A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.
~Marion C. Garretty
In Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell, two sisters, Mattie and Sarah, are sent away from their home with the Mohawk tribe to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in order to be trained so they can "make their way in the world", as one of their teachers put it. There's only one problem: the girls just want to go home to their father and to where they feel they belong. Mattie and Sarah promised their father that they would be good and behave, but it proves to be very difficult; Mattie speaks her mind and is very protective of what she believes in, while Sarah just wants to disappear and be off the radar. The bond between these sisters is portrayed very realistically, both during the good times and when trouble threatens to break them apart. This book is written in prose and the alternating voices of Mattie and Sarah making it captivating and unique. Before Reading: Discuss Indian Schools with the class--talk about why Native American children were sent to these schools and the impact it had on them.
After Reading: How did the way in which the book was written change the way it was read? Did the alternating voices contribute to the book? Discuss the use and meaning of sweetgrass baskets in the book. What did they represent? Why was that important and Mattie and Sarah?
Vocabulary: clenched, harsh, peering, criticized, evaporate, muffled, scorn, and urging.
Web Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment