Well, this book turned out to be better and different than I expected. Although certainly didn't like reading about a despondent mother, I appreciated the honest details, especially when the mother, Cecil, was able to explain herself to her eldest daughter, Delphin, who developed such callused emotions towards her mother, but was still able to feel empathy and a sense of endearment towards her.
The topic of the Black Panthers was such a huge part of this story that it would be an important idea for students to learn more about them. Reading the book made ME want to learn more about them.
Below is a link with lesson plans for kids about the Civil Rights Movement from PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/tguide/elem.html
This is a link to a quick description by PBS about the Black Panthers Organization:
I also think it would be interesting and beneficial to have students view other cultural groups that have been discriminated in other countries:
-gypsies in Europe
-indigenous groups in South America-The Basques of Spain
-Smaller groups in Africa
etc. etc...
Overall, I loved seeing the development of each daughter in the story and of course reading about the culminating even of the girls reading a poem written by their mother at a Black Panther's Rally. I would have loved to have seen and heard more about a bigger transformation of the mother, Cecil. But then again, that's what stories sometimes do...leave the inferencing and predictions up to the reader.
Fun story that I believe would be MOST beneficial to my previous students at an almost 100% African-American populated school. This book would really give a different perspective to them about the Civil Rights Movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment