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Many Stones
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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 22:17:15 -0600
In referring to my previous posting on Many Stones, Ginny asks: Would you use Homeless Bird to teach about India or Many Stones to teach about South Africa? Or is each novel "about" something else? (Perhaps grief.)
That's an excellent question, one I'll ponder over the next few days but respond to now anyway. It seems to me that Homeless Bird will inevitably be used in units about India and in multicultural studies, and the National Book Award is a stamp of approval to teachers seeking good books. This is why it is so important that, as you say Ginny, "Book award committees or panels of judges must not avoid raising and confronting any concerns about books under serious award consideration."
When I think of teaching Many Stones, I don't think of a unit on South Africa studies. I think: "Excellent novel. Students will care about this character and her story. In order to teach the novel well, I'll need to teach the relevant history of South Africa." South Africa is the context for part of the novel, and apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be understood in order to understand Berry's experience. The novel does not pretend to be more than it is; it does not presume to be about the whole history and culture of South Africa. It is about, as Hazel Rochman says in her Booklist review (Novemebr 1, 2000), connecting "the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past." It is about grief and reconciliation -- personal and national -- and a subtle connection between the two is made. Coman does a good job of showing that apartheid is not simply a thing of the past, that racism is a continuing, current presence in South Africa. My students, when reading Mildred Taylor's Road to Memphis, often think of racism as something that was "back then." We read Suzanne Fisher Staples's Dangerous Skies as a counterpoint: racism in the 1990s on the eastern shore of Virginia. Carolyn Coman does that in her novel, too.
I would teach Many Stones as an excellent novel in its own right or as part of a unit on racism or the Holocaust or other various manifestations of prejudice, power and its abuse, and good versus evil. I could see including it in my unit in which we read various Holocaust books such as Gentlehands, Night, and Tell Them We Remember, and books on American slavery, including Frederick Douglass's Narrative. Reading Carolyn Coman's story of an American girl caught up in the legacy of apartheid in South Africa would be another dimension to my unit. As Edward Sullivan says in his excellent resource, The Holocaust in Literature for Youth, "The primary goal of Holocaust education is not, and should not be, teaching students about the Holocaust. The Holocaust is merely the means, not the end, of Holocaust education. The goal should be to teach the student about him or herself. Specifically, it should be about hate, the hate that is within all of us, and the hateful acts of which we are capable. We can do that only if we look at many instances of genocide, prejudice, and persecution. If we teach students only about the Holocaust and do not connect it to similar events at other times in history in different parts of the world, then they are left with the impression that the Holocaust was an isolated moment in history when some members of humanity went mad."
Now that's a heavy connection to make for a small book, and as I say it can easily be taught as a good book by itself, but if I were looking for a context in which to put the book, that would be it. And Forbidden Fire would fit that context, too.
Hope I didn't get too long-winded.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205
In referring to my previous posting on Many Stones, Ginny asks: Would you use Homeless Bird to teach about India or Many Stones to teach about South Africa? Or is each novel "about" something else? (Perhaps grief.)
That's an excellent question, one I'll ponder over the next few days but respond to now anyway. It seems to me that Homeless Bird will inevitably be used in units about India and in multicultural studies, and the National Book Award is a stamp of approval to teachers seeking good books. This is why it is so important that, as you say Ginny, "Book award committees or panels of judges must not avoid raising and confronting any concerns about books under serious award consideration."
When I think of teaching Many Stones, I don't think of a unit on South Africa studies. I think: "Excellent novel. Students will care about this character and her story. In order to teach the novel well, I'll need to teach the relevant history of South Africa." South Africa is the context for part of the novel, and apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be understood in order to understand Berry's experience. The novel does not pretend to be more than it is; it does not presume to be about the whole history and culture of South Africa. It is about, as Hazel Rochman says in her Booklist review (Novemebr 1, 2000), connecting "the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past." It is about grief and reconciliation -- personal and national -- and a subtle connection between the two is made. Coman does a good job of showing that apartheid is not simply a thing of the past, that racism is a continuing, current presence in South Africa. My students, when reading Mildred Taylor's Road to Memphis, often think of racism as something that was "back then." We read Suzanne Fisher Staples's Dangerous Skies as a counterpoint: racism in the 1990s on the eastern shore of Virginia. Carolyn Coman does that in her novel, too.
