Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman

"There's two things I got a right to and these are Death and Liberty. If I could not have one, I would have the other."
-- Harriet Tubman

Bibliography
Schroder, Alan. 1996. Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman. Ill. by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN: 0803718896

Plot Summary

Alan Schroeder tells the story of young Harriet Tubman. Minty, an eight year old, rebels against her owner’s authority as much as possible. When we first meet Minty, she is a house slave. After spilling a pitcher of cider on the table, Mrs. Brodas decides she is too clumsy for the housework and sends her to the fields. While doing work in the fields, Minty's urge to run away and gain freedom magnifies. Her father teaches her how to survive on her own and in the wild, so one day she can be prepared to run away.

Critical Analysis

This is a gripping tale of how life was like on a plantation in the mid 1800’s. Harriet is portrayed as an intelligent, kind and spunky girl who wishes to be free. Her parents and other adult slaves are also strong and intelligent but are also worried that Harriet, or Minty, will be hurt and “sold south”. One can feel the love and fear that these parents express as she shares her desire to run away. Young readers are introduced to slavery through the eyes of a young child. Children will relate to Minty and be able to understand just how important Harriet Tubman was to the fight for freedom. Jerry Pinkney illustrated this beautiful book with pencil, colored pencil and watercolors. His illustrations are full of color and show the beauty of Minty and her family. Facial expressions of fear and pain and also love and kindness are portrayed in such a way as to make readers feel the story. One especially beautiful illustration is on the page that shows Old Ben, Minty’s father, showing her the North Star and the Big Dipper. The night sky is aglow with stars and the deep midnight blue seems restful amidst the horrible life they live. Schorder’s strong text and Pinkney’s beautiful illustrations help readers understand the lives that slaves lived. The characters are portrayed in a culturally appropriate context- both the slaves and the white slave owners. This book is a great way to introduce young readers to the themes of slavery, the loyalty of families and doing the right thing.

Review Excerpts

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1996)
A fictionalized account based on fact details the early life of Harriet Tubman, whose 'cradle name' was Araminta, and who would later become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Quick action and dialogue create a taut story and clearly depict Minty's strong-willed nature and her desire for freedom. Pinkney's watercolors provide detail and depth in this intriguing and emotional portrait.

Jan Lieberman (Children's Literature)
Alan Schroeder tells a gripping tale. Minty is independent, feisty and incapable of being a docile slave. Her dream of freedom burns brightly even when she is whipped for freeing muskrats from her master's traps. Little is known about Tubman's childhood, but from his research, Schroeder believes that this story might have happened. Pinkney's paintings are powerful and add to the drama of the story. A fictional telling often more successful than pure facts for it puts the sufferings of slaves in human terms that touch the heart.

Connections

Awards, Honors, Prizes:

Christopher Awards, 1997 Winner Ages 6-9 United States
Coretta Scott King Book Award, 1997 Winner Illustrator United States
Golden Kite Award, 1996 Honor Book Illustration United States
Kentucky Bluegrass Award, 1998 Winner Gr. 4-8 Kentucky

Lesson Plans and Activities:

http://www.econed.org/html/lessons/data/Minty.pdf

http://www.harriettubmanstudy.org/bibliography.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/index.html

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/tubman.html

Downloadable audio can be found at this site:

http://kids.audible.com/adkd/site/k/products/ProductDetail.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0555486396.1245984119@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchadehiimhmidcefecekjdffidfml.0&productID=BK_PENG_000629

Heaven

Bibliography

Johnson, Angela. heaven. New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 1998. ISBN: 0689822294

Plot Summary:

Fourteen year-old Marley lives in Heaven, Ohio with her Momma, Pops and younger brother, Butchy. Heaven is an idyllic small town where everyone knows each other and has everything that her family needs within walking distance from her house-including a Western Union. Although she has never met her Uncle Jack, Marley communicates with him-and has as long as she can remember- through letters. She does not know why he never visits or why her dad has her wire money to him on a regular basis but she has done it since she was six years old. Marley is happy with her life and content in knowing that she has a loving family and two good friends-Shoogy and Bobby. When a letter arrives from Alabama, Marley’s life is turned upside down. When she learns the truth about her family, she is forced to examine life and her place in it.

Critical Analysis

Angela Johnson has written a beautiful story about a girl, who at the tender age of fourteen learns that her family has not been honest with her. Marley’s voice feels authentic. We hear her intelligence and kindness and also her anger and confusion as she struggles with the truth. She tries to make sense of her feelings by talking to her closest friends Shoogy and Bobby. Both of these characters are well developed. For example, we learn about Shoogy’s history of cutting herself, her brother’s love of skateboarding and her that her friend Bobby has a daughter he is raising alone. Although the novel is brief, the story is well developed and rings true. Readers may initially think that the focus will be on the mysterious Uncle Jack. They will be surprised to find that although he is part of Marley’s truth, the story is essentially hers. Heaven is small town USA. As the story unfolds, readers learn the reason behind her family settling there. Its peaceful setting and the Western Union make it a perfect place.

