A Place For Grace

A Place For Grace

This is a loving story about a mixed pup that has big dreams of becoming a 'Seeing Eye Dog' for the blind. She goes to the school for 'Seeing Eye' dogs and soon finds out she does not fit the criteria. Dejected and alone, this dog begins walking. She sees a boy run into the road after a ball and safes his life by pushing him to the curb. A man sees what this dog has done and rushes out of a café to find her. Before he can find her, the pound catches her and puts her in the pound. This man, Charlie, rushes to the 'Hearing Dog Program' and tells the director, Mrs. Lombardi, he has found the right dog for him. With much skepticism, she goes to the pound to rescue this dog. Charlie names the mutt, Grace, and soon they are fast friends. Through many bloopers and adjustments, Grace tries to become a 'Hearing Dog' for Charlie who is deaf.

A Place For Grace by Jean Davies Okimoto, is a great book to introduce children and adults to deaf people and Deaf culture. Through a loving story about a dog trying to find his place in the world, this book explains accommodations deaf people might need in their daily lives, like technology and a dog that is trained to hear for them. Charlie, however, gets along very well and is a positive image of a deaf man. This book does not focus on deafness as disability; rather it focuses on the accommodations needed in order to 'hear'. Otherwise, Charlie is characterized as a well-adjusted man who lives independently and successfully; and communicates using sign language and a TTD (TTY).

I read this book to a 4th grade classroom in Flint, MI. Before we read the book, we did a picture walk. The students seen the fingerspelling on the front cover and predicted right away that the book would be about sign language. During the picture walk, students predicted all sorts of things; the pictures were great in helping us understand what would happen. In one picture, they seen Charlie's hands flying and realized he was a deaf man. After reading the book, students had all sorts of questions and were excited to know that there were 'Hearing' dogs as well as 'Seeing Eye' dogs. We discussed the accommodations needed that they never thought about, like hearing someone knocking on a door. I told them about flashing lights and other new technologies that make communication so much easier now. We ended our discussion about A Place For Grace, by learning a few sign words and fingerspelling. Since this book generated so much enthusiasm and awareness about deafness and sign language, I would use this book again in my classroom.

A Place For Grace by Jean Davies Okimoto, Illustrated by Doug Keith. Sasquatch Books 1993

Public Post: "Freedom River" by Doreen Rappaport

Rappaport, Doreen. Freedom River. 1st ed. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2000.

Doreen Rappaport is the author of numerous nonfiction and historical fiction books for children which attempt to convey American and world history to children ages four to seventeen. As a young woman Rappaport was a music and reading teacher, first in the ethnically diverse New York City and New Rochelle public schools, and later in a Southern "freedom school" for African-American students. Teaching in the Freedom School in McComb, Mississippi, was what first inspired Rappaport to write about history. The African-Americans she met in Mississippi "were heroic" in their struggle to secure their rights thus inspiring her work, "Freedom River," which won a Coretta Scott King Honor Award.

"Freedom River" is a picture book that relates the true story of John Parker, an African-American businessman who bought his own freedom and helped others to gain theirs via the Underground Railroad. Rappaport writes on just one of many incidents in which Parker helped families escape from Kentucky, a slave state, across the river to freedom in Ohio. In one of Parker's journeys he helped an African American couple escape with their baby from the slave state of Kentucky to the free state of Ohio. The white owner knew the slave parents would never leave their child behind, so he had the baby sleep at the foot of his bed; but Parker stole the baby, tricked the master, and led the family across the river to freedom. Rappaport frames the incident with a biography of Parker, who may have helped as many as 900 African Americans. This biography and notes at the beginning and the historical note at the end strengthen the story's impact.

Because John Parker's dangerous journeys demanded courage, self-sacrifice, and careful planning the story has the ability to uplift the African American race. Freedom River tells how John Parker risked his life to rescue a couple and their baby in the fight for freedom. It is a story of courage and determination , while also being a story about the power of prayer!

