Module 6 - Book focusing on character with disabilities - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Lord, Cynthia. 2006. RULES. Detroit: Thorndike Press. ISBN 9780786295593.

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Catherine, 12 years old, just wants to be normal and to have a normal family. But, she has a big responsibility helping to care for her 8 year-old autistic brother. She realizes that he doesn't just know things like regular people know them, so she creates a list of rules for him to remember, such as "chewing with your mouth closed," "flushing the toilet," saying 'hi' back when someone says 'hi' to you," etc. Catherine also really wants a friend to live in her neighborhood, and she finds out that a new girl is moving in soon next door. She hopes that this new girl will be a really good friend, just like the kind she has created in her imagination. While attending Occupational Therapy with her brother, she makes friends with a boy in a wheelchair, who cannot speak, but "talks" by tapping a "communication book." This relationship, as well as the other situations in her life, starts Catherine thinking about what makes a person "normal" and how to accept a new definition of "normal."

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This is a very pleasant book, that is well-written. Cynthia Lord states in the author's notes that this is first book, and that she is also the parent of an autistic child. The story feels real and authentic. I have a nephew with a form of autism, and David, the boy in the story, reminded me lot of him. I am familiar with a lot of the actions and reactions that autistic children have. My son also has three autistic boys in his Cub Scout group, and again, what I was reading was familiar. Ms. Lord writes what she knows and lives each day. This story was easy to get into and to get involved with very quickly. It is an easy and fast read, but has a lasting positive message about living and interacting daily with a person who has a disability. It is not easy sometimes, but there are some very special moments that make it all worth while.

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The are a lot of markers in the book that help the reader understand the two disabilities that are described in this story. David, has autism, and here is a passage that helps to describe it for the reader:

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I know she needs me to babysit sometimes, but I hate when she tells me he shouldn't be any trouble. Trouble comes quick with David, and "should" doesn't have anything to do with it. He should remember to flush the toilet, too, but that doesn't mean it happens.

When Mom had gone, I took my long mirror off my door and propped it at an angle against one corner of the living room, so I could work at my desk and still see David reflected in the mirror.

Every few words I make, I glance out my bedroom doorway to the mirror. David stands at the TV, the remote in his hand. He loves rewinding the trains backward up the tracks and speeding them ahead to almost crashing, over and over.

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The other character in the book with a disability is Jason, who is in a wheelchair, and cannot speak, but he uses a "communication book" to talk with people:

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Jason taps, and I tear my focus away from Kristi passing the last streetlight at the edge of the park. Catherine. Pretty. Today.

I nod. "It's a very pretty day."

Jason touches my arm. Catherine. Pretty.

My neck feels prickly. I rub it, looking down to a frill of seaweed, bits of rope and a broken lobster trap caught between the huge rocks at the water's edge. What does he mean? Is he being nice or telling me he likes me?

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Catherine is funny in this book as she tries to fix her problems, but the reader can also feel her heartbreak, when she deals with the burden of David's autism, and the lack of attention from her parents for her needs and problems. Having a child with a disability is difficult at times, and you can see it easily in one scene in which David is really scared of a bumble bee, and the mother comforts him, but the father does not. It places a strain on everyone, even in the best of circumstances. I think that Ms. Lord describes this very well, it is not right or wrong, it just is the way it is.

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One thing that is very special is that Catherine and David have developed a language of their own. Catherine has read the book "Frog and Toad" so many times to David that they both have it memorized. David uses lines from the book to describe or explain his thoughts and emotions. Catherine does the same and speaks back to him using lines from the book. It creats a very poignant and special feeling when they do this. It is while using this special communication that Catherine is best able to remember how much she really loves her brother and that all of the hardships are really worth it.

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I think that middle school students are really going to enjoy this book. It is a quick and easy read, but with such a good story. Children with disabilities may be able to relate to it, or kids knowing someone with a disability may enjoy it because it helps them understand a little more. But, any student will be in for a real treat reading this story. It could be promoted using a booktalk with classes, or perhaps an interesting book trailer could be created and played in the library.