I would teach Many Stones as an excellent novel in its own right or as part of a unit on racism or the Holocaust or other various manifestations of prejudice, power and its abuse, and good versus evil. I could see including it in my unit in which we read various Holocaust books such as Gentlehands, Night, and Tell Them We Remember, and books on American slavery, including Frederick Douglass's Narrative. Reading Carolyn Coman's story of an American girl caught up in the legacy of apartheid in South Africa would be another dimension to my unit. As Edward Sullivan says in his excellent resource, The Holocaust in Literature for Youth, "The primary goal of Holocaust education is not, and should not be, teaching students about the Holocaust. The Holocaust is merely the means, not the end, of Holocaust education. The goal should be to teach the student about him or herself. Specifically, it should be about hate, the hate that is within all of us, and the hateful acts of which we are capable. We can do that only if we look at many instances of genocide, prejudice, and persecution. If we teach students only about the Holocaust and do not connect it to similar events at other times in history in different parts of the world, then they are left with the impression that the Holocaust was an isolated moment in history when some members of humanity went mad."
Now that's a heavy connection to make for a small book, and as I say it can easily be taught as a good book by itself, but if I were looking for a context in which to put the book, that would be it. And Forbidden Fire would fit that context, too.
Hope I didn't get too long-winded.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205
In referring to my previous posting on Many Stones, Ginny asks: Would you use Homeless Bird to teach about India or Many Stones to teach about South Africa? Or is each novel "about" something else? (Perhaps grief.)
That's an excellent question, one I'll ponder over the next few days but respond to now anyway. It seems to me that Homeless Bird will inevitably be used in units about India and in multicultural studies, and the National Book Award is a stamp of approval to teachers seeking good books. This is why it is so important that, as you say Ginny, "Book award committees or panels of judges must not avoid raising and confronting any concerns about books under serious award consideration."
When I think of teaching Many Stones, I don't think of a unit on South Africa studies. I think: "Excellent novel. Students will care about this character and her story. In order to teach the novel well, I'll need to teach the relevant history of South Africa." South Africa is the context for part of the novel, and apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be understood in order to understand Berry's experience. The novel does not pretend to be more than it is; it does not presume to be about the whole history and culture of South Africa. It is about, as Hazel Rochman says in her Booklist review (Novemebr 1, 2000), connecting "the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past." It is about grief and reconciliation -- personal and national -- and a subtle connection between the two is made. Coman does a good job of showing that apartheid is not simply a thing of the past, that racism is a continuing, current presence in South Africa. My students, when reading Mildred Taylor's Road to Memphis, often think of racism as something that was "back then." We read Suzanne Fisher Staples's Dangerous Skies as a counterpoint: racism in the 1990s on the eastern shore of Virginia. Carolyn Coman does that in her novel, too.
I would teach Many Stones as an excellent novel in its own right or as part of a unit on racism or the Holocaust or other various manifestations of prejudice, power and its abuse, and good versus evil. I could see including it in my unit in which we read various Holocaust books such as Gentlehands, Night, and Tell Them We Remember, and books on American slavery, including Frederick Douglass's Narrative. Reading Carolyn Coman's story of an American girl caught up in the legacy of apartheid in South Africa would be another dimension to my unit. As Edward Sullivan says in his excellent resource, The Holocaust in Literature for Youth, "The primary goal of Holocaust education is not, and should not be, teaching students about the Holocaust. The Holocaust is merely the means, not the end, of Holocaust education. The goal should be to teach the student about him or herself. Specifically, it should be about hate, the hate that is within all of us, and the hateful acts of which we are capable. We can do that only if we look at many instances of genocide, prejudice, and persecution. If we teach students only about the Holocaust and do not connect it to similar events at other times in history in different parts of the world, then they are left with the impression that the Holocaust was an isolated moment in history when some members of humanity went mad."
Now that's a heavy connection to make for a small book, and as I say it can easily be taught as a good book by itself, but if I were looking for a context in which to put the book, that would be it. And Forbidden Fire would fit that context, too.
