The Round House by Louise Erdrich

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Joe is a 13 year old native boy who lives on a North Dakota reservation with his mother and father.  His father, Bazil, is a tribal judge and his mother, Geraldine, works for the reservation, registering Indians new to the tribe.  One day, a day like any other, Joe's mother gets a call and leaves to retrieve a file.  She is late returning home and so Joe and his father go looking for her.  They find her on the road, driving home.  They return home to find her sitting in her car, her hands rigid on the steering wheel and shaking.  When they open the car door, they see blood and vomit and they know immediately that they must get her to the hospital quickly.

Joe's world has been turned upside down.  His mother has been irrevocably wounded and she retreats into the sanctuary of her bedroom leaving Joe to deal with his anger and emotions on his own.  He has so many questions and desperately wants to help his mother and have his life go back to normal, the way it was before the crime was committed.  He remembers his mother smelled of gasoline when they found her in the car, Why?  He listens, he asks questions and then Joe and his three closest friends begin to piece together the crime.  They figure out the crime was committed at the Round House near the lake.  They find clues left behind by investigators and make plans to find out where exactly the crime took place.  Joe is going to make sure the man responsible for hurting his mother pays for his crime.

Life on a Indian reservation in North Dakota is hard and made harder by the fact that criminals who commit a crime on reservation land will likely walk away without being punished for the crime.  According to an news article by the Atlantic written by SIERRA CRANE-MURDOCH on FEB 22 2013, it states;
"In 1978, the Supreme Court case Oliphant v. Suquamish stripped tribes of the right to arrest and prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes on Indian land. If both victim and perpetrator are non-Indian, a county or state officer must make the arrest. If the perpetrator is non-Indian and the victim an enrolled member, only a federally certified agent has that right. If the opposite is true, a tribal officer can make the arrest, but the case still goes to federal court."
It is a jurisdiction nightmare and Louise Erdrich does an excellent job of communicating what this means to a victim and a victims family on the rez.  WOW.  Erdrich and her book The Round House deserve the National Book Award and my hope is that many people read this book and put pressure on Washington to give the Indian Nations the power to prosecute non-Indians who commit a crime
on reservation lands.  To think that perpetrators of crimes like rape and murder go free is horribly upsetting and just plain WRONG.
You can read the article from the Atlantic here:  http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/on-indian-land-criminals-can-get-away-with-almost-anything/273391/

Louise Erdrich is one of my favorite authors and reading her books are like coming home for a family reunion and visiting with long lost relatives.  Erdrich is an excellent storyteller and weaves an intricate spider web of interwoven stories that connects through layers of time and place.  Erdrich always teaches me something and I look forward to each new book that she writes as I know it will add the story of the characters I have grown to love throughout time.  The fiction works of Louise Erdrich all center around a reservation in North Dakota and the characters are a part of a family and sometimes the characters from past novels find their way into the current novel.  You never know what relative will visit or drop by to add to the story.  I love it.  All the novels are connected yet you can read them in any order because each book is its own unique and well written entity.

The Round House is fast becoming one of my favorite books of the year as Erdrich's characters have stolen my heart.  The Round House is a powerful novel full of tragedy and comedy and life's most meaningful lessons.  Erdrich has written another memorable story with characters that will live on in your memory for a long time to come.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Based on the author's own experiences, Thanhha Lai has created a book for young adults that tells the story of her escape during the fall of Saigon in the Vietnam war.  Ha, is a brave 10 year old girl who has to leave behind her home, her beloved papaya tree and the hope that her father, who has been missing for 9 years, will find them.  Her family escapes aboard a Navy ship in the harbor and float slowly down the river to the ocean.  They float in darkness, with rationed food, crowded aboard a ship waiting for rescue.  Weeks pass by.


“After two weeks at sea
the commander calls
all of us above deck
for a formal lowering of
our yellow flag
with three red stripes.

South Vietnam no longer exists.”  Pg.85

They are refugees, who have lost their country and the only home they’ve ever known because of war.  They land in Guam, live in a city of tents and eat canned fruit as they wait for someone to sponsor them.

“Our sponsor
looks just like
an American should.