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From School Library Journal

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Grade 4-7-Twelve-year-old Catherine has conflicting feelings about her younger brother, David, who is autistic. While she loves him, she is also embarrassed by his behavior and feels neglected by their parents. In an effort to keep life on an even keel, Catherine creates rules for him (It's okay to hug Mom but not the clerk at the video store). Each chapter title is also a rule, and lots more are interspersed throughout the book. When Kristi moves in next door, Catherine hopes that the girl will become a friend, but is anxious about her reaction to David. Then Catherine meets and befriends Jason, a nonverbal paraplegic who uses a book of pictures to communicate, she begins to understand that normal is difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, to define. Rules of behavior are less important than acceptance of others. Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak. Her love for her brother is as real as are her frustrations with him. Lord has candidly captured the delicate dynamics in a family that revolves around a child's disability. Set in coastal Maine, this sensitive story is about being different, feeling different, and finding acceptance. A lovely, warm read, and a great discussion starter.

Module 6 - Picture Book focusing on Gay/Lesian characters - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Polacco, Patricia. 2009. IN OUR MOTHERS' HOUSE. New York: Philomel Books. ISBN 9780399250767.

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This is the first Patricia Polacco book that I have read that I absolutely did not enjoy. She is a brilliant storyteller and illustrator, but this book was preachy and way-over-the-top. She was shoving this "politically correct" story down the reader's throat, and nothing about it set well.

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Before critiquing this book, I want to state that the pictures are beautifully drawn and accompany the story very well. They are drawn with pencils and markers, and there is lots of color, life, and movement in the art. The expressions on their faces are very endearing and there seems to be lots of story contained within these pages.

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This is the story of two lesbian women who adopt three children, of three different ethnic backgrounds. They have a perfect life and have lots of fun. There is a lot of love and happiness, and everything is perfect despite the fact that the moms' lifestyle is questioned by a neighbor. The kids all grow up to be quite successful and "normal," and all of this is to be celebrated.

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Before beginning my critique of the story, I must say that I am a high school librarian in an ultra -conservative area, and that my hands are really tied on purchasing any types of controversial books for my school library. Personally and politically, I am very conservative in my thoughts and opinions, and I know that gay and lesbian books are a "hot-button" topic. I realize that I am part of that very "hot" part of the button. I have strong opinions on this subject, and luckily they match up with my community and school's opinions.

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Throughout this class, I have been taught tolerance and respect for all cultures, and that all should be represented and appreciated. But, I am from the "dominant", female, and heterosexual culture, and my opinions deserve to be shared, spoken, and respected as well. As a librarian, I am required to allow my patrons to have access to all information that they desire, the information is to be authentic and truly reflective of all cultures, and to be on the look-out for information that is unfair, unjust, and disrespectful to a culture, let alone inauthentic. But instead of accepting everything as "politically correct," why doesn't someone stand up and say, "No, gays and lesbians are not a culture, and are not to be embraced and celebrated, but instead to be recognized as a psychological disorder, and that they deserve treatment and counseling to deal with their issues?" Librarians should use caution in promoting books that show any deviant mental disorders in a positive light, especially with story characters interacting with children. Promoting these types of books to kids is ludicrous. Being "politically correct" does not always mean CORRECT.

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There are cultural markers in this story, but they have been criticized as being stereotypical. The lesbian mothers have short hair and only wear pants. In the end of the story, they wear dresses and hats to a tea party, but it states that they are very uncomfortable in this attire, and only do it to please their daughters. I don't see the short hair and wearing of pants as stereotypical, I see it as the norm for the lesbians that I have known and many of the ones that are featured on TV and in the movies.

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One of the scenes in the book shows how a member of their neighborhood feels about this lesbian couple:

At the end of the day, when everyone was cleaning up and getting ready to sit in our backyard and just talk, Meema looked up to see Mrs. Lockner coming down the street. The Lockners had been invited but hadn't come. She planted her feet squarely in front of our mothers.

"I don't appreciate what you two are!" she snarled at Meema and Marmee.

Will and Millie came running up. I froze where I was. Mrs. Lockner wheeled and stalked off.

"What the matter with her, Momma, what's the matter with her?" Millie kept saying.

All of the neighbors closed in on us.

"She is full of fear, sweetie. She's afraid of what she cannot understand: she doesn't understand US," Meema quietly said.

"There seems to be no love in her heart, either," whispered Marmee.

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The author is telling the reader that if you cannot accept gays and lesbians, then the problem is yours, and not theirs. The lesbians are "wonderful" and "contributing positively" to the world, and anyone with a different opinion, or medical psychological evidence showing homosexuality to be a mental disorder , is just WRONG. I would never share this book with a child and try to deliver this kind of a message to them. It would be wrong.

