Copper Sun

Disclaimer: It has taken me so long to post a script because I don't think my book is a good book to do. This is the script I have. I plan on coming in this week to discuss my book or other possibilities for another book with you. 

Script: 

Hello. My name is Taylor Tapscott and I am reporting from American University in Washington, D.C.. The book I will be talking about is entitled Copper Sun by Sharon Draper. Copper Sun features several strong female characters who throughout the book which I think provides excellent role models for teen girls. 

Draper makes the main character Amari like any other 15 year old. In Africa, her only worries are how her fiance feels about her, learning how to be a productive grown woman and looking after her younger brother. Draper made her relateable to other 15 year old in the sense that, generally speaking, many 15 year olds worry about what the cute guy in their class thinks about them, learns about what it takes to be a productive woman in society and (if they have younger siblings) are given the responsibility of being a role model for them. 

During the course of the book, Amari is consistently shown as a beacon of hope and everlasting faith. During the Middle Passage, Amari met a woman on the slave ship who told her, "you have to survive". Amari carried these words with her throughout the book. Specifically during her's and Polly's escape, Amari came though as the character with the most control and handle of sticky situations. Draper paints Amari as a girl who is steadfast in her dedication and pursing her goals. Through Amari, young teen girls could learn to not give up on their goals and "to survive" whenever times get bad. 

Interestingly enough, some of the strongest female characters are not specifically the protagonist of the story. The characters of Polly and Mrs. Derby are interesting in their own respective ways. In the beginning of the novel, Polly harbored feelings of superiority toward any African slave. As the book continues however, Polly experiences many of the hardships and humiliations that the slaves experience so, her feelings are replaced by an emphatic feeling of understanding. Through Polly, girls could learn that personal prejudices are not always validated. One must walk a mile in a man's shoes to truly see how he lives his life. 

Mrs. Derby is a strong female lead indirectly. In her own ways, she is a slave like Amari or an indentured servant like Polly herself. Living in America in the 1700s was not easy for a woman. Often enough, there were expected to cook, clean and take care of the house with not much to do outside of that. However, in this story, Mrs. Derby is one of the only characters who shows some sort of compassion for the slaves. She humanizes the slaves on the plantations while Mr. Derby and Clay (her son and her husband) often dehumanized them. In that respect, Mrs. Derby is strong. She overcomes her imprisonment in being a woman in the 1700s by having relations with an African slave and showing kindness to the slaves on the plantation. 

My only critique about Draper's book is that all it has is strong female leads. Although that is great for females (as there are hardly any books that feature female leads), where does that leave the men? I would imagine that  teen boys reading these books could look to the female characters for inspiration but, I would imagine that there would at least be one strong male lead. 

In conclusion, there are not that many books out there in Teen Fiction land that feature strong female leads. I appreciate Drapers portrayal of strong female characters in a context that is historically accurate and, on some levels, relatable to females in today's world. Thank you for listening. 

Snakes in a Barrel

I finally went to the National Book Fair.

I have always wanted to go to the Book Fair since I came to D.C. three years ago. It's a little sad that it took a class assignment for me to muster up the gusto to go.

When we got there, it was bigger than I had imagined. Honestly, I thought it would be maybe a few tents and a few books for sale here and there but it was really a reader's dream. A lot of the the tents seemed to be geared for children. I think having that many tents geared for children is great because they are the upcoming generation of readers. It is hard to get children to read these days with all the other distractions they have for kids out there (video games, tv shows). Reading is almost a dying art in a child's world of today. I probably wouldn't be where I am today without reading.

My group and I sat in on a children's author's question session. I thought it was really nice to have the children ask what could be their favorite author questions. Surprisingly, a lot of the kids had a lot of good questions. Event though I had never heard of the author or his books, I enjoyed his playful banter with the children and the children seemed to enjoy him.

The Library of Congress' tent was also really nice. I enjoyed looking at the pictures and trying to figure out what was happening and when it was taken. I guess it helps that I'm a history major. I thought it was a fun tent to show people that the Library of Congress was more than just a bunch of old books.

Overall I enjoyed the experience. I think it would have been "better" if I had small children with me or my favorite author was there but it was nice to just walk around and enjoy the conviviality between me and other avid readers. I will definitely be back next year!

Is this right?

I might not be looking in the right places but, I could not find a book that focuses solely on a racial, classist or sexist issue besides the books that we already discussed in class.

However, one book I did find that was interesting was a book entitled, Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin. The book explored the lives of two boys who were cousins living in two different parts of the world. One cousin lived in Mexico and the other lived in a big city in America (presumably somewhere in New York City). Through the children's eyes, the book shows two different worlds as they try to explain to each other what they do on a daily basis. 

