From: Susan Daugherty <kdaugherty>
Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 12:24:18 -0500

I'll resend this since it didn't arrive last time. Susan

which only cover an incident or two in the life of the famous person. I recently read one of these types of books to some second graders and was impressed by the pros and cons which we have been discussing. heard of: Frederick Douglass. It made his life come alive for them in a way The Childhood of Famous Americans bio probably wouldn't. BUT... were many things left unsaid. Maybe all adults reading this book aloud would then talk about it. But what about the kids who read the books to themselves? Specifically, this particular book alluded to the fact that Douglass fought back while a slave and was treated better because of it. This must have been such an uncommon occurrence that I felt we had to discuss that; otherwise it seems that a kid might say, "Well, why didn't all the slaves just do that?" And the victims of the Nazis, etc., etc. We don't want simplistic biographies to encourage simplistic thinking. simple biographies. Even adult biographies have points of view that can be argued about!
Received on Mon 13 May 1996 12:24:18 PM CDT