Module 13: Sisters

Module 13: Graphic Novels and Series Books

Book Summary

Sisters was written by Raina Telgemeier and it is a biographical graphic novel about the time of the author’s life when she was a teen, with flashbacks to when she was younger. The main storyline revolves around a road trip the family takes from their home in San Francisco to a family reunion in Colorado. In one of the flashbacks, Raina couldn’t wait to be a big sister but once Amara was born, things don’t work out the way Raina thought they would. Amara is grouchy and prefers to be alone. The sisters’ relationship doesn't improve over the years, and then a baby brother enters the picture. Later, their parents seem to not be getting along. The sisters work on their own relationship with each other.

APA Reference of Book

Telgemeier, R. (2014). Sisters. New York, NY: Graphix

Impressions

I was pleasantly surprised! This book was so engaging and fun to read. Graphic novels are able to achieve through the illustrations the subtleties of things like feelings that can be hard to describe in words. This book made me think about adolescence, family trips, and my relationships with my siblings.

Professional Review

Two sisters who are constantly at odds take a family road trip that covers more ground—both literally and figuratively—than they expect. After begging her parents for a sister, Raina gets more than she bargained for once Amara is born. From the moment she was brought home, Amara hasn't been quite the cuddly playmate that Raina had hoped. As the years pass, the girls bicker constantly and apparently couldn't be more unalike: Raina spends her time indoors underneath her headphones, and Amara loves animals and the outdoors. The girls, their mother and their little brother all pack up to drive to a family reunion, and it seems like the trip's just going to be more of the same, with the girls incessantly picking on each other all the way from San Francisco to Colorado. However, when the trip doesn't go quite as planned—for a number of reasons—the girls manage to find some common ground. Told in then-and-now narratives that are easily discernable in the graphic format, Telgemeier's tale is laugh-out-loud funny (especially the story about the snake incident) and quietly serious all at once. Her rounded, buoyant art coupled with a masterful capacity for facial expressions complements the writing perfectly. Fans of her previous books Smile (2010) and Drama (2012) shouldn't miss this one; it's a winner. A wonderfully charming tale of family and sisters that anyone can bond with. 2014, Graphix/Scholastic, 208 pp., $24.99. Category: Graphic memoir. Ages 7 to 13. Starred Review. © 2014 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved. 

(PUBLISHER: Graphix (New York:), PUBLISHED: [2014]) 

Reference

[Review of the book Sisters by R. Telgemeier]. (2014, June 1). Kirk’s Reviews, 82(11).

Library Uses

Discussion Questions from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/guide-raina-telgemeiers-sisters

1. Sisters takes place during different timelines, one focusing on the family road trip between San Francisco and Colorado. The others are a series of flashbacks to different times in Raina’s past. Why do you think the author decided to tell her story this way? How can you tell, from either the words or the pictures, which time period it is?
2. Which moments make Raina regret wishing for a sister? Which moments convince her having a sister is worth the aggravation?
3. Look at the full-page illustrations that appear between some sections throughout the book. What do these images tell you that you don’t learn elsewhere in the book? Why do you think the author chose to highlight these objects?
4. Consider how Raina feels about Amara at the beginning of the road trip and how she feels at the end. Do you think the road trip changed their attitudes? Identify three turning points in their relationship.
5. In comics, words and sounds are drawn or colored to signal how they sound. What do the styles of the word balloons, colors, and lettering tell you? Look at pages 108-109 for examples. What makes something a scream? A thought? A song? How do these add to the story?
6. Raina escapes her family’s crowded apartment and the confines of the van by listening to her Walkman. How does music help her relationships with her family? How does it hurt those relationships?
7. Consider Raina and Amara. What are three things that you see as appealing about Raina as a person? About Amara? What do you think they would list as three good (or bad) things about each other at the beginning of the story? What about at the end?
8. Sisters is a companion book to Raina Telgemeier’s memoir Smile, a story about Raina’s front teeth getting severely injured. How do the stories in Sisters fit together with those in Smile? How does reading both books give you a more complex picture of Raina and her family?
9. Compare Raina’s immediate family, including her mom, dad, brother, and sister, to her aunts, uncles, and cousins Josh, Jeremy, and Lindsay. How do Raina’s expectations for hanging out with her cousins compare to the reality? What does she learn about family, both good and bad?
10. Consider the fight that Raina and Amara have on pages 136 through 139. When Amara says, “You’re not being nice. You’re just feeling sorry for yourself,” what do you think she’s trying to tell Raina? What does Raina learn from that accusation?

Module 12: Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith

Module 12: Biography & Autobiography

Book Summary

The book begin’s with Charles Darwin having a hard time deciding whether or not to get married. He made a pros and cons list and decided on getting married because the pros outweighed the cons! 

The book chronicles Charles and Emma's lives as husband and wife starting with how they met (they were first cousins!), to having children (they had 10!), and all the way until their deaths—first Charles, then Emma. In tandem are the scientific discoveries Charles is making throughout his life, such as his theory of evolution. Along with Charles’ scientific work and publishing (which Emma helped with, too!), the theme of religion plays a big part in the Darwins’ story. Emma was very religious and Charles was pretty much agnostic or even atheist. They struggled with their religious differences for their entire lives but still managed to listen to, respect, and contemplate each other’s points of view. Most striking was perhaps how this book portrayed Charles Darwin as a very loving husband and father. He loved Emma more than anything in the world, and he loved and spent a lot of time with his children, which at the time (and still for some folks) was very rare for fathers to really pay any attention at all to their kids. Another thing I did not know about Charles Darwin that I learned from this book is that he was very sickly, and I feel really sad that he was ill so often. 

APA Reference of Book

Heiligman, D. (2009). Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ leap of faith. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Impressions

This book is awesome. It’s a biography of Charles Darwin and his wife, Emma. It chronicles a different aspect of Darwin’s life than we are used to reading about. 

Charles Darwin is one of my heroes and this book reinforced that even more. You know how sometimes you find out bad stuff about people you really admire, like celebrities or historical figures, and you feel kind of betrayed? Well, this book did the exact opposite. It was refreshing to learn that Charles Darwin, aside from being a brilliant and brave scientist, was also a good person! He loved his wife so much! How many scientific dudes do we learn about just seem so stern and emotionless (not to mention how many ideas were stolen from women or the situations where women collaborated but were not given credit for their part). But here we have Charles Darwin, one of the biggest names in science, and he is an emotional, sappy ball of mush for his wifey and his kiddos!! I love it! 

Professional Review

When the book opens, Charles Darwin is trying to make a decision, and he is doing so in time-honored fashion: drawing a line down a piece of paper and putting the pros of marriage on one side and the cons on the other. As much as Darwin is interested in wedded life, he is afraid that family life will take him away from the revolutionary work he is doing on the evolution of species. However, the pluses triumph, and he finds the perfect mate in his first-cousin Emma, who becomes his comforter, editor, mother of his 10 children--and sparring partner. Although highly congenial, Charles and Emma were on opposite sides when it came to the role of God in creation. Heiligman uses the Darwin family letters and papers to craft a full-bodied look at the personal influences that shaped Charles' life as he worked mightily to form his theories. This intersection between religion and science is where the book shines, but it is also an excellent portrait of what life was like during the Victorian era, a time when illness and death were ever present, and, in a way, a real-time example of the survival of the fittest. Occasionally hard to follow, in part because of the many characters (the family tree helps), this is well sourced and mostly fascinating, and may attract a wider audience than those interested in science. Austen fans will find a romance to like here, too. To be illustrated with photographs. Ilene Cooper 

Reference

Cooper, I. (2009, January 1 & 15). Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ leap of faith. [Review of the book Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by D. Heiligman]. Booklist, 105(9-10), 68.

Library Uses

Do a subject study! There are TONS of children’s/young adult books about Charles Darwin. For example, you could include beautifully illustrated The Tree of Life by Peter Sís (whose books are ALL beautifully illustrated!). 

Then you could also study the theory of evolution and connect it to some STEM/STEAM/STREAM programming with activities on evolution and ecology, such as species classification, look at the differences/similarities between easy-to-handle animals (like bugs!).

