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Nonfiction in the Classroom
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 08:37:55 +0000
I highly recommend The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano
(Random, 2000), Ann Cameron's adaptation of Equinao's 1789 memoir, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings (Penguin, 1998).
I used it last year after one of my fourth graders commented, after a visit to Ellis Island, that he was sure that the steerage travel that many turn-of-the?ntury immigrants experienced was worse than the Middle Passage. Others in the class were shocked and tried to change his mind without success. I realized that many had only heard about the Middle Passage tangentially so with parental encouragement and support, decided to address the issue head-on. I began with a read-aloud and discussion of Siegelson's and Pickney's In The Time of the Drums (Jump at the Sun, 1999), a Sea Island folktale involving the Middle Passage. (While I greatly admire Julius Lester's From Slave Ship to Freedom Road I decided not to use it with this particular group of children; I felt it would be too upsetting.) I followed that by reading The Kidnapped Prince to my class. It was a very powerful experience. I only read a chapter a day to allow for plenty of discussion. To help them to understand what it means to adapt a book like this for children I showed them Equiano's original book, especially the first chapter where I had highlighted the parts that Cameron had used in her adaptation. I showed artifacts from Sierra Leone
(where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer) when they were mentioned in the text since Equiano was also from West Africa. For example Equiano refers to a special blue dye used in clothing so I showed the children my indigo dyed Sierra Leonean lappas. Later I invited a former Peace Corps Volunteer from Equiano's homeland of Benin to provide even more firsthand context.
My students were disturbed by Equiano's patience as owner after owner reneged on freeing him (he finally bought his own) so I thought they'd be interested in learning about the Amistad incident as a contrast. Looking for an age-appropriate book on the incident I found only one: Veronica Chamber's and Paul Lee's Amistad Rising: A Story of Freedom. According to Chambers and Lee, "Most of the book is factual, though we've imagined Cinque's words and feelings and some of his actions in order to bring life to a journey that happened more than 150 years ago." I used this book along with primary source images from Zeinert's The Amistad Slave Revolt
(Linnet, 1997) and Walter Dean Myer's Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
(Dutton, 1998). In addition to learning about the historical event, the children considered the complicated issue of fictionalizing a real historical event.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sat 11 Nov 2000 02:37:55 AM CST
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 08:37:55 +0000
I highly recommend The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano
(Random, 2000), Ann Cameron's adaptation of Equinao's 1789 memoir, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings (Penguin, 1998).
I used it last year after one of my fourth graders commented, after a visit to Ellis Island, that he was sure that the steerage travel that many turn-of-the?ntury immigrants experienced was worse than the Middle Passage. Others in the class were shocked and tried to change his mind without success. I realized that many had only heard about the Middle Passage tangentially so with parental encouragement and support, decided to address the issue head-on. I began with a read-aloud and discussion of Siegelson's and Pickney's In The Time of the Drums (Jump at the Sun, 1999), a Sea Island folktale involving the Middle Passage. (While I greatly admire Julius Lester's From Slave Ship to Freedom Road I decided not to use it with this particular group of children; I felt it would be too upsetting.) I followed that by reading The Kidnapped Prince to my class. It was a very powerful experience. I only read a chapter a day to allow for plenty of discussion. To help them to understand what it means to adapt a book like this for children I showed them Equiano's original book, especially the first chapter where I had highlighted the parts that Cameron had used in her adaptation. I showed artifacts from Sierra Leone
(where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer) when they were mentioned in the text since Equiano was also from West Africa. For example Equiano refers to a special blue dye used in clothing so I showed the children my indigo dyed Sierra Leonean lappas. Later I invited a former Peace Corps Volunteer from Equiano's homeland of Benin to provide even more firsthand context.
My students were disturbed by Equiano's patience as owner after owner reneged on freeing him (he finally bought his own) so I thought they'd be interested in learning about the Amistad incident as a contrast. Looking for an age-appropriate book on the incident I found only one: Veronica Chamber's and Paul Lee's Amistad Rising: A Story of Freedom. According to Chambers and Lee, "Most of the book is factual, though we've imagined Cinque's words and feelings and some of his actions in order to bring life to a journey that happened more than 150 years ago." I used this book along with primary source images from Zeinert's The Amistad Slave Revolt
(Linnet, 1997) and Walter Dean Myer's Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
(Dutton, 1998). In addition to learning about the historical event, the children considered the complicated issue of fictionalizing a real historical event.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sat 11 Nov 2000 02:37:55 AM CST
