Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Walk Two Moons is a book about Salamanca Tree Hiddle, also known as Sal, who travels across the country with her grandparents to Idaho to find her mother. This travelogue describes Sal’s adventures, as well as memories of the time she spent with her mother before she abandoned Sal and her father while on vacation. At the end of the novel, we discover the truth about Sal’s mother, and follow Sal as she discovers who she is as a person within her own culture. Sal’s mother is Native American (although they prefer the term Indian) and Sal recalls different cultural traditions that her mother would uphold in her childhood. In Sal’s journey, she also discovers more about this culture and learns how to adopt it into her own life.

This book is written as a first person narrative travelogue. The travel narrative could make for interesting activities if students were to map out Sal’s journey. I also liked that in addition to Sal’s story, we also get to know Phoebe Winterbottom, Sal’s friend with an interesting life. The text is easy to read, so I would mark it at a sixth grade reading level.

While the book is excellently written and has won a Newberry award, Sharon Creech is not Native American. I expected this book to have more culturally rich detail, however, there is certainly a gap between the author’s experiences with Native Americans and the reality of Native American assimilated culture. While I would recommend this book for a good read, I do not think it is multicultural enough for students to understand something about Native American culture. 

To Spoil the Sun - Joyce Rockwood

To Spoil the Sun by Joyce Rockwood explores 16th Century Native American life as seen through the eyes of Rain Dove, a young woman who’s tribe lives in a town called Mulberry in south Appalachia. At the beginning of the story, Rain Dove dreams of marrying a young warrior. However, her dreams are put in jeopardy when omens of death and destruction reach her tribe. Among the omens which would spell out death was the coming of the “Immortals.” Rain Dove eventually marries and has children. However, her family and everybody around her are put into harms way when Europeans arrive in their village, bringing with them the deadly disease Smallpox.

To Spoil the Sun  deals with he topic of Smallpox on Native American life, as well as the issues associated with European contact in general, which I feel can often be misunderstood by young people. This novel could be a great introduction into student understanding of the troubles that Native Americans faced at this time. Although the story deals with dark and heavy subject matter, the ending provides a sense of hope and resilience from the main character, which could be a valuable lesson for young people.

This novel is written in a plain diction which could easily be read by students in a seventh or eighth grade classroom. Although the subject matter is quite heavy at times, it is important that students get a glimpse of this period in time in order to understand its impact on Native American culture. 

The Birchbark House

The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich

This novel was written by Louise Erdrich, a Native American author, in 1999.  This novel takes place in 1849 in Minnesota and follows the story of Omakayas, an eight year old Ojibwa girl who is adopted into a family after her people were wiped out by a smallpox outbreak.  The novel itself is broken down into four sections, which are labeled as the natural seasons.  There is a strong connection between her family’s lifestyle and nature, including an altercation Omakayas has with a mother bear and her cubs.  Throughout the novel, there are various tasks and chores to be done, all strengthening Omakayas’ bond with nature and her overall understanding of life in general.  Her relationship with her family and the reliance on nature are what allows Omakayas and her family to face the troublesome winter season, in hopes of fighting through to the peaceful spring.  

This novel is suitable for middle school reading; probably more for a sixth grade level rather than an eighth grade level.  Because of its vivid description of nature and the setting of the novel, I believe there could be some great projects to be done with the students about their own settings.  Perhaps the students can create a storyline that follows the season and perhaps what kind of bonds they may share with the elements.

Bitter Melon - Cara Chow

Bitter Melon by Cara Chow follows the story of Frances, an Asian-American teenager and only child. Frances’s mother is extremely demanding and often abusive towards Frances in her ambitions for Frances to attend UC Berkley and become a doctor. The strict demands of Frances’s mother are at odds with Frances’s desire to pursue her talents in debate and public speaking, as well as to date boys and make friends at school.

The extremely demanding manner in which Frances’s mother raises her daughter is a common issue in many newly immigrated families. Parents often work extremely hard to give their children a chance at success, however, this places a great deal of pressure and stress on the children in these families. Frances is often torn between the harsh disappointment of her mother and her desire to pursue her own dreams and desires.

The issues prevalent in Bitter Melon would resonate in many students going through adolescence. This story teaches young readers how to deal with the pressures of oncoming adulthood and responsibility, a pressure which is prevalent in the lives of modern adolescents. There are scenes of violence between Frances and her mother, but there is nothing that could not be handled by a seventh or eighth grade classroom. The story is written in a clear and concise manner, allowing it to be a great read for students of a variety of reading levels.