Hope I didn't get too long-winded.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205
Received on Mon 08 Jan 2001 10:17:15 PM CST
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 22:17:15 -0600
In referring to my previous posting on Many Stones, Ginny asks: Would you use Homeless Bird to teach about India or Many Stones to teach about South Africa? Or is each novel "about" something else? (Perhaps grief.)
That's an excellent question, one I'll ponder over the next few days but respond to now anyway. It seems to me that Homeless Bird will inevitably be used in units about India and in multicultural studies, and the National Book Award is a stamp of approval to teachers seeking good books. This is why it is so important that, as you say Ginny, "Book award committees or panels of judges must not avoid raising and confronting any concerns about books under serious award consideration."
When I think of teaching Many Stones, I don't think of a unit on South Africa studies. I think: "Excellent novel. Students will care about this character and her story. In order to teach the novel well, I'll need to teach the relevant history of South Africa." South Africa is the context for part of the novel, and apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be understood in order to understand Berry's experience. The novel does not pretend to be more than it is; it does not presume to be about the whole history and culture of South Africa. It is about, as Hazel Rochman says in her Booklist review (Novemebr 1, 2000), connecting "the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past." It is about grief and reconciliation -- personal and national -- and a subtle connection between the two is made. Coman does a good job of showing that apartheid is not simply a thing of the past, that racism is a continuing, current presence in South Africa. My students, when reading Mildred Taylor's Road to Memphis, often think of racism as something that was "back then." We read Suzanne Fisher Staples's Dangerous Skies as a counterpoint: racism in the 1990s on the eastern shore of Virginia. Carolyn Coman does that in her novel, too.
I would teach Many Stones as an excellent novel in its own right or as part of a unit on racism or the Holocaust or other various manifestations of prejudice, power and its abuse, and good versus evil. I could see including it in my unit in which we read various Holocaust books such as Gentlehands, Night, and Tell Them We Remember, and books on American slavery, including Frederick Douglass's Narrative. Reading Carolyn Coman's story of an American girl caught up in the legacy of apartheid in South Africa would be another dimension to my unit. As Edward Sullivan says in his excellent resource, The Holocaust in Literature for Youth, "The primary goal of Holocaust education is not, and should not be, teaching students about the Holocaust. The Holocaust is merely the means, not the end, of Holocaust education. The goal should be to teach the student about him or herself. Specifically, it should be about hate, the hate that is within all of us, and the hateful acts of which we are capable. We can do that only if we look at many instances of genocide, prejudice, and persecution. If we teach students only about the Holocaust and do not connect it to similar events at other times in history in different parts of the world, then they are left with the impression that the Holocaust was an isolated moment in history when some members of humanity went mad."
Now that's a heavy connection to make for a small book, and as I say it can easily be taught as a good book by itself, but if I were looking for a context in which to put the book, that would be it. And Forbidden Fire would fit that context, too.
Hope I didn't get too long-winded.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205
In referring to my previous posting on Many Stones, Ginny asks: Would you use Homeless Bird to teach about India or Many Stones to teach about South Africa? Or is each novel "about" something else? (Perhaps grief.)
That's an excellent question, one I'll ponder over the next few days but respond to now anyway. It seems to me that Homeless Bird will inevitably be used in units about India and in multicultural studies, and the National Book Award is a stamp of approval to teachers seeking good books. This is why it is so important that, as you say Ginny, "Book award committees or panels of judges must not avoid raising and confronting any concerns about books under serious award consideration."
When I think of teaching Many Stones, I don't think of a unit on South Africa studies. I think: "Excellent novel. Students will care about this character and her story. In order to teach the novel well, I'll need to teach the relevant history of South Africa." South Africa is the context for part of the novel, and apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be understood in order to understand Berry's experience. The novel does not pretend to be more than it is; it does not presume to be about the whole history and culture of South Africa. It is about, as Hazel Rochman says in her Booklist review (Novemebr 1, 2000), connecting "the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past." It is about grief and reconciliation -- personal and national -- and a subtle connection between the two is made. Coman does a good job of showing that apartheid is not simply a thing of the past, that racism is a continuing, current presence in South Africa. My students, when reading Mildred Taylor's Road to Memphis, often think of racism as something that was "back then." We read Suzanne Fisher Staples's Dangerous Skies as a counterpoint: racism in the 1990s on the eastern shore of Virginia. Carolyn Coman does that in her novel, too.
