THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK by Kristin Levine

Little Rock, Arkansas, 1958. Marlee is a shy and introverted twelve- year-old. She loves maths and prime numbers, but she finds it really hard to talk to anyone except for her family. 

She has got a special relationship with her elder sister, Judy, who pushes her to talk to people, but especially to look for real friends, someone she will have something in common with, and to stop letting herself being bossed around by Sally, her supposed current best friend.

One day, a new girl arrives at her school. Her name is Liz and it seems to be the friend that Judy was hoping that Marlee would find. 

They start a school project together, where Marlee will have to give a speech, right in front of the class, about natives of Arkansas, and Liz manages, not without a huge effort, to convince her to do it, demonstrating that she really cares about her shy friend.

"It's important to face your fears," said Liz. " It makes you a better person."

Things continue improving in Marlee's life till the day Liz, suddenly, disappears from school, apparently without any reason.

In the meantime Little Rock's high school is being kept closed by the local governor to protest against the new Integration Laws and to avoid white students from mixing  with Negroes.

It's President Eisenhower's time and many southern States are struggling to preserve their way of life. It's all about states' rights and segregationists against integrationists.

So, due to this tense situation, Judy is forced to move to her granny's house to be able to go to school, leaving Marlee without her friend nº1.

At least she still has Liz by her side, but the same day of the presentation, Liz doesn't show up.

And it's awfully hard for Marlee to discover why. What happened was that Liz, taking advantage of her light skin and straight hair was signed up by her mum for the school for white people to get a better schooling and life opportunities.

In some way, she had been discovered to be a Negro and therefore, to avoid any persecution for her and her family, she had to disappear.

At that time Little Rock had a Negro neighborhood with its Negro church, cinema etc.

The KKK was generally accepted and black people were harassed despite the new integrationist laws.

Despite this environment, Marlee, after a first moment of feeling betrayed, decides that her friendship with Liz must go on, even secretly. 

This decision will bring very nice moments but also a lot of problems and dangerous situations. 

I'm not telling you anything else about the plot because it's really worth reading the book to find out for yourself what happens.

I enjoyed this book so much!

First of all because historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. It takes you to another historical moment, in a different place, with unknown people and their lifestyle. 

You can live another life and at the same time learn from it as it were your own experience.

The characters are really complex and the first person narrative style is deeply involving. It wakes up the ten year-old inside you.

It's easy to identify yourself with Marlee, blushing with her when she almost falls on her secret love's knees at the football match, or suffering with her when she has to put up with Red's bullying and racism, without been able to do anything to protect Liz.

And you also worry about her secret friendship being reported.

This book will dramatically increase the sense of justice naturally carried in every child. 

Your children, as Marlee, will also learn a good life lesson, explained by the Maths' teacher.

The world is not straightforward, and even if adults tell kids that if they do something good they will get that good result they're expecting, most of the time it's more likely a long complicated equation: people have to break it down into smaller parts to factor it. 

Winning the referendum about integration was the first step, and not the end of the struggle as Marlee had hoped, of a long walk on the path of solving the world's problems.

Good Classroom resources and activities are available on this web pages:

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/desegregation/printable/73231.html

http://lionsoflittlerock.weebly.com/activities.html

Enjoy them!

You might be interested on these books too:

THE EVOLUTION of CALPURNIA TATE by Jacqueline Kelly

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE by Laura Ingalls Wilder

THE ADVENTURES of HUCKLEBERRY FINN by Mark Twain

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM by Adam Gidwitz

A Tale Drak and Grimm Cover

It's universally known that the original Grimm brothers' tales were not exactly what we're used to hearing. The first version of Children's and Household Tales contained stories quite unsuitable for children, because of scenes of violence and sexuality, therefore, many details were changed in order to publish a less cruel and gory version of it (take a look on Wikipedia). 

Nowadays it is very easy to find sweet and generously illustrated versions of those tales, but where's the catharsis? What about the process of getting over life's difficulties to evolve into a wise adult? 

A Tale Dark and Grimm is a pretty complicated book to describe because it presents many different interesting aspects, but it especially guides the reader along the path of Hansel and Gretel's lives, exquisitely explaining the emotions that our young protagonists are feeling at every step of the adventure of growing up.

As the narrator says, this book presents 'the real story of Hansel and Gretel' from before their birth to their coronation as the new king an queen of the Kingdom of Grimm, passing through, not only the chocolate cake house and the old lady who wanted to eat them but, also, several other Grimm stories: Faithful Johannes, The seven Swallows, Brother and Sister, A Smile as Red as Blood and The Three Golden Hairs. From time to time The Three Ravens that can predict the future appear.

