I really enjoyed reading this book. It actually surprised me on how quick of a read it was; looking at the cover and reading the back I thought that it would be kind of slow moving but I was hooked from the very first page.
Something that I think that Sharon Draper did really well was telling the story from more than one perspective. I have read books like that before and some of them work but most of them just get really confusing and messy. She did a good job at transitioning into the two girls view on the world, which made it a lot easier to read. I think that it was really important that she chose to tell this story from a slave and a white indentured servant's perspective. This allowed us a better understanding of everything that was going on in this time.
My favorite character was actually Mrs. Derby. Her kindness and love really made her a charismatic character and (like said in class) allowed us to look back and see that some people were aware of the injustices being done and wanted nothing more than them to end. The whole situation with her, her baby and Noah was heartbreaking. While reading this part I was really hoping that by some miracle the baby would live and be raised a slave and that Mr. Derby would never find out what had happened. When he shot Noah and the baby was the worst part in the book and I definitely had to put the book down for a moment to recollect myself. Although many situations in the book were just awful to imagine this one was the one that really got to me the most.
I would teach this book to 7-9th graders. The main characters are about that age and I think that it is a really good book for kids to really understand what it was like when we had slavery. We are taught about slavery around this age but I don't think that any one can really understand the magnitude at which this happened. This book helps kids to realize the truth about this time period and not just facts. It is also useful in order to stop predetermined prejudices that kids may have had about other races and teach them to be more loving and excepting of each other.
This book was excellent and has definitely made it into my top 20 favorite books. I loved it!
Do you think that 7th-9th grade would be old enough to handle the intense situations in the novel? Many other students felt that this would be better suited for 10th-12th grade. I do think that if you frame this correctly, with history and other supporting materials, a younger audience would defnitely take to this book.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed the character of Mrs. Derby, she was a breath of fresh air compared to Mr. Derby and Clay. She was such a forward thinker too.
Great thoughts about the novel!
-Allison
I was thinking more to stick with the age of the main characters but I could see how some of the content would be a little over that young of a groups head!
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