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Ms. Polacco has the moms create a beautiful home environment for their kids, celebrating the art, music, food, family, and stories there. She promotes it as being better than heterosexual parents even, and the children blossom and happily thrive in this loving environment. They even grow up to be "normal" and productive members of society and marrying opposite sex partners. This is supposed to show us as the reader that the homosexual lifestyle does not harm the children in any way. This is up for major debate.

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Here is a positive critique from School Library Journal, but I disagree with it completely. This is one of those times that it is best to read the book personally and not depend on a critic's review:

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From School Library Journal

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Grade 1–4—This gem of a book illustrates how love makes a family, even if it's not a traditional one. The narrator, a black girl, describes how her two Caucasian mothers, Marmee and Meema, adopted her, her Asian brother, and her red-headed sister. She tells about the wonderful times they have growing up in Berkeley, CA. With their large extended family and friends, they celebrate Halloween with homemade costumes, build a tree house, organize a neighborhood block party, and host a mother-daughter tea party. The narrator continually reinforces the affectionate feelings among her mothers and siblings, and the illustrations depict numerous scenes of smiling people having a grand time. Most of the neighbors are supportive, except for one woman who tells Marmee and Meema, "I don't appreciate what you two are." Eventually, the children grow up, marry heterosexual spouses, and return home to visit their aged parents with their own children. Is this an idealized vision of a how a gay couple can be accepted by their family and community? Absolutely. But the story serves as a model of inclusiveness for children who have same-sex parents, as well as for children who may have questions about a "different" family in their neighborhood. A lovely book that can help youngsters better understand their world.

Module 6 - Novel by Naomi Shihab Nye - TWU - Multicultural Literature

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Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. HABIBI. New York: Simon Pulse. ISBN 9780689801495.
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I had to really search to find a copy of this book. I have very much enjoyed the few books that I have read recently by Naomi Shihab Nye, and I wanted to read HABIBI. I searched in all of the libraries in my area and no one had a copy. I finally checked my Kindle, and I did find one there to download. I don't get graphics on my electronic bookreader, so I was surprised when I saw a copy of the cover that I was able to find on Amazon.com. My imagination is always so much different than book illustrators. I had the main character pictured much differently, and I liked my mental visual better than the one shown above. The story describes the main character with a long braid, and I pictured her with darker skin, eyes, and hair.

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This is an interesting story of an Arab American family that moves from the United States, back to the Palestinian area of Jerusalem. The father was originally from this Middle Eastern area, but he sought greener pastures, and so he immigrated to the United States, went to medical school, married and had children, and became a naturalized American citizen. The mother was born and raised in America, and so they raised their children in the St. Louis area as normal American kids. The father, Poppy, decided that before the kids got too old, he wanted the family to move back to Jerusalem so that they could learn his culture and heritage. Liyana is 14 and her brother is a couple of years younger. They make this difficult transition to Jerusalem which is still involved in Jewish and Arab Palestinian unrest. This story shows many of these tough situations and how it affects the family, as well as their extended Arab family, and their new friends. Liyana falls in love with a Jewish boy, which makes for a dangerous situation in a world where boys and girls cannot have any type of close relationship until they are ready to be married, and especially not have a romance between an Arab and a Jew.

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Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I got caught up in the family's transition from America to the Old City of Jerusalem. I was intrigued by their difficulty in learning to speak Arabic, buying groceries, conversing with the extended family members, schoolmates, shopkeepers, teachers, etc. Their new world is an extreme change from St. Louis, America. But, the kids even seemed to be more flexible and resilient than the parents at times. Poppy stressed about raising an American daughter in this culture, when she was already used to wearing short shorts and interested in making new friends, both girls and boys. In the story, he is also thrown into jail for helping a boy in the refugee camp, and he stresses about the constant violent political tensions surrounding him and his family. His wife, tries to make the best of this new living situation, but there are many clues in the story that she is homesick, as she searches for familiar foods, like mayonnaise and tuna. Liyana even finds a two-month old American ladies magazine on a rack, and purchases it for her mother, knowing that it will bring her some comfort.

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The father seemed to be the main one in the story struggling with his cultural identify. He called himself an Arab American which surprised his Arab family members. Liyana does a lot of self-discovery in the story, and she actually sees herself as more Arab than American. She had not really questioned it while in the U.S., but now she devotes a lot of time to pondering who she is and what makes her happy. She now sees herself as part of the peace process in this troubled part of the world.

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I believe Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet through and through, and even though this story is written in prose, there is poetry everywhere. Some of the beautiful thoughts are wonderfully wordcrafted throughout the story, and it just made me pause each time I read one. You just had to stop and ponder them before continuing on with the story. An example of this is in the "First Things Last chapter. Her own first things kept lasting longest in her brain, and in the "To the Village" chapter, Think of all the towns and cities we've never seen or imagined. The book is very well-written, and has a nice feel to it. There is so much love throughout the story, between family members, between friends, and in a budding romance between Liyana and Omer, that it reminds the reader that love can conquer all.

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My one big complaint about the book is that the political conflict seemed very one-sided in this story. It pounded away on the fact that Palestinians are very mistreated and abused in the Middle East, and that the Jews are bad, bad, bad, in every way. Many of the scenarios were based on Jews harassing Arabs in a variety of ways. Also mentioned several times, was the fact that the Jews had such a horrible time during the WWII era, that they should remember and now be more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Also, because America supports the Jews in Israel, and supply them with money and weapons, that the Palestinians are doomed to always be the underdog. I wished that these terrible conflicts could have been shown in a more well-rounded aspect, but I know that Ms. Nye is a Palestinian American, and she writes about what she knows and understands, so this is the story that she wants to tell.

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There are many, many cultural markers in this book, that help to explain the Palestinian Arab culture in this story. Liyana and her mother and brother were discovering much of it at the same time as the reader. When the family first arrived in Jerusalem, they wanted to go to their hotel and rest up before traveling to a nearby village to meet all of the extended family members. However, all of the Arab family showed up at the hotel and here is a bit of American culture meeting Arab culture all at once:

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Liyana had an impulse to stand very close to Poppy, for protection and also for translation, so he could keep her posted on what was being said. Tears poured down Sitti's (grandmother's) rugged cheeks. Suddenly she threw her head back, rolled her tongue high up in her mouth, and began trilling wildly. Liyana had never heard anything like it. Aunt Saba and Aunt Amal began clapping a rhythmic beat. Mom looked startled. Rafik raised his eyebrows.

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Poppy shook his head, waving both hands in Sitti's face to quiet her down. "That's her traditional cry," he explained. "She uses it as an announcement at weddings and --funerals."

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"Which one is this?" Liyana asked.

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Poppy spoke rapidly to Sitti in Arabic, but she didn't stop right away. She trilled and trilled and trilled. She shimmied her arms in the air like a Pentecostal preacher. The backs of her hands were tattooed with the dark blue shapes of flying birds. Liyana said, "Poppy! You never told us she had tattoos!"

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Poppy said, "I didn't want you to get any ideas."

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I can see American teenagers being completely undone by this whole scenario. It would be quite a scene. This is just the beginning of many cultural markers in this story, such as explanations of traditional food, clothing, music, poetry, politics, family relations, matchmaking, art, etc. Because of this, the reader goes away with a nice introduction and explanation of the Palestinian culture in this part of the world. It is interesting and gives the reader insight into a society that many American students are not at all familiar with.

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I would love to promote this book to my high school girls who are looking for something new and different. This is a great story by itself, "a girl meets boy," kind of story, but the setting is what makes it unique and special. I will do a booktalk on it to stir up interest, and after that I think word of mouth will contribute to its success for independent reading. A special book display featuring books by Naomi Shihab Nye is a must this year in my high school library. I am excited to promote her to the kids.

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From School Library Journal

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Grade 5-9. An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships. When Liyana falls in love with Omer, a Jewish boy, she challenges family, culture, and tradition, but her homesickness fades. Constantly lurking in the background of the novel is violence between Palestinian and Jew. It builds from minor bureaucratic annoyances and humiliations, to the surprisingly shocking destruction of grandmother's bathroom by Israeli soldiers, to a bomb set off in a Jewish marketplace by Palestinians. It exacts a reprisal in which Liyana's friend is shot and her father jailed. Nye introduces readers to unforgettable characters. The setting is both sensory and tangible: from the grandmother's village to a Bedouin camp. Above all, there is Jerusalem itself, where ancient tensions seep out of cracks and Liyana explores the streets practicing her Arabic vocabulary. Though the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex history understandable through character and incident. Habibi succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother Sitti can say, "I never lost my peace inside."