Supportive texts for A Crack in the Sea

In this blog post I will discuss two picture books that are support texts for the novel A Crack in the Sea as well as focus on persona poems.

Stormy Seas written by Mary Beth LeatherDale and Eleanor Shakespeare is about 5 young boat refugees and their stories of their journey at sea and their time as a refugee in another country.

This book focuses on:

Ruth who was 18 years old and from Breslau, Germany during the Holocaust in 1939.

Phu who was 14 years old from Saigon, Vietnam during the Vietnam war in 1979.

Jose who was 13 years old in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba during the Fidel Castro's reign and their fight with America in 1980.

Najeeba who was 11 years old in Bamiyan, Afghanistan during the Taliban's reign in 2000.

Mohamed who was 13 years old in Maple, Ivory Coast during the civil war in 2006.

Vocabulary in the book:

Anti-Semitism: Hatred of Jewish People; Hostility toward or discrimination toward jews.

People Smuggler: A person who for money arranged the illegal entry of people to a country where they are not citizens; people smuggling is a crime

Pirates: people who attack, rob, and commit other violent crimes at sea; piracy is a crime

Asylum: offering protection to the persecuted

Immigrant Dentition Center: imprisons people who do not have legal visas giving them permission to be in the country, including refugees seeking asylum

Human Traffickers: criminals who use threats, force, and deception to exploit vulnerable people for forced labor or sexual slavery

Freedom Over Me written by Ashley Benson is written about 11 slaves and their lives and dreams. The book starts with Mrs. Mary Fairchild who sells her slaves after her husband's death and her slaves are:

Peggy-48 yrs old

John-16 yrs old

Athelia-42 yrs old

Betty-36 yrs old

Qush-62 yrs old

Jane-28 yrs old

Stephen-32 yrs old

Mulvina-60 yrs old

Bacus-34 yrs old

Charlotte-30 yrs old

Dora-8 yrs old

Here are my notes taken while reading Freedom Over Me:

Peggy:

• Fairchild's cook

• Father killed

• Mother sold too

• real name isn't peggy

• real name is Mariama which means gift of God

• Tends to the slaves

• is called the herb doctor

• she likes to learn about herbs

Stephen:

• Carpenter

• loves building

• loaned out for jobs

• teaches john carpentry

• John is like a son to him

• in love with Jane

• secretly jane and Stephen taught one another to read

• Real name is Yerodin meaning studious

Jane:

• seamstress

• in love with Stephen

• real name is Serwaa meaning jewel

• parents were killed

• treat John as a son

John:

• Sold into slavery when he was 8

• born on a plantation- born a slave

• never knew his parents

• looks up to Stephen

• secretly taught to read and write by Stephen and Jane

• loves art- to draw

• called Osere meaning artist by the other slaves

Athelia:

• laundress

• loves Dora-treats her as her own

• real name is Adero meaning life giver

• teaches dora her history and heritage

Charlotte:

• makes pottery

• married to Bacus

• has a daughter with Bacus named Dora

• dora's real name is Aku meaning Sweet Messenger

• real name is Bisa meaning greatly loved

• calls Bacus Abena meaning manly in bearing

Bacus:

• His wife is Charlotte

• daughter is Dora

• blacksmith

• wants to escape with his family

Qush:

• has worked with Mulvina for a while

• always singing

• works with cattle and picking cotton

• relates to the bible

• real name is Kayode meaning he brought joy

• makes simple instruments

• loves music

Mulvina:

• loves to sing- gives her strength

• picks cotton

• tends to the gardens

• real name is Niami meaning melody

• used to teach

• loves to tell stories

Betty:

• special flower gardner

• cleans

• interior designer

• real name is Temitope meaning thanks to God

This Little Light of Mine was song often by slaves giving them hope. This particlur video is song by the The Plantation Singers of Charleston, SC are a professional a cappella singing group renowned locally, nationally and internationally for their singing of the of the music of the Lowcountry.

*one of the songs that Mulvina song in the book Freedom Over Me

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First Person Perspective:

This video is about what being a "boat person" is like first hand.

Teacher Resource:

https://www.imyourneighborbooks.org/

This website is a resource for children's books about immigrants, asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/young_immigrants/

This website allows students to meet students that have immigrated to the United States.

https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/culture/immigration/

If you school has a subscription to brainpop this is a great way to introduce students to immigration.

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Persona Poems

Persona Poems are poems written in first person where the writer assumes another person's identity. For this blog post I will be writing a persona poem as if I were Pip, a character from A Crack in the Sea and Ruth, a refugee from the book Stormy Seas. I will also be using a mentor poem from the book Freedom Over Me.

