25 Jul Number the Stars by Lois Lowery Essay
One of the wonderful qualities of historical or realistic fiction is its connection to real life events happening today. A well written book transports the reader to the place and time of the story but addresses issues and themes that are relevant to readers today. In “The Friendship”, the Logan children are exposed to hostility and racism when they visit the Wallace store. While this the situation is placed within an earlier era, the themes of racism, friendship, and conflict are rife within our communities and nation today. When children read this book, even though it is set decades earlier, they can see parallels between this story and other stories they see/hear/experience in the modern day.
- View the resource: When School Gets Real: Teachers Connect Classroom Lessons to Current Events (opens in new window)
- Choose a children’s/young adult realistic/historical fiction text that you have read.
- Identify the themes within the book, and carefully consider how those themes relate to today.
- In your paper, discuss:
- Book title, author and illustrator, year of publishing
- Plot summary, including main characters and setting 5
- Themes present within the book (at least 3)
- Thorough description of the role that they play within the book, and why it is important for young readers
- Current events that reflect the themes of the book (at least 2)
- For instance, if one of the themes in your book is school violence, you could relate this theme to the school shooting at Parkland High School. Be sure to give specific detail about the current events (as opposed to just saying “violence is everywhere”).
- Why is it important for children to read about these themes?
- How does experiencing them in literature help them deal with them in real life?
- Are there any themes that you would not read about or discuss in your classroom (keeping in mind age appropriateness)?
- Include a lesson plan that you have searched for online that you might use to connect the themes in your chosen book to a real life current event and paste that link in your paper.
- Why did you choose this lesson?
- What are the strengths of this lesson?
