This text set contains the following books:
- Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers
- My Two Blankets By Irena Kobald & Illustrated by Freya Blackwood
- Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
The first two books listed above are picture books, and the last book is a short chapter book with a little over 200 pages. It, too, contains a few pictures.
Her Right Foot
Her Right Foot is a children’s book about the Statue of Liberty. The book opens with the history of the statue. The book talks about who created it, and where it came from (France). About halfway through the book, the author brings up that nobody ever talks about the right foot of the statue. And how it’s mid-stride. The statue is moving. The statue is moving because the statue herself is an immigrant.
The picture above showcases a spread from that book. Viewing this spread from a critical lens, I see that the spread is very inclusive. Different races and ethnicities are present, as are people with varying physical traits, such as height and age. The one thing that I don’t see included in this spread is a person with a disability. But I do like that various other populations are shown and I love the added touch of everyone having their hands over their hearts. The illustrations are beautifully done and they showcase defining features of the different parties.
With everything going on in the world, this book relates to current events. Immigration law is often in the news and there are lots of differing opinions on the matter. There are people who are unaccepting of refugees or immigrants coming into America and this is a good book to remind students that they should be tolerant and welcoming to all.
Eggers, D. (2017). Her Right Foot. San Francisco, CA : Chronicle Books LLC.
My Two Blankets
I loved this book and believe that it is a must have for your classroom library. I love the point of view that the author writes from. A child flees her country with her aunt and comes to a new country. She is surrounded by people who speak a language that she doesn’t understand. She retreats home and feels safe under her “blanket” (her native language). She meets a friendly girl in the park and she slowly helps her understand the new language. Soon, the girl starts weaving a “new blanket” (the new language). The book is a wonderful metaphor that has a deeper meaning. The girl now has two blankets and two languages that she feels safe and apart of.
Irena Kobald is an #ownvoices author. She got the idea for the story through an experience that happened in her own life when her daughter and a Sudanese child became friends. Irena herself is an Austrian immigrant who moved to Australia.
Something I noticed while reading was that the main character and her aunt are colored bright orange. The backgrounds in the book are light, duller colors, resulting in an obvious contrast. I think Freya Blackwood did this to symbolize how the character felt when she was out in public. Maybe she felt like she stuck out or that she didn’t fit in or belong with the crowd.
” It made me feel alone.”
In this particular text, the child from the playground had the power to make choices for a better world. Her first decision was to smile at the main character. She chose to be friendly to someone who may not have felt welcome. Eventually, she goes on to help the main character learn some of her language. Her choice to befriend the immigrant child was a choice to better the world.
Kobald, I. ( 2014). My Two Blankets. New York, NY : Little Hare Books.
Wishtree
Wishtree is a short chapter book. The story is told from the tree’s perspective. The tree’s name is Red. Having 216 rings, Red has seen a lot, but he had never felt like he had done much. One day, he decides to help make Samar’s wish come true, her wish for a friend. With the help of other animals, and RED, Samar forms a friendship with her neighbor, Stephen.
Samar is an immigrant, and one day a rotten little boy carves the word “leave” into Red, who sits in her backyard.
At the end of the story, Stephen organizes their classmates to write “stay” on pieces of paper and hang them from Red. This scenario sends the sociopolitical message that people can band together to combat hate. The message “leave” affected Samar and her family a lot, but all of the other community members who wrote “stay” affected the family more. While you can’t undo what another person has done, you can certainly try your best to make that person feel loved and cared for.
In this book, Stephen and his family are privileged. In the beginning, he understands that Samar is treated differently. It is mentioned in the book that his family doesn’t even converse or interact with Samar’s. Stephen himself doesn’t engage in conversation with Samar, until Red brings them together.
Applegate, K. (2017). Wishtree. New York, NY : Macmillan Publishing Group.
Final Thoughts
Her Right Foot, My Two Blankets, and Wishtree would make a good text set to have in your classroom on the topic of immigration and acceptance. Neither book goes guns blazing on the topic, but rather each treads lightly and delicately addresses it. These books would be an awesome way to bring up the topic in your classroom and open it up for discussion amongst your students.
Children's Literature Blog 