More About Boy

Title: More About Boy

Author: Roald Dahl

Biography #5

Reading about Roald Dahl’s life was just about as strange as picking up a Roald Dahl book. It was truly interesting to read about all of the things he experienced as a child as many of these experiences seem to have influenced his later writings. For example, Dahl experienced a cruel headmaster much like the story many know and love, Matilda. Dahl also visited candy and sweet shops much like another story many know and love, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One thing I particularly enjoyed about this book was the authentic feel it encompassed because of all of the artifacts it had. There are report cards, family photos, and letters – not to mention amazing illustrations that really make the story come alive.

I learned so much about Dahl from reading this book, such as him spending his time away at boarding school for most of his childhood and joining the Air Force when he got older. I would definitely recommend this book for classroom use, though I feel it to be most appropriate for older students. This book can appeal to a wide variety of age groups and interests. I feel like anyone can relate to at least one thing mentioned in this book which makes it highly relatable and versatile. Most of all, I would recommend this story to any Roald Dahl fan. As I mentioned before, Dahl’s personal history sheds an important light on his later writings that I feel most people would find to be very interesting.  

War Boy

Title: War Boy

Author: Michael Foreman

Biography #3

 War Boy was one of the more unusual books I have read this semester. Told by English artist and children’s book illustrator, Michael Foreman, he recounts his experiences during childhood growing up in a small village in England during the war. Frequently under attack, Michael and his family are literally living on a battlefield! The remainder of the book details his experiences including rationing and raids. I personally learned a great deal from reading this memoir and feel that children can especially relate to this book because it is told through the eyes of a child.  

The text is pretty simple and fairly easy to read and understand but it is the pictures that truly make the story! They are detailed and absolutely beautiful to look at. One can learn a lot just from looking at what the illustrations have to offer. I particularly enjoyed the diagrams because they helped me understand what he was talking about better. I also liked the authentic looking historical documents he drew, there are several letters and notices that help the reader get a better feel of the story and the time. In the end, though I must admit this story wasn’t my favorite, I would still recommend it for students in 3-6 grade and think it has tremendous educational merit. 

Leon's Story

Title: Leon’s Story

Author: Leon Walter Tillage

Illustrator: Susan L. Roth
Required Reading

In the hundred or so pages contained in Leon’s Story, I learned more about discrimination and the black south than I have ever learned in any history class, and let me tell you, it certainly wasn’t an easy thing to read about. I will admit that in the beginning of the story I had the idea in my head that what I was reading is nothing new to me – I had heard it all before. It is easy to read about racial hate crimes and segregation when the reality of the situation seems so far away. However, by the middle of the book my attitude towards the text changed dramatically. After reading about all of the horrendous things Leon personally witnesses, what happens to him and his family, and the life blacks were forced to live on a day to day basis, I found myself literally sick with hatred for my own people and guilt for what had taken place. I thought to myself, this is a piece of history that hits too close to home, that wasn’t all that long ago, and that still has serious relevance in today’s society. It was a scary realization.

That being said, I think there is a great deal to learn from reading Leon’s story. It is a story that is filled with sorrow, but it is a story that evokes raw emotion that simply can’t be duplicated in a history textbook. The first person accounts in this story are what truly makes the story. The personal connections the reader makes to Leon and his family only make what happens to them more horrifying. I’m unsure of what grade I would use this book in. On the one hand, I feel as if it is much too graphic for young students, even older students. I myself had a difficult time getting through parts of it. On the other hand, the reality of the situation put forth is this story is something that can’t be easily duplicated, thus it seems it would be an important component of a Social Studies unit about slavery. I would feel most comfortable using the text 7^th grade and older because of these considerations.