Video Book Talk #3--Up Before Daybreak

Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America
by Deborah Hopkinson

The Poet Slave of Cuba--Book Review

Transcending Harsh Realities

By Ima Teach (Texas)

At the same time that many African-Americans were suffering in slavery in the United States, countless Cubans were enduring a similar fate in their own country. Juan Francisco Manzano was born into a family of Cuban slaves in 1797. He served two mistresses (the second of whom was self-centered, cruel, and vindictive) until he escaped as a teenager. Even as a young boy, Juan possessed an amazing gift for remembering and reciting poetry, which propelled him into the performing spotlight under his first mistress Doña Beatriz. When his first mistress died and he became subject to the mentally unstable La Marquesa de Prado Ameno, his incredible talent for verse as well as his passion for life, learning, and self-expression became both a curse and an escape for Juan. He clung to the poems he had internalized as well as his own creations as he endured confinement and torturous abuse as a slave.

Margarita Engle, winner of the Pura Belpré Award and the Junior Library Guild Selection Editor's Choice for The Poet Slave of Cuba, recounts the heartrending biography of Juan's childhood and teenage years as a slave. Respectfully echoing Juan Manzano's poetic voice by writing in verse herself, Engle chronicles Juan's story through multiple voices. Even with the conciseness that poetry demands, Margarita Engle captures the individual personalities of the various characters of this story--Juan, Maria del Pilar (Juan's mother), Toribio (Juan's father), Doña Beatriz (his first mistress), La Marquesa de Prado Ameno (his second mistress), Don Nicolas (La Marquesa's son), and the Overseer. Engle illuminates Juan's passion for knowledge, his quiet patience, as well as his ferocious tenacity. She underscores the icy, cruel selfishness of La Marquesa De Prado Ameno. Maria del Pilar's steadfast compassion spills out of the voice Engle pens for her. Even the Overseer's internal torment over being the instrument of torture for La Marquesa seeps through his limited lines.

As a Cuban-American author with a background in botany and agronomy, Margarita Engle not only tells an inspirational story of suffering and survival, but she also grafts in glimpses of the island setting, the agriculture backdrop, and the cultural hierarchy of nineteenth century Cuba. Sean Qualls' intermittent illustrations in shades of black, grey, and white create an effective spotlight for scenes in Engle's verse.

Although Engle describes Juan's cruel punishment, this book would be completely suitable for middle- or high school age students. In fact, Engle's book contains very little blood, gore, or overly-explicit material. It is the brutality, mercilessness, and inhumanity of the slaves' punishments that disturb the readers' unaccustomed minds. Engle's book does not gloss over the inhumane treatment of Cuban slaves in the 19th century, yet it provides a story of hope and transcending harsh realities.

Published on http://www.amazon.com/

November 16, 2008

Review can be found at the following URL:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0805077065/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_img?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Red Hot Salsa--Reading Journal

RED HOT SALSA: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States

Edited by Lori Marie Carlson

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the poetry in Red Hot Salsa by Lori Marie Carlson. It made me consider the importance of understanding and embracing multiculturalism in a world where technology, trade, industry, and economics are bringing people of various cultures face to face.

Man was not made to be alone

by Lori Satterwhite

Our lives, at the skeletal level, resemble
One another

Everyone’s life revolves around

Self-Identity
Family

Life experiences
Love
Language
Struggles

Victories

Add the eyes of experience,
The profile of family, and
The color of culture,


And individuality takes form.


But man was not made to be alone.*
It’s the mixing and mingling,
The cross-cultural flavoring
That seasons the vibrancy of life.

____________

*Genesis 2:18 "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone...'"

The Poet Slave of Cuba--Reading Journal

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Fransisco Manzano

by Margarita Engle

I loved the multi-voice format that Margarita Engle chose to write her poetic novel. It does so much to draw the reader into the setting and the minds of the characters involved; it adds dimension as well as perspective that we (the reader) could not enjoy with a single, first-person narrator or with a third-person omniscient narrator. Engle also keeps the novel moving forward in time in a creative way—she references the skills and knowledge that Juan is constantly building; she chronicles the death of Toribio and Maria del Pilar (Juan’s father and mother); and she refers to Juan (in the words of La Marquesa) as “the poet-boy, poet-man, almost grown,” depicting the maturation of Juan.