Children's Literature and the Holocaust - Article Review and Questions

Kremer, S. Lillian. Children's Literature and the Holocaust
Children's Literature Volume 32 (2004), 252-263.
Accessed VIA Project MUSE at Michigan State University, April 2008.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature/v032/32.1kremer.html

This article is actually a review of the works by two Holocaust literary critics "well versed in children's literature" (252), Hamida Bosmajian and Adrienne Kertzer. These critics, as well as Kremer, take issue with the lack of true Holocaust knowledge gained after reading literature intended for children. The article describes how both Bosmajian and Kertzer focus on multiple genres and topics related to the Holocaust in their critical collections which are intended to "influence educators to think more critically about contextualizing Holocaust readings available for young readers and should influence authors of children's Holocaust literature to produce better texts for young readers" (262-263).

This article discusses how German children's authors reconstruct their view of the events World War II and omit "the lures of Nazism that attracted prewar and wartime young Germans" (253) in an effort to keep Nazism taboo and depict the Hitler Youth as 'alienated, diminished' victims of the propagandist pull of the constructors of the atrocities of the war. The article also describes the differences between East German and West German focus in literature when the theme is surrounding World War II and the Holocaust. However, German writers were and still are not the only ones reconstructing this history or memory. Writers focusing on Jewish victims of the Holocaust tend to exclude the horrors and emphasize heroic survivals and ingenuity. This leads to "misleading emphases in narratives focusing on Christian rescue and Jewish escape and heroism" (254).

I found this review to be extremely thought provoking and very well-written. Although, I have not read the main texts being reviewed, I intend to find them. Kremer provided a very detailed look at multiple sides to the critical stances on Holocaust literature, particularly children's Holocaust literature from around the world with focus on American, German, Jewish, and Christian perspectives and authorship.

Though I did not come across this article until after selecting my texts, when I was reading the books for the TE488 final project collection, I was curious if the focus of the Jewish-American children's literature pieces pertaining to the Holocaust had the most appropriate focus in regards to the intended audience. How biased are these texts and do they really provide the most positive addition to a Jewish-American child's mental library and internalization with historical identity? Yes, I agree fully that the human will and survival is an important theme in helping to develop identity, particularly in contemporary generations of Jewish-American children, but how much so if what was being faced is a sugar-coated gloss over of the true events? How do we teach children the full truth "about the Holocaust without frightening them" (257)? How do we provide hope for the future but avoid the atypical depictions of the Holocaust in children's literature?

The overarching critiques presented in this article were that of the idea that "absent from Holocaust literature produced for young readers are pervasive virulent antisemitic propaganda, behavior of the perpetrators, and the concentrationary universe" (256). I would like to know what my colleagues and others think of this. Is this true? If so, what can we as future teachers and educated persons of multicultural and diverse literature do about this?

Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

"Anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can't get to any other way. The next thing you know, you're flying among the stars."

-Cassie Louise Lightfoot

This quote from the book, Tar Beach, represents the dream of a young girl from New York City. The book is a story about a Cassie Louise Lightfoot, a young African American girl, who falls asleep on Tar Beach, a.k.a. the roof of her apartment building, and dreams that she’s flying around New York City. In her young, innocent mind she imagines that anything she flies over she comes to own. When she flies over the George Washington Bridge she says that it’s now hers, and she wears the lights as a diamond necklace. After she flies over the bridge she flies above the Union building and takes claim of that as well. She wants to own the Union building so that her father can join the Labor Union, which at the time of the story he couldn’t because of his African American and Indian heritage and because his grandfathers were not members so therefore he could not be either. Next, she flies over the ice cream factory so that her and her family can have ice cream for dessert every night. It is the sweet, innocent thoughts like this that make Tar Beach a great read.

I found the illustrations to be inspiring, the story captivating and the book overall was just fantastic. There were no problems with stereotypes or negative portrayals of characters; the book was very racially, culturally and historically sensitive. The book explores historical issues through the eyes of children which make it easier for children and adults alike to understand and relate to. Tar Beach is so well received it won the 1992 Caldecott Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration , Reading Rainbow Feature Selection , A New York Times Best Illustrated Book, Parents' Choice Gold Award. I, as well as many other people, highly recommend this book.

