams.  Louise does follow her dreams and becomes a nurse.  She eventually find true happiness when she marries and begins a family of her own.

Paterson, K. (1980).  Jacob have I loved. New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Junior Books.

My Impression:  At the time it was written, Katherine Paterson did an excellent job of portraying a modern day story of Jacob and Esau.  This book was interesting and I found myself pulling for Louise in her attempt to find happiness.  The plot of this story moves along a little slowly.  I found the crush Louise had on the Captain to be a little strange, but it did help to develop the senile grandmother's character.  Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and feel it would be best for middle and high school students.  That being said, I give this book a B for kids.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal

GR 7-10: First-born twin Louise, the narrator, is the somber sister of the sunny, sensible musical prodigy Caroline.  Envy and jealously darken Louise's life and trap her  in a web of unhappiness as isolating as the waters that both imprison and protect Rass, a Chesapeake Bay island, and its population-descendants of generations of watermen whose grim hard life is centered in the sea and in the church.  Louise's unhappiness makes her anxious to please, easily crushed by unthinking friends, unable to accept as true the very real, though unexpressed, love of her parents.  When Caroline's chance comes to leave the island-her musical talent a tickets to the world-Louise's bitterness turns further inward, and when WWII takes Call, her oldest and dearest friend, her loneliness is devastating.   The war years find Louise doing a man's job as she helps her father, a crab fisherman, with a silent strength that matches his own and draws them together in mutual need. The carefully built facade of content is shattered after the war when Call, with whom she thinks she is in love, leaves the island to marry Caroline not even realizing the hurt he leaves behind.  What might have precipitated final personal destruction becomes, for Louise, the impetus to finally leave the island and make a satisfying future for herself as well as peace with the past.  Told with Louise's poignant dignity, this is different-more complex, more subtle- than Paterson's other novels.  A new and older audience will find it affecting, however.

Lewis, M. (1980). Jacob have I loved [Review of the book Jacob have I loved by Katherine Paterson]. School Library Journal, 27(3), 87.  Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

Library Uses:  This book would be a great read aloud when older students are learning about weather, particularly hurricanes. After reading the book aloud, students could determine the necessary steps that need to be taken for protection in the event of hurricane.  They could analyze the steps Louise's family took and compare them to what would happen now.

Out of the Dust

by Karen Hesse

Summary:  Set in Oklahoma in the mid thirties, Billie Joe is literally stuck in the dust.  Due to the lack of rain and excess of dust, Billie Joe's father is unable to get anything to grow.  Try as they might, it is nearly impossible to keep out the dust.  They leave their plate and glasses turned down on the table to prevent dust from entering them, they take other preventative measures as well.  One of the things that keeps Billie Joe going is playing the piano.  Coming from a refined background, Billie Joe's mother is a beautiful pianist and teacher her this skill.  Billi Joe's music is her way to connect with others at school.  Good news arrives for her family when they discover her mother is pregnant.  Things take a turn for the worst when Billie Joe's dad leaves a pail of kerosene on the stove which ends in both her and her mother covered in burns.  Shortly after, the baby is born both Billie Joe's mother and the new baby die.  In addition to this tragedy, Billie Joe's hands were burned so badly she can no longer play the piano.  Feeling as though there is nothing left for her but dust, Billie Joe runs away in an attempt to escape the dust.  When she hops a ride in a train car, she runs into someone else who has left their family behind.  This encounter causes her to realize that she must return home.  After she returns home, she and her father reconnect.  A school teacher enters their lives and teaches Billie Joe's dad that he can love again and teaches Billie Joe that their is a future for her family.

Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the dust. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

My Impression:  I give this book an A+.  This historical fiction account of a family living in the Dust Bowl is an honest depiction of what imagine life must have been like.  Hesse pulls you in, making you feel as though you too are a part of this family.  This is a beautifully book written in free verse and is sure to spark interest in students leaving them wanting to learn more about what happened during this time period.

Professional Review:

Horn Book Magazine

Prairie winds dark with dust blow through this novel — turning suppers gritty, burying tractors, and scouring lungs. Even the pages of the book, composed solely of first-person, free-verse poems, have a windswept appearance as fourteen-year-old Billie Jo Kelby relates her Depression-era experiences in the Oklahoma panhandle: "We haven't had a good crop in three years, / not since the bounty of '31, / and we're all whittled down to the bone these days." Billie Jo's world is further devastated when a kitchen fire causes the deaths of her mother and newborn brother and severely injures her hands, stalling the fledgling pianist's dream of a music career. A few of the poems are pretentious in tone or facile in execution, and some of the longer, narrative-driven pieces strain at the free verse structure, but the distinctive writing style is nonetheless remarkably successful. Filled with memorable images — such as Billie Jo's glimpse of her pregnant mother bathing outdoors in a drizzle — the spare verses showcase the poetry of everyday language; the pauses between line breaks speak eloquently, if sometimes melodramatically. The focus of the entire book is not quite as concise. As tragedies pile up over the two-year timeline (a plague of grasshoppers descends, starving cattle need to be shot, Billie Jo's father develops skin cancer), the pace becomes slightly numbing. Billie Jo's aborted escape from the dust bowl almost gets lost in the procession of bleak events, instead of serving as the book's climax. Yet her voice, nearly every word informed by longing, provides an immediacy that expressively depicts both a grim historical era and one family's healing.

Sieruta, P.D. (1998). Out of the dust [Review of the book Out of the dust, by Karen Hesse]. Horn Book Magazine, 74(1), 73-74. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com/

Library Uses:  This would be an excellent book to use during a history unit being taught on this time period.  After collaborating with a teacher, a lesson could be built using Out of the Dust and a non fiction book such as Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School and Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley.  Student could identify the hardships faced by the characters in both stories and then compare and contrast the hardships that were faced.

