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Portrayals of Poverty
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 11:34:32 -0500
Susan Patron wrote about her "Lucky" books set in Hard Pan:
"Without romanticizing poverty or its attendant miseries, and without making it the overbearing issue of the books, I try to envision the interior life of a resilient girl for whom such circumstances are a given. She is, at the beginning, obsessed with keeping her survival kit backpack with her at all times; eventually she realizes that love, something we all need in order to survive and to thrive, cannot be packed into a kit."
I love that statement because it says so much about the artfulness demanded of a writer--that we demand of writers--to create compelling characters and tell compelling stories that reveal as much in the small details described as the big themes they explore.
I appreciate books in which the small details illuminate the economic reality of characters' lives. In Vera B. Williams's "A Chair for My Mother," the money jar is a focal point as the family comes closer and closer to saving enough to go shopping for a comfortable chair. But the details that are the most vivid to me in that picture book are ones like this: "Sometimes my mama is laughing when she comes home from work. Sometimes she's so tired she falls asleep while I count the money out into piles." A turn of the page reveals an illustration of the little girl and her grandma counting out tips. Her mother, a waitress, has kicked off her shoes and fallen sound asleep next to them.
Of course, sometimes small details are about big things. I have never forgotten this incredible line from Virginia Euwer Wolff's novel "Make Lemonade": "This word COLLEGE is in my house / and you have to walk around it in the rooms / like furniture." The idea of college as a tangible, physical thing--desire that has been transformed--is incredibly powerful and reveals so much about LaVaughn and her mom--a woman who is striving to make sure her daughter's future is not limited by the economic reality of their life.
And sometimes the details are all about the impact of poverty on the life of a character. Sharon G. Flake's novel "Money Hungry" is an incredible look at the pscyhological impact being homeless has had on teenager Raspberry Hill. Even though she is now living in the projects with her mom, Raspberry is obsessed with and hoarding making money because she is determined to never live on the streets again. Terrific characterizations make it a powerful novel that speaks to a truth that transcends the story and Raspberry's character: all kids want and need to feel safe and secure, and sometimes the realities of poverty prevent them from knowing what safety and security are.
Megan
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 11:34:32 -0500
Susan Patron wrote about her "Lucky" books set in Hard Pan:
"Without romanticizing poverty or its attendant miseries, and without making it the overbearing issue of the books, I try to envision the interior life of a resilient girl for whom such circumstances are a given. She is, at the beginning, obsessed with keeping her survival kit backpack with her at all times; eventually she realizes that love, something we all need in order to survive and to thrive, cannot be packed into a kit."
I love that statement because it says so much about the artfulness demanded of a writer--that we demand of writers--to create compelling characters and tell compelling stories that reveal as much in the small details described as the big themes they explore.
I appreciate books in which the small details illuminate the economic reality of characters' lives. In Vera B. Williams's "A Chair for My Mother," the money jar is a focal point as the family comes closer and closer to saving enough to go shopping for a comfortable chair. But the details that are the most vivid to me in that picture book are ones like this: "Sometimes my mama is laughing when she comes home from work. Sometimes she's so tired she falls asleep while I count the money out into piles." A turn of the page reveals an illustration of the little girl and her grandma counting out tips. Her mother, a waitress, has kicked off her shoes and fallen sound asleep next to them.
Of course, sometimes small details are about big things. I have never forgotten this incredible line from Virginia Euwer Wolff's novel "Make Lemonade": "This word COLLEGE is in my house / and you have to walk around it in the rooms / like furniture." The idea of college as a tangible, physical thing--desire that has been transformed--is incredibly powerful and reveals so much about LaVaughn and her mom--a woman who is striving to make sure her daughter's future is not limited by the economic reality of their life.
And sometimes the details are all about the impact of poverty on the life of a character. Sharon G. Flake's novel "Money Hungry" is an incredible look at the pscyhological impact being homeless has had on teenager Raspberry Hill. Even though she is now living in the projects with her mom, Raspberry is obsessed with and hoarding making money because she is determined to never live on the streets again. Terrific characterizations make it a powerful novel that speaks to a truth that transcends the story and Raspberry's character: all kids want and need to feel safe and secure, and sometimes the realities of poverty prevent them from knowing what safety and security are.
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706 608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/Received on Tue 10 May 2011 11:34:32 AM CDT