Tall and pig-bellied,
Black cowboy hat,
Tan cowboy boots,
Cigar-smoking,
Teeth shining,
Red in face,
Golden in hair.

I love him
Immediately
And imagine him
To be a good-hearted and loud
And the owner of a horse.” Pg.111

Their sponsor, the cowboy, takes them to his home in Alabama.

Inside Out and Back Again takes place over the period of one year.  Ha faces many challenges but finds outs how strong her family is after they have suffered so much.  This is a story about a resilient family, their difficult journey, and the adjustments they make, as they settle into a new country and a new way of life.

Lai has done a spectacular job of creating a novel for adolescents that captures the experience of growing up in a country that is foreign to you.  Inside Out and Back Again is well-written, entertaining and award winning.

Guess what my seventh grader will be reading this summer?

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Everyone knows that witches can't cry and that they write left handed.  Briony doesn't want anyone to know she is a witch because she doesn't want to hang from the gallows, which is what happens to witches in the Swampsea.  Briony's beloved stepmother has recently died, leaving her with promises to protect her twin sister, Rose, and to keep her secret from her father.  "Stepmother was very clear.  She'd told me again and again:  Briony plus the swamp plus the Old Ones is an explosive combination." pg. 29

Briony defies her dead stepmother again and again as she hears the voices of the Old Ones and tries to find her burnt stories and piece together the events of her life.  She meets a wonderful young man named Eldric and they forge a special bond as they run wild through the swamp.  It is hard for Briony to fall in love with Eldric because she has so much self-hatred built up inside of her.  She is literally walking around wounded inside but doesn't know it.

The swamp is an interesting character as it has magical bogs, spirits, witches, ghost-children, the Quicks, the Horrors, the Hot place, a Dead Hand and the Wykes.  You must not travel into the swamps without your Bible ball to protect you because it is a fearsome place yet it draws you in to play.

Chime's narrator is a bit unreliable and confusing and the book took about 100 pages to really hook me.  That being said, Billingsley has built a strangely unique fantasy world and I adored her creative characters.  Chime is full of multiple genres and Era jumping, (What is Era jumping, you say, well here is my definition) where it seems that multiple real Era's or time periods are represented in one inventive time period in the book.  Billingsley is a master of originality and inventiveness and with a strong female lead character like Briony, who can cut her own hand for the love of her sister, she leaves readers gasping for more stories like this.

Chime leaves the reader with much to Muse upon.

If you were a color what would you be?

If you were an animal what would you be?

If you were a historical personage who would you be?

If you were a sport what would it be?

Come and play in the Swampsea with me.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Salvage the Bones takes place over twelve days told in twelve chapters surrounding Hurricane Katrina.  The main character, Esch is the only girl living in a family of rambunctious boys.  Her mother died during childbirth and her father is an alcoholic stumbling through life and struggling to help his family survive.  The family lives in a trailer home on the pit in Mississippi near the Gulf of Mexico.  Esch is in high school and her summer homework entails reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton.  As Esch narrates the story of her life with the hurricane knocking on her door, the Greek myth of Medea and Jason sail through the pages alongside her.  

The Batiste family contains, Esch who is 14, pregnant by a man who doesn't care about her.  Skeetah who owns a fighting pitbull named China whom he has pinned all his hopes on and loves like a sibling.  Randall is Esch's oldest brother who is a great basketball player and has high hopes to play ball in college.  Junior was the last child born to his mother and was raised by his siblings, Randall and Esch who cared for the child after their mother died.  This is one family who has suffered through tragedy and endured.  Their ability to love and endure through tragedy and triumph is so heartfelt and touching. 

After I read the first chapter of Salvage the Bones, I realized this book is not for everyone.  Some people will choose to give up on it and quit reading because of the dog fighting and the stark brutality of the story.  I read through the pain and at the end survived with the reality that Salvage the Bones is one damn good book.  Jesmyn Ward's beautiful metaphoric language is so gritty and poetic.  Salvage the Bones hits you like a hurricane and throws you hard up against the wall.  It is hard not to feel like you just survived the storm when you finish the book. 