Module 3: The Hello, Goodbye Window & Grandfather's Journey

The Hello, Goodbye Window

by Norton Juster

Summary: As a little girl goes to visit her grandparents, she takes the readers on a journey through what a visit with her Nanna and Poppy is like. She tells of a special window where they greet her when she arrives, look through while she is there, and wave goodbye through when she leaves.  As this little girl reminisces on the fun times with her grandparents, she looks forward to the day that she too will be a Nanna and have a hello, goodbye window to share with her grandchildren.

Juster, N. (2005).  The hello, goodbye window. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children.

My Impression:  Not only is this story beautifully illustrated and well written, but children are sure to love this book due to their ability to make connections with it.  The narrator of the story is a little girl who is visiting her Nana and Poppy.  The child like paintings match the writing perfectly and really bring this story to life.  This is a book I would not only have in my elementary school library, but in my collection at home as well.  I give this book an A+.

Professional Reviews:

Booklist starred (March 15, 2005)

PreS-Gr. 2. Two well-known names come together in a book that speaks to the real lives of children and their experiences. The young narrator visits her grandparents, Nanna and Poppy, in their big house. They explore Nanna's garden, and Poppy plays his harmonica. The narrator rides her bike and takes a nap, "and nothing happens till I get up."Looking out the picture window, the "hello, goodbye window,"she sees the pizza guy, and, more fancifully, a dinosaur. She also spots her parents coming to pick her up. The curly-haired girl is happy to see them, but sad because it means the end of the visit. The window imagery is less important than the title would make it seem. More intrinsic is Juster's honest portrayal of a child's perceptions (a striped cat in the yard is a tiger) and emotions (being happy and sad at the same time "just happens that way sometimes"). Raschka's swirling lines, swaths, and dabs of fruity colors seem especially vibrant, particularly in the double-page spreads, which have ample room to capture both the tender moments between members of the interracial family and the exuberance of spending time in the pulsating outdoors, all flowers, grass, and sky.

Cooper, I. (2005, March 15). The hello, goodbye window. [Review of the book The hello, goodbye window, by Norton Juster]. Booklist, 101(14), 1286. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com

Horn Book (July/August, 2005)

"Nanna and Poppy live in a big house in the middle of town." In Juster's paean to loving grandparents, the young narrator relates the small, comforting routines she shares with her grandparents when she visits, from coloring at the kitchen table to counting stars with Nanna to finding all the raisins Poppy hides in her breakfast oatmeal. The quiet, gently humorous first-person narrative presents a very young child's worldview ("when I get tired I...take my nap and nothing happens until I get up"); occasionally, an adult perspective intrudes ("You can be happy and sad at the same time, you know. It just happens that way sometimes"). The familial love that is Juster's subtext finds overt expression, spectacularly, in Raschka's illustrations -- lush mixed-media creations saturated in watercolor and pastel crayon and set off perfectly by white space. In paintings that are freewheeling yet controlled, Raschka incorporates tight circular scribbles (for the little girl's and Nanna's hair, for bushes, for clouds), solid shapes (for furniture, for floors); thick strokes of watercolor (for trees, for the door that separates the little girl and her grandparents when her parents come to take her home); and a black line that outlines occasional objects -- everything from Poppy's glasses to electrical outlets to a flower Nanna picks. A varied layout, balancing exterior and interior landscapes with smaller character vignettes, helps sustain the book's energy. Say hello to Raschka at the top of his form.

Parravano, M. V. (2005).  The hello, goodbye window [Review of the book The hello, goodbye window, by Norton Juster]. Horn Book Magazine, 81(4), 451-452. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com

Library Uses:  This book would be an excellent choice to model the reading strategy of making connections.  As you are reading the story, stop periodically to reflect on ways that you can connect to the narrator of the story.  Upon finishing the story, call on several students to share what the story makes them think of.  Have each student draw a picture and write a paragraph of something they do with their grandparents.

Grandfather's Journey

by Allen Say

Summary: A young Japanese man decides to journey to America.  He falls in love with everything about the country.  Eventually he becomes homesick and returns to Japan to marry his sweetheart.  After he and his wife have a child they return to live in America.  Once again he longs for his home country, and they return to Japan.  His daughter has a child of her own.  Her child loves to visit with his grandfather and hear stories of California.  He grandfather longs to go back to visit California but never gets the chance.  When the young boy grows up, he travels to visit California for himself.  Like his grandfather he falls in love with America.  He has such a love for each country that regardless of which country he is in, he always feels homesick for the other.

Say, A. (1993). Grandfather's journey. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

My Impression: I give this book a B+.  As an adult I am able to really appreciate and connect to the story. This is a well written story, but children might miss the deeper meaning.  It would be excellent to use in a lesson where the teacher could help students make the connections to truly appreciate this excellently written story.  The illustrations are beautiful and include great detail.  They are reflective of the time period this book is set in.

Professional Reviews: 

School Library Journal/April 2003
K-Gr 4 -In this fictionalized account, Say describes his grandfather's love for his native land and the lure of life in America, feelings the author experienced firsthand when he emigrated from Japan to the United States. In so doing, he sums up the quintessential immigrant experience, "the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other." Carefully composed, exquisite watercolors, resembling photographs in an album, match the quiet restraint and elegance of the text.

Marton, D. S. (2004). Grandfather's journey [Review of the book Grandfather's journey, by Allen Say]. School Library Journal, 49(4), 104. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
 

Library Uses: Have the students conduct a research project on their country of origin.  Tell the students that just as the narrator of this story was originally from Japan, your family originally came from another country too.  Have the students interview a family member to determine who their first family member to come to America was and what their trip must have been like.  Have students research basic facts about their heritage country to share with the class in addition to the information they learned in their interview.