Room 229

As we start to look at books through the lens of social issues, I’m noticing that it can be quite difficult to identify what issues arise in our books, because as good readers, we get caught up in the particulars of the story we are reading.  We can describe the problem, but sometimes we have trouble taking the problem out of the book and looking at it as a problem that affects the world we live in.

I’d like us to make a list of all the social issues we can think of—so we can be more aware of them as we read.  So far, we’ve mentioned at least a couple in class: gender discrimination and homelessness.

Your task tonight is to find at least 5 more social issues—you can think of them by yourself, talk to your family, or look for ideas in newspapers, magazines, or online.  The only “catch” is that you have to know what you mean—you can’t just tell us the name of an issue that you found on a list on a web-site, unless you understand or can find out what it is.

There are two choices for submitting this assignment: either write your list of 5 social issues in a comment on this post, or hand in the list on a piece of paper tomorrow morning.

Keep in mind our working definition, thanks to Wikipedia:

Social issues are matters that directly or indirectly affect many or all members of a society.  They are considered to be problems or controversies.

Good luck! I’m looking forward to seeing what you find…

Image source

Hi! It’s Olivia.

Today I’m going to talk about HF (Historical Fiction) strategies. The book I’m going to be referring to is Al Capone Does my Shirts By Gennifer Choldenko.

The first strategy I am going to talk about is “Readers examine the main character by walking in his or her shoes, asking, “How would I feel?”” Moose is a very good character to do this with because he has a lot of strong opinions and his opinions affect his actions. One way I used this strategy was when Natalie had a temper tantrum in the book and couldn’t stop screaming, (literally, she could not stop, she’s autistic) I put myself into Moose’s shoes. If I were Moose I would have gotten really upset. What was I supposed to do? But he was brave and he remembered how his Mom rolled Natalie up in the rug to calm her down. If I had not tried to imagine myself as him I wouldn’t have fully understood the pressure he was under and how he tried to remain calm and do the right thing. Another example of me using this strategy is when Piper asked Moose to be part of her “Project” (i.e. money making scheme.) I put myself in his shoes. Should he tell or not? Should he tell on Piper or help her? If he told on her, her father may not believe him, but he would be free. If he helped her he is under risk of getting into trouble but his dad’s job would be safe. He chose to help. It helped to put myself into his shoes because otherwise I might have thought he should have just risked his dad’s job to tell the truth.

The next strategy I am going to talk about is “Think about the roles of the supporting character in the time and place.” The biggest supporting character in the book was probably Natalie. Although she can’t communicate with others, she plays a big role in the book. One way this strategy was helpful was Moose kept on having troubles in the book. I was wondering why when I started to think about Natalie. She was the cause of most of the problems. Of course Piper was a problem but if Natalie didn’t exist or at least didn’t have autism Moose would never have had to move to Alcatraz Island so he would never have met Piper. Without Natalie there would be no story. It would just be about a normal boy who lives with his family and is pretty insignificant.

I hope my strategies help!

Hello my name is Gavin and I’m going to teach you some historical reading strategies. I’m going to refer to Crispin The Cross Of Lead written by AVI. One strategy I’m going to is ( think about what you already know about this time period to help make sense of the story). The other strategy I’m going to talk about is (think about the supporting characters role). First I’m going to talk about the time period of Crispin. In Crispin you’ve got to know more than a little to understand the story. In Crispin this strategy is pretty important. A time when I used this strategy was by using it throughout the whole story because this story took place back in the 1300’s. In the 1300’s the words they used were way different from the words we use today, for example they used contrary and we use opposite. So now you can probably see why this strategy is pretty important. Now I’m going to talk about my 2^nd strategy. This strategy isn’t that important but is helpful in this novel. In Crispin you have to think which supporting characters role is bad or good because there’s a couple supporting characters. You have to think about the choices Crispin make because some characters aren’t supporting him they’re trying to trap him. So the role of some of the people are good and some are bad and that makes this novel more interesting.

When you’re reading historical fiction sometimes you get confused with what’s happening in the story .To help understand the book I have 2 historical fiction strategies (1) Think about what you already know about this time period to help you make sense of the story (2) examine the main character and think, at that time how would I feel.

For this strategy I am going to use a book called “A Single Shard” in the book a young boy called Tree-ear wants to become a potter but can’t because the potter trade goes from father to son (Tree-ear is an orphan). I tried to build the world around me by thinking about what life was like on ancient Korea (that is where the story was set) I knew that money was much more of an issue and people lived on poor conditions like no water no warm clothes and being forced to live in places like under a bridge, in old abandoned temples and sometimes garbage bins!! See what I mean, just think about what you already know about that time period and BAM!!! Now you know something to help you understand the book.

For this strategy I will use book called “Esperanza Rising” In this book a tragedy shatters her world and forces Esperanza to move from Mexico to America. If you were her what would you do? I said I would really hate the world and wonder why it hated me so much. Then I think what would I think now I would talk to someone about it so that I wouldn’t have to another place where I didn’t even speak English and that was the main language but now when I think about it I have no dead relatives but I do live in a country which does not have the same language as me.

I hope these strategies will help you. bye!

Hello everyone,

After some unfortunate delays, we now have the next two installments of Room 229’s Historical Fiction Podcast Series available on iTunes.

Tamara, Emma, Karis and Juliana refer to Goldstone, and teach about building the world of the story in your mind.

Tasha, Helen, and Sophie refer to Esperanza Rising, and teach about walking in the main character’s shoes.

Goldstone Source Esperanza Rising Source

I’m going to teach you about two strategies. The book I’m to refer to is called Crispin. The first strategy is build the world if the story in your mind by noticing all the details that make the characters life experiences different than your own. Asta’s son had no name back in the beginning of the book cause he was pour and pour people had no names but rich people had names in the begging of the book people called Crispin Asta’s son and he was 13. Now everybody has a name. My evidence is on page 2 it say “Asta’s son, come here” he said to me. Here is another on page 10 “Asta’s son” became my common name.