Salvage the Bones is based on the author's personal experience during Hurricane Katrina.  Her family lives in a trailer home on the coast like Esch and her family and when the hurricane hit they had to escape their home due to the winds and flooding.   They drove a mile down the road to the neighbors and according to an interview with The Guardian, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 December 2011 Ward states, "Me, my mom, my mom's husband, my elderly grandmother, my grandfather and my pregnant sister, who at eight months was very big. We're soaking wet because we've had to scramble out of the house and swim part of the way. And they open up the door. And the wind is rocking the car and they're yelling at us and we're yelling back at them because it's the only way we can be heard, and trees are flying through the air. They shout: 'Are y'all all right?' And we're like: 'Are you serious? We're sitting outside in a category-five hurricane. Do we look O-OK?'" She stutters. "And they said: 'Well, y'all can sit outside in this field, until the water goes down, but we don't have room for you in the house. We can't let you in.' And I thought: this is some bullshit."  Taken from an article in The Guardian,Thursday 1 December 2011(3rd Paragraph).

In my opinion, Salvage the Bones is destined to be a book read in high school and college classrooms and will join the canon of great books by Southern Writers.  Beware this book packs a mean punch.   Ward reminds me of Flannery O'Connor.

Salvage the Bones won the National Book Award in 2011.   Make no bones about it, this book is Amazing.

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #9 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #9 (Final Week)

Pages Read:  800 - 899
Chapters Read: 110 - 120

Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The Final Week of Roots has come!  I finished the book yesterday with happiness for this family, I have grown to love over the summer.  Roots follows the Kinte family through seven generations eventually leading to the author Alex Haley.  Alex was born into the family in the twentieth century.  Roots follows the Kinte family from The Gambia in Africa to Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and then to Tennessee, where the family settles after The Civil War.  The family then divides into many branches and the descendants and relatives of Kunta Kinte stretch out across the world.

I am so glad I undertook the reading of this book.  This book brought hope to many African American families whose ancestors were slaves because they assumed their history was lost forever.  Haley proves that with a few clues and stories passed down orally over the generations that any family could find their Roots.  This is a story of the losers in history (the slaves) but Haley determines that anyone can write history, not just the winners.  Roots ultimately is the story of us, the story of American History that is hidden between the pages of history books.  Haley brings the trials and tribulations of his family into the light and I feel teaches the nation a valuable lesson.

It took Haley ten years to research and write Roots.

Every family has a story.   What is your history?

The year is 1977
Roots has been published and has won The Pulitizer Prize and The National Book Award
Roots has been made into a successful mini-series that aired on T.V.
I am 10 years old.

Location: The family migrates to Tennessee after The Civil War
Alex Haley is born in 1921 in New York.
Alex's mother Bertha is related to Kunta Kinte

These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.
Thanks everyone for participating in the Readalong.  It was a great summer, A Summer of Roots!

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Laurie from Whatsheread


My reward for reading this 900 page chunkster is to watch the Roots mini-series on DVD.  I can't wait.

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #8 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #8

Pages Read:  703 - 799
Chapters Read: 102 - 109

Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

There is only 100 pages left to read in this book and I know I am going to really miss this family, whom I have spent my summer reading about.

  This week there is another major turning point in the book.  Chicken George and Massa Lea go to a huge chicken fight at Massa Jewitt's plantation where a Englishman has brought his game fighting cocks for the biggest competition in about 50 years.  Both George and the Massa take most of their life savings to this fight and Massa Lea is goaded into betting an absurd amount of money he doesn't have.  He loses.  Everyone loses. Chicken George is forced to go to England as part of Massa Lea's debt and train cocks there for two years, which turns into 5.   As a small consideration, Master Lea writes George his note of freedom which he will receive when he gets back from England.

Meanwhile, the Master has nothing left and needs to pay  his bills so he sells off George's family to Massa Murray.  Grandmother Kizzy is not included in the sale and never sees her son or grandchildren again.

Chicken George arrives home from England to find the Lea's place in disarray, his family sold, the Master drunk and over 80, Pompey, Sister Sarah and his mother dead as well as Missus Lea.  Miss Malizy is losing her mind and her and the Master barely  have any food to eat.   Chicken George steals his freedom papers and goes to find his family. 

