Week three:
Graphic Novels!
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Summary:
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New Shoes by Sara Varon is an amazing graphic novel that is a must have in your classroom library. The story takes place in Guiana and follows a donkey, named Francis, who is a renowned shoes maker in his village. Francis is asked to make shoes for his favorite singer, Miss Manatee. His shoes are made of fine tiger grass which is picked by his friend Nigel the squirrel monkey. One day Francis goes to get the tiger grass from Nigel and realizes that his friend did not return from his trip to the jungle. Immediately, Francis is worried and knows he has to go into the jungle to not only find Nigel but also the tiger grass. Francis does not like unfamiliar situations so he brings his friend Rhoda along. They set off into the jungle and meet new animals. Eventually they find a giant field of tiger grass. To their surprise they were told Nigel was a bad friend and a thief. Francis and Rhoda find Nigel trapped and tied to a tree! To find out what happens to Nigel, read New Shoes. (The link to the book is above in the picture.)
My Response/text features
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I absolutely love this book. I have used this graphic novel with multiple students who have loved it. New Shoes is filled with incredible illustrations along with text bubbles further explaining the native fruits, plants, or animals. I have posted a picture below as an example. It educated the reader on the different cultural elements through the speech bubbles and illustration bubbles. This book is perfect for emerging readers. Student's love to be able to choose a character and then read the speech bubbles and personify the character. Students really enjoy reading this story and figuring out what happens next. Lastly, I loved that the author included photographs of when she visited Guiana. It showed how credible the author is culturally.
Check out her website
Summary:
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Stargazing by Jen Wang is an incredible book about two little girls who become best friends. The story starts by introducing us to Christine who lives with her family in a Chinese American community. We are quickly introduced to Moon, who lives with her mom in the same community. Moon and her mother move next door to Christine. Christine and Moon are complete opposites and Christine believed the rumors about Moon at first. Once they meet, they become fast friends. Moon became very close with their family and one night she tells Christine that she is a "celestial being". Later in the book, we find out that Moon has a brain tumor and the two friends take on this news. Christine supports Moon and helps her through this news and surgery.
My Response/text features
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I really liked this book as well. This graphic novel has such great text features such as the speech and thought bubbles. I also like that the author plays with using strict gutters on some pages and no gutters on others. When the girls listen to music, which bonded them, there is a running caption box in yellow with words and music notes. Lastly, I love how we are able to see the character's emotions and reactions. I think that this would be an asset for students to read to show how true friends treat each other. Checkout her website: https://www.jenwang.net/
How
could I
use
this in
the classroom?
Social Issue:
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One way that I would include both of these books into the classroom is a unit on friendship. In both of these stories, the characters have strong friendships but with that comes little disagreements or disappointments.
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I would use this book to show students that it is okay to have little arguments with their friends. Not everyone is perfect all the time but it is important to forgive (like Francis did to Nigel). Students also should see that it is normal for you to become closer with other people as well as your best friends like in Stargazing.
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I think these books would be an asset to help students socially in the classroom as well as handling diversity. These stories show students the importance of being a good friend and being a friend to someone who may be different than you (stargazing).
Students can find more information out about this on your unit. Also include the empathy video and other stories modeling empathy and inclusion.
Next Steps:
After the story, we will do a concept map together about qualities they look for in a friend. These will be qualities such as kind or caring-not surface level qualities. I will prompt students to think of some of the characteristics that the characters had. For example, Francis is forgiving which is a great characteristic to have. We will also discuss that you are also a friend to yourself and that you should apply those characteristics to yourself as well.
Once we finish our concept map, each student will write a letter to their future selves about the friend they want to be to themselves and others.
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Book Comparison Chart
Book
Characters
Description
New Shoes
by: Sara Varon
Francis, Rhoda, and Nigel
Francis is a shoe maker who uses the tiger grass that Nigel collects. Francis and Rhoda go to the jungle when Nigel is missing. Nigel is found tied up because he was steeling tiger grass.
Stargazing
by: Jen Wang
Despite major differences, Moon and Christine become best friends learning more and more about each other. They help each other grow and develop their sense of identity.
Character changes
Compare &
Contrast
Message
"So What"
Francis understands the importance of friendship and that there are more important things than making shoes. Nigel learns the importance of conservation and fair trade.
Moon and Christine learn to embrace their differences and that your differences are what make you unique and happy.
All of the characters in both of these books place a large importance on how others view them. Francis finds his identity in being the best shoe maker. He is quick to judge other animals before getting to know them because he is afraid of unfamiliar things and animals. Christine based her identify off of how others viewed her and through becoming friends with moon she was able to be herself.
All of the characters in this text learn that it is important to embrace your own differences and to respect other's differences.
These books both highlight different social justice issues. For example, in New Shoes Nigel learns a lesson on conservation and the importance of trading fairly instead of being sneaky and taking things. Moon and Christine learn about their identities and that it is okay to be different from the majority.
Cultural Authenticity
New Shoes:
This book is culturally authentic because the author of the story not only is married to a man who is from Guiana, but also based her illustrations and story off of her trip there. She included photographs of her time there in the back of the story.
Stargazing:
This story is culturally authentic because the author of this story based this book off of her own experiences and represented her story through the character Moon. She also represented her culture through the food, names, and language.
Small Group
Shared Reading
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Instructional Goals:
-Use context clues to think about characters feelings through asking "how are they drawn", "what are they saying"
-Identify the problem in this section
-Build empathy and take action by using this as an example for students to stand up against bullying.
Instructional Steps:
1. Use a padlet to write down your student's thoughts.
2. Begin by reading the first speech bubble on page 10. Stop and probe your students "hm is that how we talk to our friends in this classroom?" Next focus on Christine's body language. "What can students tell based off of how she is drawn?" *Write down their thoughts*
3. Move on to how moon is drawn and ask the students again and write down their thoughts. Build empathy in students by discussing how Moon might feel overhearing the nasty things said on page 11
4. Ask students what they would do if they were in this situation and how they could combat bullying.
