Discussing The Text: Al Capone Does My Shirts

I really loved reading this book. I had never read a fiction piece dealing with autism, let alone any type of learning disability. I thought this piece of literature did a great job of exploring the relationships between those with and without a disability. I liked that the perspective was not of the person who had the disability, but as close as you can get to that, with the character of Moose and his insight. I think it is important to note the changing development of the relationships between the character's in the book as the result of autistic Natalie's character.

Moose's anxiety about Natalie being around other "normal" people really seems to come at ease by the end of the book, as he better realizes his place with her. Moose really struggles between being a brother to Natalie, and a more parental figure to her. He really fills some big shoes and is rewarded greatly.

Piper, the rowdy trouble-maker of the group makes a positive transition from making fun of Natalie, asking if she is "retarded," or "stupid", to becoming compassionate and sensitive to Natalie's needs, wants, likes, and dislikes. She even asks Natalie for help in counting her money and comes to tell Natalie "Happy Birthday."

Moose's mother also makes a great transition throughout the book. At first, she is super stressed out all the time about Natalie and constantly making decisions that may or may not be in the best interest of Natalie. However, she comes to realize that her young son Moose is right about a lot of things and comes to appreciate him even more for it.

I really want to explore these relationships in class, and the cause for their dynamics to shift so much in a short period of time. I believe that when the character's come to a better understanding of Natalie, they accept her and become compassionate toward her. This is a major theme across all multi-cultural diverse relationships. When the "unknown" and "different" becomes more familiar it is easier to understand and get along. A major purpose of this course and our future teachings in elementary classrooms!

Multicultural Literature Awards

There seems to be a little bit of a debate in the children's literature community about book awards for multicultural literature. In class this last week we were assigned to groups for researching a different book award. My group was assigned the Sydney Taylor Award, an award given to outstanding examples of Jewish children's literature. In the rationale for the award, the Association of Jewish Libraries, stated that the purpose of the award was to "inspire authors, encourage publishers, inform parents and teachers, and intrigue young readers." The AJL also stated that the Sydney Taylor award is meant to, "engender pride in Jewish readers while building bridges to readers of other backgrounds." Some would argue that multicultural awards actually draw clearer lines among groups, but in this statement from the AJL, the goal is actually quite the opposite. While I myself am not Jewish, I like that there are organizations such as the AJL who have these award systems to help educate others about our differences. It is important to recognize that there are different groups, races, ethnicities, cultures, etc. and these awards help to shed a positive light on each groups' unique qualities without stereotyping and without racism. The awards enable a sense of pride to know that you can pick up a good book about one of "your own," or if you are an outsider to the group you know that you will be reading without false judgements. This is the beauty of these awards and I am thankful they are here.

Habibi as a Banned Book

While reading the book Habibi, I really enjoyed learning about a culture in the Middle East. I have not had the opportunity to read very much literature which takes place in a country such as Israel. I felt that the book gave me a good foundation to the political conflict of the Middle Eastern territory. I realize that a lot of details were left out, but it gave me a solid starting point to begin to understand it. Also, while reading I thought the narrator did a good job of keeping the feelings neutral between the Arab and Jewish conflict. Realizing though, that the point of view would always be slighty biased being that it was told from an Arab-American standpoint. The book was constantly referencing hopes for peace between the two peoples and recognized that they did not fully understand the Jewish point of view. Therefore, I was sort of embarassed with myself when I heard that this book had upset some members of the Jewish community. How could I have ignored these scenes in the book which made the Jewish seem "misrepresented"? I understand now the reasons for the school district in West Bloomfield seeing this book as being problematic. However, I do not agree with banning the book. I feel that this book could still be taught and the issues should be pointed out when the arise in the reading. It could be a good lesson on biased stories and the sterotypes that can be labeled on specific groups of people. I still believe, despite some of these issues that this book can be benefical to students and teachers.