Mostly, they live a good existence on the Murray plantation.  Tom is the blacksmith and marries Irene who is expecting a child.  Almost all of George's children are married.  The telegraph line and the railroads are coming to North Carolina. Hotels are being built. The tensions between the South and the Northern abolitionists are rising and Lincoln is soon to be president.
The Civil War is coming.

I can't wait to read the conclusion.

The year is 1859
Location:  North Carolina
Kunta is dead
Kizzy is dead
Chicken George is about 54
Tom is about 26

These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Laurie from Whatsheread

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #7 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #7

Pages Read:  602 - 702
Chapters Read: 90 - 101

Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 

Kizzy's son George acquires a nickname, Chicken George and Haley refers to him with this nickname continually throughout the pages of the book.  Chicken George is a natural at cockfighting and loves his chickens, hence the name Chicken George.  He is also a tomcat and runs around on different plantations with women, until he meets Mathilda.  Mathilda is a religious woman and won't let him touch her and it gets Chicken George to thinking that he wants to marry her.  So the two jump the broom and Mathilda comes to live on Massa Lea's plantations.

Mathilda is one amazing woman.  First of all she puts up with Chicken George and all his antics, including drinking and carousing.  She forms a strong and special bond with her mother in law, Kizzy and she bears George 8 children, 6 boys and 2 girls.  The kids are Virgil, Ashton, Tom, George, James, Lewis, Kizzy and Mary. 

During this time Uncle Mingo dies and leaves Chicken George alone at the chicken coops and this gives him plenty of time to think.  He begins to think how maybe he would like to be a free man.  Mathilda and George create a plan to save up enough money to pay for the whole families freedom.  In total they figure it would cost them about $7000 dollars to free the whole family including Kizzy.  They realize the value the White man has placed on slave labor.

With only 200 pages left I can't wait to find out what happens next.  I really miss Kunta and Bell and assumed they have passed on by now. 

The year is 1836
Location:  North Carolina
Kunta is about 86 if he is still alive.
Kizzy is over 55
Chicken George is about 33

These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Laurie from Whatsheread

 

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #6 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #6

Pages Read:  501 - 601
Chapters Read: 78 - 89

Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 

This one hundred pages marks a major turning point in the book.  First Kunta gets really sick with a fever and they are very worried he is going to die.  Missy Anne reads to him from the Bible and with great doctoring he luckily recovers.  Kizzy and Noah start falling for each other and Kunta was praying for them, hoping they would make a great match.  But Noah decides he wants to run North and be free and then try and earn enough money to buy Kizzy.  It was a great dream that failed when Noah got caught on the run.  Kizzy wrote his forged traveling pass and she is pulled out of her parents arms and taken away by the Sheriff to be sold.  Kunta and Bell suffer a fate worse than death as their daughter is dragged off never to be seen again.  Kizzy is 16 years old and Kunta is 55.

Kizzy gets sold to a po'white cracker master that cockfights to win his money.  There is only 5 slaves on the land and on the first night Kizzy is raped by Massa Lea and impregnated.  She gives birth to Kunta's grandson and the Master names him George.  Kizzy teaches George all about his African grandfather, Kunta.  George grows up and begins to be apprenticed to Uncle Mingo, a slave that cares for the Massa's fighting roosters. He moves away from his mammy Kizzy and learns the Massa is his pappy.   The chapter ends with George attending his first cockfight with Massa Lea and Uncle Mingo.  It is an eye opening experience for George.

The year is about 1818
Kunta is 68
Kizzy is 29
George is about 12, maybe 13.
Location:  Kizzy and George are in North Carolina
Kunta and Bell are probably still in Virginia.

When Kizzy was taken from Kunta the story continues to follow Kizzy and the reader is left grieving for Kunta as it appears we will never be reading about him again.  I really miss Kunta and Bell.  Since George has left home the story appears to be following him and we only learn a little bit about Kizzy from time to time when George visits.  It is interesting how Haley moves from one generation to the next, leaving us to wonder what happens to those we left behind. 

