Week 11: Emerging Scholars

After reading all of the books that we have covered in class this semester, I find it hard to pick just one to recommend for the Emerging Scholars class to read this summer. Since I have to pick one book, I would have to say that I think that they should read Esperanza Rising. I think that this book would be a very interesting book for both males and females in that program. The Emerging Scholars program focuses on students from lower income areas, and I think that these students would be able to relate to the struggles and hurdles that must be overcome in Esperanza Rising. Esperanza and her family go from having everything to truly realizing what is important in life, family. I think that these students, because they come from lower income areas could really relate to the struggles and understand the concept of not having material wealth, but wealth at heart. I also think that this book would teach the students about the struggles that go on in other countries, such as Mexico, and give them a better understanding of why people immigrate to America. It would also show them that although America is the "land of promise," there are still troubles that people face in establishing themselves. I think that this novel is a very good book for students to read because it will show them that with a little hard work, happiness can be obtained even without materialistic items.

Week 10: Mulan

I believe that Disney's story of Mulan and the Chinese folktale are very different. Although Mulan is a revolutionary woman in both versions of the tale, I believe that Disney's version tends to Westernize Mulan more than the original version. In Disney's version, once Mulan has revealed herself, there is hope that she will remain a powerful woman who continues to break the sexist traditional barriers of her society and culture. On the other hand, the original version depicts Mulan fighting to save her father and prove a point and then returning back to the woman who would be accepted by her Chinese culture. Although I am a fan of keeping stories true to their origin, I believe that in order for the story to become as popular world wide, Disney had to make the movie more Westernized. By making Mulan more Westernized, the story fits better into western culture, one that is dominated by more and more revolutionary women breaking out in what used to be known as strictly a "man's world". I think that viewers would have been fine to relate to a version involving a character like Ailin, due to their ability to see the struggles and relate to what she is going through to an extent. In a world in which Disney's main audience is the Western world, I think that making Mulan more Westernized helped to raise awareness and interest in the original Chinese story.

WEEK 9: Black and White

In the book Black and White, Paul Volponi uses many of his personal experiences working with prisoners in his work. Although many critics may argue that Volponi is exploiting these experiences with disadvantaged people, I believe that he is doing just the opposite and is paying tribute to the struggles that some people face. Volponi worked in Rikers Island, where he witnessed that the overwhelming majority of inmates were black or hispanic, and were in poor living conditions. He places Marcus in this area in order to show the unbalance between blacks and white, and to further illustrate the line that separates black and white. In this scene, Volponi is paying tribute to those who were incarcerated, not expoiting them for entertainment in his book. Volponi later uses the experience he had a with a crazy drunk man on a subway train going off on a racial tirade. Volponi uses this experience and has Eddie and Marcus witness this man, and while all of their friends find it funny, it strikes a certain spot in Marcus and Eddie's hearts, thus showing that Volponi is paying tribute to the lessons that he learned from this man's racial ignorance. Finally, Volponi uses his experience as a basketball coach in a game where a fight broke out and a student was killed for no reason to further drive home the seriousness that the lines between black and white has drawn. Volponi uses these experiences in his work to teach lessons about racial divides to students, thus paying tribute to those who took part in these times in his own life.

Week 8: Linguistic Characteristics

There are many similarities and differences between word use in children’s literature and adult fiction. Children’s books are usually used to convey an idealistic world through the use of narrative words like, “said”. The use of direct speech is more prevalent in children’s literature than in adult fiction, due to the popular story style in children’s literary works. Johnson’s study found that adult and children’s fiction are closely linked by certain linguistic characteristics that are prevalent regardless of the designated audience. Although these styles are linguistically similar, children’s literature is often definable by the use of certain words and sentence structures that are characteristic of writing for children and how they see the world. After reading several of the books that we have completed this semester, I can see how Johnson’s observations are true, such as in The Copper Sun. Although adults can read this book and draw more from it, when children read it, the style and word usage is appropriate for the mind of a child while still getting the point about slavery and hope across. In my opinion, I think that Johnson’s observations are for the most part correct and can be seen while analyzing literature.

