Monday, November 23, 2020

Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer

 

    Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer, published in 2011, is a nonfiction work aimed at 7th grade + readers with a 1190 lexile level. The book tells the story of the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the years of 1692-1693.


    As the book opens, we are introduced to the cast of characters including the accused witches and the afflicted/accusers, illustrated on scratchboard by Schanzer.


(Schanzer, 2011, p. 6-7)


    After this, a brief background of Puritan beliefs and history is introduced, bringing the present of the book up to 1692 where the book shifts in language to be more of a narrative style. It then introduces key players and how the hysteria began inside Reverend Samuel Parris’s household. 


    Witches! follows the increasing accusations and fear by the town as people are accused of witchcraft, jailed, and then eventually brought to trial. All throughout this account, historical source notes are quoted throughout the text to put actual bits of recorded trial testimonies and records with the narrative. 


(Schanzer, 2011, p. 32-33)


    The book goes on to describe the verdicts of the accused and how many were convicted to a death sentence before the town began to come to its senses. The last chapters ask the reader to think about why these events were able to occur and what spurred them on. They then describe the aftermath of survivors and the accusers. “Every new explanation about the cause of the dread disease or the motives of the accusers has been debated over and over again by professional historians. Some of the most well-known ideas have been ruled out, but even so, plenty of questions and theories still remain,” (Schanzer, 2011, p. 109).


    End pages of the book include historic source notes, a bibliography, an extensive index, and an author’s note. The author does state in the note that some of the source note phrasing has been modernly updated and misspellings corrected, though source notes have the original text. Also in the author’s note, the art process is described with the scratchboard images used throughout the text. These are quite nicely paired with the information in the book and really give the book a great tone and feel.


(Schanzer, 2011, p. 72 & 84)


Non-fiction read-alikes and/or pairings:

  • Fire and Brimstone: Salem Witch Trials by Virginia Loh-Hagan: The Salem witch trials are outlined in play format in this text to encourage students to act out the trial scenes together. Timelines, historical background, biographies, etc are included. A brief overview of the topic for a hands on approach. (5th grade +)

  • The Salem Witch Trials: An Interactive History Adventure by Matt Doeden: Reluctant readers may enjoy this interactive option to choose your own path as you read through different characters being accused during the trials. (5th grade +)

  • Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials by Marc Aronson: A retelling of the Salem witch trials told in narrative format. Appendix includes connecting the text to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. (7th grade +)

  • The Salem Witch Trials by Kekla Magoon: Covering the events of the Salem witch trials, this text also digs into past history that lead up to the event and how the trials shaped society, politics, and science of the time. (7th grade +)


Fiction read-alikes:

  • The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare: Winner of the 1959 Newbery Medal, this novel follows a 16-year-old girl’s arrival to 1687 Connecticut as witch accusations begin flooding the town.  (5th grade +)

  • A Break with Charity : A Story about the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi: A young girl named Susannah finds herself caught up in a group of friends that’s mischief ends up leading to the Salem Witch Trials. She has to decide whether to keep playing along or to come forward with the truth, putting her family at risk. (7th grade +)

  • Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Stephanie Hemphill: A novel told in verse from the perspective of 3 young accusers, this text shows how group mindsets can escalate events. (7th grade +)

  • The Crucible by Arthur Miller: Fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials told as a play by the notable, American playwright Miller. (9th grade +)


More by Rosalyn Schanzer:

  • George vs. George by Rosalyn Schanzer: A 2005 Orbis Picture Book Award Nominee, this book showcases both sides of the American Revolution featuring George Washington and Britain’s King George III. (4th grade +)

  • What Darwin Saw: The Journey That Changed the World by Rosalyn Schanzer: Follows the journey of Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle in 1831 as he journals his observations of nature. (4th grade +)

  • How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning by Rosalyn Schanzer: Narrative nonfiction on Benjamin Franklin’s famous lightning experiments. (2nd grade +)


The following stop-motion animation of Schanzer’s scratch board work process for the book's artwork can be seen on YouTube along with a brief overview of the book:


    The author has a list of resources on her website page for the book that includes lesson plans to connect the text with Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Teachers or educators may find the following resources helpful in connecting the history of the Salem witch trials with books of the subject in the classroom. 

    Witches! was a 2012 Sibert Medal Nominee, a 2012 YALSA Award Nominee for Excellence in Nonfiction, and won the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2011. It was also named a 2012 notable book by the American Library Association and the National Council for the Social Studies.

References

Schanzer, R. (2011). Witches!: The absolutely true tale of disaster in Salem. National Geographic Society.

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Monday, November 2, 2020

March (series) by John Lewis

 

    This series of graphic novel memoirs by and about civil rights activist and statesman, John Lewis, is truly worth picking up for readers in 7th grade and up as well as adults. They are all excellent memoirs by Lewis about different marches that he participated in, bringing the spirit and the horrors of the American civil rights movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s to life.


