Eagle Book Club

We have begun our discussion of the Stone Age. We will finish chapter 3 next Monday, test on Tuesday, and complete the open response on Friday. Also, we will continue work on our ILP's on Wednesday and Thursday for the next two weeks.

A Jar of Dreams by Yoshiko Uchida is a very inspiring book. It takes place in California during the depression, and center to the story is an eleven year old Japanese girl named Rinko. Rinko finds herself at school feeling put down and demeaned because she is picked on cruelly by the boys and, even worse, completely ignored by the girls. She has dreams of becoming a teacher one day. Her parents put tremendous emphasis and effort into their kid’s college funds. Her older brother, Cal, is studying to be an engineer, but when he starts to give up on his dream, Rinko starts doubting whether she can ever be a teacher. That summer, her mother’s sister, Aunt Waka comes to visit. Aunt Waka brings her pride in their Japanese heritage with her and instills that pride in all her family members. The whole family comes under racial attack when a commercial laundry store tries to run her mother’s at home laundry business into the ground. Her little brother’s dog is even killed by the owner of this laundry store. Rinko’s father and their family friend stand up to the owner of that laundry store, and Rinko knows she and her family will never be the same after Aunt Waka’s visit.
This would be an excellent book for the middle school children I teach to read. It brings to light the hardships people from different racial backgrounds face. It puts you in their shoes, and you understand the pain they have to endure in situations such as these. The lesson is one that can be learned even on smaller scale situations; kids are often ridiculed by other kids for a lot less than the color of their skin.
This book reminds me of when I was in grade school. My father worked in the Peabody mines and was laid off one year. Because of that, my twin brother and I received free lunches. I thought that was the singularly most humiliating experience ever going thru that line and having to tell the lunch lady, “Free!” Of course, it seemed like she could never hear me, and I always knew the whole cafeteria would hear me yell free lunch. It was embarrassing to me because kids who received free lunch were always seen as a lower status than kids who paid. Now, I know there is nothing that I should have been ashamed of. But, I still feel very appreciative of the new systems in school cafeteria’s where you punch in a lunch number regardless of whether you’re “free” or you pay for that lunch.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis is a Newbery Honor book and a Coretta Scott King Award Winner. This book was very touching. Elijah Freeman is an eleven year old boy who is the first child born free in the town of Buxton, Canada. He is very loved by his parents but often feels that he doesn't have their respect because they view him as "fra-gile". Being fragile entails everything from crying too much and getting scared too easily to believing stories of grown ups that do not make sense. He wants to be seen as grown up and not fragile and he struggles with that through the whole book. He is very talented at throwing rocks with uncanny accuracy and would rather ride a mule than a horse. In this book, you see him change from a fragile boy to a very brave young man. He works in the afternoons with Mr. Leroy chopping timber. Mr Leroy has been working solid for four years trying to save up the money to buy his family out of slavery in America when a kind, widowed neighbor gives him the money to buy his family after she learns of her husband's death. Sadly, the preacher of the settlement volunteers to buy Mr Leroy's family, but steals the money to gamble with. When Mr. Leroy finds out about this, he is devastated and a little out of his mind. The book doesn't elaborate, but he is more than likely out of his mind due to the situation and failing health as well. When Mr. Leroy dies on the journey, Elijah takes it upon himself to finish it.

I honestly can't say this book reminds me of any childhood experiences. It paints such a decisive picture of slavery and how slavery affects this free child. I do believe it is a very important book for young readers to experience. Getting a taste of what people went through in this era of our history is a very humbling experience.

Sadly, you still see acts of racism in schools and in the age group this book targets. Because of that, this book could be a very important learning tool in bringing to light the hardships the African race endured through slavery and, hopefully, change the mindset of kids.

The City of Dragons written by Laurence Yep was a touching story. We all have instances in our life where we have felt like we don't fit in or don't belong, and everyone can relate to that theme in this book. The story is about a boy with the saddest face in the world. He's not even given a name in the book, but just referred to as "the boy." He leaves his home when he feels as if his parents are being treated unfairly because of his sad face. He meets up with a caravan of giants who take him with them under the sea to the City of Dragons. There, his sad face proves invaluable when by his sad face, he causes the dragons to cry abundant amounts of pearls enabling the giants to make their money. He goes home a hero and all the people never tire of listening to his story of adventure, despite gazing upon his sad face.