Even with the conciseness that poetry demands, Margarita Engle captures the individual personalities of the various characters of this story. She illuminates Juan’s passion for knowledge, his quiet patience, as well as his ferocious tenacity. I cringed at the icy, cruel selfishness of La Marquesa De Prado Ameno who lashes out at Juan from a need to exhibit power and control in a world where women (even aristocratic women) lived under the domination of men. Juan suffers under her insane, oppressive hand because she obviously envies his sharp, creative mind and skilled fingers and his verses bring her to the edge of sadness (or guilt). Maria del Pilar’s steadfast compassion spills out of the voice Engle pens for her. Even the Overseer’s internal torment over being the instrument of torture for La Marquesa seeps through his limited lines.

I found myself wincing and wanting to hurry through Juan’s description of his cruel punishment; however, I do not think it is too graphic for middle school children and up. In fact, Engle’s book contains very little blood, gore, or overly-explicit material. It is the brutality, mercilessness, and inhumanity of the slaves’ punishments that disturb the readers’ unaccustomed minds. I read an interview with Margarita Engle in which she expresses the opinion that children “deserve the truth,” even if that truth depicts violence. She also notes that though her story does not gloss over the inhumane treatment of Cuban slaves in the 19th century, Juan’s story is one of hope and transcending harsh realities.

Craft Lesson #3--Paragraphing and Punctuating Dialogue in Writing

Materials Needed:
Acceleration by Graham McNamee (2003 ed.)
Copies of the modified excerpt from Acceleration (or an overhead)
Pen and paper

Note to teacher: This lesson may be used during reading or after reading the book.
TEKS: (English III) 1b, 2bc, 3a, 7a, 11bf, 12a

Explanation: Incorporating dialogue into a piece of literature draws the reader into the story. It can also be used in place of narration to move the story along or to draw the reader into the thoughts of characters.

Explain to your students that every line of dialogue does not always have to be accompanied by description or with a notation of who is speaking.
Example: “Later,” I say, leaving Wayne to crisp in the sun. (p. 143)
However, it does need to be paragraphed and punctuated correctly to keep the reader from becoming confused.

Review the following general rules for incorporating dialogue into writing:
1. Put quotation marks around the speaker’s words.
2. Start a new paragraph anytime a new character speaks.
3. When the dialogue begins, indicate who is speaking. (Remember to remind your audience who is speaking after a few exchanges).
4. Only put narrative comments with the dialogue if it helps move the story along.

Have your students read the following excerpt from Acceleration. Explain to them that it has been modified (all paragraphing and quotation marks have been removed).

from Acceleration (pp. 130 – 131):

What am I looking at? Vin asks.
We’re in the living room of his apartment, with its tangerine walls, burgundy couch, and amber carpeting. It looks like a sunset puked in here. It’s closing in on nine in the morning and his mom has already left for work, so we’ve got the place to ourselves. It’s a receipt, I tell him. I can see that. Why am I supposed to care? I peeled it off a page of his diary. Right. So he shopped at Yorkdale a year ago. Not exactly a hot lead. I’m sort of pleased that I’m ahead of Vin for once, pointing out what he’s not seeing. Look at the line between the subtotal and the taxes. He holds the slip up to inspect it. Ten percent off, he says. So they had a sale? I shake my head. Look at the letters beside the ten percent. Emp dis, Vin reads. What is that, Latin? I allow myself a small smile. Emp dis: employee discount. He locks eyes with me, then studies the receipt under the lamp. No way. Yeah. He works at a hardware store? I shrug. Guess he’s got to work somewhere.
Vin walks over to the windows, thinking it all through. He peels back a section of the tinfoil that covers the glass to block out the harsh sun in the afternoon. White morning light shines on the street outside. Where do we go from here? he says.

After the students have read through this silently, discuss what difficulties they had reading it. List these on the board/overhead. Then show them the original version from the book. Note the paragraphing and the quotation marks.

