Counter Narrative Text

     Originally, I had a hard time coming up with a concept for my text. I knew I wanted to modernize a story because I thought it would be more interesting and relatable for students. Initially, I considered modernizing beauty and the beast, but I realized its been done before. I tried to think of other Disney films based on books because those are the stories I remember most. After doing a little search on Disney films, I came across Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty, like other Disney films, was based on a book, initially written in France. I decided to use Sleeping Beauty because I loved watching it as a child. It was the typical story of a handsome young man coming to the rescue of a beautiful princess.
     In order to create an alternative text to Sleeping Beauty, I decided to change the roles: the man was going to be sleeping and the woman was going to be the hero. I did this because I wanted to show how most women today no longer fit into the stereotypical roles. Instead of the man sleeping, I made him frozen and incorporated a little Beauty and the Beast into the story by making him loose his looks. I wanted to keep the story in a palace so I decided to do a search of current monarchies and discovered Belgium still has a King. Since wheels and thimbles are no longer in abundance in palaces, I tried to think of a current device which could cause the same curiosity to touch it and thought of a cell phone. People can live without cell phones, but they are innately curious about them.
     Like Sleeping Beauty, I had the boy cursed by a servant and had him be frozen for years. I incorporated other modern devices into my story, like the computer. In the end had the Prince woken up by a beautiful girl.
   I guess my story can be viewed as a happy ending with a small warning: be careful to not become enveloped with modern devices.

Reaction to Gerald Campano Visit

     Attempting to give children a sense of belonging in a school setting can be difficult. Gerald Campano suggested the best way to develop a sense of belonging in a school is to embrace diversity. I thought Gerald's thoughts about diversity were very intriguing. Using students as resources to illustrate diversity was a great point he made. If you get students to talk about their different cultures and to tell stories about their families, they will be able to realize that being different is not so different. Someone on the forum said it is important for students to encounter multiple perspectives in order to instill true democracy in a school and I completely agree. If students are able to encounter multiple cultures, they will be more willing to except differences.
     Another good point Gerald made was every student has potential, but it is sometimes hard to find that potential. He suggested trying to make curriculum more relatable to students. He said teachers would be surprised to discover how much students blossom when they write about themselves. Based on my own experiences, I have found students are more motivated to complete work when it is more personalized. Teachers should consider encouraging students to learn more about their shared world and its diversity by creating ways to showcase that diversity, either by writing papers, show-and-tells, or by working on projects.

Research in the Community Cont.

     After my research at the local bookstore and the local library, I was disappointed with the lack of diversity within the children's section at both locations. I decided to focus my media research (i.e. television and the internet) on diversity. For my internet search, I focused my attention on multicultural literature. I wanted to find websites that offered suggestions to parents and teachers who were interested in finding books about a specific culture. I found four websites that strive to show that diversity does exist in children's literature, you just need to know where to find it.
http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/resource/readlist/readlist.php : This is an independent network site that offers people suggestions for books based on age, race, and culture.
http://www.multiculturalchildrenslit.com/ : This is a website that claims to celebrate diversity through children's books. It provides links to books based on culture and race. The links are separated based on how the topics are displayed (i.e. realistic, animals, etc.)
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/index.jsp : This is the website of the well-known children's magazine. It offers suggestions for parents, teachers, and kids. The suggestions for books about culture and race are based on popularity.
http://www.thinkbutton.com/occupation_multicultural_books_children.htm : This website was the easiest to navigate and provides suggestions for books about specific culture (the suggestions are based on price).
    It was important for me to know that parents could find books based on their culture even if their local library or bookstore does not carry them.
    For my media research, I decided to focus my attention on television advertisements. I watched a network (TBS) I thought would be available and appealing to most people for 75 min. During those 75 min., I took note of the advertisements geared toward kids and their parents (i.e. toy commercials). Through my observations, I noticed that the majority of kids that appear in those commercials are Caucasian. A child of a racial minority may not believe he is able to get a toy because he is not of the race displayed in the commercial. I think what commercials could appear on the network was dependent on the owners of the network. Unfortunately, the owners of most the television networks are Caucasian men.
P.S. Listomania on Amazon is another good place to find suggestions for diversity in children's books.