Week 7: Fairy Tales

Growing up, I read fairy tales all of the time. The ones that really stick in my mind are the tales that really spark the imagination while conveying good moral actions from the reader. I believe that fairy tales are used to convey lessons to children in more creative ways so that children subconsciously understand the lessons without becoming disinterested by hearing a lecture on how to behave. When I was little, I really liked Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and Cinderella. Each of these tales were very imaginative and definitely not something that would occur exactly the same in real life. These stories tell children to avoid strangers, not to take things from strangers, listen to your parents, and that every life, no matter how hard it may seem has happiness, and that you are not confined to simply one societal level. I believe that certain fairy tales cater towards certain groups of children, such as Cinderella is more of a female empowering story that is targeted at young girls who have the common "little girl" dream of becoming a princess. This story gives every girl, no matter her societal status, the hope that one day she too will meet her Prince Charming and will live a very happy life. Although these stories are very empowering, they are often criticized for being unrealistic. I disagree with this argument some what, because I think that the young age that these stories are targeted for are at an age where children need to dream and use their imagination. Children are very impressionable at a young age, and I think that fairy tales do a good job of teaching them valuable lessons while also sparking their dreams and imagination at the same time.

Week 6: "A Single Shard"

The article, High School Students Responses to Alternative Value Stances Associated with the Study of Multicultural Literature by Beach et al really relates the cultural divide that most students face when analyzing multicultural literature. The article gives multiple students’ reactions to cultural issues in various books to further demonstrate the need for students to be better informed in matters that people from other cultural backgrounds are facing. This article stresses the need for teachers to help children broaden their worldly views by exposing them to multicultural literature and providing background information before they read the literature so that they have a better understanding of the issues exposed in the literature. This book directly relates to the book Fresh Girl that we have read in this class because without prior knowledge about the Haitian culture, students would not be able to fully grasp the messages in the story. In the story, Marti faces a lot of discrimination for her Haitian heritage, even though she is American in nationality. The students in the book fail to understand Marti and make fun of her accent and clothes. Although I am older, and more educated culturally than the target middle school audience of this novel, I had a hard time connecting with Marti’s feelings and experiences of being discriminated against. Like many students who have read this book, I have not been physically exposed to many people from Haiti and other countries, thus making it hard for me to completely connect with Marti’s issues early on in the novel. I agree with the article when it suggests that students need to be better educated culturally in order to better understand the cultural issues addressed in many multicultural books.

Week 5: "Fresh Girl"

I am not sure why this did not post last weekend when I thought that I had posted it, so here it is:

The article, High School Students Responses to Alternative Value Stances Associated with the Study of Multicultural Literature by Beach et al really relates the cultural divide that most students face when analyzing multicultural literature. The article gives multiple students’ reactions to cultural issues in various books to further demonstrate the need for students to be better informed in matters that people from other cultural backgrounds are facing. This article stresses the need for teachers to help children broaden their worldly views by exposing them to multicultural literature and providing background information before they read the literature so that they have a better understanding of the issues exposed in the literature. This book directly relates to the book Fresh Girl that we have read in this class because without prior knowledge about the Haitian culture, students would not be able to fully grasp the messages in the story. In the story, Marti faces a lot of discrimination for her Haitian heritage, even though she is American in nationality. The students in the book fail to understand Marti and make fun of her accent and clothes. Although I am older, and more educated culturally than the target middle school audience of this novel, I had a hard time connecting with Marti’s feelings and experiences of being discriminated against. Like many students who have read this book, I have not been physically exposed to many people from Haiti and other countries, thus making it hard for me to completely connect with Marti’s issues early on in the novel. I agree with the article when it suggests that students need to be better educated culturally in order to better understand the cultural issues addressed in many multicultural books.