Kira-Kira

Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata

This novel is written by Cynthia Kadohata, who is a Japanese-American author from Chicago, Illinois.  In this novel, the reader tags along in the journey of Katie Takeshima and her family as they battle adversity to achieve their American Dream.  The story begins with the family living within a Japanese community in Iowa, where her father works at a grocery store.  The family then moves into the depths of the Deep South, where both of Katie’s parents work at a chicken factory in Georgia.  This move shocks Katie, as she struggles to understand what she considers an entirely new language and culture.  Katie, as many young sisters do, worships her older sister Lynn, who is extremely wise and motherly while Katie’s mom works late hours at the factory.  Since the Takeshima’s aspire to one day own their own home, both of the parents work arduous hours at the factory to save some money.  

All the while the younger brother Sam suffers a serious injury when he gets stuck in an animal trap and Lynn comes down with an illness.  All in an instant Katie’s optimistic outlook on life is being turned upside-down, and it becomes harder and harder for her to remember Lynn’s message about kira-kira (glitter).  This is a great novel to use for lit. circles in a middle school environment that brings forth the message of perseverance and undying optimism.  While reading the novel, I thought that this novel could be great to use for a creative character project, and also an abstract American Dream from a multicultural standpoint.

Julie- A Girl's Adventure!

Julie by Jean Craighead George; Harper Trophy Publishers, © 1994

George’s Julie is the sequel to the Newberry Award-Winning Julie of the Wolves. Early in the story, the reader is given a recap of the major events of the previous story; Julie, and Eskimo girl, had left her home to marry at the age of 13, and when the relationship soured, she ran away, got lost in the tundra, and found solace and protection from a pack of wolves. Much to her dismay, her father and a gussak, or white man, killed Amoroq, the leader of the wolf pack and her best canine friend, from an airplane. The story commences with Julie returning to her father, Kapugen, bearing a grudge against him for what he did to Amoroq. Her father had been told that Julie had died, so he is overwhelmed by her return.

            Much has changed since Julie left; Kapugen has taken a white wife, and Julie feels uncomfortable with Ellen referring to Julie as her daughter. Julie hears the wolves howling often, and she seeks to find the pack and communicate with them so that she can convince them to leave the area and stay out of the danger of her father, who kills them because they threaten his oxen farm. As the story progresses, Julie transforms and develops as a character; she overcomes her prejudice against Ellen while they are stranded in a terrible storm, and she reconciles with her father regarding Amoroq. She also begins to find love again, something that she had dismissed following her terrible marriage. When Julie’s beloved wolves kill another ox, she convinces an angry Kapugen to let her go out into the tundra and tell the wolves to leave. If she fails and they kill again, he will have no choice but to hunt them down to save his business…

            The book deals with several very teachable themes. Racial and cultural tensions, domestic tensions, and romance are all present in the story. The reader witnesses Julie soften her hard exterior and open up to other cultures-the struggles that Julie has with her stepmother, who is both new and not of Julie’s culture, can be very relevant to students in similar situations. The domestic tensions in the novel are quite realistic, and the notion behind them transcends cultural lines. Thus students of any race who read Julie could connect with the way that she feels towards her stepmother. Students dealing with racial tension would have even more reason to relate to Julie’s emotions. Finally, Julie finds romance with an older boy, and this is yet another applicable theme to student’s lives that can be very teachable in a classroom.

            The book does not contain any inappropriate thematic material, and it is generally a very easy read. This book may not appeal to all students, so it might be better to use for independent reading; however, a full-class study of this book would also be very possible. It would be beneficial to read Julie of the Wolves first, as the story continues where that book left off. The only potentially challenging aspect of this story for children is the Eskimo culture, as many students in the lower 48 states are unfamiliar with it. George uses many Eskimo words and names that could pose a challenge; she also writes about Arctic features that are possibly very foreign to students, especially if they live in a warm climate. Overall, this book makes for an easy read, and any student who read the first book in the series and enjoyed it will like reading the sequel. 

