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Kira Kira
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From: Heidi Hauser Green <heidigreen100>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 07:15:31 -0800 (PST)
Hi, all -I agree with everything Monica says! And yet, I feel like I must urge teachers to use caution when reading this book allowed. I haven't read Kira-Kira myself. However, I recently had the pleasure of reading Kate Klise's "Deliver Us from Normal." The main character in that book, Charles, is a very sensitive boy who doesn't fit into his peer group. One of the things that has marked him as an "outsider" in their eyes is that, in the fourth or fifth grade, he cried in the classroom while reading "The Deer Hunter." I think Klise is right that some students can carry that sort of thing with them (it doesn't happen in the context of this story, which takes place in Charles' sixth grade year; rather, the other kids taunt him with and, we can expect, will continue to taunt him with throughout the years).
I am not counseling avoidance of emotional books. I have cried over many books throughout the years (Lois Lowry's A Summer to Die sprang immediately to mind when I read about Kira-Kira). I am simply urging a fair bit of caution.
-Heidi
Monica Edinger wrote: On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 06:04:51 00, Laura Lane wrote:
Kira-Kira is a beautifully written book and the author well deserves the award. However, as much as I truly admire the lyrical writing, exquisitely developed characters, and involving plot, I personally have a very hard time with books in which children die, especially of a long and lingering illness as in this one. So it is not a book I would read aloud to my fourth grade class. However, I think a teacher that loves this book, passionately wants to read it aloud, and is confident that ALL her/his students can handle it should feel free to do so. I feel teachers should read aloud books they love to show their students what it is to feel strongly about a book. And I also think teachers need to be hyper-aware of all their students so that they can be sure a sad book such as this one is something that they can all appreciate. Best way to know if it is for your group is to read it yourself!
Monica
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 07:15:31 -0800 (PST)
Hi, all -I agree with everything Monica says! And yet, I feel like I must urge teachers to use caution when reading this book allowed. I haven't read Kira-Kira myself. However, I recently had the pleasure of reading Kate Klise's "Deliver Us from Normal." The main character in that book, Charles, is a very sensitive boy who doesn't fit into his peer group. One of the things that has marked him as an "outsider" in their eyes is that, in the fourth or fifth grade, he cried in the classroom while reading "The Deer Hunter." I think Klise is right that some students can carry that sort of thing with them (it doesn't happen in the context of this story, which takes place in Charles' sixth grade year; rather, the other kids taunt him with and, we can expect, will continue to taunt him with throughout the years).
I am not counseling avoidance of emotional books. I have cried over many books throughout the years (Lois Lowry's A Summer to Die sprang immediately to mind when I read about Kira-Kira). I am simply urging a fair bit of caution.
-Heidi
Monica Edinger wrote: On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 06:04:51 00, Laura Lane wrote:
Kira-Kira is a beautifully written book and the author well deserves the award. However, as much as I truly admire the lyrical writing, exquisitely developed characters, and involving plot, I personally have a very hard time with books in which children die, especially of a long and lingering illness as in this one. So it is not a book I would read aloud to my fourth grade class. However, I think a teacher that loves this book, passionately wants to read it aloud, and is confident that ALL her/his students can handle it should feel free to do so. I feel teachers should read aloud books they love to show their students what it is to feel strongly about a book. And I also think teachers need to be hyper-aware of all their students so that they can be sure a sad book such as this one is something that they can all appreciate. Best way to know if it is for your group is to read it yourself!
Monica
-- Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at gmail. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ To post to the list, send the message to... ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu To leave the list, send the message... To: listserv at lists.education.wisc.edu Body: signoff ccbc-net --------------------------------Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! ? Get yours free!Received on Tue 18 Jan 2005 09:15:31 AM CST