I teach at a middle school and it is such a pivotal age for teenagers. Oftentimes, it's very hard to watch their struggles of trying to fit in, feeling like they don't fit in, and lowering their standards to feel like they're a part of something. This story really relates to what I've seen in my classroom when I see these kids trying to come into their own.

Books written by Laurence Yep:
The Serpent's Children
Mountain Light
Dragonwings
Dragon of the Lost Sea
Dragon War
The Case of the Goblin Pearls
City of Fire
City of Ice
The Tiger's Apprentice

How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? written by Julius Lester is a compilation of African and Jewish folktales. I didn't particularly care for these folktales; these stories are not ones I would read to my own son. They are very vivid in description and paint a clear picture, too much so in some aspects. It is a wide range of stories. One story is an explanation of the placement of the sun and moon in the heavens and the water on earth. One story explains why dogs chase cats. Another story portrays a woman's longing for children, receiving them (in a roundabout way) and then losing them forever. Another tells an amusing tale of quick wit and intelligence in which a turtle, elephant and hippopotamus go toe to toe in a tug of war match. Despite my own personal opinion, I think it would be beneficial for kids to read these types of stories to broaden their horizons and become more aware of other culture's folktales.

Other books written by Julius Lester:
To Be a Slave
Black Folktales
The Knee-High Man and Other Tales
The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit
Long Journey Home
This Strange New Feeling

The Talking Eggs was written by Robert D San Souci, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and is a Caldecott Honor book and a Coretta Scott King Award Honor book. I enjoyed this book. Who doesn't like reading a story about the person who has a good soul but gets mistreated getting the happy ending while seeing the greedy mean people who get what they deserve? The illustrations in the book were plentiful and blended quite well in telling the story. The story is about a mother who is mean, lazy, and hateful, and her two daughters who are opposites. Her daughter Rose is just like her mother and is her mother's favorite while her sister Blanche is kind but get mistreated by both of them. Blanche stumbles across a kind old witch-woman who rewards her good behavior with wealth and fine things. Of course, the Mom and Rose plot and try to acquire the same things from the witch-woman and get their just desserts. Young readers would do well to learn these life lessons in that good behavior is awarded by good things and vice versa. It's an entertaining story that will keep a young reader's interest while getting the moral of the story across. It's lessons like this that I try to incorporate into the classroom in order to instill some of these life's lessons along with the academics.

Jerry Pinkney has also illustrated the following books:
The Song of the Trees
The Tales of Uncle Remus
Back Home
John Henry
Sam and the Tigers
The Little Match Girl
The Nightingale
Little Red Hen
The Old African

Written by author E. B. White in 1952, Charlotte's Web is a classic children's book that is read by almost every kid in elementary school. The book tells the story of small pig being born and saved by a young girl named Fern. Wilbur, the pig, becomes Ferns pet even though he is sold to Fern's uncle after a few weeks. In the barn, the lonely pig becomes friends with a spider named Charlotte who eventually attempts to save Wilbur from the butcher by writing words in her web. Charlotte is very successful in her attempt to save Wilbur and they both end up at the county fair. While at the fair, Charlotte lays her eggs and dies. After having his life saved by Charlotte, Wilbur brings home her eggs and befriends the baby spiders.

I remember hearing this story as a child, but I never actually read the book. I also never took the time to watch the movie since it did not appeal to me as an adult; however, after reading the book and watching the movie, I must admit that I really enjoyed the book and thought the movie was decent. The movie followed the basic premise of the book with the exception of a few minor changes that didn't affect the overall story. For example, the movie includes a scene in which Fern bring Wilbur to school and gets in trouble for the mess he makes. The book does not mention this incident.

This book and movie reminded me of several pets I have owned in the past. While I have never owned a pig, I have owned a number of animals that had to be put down for various reasons. Unfortunately, my vain attempts to save the animals were never as successful as Charlotte's attempt to save Wilbur.

I have never read any other books by E. B. White, so I can't really compare this book to one of his other works.

While reading this book, I realized it is possible to have a happy ending in a children's book that contains a great deal of sadness. Throughout the story Wilbur was worried about becoming Christmas dinner. Fortunately for Wilbur, his friend Charlotte saved him; however, Charlotte died near the end of the story leaving her eggs behind at the fair. Wilbur takes the eggs back to the barn and befriends three of the spiders. In the end, they overcome the trauma of Charlotte's death and live happily ever after.