This Week in Social Studies: Henry's Freedom Box

How old are you? Think about it for a minute! Imagine that number in your head, and imagine all the years you've spent learning about yourself. Where are you from? Who are your parents? How many siblings do you have? Where were you born? Do you know the day and year?

Now take a moment to think about what it would be like if you had no idea when you were born. What if you didn't know when your birthday way? What if you didn't know your family? What if you never knew that you had siblings, or if you never knew your parents?

That was the reality of slavery during the time it was legal in the United States.

Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and Kadie Nelson is the story of a young boy who never knew his birthday. Henry Brown never knew how old he was! Born into slavery in the 19th century, He spends his early life on his master's property working with his family. As he grows, he dreams of freedom, and he and his mother have conversations about what it means to be a slave.

He hopes that one day he can break free of his chains. But his whole life changes when his family is taken from him and he is forced to work in a warehouse. As he grows up and the dreams he had for his life fall apart, he makes a decision to find freedom in a seemingly impossible way.

Henry Brown mails himself to freedom, and he finally gets a birthday.

This picture book is based on the true story of Henry Brown, who was was a 19th-century Virginia slave who escaped to freedom at the age of 33 by arranging to have himself mailed in a wooden crate in 1849 to abolitionists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The story takes a look at the harsh reality of the lives of slaves in the 1800s and at the tragedies they experienced in the separation of their self from aspects of their identity and families. 

While the story is a sad one, and may at first appear intense for younger audiences, it provides an exceptional foundation for discussions with youth about the dark history of the United States of America. This is important especially in social studies and history classes because it helps to develop a contextual framework for current sociopolitical issues that still create difficulties for the functioning of minorities in today's society.

 

It is also important for students to have a well-rounded and full understanding of the country's history. This book remains age-appropriate for younger readers and audiences while still drawing attention to the fact that much of our country's success was created on the backs of slaves who did not have a choice in their life paths. In fact, they did not even have an open choice in understanding who they were. 

This very simple line to the left, "Henry Brown wasn't sure how old he was. Henry was a slave. And slaves weren't allowed to know their birthdays." immediately initiates the story with a relatable, empathetic beginning for young children. It will have students wondering, "How can someone not know their own birthday?" and it will help them to understand the relevance of the freedom and privilege they have today in knowing who they are and where they are from.

This Week On Traditional Literature: Rumpelstiltskin

Welcome back to week two's edition of Kids Lit with Kat! This week's blog post will look at an award winning version of the traditional fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin, illustrated and retold by Paul O. Zelinsky.

This is a traditional version of the original story of Rumpelstiltskin, taken from the Grimm brothers collection of fairy tales dating back to 1812.

The story takes place in a far away kingdom. It tells the tale of the beautiful miller's daughter, whose father gets her into a bit of trouble! When the miller tries to impress a king by lying that his daughter can spin spools of gold thread out of straw, the king takes the miller's daughter into his castle. The king  brings her to a room filled with straw, and tells her to turn the straw into gold thread or else she will be killed! Because her father lied about this ability, she becomes terrified and does not know what to do. That is, until a small and unusual stranger comes to her aid, offering to help...for a price.

Who is this stranger? What does he want from the miller's daughter? Why is he offering to help a woman he does not even know? Find out in this beautifully illustrated retelling of Rumpelstiltskin!

When talking about traditional literature, fairy tales are on of the most common forms. This particular fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin has been passed down for many generations, and is believed to have been originated almost 4,000 years ago.

The Grimm Brothers popularized this fairy tale and many others in the 1800s through collection and transcription, and in this way have shared traditional literature with masses of people. This is how people like Paul O. Zelinsky have been able to recreate classic fairy tales with their own personal additions and illustrations to accompany the original stories.

Sharing traditional literature in the classroom is a way to continue developing an understanding of cultural value in students, as well as expanding their knowledge of different cultures and historical contexts. It also provides an outlet for exploring common themes found in reading and real life.

For example, this retelling of Rumpelstiltskin has a major theme of weakness/powerlessness versus strength/power, which is characteristic theme of traditional literature but is also a theme many people experience as a characteristic of life.

