With the advent of the Common Core I have worked tirelessly this year to reboot my nonfiction units from something that was once a simple overview of headings, captions, and text features to an integrated understanding and application of nonfiction texts. I feel often, however, that I have come up short, particularly in asking my students to compare texts. Yet this past week I think I may have reached the level of critical thinking among students that the Common Core calls for, thanks to authors Doreen Rappaport and Deborah Wiles.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, my first grade class has been conducting a close reading of Rappaport’s Martin’s Big Words in conjunction with Wiles’s Freedom Summer.

My students had acquired a foundational knowledge of King via their “Social Justice” class; however, the illustrations and power of Rappaport’s work brought King’s famous speech to life. Rappaport’s text provides ample opportunities for students to dissect and truly analyze King’s dreams and thoughts.

Martin’s Big Words, however, became overwhelmingly more concrete and powerful for students through a comparison with Wiles’s Freedom Summer. Focused on the friendship of young Joe and John Henry, this story is a subtle, yet powerful, look at race relations in American history. The young narrator’s point of view coupled with the text’s simple storyline makes this an easily accessible book for younger readers and lends itself to a class discussion on fairness, friendship, and Civil Rights.

In tracking the varying experience of Joe, a white boy, and John Henry, his black best friend, students were able to identify specific instances of racial injustice. Through this textual analysis, students seemed to truly experience what King was fighting for in his Big Words.

The combination of these texts and what students were able to notice was truly remarkable. I’d recommend this textual pairing to anyone in search of a thoughtful analysis of the 1960s.

 

---

Check out the Horn Book's list of 25 more recommended books for suitable for Black History Month -- and year 'round -- here.