These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Laurie from Whatsheread

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #5 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #5

Pages Read:  402-500
Chapters Read: 64-77

Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

OMG, where has the summer gone?  I am already halfway through this 900 page edition of Roots and am loving this book.  It is very hard for me to stop reading every week.   For me, the book is highly readable and entertaining and I can't wait to see what happens to Kunta Kinte. 

This week Kunta gets married to Bell.  It is the first time he has ever held or been with a woman and he is almost 40 years old.  Kunta and Bell are from two different worlds, his African and hers Slavery.  Many times they don't understand each other's differences and argue or worse, quit talking to each other.  Their love is unique as they discover and learn about each other.  Bell can read and write and Kunta can write Arabic and speak Mandinka.  Bell has reminded Kunta that he cannot be African anymore and must forget those days but he cannot.

Kunta and Bell have a baby girl.  Kunta names her in the traditional way by whispering her name in her ear and they call her Kizzy.  Kizzy is the apple of Kunte's eye yet it frustrates him that he has no control over her destiny.  He doesn't want her to become a white child's play thing but that is just what she becomes.  Missy Anne is the Massa's niece and she adores Kizzy and as they grow up, much to Kunta's chagrin, they become inseparable. Both parents worry about the fate of their daughter as she grows up in a hostile world.

As Bell reads the newspaper she learns that in Haiti, the sugar cane slaves are treated to horrible atrocities and revolt against there white owners and overseers.  Toussaint L'Ouverture rises up and leads the slaves to fight against the English, declares their Independence and wins it and then he has to fight the French who are vying for control of the sugar market.  The book hasn't talked about this yet but Toussaint will defeat Napoleon in 1804 and become known as the black Napoleon.  Toussaint is Kunta's hero and he eagerly awaits news of Haiti. 

Slaves are revolting in Virginia as well and the whites are scared. 
The year is 1800
Kunta is now 50 years old and his daughter Kizzy is 9 (I think)
Location:  Virginia

These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Michelle from Truebookaddict
4.  Laurie from Whatsheread

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #4 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #4

Pages Read:  302-401
Chapters Read: 48-63

Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

A lot of time has passed in this section.  Kunta was 17 when I started reading at page 302 and by page 401, he is 37 years old and thinking about taking a wife.

At 17 Kunta is still quite spirited and very smart and continues to run away.  The last time he is caught, the poor white trash slave catchers cut off part of his foot, crippling him for life.  Kunta no longer runs away.  He is taken in by his massa's brother, who is a doctor and will remain on this plantation.  Kunta actually prefers it here and actually grows to accept his role in life.  When his foot is healed he becomes the master gardener and eventually becomes the massa's carriage driver, driving the doctor all over the county to heal the sick.

The Revolutionary War takes place during this period and the slaves in Virginia share daily gossip and conjecture about what is happening.  Some free blacks fight on both sides of the war.  States up north begin freeing their slaves and banning slavery all together.  The Quakers of Pennsylvania begin helping slaves escape to the north and there is talk of a group of free Africans going back to Africa.  All of this Kunta discusses with his friends, the fiddler, the old gardener and Bell.

On one of Kunta's travels with his master, he hears the African drum playing and runs to meet a man with whom he can speak with in his native tongue.  His friendship and need to speak with this man consumes him and he struggles with identity issues and feels much sadness for his life he left behind.

So far I love this book and am almost half way done.  It is hard for me to stop reading each week as I can't wait to see what becomes of Kunta and his life. 

Kunta is 37 years old.
The year is 1787
Location:  Virginia, USA

These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Michelle from Truebookaddict
4.  Laurie from Whatsheread

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #3 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #3

Pages Read:  201-301
Chapters Read:  35-47

This post is a day late due to the 4th of July holiday.  Hope you all had a fun, firework filled weekend.

Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.


Kunta is 17 rains during this section of the book and is enduring The Middle Passage across the Atlantic Ocean.  The journey across the ocean from Africa to the Americas lasts about 5 months and is called The Middle Passage.  It is a horrible trip for the slaves and ship crew alike with many people dying on the journey.  The slaves are chained below the deck on a wooden plank that is about the size of 6 feet by 1 foot.  The men are forced to lie down and endure the horrific smells, the hot space and seasickness.  Their are no bathrooms and disease, rats and lice abound.  The men are beaten and wounds become quickly infected and painful.  It is a wonder that any man (slave) survived this horrific journey. 


