Great stories in history. . - BookTalk - children's books; includes related activities - book review

Instructor, Jan-Feb, 2002 by Judy Freeman

Children's literature expert Judy Freeman introduces a host of fascinating heroes from the year's best new historical titles.

PRIMARY

GOIN' SOMEPLACE SPECIAL

By Patricia C. McKissack; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Atheneum, 2001; 40 pages; $16 (Gr. K-3).

On her way to "Someplace Special," all by herself for the first time, 'Tricia Ann, an African American girl of the 1950s, encounters Jim Crow firsthand. Walking to the back of the bus past the sign that says "Colored Section," she recalls her grandmother's words:

"Those signs can tell us where to sit, but they can't tell us what to think." At the park, by a restaurant, a hotel, and a movie theater--all segregated-- 'Tricia Ann is harshly reminded that she is not allowed to enter, but she perseveres, finally arriving at the one special place in town where all are welcome: The public library. An author's note makes the story even more poignant: It is based on author mcKissack's own childhood experiences growing up in Nashville.

ACTIVITY: Talk to your students about the segregation laws once supported in the U.S. and the changes that the Civil Rights Movement brought about. Ask them to imagine what it would be like to go to separate schools and separate movie theaters. Also, see the Kindness and Justice Challenge, page 54.

REMEMBER THE LADIES: 100 GREAT AMERICAN WOMEN

By Cheryl Harness. HarperCollins, 2001; 64 pages; $16.95 (Gr. 3-6). Starting with young Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America, who was a member of Roanoke Island, Virginia's "Lost Colony," Harness leads us through a stirring, chronologically arranged history of notable American women. Illustrated with watercolor portraits and historical tableaus, the elaborate picture book introduces us to first ladies, educators, doctors and nurses, suffragists, poets, athletes, and actors.

ACTIVITY: With individual biographies available about many of the personalities, students can each select a subject to research further. Texas teacher Andrea Prindle has a novel approach to oral biography reports. Her fourth graders create a class Biography Wax Museum. Attired as their famous subjects, with a fluorescent dot label affixed to their hands, they stand frozen until the dot is pressed by a visitor.

Then they animate, narrating the life stories of their chosen heroines or heroes.

COOLIES By Yin; illustrated by Chris K. Soenpiet. Philomel, 2001; 32 pages; $16.99 (Gr. 1-6). On the night of the Ching Ming Festival, PawPaw and her grandson hold burning incense sticks and kowtow to show respect to their ancestors. PawPaw tells him the story of Shek, her great-grandfather who left China in the mid- 1800s and worked alongside thousands of other "coolies," or lowly workers, to build the Central Pacific Railroad. They do backbreaking shifts blasting through the Sierras, but the men stage a work stoppage when they learn that non-Chinese laborers are paid more. The strike fails, and the men are pushed harder than ever. Inspired by actual events and illustrated with luminous, dramatic watercolors, PawPaw's dignified story of her ancestors will get listeners thinking about their own families' part in building America.

ACTIVITY: This picture book for all ages can be tied in to tracing racial discrimination in the United States, teaching tolerance, exploring Chinese culture, and researching the building of the railroads. Hold your own Respect for Ancestors Day and have students bring in photos.

FANNIE IN THE KITCHEN

By Deborah Hopkinson; illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Atheneum, 2001; 40 pages; $16 (Gr. K-A).

The subtitle says it all: "The Whole Story from Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements." Divided into seven chapters or courses, starting with soup, the story presents young Marcia Shaw, her mother's own special helper, who isn't wild about the idea of a girl named Fannie Farmer moving in to help pregnant Mama with the cooking. Fannie is a marvelous cook, and she soon wins over the scowly little girl, teaching her how to make perfect, flaky biscuits, flip griddle cakes, and determine the freshness of an egg. As Fannie says: "Preparing food well isn't magic. It's an art and a science that anyone can learn." And so Fannie begins to record in a notebook each of her recipes, which she published in 1896 as The Boston Cooking School Cookbook. There's a good recipe for Fannie Farmer's Famous Griddle Cakes on the last page if you're feeling adventurous and hungry.

ACTIVITY: Bring in a Fannie Farmer Cookbook and incorporate the story and a few good recipes into a lesson about measurement or following directions. Hand Out and analyze the construction of a simple recipe for children to follow at home.

WHEN ESTHER MORRIS HEADED WEST: WOMEN, WYOMING, AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE

By Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge; illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers. Holiday House, 2001; 32 pages; $16.95 (Gr. 2-6).

In 1869, 55-year-old Esther Mae Hobart McQuigg Slack Morris, a determined person with the revolutionary idea that women should be able to vote, arrived by stagecoach in the Wyoming Territory. By the end of the year, thanks in part to her efforts, an all-male legislature gave Wyoming women the vote, a right that no other women in the world had at that time. For her next achievement, she applied for the job of justice of the peace, becoming a judge and also the first woman in the U.S. to hold public office. When she voted for the first time, Esther brought along her doctor; he determined "the operation of voting had no ill effects on a woman's health." In this nonfiction picture book filled with good-humored watercolors, your students will discover an inspiring true story of a trailblazer for women's rights. ACTIVITY: For more information and a photograph of Esther Morris, go to: www.wowmuseum.org/gallery/suffrage/justice_full.html Talk with your students about voting. Why is it important for every citizen to v ote? For a further story about the right to vote, read Emily Arnold McGully's The BallotBox Battle (Knopf, 1996) to learn about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her attempt to cast her vote in 1880 in Tenafly, New Jersey.