Ima Sample and Will B. Goode

Group Text Assignment
7E:123 Read & Respond - Child Literature
June 5, 200x

Bibliographic Information:

  1. Hopkinson, Deborah and James Ransome, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
  2. Hopkinson, Deborah and James E. Ransome, Under the Quilt of Night. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001.
  3. Roop, Peter and Connie, Sojourner Truth. New York: Scholastic, 2002.

Purpose:

We chose the books; Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Under the Quilt of Night, and, Sojourner Truth because they all have a similar topic, overcoming slavery. The first two books; Sweet Clara and Under the Quilt of Night, are realistic fiction that utilize folklore and fact to recreate stories about the Underground Railroad and how quilts were often thought to be used as maps and guides to help the slaves to freedom. These particular books are also picture books that contain beautiful illustrations by James Ransome. The illustrations are rich and vibrant and add a realistic element to the stories.

We also included the chapter book, Sojourner Truth, because of its focus on the bibliographic format and because of its content. This biography is simply written in story form, mixing quotes and other sources to recreate the time and the circumstances surrounding the time period. Sojourner Truth was a former slave who eventually was freed and went on to be one of America's first human rights speakers and a crusader for women's rights, a vehement crusader against slavery, and a champion for freedom.

In utilizing all three of these texts, one gets an idea of the context in which these individuals struggled. More importantly, these texts speak to the tenacity and bravery exhibited by many African American slaves of the time period. While learning about the immense injustices that Sojourner knew, we also see the ingenuity displayed by Clara and Sojourner as they courageously overcome insurmountable odds. Sojourner displays historical accuracy while Clara and Under the Quilt of Night add some historical folklore that gave people hope during this time. They nicely compliment one another. Also, in the book, Under the Quilt of Night, the text takes on a poetry format to recreate the intensity experienced by escaping slaves, on their way to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

How the books compliment each other:

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt is story about a slave girl, Clara, who learns to quilt. She gets an idea to make her quilt into a map for escaping slaves, a quilt that maps the way to freedom. She ingeniously uses information, gathered from different sources, to weave a beautiful quilt that illustrates the map. The book uses authentic dialect in the conversational pieces, but also intersperses standard English in the narration. It really mixes Standard English with the southern dialect, for example;

The quilt got bigger and bigger, and if folks knew what I was doin', no one said. But they came by the sewin' room to pass the time of day whenever they could.

"By the way, Clara," a driver might tell me, "I heard the master sayin' yesterday he didn't want to travel to Mr. Morse's place ‘cause it's over twenty miles north o' here.

This is a picture book of historical fiction, written from the perspective of a young slave girl, Clara, with a nod to authenticity through its illustrations and its text. The characterization of Clara is strong and realistic. The plot and theme reflect the times and the setting seems accurate as well, although the text does not explicitly state where it takes place. The story flows nicely and the language is easy to read. It is an effective book in it's portrayal of a fictionalized slave girl and her hopes for freedom.

The book, Under the Quilt of Night, is also written by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by James Ransome. It is a follow-up to Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. This book also takes place during the same generalized time period, using the quilt-as-map metaphor for the night sky. This book differs, however, in its use of language. It is written in poetry form. The author uses the poems to illustrate different parts of the slave experience, as well as to evoke immense feelings in the reader as the protagonists escape to freedom- once again on the Underground Railroad;

Hiding

A man and woman let us in.

They give us clean clothes,

hot stew and biscuits,

sweet cherry pie.

We talk in whispers so we won't wake their little boy,

already tucked in bed.

Their daughter, just my age,

lets me hold her kitten.

We follow her lantern

up narrow stairs to a secret room.

"Sleep now.

Tonight we'll keep watch,"

she says.

I lie awake wondering

about others who have hidden here.

I won't ever know their names.

But I find a message,

a rough carved place

in the wood under my mat.

I make my fingers into eyes

to explore it.

Just before I fall asleep

I see it is a star.

The poems are powerful portrayals of fact, fiction, and feelings- all intertwined. It is a powerful format to convey the ideas and feelings of the content. Once again, the illustrations by James Ransome are rich and enhance the story realistically, as they do in Sweet Clara.

The book, Sojourner Truth, is a biography; it is also a chapter book. The book has a nice introduction that tells about the events going on in the world at this time and what type of information the authors included. The introduction even talks about different types of biographies; narratives and biographies that utilize primary and secondary sources. This particular book is a biography that uses primary as well as secondary sources.

The beauty of this biography is that it not only presents, "both a vivid and an accurate picture of the life and the times of the subject"(LC, 235), but it also contains, "settings that are clearly and accurately depicted, full of interesting social details, and linked to the development of the subject's character and accomplishments"(LC, 235). For example, in Sojourner Truth, the book utilizes historical facts to back up the story of the character;

In 1824, the state of New York passed a law to free slaves gradually within its borders. Slaves who had worked for twenty years would be set free on July 4, 1827.

...Mr. Dumont had been pleased with Belle's hard work. He promised her that ‘if she would do well, and be faithful, he would give her "free papers" one year before' he had to.

On July 4, 1826, Belle [Isabella was her given name] would be a free woman (Roop & Roop, 39).

This book also shows real newspaper clippings, from the time period. This, too, reflects the general setting surrounding the circumstances of Sojourner's life.

The language is simple and straightforward. As stated, it utilizes a lot of historical fact to back up stories about Sojourner's life. Although the language is simple, it is packed with information and moves the reader to emotional depths as we chronologically follow Belle (Sojourner) through her life and struggles.

This book is an excellent companion to the picture books because it is a biography, thus is rooted in facts and real stories, yet reiterates the times and trials portrayed in the picture books.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Sojourner's strengths lie in the fact that it is a short chapter book with simple language. The book is easy to ready and students should find her life interesting as events progress. There are also many additional resources in the back of the book which help the student to find more information if needed. The book is not sugar-coated for children, but does not go into explicit detail for some of the hard times such as when she was whipped by Mr. Neely (Roop, 29). There are also some primary source photos and letters as well as some great illustrations. The only weakness that this book may have is just that some details are most likely missing, especially with regard to harder experiences such as the beatings, but we feel that the author's purpose was to focus on Sojourner's accomplishments in spite of some of the experiences she went through.

Sweet Clara's strengths lie in the wonderful illustrations as well as the happy ending that many people look for and the author's techniques discussed in the previous section. Sweet Clara does still bring some honesty into the book noting that some people never even got a chance to try to follow the quilt to freedom. Sweet Clara does not talk about any of the unpleasant experiences that may have occurred in Clara's life and so the balance of real life is somewhat missing, but the story is one which children will enjoy.

Under the Quilt of night used excellent descriptions in the form of poetry. There realistic element of racial tensions was included in this book which helped to balance what some students might say is just a "sappy, happy ending." The only weakness this book might have, as we see it, would be that the farmer helping them said "I'm no friend of the slave" (Under the Quilt of Night, Hopkinson, 23) which some might view as hypocrisy since he didn't have to say anything, but it made him more believable so we felt that it still worked well with the story.

Critical Reading Skills Development:

All three of the books, together, help to promote an enlarging of students' perspectives. Instead of just reading history books that only give a brief overview of a contribution that an individual may have made, these books help to transform the curriculum by instead looking at some real situations and real solutions that slaves used to work towards freedom. These books help students to really "get into the heads" of those that they are reading about. This is in direct contrast to history books that often gloss over slavery and what people really experienced during that time. Using these books will help students to see that they can look for primary sources and real stories to understand. They can then add other sources to challenge what contradictory resources are saying, and that is what critical reading is all about.