The women are kept above deck and are used by the sailors night after night.  The women are amazing because when the African men come up to the deck to be scrubbed clean and exercised the women sing to them, and secretly tell what is happening on the boat above deck.  Kunta continues to hold on to his faith to Allah and remains strong in spirit despite how weak his body becomes.


Eventually Kunta's ship arrives in port and Kunta is kept in a hold for 7 days before being sold. The whole time the author keeps the reader in the dark about where Kunta is in America and Kunta remains strong in spirit as his body continues to take many beatings and injuries.  Kunta refuses to be tamed or treated like an animal and continually runs away.  I only wish he wouldn't get caught.


Kunta has a very strong sense of smell and can smell humans and tell them apart.   He can see what part of the blacks is still African even though they have forgotten where they come from and this saddens him.  Kunta faces racism from his black peers who view him as a African animal straight from the trees.  Their ignorance is plain and soon Kunta receives a new name from his master:  Toby. 

The year is 1765.  State unknown.

These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Michelle from Truebookaddict
4.  Laurie from Whatsheread

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #2 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley.
Read-A-Long Week #2

Pages read:  106-200
Chapters read:  21-34



Note:  I am reading ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

I had an extremely busy week and didn't start reading ROOTS until Sunday when I read almost all 100 pages.  ROOTS is extremely well written and very readable.  I found that I didn't want to stop at page 200 but I did. 

This week we find Kunta at 10 rains, entering his manhood training and becoming a man of the Mandinka tribe.  I figure by page 200 Kunta is probably about 17 rains as he is captured by the white man and forced aboard his big canoe in chains.

Like week number one, three important events or instances stood out for me and I would like to highlight them.

One, Kunta enters manhood training.  He is taken from his home, hooded and led through the forest where he will become a man in four moons.  He endures beatings, wrestling lessons, hunting lessons, and night walks where he learns to read the stars.  All the young Mandinka boys are circumcised during manhood training.  Griots came to tell the history of the Mandinka's which went as far back as the great kingdoms of Mali.  I really liked reading about manhood training and I think we should adopt some sort of rituals that mark womanhood and manhood for Americans.  What would you include in a training for teens to make them into adults?

Two is the fact that I really wanted Kunta to continue living in his Mandinka village in The Gambia and continue with his travels.  I enjoyed learning about village life and the court system in Juffure.  I knew he was going to be captured by slave traders and I found myself lamenting Kunta's untold tale.  What would his life have been like if he lived his whole life in Juffure, taking a wife and having children?  Traveling to Mali with his brother.  What other interesting adventures Kunta would have had in his place of birth? Alas, Kunta's story leads him to travel across the ocean and never see his family again. 

Three, Kunta is captured by slave traders while he is out looking for wood to build a drum.  He is surprised by them in the early morning.  He is beaten, scared and made to suffer many indignities.  He is taken aboard ship where the horrific stink assaults his nose.  Thus begins his journey on the Atlantic, called The Middle Passage.  The treatment of slaves has long bothered me, especially when they are portrayed by whites as less than human and used as a tool to make money.  Most slaves didn't live longer than ten years, as they were worked so hard and beaten so badly.  I feel fear for Kunta and sadness for his family.

Next week:  I plan to read from pages 201-301 and post on Monday.
These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Michelle from Truebookaddict
4.  Laurie from Whatsheread

Roots by Alex Haley. Week #1 of the summer Read-A-Long

Roots by Alex Haley- Read-A-Long Week #1

Chapters Read:  1-20
Pages read:  1-105

I have decided to read ROOTS in honor of my former student Quincy Blue who was recently found murdered, his body burned beyond recognition, in Saint Paul.  Quincy was an 30 year old African American male, who has two young boys, he was a student at a local business college, engaged to be married and a local hip-hop artist and musician.  They have no leads or suspects in the case.  Quincy died a horrible death and it makes me so sad.  Quincy was in my class about 14 years ago and I taught a unit on African History.  I always show Part 1 of Roots to my class and Quincy would have seen it, which is why I feel that I want to honor Quincy and other African American males who have lost their life to violence by reading ROOTS.  Too many young black men are the victims or perpetrators of violent crime and this hurts everyone.  We need to do something to stop the senseless violence.  The first step is to educate yourself.