Module 11: Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy

Module 11: Informational Books

Book Summary

This week one of the books I read was Flesh & Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin. It is about the fire in 1911 at the Triangle Waist Company, a blouse sweatshop in New York City’s garment district. The fire killed 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women. The book also chronicles the garment industry of the time as well as the labor reforms that took place after the deadly fire.

APA Reference of Book

Marrin, A. (2011). Flesh & blood so cheap: The Triangle Fire and its legacy. New York, NY: Alfred A Knopf.

Impressions

Albert Marrin is a professor of history at Yeshiva University in New York. He has written many juvenile nonfiction books and won many awards, including the National Humanities Medal (http://bit.ly/AMarrinYeshivaU; http://albertmarrin.com/index.php?id=47). I learned a lot from reading his book. I had only heard about the Triangle Fire after the news of a garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed in 2012, killing 134 workers, which occurred only five months after a fire in another Bangladesh factory killed 112. Some media were drawing comparisons to the Triangle Fire and the need for labor reforms.

Marrin’s book was really interesting, accurate and I liked everything except for a brief part at the end, where Marrin kind of trivializes the suffering of labor industry workers in developing nations in an attempt, I assume, to show both sides, i.e. industry isn’t evil. He was essentially saying that, yes, sweatshops subject workers (including children) to horrible conditions and extremely low wages, but they are actually the best paying jobs in countries like Bangladesh. I do understand this perspective, but I worry that he just kind of left it at that. Nonfiction, especially when created for children, must be as unbiased as possible, but I wish Marrin had followed up with a more critical look at labor rights and international industry. Just because the international garment industry is helping the Bangladesh economy doesn’t mean we can’t also learn about the part we play in the wealthy and powerful West in contributing to the poverty, suffering and exploitation of developing nations.

I really like this interactive documentary from The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/apr/bangladesh-shirt-on-your-back) because they bring up the point that, yes, Bangladesh is “winning” by having the garment industry in their country, but they are also losing because every year, even after the building collapse in 2012 that the media paid attention to for about a week, people are still suffering and dying in Bangladesh factories. We do a disservice to our youth if we don’t get them thinking about the bigger picture and their place in it.

Professional Review

At the core of this landmark look at labor history is the detailed drama of the notorious 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 workers died. Most of the victims were immigrant women between the ages of 14 and 23 who were burned or suffocated behind locked doors or who perished when they tried to escape the flames by jumping from windows. Their catastrophic deaths lead to changes in U.S. working conditions and fueled a campaign for union rights. This volume's excellent early chapters focus on the personal histories of the victims, many of whom were Russian Jews and Italian Catholics, and examine why their families left Europe, the passage to America, and life in New York City's tenements. Following chapters delve into the horrifying factory conditions that led to the fire. The highly readable book design features black-and-white photos on every double-page spread as well as newspaper accounts and biographical profiles, including those of leading protesters, such as Jacob Riis and Rose Schneiderman. Marrin further expands the discussion with disturbing contemporary parallels to underground sweatshops today. Sure to spark discussion, this standout title concludes with source notes and suggested-reading lists that will lead students to further resources for research and debate.--Hazel Rochman

Reference

Rochman, H. (2011, April 1). Flesh & blood so cheap: The triangle fire and its legacy. [Review of the book Flesh & blood so cheap: The triangle fire and its legacy, by A. Marrin]. Booklist, 107(15), 63.

Library Uses

From Grade 8 ELA Common Core Standards for reading informational texts, writing, and speaking and listening.

Most of those who perished in the Triangle Fire were Jewish and Italian immigrants. Why? Have participants research the lives and struggles of these two groups around the turn of the 20th century. Topics for discussion: where did immigrants work and live? Which groups immigrated in greater numbers and why? What were the working and living standards they usually encountered?

Retrieved from: http://asset.studysync.com/library/759/lesson_plan.pdf

Module 10: Here Lies the Librarian

Book Summary

Module 10: Historical Fiction!