Here is another strategy readers examine the main character by walking in his or hers shoes, asking, “How would I feel?” When Crispin and Bear are walking through Great Wexly it says people were staring at them. I would feel like lets get out of here and uncomfortable. I inferred when the text said but though ear and I were strangers to Great Welxy –and I a wolf’s head –no one seemed to care, though they did glance at Bear, if only on account of his size. Then I inferred that they probably feel uncomfortable.

So remember to try this strategies when you read another book. Bye

Salutations I’m Juliana and in these few weeks in fifth grade I’ve been learning from myself about HF strategies or as you all know HF is another word for Historical fiction. And I’m going to give some of MY IDEAS to everyone one about HF strategies. But the book my group is reading is called ‘Goldstone’ written by Julie Lawson. So these are the HF ideas I use in reading ‘Goldstone’. And gonna’ share them with ya.
Hope it helps :p

Strategy 1: Try to think about the surrounding scenery. To see if it was set in the old times, very old time, or modern times (which we all are in ‘The Modern Time’)
Strategy 2: Think about characters and how they have fun and how their personality is like.
Strategy 3: Think about the problem or dilemma of the story think about how people would do it in the old times or very old time or in modern time and compare and see which is the wisest.
Strategy 4: Put yourself in the Main characters shoes, point, view and so on. Think what would you do if you were the main characters position.
FINALLY: Analyze things that don’t happen nowadays and compare them together.
HOPE THESE WILL HELP YOU!!
Copyright 2009 April 9

I will be talking about 2 historical fiction strategies I used in Goldstone. Mrs. E just arrived at the railway station and all the men are gathering around. Mrs. E also had to have help paying for the ticket.

At this part I used the strategy of thinking about the supporting characters to help you understand the time and place. I assumed that train tickets were expensive, I also assumed that since it was a mans job to work on the rails there weren’t a lot of woman.

My second strategy is to understand the groups they belong in. this is important because, it helps you understand why people treat people certain ways. For example Karin’s mom is from Sweden so she is in a Sweden group. She now lives in Canada so her daughter wants her to stop speaking Sweden because she can speak English.

I recommend you try using these strategies when you get stuck or just to help you with the book. Thanks for reading!

We’ve been talking about HF strategies in reading and the book I’ll be referring to is “AlCopone Does My Shirts” by Gennifer Choldenko. The first strategy I’m going to talk to you about is Readers examine the main character by walking in his/her shoes, asking, “How would I feel?” I’m picking this strategy because most main characters have a problem you can relate to. For example, when Moose is getting in trouble and he didn’t get any money out of the scheme, but the warden, Piper’s dad, doesn’t believe him when Piper has the money but the warden didn’t suspect her. I would feel unfathomable (which means not being heard or understood).

The next strategy is Ask yourself “Who has the power”. A lot of the time Moose doesn’t have the power. For example His mom has the power when she has to teach piano and she needs Moose to take care of Natalie (Moose’s older, but they pretend she’s younger, sister). That day she’s working he plays baseball and he wants to keep playing baseball but he has to look after his sister. I made an inference during my reading and I will share it with you. I inferred that Piper planned Moose to get in trouble when she didn’t give him any money.

The next strategy is Readers examine the main character’s relationships with other characters and ask, “Have they changed? Why?” I picked this one because Moose does have a problem with his mom. His mom didn’t pay attention to him because since Natalie was the only one with the autism, she thought that Natalie was the only one that needed her. Later in the book she realizes that Moose needs her too and they mend their relationship.

These strategies really help you with your reading and to understand the HF books. I improved as a reader and using the strategies. I want to set a goal for my self. The goal is to improve in my inferring and make more post-its about my inferring. I definitively recommend the book AlCopone Does My Shirts. You should use these strategies and I’m sure they will help you!!!

Hi its Sophie, and I will be sharing 2 historical fiction strategies. The first one is, “who has the power?”. And the second strategy is “Who’s voice isn’t being heard.” I will be referring to a book called Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan and another book called A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. I think they are both very important strategies because they both include each other. What I mean by that  is  that who ever has the power in the book the other person that he/she is talking to is the one that isn’t being heard. And so the opposite. They are also important because they can help you understand the character/s better and you can see and think how confident that character is. And that is pretty important.
Okay, the first strategy, “who has the power?” is like saying who is in charge and who cannot be talked back to. For example, in A Single Shard, Tree-ear, an orphan went on a long journey to a palace to confess that he broke special pottery. He argues with the official that he wants to go show the broken pottery to the Emissary himself, but the official refuses. At that part I put a post-it. I asked my-self he had the power? And I said, “Well, both of them do but I think Tree-ear” I thought this because Tree-ear eventually got to convince the official to let him do what he wants. But I also said both because the official had the power to say yes or no but he said yes.
Now, moving on to the next strategy. “Who’s voice isn’t being heard?”  In the book Esperanza Rising Esperanza had moved to America from Mexico and has a choice to be a striker. Later the government takes all the strikers away back to Mexico unless if they way from America. Now is the time to ask, “Who’s voice isn’t being heard?” I think the strikers voices aren’t being heard because they have to get sent all the way back Mexico and can’t strike or get a job for at least 1penny. I infer that the government doesn’t like the strikers and is annoyed because they are sending the strikers away. I think this because in the book it says that the government kept on trying to stop them. And I know that strikers are bad people because they want more money then their salary and are making other people work for even les of their salary.
These strategies are useful because you can easily get stuck without them! Also I recommend the novels! They are both really good! Bye!