ROOTS begins in The Gambia on the western side on Africa in an area known as The Slave Coast.  Kunta Kinte is born in 1750 as the first son to Omoro and Binta.  They live in a tiny Muslim village and we learn about their daily life and survival through the season changes.

The first 100 pages are very entertaining as they chronicle Kunta's first eight rains and the reader experiences African culture and history.

Three things stood out to me as I read the book.
First, the African Griot.  A Griot is a storyteller who keeps the history of the people and relays it to others.  Most African cultures didn't have a form of writing to record their history and so they used Griots.  I love reading about how important they are to society and how the whole village would sit quietly to listen to a story.  In my class, I have a Griot Day, where we sit in a circle for the day and share a story of our personal history.  It is one of my favorite lessons.  What saddens me is that some of my African American students say they don't have a story.  How do I convince them that they do and that it is worth hearing?

Second, the amazing Gambian women.  The Gambian, Mandinka women with their babies on their back, work their rice fields.  Then they work their husbands fields, cook, clean, dye cloth, sew, dance and are just plain amazing.  They carry water and all sorts of materials on their head and just strike me as strong, colorful, and faithful women.  So I have to admit, I tried walking around with books and other things on my head all week.  I recently saw a woman walking down a street close to here with a 12 pack on her head and was just amazed by it.  Nothing stayed on my head though, either because my posture is bad or my hair is too fine and slippery.  I will keep trying though.  I am also thankful that amazing women like this came before me, so that I can have time to learn and do the things they never had time to do.

Third, the traveling tree.  OK, I loved the traveling tree that each Mandinka village has.  When you go on a journey you tie a piece of cloth to the tree and each strip represents the prayer of a traveler, so that his journey will be safe.  Kunta and his father take a journey out of the village about a 3-5 day walk.  Each village they pass by has a traveler's tree and a welcoming committee with a host in the community.  The host feeds the travelers and provides shelter for them for the night.  The members of the village take turns being the community host for travelers.  I think this is a great idea and wished we did it here in small communities in the United States.  Just think of how that would change us for the better.  I would love to welcome visitors from all over the world to my home and table.  I also love the idea of a traveling tree where you tie strips of cloth to represent a prayer and your journey.  I just might have to adopt a tree in my yard and begin this wonderful African tradition.

Next week:  I plan to read from pages 106-200 and post on Monday.
These are the bloggers/readers participating in the Read-A-Long.  Please visit them and comment.  Also if you are participating and want to be included on this list, please comment and I will add a link to your blog.
Thanks everyone for participating.

1.  Bre from Booksnob Wannabe
2.  Sherrie from Just Books
3.  Michelle from Truebookaddict
4.  Laurie from Whatsheread
(I know Michelle and Laurie are starting late and so may not have a post this week)

godless

godless by Pete Hautman

In the beginning god creates water and water is the substance that sustains all life.

On the first day, Jason Bock gets clocked and lands flat on his back staring up The Water Tower also known as The Ten Legged One.   Jason has an epiphany and invents a new religion called The Chutengodians based on the most important element on earth.  Water.

On the second day, Jason recruits followers and begins to customize his new religion.  He creates a list of commandments which include honoring the sabbath every Tuesday.

On the third day, Jason must figure out a way to climb the tower, to worship and be close to his god.  Except not everyone can climb the tower, some of his followers are afraid.

On the fourth day, the new religion begins to take a life form all its own.  Everything is spiraling out of Jason's control.

On the fifth day, Jason is grounded for the whole summer and his assignment is to read a lot of religious texts his father picked out.  Brainwashing??

On the sixth day, Jason is in fear of losing his followers and his religion.  Will water baptize him in hope or drown him in fear?

On the seventh day, well, I am not going to tell you what happens on the seventh day as you must read the book to experience the religious phenomenon.