For example, when explaining what each other's home life is, "Primo Carlitos" writes, "Dear Primo Charlie,...I live on a farm surrounded by mountains and trees. My family grown many things, such as maiz. We have a burro, pollos, and a gallo. Every morning the gallo crows and crows." (3-4) In contrast, "Primo Charlie" writes, "Dear Primo Carlitos, I live in a city. From my window I can see a bridge and cars zooming by. I can see skyscrapers too." (5)

What this book was trying to teach children reading it (besides Spanish) was, people across the world can and do the same things that they are doing. Even though the two children are in different countries, they both share similar experiences. Their worlds are different in the types of customs and the types of holidays they share but, at the basic level, they like to play games, celebrate traditions and are family orientated.

Although this book does not talk about a prominent social issue (i.e. racism, classism, sexism), I thing learning about other cultures, languages and traditions is something that should be discussed with children. I find that a lot of children are often stuck in their own small boxes of life. I could only imagine how much an American child knew about other children or customs in a place like Mexico. Being a worldly child is almost as important as being a child without racist, classist, or sexist tenancies. 

Green Eggs and Life Changes

As you can probably tell in my last post, I have been reading since I was very young. It only makes sense to pay homage to the book series that got me started on reading. My parents knew they wanted to inject the foundations of a "good education" into my veins from the moment I was born. One of the main elements of education they wanted to instill in me was a love of reading.

My mother introduced me to reading at age 3 starting with the Dr. Seuss series. My mother (or my father) would read aloud to me while I followed along. Dr. Seuss' books always took me on a whirlwind of adventure. They always featured far away lands and funny characters. The rhymes were always clever and interesting. I was fascinated with the way the words seemed to always go along with the pretty pictures.

My parents bought me book after book and they would spend hours reading to me. Eventually, my parents got tired of reading the same books to me over and over (I don't blame them) so, they bought me books on tape. With the books on tape, I could finally read by myself!

The Dr. Seuss series led me to explore other books (especially ones with tapes attached to them) and eventually I could read on my own without my mom or my dad or even the tapes! One of my favorite Dr. Seuss books was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Why I was so obsessed with this particular Dr. Seuss book I'll never know. All I remember is when the tape finally gave up on me, I cried for hours.

Eventually, I was reading everything I could get my hands on. When I started pre-school, I was reading on a third-grade level, and I owe it all to a quirky little book about fish of different colors.

Baby's First Book

I don't exactly remember my very first time reading a children's book but, I can remember my book adventures in pre-school.

One memory I have is one of the times I was the coolest, funniest kid in the class. It was "carpet reading time". During "carpet reading time", my teacher had us all sit on the carpet while she read a book to the class. Sometimes, my teacher was busy helping other students so she had us listen to books on tape. The class favorite book (one that still brings a smile to my face) was Miss Nelson is Missing!. While the tape was playing during one of our carpet reading sessions, I was assigned the task of bookshelf clean up. Eventually, I came across the hard copy of Miss Nelson is Missing!. Around the same time of the discovery of the book copy, the recording was approaching the part of the book that everyone laughed at. I dragged my feet to clean the bookshelf as the class favorite part came closer and closer in the recording. I slyly opened the book and flipped to catch up with the recording. As if on cue, the recording got to the favorite part just as I found the corresponding page. I quickly flashed the picture to the class and they all laughed as if they had never seen it before. The unexpectedness of it caused the class to roar in laughter and I felt my 4 year old self climb the school's social ladder. However, that was not the only time a book helped me to get ahead...

Today, I am a year behind my class in age and I owe it all to children's literature. In pre-school, my teacher had small weekly readings. We read in class every hour, sometimes to ourselves and sometimes with the rest of the class. One book in particular that I remember was a small book made completely out of paper and bounded only by staples. I don't remember completely what the story line was, only that it involved a mouse and cheese. We must have read that book several times over on a weekly basis. One fateful day, my teacher sat us down and passed the mouse book around for us to follow her reading. Surprisingly, she made a mistake and said the word "and" instead of "the" in the text. Out loud, I corrected her. The entire class turned and looked at me. My teacher stopped mid-sentence and asked me to repeat what I said. Fearfully I repeated, "You said 'and'. The word is 'the'." Baffled, she continued to read the book. As soon as she was finished, she sent me to the principal's office. What happened afterwards, I can't exactly remember. My mother informs me, however, that in the principal's office the principal had me read several books to her. Soon after, the school figured out that I could read on a 3rd grade level in pre-school. Consequently, I skipped kindergarten and I have been reading ever since.