"A brilliant fairy-tale salad" as Gianni Rodari would have called it! (chapter 20, The Grammar of Fantasy)

The plot is basically based on these two siblings who run away from their original parents to look for new parents who will take care of them and won't hurt them. The reason they run away is that their father cuts their heads off in order to save his old servant Johannes' life, and when they are brought back to life by magic, they decide that they cannot trust their parents' love. But running away to find a new family seems more difficult and painful than expected. During their long journey they have many adventures, most of them gruesome and gory.

And here comes, if can I express my sincere opinion, the best part of the book: the narrator. Highlighted by bold type, pops up to warn the reader, with humour and pleasant fickleness, about the terrifying scenes waiting for him in the following pages. Also, he clearly gives us a pedagogic explanation of what we are reading. I've been imagining him as a sagacious little gnome coming out from the edge of this enchanted world to get some air during the entrancing reading of the story.

I was particularly pleased by the author's way of explaining the development of the parent/child relationship. Hansel and Gretel, after being beheaded, are naturally disappointed in their parents' behavior. Their parents, on the other hand, feel guilty for what they have done, and eventually these two emotions must be resolved in a final confrontation. It's not simple to forget and it's easier to be miserable, but in the end forgiveness and sympathy will triumph.

I have read many worried posts written by teachers and parents about this book.

  

While the reviews are generally positive, many people are worried that too much violence could traumatize their children or students forever. This impression reminded me a kind of comic moment in my teaching carer.

I was using fairy tales as activities in class, when an 8-year-old boy told me, referring to The Seven Kids and The Wolf : "I've never understood how it's possible that mother goat can cut the wolf's belly, take her kids out, fill the wolf's stomach with rocks and sew it again while the wolf keeps sleeping!!!"

In that moment I realized that we can't sympathize with anyone's pain if we haven't experienced pain in our own lives. Also, I think that children can usually distinguish real experiences from 'Once upon a Time' reality. 

Anyway, the author has a FAQ page on his website, to clarify any further doubts about it.

And while you are at it, take a couple of minutes to read Adam's posts and comments, he is a very nice and smart guy!

On the same page you'll find a Teacher's Guide with lots of classroom activities.

Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted. 

                                                   

PETER PAN by J.M.Barrie

This is another classic I had never read before thanks to Walt Disney's Cartoons.

Peter Pan is quite a selfish child who doesn't remember things, but at the same time he has a strong sense of justice and is always quick to help those in danger. The adventures narrated in the book are pretty famous and have been largely developed so I really couldn't imagine my own film.

Maybe this is the reason why I really enjoyed the details of this book. They are at the beginning, when the protagonist are still in the real world and fantasy is more necessary. 

Can you imagine three yawning night-lights or a twinkling little star in the Milky Way screaming: "Now, Peter!"?

Such miracles are possible only if you are a child and J.M.Barrie, the author, sensitively reminds  those who aren't so young anymore.

This book arrived when the Puritan point of view of children (necessarily disobedient like Adam) and their education (in fear of God) started to be replaced by the new Romantic movement's concepts: kids are innocent and childhood is a sacred time of life. Children's literature is seen as a way to expand their imagination and question the ready-made reality imposed by adults.

Is this why sit contains swallows build their nests in the eaves of houses to listen to stories and birds consulting maps at windy corners of the sky?

Once arrived at Neverland everything was already known and alive: the Island was exactly how its little guests have dreamt of it every night.

Another scene I found really hilarious is the one where everyone is looking for the one silently walking a few paces before him, creating a big ring of people moving all around the island the night the children were carried off in chapter twelve.

It was so inspirational that it appeared in Robert L. Stevenson's Treasure Island too.  

Fairies, flying children, pirates, indians, mermaids and Never birds come true for just a short period of everyone's life, until, like the old stars, we become glassy-eyed and stop to believe in our little fairy, killing her.

Many activities related to the story are available online:

FACTSHEETS by Penguin

PETER PAN LESSON PLAN by Great Ormond Street Hospital



MORE BOOKS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN:

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH by Roald Dahl

MOMO by Michael Ende

 

Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted. 

                                                   

 

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH by Roald Dahl

James is a little English boy  who had lived by the seaside with his beloved parents until they got eaten by an 'enormous angry rhino escaped from the London Zoo'.

He was sent to live with his two horrible aunts: Aunt Sponge, fat and lazy, and Aunt Spiker, bony and cruel. 

Their house was ramshackle, set on top of a high hill and surrounded by a big garden, where James was practically a prisoner for years.

He was absolutely alone and desperate when, one day, he ran away to the edge of the garden, and right there an old man gave him a bag with tiny green things that James was supposed to eat to finally end his miserable life. 