Moses Sees a Play

Moses, a young deaf boy attends a special school where his classmates and teacher, Mr. Samuels, are also either deaf or hard of hearing. They all use American Sign Language, ASL, as their preferred mode of communication. One day, Ms. Morgan and her class from a different school, come for a visit. Although Ms. Morgan and her students are not deaf, Ms. Morgan knows ASL and has been teaching her class. All the children are excited to see the play the Little Theatre of the Deaf is going to put on after lunch! The children spend the morning getting to know each other. Moses meets Manuel who has just come to the United States and does not yet know English or sign language. Throughout the rest of the day, the two boys communicate using gestures.

After lunch, the production of Cinderella begins! The Little Theatre of the Deaf includes four actors who perform in ASL and spoken English. When the play is over, the children are eager to work on their own classroom productions that they will share with each other. At the very end of the story, Moses tells his Mom all about his exciting day and talks to his grandparents on his TTY.

Moses Sees a Play seamlessly incorporates ASL and English in a positive and enlightening way. Both languages are recognized as important and necessary to Moses and his classmates. The very beginning of the book includes an author’s note which gives a brief explanation of ASL as well as instructions on how to read the arrows and symbols featured throughout the book. In his note, Millman shares his inspiration for his most recent Moses book. After seeing a production put on by the Little Theatre of the Deaf, Millman knew he wanted Moses and his classmates to experience the same thing. Millman got the idea to include a group of hearing students after visiting “47” The American Sign Language and English School for the Deaf in New York City. There, he saw both deaf and hearing children interact using ASL. In his note, Millman also thanks two Deaf teachers, Dorothy Cohler and Joel Goldfarb, who teach at “47.” The two advised Millman while illustrating the featured sign language diagrams.

While the majority of the text is in English, most of the pages include a sentence or phrase in ASL. At the end of the book, there is a full-page spread completely in ASL with English glosses underneath the diagrams of the Moses signing. These pages accurately portray the proper facial expression, handshape, movement and syntax of ASL. The very last page depicts Moses using a TTY, a Teletype device used by the deaf to communicate over the telephone.

Moses Sees a Play is just one book in Millman’s Moses series. Other books include, Moses Goes to a Concert and Moses Goes to the Circus. Overall, Moses is a dynamic deaf character who positively portrays deaf people as capable and independent. Not only may deaf children relate to Moses and his classmates, but hearing children are given the opportunity to learn about another culture, Deaf culture.

Millman, Isaac. Moses Sees a Play. New York: Frances Foster Books, 2004.

Dad, Jackie and Me

It was the summer of 1947 and all of Brooklyn just knew this was the year the Dodgers were going to win! Their rookie player, Jackie Robinson, promised an exciting and successful season as the first Black player in the major leagues. For one young boy, sharing his love of baseball with his deaf father made that memorable summer even more special. For the first time, his father showed an interest in the game his son so dearly loved. The two of them went to games at Ebbets Field, played catch on the street, started a baseball scrapbook and even caught a ball tossed by Jackie Robinson himself!

Dad, Jackie and Me shares the story of not only a deaf father and his hearing son, but also a glimpse at the racial prejudice experienced by the first Black baseball player of the major leagues. At the baseball diamond, the young boy felt embarrassed the first time his father yelled Jackie’s name because it sounds more like, “AH-GHEEE, AH-GHEE, AH-GHEE!” At first the crowd stared, but soon enough no one even seemed to notice. The young boy also witnessed prejudice towards Robinson, hearing the Giants call him horrible names and seeing a St. Louis Cardinal spike him on purpose. This beautifully illustrated picture book goes beyond simply focusing on one multicultural issue. It is not just a story about a deaf father and his son, nor is it only about Jackie Robinson as the first Black major league baseball player. The story naturally weaves together issues of both disability and race in a realistic manner that furthers the reader’s experience with both topics.

Inspired by his own childhood experiences, Myron Uhlberg further explains the parallels between his own deaf father and Jackie Robinson in his author’s note at the end of the story. Uhlberg points out how his father experienced prejudice similar to Robinson based on his hearing loss. Uhlberg is a child of deaf adults, also known as a CODA. He has a very personal and close connection with the Deaf Community and Deaf culture. Uhlberg also wrote The Printer which draws on similar childhood experiences of growing up as a CODA and his father’s trade as a printer for The New York Daily News. Dad, Jackie and Me is a quality piece of children’s literature that depicts deafness in a respectful and positive manner.

Uhlberg, Myron. Dad, Jackie and Me. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, 2005.