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M.E. Kerr
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From: robinsmith59 at comcast.net <robinsmith59>
Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2002 19:59:26 -0500
M. E. Kerr's Slap Your Sides was one of my favorite historical novels of the year, and one I may add to my 8th grade English program next year. I like teaching books with well-drawn characters, moral issues, and personal journeys. I don't like the title, but I like the book. It's a compelling novel about the difficulties of being a dissident voice in a close-knit community.
If I add the novel to my program, it will be as part of the Holocaust/WWII unit we do. I start with Kerr's Gentlehands, which has become quite a popular novel at my school. Many of my students can identify with Skye Pennington, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy businessman, and the estate they live on called Beauregard. They like the romance that develops between her and Buddy Boyle, middleclass son of a policeman. And they like the accessible writing style that still manages to have layers of meaning for good discussions. Students completely understand the idea of
"borrowed glory." To impress Skye, Buddy uses his mysterious, cultured, and wealthy grandfather who lives in an impressive mansion further out on Long Island. When Grandpa Trenker is found to be a Nazi war criminal, Buddy has a moral decision of what to do with his knowledge. It's a novel that is controversial: the glamorous, cultivated Grandpa Trenker is the evil character, and the Nazi hunter, Nick DeLucca, is ugly and unpleasant. Evil is right around the corner, not someplace vague and
"over there." 8th graders are eternal optimists; they root for the romance and the happy ending, and are not sure what to make of Buddy's moral dilemma. Many want to say that WWII was long ago, should Grandpa Trenker still be held accountable?
When we read Elie Wiesel's Night next, and students see what it meant to have been a victim of the Trenkers of the Nazi world, the horror intensifies, and Grandpa Trenker can't be so easily excused. (This is 8th grade; I would not teach this unit any earlier.) We read Tell Them We Remember by Susan Bachrach, and Bearing Witness, ed. by Hazel Rochman, (and sometimes MIlton Meltzer's Rescue) to supplement Night.
Now, with Slap Your Sides available, we can explore the issues raised by it. One issue explored is: When you know what the Nazis were doing in the concentration camps, is being a conscientious objector morally justified? Can you be against war if fighting the war would stop the mass killings of Jews and others?
Such discussions are at the heart of a good education, and books such as M.E. Kerr's have been important to readers and teachers for a long time now.
Later in the year, we go on to other novels about personal journeys, about characters who must face the consequences of their actions. Paul Flesichman's Whirligig and Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea make a good two-book unit. And prior to the whole Holocaust unit, students had read Out of the Dust, Of Mice and Men, and To Kill A Mockingbird. But I would be long-winded if I were to go on to discuss anything further. Suffice it so say how much Kerr's work has meant to my program!
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Wed 05 Jun 2002 07:59:26 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2002 19:59:26 -0500
M. E. Kerr's Slap Your Sides was one of my favorite historical novels of the year, and one I may add to my 8th grade English program next year. I like teaching books with well-drawn characters, moral issues, and personal journeys. I don't like the title, but I like the book. It's a compelling novel about the difficulties of being a dissident voice in a close-knit community.
If I add the novel to my program, it will be as part of the Holocaust/WWII unit we do. I start with Kerr's Gentlehands, which has become quite a popular novel at my school. Many of my students can identify with Skye Pennington, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy businessman, and the estate they live on called Beauregard. They like the romance that develops between her and Buddy Boyle, middleclass son of a policeman. And they like the accessible writing style that still manages to have layers of meaning for good discussions. Students completely understand the idea of
"borrowed glory." To impress Skye, Buddy uses his mysterious, cultured, and wealthy grandfather who lives in an impressive mansion further out on Long Island. When Grandpa Trenker is found to be a Nazi war criminal, Buddy has a moral decision of what to do with his knowledge. It's a novel that is controversial: the glamorous, cultivated Grandpa Trenker is the evil character, and the Nazi hunter, Nick DeLucca, is ugly and unpleasant. Evil is right around the corner, not someplace vague and
"over there." 8th graders are eternal optimists; they root for the romance and the happy ending, and are not sure what to make of Buddy's moral dilemma. Many want to say that WWII was long ago, should Grandpa Trenker still be held accountable?
When we read Elie Wiesel's Night next, and students see what it meant to have been a victim of the Trenkers of the Nazi world, the horror intensifies, and Grandpa Trenker can't be so easily excused. (This is 8th grade; I would not teach this unit any earlier.) We read Tell Them We Remember by Susan Bachrach, and Bearing Witness, ed. by Hazel Rochman, (and sometimes MIlton Meltzer's Rescue) to supplement Night.
Now, with Slap Your Sides available, we can explore the issues raised by it. One issue explored is: When you know what the Nazis were doing in the concentration camps, is being a conscientious objector morally justified? Can you be against war if fighting the war would stop the mass killings of Jews and others?
Such discussions are at the heart of a good education, and books such as M.E. Kerr's have been important to readers and teachers for a long time now.
Later in the year, we go on to other novels about personal journeys, about characters who must face the consequences of their actions. Paul Flesichman's Whirligig and Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea make a good two-book unit. And prior to the whole Holocaust unit, students had read Out of the Dust, Of Mice and Men, and To Kill A Mockingbird. But I would be long-winded if I were to go on to discuss anything further. Suffice it so say how much Kerr's work has meant to my program!
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Wed 05 Jun 2002 07:59:26 PM CDT
