Capturing Black and White America

by Karen Leggett Abouraya

“The youngest of fifteen, Parks arrives stillborn

And is nearly left for dead until a dip

In ice water shocks his tiny heart to beat.

The baby is named for the man who saved his life, Dr. Gordon.”

Gordon Parks would grow up to become a professional photographer, cataloging American life on film for the Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information, Standard Oil, Ebony, Vogue, Fortune and Life.

His early work (1940-50) is the focus of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from November 4, 2018 until February 18, 2019. He is also the subject of Carole Boston Weatherford’s biography, Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America.

For Gordon Parks, photography was the tool he used to expose “the unfairness of segregation,” and the African American struggle against racism. “He not only documented but also served as an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement.”  

Parks photographs often featured everyday Americans in their daily lives, including cleaning woman Ella Watson – a photo that became known as American Gothic. “In one iconic photo,” writes Weatherford, “Parks conveyed both the African American struggle against racism and the contradiction between segregation and freedom.”

“Standing before

the flag of freedom,

cleaning lady Ella Watson

holds the tools of her trade

and the hopes of her grandchildren.” 

·       Ella Watson lived in Washington, D.C. in the 1940s.

·       What do you think she hoped for her grandchildren? For students whose grandparents are living, have them find out their hopes for their grandchildren. Write about it or share those hopes with the class.  Students can also imagine what they might hope for their own children.

·       Ask students to write about three things in their own daily lives that they would photograph – and why they selected these people, events or places. 

·       Perhaps a few single use cameras could be purchased to enable students to photograph a story about their school that could be published online, in the school newspaper or in a local community newspaper. (This would be an opportunity for students to learn about obtaining the rights  to print photographs of other people.)

Parks was not only a photographer. He wrote a novel, directed a film and wrote poetry and music as well.

·       If you wanted to change people’s minds about an issue in society, what do you think would be the best medium and why? 

  

Gordon Parks is one of many famous Americans profiled by Carole Boston Weatherford. She is the 2019 Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award winner  and will speak in Washington at the award celebration on May 11, 2019.  Make plans to come and hear what she has to say – students welcome!

Turning Pages: My Life Story

by Karen Leggett Abouraya

Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor has shared the story of her life in an autobiography for adults, a story in Spanish for young adults and now as a picture book in both Spanish and English. Both Justice Sotomayor and Lulu Delacre, the illustrator of Turning Pages: My Life Story/Pasando Páginas share family traditions and memories from Puerto Rico. Young readers can look carefully at the illustrations to learn about life in Puerto Rico, in New York or at Princeton University and even to see newspapers the Justice’s family might have been reading when she was growing up. 

Justice Sotomayor remembers trips to sunny Puerto Rico when she could eat fresh mangoes and spicy chicken. From Puerto Rico to New York to Washington, D.C., books were always the Justice’s friends.  She called them her harbor, helping her escape the sadness of her father’s death; her snorkel and flippers, helping her explore life; a time machine inspiring her imagination; her launchpad, blasting her into her dreams. Now, in her life as a lawyer and judge, books are “maps to guide us to justice.”

The life of Justice Sonia Sotomayor is itself a launch pad for writing and discussions among students of any age.

·       What kind of books do you like to read and why? Did you have a favorite book when you were very little?

·       Justice Sotomayor remembers when her Abuelita, her grandmother, would “close her eyes and recite poems written long ago about the tropical land our family had left behind.” Does anyone in your family tell stories or sing songs when everyone gets together? What stories or songs do you remember?

·       Sonia Sotomayor was diagnosed with diabetes when she was just seven years old. She imagined she was brave and powerful like the superheroes in comic books so she could give herself daily injections.  What superpower would you like to have? What would you do with that power?

·       On the steps of the cover of the book is an opinion written by the Justice. Can you find her name and the title of the opinion?

·       Justice Sotomayor remembers receiving a set of encyclopedias at her home and learning about myosis, mitosis and molecule (all pictured in the bubbles) from diving into the pages of one volume. Is there a set of encyclopedias in your school or neighborhood library? If so, pick any volume, open to any page and read about something you find on that page.  What did you learn?

·       “Justice means treating people fairly under the law,” writes the Justice. Why is it important to have laws or rules for a country or a school or a classroom? Everyone in the class could write one reason on a 3x5 card; then the cards can be posted in the classroom or hallway for everyone to see. 