    March: Book One begins with a glimpse ahead of what is to come in the book series with the account of the march to Selma, before flashing to present day John Lewis awaking on the morning 44th President, Barack Obama, is to be sworn in to office. This first graphic novel goes back and forth between Lewis preparing for the inauguration day and telling the story of his childhood, reliving his experiences caring for chickens on his family’s land, going to school on segregated busing, and the everyday minor prejudices and racism he experienced as a person of color. Lewis recounts the events of 1955 with Brown vs. The Board of Education trials condemning school segregation, the racially motivated killing of young Emmitt Till, and the bus boycotts that resulted from Rosa Parks’s arrest after refusing to move seats.


(Lewis & Aydin, 2013, p.58)


    The memoir continues to build momentum as Lewis joins the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He participated in workshops to learn about ways to protest nonviolently together. These workshops prepared the group to begin diner sit-ins in 1959 at segregated establishments in downtown Nashville, TN. Over the course of 2 years, the group participated in many sit-ins, often met with violence and mistreatment, though the group never responded back with violence. 


(Lewis & Aydin, 2013, p. 100-101)


    Many were jailed, violence spread to private property, and Martin Luther King, Jr. pressed the mayor and country about the issues as SNCC continued their protest sit-ins and eventually had thousands march downtown to city hall. Their efforts helped to begin change and the mayor called for integration at lunch counters.


March: Book Two jumps right back into the flashing back and forth between Obama’s inauguration and sit-ins at fast food restaurants & cafeterias, showing how these sit-ins eventually escalate to unbelievable cruelty through fumigation and extreme violence. The same occurs when SNCC expands their non-violent protests to segregated movie theaters. The organization decides to also focus on the Boyton vs. Virginia Supreme Court case that outlawed segregation and discrimination on public buses by becoming Freedom Riders in 1961 through Alabama and Mississippi. As suspected, they are again met with extreme violence, regardless to the law, with some buses firebombed because they are riding them.


(Lewis & Aydin, 2015, p. 44-45)


    Cooperation between the police and the Ku Klux Klan leads to fear, intimidation, and more violence at bus terminals as well as mass arrests of those participating in the rides. Prominent figures of the movement including Martin Luther King, Jr. and politicians such as Robert F. Kennedy & George Wallace, Jr. are shown as the violence spreads and increases, escalating into homes being shot at, churches being attacked, and beatings in the streets. More marches for the enforcement of civil rights happen and Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested in Birmingham, writing his now famous letters from jail.


(Lewis & Aydin, 2015, p. 130)


    Eventually in 1963, president John F. Kennedy calls for representatives of the movement to convene for a meeting to discuss a civil rights bill and discuss a planned march on Washington by the movement. 


(Lewis & Aydin, 2015, p. 150)


    Much of the rest of book two centers around the planning and events for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963, highlighting the important participants, organizers, and speeches that take place, including a moving speech by John Lewis as well as Martin Luther King, Jr’s I Had a Dream speech.


(Lewis & Aydin, 2015, p. 172-173)


    March: Book Three goes into the height of the violence in response to the movement growing. In this book we see the Birmingham church bombing that killed 4 little, black girls. President Kennedy is assassinated, and Lyndon Johnson becomes president. Students disappear and are found murdered. Any peaceful protests are met with cruel beatings and attacks by police and white citizens against the movement. There are even killings of children in the streets. Civil rights members are jailed. By highlighting these events, Lewis is able to really visually and narratively draw on the emotions of the reader to show just how racist the country was during this time period and also how brave the civil rights movement members were, always reacting peacefully in the face of hate.


(Lewis & Aydin, 2016, p. 8-9)


    In this final book of the series, Lewis shows how SNCC begins to focus on the rights of black Americans to vote, since leaders are not enforcing laws to protect black citizens. Though they were legally allowed to, Lewis highlights the inequalities to trying to register to vote as a black American where they were subjected to ridiculous tests that white Americans did not have to go through.


    In Selma, Alabama, protest numbers grow and grow. President Lyndon Johnson is able to push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but without voting rights, black Americans still feel like their hands are tied. Daily marches occur at the courthouse and black Americans wait in line for the opportunity to register to vote. Teachers boycott and join in. Students join in. Malcolm X is assassinated. In 1965, a march in Selma was organized where the movement would walk to Montgomery in protest, wanting the fair right to vote for all Americans. Lewis describes how on March 7, 1965, the group was brutally beaten as they made their way by law enforcement in what became known as Bloody Sunday, an act that had him hospitalized.


(Lewis & Aydin, 2016, p. 200-201)


    Despite the violence, the group continues to attempt their March multiple times, finally able to make the trek on March 21, 1965. That following August, President Johnson was able to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. His speech at the signing ceremony is highlighted in the last few pages of the book, and includes, “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for wreaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different  from other men,” (Lewis & Aydin, 2016, p. 242).


(Lewis & Aydin, 2016, p. 242-243)


    Having completed reading this series as election day approaches in 2020 (tomorrow), I can’t help but feel emotionally moved by this book series. These books so well display the struggles of black America during the civil rights movement; the courage and bravery they faced as they dealt with such harsh words, fists, and sometimes death daily. I think tweens, teens, and even adults would be inspired by these graphic novel memoirs, and could use them to compare the protests of today for equal rights and treatment. A very, powerful series indeed that I highly recommend!


Non-fiction read-alikes and/or pairings:

  • Child of the Dream by Sharon Robinson: Set in 1963, this memoir by the daughter of baseball legend, Jackie Robinson, shares her childhood experiences coming of age during the civil rights movement. (5th to 8th grade)

  • Because They Marched: The People’s Campaign for Voting Rights That Changed America by Russell Freedman: Newberry author, Russel Freedman’s, book is a great accompaniment to Lewis’s graphic novels, full of black and white photographs of the boycotts and marches surrounding voting rights for black Americans in Alabama. The photographs bring the past to life and the text highlights the events surrounding these marches followed by a timeline, extensive source notes, bibliography, and index. (7th grade+)

  • Oh, Freedom!: Kids Talk About the Civil Rights Movement with the People Who Made It Happen by Casey King: A collection of 31 interviews done by 4th grade students from a Washington classroom with everyday people that lived through the civil rights movement, this book is perfect for showing children how regular people can be the force behind change. (4th to 8th grade)

  • Extraordinary People of the Civil Rights Movement by Sheila Hardy & P. Stephen Hardy: Part of the Extraordinary People book series, this book highlights 61 key figures of the civil rights movement, Included are black and white photographs, each person’s activist years, and text profiling each individual with their involvement. A glossary, index, and extensive list of additional resources are included in the end pages. (9th grade+)

  • Trouble Maker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, The Man Behind the March on Washington by Jaqueline Houtman: Biography about Bayard Rustin, an openly gay black man that was a nonviolent civil rights activist throughout his life, influenced by Gandhi’s teachings and the Quaker religion. He was instrumental in promoting nonviolent protests, mentored Martin Luther King, Jr., and organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (9th grade+)


Fiction read-alikes:

  • Night on Fire by Ronald Kidd: A 13 year old Alabama girl living in 1961 witnesses the Freedom Riders bus protests. She slowly acknowledges her prejudice as she witnesses racism in action around her in the community. (5th to 8th grade)

  • Revolution by Deborah Wiles: Part of the Wiles’s Sixties Trilogy, this historical fiction second installment focuses on the civil rights movement during 1964 Mississippi. A young white girl’s and a young black boy’s lives intersect as they witness acts of racism. (7th to 10th grade)

  • Freshwater Road by Denice Nicholas: A black Detroit college student living a most sheltered life travels to 1964 Mississippi to help register black Americans to vote and confronts the extreme racism of the time. (9th grade+)

  • Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley: With alternating narration, two girls on the opposite sides of the civil rights movement (white and black) attend one of the first high schools to have racial integration. Partnered in class on a group project, a change in heart occurs as romantic feelings bloom during a time of deep racism and lack of LGBTQ acceptance . (9th grade+)


For resources on the civil rights movement, some YouTube videos that may be educational for tweens and teens include Biography’s March from Selma to Montgomery, History’s Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" Speech, and WatchMojo’s History of the Civil Rights Movement. Also, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s (BCRI) website includes an oral history project of digitalized interviews, and PBS has documentary features/snippets focused on the civil rights movement on their Black Cultural Connection section. Educators can access a timeline of the movement on History’s website, access teaching kits at Junior Scholastic, and the National Civil Rights Museum has a few interactive e-learning activities available concerning the bus boycotts and diner sit-ins. Additional information on the people and history of the civil rights movement as well as SNCC can be found at the following websites:



The following resources may be of use for learning more about the life and achievements of John Lewis:



March: Book One is a 2014 Corretta Scott King Honor Book and received a special recognition from the 2014 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Awards. March: Book Two won the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Reality Based Work. March: Book Three won the 2017 Corretta Scott King Award, the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the 2017 Eisner Award for Best Reality Based Work, the 2017 Micheal L. Printz Award, the 2017 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, and the 2017 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal. Starred reviews for all three books can be found at Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Horn Book.


References


Lewis, J. & Aydin, A. (2013). March: Book one. Top Shelf Productions.


Lewis, J. & Aydin, A. (2015). March: Book two. Top Shelf Productions.


Lewis, J. & Aydin, A. (2016). March: Book three. Top Shelf Productions.


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