White Socks Only by Evelyn Coleman

Coleman, E., Cohn, S. B., & Geter, T. (1996). White socks only. Morton Grove, IL: A. Whitman.

Whites only. 

This statement seems like a daunting two words if posted anywhere in society today.  There was once a time where this was the norm, and any African American in the United States could walk somewhere in their town and have these written rules dictating their life. 

In this children's picture book, named White Socks Only, a grandmother is telling a story to her grandchild on the hot steps of her front porch in a quaint town located in Mississippi.   One day, when grandmother was a young child, she snuck in to town, and behaving rather innocently as any child would venturing out in the world.  She finds herself thirsty, stopping at a water fountain to take a drink of water.  There is a sign, that same daunting sign hanging on the water fountain. 

Whites only.  

This young child assumes that she must remove her shoes to reveal her white socks to be able to drink from the fountain.  This ruffles feathers of some white folk who are around the fountain at the time, where one man even threatens to beat the child with his belt if she doesn't comply with him.  Many other African Americans react to this, and all begin removing their shoes to drink from the fountain to show that they believe they have rights just as anyone else to drink from the fountain. 

This story shows us that even the smallest of individuals can change the course of history. 

http://www.storylineonline.net/white-socks-only/

This story would ideally be for children between the ages 5-9. 

Coleman's piece is a truly moving piece, especially for children who were brought up in an era where they may not know about segregation to such an obvious extent.  Segregation is still being seen in today's society and I think that it is important to continue to teach pieces like this to use as an example of how even children as young as first grade can use their actions to change the world.  This is a diverse story, perfect for a classroom in either a literacy block, or even a history block to teach about how this country has been segregated and will continue to be segregated unless we change.  

What's Inside?
Themes:

Racism
Segregation
Civil Right's Movement
Family
Bravery


These themes are prevalent and important to learn in your classroom, not only during the unit in history, but just as a whole.  Racism is a topic that needs to be talked about in your classroom, and this book can be a good lead in to a topic so important in a younger classroom.

Dialogue: 
"Wasn't planning on doin' no good."

The characters speak to each other and keep the authenticity of the setting of the story.   There is dialect from these characters that children can learn about if they aren't familiar with the language. 


Onomatopoeia: 
I watched her turn toward her spit can -BING

The author uses this device to have the reader hear the noise of the grandmother spitting into the metal can. 


How can we teach this?There are many other books that can be paired with this one to help teach the theme of racism and the Civil Right's Movement such as:
“Rosa Parks: My Story”

by Rosa Parks, James Haskins
“The Red Rose Box” by Brenda Woods The Bus Ride That Changed History”
by Pamela Duncan Edwards “Goin’ Someplace Special”
by Patricia McKissack 

Pose this question to your classroom:
What could you do to help stop discrimination?

Allow them to free write, write poetry, or even a personal reflection on how to answer this question making sure they have textual evidence from the books shared in class. 

The Story of Diva and the Flea by Mo Willems & Tony DiTerlizzi

Willems, M., & DiTerlizzi, T. (2015). The story of Diva and Flea. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

The Story of Diva and the Flea is a early childhood chapter book about an unlikely friendship about a well-kept small lap dog named Diva and a street cat named Flea.   These two meet in the courtyard of Diva’s apartment building in Paris.  Flea is an adventurer, while Diva has never left her courtyard.  Flea teaches that anything is possible if she just takes baby steps, where she can finally see the Eiffel Tower.   The two characters continue to learn from each other while understanding and appreciating each other’s differences.

This book would most likely be enjoyed by a classroom between 2^nd and 5^th grade.  The writing is rather simple, but still has a cute message to pass along.

The biggest discoveries start with the smallest steps.

            This book would be a great read to add to a classroom due to the underlying themes that are portrayed throughout.  Diva and Flea are very different, and this book teaches the reader that is okay to be different and there are many things to learn from each other.  There are no humans being portrayed in the book, but the two characters can represent individuals who are different in just about every way.

What’s inside?

Dialogue:  Willems uses dialogue to have the two main characters interact throughout the story.

“You brought me a mouse?” asked Diva.

There are also French words used throughout the book to introduce a bit of foreign language.

Simile:  She especially liked the one about the tower so tall and pointy that it could cut a cloud in half, like a knife slicing through a soft piece of cheese.

Onomatopoeia:  It sounded like Krrrr-WHOOSH-krrrrr-FOOF!

This was the noise describing how a broom sounded while sweeping in that chapter.

There are pictures throughout the book, mostly of Flea and Diva.  There are even some parts where the entire two-page spread is an illustration which is a nice break from the text.

How can we teach this?

The theme of accepting each other for our differences is a great message to instill in your students and this book is a perfect example of why that is important.  Ask you students to free write either a poem or a story about them and their best friend.  It could be a person, pet, parent, etc. and have them point out where they are different from their person.  Then challenge them to think about something they’ve learned from this person.

Hidden by Loic Dauvillier, Marc Lizano, Greg Salsedo

Dauvillier, L., Lizano, M., & Siege, A. (2014). Hidden: a child's story of the Holocaust. New York: First Second.

Hidden is a graphic novel that gives a perspective of a Jewish child that is living during WWII era.  Donuia is a young girl who is learning that certain people of Europe do not like Jewish people and begin treating her and her family very poorly.  One day the police come to her house, where her parents hide her under the floorboards of the house while they are taken away.  The gracious neighbor below finds her hiding place and begins raising her knowing that her parents have been taken away to work camps.  Donuia must live a life as someone else to survive where she poses as Simone Pericard, the neighbors daughter.

The book would be great for grades 3-8 as a stand alone read or a parallel with a history until on the holocaust.

            Hidden is such a unique piece, as it is written from the perspective of a child who is looking for her family and the hardships of having to evade Nazi Germany.   This piece elaborates Jewish culture and is rich with accurate history of what happened in Europe during that that.   It has adult themes, but also appropriate for younger children especially if this is the first time they are learning about the holocaust.

What’s inside?

Allusion:  The entire book is centered around Jewish culture during WWII era, but there are allusions to certain historical aspects of what was going on.  Donuia wears her “sheriff star” as her father calls it, but it is actually the Star of David that all Jews were forced to wear.

Onomatopoeia:

None of us screamed. BOOM! Open up! BOOM!

Themes:

Many themes are introduced in this graphic novel such as:

The Holocaust

Jewish culture

Hardship

Sadness

Missing family

WWII

This novel is mainly illustrations, which are done just as you would imagine a graphic novel would be.  The colors are saturated quite beautifully and each character is fairly represented in each picture.

How can we teach this?

Have your students brainstorm about themes of the novel just as we did above with page numbers representing where they found it in the novel.  Once they have at least 5 of them, have them write about the themes using the textual evidence from Hidden.

Dragon Masters Rise of the Earth Dragon by Tracy West & Graham Howells

West, T., & Howells, G. (2014). Rise of the earth dragon. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Dragon Masters is an early childhood novel about a young man named Drake who is yanked from his home to be brought to King Rowland immediately.  Once there, he learns that he has been called by the Dragon Stone to become a Dragon Master.  There are three other children who have dragons, where they all train together, live together and are missing their families respectively.  Drake gets his dragon and names him Worm, the only Earth Dragon.   Worm isn’t the most flashy dragon of the bunch and tends to be more meek and mild compared to the other dragons.  Drake soon learns the true power of his dragon and how looks can be deceiving.

This book would be great for children in grades 3rd-5^th.

Dragon Masters is a magical children’s novel with many underlying themes for children to grasp as they read through the book.  The biggest theme that is portrayed is to get to know someone before you judge them from what they look like.  Worm seems like the lamest dragon out of the fourth that are kept at the king’s castle, but once Drake doesn’t judge him or treat him poorly because of it.  Worm ends up being incredible and helps the four children when they are in serious danger.  The book offers diversity, by having children of all different kinds of ethnicities, as well as their dragons representing their culture in some aspect.

What’s Inside?

Themes:  As I mentioned above, there is a moral theme that is being presented throughout the novel.  Children will be able to point this out of the story and realize that you cannot judge someone by the way they look.

Dialogue: The authors provide us with dialogue that is internal and external.  Characters speak aloud to each other to create conversation, as well as, Worm and Drake can communicate internally.

Onomatopoeia:  Drake blinked.  He didn’t believe his eyes. Then-WHOOSH!- the dragon shot a huge fireball from his mouth.

The illustrations are done in black and white, and do a really good job at representing each child and their culture without being stereotypical.

How can we teach this?

Another theme that the author uses is fantasy.  We can use a week of writer workshop to think of our own fantasy short stories.  Let your students write, edit, rewrite and finalize their own version of a fantasy story.  Then once the final copy is complete, it can be kept for portfolio.