Questioning the Text--Confessions of a Closet Catholic, by Sarah Darer Littman

During her search for identity, Justine, the protagonist in the book Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman, makes a few generalizations about Catholic families versus her own Jewish family, which leads me to ask the question: does the dynamic between Mrs. McAllister (the Catholic mother of Justine's friend) and Mrs. Silver, Justine’s mom, solidify the stereotype that Jewish women of today are spoiled and love to show off their wealth?

First, let's take a look at the indications of how Mrs. Silver shows off her wealth. She constantly redecorates and designs her house in accordance with two decorators, Armando and Marcel. Her house is filled with designer furniture and up to date on the latest décor, from what Justine describes. Mrs. Silver also takes great joy in showing off her house, for example when she presents her walk-in closet to Mrs. Weinstein. Why else would Mrs. Silver show off her closet other than to fish for an awestruck comment from another person? She obviously loves to show off what she has which holds status in society and is considered a luxury that not many people have. In this case, it is a walk-in closet.

Littman also portrays Mrs. Silver as being spoiled. When she doesn’t get anything her way, she throws a tantrum and anybody who is involved gets an undeserved earful. For example, when she screams into the phone at the pest-removal service for not answering her phone calls "anytime, anywhere" then promptly slams down the phone. Justine refers to this as “the Wrath of Mom.” Also, Justine claims that her mom got mad at her dad, not for spilling coffee all over himself, but for getting some on the new upholstered chair. What is ironic is that Mrs. Silver is given the money to buy things, such as reupholstering chairs and the hiring decorators, from Mr. Silver's salary.

Mrs. Silver also follows the stereotype by being very superficial. She obviously cares very much about the look of her house much more than the things that happen in it. Justine becomes extremely preoccupied with keeping the house clean in order to please her mother. She even complains that “I’m mad at Mom for caring more about the carpets than about her children.” The ultimate show of Mrs. Silver’s superficiality is when instead of being furious that Justine has been practicing Communion behind her back, she is raging about Justine attracting mice into her house.

The reason why I am asking this question is because I feel that this book involves maintaining the stereotypes we have while possibly generating others by making assumptions based on the way Mrs. Silver acts in comparison to Mrs. McAllister. It really becomes apparent that we need to discuss stereotypes in relation to this book. Hopefully Littman’s book can help break stereotypes instead of formulating them.

Linda Sue Park and Korean Culture

As I was reading Linda Sue Park’s book, Project Mulberry, several aspects of the writing caught my attention. I was brought back to a time when I read A Single Shard, another book written by Linda Sue Park and the similarities between the two became easily recognizable. In both books, there is a strong emphasis on the traditional characteristics of the Korean culture. It became evident that Linda Sue Park knows very much about what she writes. As it turns out, she is Korean herself and, although she was born in Illinois, she is the daughter of Korean immigrants and an insider. In an interview, she mentions that her parents, strong believers or racial equality, brought her up using many traditional Korean ways. One tradition predominantly present in both books is the aspect of food. She uses many examples of historical Korean foods and eating traditions in her books. Do you think because she came from a Korean family, she also associates food with continuing the traditions of Korean culture in the US?

Stereotypes in Al Capone Does My Shirts

On Wednesday, we addressed issues in the book Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko. One question I asked was: does Natalie, Moose’s sister with autism, solidify the common stereotype in this book that she is only a burden to Moose, his family, and society? I told my group to look at certain aspects of Choldenko’s book that could lead to stereotyping.

Firstly, we looked at how Moose constantly talks to Natalie using baby talk and refers to what is going on in her mind as “Natalie’s world.” It stereotypes how children with autism can only understand broken English and this is how we should talk to them so they can understand us.

Next, we looked at how Natalie’s mother always searches to find a babysitter, often delegating Moose for the job. Shifting the responsibility to others or even neglecting to find a responsible babysitter happens many, many times throughout the book when Natalie is on the island that it is hard not to generate the stereotype that children with autism will always need to have somebody by their side to look after them because they don’t have the ability to be independent.

Finally, we looked at how Natalie’s mother feels like the only way to make people to understand her condition is to pretend she is just five years younger than her real age. It seems like she has to hide Natalie behind false pretenses for her to be accepted in society and shield Natalie away from reality. Does this also suggest that children with autism should be considered biologically younger than “normal” children just so that others won’t question or be uncomfortable with their condition?