·       There are lots of family photographs of Sonia Sotomayor on the book’s endpapers – as a child, at special family events, with her colleagues on the Supreme Court. Take photos of each student with a favorite book. Students can write a few sentences or draw a picture to explain why that book is special.  The photos can be posted so students learn about new books they might also enjoy reading.

Justice Sotomayor talks about the importance of books from her childhood to her life on the Supreme court: “Books are keys that unlock of wisdom of yesterday and open the door to tomorrow.”

Note: An exhibit of Lulu Delacre’s illustrations for Sonia Sotomayor’s life story is on display at the ZimmerliArt Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey. 

The Power (and Art) of Dissent

Guest Post by Debbie Levy

 I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark tells the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and work through the lens of her many disagreements and dissents, ever since she was a little girl. The book illuminates this central theme: disagreeing does not make you disagreeable, and important change happens one disagreement at a time.

I think that RBG is such a fine example to hold up for our children. She’s a person who has been a change-maker and path-breaker through her disagreements. As importantly, her example shows that one can disagree and make big change happen without resorting to personal attacks, without insulting your opponents, and without closing yourself off to opposing points of view.

          A variation on the “I dissent” theme appears on nearly every spread in the book:

·       “She protested” (as a schoolgirl, to being forced to write with her right hand even though she is left-handed).

·       “Ruth objected” (also in school, to the rule that required girls to take home ec, reserving shop class for boys).

·       “Ruth disapproved right back” (when people disapproved of her decision to go to law school).

·       “She resisted. And persisted” (when, as a young law school graduate at the top of her class, no one would hire her because she was a woman, a mother, and a Jew).

          And so on. Today, of course, she is United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—and she is still known for her dissents from court rulings that she considers wrongly decided.

          But simply disagreeing or dissenting, without more, isn’t really enough if you want to change your life or anyone else’s. On the back of book jacket for I Dissent, there’s this, one of my favorite RBG quotes: “Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” Sounds simple, right? But it’s that second sentence that is so hard to pull off. And here is where educators (and parents and other adults) can help children discover the power of dissent and of persuasive argument.

First, we can use the language of I Dissent to broaden students’ vocabulary of disagreement. I’m talking about words like:

 accept - protest - support - disagree - object - defend - resist - approve - concur - differ -dissent -  agree

Students can start by putting these words on a continuum—or a “semantic gradient.” (I am indebted for this idea to Myra Zarnowski, professor in the Department of Elementary and Early  Childhood Education at Queens College, CUNY, who includes it in the I Dissent Curriculum Guide she wrote for my publisher, Simon & Schuster.) “Agree” can be on one end of the gradient; “dissent” on the other. There is no single correct way to array these words! But this is a good way to get kids talking about the shades of meaning in words that we often use interchangeably, or as opposites.

          

Second, we can use the themes of I Dissent to help develop students’ skills at engaging in effective and appropriate disagreement. I’ve had fun with third and fourth graders by having them take on the proposition: You should only be allowed to play video games after school once you’ve finished your homework. Most kids seem to dissent! So they make their case for taking time to relax before doing their homework. And they practice the elements of effective arguing, like:

·       presenting ideas that they’ve thought through—not just “because I want to”

·       having facts and evidence to back up what they’re saying

·       disagreeing respectfully, without attacking the person who holds opposing ideas

          Third, we can use RBG’s example to discuss—and write about—when the expression of disagreement is most important, and when expressions of disagreement may be more hurtful than helpful. Ask students to respond to this question:

          When have you seen or heard something that you disagreed with, that you either challenged or wanted to challenge?

          The idea here is to encourage young writers to think about speaking out when they see bullying, or when they’re told to do something they think is wrong, or when someone says something about another person that they believe is untrue. Let’s also get them thinking about when a disagreement isn’t important enough to voice, especially if it might be hurtful—such as disagreement with another’s choice of clothing or what’s in their lunchbox.

          And fourth, readers of I Dissent will notice that RBG did not succeed at everything she tried. She has had setbacks and failures. Ask students to think about their own setbacks, and to write about what they learned from their failures. Everyone has them. What can young writers do with theirs?