Heaven has several concurrent themes: growing and maturing, families and their obligations to each other and friendship. Marley struggles to define who she is and where she “fits”. Her friends and family are supportive and understanding as she journeys to her conclusion. Although she does not talk too much about it with her parents, her father shows great wisdom when she asks who she is and where she belongs: “Sometimes it’s easy to tell. Just look around and notice the people who have always been there for you”(99).

Heaven contains no negative stereotyping of characters. Although there are no illustrations, the cover portrays a beautiful African-American girl. All of the characters are seen as strong, kind-hearted and productive citizens. Although not fully developed, the issue of church burnings in the south is mentioned and worried about. Marley cannot understand why anyone would want to do that and hopes that it does not happen in her community.

Johnson has written about deception and truth and how one young woman, with the help of loving parents and friends, discovers who she is and the strength to forgive.

Review Excerpts:

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1998)
After spending most of her life in bucolic Heaven, Ohio, a teenager finds her certainties come tumbling down. Marley Carroll likes her family, has two steady friends, and a wandering uncle, Jack, who sends her poetic letters describing his travels and asking about her thoughts and dreams. Her peace is shattered by the arrival of a different sort of letter, addressed to "Monna Floyd," from an Alabama deacon trying to reconstruct a burnt church's records; the people she calls Momma and Pops apologetically explain that they are actually her aunt and uncle, that Jack is her father, and that her mother died in an auto accident when she was very young. Devastated, cast adrift, Marley searches for her parents in a small box of mementos, and in early memories, meanwhile struggling, in light of her new knowledge, to redefine her other relationships. Ultimately, in her friends' situations as in her own, Marley finds clear evidence that love, more than blood, makes a family. Johnson (see review, above) uses the present tense to give her ruminative, sparely told story a sense of immediacy, creates a varied, likable supporting cast, and communicates a clear sense that Marley--and Jack, still working through his grief--are going to be all right.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 1999)
Marley thinks her life in Heaven, Ohio, is perfect and secure. But when she learns that her itinerant uncle is really her father and her loving "parents" are her aunt and uncle, she has to come to terms with her feelings of anger, betrayal, and curiosity as to who she really is.

Connections:

Coretta Scott King Award, 1999

Here is an excellent source of discussion questions to use with this book:

http://www.multcolib.org/talk/guides-heaven.html

Angela Johnson biography: http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Johnson-Angela.html

Learn about Bobby’s story in the novel The First Part Last ISBN: 9780689849237

Good Job, Little Bear

Bibliography

Waddell, Martin. Good Job, Little Bear. Ill. by Barbara Firth Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 1999.

Plot Summary

The story begins in the cave where big bear and little bear live. Little bear is anxious to set off and explore the outside world. Little Bear tests his boundaries of what he can and cannot do. He begins by climbing “Bear rock” and when he reaches the top, he begins to fall. However, Big Bear is there to save him and praise him for his good job. Little Bear continues to do other risky activities but Big Bear is always there to save and praise him every time. At the end, they both return to their home and Big Bear reassures Little Bear that he will always be safe.

Critical Analysis

Martin Waddell has written a story representative of parents and their children around the world. The characters in the story, Big Bear and Little Bear are enjoying nature and a time of learning. Barbara Firth illustrated the story using pencil and watercolors. These beautifully done illustrations are relaxing to the eye and add greatly to the story. The expressions on the character’s faces can be seen in parents and children’s faces as they explore the world together. As I read the story, I could picture my own children as the conquered a new task such as climbing a tree, tying their shoes, and throwing a ball. Big Bear is as please as I was when her cub accomplishes new things. The text used in the story is presented in American English with no dialects or cultural inflections to indicate a reference for a particular minority group. This timeless tale about a mother and her child is the perfect bed- time story. Readers will want to read stories about Little Bear.

Review Excerpts

Carolyn Phelan (Booklist, August 1999 (Vol. 95, No. 22))
This picture book in Waddell's endearing Big Bear and Little Bear series follows the two on an expedition to the woods near their home. Little Bear proudly takes the lead, jumping off rocks, falling from a tree limb, and slipping into the stream, with Big Bear always at hand to rescue, comfort, and encourage him. Once again, Waddell tells a simple story portraying a sympathetic young character who has the emotional support of a loving parent. Firth's deft pencil drawings, washed with gentle greens, grays, and tans, depict the characters with warmth and grace. A welcome addition to a dependable series.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 1999)
Big Bear is always nearby to share self-reliant Little Bear's toddler-like exuberance as he explores the forest and to catch him when Little Bear slips off a stone into the stream. Firth's warm pencil and watercolor illustrations perfectly capture the bears' playful and loving relationship. Fans of the earlier books about Little Bear will rejoice to see another installment in this paean to familial love and security.

Connections

Other books by Martin Waddell include:

Little Bear ISBN: 9780744596144

Little Frog and the Dog ISBN: 9780760817292

Owl Babies ISBN: 9781564021014

An interview with Martin Waddell can be found here:

http://www.jubileebooks.co.uk/jubilee/magazine/authors/martin_waddell/interview.asp

Here is an excellent website for helping kids get ready for Kindergarten.

http://www.getset4k.org/default.asp?cat=1&month=5