From reading Al Capone Does My Shirts, we can actually see how frequently stereotypes have the chance to form when Moose and Natalie’s mother treat Natalie differently and shelter her from the real world. Hopefully discussions framed from Gennifer Choldenko’s book can help to break stereotypes instead of formulating them, which I hope would accompany this book when reading it in the classroom.

The Schneider Family Book Award

The Schneider Family Book Award is given annually by the American Library Association. It honors an author or illustrator for the artistic expression of the disability experience for children and teen. There are 3 categories, which include books directed at birth through grade school, middle school, and teens. Its purpose is to recognize quality literature in the area of physical, emotional, and/or mental disability. Winners of the Schneider Family Book award are picked by the Award Commitee, which is made up of 9 committee members who are elected for 2 year terms. Each member is chosen by executive board of the American Library Association based on recommendation. For the commitee to select quality literature, the book must exhibit an aspect of living with a physical, mental, or emotional disability. It must also focus on artistic expression of children or adolescents living with a disability. Previous winners and year awarded include Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements (2004),My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir by Samantha Abeel (2005), and Tending to Grace by Kimberly Newton Fusco (2006).

Final Project Topic

For my final TE 448 Blog project, I am going to focus on learning disabilities. What draws me to this subject area is that when going to our placements each week, I see students all around that have different learning styles, some of which I believe to be the beginning signs of a learning disability. As a teacher, I want to be effective in guiding every student towards learning and if I cannot understand how certain students are affected, I cannot do that. Some learning disabilities are less severe than others, nonetheless just as important to be knowledgeable about. I want to know what teaching styles are the best for certain learning styles and what else I can do to help a particular student learn, despite their disability.

Some helpful sites I came across are:
http://www.ldonline.org/index.php
http://www.ldworldwide.org/
http://www.ldaamerica.org/

Are Awards Beneficial?

How quick are we to classify books that have seals from awards as "good literature?" Does it necessarily mean that because a book has been honored, it must be an appropriate piece of work? Awards allow a book to be recognized, but there is still a bit of controversy in what the awards actually do.

On one hand, awards, such as the Newberry and Schneider Family Book Award, honor pieces of literature with exceptional criteria. Awards like the Coretta Scott King award, honor literature featuring exceptional African American works of literature. All of these works are written by insiders, so therefore know the subject matter quite well. Also, awards allow authors representing the non-majority a chance to be acknowledged without being swamped over by the mainstream popular pieces of literature.
On the other hand, what “the criteria” a book contains, is also debatable. Some of the criteria for selecting a book for the award are so strict and whittled down, which could be excluding some books with great content. Other books are selected simply by a jury vote using generous standards, which can easily let a book with poor subject matter (like full of stereotypes) under the radar without ever knowing. Also, by honoring only certain pieces of literature, are readers being drawn away from other great books just because they don’t see “the seal of approval?”

Overall, there will always be a debate over the efficiency of book awards and each side makes some valid points. It all boils down to finding a balance between the two.

Nikki Grimes--Living the "Bronx Masquerade"

Nikki Grimes knew after she had written her first poem early in her life that she was going to be a writer. As a child growing up in the 60's, she experienced first hand the nationwide aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Martin Luther King Jr.'s historical speech, multiple political demonstrations and sit-ins, and the Harlem Renaissance. So what makes her qualified to write literary works such as Bronx Masquerade? She lived it!

Nikki Grimes experienced living in the Bronx first hand, which is the inspiration for the book. She attended High School in the Bronx, and is considered an insider on multiple levels: she is of similar cultural and social backgrounds as many of the characters in the book, she lived and went to school in the inner city of New York, and survived some of the meanest streets where gang violence and physical fights trumped peace. This is the reason why the inner city is often the setting for her works. According to Nikki, “the city street is the territory I know best.”

A great web site article to read is her autobiography, called “Historically Speaking.” In it, she shares about her life and how events in her past helped shape her writing style today. It is very informational and offers tons of insight into her life. She reflects on her experiences and even post pictures from her past that make the article also very entertaining to read. Check it out here:
http://www.nikkigrimes.com/hspeak.html