Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Number The Stars by Lois Lowry, ISBN0-440-40327-8 Newberry Award Winner. Ages 10-13. Danish, Jewish, Nazi.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is a story that tells about the life of two very close friends, Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen, and their families. They lived in Denmark during the Nazi regime and those times were very difficult. Nazi soldiers were on every street corner. There were food shortages and they were required to darken their windows every evening. One day, the Jewish families received word that the Germans were going to relocate all the Jews in Denmark. Since the Rosens were Jewish, Mr. and Mrs. Rosen went into hiding. Ellen went to live with the Johansens and pretended to be a part of the Johansen family. A few days later, Mrs. Johansen took her two daughters and Ellen to visit Uncle Henrik. They were joined by the Mr. and Mrs. Rosen and other Jewish people at uncle Henrik’s house. In the night they were escorted to the waiting boats to cross over to Sweden. Annemarie plays an important role in delivering to her uncle a necessary object (handkerchief) to use during the searches by the Nazis.

The story is a courageous tale of ten-year-old Annemarie and family who swiftly united to smuggle their Jewish population to Sweden. The writing is superb the author manages to weave detail and plot together in a way that enriches young (and old) readers while not overwhelming them.

Set in Denmark during the Nazi occupation, this story explores a lesser known aspect of World War II.

The characters in this book are portrayed as being brave, one of the best things about Number the Stars, was the way Annemarie demonstrated quiet bravery in the face of danger. Her character showed that it doesn't take huge strength and power to be a hero. In a child who is courageous enough to admit and face her fears, we learn the true meaning of bravery and what it means personally and as a whole. The characters are endearing and inspiring, they depict a sense of being connected and caring for one another.

The language used is simple and engaging as it depicts the happenings of those days. It is incredibly suspenseful and sad at times.

The themes of friendship and being understanding about everyone’s differences in religions and other areas is brought our clearly in this book.

This would be a great book to use with students to demonstrate fairness regardless of religion or anything else and good book for a book talk/discussion about what they would do in place of the characters in the book. This book is an easy way for children to be introduced to a little of what happened during the holocaust. Although it is historical fiction, it reminds the students that people have been persecuted for not just their skin color, but religion among other things.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry ISBN 0-440-21907-8. Newberry Medal. Ages 12-17. Middle-class youth, adults.

In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas and his family/community live in a perfect society where there is no conflict, poverty, unemployment, divorce, injustice or inequality. Twelve year olds receive a life’s assignment which is determined by the elders. Jonas receives his life assignment to be the Receiver of Memories. Jonas is shocked when he is chosen to be the new Receiver of Memories, a position of honor held by only one person at a time. He discovers secrets about the past, and the terrible choices that make this world possible. He is trained by the previous Receiver, now called the Giver. The training consists of transferring to him memories of a past before the start of likeness that the others in the community can't even imagine, in which there was war, hunger, and disease, but also color, weather, and strong emotions. Gradually Jonas comes to understand, and resent, the choices that had to be made to create his world, and the terrible secrets behind its perfection. Suddenly, he has to must make choices; choices that threaten to shatter his entire community.

The book is an easy read, but it is also very thought-provoking. I found myself immediately pulled into this other world. I would recommend this book to every adult, because it really makes you appreciate the freedoms we have, even though those freedoms can cause a lot of pain in our lives. But as Jonas the main character realizes, the pain is worth it.

I found the plot to be thrilling and intriguing. The story is told from Jonas' point of view and though there are no detailed explanations of how the society runs, it's not difficult to get an overall feel for the society and how it runs. In this society where every child is grouped with other children of the same age and every year they have to leave their friends and go with new children the age they are now. Every child is adopted. The girls have to stop wearing hair-ribbons at a certain age. They have to be a certain age to ride a bike. In this world, everyone has enough and being the same is the rule of the day. Everyone has the same hair cut, wears the same clothes

The characters of the community pay attention to each other’s feelings and try to solve each other’s problems in rational, reassuring ways: the family helps Lily to control her anger and encourages her to feel empathy for visitors in unfamiliar surroundings, and they resolve to help their father take care of a struggling baby.
The setting of the book is in a world so stunningly beautiful yet so disturbing. The setting is familiar, families in homes within communities yet strange the homes/families are ran by rules that each must abide to.

I would read this book with my students because it is perfect for young adults and mature children. It presents a relationship in this complex society in such a way that young readers can understand these complicated ideas and theories. The relationship between the giver and the receiver and also between other characters.They would be in a position to compare this book to their own life experiences.

The Golden compass By Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, ISBN 978-0-44-41832-0, Ages 13-18. Middle-class Europeans, gyptians, witches, bears.

In The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, Lyra Belacqua, is raised and educated by Oxford scholars, she leads a carefree and unconfined life. When her uncle, Lord Asriel, returns to Oxford from exploring in the North, he brings back word of strange events, mysterious Dust, and a photograph showing a city in the Aurora Borealis. His reports raise Lyra's curiosity and get her moving towards her fate. Children begin to go missing, stolen by mysterious unseen "Gobblers." Her friend Roger goes missing and this makes Lyra more curious. Lyra herself is taken away from Oxford to live with the attractive but cunning Mrs. Coulter. When Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon, discover that their new caretaker is herself behind the abductions of the missing children, they escape to the safety of the water-faring people, the gyptians. Lyra and Pantalaimon travel with the gyptians to the far North with the hope of rescuing the stolen children. She meets Iorek who becomes her friend and helps her. What they find in the frozen North are some things horrifying and some truly awesome discoveries. She reaches Lord Asriel offers him the alethiometer which he rejects and instead takes Roger. Finally she moves on to the world of dust.

This novel has the reader involved and wanting to find out what is going to happen next. It is set in a ‘universe similar to ours but different’ in several important aspects, one of those differences being that people have tangible souls in the form of animal-shaped "daemons." The Golden Compass, is a well crafted story filled with a new sense of morality, adventure and some annoying narrative flaws.

Philip Pullman builds characters that are strong and interesting in whatever they do or say. Lyra who is the protagonist, is an 11 year old likable and probably easier for young readers to identify with. She is fiery and a natural leader yet puts her own life at risk in order to save others. The adult characters were thoughtful and complex.

The plot of the story revolves around fantasy beings such as witches and armored polar bears. The ideas involve aspects such as physics, philosophy, theology and spirituality. The plot is thoroughly mind-blowing, inspiring, thought-provoking, and intriguing.

The language in The Golden Compass is toned down to a level of readability by a younger audience, although it involves intricate theme that may require guidance by an adult/teacher.

This is a book I would read with my students in class. Before any reading I would have them research on a few words, magisterium, daemon, alethiometer, to help understand the novel. Creating a graphic organizer of unfamiliar terms and characters may help students understand them better. If students read about characters or terms they have not yet seen in the novel that interests them, they may be more motivated to continue reading. Students could write a short essay describing what they think might happen next in the story. This activity could be used at any point in the story. This encourages creative writing and motivates students to continue reading because students want to know if their prediction came true.

The Latehomecommer by Kao Kalia Yang

The Latehomecomer Kao Kalia Yang

In her book The Latehomcomer, Kao Kalia Yang tells her own family's story of being forced to hide for years in the jungle for fear of being killed. They were constantly on the move, running away from the ruthless communist forces in Laos. Eventually, they crossed the Mekong River and the family lived in refugee camps for several years. The author was born at the refugee camp in Thailand in 1980 (Ban Vinai Refugee Camp). They left (Phanat Nikhom Transition Camp) when the Thai government refused to support them anymore and threatened to repatriate them to Laos, for the U.S. Her grandmother had wanted to stay in the camp, to make it easier for her spirit to find its way back to her birthplace when she died, but people knew it would soon be closed down. Yang and her family, along with scores of other Hmong, left the jungles of Thailand for America. The Yang’s ended up in St. Paul, where they struggled for years, first on welfare, and then with the parents working two jobs while trying to raise several children in a succession of housing projects and, finally, a run-down two-bedroom mold-ridden house they called their very own. The author tells of her struggles to learn English and feelings of always being an outsider. She also tells of how her parents did their best to instill values and emphasize the importance of family in all of their children. She writes of the challenges of adapting to a new place, a new language, and people. She gives voice to the dreams, wisdom, and traditions passed down from her grandmother and shared by an entire community to a world that hardly knew or understood them in the form of The Latehomecomer.

This story is told with a lot of grace; Kao Kalia Yang narrates their struggles, punctuating with Hmong folklore and culture. By the end of this moving, fascinating book, as Yang describes the death of her beloved grandmother, we realize how familiar/close they have become part of this formerly strange culture. The Latehomecomer is also an insightful narrative of Yang's own transformation into becoming an American and a silent,shy child becoming a writer of with wisdom.
The author recounts the traumatic journey of her family from Laos to a refugee camp in Thailand then to America. The plot is systematic, from one point to another accompanied with their experiences. The struggles they face are clearly written and they do not end even after settling in St. Paul, Minnesota. She walks the reader through their struggles to adapt to a new community that often did not understand nor want them and vice versa.

Kao Kalia Yang’s style of writing is unique; she tells a lot of stories about her family and people. She candidly gives an account of the historical events including legendary material to show the immigration experience from the Hmong point of view. The language used is reader friendly, very simple and captivating. Kao Kalia Yang says she "discovered the shapes of stories, how to remember them, and how to tell them," as a young child in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand. The Latehomecomer gives account of those stories, from her parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings. These people had no means/opportunity to write their stories but to pass them on by word of mouth.

The author uses time to develop her characters. She clearly demonstrates their appearance and displays their action to the reader in a very vivid manner. The characters thoughts are expressed to the reader and she lets her characters speak and we are able to see the reactions of the other characters. Yang's grandmother, who struggles to keep her family together in the camp but, must ultimately surrender to the inevitability of their parting.

Through Yang and her family, we are connected to the challenges, pains, joys, and triumphs of the refugee/immigrant experience and the love and dedication of a family unlike any we have met before, yet as familiar and comfortable as any we are likely to know. The author develops the theme of struggle which runs all through her book. The family is called upon to be patient and endure their sufferings with a hope/dream of a better life one day and none of them knows when this will happen.

This is a book I would read with my students, some would learn from it and others would be able to identify with it. Students would read of the author’s tough times in school and still be able to become a scholar. Personally I identify with this book and some of the experiences this family went through especially after arriving in America, I too am an immigrant. The Latehomecomer is a triumph testimony to the most beautiful and the most terrible of our humanity. Yang writes with the confidence something our students should copy and have no fear of errors. Her story is compelling and students should be encouraged to write about their own experiences

Group 2 Activity

Venn Diagram: The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. Driven to tell her family's story after her grandmother's death, "The Latehomecomer" is Kao Kalia Yang's tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard.

Venn diagram
Venn diagrams assist in comparing and contrasting story elements (such as characters) in a book or characters in two books. Venn diagrams provide graphic representations of common and contrasting features. The circles represent the different elements or different books. In this case they will represent the two characters found in The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang and her grandmother. Where the circles overlap, this section is dedicated to common or content shared by the two books, in this case by the two characters. In the non overlapping portions of the circles these areas are dedicated to the unique elements of the book, once again in this case Kalia and her grandmother one on either side.

This activity assists students in comparing characters and their personalities by the use of a visual object/writing to enhance their learning and understanding of the book. Students may place the concepts in either circle or in the overlapping area, allowing them to organize their information logically. Students may view and edit their draft diagrams, then print the finished diagrams for reference. This is a handy tool for classroom use that guides students through the process of organizing information in Venn diagram form.

A person's experiences in life are countless. In The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang and her grandmother go through numerous life experiences, some are positive others are negative. Some experiences help build their characters and who they are or will be, whereas others shatter their dreams and hopes.

Identify three character traits or personalities that are unique to each of them and three personalities or traits that are similar (just three for both). Explain briefly why you think so then use examples/evidence from the book to support your views.

Instead of using a venn diagram you will number your points as follows:

Kao Kalia Yang
1. Shy/Timid
Kao Kalia is a shy girl and hardly talks in class. Her teachers and parents try to help her overcome her shyness, by encouraging her to talk. Her new home/environment is very strange and not familiar therefore she opts to ‘hide’ her true self. “Because I had been a talkative child, my parents didn’t understand my silence…They asked me what was wrong… I told them that I had no voice in English. I said sometimes when I wanted to talk, I couldn’t find my voice, and then when I did-the person, a kid or teacher-would already be gone.”
2.
3.

Grandmother
1. Bold/Strong/Brave/Outgoing
Kalia’s grandmother is a bold and strong (physically and mentally) woman. She leads the women to surrender after their husbands retreat back into the forest for safety. “My father’s mother led the women and children down the hill. Her wide feet clung to the ground, her girth making her appear bigger than she really was…From somewhere Grandma had a scrap of white cloth. They all knew that white was the color of surrender. She tied it to a twig. The women surrendered, their children at their center, like mother elephants.” (Pg 22)
2.
3.

Kao kalia Yang and grandmother (similar personalities)
1. Nurturing/caring.
Kalia and her grandmother both take care of their siblings. Kalia watches over her siblings when her parents go to work and her grandmother takes care of her siblings when both parents die. “It was enough to know that she had become the oldest member of her family, that she was made an orphan and had to take care of her toddler boy and a baby sister who was still breast-feeding. My grandma was only thirteen years old when she left childhood behind, not for her teenage years, but for her entire life.” (pg220) “They said. “We will work at night so that we can take care of Xue and Sheelue during the day when you two are in school. When you come home, you will take care of the babies and we will go to work…we did our best to help.” (pg 176)
2.
3.

The Inventions of Hugo Cabaret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret. 0-439-81378-6. Brian Selznick. 2007. Caldecott Award. Age 9 -14. Caucasian French youth. Orphans during the Depression.

Hugo who was an Orphan, after the death of his father (a clock maker killed in a fire) lived with his uncle in a busy Paris train station. He learns the uncle’s trade and after the uncle’s disappearance he continues to live here, his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. He steals to survive, and still maintains the clocks so no one would know his uncle is gone. Hugo also works on an automaton, a mechanical man that his father was trying to restore. He steals parts from a toyshop in the station. When he is caught, the mean store owner takes away his father's notebook and threatens him with arrest. But the old man's hidden past and Hugo's are tangled, and the secret message hidden in the automaton's workings is only the beginning. In the process he meets Isabelle, a girl his age who loves adventure. When Isabelle's grandfather (mean store owner) takes away the last thing Hugo has from his father, Isabelle is to help get it back. Hugo discovered a mysterious drawing that changed his life and others around him forever. The mystery of an astounding film maker, Georges Melies (the mean store owner) is finally revealed.

This book deals with some of the greatest issues of our time such as orphanage. It shows how a boy made the most of his situation and used one of the greatest inventions in modern history, movies. The Invention of Hugo Cabret caters for the child reader, for the adult reader, the film lover, the art lover, for anyone willing to give it a try. Hugo is someone to admire for his courage and smart ways. One then wonders if his nature to steal for survival is justified. Would we recommend this kind of act to our children if they were in a similar situation!

The author uses lengthy sections of wordless illustrations with pages of novel writing. Neither text nor pictures can stand alone without the other. It is a delightfully written tale with rich illustrations that take over the telling of the story at regular intervals. This kind of book gives the author more control over what the reader sees in their mind’s eye. If a novelist just uses words, the ‘visual story’ created in the reader’s mind will be particular to them. Where there is an image of that character, there is no room for interpretation, and no need for creativity.

The author does not flood his novel with many characters making it pretty easy to follow. The characters in the book developed as the book proceeds, Hugo is likable and so is Isabelle. They go from liking one another, to hating, to liking again in a manner that feels awkward. The older characters are portrayed as having a tough life but manage to struggle to keep moving on. It is the story of love between friends who love each other like family. Ultimately, it is the story of love and imagination.

The plot though complicated has much to do with the history of the movies, and Selznick's intelligence lies in his expert use of such a visual style to spotlight the role of this highly visual media. This book has a big mystery which compels the reader onward. The reader also doesn’t know what is going to happen next! The book doesn't give you any little hints! The storyline is intriguing taking the reader into the world behind the clocks in the station. The mystery surrounding the young character has to do with finding out what the mechanical man will write if fixed. The words and pictures tell the story of clockmakers, their apprentices, magicians, automatons, and the early days of film making.

The setting is a 1930s French train station, and the main character is an orphan boy with a secret. He shares an apartment with the uncle and from the little description of the apartment they do not own much. Some parts of the story are told in the toy store, book store, movie theater and the mean store owner’s apartment. The description of the buildings and the streets, measure to the pictures used in the book.

I would use this book with students who do not like to read, but are drawn in by the pictures. It helps them to visualize the storyline and use both visual and written clues. This book could be a wonderful jumping off point for kids to explore the world of film outside of contemporary movie designs. It could spark or renew in them the connection between the big screen and the world of dreams. It would also help to have the students write creative children’s stories with pictures as they work towards writing and designing the likes of “The Inventions of Hugo Cabaret.” I would have my students interpret the pictures and feel in what the author does not tell us. Besides the above, this is an ideal book to use with the students to understand life in other places besides their own homes.