Margo McLooneReseñas

The best part of this little almanac is the Computer section -- which goes up to 1985! It's just super cute, especially considering where we are today with computers.

Adrianne

I would like to think that this book is "historically accurate" but it is complete garbage.
The history is whitewashed. Examples of that -- the answer for when pencils were invented was "slightly before the birth of Christ" ... Oo really? That's your historically accurate answer? That's not a date or a year. Anyone not from America is referred to as "indigenous savages".

The book/text is disgusting.

Adrianne

This is a book that follows five biographies throughout history of important women. There are photographs interlaced throughout each story with some context and key words.
This is a good biography because each story follows one important person.
Media: photographs
Age Range: Intermediate

Summary:
This book is a biography of a very strong woman who fought for civil rights and freedom from slavery. Sojourner Truth was originally born a slave child named Isabella. She had many brothers and sisters along with her parents, but was sold at the age of nine and never saw them again. Once she was old enough her owner married her to another slave, and they had 5 children the owner then made into slaves. In 1817 slavery in New York became illegal and ran away from her farm when the owner would not free her. Her previous owner sold her son to a slave owner in Alabama which was illegal so she filed a lawsuit for his freedom, and when she won she became the first African American woman to win a lawsuit. After some differences with her home church she decided to change her name and travel spreading the word of her God and spoke against slavery. She also published a biography in her fifties and lived to be eighty four.

Personal reaction:
I loved this book and how plainly it gives information to the reader. Another great thing about this book is that it explains bigger words it uses and also has a glossary in the back. This book would also be good for informational text. The book also gives a lot of detailed information about her life, but not in an overwhelming way.

Classroom Extensions:
1. I would put this book into our read aloud while studying slavery during our history.
2. I would use the book to have the students do a readers theater about her speeches against slavery.
3. I would after our class reading have the students write a journal prompt on if they thought slavery was good or bad.

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery and remained a slave until 1863 when slaves where freed. Since Booker T. Washington was an African-American in the 1800s he, his mother and step-father were very poor, so from a very early age he worked, but the older he got the desire to go to school increase. Booker T. Washington would go to work in the salt mines with his step father until school began, he would go to school all day and then return to work in the salt-mines. Unfortunately his school soon came to an end when he had to quit in order to work longer hours for more money for his family. In 1872 he heard about a school in Virginia for African Americans, so his journey in education began and he as he attended the Hampton Institute he was able to work as a janitor to pay for his school. After graduating he began to teach and in time he founded the Tuskegee Institute. Booker T. Washington believed that school should lead to a well paying job, he wanted students to learn thinking and job skills. He worked for a better tomorrow.

I can relate to this book in the fact that after many years for just working at a job, and I have worn many hats and have acquired many different job skills, it was never a career. I wanted to be able to go back to school and learn a skills that once was learned, I could actually apply it to many different positions in one field, something that I could work hard for and the end result be not only a skills but something that will help to benefit many for years to come.

I would do a planting project with my kids to relate to this book. I would have the following supplies:
a planting box
soil
seeds
gardening hand tools
small tarra cotta pots

I would have the kids help pour or scoop soil into the terra cotta pots, then I would have then drop a few seeds into the pots and then cover them up soil and then water then seeds. I would explain to them that by learning how to plant seeds and water them that they are learning how to take care of plants and that maybe some day they would grow up to work with plants and flowers. Once the seeds had began to sprout and get a little bigger then I would have the students help me remove the plants from the pots and replant them inside the planter box. I would also have the students keep a journal of how the plants grew from start to finish. I

A nice introduction to some intrepid women.

This book is appropriate for grades 1-6 because it contains a great deal of vocabulary and is a great example of a biography. This biography contains many important details of the life of Sojourner Truth. She was born locally in Hurley, NY as a slave, and throughout her life, traveled the country speaking out against slavery to gain freedom. She is one woman who made great strides for equality. Addresses issues of slavery, freedom, travel, perseverance, and change. In the classroom, this book can be used as a model of a biography. It can be used as a reliable research resource when students are learning about different people who changed the world.

This is a wonderful biography about the life and tribulations of Harriet Tubman. It talks about how she escaped from her abusive owners when she was young. And how she later returned to help free her family and others. She was a very brave woman who earned many peoples respect and love.

I read this book to my third grade class and they loved it. The class thought that it was very harsh the way that Harriet was treated and beaten. But they all wanted to read it themselves when I was finished because they found it so interesting.

This would be a good book choice to have the children write an autobiography of themselves in the way that they portray their own lives.

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