"Edith Jackson" by Rosa Guy

Edith Jackson by Rosa Guy, published in 1980, is about Edith Jackson, a 17 year old girl who moves between foster homes while trying to keep her family together. Edith, the main character, takes it upon herself to take care of her sisters and maintain some sort of stability in their lives. However, Edith finds her life to be anything but stable. The book’s characters experience issues surrounding orphans, abortion, accidental death, sexual assault, and death. The themes in the book are quite heavy and may be difficult for students to deal with. Some of the most difficult parts of the novel include Edith identifying her sister Bessie’s body after being in a car accident, and the ending of the novel where Edith makes the decision to have an abortion.  I think another one of the most challenging issue in the novel to work through is the explicit sexual assault that takes place between the characters and their care-givers. In my opinion, it might be too much for a student in middle school to understand. As a whole, I also felt the book did not really take time to dig deeper into the emotions or consequences associated with these heavy topics other than the incidents themselves. One theme that I thought might be interesting to explore with students, though, was the author’s realistic depiction of the failure of American institutions like churches, orphanages, and schools. Although this book highlights these themes very well, there might be another novel out there that explores institution failures in a less salacious context.  As a whole, I feel that this book might be good for an independent study, however, to teach to an entire class might run into serious issues with not only students’ comfort levels, but with parents or administrators. The themes, although potentially applicable to life, are a bit provocative to encourage middle school students to read about and experience. This novel could potentially work in a high school setting where students are more mature and have more background knowledge about the themes presented. 

Learning to Swim, by Ann Turner

   

Learning to Swim, by Ann Turner

This collection of free verse captures the tragic summer of young Ann Turner at a summer home.  During this stream of dark memories, Ann suffocates under the pressure of constant sexual abuse by an older neighbor boy, while at the same time trying to comprehend her adolescence and development.  Because of its first person perspective, Turner's horrific story becomes more real with each stanza.

This text is filled with graphic sexual abuse and violent references, so this would make the text somewhat difficult and uncomfortable to read as an entire class.  Reading this aloud in class would be a disaster, especially with the personal experiences of students in the classroom taken into consideration.  Although I found this book to be absolutely amazing and inspiring to all of those who not only have dealt with sexual abuse, but also to anyone who has ever carried a burden.  This book would be great for smaller lit. circles to read alone and discuss, but Turner's courageous confession would serve problematic and contradicting to be on a required reading list.

Learning to Swim is a quick read that should take a student no longer than an hour to finish and gather his/her overall understanding of the text, so the actual reading period of the book can be placed in a day length time period, but there are many options for branching off of the powerful ideas and imagery present in these poems (i.e. pink swimming ring, etc.) that can be grasped by students in a secondary level classroom. 

Learning to Swim by Ann Turner

Learning to Swim

Through a series of short, free verse poems, Ann Turner tells a dark and painful story of her traumatic summer spent with her family, friends, and an abusive older boy that lives near her summer vacation house. Written from the first person perspective, the reader is forced to imagine some of the horrific experiences that were encountered by a naïve, innocent little girl. Turner captures not only the pain and confusion endured during her youth but also the emotional turmoil that has haunted her since that dreadful summer. 

This book has some brief moments of graphic violence and sexual abuse, making it hard to digest at times, but the overall message is extremely uplifting and optimistic. Turner writes: “These poems are a testimony to the healing power of words”. Her book aims to inspire her readers with hope, courage, and strength so that they might be able to find ways of coping with their own problems, rendering this book an appropriate read for only mature students of the middle school age or higher.

The collection of poems reads quickly and easily but it is not without a variety of useful literary devices. Turner exemplifies descriptive writing with this work and displays her skilled use of similes, metaphors, personification, and imagery proving this text’s worth in a secondary level classroom. 

"When I was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

“When I was Puerto Rican," Esmeralda Santiago,1993. 

“When I was Puerto Rican,” by Esmeralda Santiago, is an autobiographical narrative that tells the story of the young Esmeralda, or “Negi,” as her parents affectionately call her.  Negi’s tale begins in her native Puerto Rico, where she experiences childhood as the oldest of eight siblings and the daughter of an unmarried mother and father who love each other and their children but eventually grow apart.  Negi’s life growing up is characterized by frequent relocations between the city and her birthplace of rural Mancún, struggles and triumphs in school, and adventures with her siblings and the occasional neighborhood playmate.  Just when Negi is on the verge of figuring out her life in Puerto Rico, she is uprooted yet again to New York.  Despite new economic, social, and academic adversity, Negi and her family persevere.  The end of the novel jumps ahead to reveal that Negi has successfully progressed through performing arts school and is on the verge of graduating from Harvard.  

This novel is definitely teachable to a middle school audience, with the possible exception of several scenes in which the protagonist is exposed to certain sexual themes that may not be appropriate for young students.  Negi’s search for identity as well as her progression through physical and emotional maturity  are themes that a middle school audience would probably find familiar and relevant.  Universal themes, such as fighting with siblings, taking on increased responsibilities in the home, and the battle of wills between mother and daughter also serve to make the novel appealing to a middle school audience.  The novel offers students the positive message that hard work and determination can lead to life-changing results.  It provides a rich depiction of growing up in rural Puerto Rico and the challenges that face young immigrants.  The writing style is descriptive, yet straightforward, and would probably be at an appropriate level  for most middle school students.