The miller's daughter is represented as weak and helpless in the story, both in being at the mercy of her father's lie, "The miller encountered the king. Wanting to impress him, the miller said, 'I have a daughter who knows the art of spinning straw into gold. Now, the king had a passion for gold, and such an art intrigued him. So he ordered the miller to send his daughter to the castle straightaway." as well as needing assistance from Rumpelstiltskin to weave the straw into gold, "Suddenly, the door sprang open and a tiny man stepped in. 'Good evening Mistress Miller,' he said, 'Why are you sobbing?' 'Oh,' cried the girl, 'I must spin the straw into gold and I don't know how.'"

She is also weak to the power of the king, "He gave her spools and a spinning wheel, and said, 'You may spin all night, but if you have not spun the straw into gold by morning, you will have to die'. Eventually, she is even powerless to solving the ultimate problem in the book of figuring out the name of the little man who helped her when she was in need, relying on her servants to traverse the land and find as many name options as possible until one finds out that the man's name is Rumpelstiltskin.

There is also certainly a contextual and historically relevant theme of the value of "titles" in the book, with Rumpelstiltskin's name/title being the goal problem of being solved in the story, and also serving as a form of power he wields over the miller's daughter. Additionally, the king's power and authority stems from his title, and the miller's daughter eventual rise to some form of power (commanding servants) comes of her marriage to the king and becoming the queen of the land.

These are only some of the themes explored in Paul O. Zelinsky's retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, which  could and would serve as a compelling edition to anyone's library of traditional literature.

This Week, On Poetry: The Gruffalo

Many types of animals live in the forest, and one of the smallest of those animals is the mouse. How in the world does an itsy-bitsy mouse survive in a world full of large creatures that want to eat it? This book tells the story of a small, brown mouse in a forest who uses his intelligent brain and clever thinking to outwit all of his predators. After his run in with the sly fox, he meets more hungry creatures in the deep, dark wood. How exactly does a teeny mouse turn out to be the smartest of them all? Find out in The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson!

The story is a bit of a comedy, but it certainly carries the message of brains before brawn with it. This may not be immediately evident at the surface level, as the mouse in the story tells exaggerated lies to the animals attempting to make a meal of him as a means of escaping their traps.

Paying closer attention to the implications of Donaldson's tale though, it becomes evident that she uses animals which are much larger and whose natural instinct is to eat a mouse as a way of sending her message. Children need to know that even though someone or something is bigger than they are, and even though they may feel anxious or afraid at first, approaching situations calmly and learning to think critically and creatively as a means of solving problems will ultimately prove to help them along their journey (and maybe even save their life) someday! Patience an understanding is another key theme in the story, as is that appearances can be exceptionally deceiving.

Fig. 1: Page 2 of  "The Gruffalo"

The Gruffalo is written in a rhyming style of poetry, with descriptive language and vocabulary, and a repetitive writing scheme that stays consistent as the book progresses. The rhyme and meter are seemingly effortless. To the right, Figure 1 is an image of one of the excerpts from the book's beginning. 

"A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood./

A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good."

This is the use of end rhymes, which persists through the storybook. One aspect of the poetic tale that does change throughout the book are the number of syllables included in each rhyme (which deals with the meter of the poem), but the writing of the story flows exceptionally well as the mouse meets each of its foes.

Fig. 2: Excerpt from "The Gruffalo"

Figure 2 is another excerpt and page from the storybook to illustrate the change in rhyming meter. The first line "His eyes are orange," has five syllables. The next line, "his tongue is black;" has only four syllables. This is followed by an eleven syllable verse, "He has purple prickles all over his back". This then transitions to another inconsistent meter, going (in number of syllables) 7-4-10. This shift in meter does not interrupt the flow of the rhyme scheme however, because these excerpts also show the consistent use of end rhymes.

They exhibit the use of descriptive language found in all poetry as well, using color descriptors ("His eyes are orange/his tongue is  

black", "a deep, dark wood"), personality descriptors ("favorite food"), textural descriptors ("purple prickles all over his back"), and atmospheric descriptors ("A mouse took a stroll", "Here, by this lake").

All of this is to say that "The Gruffalo" teaches an important lesson to children through well written poetry. It serves as a modern style tall tale in the form of a poem and would make a wonderful, whimsical addition to any classroom or home library.