Let the Great World Spin

Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Whenever I take a trip somewhere in the world, I want to choose a book to take along on my journey that will introduce me to the place, the people, their culture and history.  During spring break I took several high school students and my son to New York City for four, fun filled days.  Let The Great World Spin is the book I chose to accompany me on my journey through The Big Apple.

On August 7th, 1974, Phillipe Petit strung a tightrope across the Twin Towers and danced between the towers in mid air.  The eyes of New York looked up and saw an unbelievable spectacle.  The world, it seemed, was spinning out of control in 1974.  President Nixon resigns on August 8th, Gerald Ford is sworn in on August 9th, and Vietnam War enters its final year.  

McCann captures the stories of ordinary and extraordinary individuals with precision in Let The Great World Spin.  His novel spans all levels of society in 1974 in historical context and interconnects the characters with Petit's daring tightrope walk above New York City.  McCann's characters are so interesting that I found myself thinking of them while I was walking around the city.  Many of the character's in this amazing story had to walk the line on their own tightrope.  Many fell off, some died, others cried and survived but the challenges we are human beings face on a daily basis sums up to putting your faith in what you do and hoping it all works out.  Let The Great World Spin encompasses New York City today and how it appeared yesterday and includes all the grit and glamour associated with it.  This book totally wowed me it is  "The collision point of stories." page. 325.

My son mentioned a T-shirt he saw someone wearing in New York City on day 3 of our trip, the T-shirt said and I quote "New York Fuckin' City", and within the hour, I read a passage in Let The Great World Spin that actually quotes this exact same T-shirt and showed my son. "As if it were the only place that ever existed and the only one that ever would." Page247.  New York City was showing its arrogance and we learned it through the connection of a book and a T-shirt.  Strange how real life connections happen and weirder still that New Yorkers are wearing the same saying on their T-shirts since 1974.

Visiting the former site of the Twin Towers was surreal and watching my son learn of the experience by reading aloud the account of the tragedy was emotional.  Reading this book while in New York City made me understand the significance of Petit's tightrope walk and how it bridged a world and brought hope to the people of New York City during a time of turmoil.  Truly this book is an amazing work of art and deserves the National Book Award.

Watch Man on Wire, a documentary on Petit's walk for more information on how Petit arranges this amazing event.

Krik? Krak!

Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat

Wow, this small book of interweaving short stories packs a powerful punch of Haitian reality.   It gives readers a spoonful of Haiti's turbulent past and combines stories that intersect through many years of time and generations.  It depicts strong Haitian women, traditions of culture and vague instances of history. 

The history of Haiti is long and varied and this book had me longing to know more.  So I did a bit of research.  As a world history teacher I probably know more than most but still learned a lot and want to share my new knowledge.  If you are going to read this book, you need to understand some basic history of Haiti.  For example:  Haiti is the first place Christopher Columbus lands and claims the land for Spain.  All the Indians die of disease or are worked to death.  Slaves are then imported from Africa.  Haiti is the first South American country to win its Independence in 1838.

Here is what I learned.  In 1937 Dominican Republic's President Trujillo ordered the massacre of Haitians living on the border.  The river is now called The River of Blood.  In 1957, Dr. Francois Dulalier (Papa Doc) is elected in military controlled elections.  He later declares himself President for Life and rules with an Iron Fist.  He forms the infamous paramilitary Tonton Macoute (which means, Uncle Boogeyman)  These henchman are responsible for the killing and exile of thousands of people.  Papa Doc dies and his son (Baby Doc) takes power in 1971.  In 1972 the first Boat people( Haitian refugees) try to escape Haiti.  He rules unfavorably until 1986.  This is the history of the stories told in Krik? Krak!

This is the second book I have read by Edwidge Danticat and I want to read more.  In my opinion, this author is under the radar but she shouldn't be as she has won awards and even had a Oprah book.  Her stories are not all happy and full of hope, they basically reflect the reality of day to day life with small moments or glimmers of hope, which are hard for each reader to find.  Her writing is amazing and powerful, each story literally wowed me.

"When Haitians tell a story, they say "Krik?" and the eager listeners answer "Krak!".

Anyone out there like a good story?
Krik?