Debbie Levy is the award-winning author of nonfiction and fiction books for young people, including I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark; We Shall Overcome: The Story of a Song; The Year of Goodbyes: A True Story of Friendship, Family, and Farewells; and Dozer’s Run: A True Story of a Dog and His Race. Debbie’s next book, Soldier Song: A True Story of the Civil War, is an 80-page picture book for older children about how music, and one song in particular, brought the two sides of the struggle together for one night, enabling the soldiers to see the other side—the enemy—as fellow human beings. It comes out in February 2017. Visit her online at debbielevybooks.com

Writing Connections with Marc Tyler Nobleman

by Mary Quattlebaum

The Power of Words.  Students have heard that phrase so often that it sounds like a cliché.  Marc Tyler Nobleman not only brings that phrase to life in two riveting biographies, but he also shows how the biographies themselves helped to right a wrong.  In a Kids Post interview for the Washington Post, Nobleman talks about the research and writing process for Boys of Steel and Bill the Boy Wonder, his biographies, respectively, of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman, and of Bill Finger, who co-created Batman with Bob Kane.  Finger never received credit for his work until recently, thanks in large part to information uncovered by Nobleman.

Nobleman travels frequently to give presentations and writing workshops, and he has found that, from India to Indiana, people know about Superman and Batman.  These superheroes tap into the human hunger for tales of good vs. evil.

Below are a few writing prompts for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.   Nobleman’s blog Noblemania.blogspot.com is a trove of historic photos, comic book art, quotes and cool stuff.

CREATE YOUR OWN SUPERHERO:  Ask students to read Bill the Boy Wonder and to look at one or two Batman comic books.  

Classroom Discussion: How did Bill Finger help to create Batman?  What traits, nicknames or pieces of costume did Bill add?  Ask students why they think that superheroes and superhero comic books are so popular, around the world.

Fight or Find Peace:  In most comic books, the superheroes use physical force when they fight.  Are there other ways of being powerful besides physical force?  Other ways of fighting back?  As a class, brainstorm a list of people (historic or contemporary) who were powerful without using physical force or violence.

Classroom Writing:  Have students brainstorm attributes for their own superhero.  For example, what is the hero’s super power?  How and when does the hero wield it?  Is there a secret identity or costume?  Who is the hero’s worst enemy and what are the enemy’s attributes?  How and why did the hero become a hero and the bad guy a bad guy?  What makes the superhero weak?  What makes the villain weak?  (Remember, neither hero nor villain need be human.  Either or both can be animals, objects, plants, germs, etc.)

Starting Strong:  Begin a story about how your hero and villain meet for the first time.  Think about who, what, when, where, and how.  What brings them together and when and where? What happens?  How do they fight?  See if students can figure out at least one way that the superhero fights the villain in a non-violent/nonphysical way.  What happens then?

Examining Art:  Choose a panel or two from a comic book and show students how the illustrator showed a close up or an aerial view, for example.   Ask them what makes these different views interesting and why the illustrator may have chosen to show that.  Ask them to do one part of their story as a comic book panel, showing a close-up or an aerial view.  How did that help them to think about their story in a different way?

www.maryquattlebaum.com

FICTION VS NONFICTION: REAL OR IMAGINARY?

guest blog by Karen Deans

My two books, Playing to Win and Swing Sisters, are picture book biographies based on the lives of some remarkable women who defied racist and sexist barriers to become champions and superstars in their respective fields. They are written for children who are beginning to identify the differences between fiction and non-fiction writing. I often explain to students that my books are nonfiction, and based on real people and events that actually happened in the past. I talk about the importance of research, because non-fiction depends on it. Fiction, on the other hand, is a story that comes from the author’s imagination. It may require research, too, but it can be as fantastical as an author wants it to be.

Here are some classroom activities that will help develop and deepen an understanding of fiction and nonfiction writing.  Have fun!

1. Create a classroom chart: Make two columns with headings: Fiction and Nonfiction. Ask students to brainstorm words that relate to each heading and write them in the correct column. Fiction: poetry, pretend, imaginary, fantasy, talking animals, etc. Nonfiction: facts, biography, history, index, bibliography, etc.

Create a duplicate chart and brainstorm books they have read or will be reading in class. Add them to the new chart in the correct column. Have students describe elements from the first chart that were found in the books they mention. For example, Swing Sisters is both non-fiction and biography. While it doesn’t have an index, it has a bibliography. It is based on facts and not something imagined by the author.