I would teach Many Stones as an excellent novel in its own right or as part of a unit on racism or the Holocaust or other various manifestations of prejudice, power and its abuse, and good versus evil. I could see including it in my unit in which we read various Holocaust books such as Gentlehands, Night, and Tell Them We Remember, and books on American slavery, including Frederick Douglass's Narrative. Reading Carolyn Coman's story of an American girl caught up in the legacy of apartheid in South Africa would be another dimension to my unit. As Edward Sullivan says in his excellent resource, The Holocaust in Literature for Youth, "The primary goal of Holocaust education is not, and should not be, teaching students about the Holocaust. The Holocaust is merely the means, not the end, of Holocaust education. The goal should be to teach the student about him or herself. Specifically, it should be about hate, the hate that is within all of us, and the hateful acts of which we are capable. We can do that only if we look at many instances of genocide, prejudice, and persecution. If we teach students only about the Holocaust and do not connect it to similar events at other times in history in different parts of the world, then they are left with the impression that the Holocaust was an isolated moment in history when some members of humanity went mad."
Now that's a heavy connection to make for a small book, and as I say it can easily be taught as a good book by itself, but if I were looking for a context in which to put the book, that would be it. And Forbidden Fire would fit that context, too.
Hope I didn't get too long-winded.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205
In referring to my previous posting on Many Stones, Ginny asks: Would you use Homeless Bird to teach about India or Many Stones to teach about South Africa? Or is each novel "about" something else? (Perhaps grief.)
That's an excellent question, one I'll ponder over the next few days but respond to now anyway. It seems to me that Homeless Bird will inevitably be used in units about India and in multicultural studies, and the National Book Award is a stamp of approval to teachers seeking good books. This is why it is so important that, as you say Ginny, "Book award committees or panels of judges must not avoid raising and confronting any concerns about books under serious award consideration."
When I think of teaching Many Stones, I don't think of a unit on South Africa studies. I think: "Excellent novel. Students will care about this character and her story. In order to teach the novel well, I'll need to teach the relevant history of South Africa." South Africa is the context for part of the novel, and apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be understood in order to understand Berry's experience. The novel does not pretend to be more than it is; it does not presume to be about the whole history and culture of South Africa. It is about, as Hazel Rochman says in her Booklist review (Novemebr 1, 2000), connecting "the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past." It is about grief and reconciliation -- personal and national -- and a subtle connection between the two is made. Coman does a good job of showing that apartheid is not simply a thing of the past, that racism is a continuing, current presence in South Africa. My students, when reading Mildred Taylor's Road to Memphis, often think of racism as something that was "back then." We read Suzanne Fisher Staples's Dangerous Skies as a counterpoint: racism in the 1990s on the eastern shore of Virginia. Carolyn Coman does that in her novel, too.
I would teach Many Stones as an excellent novel in its own right or as part of a unit on racism or the Holocaust or other various manifestations of prejudice, power and its abuse, and good versus evil. I could see including it in my unit in which we read various Holocaust books such as Gentlehands, Night, and Tell Them We Remember, and books on American slavery, including Frederick Douglass's Narrative. Reading Carolyn Coman's story of an American girl caught up in the legacy of apartheid in South Africa would be another dimension to my unit. As Edward Sullivan says in his excellent resource, The Holocaust in Literature for Youth, "The primary goal of Holocaust education is not, and should not be, teaching students about the Holocaust. The Holocaust is merely the means, not the end, of Holocaust education. The goal should be to teach the student about him or herself. Specifically, it should be about hate, the hate that is within all of us, and the hateful acts of which we are capable. We can do that only if we look at many instances of genocide, prejudice, and persecution. If we teach students only about the Holocaust and do not connect it to similar events at other times in history in different parts of the world, then they are left with the impression that the Holocaust was an isolated moment in history when some members of humanity went mad."
Now that's a heavy connection to make for a small book, and as I say it can easily be taught as a good book by itself, but if I were looking for a context in which to put the book, that would be it. And Forbidden Fire would fit that context, too.
Hope I didn't get too long-winded.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205
Received on Mon 08 Jan 2001 10:17:15 PM CST