Extension: For additional practice, have students work in partners to create a continuation of the dialogue between Duncan and Vinny. Have them pick up with Vinny’s line, “Where do we go from here?” (p. 131) and continue with a discussion of the plan they come up with. Remind students to use quotation marks and indent and begin a new paragraph each time a different boy begins speaking.

Up Before Daybreak--Reading Journal

Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America
By Deborah Hopkinson

In this non-fiction depiction of the history of the cotton industry and its affect on workers’ lives, Deborah Hopkinson focuses most of the book’s stories around families or children, which would help students relate to the content easily. Up Before Daybreak also contains several very poignant and heart-wrenching photographs. I particularly think that her last statement about considering where one’s clothes are made creates a powerful ending to a book dedicated to highlighting the hardships of work in cotton fields and mills. Many of the hardships (especially in regard to child labor) which America has long fought to overcome through regulation still exist in many countries around the world. Students need to be aware that the privileges most enjoy in America (free public education, child labor laws, and regulated minimum wage) have not always been around, nor are they a reality for many children their own age in other countries.

As I read this book, I thought about all of the activities that fill my children’s days—attending school, piano lessons, gymnastics, and church activities, among other things. I cannot imagine their having to work from break of day to after sunset in the cotton fields that surround our community or in a textile mill. Actually, I can’t imagine having to do that myself. Up Before Daybreak certainly highlights the grueling, tedious, and thankless work that thousands of poor children as well as adults have endured in the cotton industry. What a hard life!

Then I thought of all of the migrant children I have taught over the years. Although they may not experience all of the hardships that migrant children fifty years ago did, they may still find their lives not much improved (as far as their poverty level, the expectation of them to work before and after school and on weekends, and the vicious cycle in which some are caught of missing school, falling behind, becoming frustrated with trying to catch up, and eventually dropping out of school). Would they find this book too biographical? Inspiring? or Depressing?

The general information in this book is important for students to learn, and I think Up Before Daybreak would serve as a great resource for a class or individual research assignment. However, I found Hopkinson’s writing choppy, and I struggled to find a connecting thread that guided me (as a “weft” or “woof”) throughout the book. While the vignettes about individuals and families add appeal and a way for the reader to connect more personally with the text, they sound disjointed and crammed together. As a whole, Up Before Daybreak reads like an academic master’s thesis published in hardback—informative and interesting (especially the pictures)—but dry and disheartening.

Getting Away with Murder--Reading Journal

Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
By Chris Crowe

When Americans think back to the 1950s, we eagerly remember the rise of rock and roll, poodle skirts, and idealistic life as portrayed by the sit-coms Leave it to Beaver and Happy Days. We would rather forget the dark underbelly of societal behavior during that era showcased in attitudes of racial haughtiness and intolerance, validated by unjust laws like the Jim Crow Laws, and enacted by bigoted vigilantes such as Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam in the kidnapping and murdering of Emmett Till.

As I read Chris Crowe’s Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case, I felt astounded, angry, ashamed, horrified, and sickened by the details of Emmett Till’s murder and the trial that followed. I’m not sure if prompting all of those emotions was among Chris Crowe’s objectives as he researched and wrote this account; however, if (at the very least) his objective was to educate for the purpose of preventing history from repeating itself, his purpose took root in me. I believe that few readers could read this book without some emotional response, which makes it a perfect read for middle school (7th & 8th graders) or high school readers. Other points that make it ideal for this age include the following: (1) the victim is a teenager; (2) the reading level is not difficult—it might require some attention to specialized vocabulary (legal terms and regional terms); (3) the pictures (especially the thumbnail-size pictures at the beginning of each chapter) reinforce and (in some cases) clarify the text; and (4) the content is gruesome in parts; however, I never felt offended (disgusted, yes) by the pictured or printed content.

This would be a great book to partner with To Kill a Mockingbird or Huckleberry Finn. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Alabama during the 1930s when the Jim Crow Laws were in full effect. Huckleberry Finn takes place in and along the banks of slave states prior to the Civil War when slave owners were at will to treat their slaves as they felt appropriate with no fear of legal repercussions. Reading and reacting to this historical event first, students may be able to appreciate Twain’s and Lee’s motivation behind their fictional novels.