Title: Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color
Author: Elizabeth Alexander & Marilyn Nelson
Publisher: Wordsong
Genre: Poetry
Number of Pages: 47 page
Discovery of Book: Library Catalog
Reading Level:
Awards: Book Links (A.L.A.), Book Links starred, Booklist starred, Horn Book, Horn Book starred, Kirkus Reviewed starred, School Library Journal, Wilson's Junior High School
Summary: Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color is a beautifully written book of prose that describes the events of a small school in Conneticut during the mid-1830's. Canterbury, Conneticut asked Miss Prudence Crandall to begin a school to teach their white daughters all they would need to know to become well educated members of society. Soon after, a few African American girls began to ask Miss Crandall to join her school. The white families became increasingly angry that their daughters were mixing with black girls. The book tells the story of the struggles Miss Crandell and her African American girls faced through the use of poetry. The poems depict the outrage, the violence, and the hatred toward these innocent children for their want to learn.
Personal Connection: Reading the poems of Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color was a powerful experience. Each poem describes how, as the author's describe it, "change always faces resistance, and progress is made in fits and starts." The story shows how white families arrested Miss Crandall, poisoned the school's well, set fire to the structure, and broke over ninety window pains. This book brings up the idea that despite the North's view of abolition, racism still ran rampent.
Evaluation/Analysis: This book of poetry would be great to use in a middle school classroom that is studying the Civil War, slavery, and racism. Students could read the poems, even before reading the descriptive introduction, using them to piece together the atrocities whites performed on blacks. These poems could help students shed light onto the devastating times of slavery. Students would be able to use the ideas of poisoning wells with animal dung and setting homes on fire to help determine if slavery was a point in history that could be deemed a holocaust.
Author: Elizabeth Alexander & Marilyn Nelson
Publisher: Wordsong
Genre: Poetry
Number of Pages: 47 page
Discovery of Book: Library Catalog
Reading Level:
Awards: Book Links (A.L.A.), Book Links starred, Booklist starred, Horn Book, Horn Book starred, Kirkus Reviewed starred, School Library Journal, Wilson's Junior High School
Summary: Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color is a beautifully written book of prose that describes the events of a small school in Conneticut during the mid-1830's. Canterbury, Conneticut asked Miss Prudence Crandall to begin a school to teach their white daughters all they would need to know to become well educated members of society. Soon after, a few African American girls began to ask Miss Crandall to join her school. The white families became increasingly angry that their daughters were mixing with black girls. The book tells the story of the struggles Miss Crandell and her African American girls faced through the use of poetry. The poems depict the outrage, the violence, and the hatred toward these innocent children for their want to learn.
Personal Connection: Reading the poems of Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color was a powerful experience. Each poem describes how, as the author's describe it, "change always faces resistance, and progress is made in fits and starts." The story shows how white families arrested Miss Crandall, poisoned the school's well, set fire to the structure, and broke over ninety window pains. This book brings up the idea that despite the North's view of abolition, racism still ran rampent.
Evaluation/Analysis: This book of poetry would be great to use in a middle school classroom that is studying the Civil War, slavery, and racism. Students could read the poems, even before reading the descriptive introduction, using them to piece together the atrocities whites performed on blacks. These poems could help students shed light onto the devastating times of slavery. Students would be able to use the ideas of poisoning wells with animal dung and setting homes on fire to help determine if slavery was a point in history that could be deemed a holocaust.
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