But he stumbled over the old peach tree's root, dropping the entire content of the bag that disappeared in a few seconds into the ground. 

The very next day something awesome happened: on the top of the old peach tree, that never had produced a single fruit, a peach suddenly appeared that, in less than one day, grew up and reached the volume of a house!

One night James found a hole in the skin of the massive fruit and… Enormous friendly insects and exciting adventures finally flew him toward a new happy life across the Ocean!

This book is worth to reading for at least  3 different reasons.

First of all, the story is founded on few basic Propp's functions that bring the young reader from an initial status of unhappiness of the hero (James) to an happy ending thanks to a magic gift given to him by a mentor. The hero makes new friends that will join and help him  through many adventures with characters like sharks and stormy Cloud-Men.  

You can also find many nice and funny rhymes in it and we all know how much important they are to developing reading skills and phonetics.

Finally it teaches children about insects: the Grasshopper, the Centipede, the Spider, the Earthworm, the Glow-worm, the Silkworm and the Ladybird.

They will discover who is useful to agriculture and who is a pest, why only certain kinds of grasshopper can play beautiful melodies, how many legs a centipede really has,  several uncorrected beliefs about them and much more! 

So enjoy the reading and, if you are a teacher, here you can find some really useful activities based on the book, designed by Nancy Polette:

http://www.nancypolette.com/handouts/guide_jamespeach.htm

Read more book reviews:

MOMO by Michael Ende

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS by Jules Verne

Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted. 

                                                   

MOMO by Michael Ende

When I was 10 I was shown a movie entitled 'Momo'. I remember there was this little orphan with an 'unruly mop of jet-black hair' and everything was kind of grey. I also remember that the film was about time.

Three good reasons to embrace the adventure of reading this book, written by the author of 'The Neverending Story', Michael Ende, and published for the first time in 1973 in Germany.

No-one knows Momo's age. She lives by herself in an little room under the ancient amphitheater at the edge of the city. She makes a lot of good friends because she knows how to listen to people and at the same time it seems that she helps them to improve the good side of themselves. Every day many inhabitants of the city spend a good time with her, either playing or chatting. 

But a grey shadow is planning to rule the city in a very different way. It's the Timesaving Bank and its men in grey. They want to steal people's time. They need it to exist. But 'time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart'.

So they convince everyone, little by little, not to waste their spare time. They want people to work as hard and fast as they can. No more chats, no more daydreams, no more love. 'All that matters in life is to climb the ladder of success, amount to something, own things.'

But Momo is different. She doesn't need anything. She only cares about her friends and the special moments they spend together.

One day she finds the doll 'Lola' waiting for her at the amphitheater. After her, a man in grey also appears. The particular doll can talk, but she only wants new outfits. That's why from the boot of the grey car of the man in grey, one after another, a huge quantity of doll's stuff starts to appear. Because 'There's always something left to wish for.'

Momo answers something about love to him and suddenly something unexpected happens. The man in gray feels a strong desire to tell her the truth about him and his organization. He keeps talking until he realizes that it 's the secrets of the Timesaving Bank that he was revealing. He stops and escapes from that uncommon little girl and  'like an explosion in reverse, all the dolls and their scattered belongings flew back into the boot.' This is one of the best scenes of the film, at the very moment I read the passage I could clearly see in my mind all this dresses and shoes flying back into the grey car.

Here you can see the Spanish version of the scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYd-TabJdA&feature=related

After that many adventures entertain the young reader (and the old one).

I only would like to highlight some of the most illuminating passages in the book: concepts and ideas that are absolutely modern despite the book's age.

For example at some point of the story children are no longer allowed to play children's games in the streets. 'Child Depots' are built by the men in gray. There 'the youngsters can be moulded into useful and efficient members of society'. 

What kind of society they refer to is the question that immediately arises.

The answer lasts a line: 'A world dependent on computers and nuclear energy'. 

Does it ring a bell to someone out there?

Into Child Depots, kids, wearing grey uniforms, are taught how to play. The author describes a game like the 'data retrieval' where all of them pretend to be a card, each one carrying various bits of information about himself, sometimes they are just long strings of letters and numbers and so on. 'It's useful for the future'. They say.

It's impressive how time is stolen second by second from people who don't even notice that something is, slowly but inexorably, changing in their lives and the relationships among them. 

To be honest, I don't remember if I caught the meaning of these metaphors when I was 10. Probably not. Probably when you are 10 you just  don't like bad grey men and sympathize with Momo, feeling her pain of losing all her friends suddenly for some very bad reasons.

But probably for a child these strong emotions and surrealistic scenes are impressive enough. 

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