2. Share a Story: Have the children write (or tell) a brief story, either from their imagination or from factual events. Then take turns reading them aloud and let the class determine if they are fiction or nonfiction. Sometimes it is obvious, but sometimes it is not. A fantasy story about a spaceship will obviously be identified as fiction. But someone describing a vacation to the beach might be creating something from her or his imagination. Discuss the elements that lead to their conclusion.

3. Historical Fiction Fun: For older children, depending on their ability, ask them to identify a real event from history, such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Ask them to write some factual elements from this event, answering the basic who, what, why, when and where prompts. Next, have them create a character, maybe a cat that sneaks into the room chasing a mouse. What happens next? Does a desk turn over? Is there laughter? Maybe a servant spills a pail of water and shrieks before climbing on top of a chair. How do the real elements mix with the imagined ones?

Karen Deans is a writer, painter and owner of a decorative art business, WoodenTile.com. She has written two picture books for Holiday House, including Swing Sisters: The Story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, which came out in March. She has worked as head scenic painter for the children’s theater Adventure Theatre MTC. This work has taken her to Broadway, as set painter for a musical adaptation of the children’s book Three Little Birds, based on the music of Bob Marley. She is the mother of three grown children and lives with her husband and kitty in Bethesda, MD. Visit her at www.karendeans.com

WRITING CONNECTIONS WITH ERIN HAGAR

by Mary Quattlebaum

Julia Child: An Extraordinary Life in Words and Pictures (DuoPress, 2015) brings culinary pioneer Julia Child to fascinating life. Author Erin Hagar and illustrator Joanna Gorham create an innovative biography that combines vivid, informative prose with wordless double-page spreads that dramatize key moments in Julia’s life.

Below are a few writing prompts for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.  (The biography’s engaging form is similar to that of Brian Selznick’s Caldecott-winning novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret.)

Writing About Professional Hopes:  Many young people seem to have only a vague idea of what a specific profession involves, or they are starstruck and seem to think that being a professional singer or athlete means doing so only at the top.  This biography takes a close look at someone with an expertise—cooking, food writing—that may intrigue young people.

Classroom Discussion:  Ask students to read this or the biography of another noteworthy figure from the 20^th or 21^st centuries.  Have them jot down answers to the following:  Why does this person intrigue you?  How did the person become involved in his/her life’s work?  What were setbacks?  How were they handled?

Research:  Have students do some Internet research on professions/jobs they may be interested in.  Why does this work interest them? What does training involve?  What are some tasks/activities involved on a regular basis?

Classroom Writing:  Brainstorm questions to ask someone who does this type of work.  (How did you get started?  When did you know this job/profession is what you wanted to do?  What’s the funniest/most surprising thing that ever happened to you on the job?  The most challenging?  Have students ask these questions of someone (preferably not in their immediate family).  In addition to adults in the neighborhood or extended family, youngsters might look at websites for organizations or professional associations.  Many have public relations departments or do educational outreach, and the websites can be helpful sources when students are doing research or trying to identify possible interviewees.  Ask students to write what they discovered in a few paragraphs.

Sharing:  Mount the writing on a bulletin board, and give youngsters a chance to share more information or ask questions of one another.  What was the most surprising or favorite thing they learned about this job or person?

For More Information:  To learn more about the professions of chef, author, and illustrator, check the official website for Julia Child , Erin Hagar, and Joanna Gorham,

Erin Hagar 

Related Projects/Reading: This biography of Julia Child makes a wonderful book for a classroom library.  Or educators might check this one and other biographies of recent figures out of the library and display them in the classroom.  Even a kid picking up and briefly leafing through a biography can learn a lot.  It’s hard for kids to imagine possible life paths unless they “see” them, whether on TV, in the neighborhood, in their family or those of their friends, or in books.

Too often, biographies for youngsters highlight worthy artists, writers, activists, athletes, and politicians.  They’re all important to the historical landscape, of course, but where are the biographies of those with recent accomplishments in the fields of science, agriculture, the culinary arts, business, and engineering?  Where are the life stories that might guide and inspire youngsters with an interest in professions beyond those usually featured?

  

www.maryquattlebaum.com