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Road to Memphis
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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 10:03:15 -0500
Mildred Taylor's The Road to Memphis is one of my students' favorites in their seventh grade program, and one of my favorites of the year, too. I think the whole series is excellent, and I love this concept of a writer's mining family stories to create the story of a family over the generations. All students seem to find connections to this story of the Logans.
The Road to Memphis is my favorite in the series, though I, too, eagerly await additions to the series, and my students get frustrated by not knowing what happens next for Cassie.
The Road to Memphis lends itself to all sorts of discussions and activities. Better than any novel I know, it explores the levels and layers of prejudice for one family in Depression-era Mississippi. As a parallel reading, my class reads Suzanne Staples's Dangerous Skies, which effectively explores prejudice and racism in a modern?y town on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I like to do Suzanne's book along with The Road to Memphis for the connections that can be made, and to counter students' thinking that prejudice was something that happened "back then" and everything is okay now. When Suzanne Staples visits my class, she continues the discussion with her story of how she came to write Dangerous Skies. Many of the written and oral discussions we do are intended to get students thinking about the relationships in these stories and the layers of prejudice, obvious and subtle.
The Road to Memphis is great for the creative writing it can inspire, too. One of my sure-fire hits of a project is to have students rewrite "The Hunt" scene from a different character's point of view. I've received wonderfully reflective writings from a tree's point of view, from the path's, one of the hunting dog's, Jeremy's, etc.I have had students take the poetically written passage on page 188 and write a list poem, either simply rewording Mildred Taylor's writing or writing an original poem with the same theme of good things in your life. Since the novel ends with characters heading toward uncertain futures (as we all do, I guess), I sometimes have students pick a character and write a monologue poem expressing the thoughts, feelings, experiences of that character about what has happened and what my be in store.
I choose several read-alouds to go along with The Road to Memphis, including The Story of Ruby Bridges, Faith Ringgold's various books, Teammates, Wilma Unlimited, and one or more of Mildred Taylor's short works, such as Mississippi Bridge.
At the recent Points of View conference in Madison, a children's books editor noted the concern of some African American parents about books such as Mildred Taylor's being taught since they deal so much with the problems, and they don't want to perpetuate the negative image of a whole people's experience. However, I feel that Mildred Taylor's books and characters transcend the bad that happens. Taylor certainly does not hide the racism and outright meanness of people, but I think one reason we can't wait for another book in the series is that we know Cassie will struggle, and we know something good will come of her struggles. We hope that for all of our lives.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205
Received on Thu 06 May 1999 10:03:15 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 10:03:15 -0500
Mildred Taylor's The Road to Memphis is one of my students' favorites in their seventh grade program, and one of my favorites of the year, too. I think the whole series is excellent, and I love this concept of a writer's mining family stories to create the story of a family over the generations. All students seem to find connections to this story of the Logans.
The Road to Memphis is my favorite in the series, though I, too, eagerly await additions to the series, and my students get frustrated by not knowing what happens next for Cassie.
The Road to Memphis lends itself to all sorts of discussions and activities. Better than any novel I know, it explores the levels and layers of prejudice for one family in Depression-era Mississippi. As a parallel reading, my class reads Suzanne Staples's Dangerous Skies, which effectively explores prejudice and racism in a modern?y town on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I like to do Suzanne's book along with The Road to Memphis for the connections that can be made, and to counter students' thinking that prejudice was something that happened "back then" and everything is okay now. When Suzanne Staples visits my class, she continues the discussion with her story of how she came to write Dangerous Skies. Many of the written and oral discussions we do are intended to get students thinking about the relationships in these stories and the layers of prejudice, obvious and subtle.
The Road to Memphis is great for the creative writing it can inspire, too. One of my sure-fire hits of a project is to have students rewrite "The Hunt" scene from a different character's point of view. I've received wonderfully reflective writings from a tree's point of view, from the path's, one of the hunting dog's, Jeremy's, etc.I have had students take the poetically written passage on page 188 and write a list poem, either simply rewording Mildred Taylor's writing or writing an original poem with the same theme of good things in your life. Since the novel ends with characters heading toward uncertain futures (as we all do, I guess), I sometimes have students pick a character and write a monologue poem expressing the thoughts, feelings, experiences of that character about what has happened and what my be in store.
I choose several read-alouds to go along with The Road to Memphis, including The Story of Ruby Bridges, Faith Ringgold's various books, Teammates, Wilma Unlimited, and one or more of Mildred Taylor's short works, such as Mississippi Bridge.
At the recent Points of View conference in Madison, a children's books editor noted the concern of some African American parents about books such as Mildred Taylor's being taught since they deal so much with the problems, and they don't want to perpetuate the negative image of a whole people's experience. However, I feel that Mildred Taylor's books and characters transcend the bad that happens. Taylor certainly does not hide the racism and outright meanness of people, but I think one reason we can't wait for another book in the series is that we know Cassie will struggle, and we know something good will come of her struggles. We hope that for all of our lives.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205
Received on Thu 06 May 1999 10:03:15 AM CDT
