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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 05:45:08 -0500
I'm pleased Ginny mentioned Frances Temple's "Tonight, By Sea" in the context of current discussion of community. We have been using it within our immigration curriculum for some years now. While there are more and more excellent picture books providing a broader view of the American immigrant experience, I have not been as happy with the novels available for my students. The European immigration experience still is the dominant one in books for this age group. Thus, despite it being a bit harsh for 4th graders, we have been using it successfully for years. The children that select it (we give them choices and the read the books in groups) have always loved it and been appropriately disturbed (but not overly). This year I'm planning to try Edwidge Danticat's "Behind the Mountains" instead, but some of my colleagues didn't like it and are planning to stay with Temple's book. While I like Temple's book tremendously, I also like the idea of Danticat's because it is based on her own experience. I'll see if it works; if not, I'll be using Temple's book again next year!
I hadn't really thought about it until Ginny mentioned "Tonight, By Sea," but stories of immigration (and the Temple story is largely about what happens before they leave, why they leave). are rich with community. There are the communities left behind and the ones in the new place. Communities that welcome and those that don't. In many immigrant narratives, there are temporary communities -- those made in transit. A community on a boat or a train. A community waiting at Ellis Island or interned at Angel Island. Worrying about deportation. I have stories about refugee camps in Cambodia. About lost families and the creation of new ones with those at hand --- quite a form of community. There are stories of communities rejecting the new and the new coming to terms with the old (by assimilating/by creating a new community/many different ways).
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 31 Oct 2003 04:45:08 AM CST
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 05:45:08 -0500
I'm pleased Ginny mentioned Frances Temple's "Tonight, By Sea" in the context of current discussion of community. We have been using it within our immigration curriculum for some years now. While there are more and more excellent picture books providing a broader view of the American immigrant experience, I have not been as happy with the novels available for my students. The European immigration experience still is the dominant one in books for this age group. Thus, despite it being a bit harsh for 4th graders, we have been using it successfully for years. The children that select it (we give them choices and the read the books in groups) have always loved it and been appropriately disturbed (but not overly). This year I'm planning to try Edwidge Danticat's "Behind the Mountains" instead, but some of my colleagues didn't like it and are planning to stay with Temple's book. While I like Temple's book tremendously, I also like the idea of Danticat's because it is based on her own experience. I'll see if it works; if not, I'll be using Temple's book again next year!
I hadn't really thought about it until Ginny mentioned "Tonight, By Sea," but stories of immigration (and the Temple story is largely about what happens before they leave, why they leave). are rich with community. There are the communities left behind and the ones in the new place. Communities that welcome and those that don't. In many immigrant narratives, there are temporary communities -- those made in transit. A community on a boat or a train. A community waiting at Ellis Island or interned at Angel Island. Worrying about deportation. I have stories about refugee camps in Cambodia. About lost families and the creation of new ones with those at hand --- quite a form of community. There are stories of communities rejecting the new and the new coming to terms with the old (by assimilating/by creating a new community/many different ways).
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 31 Oct 2003 04:45:08 AM CST