Teaching students to write persona poems can facilitate students’ capacity to emerge from the reading with new insights about characters (and their worlds) as they transform information into deeper and more nuanced understandings.

*Quote pulled from Walking Into the Wardrobe and Through the Sliding Glass Door: Writing Persona Poems with A Crack in the Sea by Elizabeth Frye, Brooke L. Hardin, H.M. Bouwman, and Adrienne Stumb.

Features of Persona Poetry…

• Poem is written in the first person

• Poem is personal—written in a biographical way (not necessarily the author’s)

• Poem’s opening lines show a sense of identity and place

• Poem reveals empathy and character’s inner thoughts

• Poem references other significant people in the speaker’s life

• Poem is DETAILED and includes intentional word choice

• Poem includes STRONG verbs

• Poem includes repetition

• Sign Post of “Memory Moment” is KEY!

• Character returns to an important idea—circular ending

*Tips and advise form the article referenced above

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Pip, a persona poem

"Not all there"

Socially awkward.

Words people use to describe me, without really knowing me.

Home?

Since I can remember I have lived on top of a mountain far from the rest of our "people" To me home is wherever Kinchen, my sister, and Old Ren, my adopted grandfather are.

I wonder what lies beyond the Island. What other sea creatures I could meet someday.

Voices. So many voices ring through my ears, never being able to fully put a face with the voice.

My eyes frantically search the faces, no the bodies, no the details of my surroundings. Trying desperately to find something familiar in a new situation.

No one knows this...

But I have longed for adventure, for freedom to be who I am with out judgement.

Talking to fish is like coming home after a long jounrey.

I am Pip and I am so much more.

Will Kinchen ever stop worrying about me?

A sense of importance washes over me when I am needed.

Green bread awakens my tastebuds to something new and unusual.

I worry how I will fend for myself on Raftworld without my sister.

I thought I knew what it was like to truly live until I was captured for something so much more.

I am Pip.

"What am I supposed to do?" I ask Jupiter.

I believe I am here (raftworld) for something great.

Dreams creep in of days where I can travel and meet new sea creatures.

I used to try to stay put, follow Kinchen's directions, and hide myself...

But not anymore.

I used to be timid and afraid.

Now I am embracing who I truly am.

I am Pip. I am NOT who you thought I was. I AM so much more.

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Ruth, a persona poem

I am Ruth. I am 18 years old and I am fighting for my life.

I live in Breslau, Germany.

The year is 1939.

Adolf Hitler is the leader of my country.

The sound of guns and screams keep me up at night.

Blood, the deepest red I'd ever seen fills my vision as I see my people massacred.

I often wonder if I will live past 18. If I will ever be free.

Relief floods through my tense body as I board the SS St. Louis.

I once dreamed of a day where I wouldn't have to constantly fear for my life. My fear took over and the dream vanished.

As my dream resurfaces and my heart is once again hopeful I think of what I will do with freedom.

Freedom was with in arms length, on Monday, we'll land and my new life will begin!

Little did I know that my happiness was premature.

Cuba was no longer accepting German Jews.

I am Ruth. I am 18 years old and I am fighting for my life.

Whispers of returning to Germany fill my head.

A man filled with so much hopelessness and despair takes a knife to his wrist. Running towards the edge of the boat, blood dripping down his arms, he jumps.

Luckily a sailor saves him but the man didn't want to be saved. See to him taking his own life was better than returning to the concentration camps.

Fear washes over me like a wave beneath our boat.

I am Ruth. I am 18 years old and I am fighting for my life.

Before all hope is lost, the lights of Miami reflect off the ocean.

I kneel to the ground, put my hands together and pray that we can land.

Shouts from the U.S. Coast Guard interrupt my prayer. As I see the guns in their hands our ship turns around.

I could almost taste freedom.

I begin to realize that without hope I wouldn't be alive.

Shouts once again ring in my ear but this time they are of happiness and relief.

As news spreads I hear the words I have been so desperately longing for...

Hitler is no longer in power. The holocaust is over.

Father finally finds us safe passage to America. As we arrive in New York we feel freedom for the first time in so long and an overwhelming sense of relief overtakes me.

I was once hopeless and afraid.

Now I am hopeful and brave.

I am Ruth and I am NO longer fighting for my life.

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Mentor text:

This exert is pulled from the book Freedom Over Me by Ashley Bryant. I used this particular poem to capture both the happiness and hopefulness and sadness and reality of being a slave that Qush had in the book to help me write the persona poems for Ruth and Pip.