Research in the Community

     For my research in a local bookstore and a local library, I decided to focus my attention on the children's section rather than the entire store. The local bookstore I visited was Borders in Friendship Heights and the local library I visited was in my hometown, which is in suburban Philadelphia. Even though I visited two book places in basically two different states, I noticed a lot of similarities between the two places. I probably noticed similarities between the two because the locations have similar socioeconomic backgrounds (i.e. middle class father, mother families and young, working adults). The children's sections at both locations were not very diverse because of the lack of diversity within the communities of the locations (i.e.  the majority of people within both communities are Caucasian). I probably would have found more variety and more diversity within the children's sections if I had travelled to downtown D.C. or into Philadelphia for my research.
     In the children's section at both locations, you had to really search for a book representing a diverse culture or a social issue. The children's books in both the bookstore and local library were ordered by the author. The authorship of the books were not very diverse; they tended to have more books by an author who was considered popular (i.e. Dr. Seuss, who was White). The books that were placed on display within the shelves were typically current bestsellers, like Harry Potter and Good Night Moon.
     After searching and searching, I did manage to find some children's books that represented a diverse culture or social issue. More picture books were available at both locations than books with more written words. In both the local bookstore and the local library, there tended to be more children's books displaying a specific race or culture than books displaying "different" families (i.e. homosexual families); I did manage to find And Tango Makes Three at Borders. Although the books might have been displaying a specific race (i.e. Homemade Love and Lola at the Library), they weren't necessarily about racism.
     The books about a specific culture or a social issue were stereotypical. In both locations, the books about a social issue or a culture tended to have animals or aliens as the main characters (i.e. It's OK to be Different). As discussed in class, it tends to be easier for a child to become interested in a book if it contains an animal. The issue with this is if a parent becomes dependent on introducing diverse cultures or social issues to their child through books with animals, the child could develop a skewed view of the issue or culture.
     I noticed that the books about culture tended to be stereotypical. The books displaying a specific culture were typically centered around a food dish. The characters within the books were colorful and not realistic. For instance, I picked up a book in the local library about Thanksgiving. It displayed the Pilgrims in a stereotypical manner (i.e. Caucasians wearing grey and white robes with a bonnet) and the Native Americans (referred to as Indians) were reddish in color (which is an unrealistic representation). The two cultures seem to coexist in the book and even share meals together (which is also unrealistic) Children who would read this book and conduct no further research on Thanksgiving would have a skewed view of the two cultures.

Banned Books

As discussed in class, I was surprised by some of the books listed on the 100 Most Banned Books in U.S. Schools list because I had read many of the books throughout my schooling. School districts and parents ban books because they are afraid a book will give their students a wrong impression or will cause them to act irresponsibly. The reasoning behind why a book is banned in a school varies. A book could be banned because it eludes to a provocative, like sexuality and violence, or illegal, like drugs, subject. One example of a popular banned book that I read in school is Catcher-in-the-Rye. Catcher... Rye touches on sex, violence, and a boy seeking adventure by running away from home. Many years ago, parents thought Catcher would encourage their children to run away. Today, it is more accepted in school districts and in homes because it is more culturally relevant.
I became curious about why my school district thought some of the books listed were appropriate for their curriculum and others did not. I began to realize whether or not a book is banned in your school district is mainly dependent on where you live. A more conservative area is more likely to ban books about sexuality and racism than a more liberal area. One of the myths surrounding banned books is the idea that they are banned in school because parents complain to the teachers. Most books are banned because a small group of people in the community, not necessarily parents, complain to the district about a teacher including a book in her curriculum that was listed on the Banned Books list without even reading the book.

Possibilities for Critical Analysis Podcast

For my podcast, I intend to focus on the issue of racism. Racism is a difficult issue to discuss with children, especially if they live in an area where there is not much diversity, but it is an important issue to make children aware of at an early age. The three books I am considering for my podcast about racism are:
    Sister Anne's Hands: This is a book centered in the 1960s about a young, White girl who discovers her new teacher is Black. It is the first time the girl has encountered someone of a different race and does not know how to respond.
In my podcast, I plan to discuss why the girl's parents did not make her aware of the different races of people and why it is more important for today's parents to make their children aware. I also plan to discuss the impact Sister Anne had on her students.
   What if the Zebras Lost Their Stripes: This book creates a scenario of what could happen if some zebras lost their stripes. The author discusses the changes that could occur within the zebra community if they no longer looked alike; how the dynamic would be different.
In my podcast, I plan to discuss why the author might have chosen to use animals to teach children about racism.
   In both possible podcasts, I will provide an overview of the book, discuss the appropriate age of the book, my thoughts on the book, and how it effectively teaches children about racism.

Quotable Quotes

She put on her white silk gloves and took out a roll of twine. "Now just keep looking at me," she said. She tied White Dog to the tree. (Otsuka 11)

   I believe this quote is significant because it shows insight and symbolism. This quote occurs when the woman has to make the painful decision to kill her dog before she and her family are forced to leave their home. It shows insight into the woman's life because it tells us she owns a pair of white gloves. If a woman owned a pair of white gloves in the 1940's, it normally meant she belonged to the upper class and needed white gloves for specific high-class occasions. The fact that she chooses to wear her pristine, white gloves to kill her dog demonstrates that the gloves no longer have importance in her life. This quote shows symbolism because it mentions the color white, which is frequently mentioned throughout the story. In the story, the color white has a few meanings, specifically purity. The woman puts on her white gloves to keep her hands clean and, perhaps, to keep herself from feeling responsible for her actions. After killing her White dog, the woman notes her gloves are no longer white and throws them away. The tarnished gloves symbolize how her life has not been the same since Pearl Harbor and may never be again. 

"Last night it was too cold," she said, but now it's so hot I can hardly breathe. Everything keeps on changing.""Isn't that right," said the man. (Otsuka 33)

   This quote occurs while the family is still on the train and the girl is having a conversation with a man on the train. I believe this quote is significant because it shows how the girl is beginning to understand how life is not supposed to stay the same forever. The man's reaction to her statement is not encouraging or discouraging; it is simply a statement of fact. Although the people on the train are in dire circumstance, it was naive for the girl to think her life was never going to change. Her general statement about change demonstrates how she realizes she has no control over the changes occurring in her life and the man's answer to her statement demonstrates how she needs to try to make the best of her situation and hang on for the ride.