The book by Richard Peck starts with a tornado coming through a little town in Indiana where the story is set. The tornado causes minor damage but manages to extract several bodies from the ground in the town graveyard; some bodies even flew out of their coffins. As the main character, a tomboy named Peewee, goes to check on her mother’s grave, she passes the gravesite of the former town librarian, who was thankfully spared by the tornado like Peewee’s mother. Since the librarian’s death the town decided not to hire a replacement. With the library essentially closed, one of the town farmers took it upon himself to save the entire library collection in his barn because he thought it was important that a town have books, even if there was going to be no library.
Eventually four young women from Indianapolis ride into town in fancy cars, signs of their privilege and class. All students of a Library Science college, they came into town to check out the spectacle of tornado damage and to inquire about the town’s shuttered library. They convince the town’s people to open the library back up and proceed to take turns running it. The leader, Irene, pulls Peewee in to help out as much as she can and also shows her how to be a lady. This is the librarian-related stuff.

APA Reference of Book

Peck, R. (2006). Here lies the librarian. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.


Impressions

The historical aspects are mainly the cars and car mechanic work of the time. There is eventually a race where Jake, Pewee’s older brother, enters a car he has built up himself. There is a rival garage owned by a large family who continually vandalizes Jake and Peewee’s garage and assaults their dog. There is a slight love story where Jake’s love interest—surprise surprise—is really into cars, too! There is a lot of driving and fixing cars. The story seems true to the time period in the descriptions of the way life was lived back then in rural Indiana, the way people spoke, particularly in that region (the author himself is from that area of the country), and the book is true to the specifics about cars of the early 1900s.
I would also like to say that I really appreciated how the author did not adhere to gender stereotypes, even though we tend to think of cars and librarianship (especially librarianship of the past) as very black and white, male versus female practices. Peck stayed true to the time period (a time period which adhered way more to gender roles than we do now) without any sexism, unless it was to demonstrate the everyday sexism of the time and town, as portrayed through the actions of certain characters.
I think the books is very accurate because historical fiction is author Richard Peck’s jam! He is a prolific historical fiction writer, cranking out a book every year! He is well-accustomed to the thorough background research necessary to write a high quality, interesting book of this genre.

Professional Review

PECK, RICHARD Here lies the Librarian. Dial, 2006 [208p] ISBN 0-8037-3080-2 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-8
Peck moves eastward from back-of-beyond Illinois (A Year Down Yonder, BCCB 1/01) to boondocks Indiana, 1914, for this tale of a parentless brother and sister, Jake and Eleanor, who scrape out a living servicing autos in a borrowed shed and dream of opening a real repair shop just as soon as hard pavement makes its way to their corner of the world. The answer to their automotive dreams arrives in a somewhat different guise than they expect-a quartet of affluent young ladies from Indiana University who take over the town library in what must rate as literature's Extreme Job Share. Big brother Jake's attentions seem torn between the lovely Irene and equally lovely Grace, and Irene finds time between shifts to take fourteen-year-old narrator Eleanor in hand and try to make some semblance of a lady out of a rough-hewn grease monkey. Despite the best efforts of a rival service station to sabotage their plans, Jake (with the help of Grace's family clout) gets to race at Indianapolis and Eleanor ultimately takes the wheel as the Stutz rattles first across the finish line. Once again Peck demonstrates his masterful storytelling ability with a riveting opener in which a tornado blows through the cemetery and relocates a host of deceased citizens and/or their bits and pieces. From there, though, much of the plotting relies on the unconvincing and underdeveloped premise that four independently wealthy library grads would take on the rural job, and that a pair of exceedingly eccentric neighbors (even by Peck standards) would keep brother and sister independent over the years. Nonetheless, Eleanor is a delightful narrator whose wry observations draw humor from a culture clash rather than simply exploit rube vs. snob plot potential. EB
Reference

Bush, E. (2006, May). Here lies the librarian. [Review of the book Here lies the librarian, by R. Peck]. Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 59(9), 418-419.

Library Uses

Use this book and non-fiction books to study the automobile in the 1920s. Look at archival footage of 1920s automobiles, races, and factories. Research which activities were off limits to girls and women in the 1920s.