Author’s purpose: to share African American history

Author’s Point of View: 3rd person omniscient as we see the story from more than one character’s point of view

Cause and Effect: Because Henry’s family was sold, the effect was that Henry went to the extreme of mailing himself to escape the sorrow of slavery.

Characterize Henry: hard working, good listener, loving, strong

Mental Images: Henry imagined the carts carrying away his family and all that he loved every night.

Drawing Conclusions: Henry knew that the mail was delivered everywhere. He thought he could stand being in a box for many hours. He drew the conclusion that he could mail himself north to escape slavery.

After Henry’s family is sold, he purposefully pours sulphuric acid on his hand so that he could stay home from work in order to get some help in mailing himself to the northern states to escape slavery in the southern United States.

Metaphor: The quilt as a cover of darkness is compared to the night sky throughout the story as the slaves must hide during the day time and move at night.

Author’s POV: 1st person

Author’s Purpose: to share the history of African American slaves and the people who helped them

Voice: the story is told from an unnamed girls point of view in first person

Mental Images: imagine hiding under a bush in the hot summer and not being able to move much

The story is about a family running to the north for freedom.

Text-to-text:  Freedom on the Menu: the Greensboro Sit-Ins by Carole Boston Weatherford

Metaphor: The story uses an extended metaphor to compare the Civil Rights movement to a recipe throughout the story.

Author’s Purpose: to share a story about the civil rights movement and to teach us about African American history

Author’s POV: 3rd person

Cause and Effect: Because the demonstrators were nonviolent, the effect was that the national news only captured the violence of the angry white people which made Dr. King’s message even stronger.

Mental Images: Imagine having salt, ketchup, and coffee poured on your head and pepper thrown in your eyes and still sitting calmly

Organizational Strategies: the story is organized like a poem

This is the story of the four college men who began the Woolworth sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, February 1, 1960. The author shares a story in language and illustrations that tell what happened with a positive point of view and a message of hope for the future. The metaphor of a recipe is used to mix the ingredients needed to end segregation. 

Genre: traditional literature

Setting: Virginia

Predicting: Predict what young Sam will do when the man comes back with the request to make his wife young again

Character Motivation: What motivates young Sam to charge the man for what the hired hand did?  What motivates him to change at the end?

Compare and Contrast young Sam and old Sam:

Characterization of young Sam: He damaged the saw blades because he didn’t clean the logs first concluding that he is lazy; he cuts the boards unevenly concluding that he is careless; he refuses to sweep the shop concluding that he is again lazy and disrespectful toward his father; he is dishonest and arrogant as he “puts on airs” when he is in charge.

Characterization of old Sam: hardworking and kind

Internal consistency of young Sam’s character: What types of things would you see young Sam doing in the future?

Big Idea or Theme: Work hard and treat people well or trouble will find you.

What evidence supports the conclusion that young Sam learned a lesson?

Before beginning, read the guide produced by the publisher which provides a background for understanding:

Author’s purpose: The author takes us into the world of a refugee and helps refugee’s to see that they are not alone.

POV: The story is told from Kek’s point of view.

Voice: We hear Kek’s voice throughout the story as we experience his situations from his POV.

Text-to-Text Connections: 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy

Drawing Conclusions: We quickly draw the conclusion that Kek is new to the United States.  What text evidence leads you to this conclusion?

Mental Images: The reader is forced to make a mental image of Kek’s description in order to follow his thoughts.

He describes common things in unique ways without using the common name for it such as the flying boat for the airplane.

Characterization: Use the Describing Wheel to list Kek’s traits: Eleven years old, maybe an orphan, afraid, sad, brave

Symbolism: How is the title a symbol for the way Kek thinks of America?

Note about an African custom from Alan Cohen’s “Eyes on Africa” page on Facebook

The story is written as a modern day folktale featuring the Boo Hag from the Gullah culture of South Carolina.  The Boo Hag is a legendary spirit or shape-shifter that wants to live in another person’s body, or it is also described as  riding a person by using their skin and body as a form for it to use.

Presidents’ Day: at the very end of the story, the Boo Hag shape-shifts itself into a penny.  Precious is almost fooled, but just in time she realizes the penny has the image of George Washington on it instead of Abraham Lincoln.  Precious’ brother had told her that the Boo Hag was not too smart.

Author’s Purpose: It might be to share a cultural story that teaches a lesson about not opening the door to anyone when a child is staying home alone.

Sequencing: Sequence the shapes that the Boo Hag took each time it appeared to Precious.

Drawing Conclusions: What evidence does Precious find that leads her to draw the conclusion that each of the characters that visits with her is in fact a Boo Hag?

Examples: Drinking the water, frog-like tongue, getting apron color wrong, being a penny with the wrong image

The author is an African American making this an authentic choice to read during African American history month.

Season: illustration depict Fall

Point of View: Sarah Jean tells the story from her POV.

Characterization: Uncle Jed: He visualized his dream of owning a barbershop.  He knew exactly what it would look like in his mind. He worked very hard and never gave up.

Drawing Conclusions: We can draw the conclusion that Uncle Jed is optimistic because he said he would just have to start over again and keep saving after the Great Depression.  His bank lost all of his savings, but he did not give up.

Cause and Effect: Because of the Great Depression, the effect was that Uncle Jed lost his money that he had saved in the bank.

Because Sarah Jean needed surgery and her parents did not have the money, the effect was that Uncle Jed gave them the money and had to save up more for his barbershop.

Ideas: Discuss what segregation means with the emergency room treatment issue and having a separate barbershop for African Americans.

Voice: The author creates a great voice with the main character of this story.  He leaves the “g” off of the end of the words and uses words unique to the character of this young boy. Voice is a difficult writing trait to explain and teach.  Steptoe explains voice very well in his paragraph about music.  He talks about how different musicians present the same music in a different way.  He then continues to talk about how artists can see the same bowl of fruit and paint it in many different ways.

Inference: Ask the students what they infer about students writing about the same topic?  Will they all write from the same viewpoint?

The author says, “Sayin’ what you mean in your own special way–that’s bein’ creative.”

Point of View: The story is told from a young boy,  Johnson’s, point of view.

Inference: We can infer that Mrs. Clyde called Miss Roy.  The text says Mrs. Clyde kept an eye on them.

What do you infer the tall building is where the children meet her mother? a hospital, drug rehab facility

Figurative language: “crying washes you out inside”

Cause and effect: Because the children were left alone for days, the effect is that a social worker takes the children to their Aunt Gracie.

Compare and Contrast: How does Johnson compare and contrast living with his mother and living with his aunt?

Figurative language: Hannah says “my own heart was close to splitting,”  her “toes felt like icy hard pebbles,” and that she is “ready to go get freedom.”

Point of view: Hannah tells her story in first person.

Historical Fiction: The quilt story is a part of African American History.

Cause and effect: Because Hannah had her mother’s story quilt, she had a map to know how to get to the north.

Because Hannah’s Papa drew the log cabin pattern in the dirt, someone would see it and call them out of hiding to help them continue their journey.

Inference: When Hannah and her Papa put on the new cloths, people that see them will infer that they were free.

Sequencing: replicate the quilt patterns and have students put them in order of the journey in the story.